Month: June 2010

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Paraguay 0 Japan 0 (Paraguay win 5-3 on pens) | Spain 1 Portugal 0

Well, it has reached the stage when one error might cost your nation progress in the World Cup. This was certainly true for the final two Round of 16 games last night. Paraguay and Japan cancelled each other out  and could not be separated after 120 minutes of committed football. So instead, the dreaded penalty shootout did the job and sadly for Japan’s Komano, his miss was the deciding one and Paraguay are in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history. I hate penalty kick shootouts, it is probably one of the least satisfying ways to win a match but in the absence of anything better, it is a necessary evil. *Sigh*

On to the all-Iberian clash and once again, one mistake was all it took. This time, Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz replaced Almeida (who had been a serious threat to the Spanish centre backs the entire game up to that point) with the rather flaccid Danny! At the same time, Llorante was brought in for the anonymous Torres for the Spanish and the match was turned on its head. Suddenly, Portugal’s offense was blunted but (more crucially), Llorante (from unfancied Atletico Bilbao) unsettled the Portuguese defence (especially Carvalho) and inexplicably, Spanish dangerman Villa was allowed to ghost in to net his 4th goal of the competition, at the second attempt! Even with half an hour left, it did not look like the Portuguese had any ideas to bring the game back on level terms, especially with Ronaldo particularly out of touch.

In the end, Spain deserved to edge it – coach Del Bosque’s decisive action in replacing Torres (coupled with the aforementioned Queiroz’s tactical error) swung the game their way. However, I must say that I was disgusted with the cheating tricks played by Spain’s left back Capdevilla as his constant simulation resulted in Portugal’s Costa receiving an unmerited red card. Not the kind of antics anyone wants to see in this World Cup (remember Kaka’s sending off?).

Congrats to Spain and Paraguay for making it to the Quarter-Finals!

ALL CHANGE!

Netherlands 2 Slovakia 1 | Brazil 3 Chile 0

Looks like another promising World Cup clash between the Netherlands and Brazil is in store. Whereas in previous World Cups, both countries have been known for their free flowing football and perhaps defensive naivety, things are very different in 2010. Nowadays both teams can boast an attitude of steel that saw them ease past their opponents in the Round of 16, keeping their attacking prowess in reserve till the opportune time.

In the first game, the 2-1 scoreline flattered Slovakia somewhat as for most of the match, the Slovakians looked bereft of ideas on how to break down the Dutch rearguard. As it is, the early goal by Arjen Robben (see above) meant that the Dutch did not have to chase the game and relied on an (unnatural) defensive posture. With Slovakians committing men forward it was inevitable that one of the sporadic Dutch breaks would be exploited and true enough, Wesley Sneijder put the Slovakians out of their misery in the 84th minute. Vittak’s injury time penalty was almost an afterthought and the final whistle blew once he netted.

Over at Ellis Park, the mighty Brazil gave an efficient all-round performance to dispatch the Chileans comfortably. It was a solid and professional display from the Brazilians, who are ominously (for their future opponents) coming into good form at the right time. The Chileans tried their best to get back in the game after Juan’s towering headed goal from a corner in the 34th minute but were sucker-punched mere minutes later by the combination of Robinho, Kaka and Fabiano with the latter finishing with aplomb (see above). It was hard to imagine Chile coming back from that blow and indeed they found the Brazilian defense resolute (marshaled brilliantly by skipper Lucio) in the second period. By the time Robinho made it three (after great individual work by Ramires) on the hour mark, the contest was over.

Together with the Argentina-Germany clash, the Netherlands-Brazil encounter will be one of the highlights of an interesting quarter-final round.

… AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Germany 4 England 1 | Argentina 3 Mexico 1

They say that justice is blind. Well, based on last night’s games, so are World Cup linesmen! Right. Before I embark on my little rant, let me preface it by stating categorically that Germany deserved to win – probably not by 3 goals – but they had enough skill, class, pace and guile to outfox the clueless England defensive “system” to get the result. England were poor and the lion’s share of the blame must fall on Fabio Capello. But I’ll come to that later.

Now both of last night’s games were “infected” by crucial decisions by linesmen. In England’s case, the wiping off of a legitimate goal by Frank Lampard when the score was 2-1 to the Germans. For the Mexicans, Carlos Tevez quite clearly headed into the goal from an offside position but the “goal” was allowed to stand by the incompetent officials. Score? 0-0.

Now, remember that moment in Back to the Future, where Marty McFly inadvertently caused his parents not to get together and how that resulted in his fading away from existence itself? Well, its all cause and effect, innit? Had Lampard’s effort been recognized, England would have pulled back a two-goal deficit – very much against the run of play – and they would have been flying. Who knows? They might have scored a third before half time and the Germans would have had to chase the game. As it was, England had to do so in the second half and when caught on the break, the flaws of Gareth Barry, John Terry, Glenn Johnson and Matthew Upson were easily exploited.

Even the German hero Muller admitted that the disallowed goal was a turning point – “Of course, we had some luck with Lampard’s effort,” he reflected. “We knew we had to seize the opportunity with both hands. We got the stroke of luck and we knew we couldn’t give it away.” Naturally, he also added that he felt that it was justice for the 1966 World Cup Final – where a dubious Geoff Hurst goal was given, despite German protests that the ball had never crossed the line, and England won 4-2.

Does that mean England deserved to win or force the game to penalty kicks? Probably not – but it would have been closer in the second half than how it ultimately turned out. Some may argue that the injustice should have spurred England to fight tooth and nail to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Sadly, with players off-color especially Wayne Rooney (who has looked burned out in the tournament) and Capello’s strange insistence on relying on the lumbering Heskey than the in-form Crouch upfront, that was not likely to happen.

So yet another World Cup where England exit, tails between their legs. Fabio Capello has to go and perhaps Roy Hodgson installed to bring back some pride and respect to this pathetic England team. There is too much obvious player power in the England setup with the likes of Lampard and Rooney undroppable no matter how badly they were playing. And will people now acknowledge that John Terry is not a world class defender? Don’t get me started on Jamie Carragher or Matthew Upson, either please. England need to wipe the slate clean and begin afresh for the Euro qualifiers.

But at least England did not surround and harass/abuse the officials when their goal was disallowed. The Mexicans were not quite so gracious about the offside “goal” that Tevez scored. Again, Mexico probably deserved to lose but questions will be raised – what if? By the time Mexico recovered to pull one back (scored by the impressive Man Utd recruit Javier Hernandez), they were 3 goals down. A mere consolation really. Mexico were obviously rattled by the decision and a horrendous defensive error allowed Higuain in for his 4th goal of the competition before Tevez blasted a beauty of a cracker into the top corner of Mexico’s goal to effectively finish off the tie.

FIFA and the officials must be pleased as punch that prima facie the WRONG decisions were NOT crucial in the final analysis because I am certain that FIFA will continue to ignore claims for video technology and remain in the dark ages. Hopefully, there are no more such further incidents in the upcoming games as it really does leave a bad taste in a football fan’s mouth.

Argentina v Germany in the quarter-finals, a mouth watering prospect!

URUGUAY 2 SOUTH KOREA 1

Welcome to the knockout stage of the World Cup 2010, where anything can happen but quite usually cagey, defensive tactics and penalty kick shootouts, if history is any gauge. And I feared the worst, when the Koreans blundered defensively to give Ajax striker Suarez an open goal opportunity in the 7th minute which he did not spurn. From then on, for some reason, the Uruguayans decided to close up shop and wait for the final whistle! Yes, I know winning is important but we Singaporeans paid expensive cable fees to entertained, dammit! Kudos to Koreans who made a game of it and a long hour later, three Uruguayan defenders went up to head the same ball and inadvertently set up Bolton’s Lee Chung-Yong to nod past an onrushing Muslera.

Game on for the last 20 minutes and maybe extra time? It was looking good. Unfortunately for Korea, their defensive frailties came to the fore again, although to be fair, no goalkeeper on the planet would have saved Suarez’s brilliant swerving shot which propelled Uruguay into the quarter-finals. Korea could (and should) have equalized through Lee Dong-Gook in the closing minutes but it was not to be and Uruguay are through.

USA 1 GHANA 2 (aet)

The Americans have been the comeback kings of the tournament and to their immense credit they pulled back the remaining African nation to 1-1, after sustained pressure in the 2nd half through Landon Donovan’s 62nd minute penalty. Kevin Prince Boating had given the Black Stars an early lead in the 5th minute from range and Ghana had been in control of most of the 1st half. But the Americans fought back hard and were certainly the better team when the referee signaled for extra time. Sadly, for USA they could not complete the comeback, due to a moment of individual brilliance from Gyan, fending off two American defenders before slamming the ball past a helpless Tim Howard. This time there was no reply from USA and so Ghana is now (deservedly) only the third African nation to ever make it to the quarter-finals, with a good chance of being the first ever in the semis.

EVEN THE LOSERS

Group G: Brazil 0 Portugal 0 | North Korea 0 Ivory Coast 3

Group H: Chile 1 Spain 2 | Switzerland 0 Honduras 0

Not a great night for World Cup football as security of qualification took precedence over the playing of “beautiful game”. This malady even afflicted Brazil, as the Samba Boys played it safe against former colonial masters, Portugal, in a bad-tempered scrappy game. The scoreless draw ensured passage to the next round whilst North Korea and Ivory Coast were sent packing.

Over in Group H, the excitement of two attacking minded teams viz Spain and Chile made for an intriguing encounter till the last ten minutes when both teams were aware that the Swiss were being held scoreless by Honduras. That final result pushed both Spain and Chile into the knockout stage, whilst the Swiss must be wondering what went wrong after starting so well against the Spanish.

That’s it, group stages down and dusted and so begins the nerve-rattling knockout phase where proficiency in penalty shootouts becomes of prime importance. With France and Italy eliminated, and with Brazil and Spain topping their respective groups, the Brazil-Spain final is very much on. All remains to be seen…

FROM HEROES TO ZEROES

Group E: Japan 3 Denmark 1 | Holland 2 Cameroon 1

Group F: Slovakia 3 Italy 2 | Paraguay 0 New Zealand 0

How did BOTH finalists from the 2006 World Cup end up bottom of their respective groups? For France, it was internal strife that did them in and for the Italians, the failure to replace aging players proved too much in the final analysis. Famously noted to be slow starters in the past, the Italians could not deliver when crunch time came and the unfancied Slovakians pierced the vaunted Italian rearguard three times to record a memorable victory. Italy, like France, will not be missed and that says a lot for the new World Cup order.

Over in Group E, Japan impressed against the Danes, scoring two superb free kick goals (from Honda and Endo) and proved that Asian teams are on the rise indeed. Although held in Africa, it is the African teams who have disappointed in the World Cup as only Ghana has made it through to the next round. Cameroon could not even get a consolation point from the Dutch and their toothlessness in front out of goal came back to bite them again.

After a tentative start, World Cup 2010 is now promising to be one of the most exciting of recent memory. Hopefully, the knockout phase brings more thrills and spills for football fans.

WHO DARES WINS

Group C: Slovenia 0 England 1 | Algeria 0 USA 1

Group D: Ghana 0 Germany 1 | Serbia 1 Australia 2

As a England fan, I was relieved that England managed to scrape 1-0 past a starkly inferior Slovenian side but even as the full-time whistle blew, over in the USA-Algeria game, Landon Donovan scored a late injury time to put the Americans in pole position in the group and consign the English to a second round encounter with the winner of Group D. Which as turns out is Germany, who defeated the Ghanaians rather fortuitously, it must be said. A mouth-watering prospect when one considers the great England-Germany World Cup matches of the past.

As a Spurs fan, I was pleased that it was Jermain Defoe who was England’s hero on the day, hopefully (for Defoe) erasing the terrible injustice of being left out of the 2006 squad due to the inclusion of the 16 year old Theo Walcott. Notably it was from a pin point cross delivered by James Milner in the true English style. England probably deserved to increase the scoreline with Rooney and Gerrard going close but Defoe’s goal proved decisive.

I must applaud the fighting spirit of the Americans once again, as they rescued their World Cup dreams, seconds away from elimination. The USA team never gave up and got their reward in the dying seconds of the game. The Ghana-USA match up will also be intriguing.

As for the Aussies and the Serbians, although they are out of the World Cup, both teams did their country proud and ultimately went down fighting (unlike say, the spoilt French brats – certainly the worst team in the competition.At least the Algerians played with pride, ironic when you realize the bulk of the Algerians are French-born!)

THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL

Group A: France 1 South Africa 2 | Uruguay 1 Mexico 0

Group B: Greece 0 Argentina 2 | Nigeria 2 South Korea 2

Drama! The final matches in Groups A & B decided the four teams who would progress into the round of 16 and the four others who would be left behind. In Group A, South Africa’s sentimental defeat of the hapless France would turn out to be a hollow victory as an inferior goal difference denied them second place in the group. That said, the French collapse in this competition is nothing short of scandalous with team spirit in tatters. The rather disgraceful sight of outgoing French coach Raymond Domenech refusing to shake the hand of his South African counterpart Carlos Alberto Parreira at the final whistle, merely confirmed the depths that the French team had plumbed.

Personally, I would argue that this end result is justice for Henry’s handball against the Irish and for the political games the French players decided to engage in with Domenech. For a country blessed with such talented players, it is criminal that they chose to act like prima donnas, disgracing their fans, country and flag with juvenile behavior. Whereas, the hosts South Africans played with heart and verve to at least go down fighting in front of their own passionate fans. So I got my predictions totally wrong about this group as Uruguay and Mexico go through.

As for Group B, despite fielding a weakened side, Diego Maradona’s Argentina still dominated proceedings although the Greeks were happy to concede possession, as they usually do, hoping to score from a counter attacking break. It may have taken a longer time, but finally the Argentineans broke down the Greek resistance and earned a deserved 2-0 win which confirmed their 100% record so far. I must say that I truly dislike teams like Greece who have no qualms about playing negative anti-football but was well pleased that their destructive tactics bore no fruit. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I’m sure all Asia (bar North Korea) rejoiced at South Korea’s qualification for the next round. The South Koreans clearly are too defensively naive to survive beyond the second round and if not for some astonishing misses from the Nigerian strikers (especially Yakubu!), would have been taking the early flight back to Seoul. That said, both teams’ gung ho style made for enthralling viewing, including unintentionally humorous moments starring those comedic Nigerian forwards. So 1 out of 2 predictions right here with South Korea surprising the more fancied Greeks and Nigerians.

May the drama continue!