The semifinals of the World Cup 2010 have come and go. Holland managed to overcome the resilient but under strength Uruguay in a thrilling 3-2 encounter, while Spain finally managed to shake off their “flopping on a big stage” curse and cruised to the final to face Holland after totally turning off the goal tap of Germany and finished them off by a narrow 1-0 scoreline. Holland and Spain will battle it out in a high stakes battle to become the very first European nation to win the trophy outside of their own continent and also for each of them to win the thing for the very first time in their respective histories. One main question which is undoubtedly in the minds of everyone associated with the respective teams the moment Spain defeated Germany 1-0 last night is surely just like what the title above is saying, “How to stop them?”. The following will be some possible ways that could be employed by the respective teams to halt the other in their quest for glory. In this first part, it will be about how to stop the first team that reached the final, and that's Holland.
Despite the latest 3-2 victory against Uruguay which brought them straight to the final in a few days' time against Spain, I for once feel that it is still necessary to pinch one's hand to make sure that Holland really have reached the final of the competition. Since their opening match against Denmark all the way until now, it seems that they have yet to really hit the high gears, and they have progressed only with strolling pace at most. But they are here, collecting one major favorites' scalp of Brazil along the way. However, not matter how slow they have “crept up” all the way to the final, they are indeed unstoppable, having won every single match in the competition so far, and only Spain provides the last and massive challenge to claim their very first World Cup title in their history, another hard-to-believe fact considering how Holland have been and are one of the biggest football powerhouses of the world. No matter what, Holland is now seemingly unstoppable and despite their lack of visible overdrive unlike their rivals Germany (except for their anti-climax loss against Spain) they are unstoppable and Spain have to find some ways to stop them. Nevertheless, Holland is just a football team, and like any other team, other football teams should be able to find some ways of stopping them.
The first thing that Spain should bear in mind is that this Holland team only seem to be able to hold their lines out for 85 minutes. In the Group Stages, it is not really shown as to be frank, Japan, Denmark, and Cameroon are not really the world beaters around, and as for Brazil in the quarter finals, the Brazilian team was so chaotic and in such a state of disarray during the second half of the match against Holland that again it didn't show. But, Holland's weakness in the last 5 minutes or so of the match were shown clearly in two matches. Firstly, it was the last 16 match against Slovakia. Holland scored at the 18th and 84th minute in a relatively comfortable match for them to have a 2-0 lead. However, for reasons unknown, in the last few minutes of the match, they were pinned back by Slovakia, and the Slovaks looked closer and closer to scoring one or more goals to force the match to extra time. However, with some luck and the goalkeeper Stekelenburg's heroics, they manage to keep the Slovak bombardment at bay until they conceded an unnecessary penalty kick and they were pegged back 2-1 albeit in the last minute. Another instance was of course during their semi final match with Uruguay in which they romped to a 3-1 lead up to the 73rd minute before again being pegged back 3-2 at the last minute, and between then and the final whistle, they were always in danger of conceding one more to force extra time.
Another fact would be that the Dutch almost always score goals between the 70-80th minute, in which after that period of goals galore for them, then the aforementioned slack of defense started to show. Thus, assuming that Spain continues to play the way they have been playing since that 0-1 opening match defeat against Switzerland and especially the knockout stages, Spain's best bet would be not to lose concentration throughout the match to thwart the deadly and stealthy Dutch attacks especially during the aforementioned 10 minutes period in which the Dutch have the knack of scoring deadly goals and to keep their attacking approach in the last 10 minutes of the match plus injury time to score the goals that will surely kill the Dutch as they are the most vulnerable during the dying minutes of the match. Spain have to score more than one if necessary, especially if they concede early on, as they don't want to be like Slovakia and Uruguay, scoring at the last minute but only for a futile goal which is more of a consolation goal rather than an equalizing or a winning goal.
When I mentioned keeping guard of the Dutch players throughout the match, the first element of that would be to try to keep the rearguard tight, and also to pay attention to the outside of the penalty area, between the center circle and the penalty box to be precise, as the Dutch are extremely dangerous with their long, accurate, and deadly powerful shots. Arjen Robben has shown what he could do with his deadly left foot during the Slovakia match. Sneijder during almost all of the matches especially the Brazil match, and even the aging but still reliable Captain Gio van Bronckhorst who showed the world that his left foot still contains plenty of fuel with his crashing long shot to open the scoring in the match against Uruguay. Thus, the key is for Spain's defenders, especially midfielders to deny all of these players any space to execute their long shots and/or magical pass into the box, as even if they are denied a chance to shoot properly, if they could still pass, the increasingly forgotten van Persie is still up front, and ready to strike at anytime. It would not be easy as players such as Xabi Alonso, Xavi, and Sergi Busquets will have to find a way to balance their attacking duties with their defensive ones to contain the Dutch players. It will also be wise for the Spanish players to refrain from fouling the Dutch players around the penalty area and of course inside of it.
The second component of Spain's defensive work would be the most obvious one, which is to shackle Sneijder in place so that he won't be free to roam everywhere on the pitch to cause troubles. Fro the aforementioned long shots, sending amazing passes especially from free kicks around the penalty area, as well as heading the ball despite his rather small size. To keep things simple and in perspective, Sneijder is a complete package of utter destruction for the opposing teams, and thus he has to be contained as if Spain fail to do that, the world can be as sure as hell that Sneijder will be the direct cause to their defeat and that he will undoubtedly be on the scoresheet at least once and is almost certain to claim the tournament's Golden Boot award (barring a flurry of goals from Klose in Germany's match against Uruguay). It will surely be a busy night for the Spanish defenders, and Sergio Ramos will once again need to curb his knack of galloping forward all the way to the opponents' goal to help contain the real danger posed by the Inter player.
The Dutch skillfully masterminded a total detonation of Brazil's walking time-bomb, Felipe Melo. However, the Dutch fans around the world or even the Dutch squad themselves may not realize that they have something resembling Felipe Melo in their squad, and that man is Mark van Bommel. The midfield hard man has been quite rough throughout this career, and it showed rather clearly in this tournament as wayward fouls, bone crunching tackles, fierce bully-like intimidation to opponents and even the referee have been regular fixtures in the Bayern Munich man's game. Even though he has been rather lucky not to receive red cards for his antics, he is nevertheless a walking time bomb, and an accident waiting to happen. That's not to say that I am suggesting Spain to stoop so low as to ask Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, or even Villa to just do simulation antics repeatedly in an attempt to get van Bommel sent off, but at least there's one way within the boundaries of fair-play that could be utilized by the Spanish players to do some damage here. The way could be a way resembling how Holland systematically took advantage of Brazil's weak link Michel Bastos and of course Felipe Melo, and also how Germany took apart Argentina by taking advantage of a chronic weakness of Argentina's right side of its defense. Thus, players such as Xabi Alonso and Xavi should direct the attack through the center, especially towards the right in which van Bommel is stationed. Sooner or later, when faced with so many balls, so many players, and also so much pressure, van Bommel might just boil over and start conceding unnecessary fouls that will benefit Spain and even start to collect cards. This strategy might seem to be unethical, but that's football, and in such a high stakes match in the biggest football event in the world, any opportunities to win (within the boundaries of fair play of course) should be exploited to bridge the difference between winners and losers, which is as thin as the air in high altitude.
Lastly, Spain have to have the belief in themselves that the fact they are in the final is not a mere accident or even a fluke, like how some sections of the pundits and fans around the world have started to whisper around. They have to belief that they are in the final due to merit, due to their sheer determination to win, and above all, due to the quality of the players in their squad, and not forgetting the abilities of their rather low profile but world class coach Vicente del Bosque. This match will determine which team becomes the very first European team winning the World Cup outside of their own continent, and above all, this match will determine which federation will receive their first ever star above their crest, in other words, the very first World Cup in their history. Spain have to believe that this is the time which their glittering stars, an amazing, almost dream team like coalition of world class players mainly from Barcelona and Real Madrid reach the apex of the footballing universe by winning the grandaddy of them all, the World Cup trophy!
Showing posts with label Quarter Finals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quarter Finals. Show all posts
Thursday, July 08, 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.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Holland 2-1 Brazil World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals
After two horrendous days without the usual kick obtained from the daily dose of World Cup football, in which the very thought of the long days between 12 July to August or the start of the new season of the club season in most of Europe, we have the quarter finals of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa underway. The last 8 of the competition is usually where the competition starts to get really interesting with teams having moved to the higher gears as well as now finally able to unleash the much conserved energy from the Group Stage and this is where the big boys are finally colliding. Although the downside is that from here onwards, the World Cup looks more like an Intercontinental Cup, a hybrid of the European Championship and the Copa America. Back to the topic at hand, the first match of the last 8 was between Holland and Brazil. This match was intriguing as it was a game of two halves, belonging to the respective teams. In the first half, the justification and the real mechanism of Dunga's much criticism set up of the team was shown. In the second half, it was the moment when a certain masterstroke decision made by the Holland manager Bert van Marwijk finally showed in the half which was totally Oranje in color. Thus, keeping that in mind, I will just go about writing this by dividing it into two, about Brazil, and about Holland according to each half owned by each of them.
So the first half belonged to Brazil, thus I will start from here. Dunga's team have been heavily criticized by pundits around the world including Brazil itself (although it owed greatly to Dunga's frosty relationship with the Brazilian media but that's another story) for being veered of so far from the track of traditional flashy, ultra attacking, samba football. However, in this World Cup 2010 so far, we have seen Brazil taking care of opponents so ruthlessly and efficiently (the Portugal game excluded as it was pretty much a dead rubber) from the resolute DPRK in the first match, to the strong Ivory Coast, and the last victim before this match was the attractive Chile. For a team in the very image of Dunga, just like how those pundits would say it, the actual results and performance of the team so far only contradict their arguments! The first half showed that Dunga has cleverly set up this team in two images and literally sliced this team into two, and then implement two totally different mindsets and ways to play the game. 5 players, from Julio Cesar the goalkeeper, the two center backs Juan and Lucio, as well as the two defensive midfielders (and this is where the critics draw their fuel from) Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva all have the defensive mindset.
Thus, for this part of the team, it is collectively a huge, rigid, and unforgiving block of ice in which the play is no frills, ultra defensive mentality (except for Lucio in his occasional forward gallops). Then we have the two wing backs Michel Bastos and Maicon, as well as Dani Alves for the right hand side as he played for the injured midfield Elano can all be considered as the flowing water. They take on the dual role of attacking and defending. While up front,players such as Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano (and Elano if fit) are all the raging fire in the team. All of them, especially Kaka and Robinho, are given a free role and also high creative freedom. They are also not required at all to track back and help to defend and also to regain possession so staunchingly when off the ball. That task I left to the first layer of the aforementioned rigid ice block of Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva (the two defensive midfielders). The raging fire area of the team is simply where the traditional samba football of Brazil is being executed, and that's why they are able to stay strong and solid at the back, while exhibiting loose and delightful attacking moves up front, unlike the all flashy attacking team of 2006 with their famous (or infamous) 4-2-4 formation with virtually a 2 men defense as the wing back go up so far alongside the strikers most of the times.
However, this Brazil team has one great weakness which would send them back all the way to Brazil in this encounter with Holland. Any raging fire can be doused, and water can be parched, while any solid bloc of ice can be melt or even exploded. To be more precise and to the point, this Brazil team is very prone to provocations and anything of that sort. Just recall the dead rubber Group G encounter against Portugal in which both teams were already in the last 16 and that a draw was the best result for both teams, we all remember that in the first half of that match, it almost turned into a fracas as Brazilian players, especially Felipe Melo (remember this name for the subsequent paragraphs) who was substituted even before half time to prevent further card collection. Things calmed down only in the second half and we know it ended 0-0. Thus, despite Brazil's domination in this very match in which Robinho scored after such a beautiful move as Felipe Melo, of all people sent a delightful through ball to Robinho to score the first goal at the 9th minute. Everyone surely felt that it was the first of so many to come in that match, especially with Brazil's continuing to dominate proceedings as they created more chances to make it 2-0 at least and pretty much seal the game for themselves. This failure to go beyond 1-0, an always dangerous scoreline to keep throughout the match, as well as the success of the Dutch tactics as will be explained later, contributed to their downfall.
As for Holland, they were the masters of the second half. In the actual fact, their dominance did not start after the half time team talk in their dressing room. A closer look at how their players were lined up prior to the game suggested that Holland had already won half of the match even before any ball was kicked. One doesn't have to look so far but just look at their wings. Let's start with the Dutch left wing. Usually, it's Rafael van der Vaart who is there, but he was not there.. No, Eljero Elia was not there too. Dirk Kuyt was there! Why? We want Elia, not that burly slow guy! But it was the first of two masterstrokes by the Dutch coach. The Brazilian right flank (Dutch's left) was populated by two of the most dangerous right wing backs in the world, Maicon and Dani Alves. Someone has to defend them, and certainly the ageing Giovanni van Bronckhorst cannot do it alone and he has to have a reliable cover. Kuyt was the man. He proved he was able to keep up with Maicon and Dani Alves, especially the former and even in the first half, we saw how in a few instances Kuyt was able to block off and/or hold them up physically so they they were not able to weave their magical feet.
Now, the second and most significant masterstroke by the Dutch. Robben again started ton the right wing. This time, there was a real purpose. Brazil actually has a huge weak link and that's the left back position, left wing as a whole to be precise. With the formation and the aforementioned system that Dunga is employing, the defensive duties on the left flank would fall to the inexperienced and rather shaky Michel Bastos and also Felipe Melo (who happened to be the left side of the two DMCs). Both of them had the task to contain Robben. But Robben was not going to make life so easy for both of them, and for Brazil as a whole to be precise. In the first half, precisely at the 34th minute, the Dutch won a corner, and Robben was about to take it. However, he tried a strange and peculiar trick in which he tried to catch the whole Brazil squad off guard by running and slightly touching the ball, and thus the corner kick was deemed to be taken while pretending that the corner had not been taken and that he pretended to left the corner duty to Sneijder. However, before the real purpose of that unfolded, Dani Alves was alert enough to realize that and closed the ball down before further damage was caused from that.
That's not the end for Robben. Actually, this had started from as early as the 2nd minute when he fell down easily and the match almost turned into a fracas when Brazilian players especially Robinho were visibly furious and unhappy. The second half was even worse. It was so visible that the Dutch attacks were to be concentrated solely on their right flank, and thus Robben was the focal point of their attack. Michel Bastos was on a yellow card (also because of trying to contain Robben) and he was clearly overwhelmed by the antics of Robben, his skills as well as the fact that he went down far too easily most of the time in the match. One such incident at the 51st minute resulted in the Dutch equalizer when a Dutch free kick was passed to Sneijder, and Sneijder launched a long lob which Julio Cesar decided to go off his line to catch the lob when he collided with Felipe Melo and the defender simply deflected the ball into the net, thus he scored an own goal.
By this time, there was an observable phenomenon I would dub the “Robben Effect” in which prior incidents involving the literally flying Dutchman caused Brazilian players to not dare to close Robben down in fear that he would fall down so easily again, the ref buys it and more damage to Brazil. Robben was increasingly getting freer and freer on the Dutch right flank. Dunga finally decided to take off the beleaguered Michel Bastos for Gilberto Melo, but the sub was no better than the man he replaced and it was useless. In the 67th minute, things got even worse for Brazil as the Dutch got a corner, and from a Kuyt flick on, Sneijder was totally unmarked and he had a free header in which he scored the winning goal from. For a player of Sneijder's height to score from that kind of header, anyone can be sure that no marking existed. At the 72nd minute, worse became worst as Robben fell down for the umpteenth time, and very easily. This left Felipe Melo so frustrated that he perhaps stupidly stamped the Dutchman repeatedly on his hamstring, and the Japanese referee had no choice but to give Felipe Melo a straight red card in which his face told the whole story as if he knew what was coming and he left the field immediately without any protesting antics. Towards the end of the match, the dutch were so dominating, and the Robben Effect so prevalent that even Mark van Bommel and Dirk Kuyt were able to waltz around the Brazil penalty area just like how Cristiano Ronaldo did and do to BPL and La Liga defenses respectively week in week out. Nevertheless, they failed to score the third goal but it was enough to knock Brazil out.
The Dutch will now face either Ghana or Uruguay in the semi-finals and credit to their manager Bert van Marwijk for the absolute masterstrokes as mentioned which totally showed that in chess terms, he was thinking 3 or even 10 moves ahead prior to the match when he set the team up for this match up. As for Brazil, after all those wins, their ultimate flaws and weaknesses of the teams (read: easily provoked, left back position) were so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly exposed literally to the world. Dunga, or whoever is in charge of Brazil next must really put a lid on those weaknesses and rebuild again for the future, starting from the Copa America next year, and Brazilian media, as well as so many pundits around the world will now have plenty of ammunition to attack Dunga with, but life goes on, and for Brazil, this is just like the overly used and almost cliched French phrase, “C'est la Vie...”
So the first half belonged to Brazil, thus I will start from here. Dunga's team have been heavily criticized by pundits around the world including Brazil itself (although it owed greatly to Dunga's frosty relationship with the Brazilian media but that's another story) for being veered of so far from the track of traditional flashy, ultra attacking, samba football. However, in this World Cup 2010 so far, we have seen Brazil taking care of opponents so ruthlessly and efficiently (the Portugal game excluded as it was pretty much a dead rubber) from the resolute DPRK in the first match, to the strong Ivory Coast, and the last victim before this match was the attractive Chile. For a team in the very image of Dunga, just like how those pundits would say it, the actual results and performance of the team so far only contradict their arguments! The first half showed that Dunga has cleverly set up this team in two images and literally sliced this team into two, and then implement two totally different mindsets and ways to play the game. 5 players, from Julio Cesar the goalkeeper, the two center backs Juan and Lucio, as well as the two defensive midfielders (and this is where the critics draw their fuel from) Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva all have the defensive mindset.
Thus, for this part of the team, it is collectively a huge, rigid, and unforgiving block of ice in which the play is no frills, ultra defensive mentality (except for Lucio in his occasional forward gallops). Then we have the two wing backs Michel Bastos and Maicon, as well as Dani Alves for the right hand side as he played for the injured midfield Elano can all be considered as the flowing water. They take on the dual role of attacking and defending. While up front,players such as Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano (and Elano if fit) are all the raging fire in the team. All of them, especially Kaka and Robinho, are given a free role and also high creative freedom. They are also not required at all to track back and help to defend and also to regain possession so staunchingly when off the ball. That task I left to the first layer of the aforementioned rigid ice block of Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva (the two defensive midfielders). The raging fire area of the team is simply where the traditional samba football of Brazil is being executed, and that's why they are able to stay strong and solid at the back, while exhibiting loose and delightful attacking moves up front, unlike the all flashy attacking team of 2006 with their famous (or infamous) 4-2-4 formation with virtually a 2 men defense as the wing back go up so far alongside the strikers most of the times.
However, this Brazil team has one great weakness which would send them back all the way to Brazil in this encounter with Holland. Any raging fire can be doused, and water can be parched, while any solid bloc of ice can be melt or even exploded. To be more precise and to the point, this Brazil team is very prone to provocations and anything of that sort. Just recall the dead rubber Group G encounter against Portugal in which both teams were already in the last 16 and that a draw was the best result for both teams, we all remember that in the first half of that match, it almost turned into a fracas as Brazilian players, especially Felipe Melo (remember this name for the subsequent paragraphs) who was substituted even before half time to prevent further card collection. Things calmed down only in the second half and we know it ended 0-0. Thus, despite Brazil's domination in this very match in which Robinho scored after such a beautiful move as Felipe Melo, of all people sent a delightful through ball to Robinho to score the first goal at the 9th minute. Everyone surely felt that it was the first of so many to come in that match, especially with Brazil's continuing to dominate proceedings as they created more chances to make it 2-0 at least and pretty much seal the game for themselves. This failure to go beyond 1-0, an always dangerous scoreline to keep throughout the match, as well as the success of the Dutch tactics as will be explained later, contributed to their downfall.
As for Holland, they were the masters of the second half. In the actual fact, their dominance did not start after the half time team talk in their dressing room. A closer look at how their players were lined up prior to the game suggested that Holland had already won half of the match even before any ball was kicked. One doesn't have to look so far but just look at their wings. Let's start with the Dutch left wing. Usually, it's Rafael van der Vaart who is there, but he was not there.. No, Eljero Elia was not there too. Dirk Kuyt was there! Why? We want Elia, not that burly slow guy! But it was the first of two masterstrokes by the Dutch coach. The Brazilian right flank (Dutch's left) was populated by two of the most dangerous right wing backs in the world, Maicon and Dani Alves. Someone has to defend them, and certainly the ageing Giovanni van Bronckhorst cannot do it alone and he has to have a reliable cover. Kuyt was the man. He proved he was able to keep up with Maicon and Dani Alves, especially the former and even in the first half, we saw how in a few instances Kuyt was able to block off and/or hold them up physically so they they were not able to weave their magical feet.
Now, the second and most significant masterstroke by the Dutch. Robben again started ton the right wing. This time, there was a real purpose. Brazil actually has a huge weak link and that's the left back position, left wing as a whole to be precise. With the formation and the aforementioned system that Dunga is employing, the defensive duties on the left flank would fall to the inexperienced and rather shaky Michel Bastos and also Felipe Melo (who happened to be the left side of the two DMCs). Both of them had the task to contain Robben. But Robben was not going to make life so easy for both of them, and for Brazil as a whole to be precise. In the first half, precisely at the 34th minute, the Dutch won a corner, and Robben was about to take it. However, he tried a strange and peculiar trick in which he tried to catch the whole Brazil squad off guard by running and slightly touching the ball, and thus the corner kick was deemed to be taken while pretending that the corner had not been taken and that he pretended to left the corner duty to Sneijder. However, before the real purpose of that unfolded, Dani Alves was alert enough to realize that and closed the ball down before further damage was caused from that.
That's not the end for Robben. Actually, this had started from as early as the 2nd minute when he fell down easily and the match almost turned into a fracas when Brazilian players especially Robinho were visibly furious and unhappy. The second half was even worse. It was so visible that the Dutch attacks were to be concentrated solely on their right flank, and thus Robben was the focal point of their attack. Michel Bastos was on a yellow card (also because of trying to contain Robben) and he was clearly overwhelmed by the antics of Robben, his skills as well as the fact that he went down far too easily most of the time in the match. One such incident at the 51st minute resulted in the Dutch equalizer when a Dutch free kick was passed to Sneijder, and Sneijder launched a long lob which Julio Cesar decided to go off his line to catch the lob when he collided with Felipe Melo and the defender simply deflected the ball into the net, thus he scored an own goal.
By this time, there was an observable phenomenon I would dub the “Robben Effect” in which prior incidents involving the literally flying Dutchman caused Brazilian players to not dare to close Robben down in fear that he would fall down so easily again, the ref buys it and more damage to Brazil. Robben was increasingly getting freer and freer on the Dutch right flank. Dunga finally decided to take off the beleaguered Michel Bastos for Gilberto Melo, but the sub was no better than the man he replaced and it was useless. In the 67th minute, things got even worse for Brazil as the Dutch got a corner, and from a Kuyt flick on, Sneijder was totally unmarked and he had a free header in which he scored the winning goal from. For a player of Sneijder's height to score from that kind of header, anyone can be sure that no marking existed. At the 72nd minute, worse became worst as Robben fell down for the umpteenth time, and very easily. This left Felipe Melo so frustrated that he perhaps stupidly stamped the Dutchman repeatedly on his hamstring, and the Japanese referee had no choice but to give Felipe Melo a straight red card in which his face told the whole story as if he knew what was coming and he left the field immediately without any protesting antics. Towards the end of the match, the dutch were so dominating, and the Robben Effect so prevalent that even Mark van Bommel and Dirk Kuyt were able to waltz around the Brazil penalty area just like how Cristiano Ronaldo did and do to BPL and La Liga defenses respectively week in week out. Nevertheless, they failed to score the third goal but it was enough to knock Brazil out.
The Dutch will now face either Ghana or Uruguay in the semi-finals and credit to their manager Bert van Marwijk for the absolute masterstrokes as mentioned which totally showed that in chess terms, he was thinking 3 or even 10 moves ahead prior to the match when he set the team up for this match up. As for Brazil, after all those wins, their ultimate flaws and weaknesses of the teams (read: easily provoked, left back position) were so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly exposed literally to the world. Dunga, or whoever is in charge of Brazil next must really put a lid on those weaknesses and rebuild again for the future, starting from the Copa America next year, and Brazilian media, as well as so many pundits around the world will now have plenty of ammunition to attack Dunga with, but life goes on, and for Brazil, this is just like the overly used and almost cliched French phrase, “C'est la Vie...”
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