Wherever you go right now, especially when you are socializing with family members, relatives and/or friends, you are most likely to be asked, “Holland or Spain?”. Trust me, today alone, I was asked for an umpteenth time about which team I am going to root for in the final match of World Cup 2010 between Holland and Spain. Almost everyone if not every single person who likes or even only having little glimpses of football are talking about Holland and Spain. Not that they can be blamed though. This is the finale, the mother of all football games, the biggest ever game of the football calendar. However, everyone of us, at least at some point this week forgets one huge thing about the World Cup, and that's none other than the presence of one more match, the 3rd place playoff which is contested between the two loser teams in the semi-finals round of the World Cup. This year, that 3rd place playoff to determine the which team has the right to become the 3rd placed team in the competition. In simpler terms, and for those Olympic geeks, it's about “completing the podium”. It is sad that such a game which is supposed to be some sort of “pseudo-final” can be forgotten rather easily by the general public as well as the staunchest of fans of football in the world. For those who care, they are divided by a huge gulf of two separate opinions regarding the justification of the existence of this much forgotten match. This World Cup's 3rd place playoff will be contested between Uruguay and Germany who were defeated by Holland and Spain respectively in the semi-finals, and this compels me to just contribute my two cents' worth on this issue, and trying to fathom the possible motives for people denouncing as well as defending the playoff game.
The first and only fact that causes this playoff game to be forgotten by the public is because of the very fact that people are only focused on the final. This is quite understandable as the final game itself is ultimately the penultimate game which would decide who will be crowned as the champions of that particular edition of the World Cup. Especially with the very fact for this particular edition whereby the final will be contested between two footballing powerhouses that have historically been dubbed “the best team to not have won the World Cup Trophy”, Spain and Holland. Let's start with Spain. Besides the bizarre Final Group Stage system in place at the 1950 World Cup, they have never been able to go beyond the quarter-finals stage of the competition. This is despite the fact that Spain have traditionally been possessing an array of world beating talents on paper, but for one reason or another, they have always been failing big time to reach the last four. As for Holland, this is after all the country that mesmerized the world with its Total Football style especially in the 1970s, and in that decade, they reached the final of the World Cup on two consecutive editions of the World Cup in 1974 and 1978, losing to both hosts West Germany and Argentina respectively. Just like Spain, throughout their history, their squad have been filled with world class players but their squads have always been marred with troubles mostly internal strife among players or even player(s) and the manager.
A clash between those two teams who are competing fiercely to finally win their first ever World Cup Trophy and finally have one star above their national team's crest will always be a huge spectacle, and it is inevitable that the hype and the build-up of the game are huge and sweeping the entire planet. This is valid for every edition of the World Cup, but due to the aforementioned two countries that are contesting the final, this further consigns the 3rd place playoff to a mediocre game and even an irrelevant game that should not exist. Everyone is thinking, “come on, just get on with the final, we don't want to see those two losers anymore in this World Cup!”, of course the loudest of that would come from the neutrals, but for this World Cup, I am pretty damn sure that the neutrals totally outnumber the number of the Spaniards and the Dutch in this world.
Due to the above reason, and also due to the fact that both teams contesting the 3rd place playoff have just been defeated within a week in the semi-finals, both teams are likely to be lacking in morale as well as anymore drive to compete. After all, they have just been defeated and are simply denied a place in the final and of course the opportunity to grab the World Cup Trophy. The purists of the competition would argue that the whole point of having matches in the World Cup competition is to advance to the next round and to get closer and closer to the ultimate prize, which is none other than the World Cup Trophy itself. However, technically the 3rd place playoff is nothing of that sort. There's no further round to advance to, and there's no longer a trophy to be striven for. According to the purists who really take the concept of “knockout rounds” probably a tad too seriously and to the letter, the loser is knocked out and that's it, there will be no further involvement of the losers in the tournament. In other words, and perhaps a reference to a pro-wrestling match-up type, “Loser Leaves Town” and that's all. Besides, it should not be interesting to see two teams who are forced to play one another right after they have just suffered rather difficult to take defeats. It would perhaps be just like kicking a man when he's down, or in this case, kicking two men who are down, and then force them to bring their A-games and fight one another to determine the best among the losers.
Despite all that, we have seen throughout the history of the World Cup that the 3rd place playoff has always been a showcase of a rather liberal and gung-ho attacking style of play between two teams who have nothing more to lose and nothing more to compete for. For example, the 2002 World Cup's 3rd place game between co-hosts South Korea and Turkey ended 3-2 in the Turkish's favor as both teams attacked each other liberally in an entertaining match. Same goes for the 2006's edition as hosts Germany beat Portugal 3-1 in a glittering display of attacking football, especially from the host team in which the German fans in attendance had a lot to cheer their national team in that match to cap their marvelous World Cup performance.
Talking about cheers from fans, the 1998's 3rd place playoff also triggered plenty of cheers and plenty to be proud about to the citizens of a certain country, and that country was Croatia, a debutant to the World Cup competition. Croatia was not quite a renowned footballing nation at that time, and blessed with an array of talents such as Robert Prosinecki and Davor Suker, the country which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 dazzled their citizens and won many of fans among the neutrals when they went all the way to the semi-finals of the competition before bowing out in the semi-finals to the hosts and eventual champions France in which Lilian Thuram scored a brace which were ultimately the only two goals he had ever scored for his country. They lost to France 2-1. The dream of the tiny nation was squashed with that defeat, but they still had their moment to shine, and that was the 3rd place playoffs. They were up against Holland (who lost to Brazil on penalties), and to cut a long story short, they managed to beat Holland 2-1 and those who had shed tears in the semi-finals were now shedding tears of joy. Arguably, this achievement of finishing 3rd in the 1998 World Cup was the catalyst of the nation's slow but steady rise to become a good (but not yet great) footballing side and are still continuing to improve as a footballing nation. The confidence, the pride, and the joy of 1998 kicked things off for Croatia, and thus the importance of the 3rd place playoff cannot be underestimated so lightly.
Putting things in context, Uruguay and Germany, the two teams competing for the third place in the competition will stand to gain plenty of benefits if they manage to win this encounter. Uruguay, a historically great footballing nation, especially in the first 50 years of 20th century, have somewhat been in a slump ever since and a 3rd place finish in this World Cup might trigger one big change in this country and wake this sleeping giant which has been in some sort of an unwanted hibernation especially among its citizens. As for Germany, which has a dynamic youthful squad, a great victory in this tie will definitely restore their massive confidence seen in their double drubbing of England and Argentina in the last 16 and quarter finals respectively after that anti-climactic defeat against Spain in the semi-finals. At the very least, these youngsters would end the World Cup in glory, in celebration, and they would go home with a medal, although that's not the color they want, but nevertheless, they manage to end their campaign with a win, and this will go a long way in ensuring that the youngsters will continue to believe in themselves and start to pursue more glories, starting from the qualification campaign to Euro 2012 and the competition proper two years from now.
Lastly, did anyone mention medal? And yes, there is a winners' medal being dispensed for the winners of this 3rd place playoff tie. Again, for the Olympic junkies out there, the 3rd place match indeed completes the “podium” for the World Cup. I remember Olympic Games 2004 in which the US Basketball team, dubbed the best team in the world by far, being defeated in the semi-finals stage which totally shook the basketball universe at that time. They were expected to snatch gold and no chance or belief whatsoever were attributed to any other teams to challenge the US team to glory. Ultimately they were defeated against all odds, and they had to contend with trying to get the bronze medal, in other words the third place in the competition. I remember the US team was quite in a disarray, everyone was demoralized and were basically just in a shell-shocked mode. Tim Duncan, the US Team's captain reportedly told his team during the pep talk before the game that “Hey, even if it's nothing more than the bronze medal that we are aiming for right now. It's still better than nothin'!” and they duly won the third place match to win that bronze medal and third place.
From that story, I won't be surprised if the respective captains of Uruguay and Germany included at least an equivalent of what Tim Duncan had said to the US team prior to their 3rd place play-off. So what if they fail to compete for the World Cup. They are still in it, there's still something significant to be fought very hard for with all their might. From restored confidence, possible resurrection and/or emergence of a football nation (re-emergence for the case of Uruguay), and of course the fact that the teams which are always remembered are the 1st, of course, the runners-up, and the third placed team. While the proverbial fourth placed team is forgotten. For those who love to surf Wikipedia, just check out the various World cup editions, as well as the aforementioned basketball section of the 2004 Olympics, and just glance at the very beginning of the page, and in the article, the first, second, and third team in the competition are stated while the “fourth” placed team are not.
Also, the match between Uruguay and Germany will be further spiced up by the fact that the race to the Golden Boot is still pretty much open for Klose's Germany, and even if he fails to capture the tournament's Golden Boot (which means his rivals David Villa and Wesley Sneijder score some goals in the final), two goals from the veteran German striker would be enough for him to surpass Ronaldo (the Brazilian version) as the top scorer in the World Cup finals of all time. Surely Klose will relish this chance to make history for himself and to regain the record for his country (after the Brazilian had surpassed Gerd Muller, a German).
Not to forget the fact that two key players of both teams Luis Suarez for Uruguay and Thomas Muller for Germany will also be eager to perform for their countries again after both men had been suspended for their semi-final games. They will also be eager to compete for the Young Player of the Tournament award. All in all, for this match-up, everything still to play for for both countries, and there's no reason not to be psyched up and be compelled to win this one gloriously.
Therefore, no matter how many reasons that detractors of this play-off game want to bring up such as the few mentioned at the beginning of this piece, there are always reasons which totally justify the continuing existence of the 3rd place playoff game stated just above and perhaps those reasons are much bigger and much more significant than the reasons to play down the importance of the 3rd place playoff game. Besides, there's still the bronze medal to be played for, a special glory in its own way, and also a way to end the World Cup Campaign in victory, basking in the loud cheers (and vuvuzela sound for this World Cup) of their fans, as well as receiving the Bronze Medal, which many world class players actually do not possess, and there's every reason to be proud of the bronze medal. I know the very last reason might border with insanity, but that's a fact. Nevertheless, the upcoming 3rd place play-off game between Uruguay and Germany is the second last game of the World Cup 2010, and arguably will be the second last time that ordinary fans like yours truly could hear the much hated and equally much loved unique sound of vuvuzela which constantly reminds us that this is the first World Cup in Africa, and this is the vintage and exotic African culture. Also, the game will promise to be an explosive one with plenty of goals to be scored.
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Argentina 0-4 Germany World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals
Just after the Group Stage matches have been concluded in World Cup 2010, South American countries were so dominating with every single countries qualified to the last 16 in a so scintillating manner beating everything in their path and playing beautiful football yearned so much by fans to boot. Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay all qualified in a convincing manner into the last 16 of the competition. At this point of time, I even read a long-winded and detailed assessment on the various reasons for the dominance of the South American countries, and of course laced with superlatives. But, something went terribly wrong from there onwards as the South American countries fell out one by one from the competition. Argentina were dumped unceremoniously last night against Germany in which it was really supposed to be a tightly contested match between two giants in the game, but Germany were so extraterrestrial that it did not happen. Germany totally and thoroughly obliterated Maradona's boys, and to think that Thomas Muller, the one Maradona “mistook” as a ballboy in a press conference dishing out the most damage, I shudder to think what Maradona would be feeling right now.
Actually, what Germany did was very simple, they took apart Argentina ruthlessly by taking a leaf out of their arch-rivals Holland's book in which they exploited a weak link in Argentina's squad just like how Holland exploited the weak link of Brazil in their match. It was Michel Bastos for Brazil on the left flank, but for Argentina, it was their right flank and the hapless Nicolas Otamendi which was truly overwhelmed and exposed by the Germans. In fact, all of the four goals conceded by Argentina were all from blitzkrieg (literally, as the speed of each attack is out of this world) piercing attacks from the left flank (thus Argentina's right). Two German facts. First, Saucer shaped flying vehicles were reportedly invented in Germany as blueprints or even prototypes of them were reportedly retrieved from Germany upon the Third Reich's defeat. The second fact is that, whenever we hear the world “Germany” or “Germans”, one thing comes to mind, “efficiency”. First up, the Germans really moved and passed the ball like how UFOs maneuver, just like how they thrashed England badly in the last 16 match, and just like the efficiency of the UFOs shape and mechanism, they do their moves in an efficient manner. Despite the wicked twists and turns all over the field, they really wasted little energy if not at all and no single move was wasted. They also totally exposed Argentina's general weakness which is their back-line especially the right back position but they also efficiently and ruthlessly prevented Argentina from showing their strong points, which is their supposedly overwhelming attacks with an array of world class attackers at Maradona's disposal in this tournament. Also, to Germany's full credit and/or to an off day for the Argentine attackers, Germany foiled each attempts on goal very very easily in which Argentina were only restricted to futile long shots and even Messi was powerless against the German defense. Even if they got behind the German defense, such as how Higuain managed to “score” in the 36th minute, he was caught offside. Besides stopping Argentine attacks right on its tracks, they immediately launched their extra terrestrial counter led by Ozil and Muller which was truly devastating each time for the shaky Argentina's defenders.
As for Argentina, it still baffles me as how Maradona managed to leave a gaping hole to be exploited ruthlessly by the efficient German UFOs. Nicolas Otamendi looked shaky throughout the match and Jonas would have been a much better choice. This is also in light of the fact that the Argentine defense was already very porous due to the absence of Walter Samuel, who earned the nickname “The Wall” certainly not for nothing. Tough luck for Argentina as the Inter defender was absent when Argentina needed him the most in this tournament. When Otamendi received a yellow card early in the match, I was sure that he was Argentina's answer to Michel Bastos, or even worse to Felipe Melo, and when I saw several Argentina substitutes warming up early on I was relieved as I believed Maradona was about to make a very early change to alter the game's proceedings especially as Argentina's plans were failing as they conceded very early in the match and were in danger to concede more (which they did in the second half). I expected Jonas to replace the hapless Otamendi as he would be much more sturdy and solid in thwarting the German Blitzkrieg attacks from their left flank. But, Otamendi stayed on.
In the second half, Maradona did not make any changes and it duly got worse and worse and worse for Argentina as they conceded one more goal in the 67th minute. After this, Otamendi was finally brought off, but even if it was for Jonas, it was too late. But it wasn't for Jonas, but for the attacking midfield Javier Pastore! Instead of plugging the leak, it only caused the already porous Argentine defense to be even more porous. At this time, with their attack totally shackled, Higuain caught in the efficient German offside traps plenty of times (as his style is in the mold of Inzaghi and van Nistelrooy) while Messi was closed down by 4-5 Germans when he tries to weave his magic, and their defense was totally shambolic and totally in chaos at this point of time as they conceded one more goal through Arne Friedrich, a defender scoring his first ever goal for the national team in the 73rd minute, a substantiation and a stamp of approval that Germany played close to their rivals' Total Football and/or Argentina's defense preferring the final whistle to be blown there and then. In the 75th minute, Sergio Aguero was brought on by Maradona to try to change the game, but at 3-0 down, it was futile, even if other two Messi-s were brought on at that time, it would have been futile. With Argentina all but given up, and Maradona's face expression showed it all, as he ditched his usual animated and enthusiastic antics on the touchline and for the first time in this tournament he stood there in a stoic manner and was pale-faced from then on. At the 88th minute, Klose scored one more goal to make it 4-0 and also took his personal tally in the World Cup tied with Gerd Muller with 14 goals and just 2 more goals away to overtake Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima (so that people, especially younger ones won't be confused with the Portuguese version).
As for Maradona, it would be inevitable from here on that the pundits and the media in general will be licking their lips with plenty of ammunition to be dished out to the coach. Once again, every section of the media and most if not all pundits will again be condemning the man which they have just started to praise and acknowledge as a good manager. However, the most potent and plentiful ammunition will be from the Interistas, in which they will undoubtedly re-ignite the debate about the exclusion of Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso from the Argentina squad, a debate which has been silent for a while prior to his horrendous defeat. In any case, looking at how weak and exploited Argentine's right back position was, even I am starting to be carried off by those Interistas in which had Javier Zanetti occupied that right back position, all four Germany goals might have been prevented as all four goals came from the Germany's left flank as mentioned in detail above. Javier Zanetti is certainly more solid and capable than Otamendi and even Jonas, whose natural position is as a left winger.
It was a bad day for South American football, just when pundits around the world started to embrace Maradona as a world class coach, with one journalist from a top newspaper even go as far as writing a long winded formal apology to Maradona, and another explaining in detail full of superlatives to South American football and the reasons for their dominance in great detail, South American teams fall down one by one, and after Argentina was knocked out in the match above, Paraguay was also knocked out by a somewhat fortunate Spain side once again having to thank David Villa as their messiah. Just two rounds from the seemingly imminent conversion of World Cup 2010 to Copa America 2010, with only Uruguay as the only remaining South American representative, many pundits and fans are already predicting a final which is the rematch of 1974 World Cup final between rivals Germany and Holland. In other words, instead of Copa America 2010, now it is becoming Euro 2010.
Actually, what Germany did was very simple, they took apart Argentina ruthlessly by taking a leaf out of their arch-rivals Holland's book in which they exploited a weak link in Argentina's squad just like how Holland exploited the weak link of Brazil in their match. It was Michel Bastos for Brazil on the left flank, but for Argentina, it was their right flank and the hapless Nicolas Otamendi which was truly overwhelmed and exposed by the Germans. In fact, all of the four goals conceded by Argentina were all from blitzkrieg (literally, as the speed of each attack is out of this world) piercing attacks from the left flank (thus Argentina's right). Two German facts. First, Saucer shaped flying vehicles were reportedly invented in Germany as blueprints or even prototypes of them were reportedly retrieved from Germany upon the Third Reich's defeat. The second fact is that, whenever we hear the world “Germany” or “Germans”, one thing comes to mind, “efficiency”. First up, the Germans really moved and passed the ball like how UFOs maneuver, just like how they thrashed England badly in the last 16 match, and just like the efficiency of the UFOs shape and mechanism, they do their moves in an efficient manner. Despite the wicked twists and turns all over the field, they really wasted little energy if not at all and no single move was wasted. They also totally exposed Argentina's general weakness which is their back-line especially the right back position but they also efficiently and ruthlessly prevented Argentina from showing their strong points, which is their supposedly overwhelming attacks with an array of world class attackers at Maradona's disposal in this tournament. Also, to Germany's full credit and/or to an off day for the Argentine attackers, Germany foiled each attempts on goal very very easily in which Argentina were only restricted to futile long shots and even Messi was powerless against the German defense. Even if they got behind the German defense, such as how Higuain managed to “score” in the 36th minute, he was caught offside. Besides stopping Argentine attacks right on its tracks, they immediately launched their extra terrestrial counter led by Ozil and Muller which was truly devastating each time for the shaky Argentina's defenders.
As for Argentina, it still baffles me as how Maradona managed to leave a gaping hole to be exploited ruthlessly by the efficient German UFOs. Nicolas Otamendi looked shaky throughout the match and Jonas would have been a much better choice. This is also in light of the fact that the Argentine defense was already very porous due to the absence of Walter Samuel, who earned the nickname “The Wall” certainly not for nothing. Tough luck for Argentina as the Inter defender was absent when Argentina needed him the most in this tournament. When Otamendi received a yellow card early in the match, I was sure that he was Argentina's answer to Michel Bastos, or even worse to Felipe Melo, and when I saw several Argentina substitutes warming up early on I was relieved as I believed Maradona was about to make a very early change to alter the game's proceedings especially as Argentina's plans were failing as they conceded very early in the match and were in danger to concede more (which they did in the second half). I expected Jonas to replace the hapless Otamendi as he would be much more sturdy and solid in thwarting the German Blitzkrieg attacks from their left flank. But, Otamendi stayed on.
In the second half, Maradona did not make any changes and it duly got worse and worse and worse for Argentina as they conceded one more goal in the 67th minute. After this, Otamendi was finally brought off, but even if it was for Jonas, it was too late. But it wasn't for Jonas, but for the attacking midfield Javier Pastore! Instead of plugging the leak, it only caused the already porous Argentine defense to be even more porous. At this time, with their attack totally shackled, Higuain caught in the efficient German offside traps plenty of times (as his style is in the mold of Inzaghi and van Nistelrooy) while Messi was closed down by 4-5 Germans when he tries to weave his magic, and their defense was totally shambolic and totally in chaos at this point of time as they conceded one more goal through Arne Friedrich, a defender scoring his first ever goal for the national team in the 73rd minute, a substantiation and a stamp of approval that Germany played close to their rivals' Total Football and/or Argentina's defense preferring the final whistle to be blown there and then. In the 75th minute, Sergio Aguero was brought on by Maradona to try to change the game, but at 3-0 down, it was futile, even if other two Messi-s were brought on at that time, it would have been futile. With Argentina all but given up, and Maradona's face expression showed it all, as he ditched his usual animated and enthusiastic antics on the touchline and for the first time in this tournament he stood there in a stoic manner and was pale-faced from then on. At the 88th minute, Klose scored one more goal to make it 4-0 and also took his personal tally in the World Cup tied with Gerd Muller with 14 goals and just 2 more goals away to overtake Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima (so that people, especially younger ones won't be confused with the Portuguese version).
As for Maradona, it would be inevitable from here on that the pundits and the media in general will be licking their lips with plenty of ammunition to be dished out to the coach. Once again, every section of the media and most if not all pundits will again be condemning the man which they have just started to praise and acknowledge as a good manager. However, the most potent and plentiful ammunition will be from the Interistas, in which they will undoubtedly re-ignite the debate about the exclusion of Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso from the Argentina squad, a debate which has been silent for a while prior to his horrendous defeat. In any case, looking at how weak and exploited Argentine's right back position was, even I am starting to be carried off by those Interistas in which had Javier Zanetti occupied that right back position, all four Germany goals might have been prevented as all four goals came from the Germany's left flank as mentioned in detail above. Javier Zanetti is certainly more solid and capable than Otamendi and even Jonas, whose natural position is as a left winger.
It was a bad day for South American football, just when pundits around the world started to embrace Maradona as a world class coach, with one journalist from a top newspaper even go as far as writing a long winded formal apology to Maradona, and another explaining in detail full of superlatives to South American football and the reasons for their dominance in great detail, South American teams fall down one by one, and after Argentina was knocked out in the match above, Paraguay was also knocked out by a somewhat fortunate Spain side once again having to thank David Villa as their messiah. Just two rounds from the seemingly imminent conversion of World Cup 2010 to Copa America 2010, with only Uruguay as the only remaining South American representative, many pundits and fans are already predicting a final which is the rematch of 1974 World Cup final between rivals Germany and Holland. In other words, instead of Copa America 2010, now it is becoming Euro 2010.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Germany 4-1 England World Cup 2010 Last 16
Prior to the conclusion of this match, every section of football media around the world heavily used World War I and II (mainly the latter) puns and references. Even yours truly wasn't able to resist such temptations and went on to make a rather direct comparison between World Cup 2010 and World War II. Now, after that result, nobody dares to make one, I am sure. Any attempts to even try to ask a “what if” questions regarding if World War II had ended the way last night's match did or conjure up a scenario of what would happen to the world in an alternate universe, I would just dare to go as far as say that for one, German would have been the international language, and a certain swastika logo would have been everywhere, and for the Asians, they would be speaking in Japanese. Although the sight of pretty girls in sailor uniforms would be a sight to behold, I still shudder to think of such scenarios. Even the Germans and Japanese themselves would shiver thinking about that. So I shall go mainstream and just throw anything related to wars out of the window.
I would love to argue that Germany's comprehensive win against England was not because of the fact that Germany is an all conquering team which is ready to even face an extra terrestrial team had a team UFO landed on earth and challenge us earthlings to a “friendly” match of football. I would love to think that it's all due to the propaganda of the English dominated soccer media of the world. However, it would not be fair to the England team, and especially for Frank Lampard who has managed to control the Jabulani so perfectly and were denied a goal or two because of the crossbar as well as a huge refereeing error in which the time and space seemed to be distorted and overlapped with a certain event in 1966. All of us, especially England fans are entitled to argue that the controversy involving Lampard was the absolute defining point of the match.
At the beginning of the match, Germany were already the much better team and they were 2-0 up within 30 minutes from Klose and Podolski. In both occasions, Germany showed that their “Teamgeist” was certainly there as their passing and off the ball movements were truly mesmerizing and out of this world. The attacks were so swift that they resembled the wicked maneuvers of UFOs that witnesses usually report upon seeing one or a group of them in the sky. However, perhaps it's the natural instinct of any team to shift a gear or two down after they have taken a lead, let alone a comfortable 2-0 lead or perhaps it was simply a sense of urgency for England, they started to strike back and threaten the German goal. They managed to pull one back at the 37th minute when Mathew Upson scored a towering header. Even after that they continued to attack and attack and one minute later was when the a huge controversy occurred. Lampard had shown with his direct free kicks and long shots that he was able to control the much derided Jabulani ball so perfectly and he was only denied from scoring by the crossbar. However, he was to be denied in a spectacular fashion. On a regular England attack, Lampard launched a perfect shot towards goal. What happened was more or less a repeat of the incident in the 1966 World Cup Final between Germany and England in which the England player Geoff Hurst struck the bar, and the ball bounced onto the ground, and bounce out of the goal. The linesman (Tofik Bakhramov, still famous among England fans) and the referee awarded the goal in which grainy replay from that time shows that it did not cross the line. Lampard's shot went pretty much the same way, the only difference was that the ball had entered the goal, in fact it was halfway into the goal, but amazingly it bounced out again and into the safe hands of the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
To be frank, the ball had entered the net. It should have been a goal. Everyone knows it. For example, I have just seen a joke picture about that goal, and according to that pic (which must have been made by a German), it wasn't a goal because in that pic, the goal line bent so much that it was still behind the ball. But even the person who created that funny photo should know deep in his heart that it was a goal as he simply had to bend the goal line so much so that the ball was still in front of the goal line. It was as obvious as that, that the goal was already scored. This will certainly re-ignite the famous/infamous technology debate in football. However, it is likely that things would go nowhere as FIFA president Sepp Blatter has made it clear that it is such controversies and intense debates after the game that according to him conjures up more passion within the game and makes the game more interesting. But I think something has to be done as referees might receive death threats due to this kind of controversies and might even be forced to retire early sch as what had happened to Andres Frisk just to name one. The long term effects might be dire such as the sport might have too little referees as young potential referees might be too scared to become one due to the controversies and what happened to their predecessors.
Back to the match, despite the controversy, England was still attacking Germany but soon, half time came to Germany's rescue. But nevertheless, the damage had been done to England and the complexion of the match was arguably to be so different had the goal was acknowledged.
Even in the second half, England still dominate and Lampard even hit the bar one more time from his free kick. However, as the half wore on and England committed more and more bodies forward, they were prone to any counterattack. Germany launched an extremely swift, yet another extra terrestrial UFO maneuvers passing from flank to flank led by the tiny but fast Mesut Ozil. It culminated in the young Thomas Muller finishing it beautifully to make it 3-1 for Germany. Just over three minutes later, yet another counterattack initiated by Ozil, another UFO like maneuvers, and again finished by Muller who got to the end of Ozil's cross. 4-1 and certainly England were down and out.
After this goal, Germany simply took off their feet from the pedal and were simply happy to just pass the ball around among them to loud cheers from the Germany fans and that's about it. Since Argentina won 3-1 against Mexico, the next match at the end of this week will be between Argentina and Germany. Yet another big and explosive match, a rematch of the 1990 World Cup final for Maradona and a rematch of 2006 Quarter finals for the players in which they lost to the Germans in the penalty shootout thanks to Lehmann's famous piece of paper containing the shooting habits of the Argentine players.
Had Lampard's goal was counted at that time, it was arguable that the match could have gone on to extra time or even penalties, or considering how England dominated, England might even have pulled off an amazing comeback win after being 2-0 down. But at least, at least for the Germans, the intense and long winded and rather futile debate about the 1966 incident has finally, finally been exorcised with the Lampard incident. Also, it was such a delight to see a great team chemistry in the German team, and that they have more superstars to rise to become world beaters such as Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Thomas Muller (who was voted man of the match last night). In 2006, it was players such as Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Lahm and others, now they have yet another set of emerging superstars. A really amazing team with marvelous regenerating prospects. I shudder to think how the new superstars would be like in 2014 but at the moment, Germany will face Argentina, and it will be another explosive match between these two great football nations.
I would love to argue that Germany's comprehensive win against England was not because of the fact that Germany is an all conquering team which is ready to even face an extra terrestrial team had a team UFO landed on earth and challenge us earthlings to a “friendly” match of football. I would love to think that it's all due to the propaganda of the English dominated soccer media of the world. However, it would not be fair to the England team, and especially for Frank Lampard who has managed to control the Jabulani so perfectly and were denied a goal or two because of the crossbar as well as a huge refereeing error in which the time and space seemed to be distorted and overlapped with a certain event in 1966. All of us, especially England fans are entitled to argue that the controversy involving Lampard was the absolute defining point of the match.
At the beginning of the match, Germany were already the much better team and they were 2-0 up within 30 minutes from Klose and Podolski. In both occasions, Germany showed that their “Teamgeist” was certainly there as their passing and off the ball movements were truly mesmerizing and out of this world. The attacks were so swift that they resembled the wicked maneuvers of UFOs that witnesses usually report upon seeing one or a group of them in the sky. However, perhaps it's the natural instinct of any team to shift a gear or two down after they have taken a lead, let alone a comfortable 2-0 lead or perhaps it was simply a sense of urgency for England, they started to strike back and threaten the German goal. They managed to pull one back at the 37th minute when Mathew Upson scored a towering header. Even after that they continued to attack and attack and one minute later was when the a huge controversy occurred. Lampard had shown with his direct free kicks and long shots that he was able to control the much derided Jabulani ball so perfectly and he was only denied from scoring by the crossbar. However, he was to be denied in a spectacular fashion. On a regular England attack, Lampard launched a perfect shot towards goal. What happened was more or less a repeat of the incident in the 1966 World Cup Final between Germany and England in which the England player Geoff Hurst struck the bar, and the ball bounced onto the ground, and bounce out of the goal. The linesman (Tofik Bakhramov, still famous among England fans) and the referee awarded the goal in which grainy replay from that time shows that it did not cross the line. Lampard's shot went pretty much the same way, the only difference was that the ball had entered the goal, in fact it was halfway into the goal, but amazingly it bounced out again and into the safe hands of the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
To be frank, the ball had entered the net. It should have been a goal. Everyone knows it. For example, I have just seen a joke picture about that goal, and according to that pic (which must have been made by a German), it wasn't a goal because in that pic, the goal line bent so much that it was still behind the ball. But even the person who created that funny photo should know deep in his heart that it was a goal as he simply had to bend the goal line so much so that the ball was still in front of the goal line. It was as obvious as that, that the goal was already scored. This will certainly re-ignite the famous/infamous technology debate in football. However, it is likely that things would go nowhere as FIFA president Sepp Blatter has made it clear that it is such controversies and intense debates after the game that according to him conjures up more passion within the game and makes the game more interesting. But I think something has to be done as referees might receive death threats due to this kind of controversies and might even be forced to retire early sch as what had happened to Andres Frisk just to name one. The long term effects might be dire such as the sport might have too little referees as young potential referees might be too scared to become one due to the controversies and what happened to their predecessors.
Back to the match, despite the controversy, England was still attacking Germany but soon, half time came to Germany's rescue. But nevertheless, the damage had been done to England and the complexion of the match was arguably to be so different had the goal was acknowledged.
Even in the second half, England still dominate and Lampard even hit the bar one more time from his free kick. However, as the half wore on and England committed more and more bodies forward, they were prone to any counterattack. Germany launched an extremely swift, yet another extra terrestrial UFO maneuvers passing from flank to flank led by the tiny but fast Mesut Ozil. It culminated in the young Thomas Muller finishing it beautifully to make it 3-1 for Germany. Just over three minutes later, yet another counterattack initiated by Ozil, another UFO like maneuvers, and again finished by Muller who got to the end of Ozil's cross. 4-1 and certainly England were down and out.
After this goal, Germany simply took off their feet from the pedal and were simply happy to just pass the ball around among them to loud cheers from the Germany fans and that's about it. Since Argentina won 3-1 against Mexico, the next match at the end of this week will be between Argentina and Germany. Yet another big and explosive match, a rematch of the 1990 World Cup final for Maradona and a rematch of 2006 Quarter finals for the players in which they lost to the Germans in the penalty shootout thanks to Lehmann's famous piece of paper containing the shooting habits of the Argentine players.
Had Lampard's goal was counted at that time, it was arguable that the match could have gone on to extra time or even penalties, or considering how England dominated, England might even have pulled off an amazing comeback win after being 2-0 down. But at least, at least for the Germans, the intense and long winded and rather futile debate about the 1966 incident has finally, finally been exorcised with the Lampard incident. Also, it was such a delight to see a great team chemistry in the German team, and that they have more superstars to rise to become world beaters such as Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Thomas Muller (who was voted man of the match last night). In 2006, it was players such as Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Lahm and others, now they have yet another set of emerging superstars. A really amazing team with marvelous regenerating prospects. I shudder to think how the new superstars would be like in 2014 but at the moment, Germany will face Argentina, and it will be another explosive match between these two great football nations.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
England vs Germany. It has to happen, is it?
If fate is a person, he would be a very funny guy. I mean, picture this situation. You take a stroll around the neighborhood where you are living, then at one point, you meet someone that you know. I know people would classify such unplanned meetings as mere coincidences or pleasant surprise, but none would go as far as classifying it as fate. But picture this, it's quite funny how one could meet one another at that exact same point of time, and both of these guys were at the exact same location without any prior planning? I guess it's safe to say that fate plays a part, at least something resembling that. Well, I know blabbering about that is out of sync with the subject/title, and thus before psychiatrists out there or wannabes start diagnosing me with ADHD or anything of that sort, I'll delve into the topic at hand right away.
Yesterday was when the teams from Group C and Group D in World Cup 2010 were determined whether they continue on fighting in the last 16 of the competition, or simply have to prepare for an early flight back home. Amazingly, events clicked in such a way in the four matches between the two groups that the match between England and Germany was ensured. First up in Group C. With their newly acquired Italian Catenaccio skills, England managed to snatch a 1-0 win over Slovenia while the USA, amazingly scored a last minute goal against Algeria and also won 1-0. This put the USA on top of the group due to goal difference. England finished second in the group. The first part of the events has been fulfilled. In Group D, it was even more dramatic. Germany managed to yet snatch 1-0 win against a fighting Ghana side while in the other match, Serbia lost 2-1 to Australia with a very late equalizer chalked off for offside. This ensured Germany came on top while Ghana go through as the group's runners up. Thus, it means that Germany will meet England in the last 16. What a mouth watering prospect of a match, despite the fact that goals come at a premium in this World Cup. As for Ghana, again fate simply dictated that there have to be at least one African representative remaining past the Group Stages, and the dramatic 2-1 Australia vs Serbia match set that up nicely.
The animosity between England and Germany go a very long way, in football or outside of it. Those inclined in history would start picturing the intense and deadly trench warfare in World War I between the two sides, the “Christmas Truce” and all. Also, in World War II in which the Third Reich bombarded London in a Blitzkrieg campaign, as well as Britain and its Allies strike-back in their own strategic bombing campaigns against Germany. In football, many fans would evoke memories from 1966 when England won its first and so far only World Cup title on home soil by defeating the then West Germany in a very controversial nature especially due to Geoff Hurst's goal which did not cross the line. Fans from both sides are still debating about that goal. Moving forward, in 2002, English fans would keep on reminding their German counterparts about how they thrashed Germany 5-1 in Munich. Those events are basically those I could remember spontaneously at the moment, and there might well be even more animosity between these two nations.
No one had planned this meeting, at least not so early in the competition as most if not every fan had predicted England and Germany finishing top of their respective groups. Even if after two matches in these groups all 4 teams in the respective groups were still able to go through, after all that drama, there wasn't to be a twist of fate. England vs Germany, always a destiny to happen in this World Cup. Now, it's time for fans all over the world, not only English and German fans to start licking their lips over the prospects of this match which is sure to be as explosive as the trench warfare and the Blitzkrieg, but we are all confident that there will be the kind of fair play involved such as the “Christmas Truce” in the aforementioned trench warfare between these two great nations.
Yesterday was when the teams from Group C and Group D in World Cup 2010 were determined whether they continue on fighting in the last 16 of the competition, or simply have to prepare for an early flight back home. Amazingly, events clicked in such a way in the four matches between the two groups that the match between England and Germany was ensured. First up in Group C. With their newly acquired Italian Catenaccio skills, England managed to snatch a 1-0 win over Slovenia while the USA, amazingly scored a last minute goal against Algeria and also won 1-0. This put the USA on top of the group due to goal difference. England finished second in the group. The first part of the events has been fulfilled. In Group D, it was even more dramatic. Germany managed to yet snatch 1-0 win against a fighting Ghana side while in the other match, Serbia lost 2-1 to Australia with a very late equalizer chalked off for offside. This ensured Germany came on top while Ghana go through as the group's runners up. Thus, it means that Germany will meet England in the last 16. What a mouth watering prospect of a match, despite the fact that goals come at a premium in this World Cup. As for Ghana, again fate simply dictated that there have to be at least one African representative remaining past the Group Stages, and the dramatic 2-1 Australia vs Serbia match set that up nicely.
The animosity between England and Germany go a very long way, in football or outside of it. Those inclined in history would start picturing the intense and deadly trench warfare in World War I between the two sides, the “Christmas Truce” and all. Also, in World War II in which the Third Reich bombarded London in a Blitzkrieg campaign, as well as Britain and its Allies strike-back in their own strategic bombing campaigns against Germany. In football, many fans would evoke memories from 1966 when England won its first and so far only World Cup title on home soil by defeating the then West Germany in a very controversial nature especially due to Geoff Hurst's goal which did not cross the line. Fans from both sides are still debating about that goal. Moving forward, in 2002, English fans would keep on reminding their German counterparts about how they thrashed Germany 5-1 in Munich. Those events are basically those I could remember spontaneously at the moment, and there might well be even more animosity between these two nations.
No one had planned this meeting, at least not so early in the competition as most if not every fan had predicted England and Germany finishing top of their respective groups. Even if after two matches in these groups all 4 teams in the respective groups were still able to go through, after all that drama, there wasn't to be a twist of fate. England vs Germany, always a destiny to happen in this World Cup. Now, it's time for fans all over the world, not only English and German fans to start licking their lips over the prospects of this match which is sure to be as explosive as the trench warfare and the Blitzkrieg, but we are all confident that there will be the kind of fair play involved such as the “Christmas Truce” in the aforementioned trench warfare between these two great nations.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Germany 0-1 Serbia World Cup 2010 Group D
After all the hype about the flood of goals in this match, we are back to yet another 1-0 victory in this World Cup 2010 which is criticized for its lack of goals. Prior to the match, 19 out of 20 (and the other one was just joking in a silly way) predicted a demolition of Serbia by Germany. Some said 4-0, some 5-0, and some even dared to predict a repeat of the 8-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in World Cup 2002. The stage was set, the script was set, everything was set for Germany to win big against Serbia and become the second country after Argentina to go through to the last 16 and for Serbia's World Cup run to end abruptly. However, World Cup being World Cup, football being football, it has another script and huge surprise in store for us. This match also had its fair share of a few deja-vus from the recent matches of this World Cup. A player who caught my eye in this match would be Serbia's Milos Krasic who has just recently moved to Juventus. Besides his decent performance on the right wing in this match, his appearance also has a resemblance to the legendary Czech winger Pavel Nedved complete with the flowing whitish blonde hair locks. Since Krasic is also a Juventus player now, is he the new Nedved?
The match didn't start as expected as Germany was surprisingly lackluster in the match right from the start. Also, the referee seemed to be so card happy in this match especially against Germany in which the first 30 minutes resulted in 3 yellow for Germany and 2 for the Serbians. The thing about the German yellow cards is that they resulted from the Serbian players tumbling down onto the pitch despite minimal contact if there was any. A few controversial points if I am being asked. At the 36th minute, Miroslav Klose received his marching orders as he received his second yellow card from the game despite seemingly only lightly touching the Serbian player he fouled. This red card early in the game certainly had a dejavu feeling to yesterday's Greece vs Nigeria game. This sending off certainly robbed Germany of its main and perhaps sole source of goals in this match as well as his height to win headers as the rest of the German attackers such as Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Lukas Podolski are all not the tallest players around and it's not likely that they can win tussles whether in the air or on the ground against burly, big, and strong Serbian defenders such as Nemanja Vidic and Neven Subotic. The Greece vs Nigeria dejavu didn't end there as one minute later, Serbia scored through Milan Jovanovic from Milos Krasic's cross which was flicked on by the tall Nikola Zigic. 1-0 for Serbia and Jovanovic was seen celebrating with the Serbian fans in front of the stands. At this point of time, Ballack's figure as a “pseudo-manager” was needed most (just like what I have mentioned in my previous post titled the “Effects of Ballack's Absence on Germany”) to prevent any catastrophic collapse just like what Nigeria experienced last night. Nevertheless, Sami Khedira almost equalized but he hit the post. Had he equalized it would have helped Germany's morale and belief immensely.
In the second half, another dejavu at the 59th minute when Serbia's Vidic did a weird ballet dance and handled the ball in the penalty area, just like how Kusmanovic handled the ball in the penalty area in Serbia's defeat against Ghana in their first match. I know Eastern Europe is renowned for their ballet dancers, but I certainly can't imagine how Vidic would look like in a ballet dress. Jokes aside, Germany got a great chance to equalize but perhaps because Podolski was totally overwhelmed by his new role as Germany's source of goal, he missed the penalty (after missing several chances to score prior to this).
Germany tried to restore some height and some muscleup front by replacing Mesut Ozil with the burly and strong Cacau and also bringing on Marin (a winger) for the tired Muller. At this time, Serbia was still doing what they had been doing throughout the match, falling like flies exposed to insecticide every tme a German player come near them. More yellow cards for German players because of this. At the 76th minute with Germany still trailing, Joachim Low refused to give up and he played his last card by bringing in Mario Gomez for Badstuber, but still to no avail as they were nowhere near threatening the Serbian goal, not with their man deficit and shattered confidence. At the very last minutes, even defender Per Mertesacker was up front helping out the attack to add even more muscle and height in a desperate attempt to equalize but it was not to be and Serbia has made history by inflicting a defeat to Germany which they have not suffered in World Cup Group Stages since 1986. Now, since Germany failed to become the second nation after Argentina to go to the last 16, the Group is now as open as it could be, and it would go down all the way to the last match and all the teams in Group D have everything to play for. Great surprise once again from this World Cup, totally the opposite of what everyone had predicted. What's next in store for all of us from this intriguing but entertaining World Cup!
The match didn't start as expected as Germany was surprisingly lackluster in the match right from the start. Also, the referee seemed to be so card happy in this match especially against Germany in which the first 30 minutes resulted in 3 yellow for Germany and 2 for the Serbians. The thing about the German yellow cards is that they resulted from the Serbian players tumbling down onto the pitch despite minimal contact if there was any. A few controversial points if I am being asked. At the 36th minute, Miroslav Klose received his marching orders as he received his second yellow card from the game despite seemingly only lightly touching the Serbian player he fouled. This red card early in the game certainly had a dejavu feeling to yesterday's Greece vs Nigeria game. This sending off certainly robbed Germany of its main and perhaps sole source of goals in this match as well as his height to win headers as the rest of the German attackers such as Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Lukas Podolski are all not the tallest players around and it's not likely that they can win tussles whether in the air or on the ground against burly, big, and strong Serbian defenders such as Nemanja Vidic and Neven Subotic. The Greece vs Nigeria dejavu didn't end there as one minute later, Serbia scored through Milan Jovanovic from Milos Krasic's cross which was flicked on by the tall Nikola Zigic. 1-0 for Serbia and Jovanovic was seen celebrating with the Serbian fans in front of the stands. At this point of time, Ballack's figure as a “pseudo-manager” was needed most (just like what I have mentioned in my previous post titled the “Effects of Ballack's Absence on Germany”) to prevent any catastrophic collapse just like what Nigeria experienced last night. Nevertheless, Sami Khedira almost equalized but he hit the post. Had he equalized it would have helped Germany's morale and belief immensely.
In the second half, another dejavu at the 59th minute when Serbia's Vidic did a weird ballet dance and handled the ball in the penalty area, just like how Kusmanovic handled the ball in the penalty area in Serbia's defeat against Ghana in their first match. I know Eastern Europe is renowned for their ballet dancers, but I certainly can't imagine how Vidic would look like in a ballet dress. Jokes aside, Germany got a great chance to equalize but perhaps because Podolski was totally overwhelmed by his new role as Germany's source of goal, he missed the penalty (after missing several chances to score prior to this).
Germany tried to restore some height and some muscleup front by replacing Mesut Ozil with the burly and strong Cacau and also bringing on Marin (a winger) for the tired Muller. At this time, Serbia was still doing what they had been doing throughout the match, falling like flies exposed to insecticide every tme a German player come near them. More yellow cards for German players because of this. At the 76th minute with Germany still trailing, Joachim Low refused to give up and he played his last card by bringing in Mario Gomez for Badstuber, but still to no avail as they were nowhere near threatening the Serbian goal, not with their man deficit and shattered confidence. At the very last minutes, even defender Per Mertesacker was up front helping out the attack to add even more muscle and height in a desperate attempt to equalize but it was not to be and Serbia has made history by inflicting a defeat to Germany which they have not suffered in World Cup Group Stages since 1986. Now, since Germany failed to become the second nation after Argentina to go to the last 16, the Group is now as open as it could be, and it would go down all the way to the last match and all the teams in Group D have everything to play for. Great surprise once again from this World Cup, totally the opposite of what everyone had predicted. What's next in store for all of us from this intriguing but entertaining World Cup!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Effects of Ballack's Absence on Germany
It was FA Cup Final 2010 between table toppers Chelsea and table proppers Portsmouth. It was surprisingly a very tight and somehow entertaining contest in which Chelsea won thanks to a marvelous free kick by Didier Drogba. Everyone associated with Chelsea celebrated their Double well into the night and well into the start of next season. However, not everyone in the Chelsea camp celebrates though. Michael Ballack, the player who is supposed to lead the Germany squad out as their Captain in World Cup 2010 in South Africa went down injured after a heavy tackle/stamp by Portsmuth's Kevin Prince-Boateng. It was then confirmed that Ballack's chances of his final shot at the World Cup ended with a wimp. This also prompted the conspiracy theories to pop up like an algal bloom as Kevin Prince-Boateng is Ghana's key player, the country which has been drawn in Group D together with Germany. This is also fueled further when Kevin's father claimed that Kevin has had altercations with Ballack before and that was the “pay back time”. In any case, Ballack's out, and the “Nationalmansschaft” (pardon my best attempt at German) will sorely miss their Captain. But what are the possible effects of Ballack's absence on the somewhat new look German side on transition from a generation to the next?
First up, Ballack's absence would certainly rob a wealth of big game experience from him. In football, as a player ages, what he loses, such as pace, acceleration, and strength are all converted into experience, leadership, and match-reading capabilities. While it is true that the modern game increasingly rely on raw pace and sheer youth thanks to the popularity of the English Premier League, we have to realize that in any big tournament such as the World Cup, or any big competitions for that matter, a team needs veterans in their team. Just like how Arsene Wenger would slowly realize, “you win nothing with kids”, and that has been proven time and time again. This is not to say that a manager should do a Lippi and select only the senior citizens of football and ignore the new and excited “kids and prodigies”, but the aforementioned raw pace and youthful brilliance in the team should be complemented and augmented by a witty and experienced veteran as a balancing act and as a calming and driving figure when things get tough and the tough gets going. The veteran's role, even if limited on the physical side of the game itself could be crucial either when the team is frustratingly failing to break down a staunch defense of an underdog or when the team is trailing against a big gun, especially at half time in which the veteran such as Ballack could deliver that edge through a supplemental team talk in the dressing room or even a simple but magical encouragement shouts on the pitch. Also, a huge figure such as Ballack would send chills down the opponents' spines when the announcer announces his name on the team sheet prior to the match, and it would even trigger a change to their original plan in the attempt to stop the mighty Ballack. During a penalty kick and/or penalty shoot-outs, his huge reputations which have been garnered throughout his long and eventful career would send goalkeepers, especially the young ones into a groggy spell which increases Ballack's chance to score from the spot by manifolds. Thus, on and off the pitch, Ballack's experience and sheer presence will be sorely missed by Germany and the effects would show when Germany is low on morale and ideas when trying to break through a tough spell in the tournament.
The second effect would be the very fact that once Ballack is always Ballack. What I am trying to say is that, we should forget about his advancing age, Michael Ballack is a world class player and few if any could doubt that fact. True, he might not be the same player as 5-6 years ago for instance, but form is temporary, class is permanent. I might add, class is permanent, and everything else, is temporary. True, age has a debilitating effect to any person, let alone professional athletes, but they can evolve their roles while still retaining the world class edge. For example, del Piero reverting to a more withdrawn role and becoming more of a super-sub in his later years, or Roy Keane from an all encompassing midfielder to solely a defensive midfielder prior to his retirement, or Zidane from an energetic, tireless playmaker to a more static playmaker in the mould of Juan Roman Riquelme just to name a few. Ballack is no exception. Even if his role is to be limited to the aforementioned psychological effects through his sheer presence and penalty taking, I dare say that both of them need skills to be implemented. The first one is of course as mentioned above, have to be accumulated throughout a world class career, while the latter, as much as it is easy on the eye, is not, and a combination of years of practice and perfection with the player's innate talents are needed to be a perfect penalty taker. Thus, forget about age, as no matter what Ballack is still a world class player, and even if critics continue to state that Ballack will be nothing more than a deadwood on the pitch waiting for penalties to steal all the good show, so be it. It has been proven that a simple penalty shot can mean the difference between World Cup glory and shameful runners-up status. Just ask Roberto Baggio and David Trezeguet. Thus, a loss of an aged Ballack is as good as a loss of Ballack of 5-6 years ago. It will never change. For another evidence of this, just take France in the last World Cup in 2006. The hapless and erratic France managed to go all the way to the final of the world cup and only a penalty shot away from World Cup Glory. Why? It was good old Zidane, who carried the sheer weight of the whole of France in the manner of Atlas, the Greek mythology figure, and carried them all the way to the final, but alas, he also carried France all the way to the aforementioned shameful runners-up tag no thanks to “THAT” particular headbutt. But that's another debate for another occasion. The fact that Michael Ballack will miss this World Cup might mean that Germany has missed out on either one of the gold and silver or even bronze medals of the World Cup 2010.
The third effect, still emphasizing how important Ballack is to Germany, is the fact that as a senior figure and respected captain, Ballack would serve as the uniting and driving figure in the dressing room of the new look German squad. New and young faces in the squad such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Mesut Oezil, and Jerome Boateng are no doubt world class players who have bright futures ahead of them. But still, in this kind of tournament where every touch, every run, and every tingle of bad or good luck count, these youngsters can't do it all on their own. They need a huge figure to guide them along the tournament, to straighten their ways if they somehow stray during the tournament, to drive them on, to encourage them when things get tough for them, and also to facilitate the transition from the old to the new. Without Ballack, it is okay if Germany could have 5-0 thrashings all the way to the final, these youngsters will have no problems at all. But World Cup is nothing like that. Every match is difficult, and teams need to be in their proverbial 110% in every single match, and any decrease from that would result in a knock out. These youngsters are not yet stable mentally and physically, especially the former. Thus, when the squad is low on morale, especially if their first and even second match in the group stage doesn't go well and they can't fully control their destiny, these youngsters might even crumble, break down, and go on to lose the third match which would undoubtedly send a whole country into a long mourning. Thus, when this is the case, the figure of a pseudo-manager in Michael Ballack could change all this, and drive them on to still give their very best for the third match and they might sneak through and even go on to win the whole thing. The difference between Ballack and no Ballack is as huge as it could be. Just look at Arsenal. Youthful squad without a calming figure in the mold of Patrick Vieira results in literally nothing but cobwebs in the trophy cabinet.
However, despite the fact that the youngsters in the squad need a guiding hand in the form of Ballack who leads by example on and off the pitch, all of us have to accept that this is the end of an era. Time for the baton to be passed from the old guards to the new and exuberant youths. Ballack's absence might even be a blessing in disguise as it might better facilitate the transition better as they would need to step up to the plate and be counted and to be able to replace the legend. A new leader might even emerge from the pool of youths and be the next big thing in the new generation, and the chances of this is quite high as the vacuum left by Ballack would suck these youths in to step out of their comfort zones and write their own destiny and history. In any case, it is not certain and could go two ways. Either Germany do an Arsenal and crumble when it matters most due to the inexperience youngsters being unable to take the strain of the toughness of the competition, or a new superstar and a new leader could emerge from the ashes of the old generation and lead Germany forward to a brighter future.
Thus, although the absence of Ballack proves to be a massive blow to Germany, we have to stop looking at present, and look to the future. It is pertinent that Germans and everyone in the world for that matter to accept the fact that generations change overtime, and especially in football where that change occurs in a much faster rate than other aspects of life. Now, it is up to the youngsters in the new look German squad to step up, be counted, and daringly and gracefully step into the void left by their injured captain. Even if the newly emerged leader fails to hold on and still crumble, there's nothing to be ashamed of as the ground has been laid for a new and bright future for Germany. If they can't win it in 2010, and if a new leader indeed emerges out of the ashes of failure, Germans all over the world are able to rejoice in the knowledge and realization that they will be back with a bang in 2014 and finally win their fourth world cup, and that joy could even arrive much earlier in Euro 2012! In any case, it is now up to the youngsters in the German Squad to control and write their own destiny.
First up, Ballack's absence would certainly rob a wealth of big game experience from him. In football, as a player ages, what he loses, such as pace, acceleration, and strength are all converted into experience, leadership, and match-reading capabilities. While it is true that the modern game increasingly rely on raw pace and sheer youth thanks to the popularity of the English Premier League, we have to realize that in any big tournament such as the World Cup, or any big competitions for that matter, a team needs veterans in their team. Just like how Arsene Wenger would slowly realize, “you win nothing with kids”, and that has been proven time and time again. This is not to say that a manager should do a Lippi and select only the senior citizens of football and ignore the new and excited “kids and prodigies”, but the aforementioned raw pace and youthful brilliance in the team should be complemented and augmented by a witty and experienced veteran as a balancing act and as a calming and driving figure when things get tough and the tough gets going. The veteran's role, even if limited on the physical side of the game itself could be crucial either when the team is frustratingly failing to break down a staunch defense of an underdog or when the team is trailing against a big gun, especially at half time in which the veteran such as Ballack could deliver that edge through a supplemental team talk in the dressing room or even a simple but magical encouragement shouts on the pitch. Also, a huge figure such as Ballack would send chills down the opponents' spines when the announcer announces his name on the team sheet prior to the match, and it would even trigger a change to their original plan in the attempt to stop the mighty Ballack. During a penalty kick and/or penalty shoot-outs, his huge reputations which have been garnered throughout his long and eventful career would send goalkeepers, especially the young ones into a groggy spell which increases Ballack's chance to score from the spot by manifolds. Thus, on and off the pitch, Ballack's experience and sheer presence will be sorely missed by Germany and the effects would show when Germany is low on morale and ideas when trying to break through a tough spell in the tournament.
The second effect would be the very fact that once Ballack is always Ballack. What I am trying to say is that, we should forget about his advancing age, Michael Ballack is a world class player and few if any could doubt that fact. True, he might not be the same player as 5-6 years ago for instance, but form is temporary, class is permanent. I might add, class is permanent, and everything else, is temporary. True, age has a debilitating effect to any person, let alone professional athletes, but they can evolve their roles while still retaining the world class edge. For example, del Piero reverting to a more withdrawn role and becoming more of a super-sub in his later years, or Roy Keane from an all encompassing midfielder to solely a defensive midfielder prior to his retirement, or Zidane from an energetic, tireless playmaker to a more static playmaker in the mould of Juan Roman Riquelme just to name a few. Ballack is no exception. Even if his role is to be limited to the aforementioned psychological effects through his sheer presence and penalty taking, I dare say that both of them need skills to be implemented. The first one is of course as mentioned above, have to be accumulated throughout a world class career, while the latter, as much as it is easy on the eye, is not, and a combination of years of practice and perfection with the player's innate talents are needed to be a perfect penalty taker. Thus, forget about age, as no matter what Ballack is still a world class player, and even if critics continue to state that Ballack will be nothing more than a deadwood on the pitch waiting for penalties to steal all the good show, so be it. It has been proven that a simple penalty shot can mean the difference between World Cup glory and shameful runners-up status. Just ask Roberto Baggio and David Trezeguet. Thus, a loss of an aged Ballack is as good as a loss of Ballack of 5-6 years ago. It will never change. For another evidence of this, just take France in the last World Cup in 2006. The hapless and erratic France managed to go all the way to the final of the world cup and only a penalty shot away from World Cup Glory. Why? It was good old Zidane, who carried the sheer weight of the whole of France in the manner of Atlas, the Greek mythology figure, and carried them all the way to the final, but alas, he also carried France all the way to the aforementioned shameful runners-up tag no thanks to “THAT” particular headbutt. But that's another debate for another occasion. The fact that Michael Ballack will miss this World Cup might mean that Germany has missed out on either one of the gold and silver or even bronze medals of the World Cup 2010.
The third effect, still emphasizing how important Ballack is to Germany, is the fact that as a senior figure and respected captain, Ballack would serve as the uniting and driving figure in the dressing room of the new look German squad. New and young faces in the squad such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Mesut Oezil, and Jerome Boateng are no doubt world class players who have bright futures ahead of them. But still, in this kind of tournament where every touch, every run, and every tingle of bad or good luck count, these youngsters can't do it all on their own. They need a huge figure to guide them along the tournament, to straighten their ways if they somehow stray during the tournament, to drive them on, to encourage them when things get tough for them, and also to facilitate the transition from the old to the new. Without Ballack, it is okay if Germany could have 5-0 thrashings all the way to the final, these youngsters will have no problems at all. But World Cup is nothing like that. Every match is difficult, and teams need to be in their proverbial 110% in every single match, and any decrease from that would result in a knock out. These youngsters are not yet stable mentally and physically, especially the former. Thus, when the squad is low on morale, especially if their first and even second match in the group stage doesn't go well and they can't fully control their destiny, these youngsters might even crumble, break down, and go on to lose the third match which would undoubtedly send a whole country into a long mourning. Thus, when this is the case, the figure of a pseudo-manager in Michael Ballack could change all this, and drive them on to still give their very best for the third match and they might sneak through and even go on to win the whole thing. The difference between Ballack and no Ballack is as huge as it could be. Just look at Arsenal. Youthful squad without a calming figure in the mold of Patrick Vieira results in literally nothing but cobwebs in the trophy cabinet.
However, despite the fact that the youngsters in the squad need a guiding hand in the form of Ballack who leads by example on and off the pitch, all of us have to accept that this is the end of an era. Time for the baton to be passed from the old guards to the new and exuberant youths. Ballack's absence might even be a blessing in disguise as it might better facilitate the transition better as they would need to step up to the plate and be counted and to be able to replace the legend. A new leader might even emerge from the pool of youths and be the next big thing in the new generation, and the chances of this is quite high as the vacuum left by Ballack would suck these youths in to step out of their comfort zones and write their own destiny and history. In any case, it is not certain and could go two ways. Either Germany do an Arsenal and crumble when it matters most due to the inexperience youngsters being unable to take the strain of the toughness of the competition, or a new superstar and a new leader could emerge from the ashes of the old generation and lead Germany forward to a brighter future.
Thus, although the absence of Ballack proves to be a massive blow to Germany, we have to stop looking at present, and look to the future. It is pertinent that Germans and everyone in the world for that matter to accept the fact that generations change overtime, and especially in football where that change occurs in a much faster rate than other aspects of life. Now, it is up to the youngsters in the new look German squad to step up, be counted, and daringly and gracefully step into the void left by their injured captain. Even if the newly emerged leader fails to hold on and still crumble, there's nothing to be ashamed of as the ground has been laid for a new and bright future for Germany. If they can't win it in 2010, and if a new leader indeed emerges out of the ashes of failure, Germans all over the world are able to rejoice in the knowledge and realization that they will be back with a bang in 2014 and finally win their fourth world cup, and that joy could even arrive much earlier in Euro 2012! In any case, it is now up to the youngsters in the German Squad to control and write their own destiny.
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