Time to Inreoduce Technology to Football?

The debate about the implementation of the various technologies in football such as the Hawkeye system used in tennis to determine whether the tennis ball falls into or outside of the court has been raging for quite some-time. It has died down in recent times due to the persistent unwillingness of FIFA, the world's football governing body to implement such technologies in football. Even when FIFA attempts to implement this, it has always encountered stumbling blocks especially in their voting system with the International FA Boards (IFAB) which consists of the FA (Football Association) of the various “countries” in the United Kingdom. The FA of Wales and Northern Ireland, that have veto power in the voting system always utilize their veto as they are afraid that their semi-pro leagues will be neglected as top leagues would get the top priority and have the best financial position to implement the technologies. However, this debate was re-ignited to an almost bordering to the ridiculous proportions after the last 16 round of World Cup 2010.

First, we have Argentina's 3-1 victory over Mexico, in which one of Argentina's goals from Tevez was totally offside but the linesmen and the referee gave the goal to Argentina. This incident was just a very small one compared to the second one which I am about to say, the one which arguably set the tone of the re-ignition of the wild and intense technology debate. That's none other than 1966 Wembley moment re-enacted in such a twisted manner. Frank Lampard shot towards goal from distance, hit the bar, bounced over the goal line, and out again. The referee did not consider that a goal and waved play on as the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer caught the ball. England is arguably the most media featured team in the world. Just open any football websites and/or newspapers, especially English language ones, and there's not even a day without England somewhere in the papers. Even if there's no mention of them on the Sports pages, they would hit other pages, even front pages (Ashley and Cheryl Cole split and Terry vs Bridge anyone?). Thus, when England is the team at the end of such a refereeing error which definitely calls for the introduction of technology, we could expect an intense debate for the introduction of technology and that's what we have been getting. In any case, this implementation of technology should have continued on to be debated instead of waiting for such a high profile and most media featured team to be adversely affected by it. Along with modernity, as well as the continuing incidences of high profile errors at the very top level and not forgetting how other sports such as tennis as mentioned above have implemented it long ago, it is pertinent that technology should be incorporated into the beautiful game for the better f the sport as well as for everyone associated with it.

Firstly, the obvious reason why technology should be implemented in football is because of the aforementioned high profile incidents that are game-changing. I also remembered somewhere in 2005 or 2006 if I am not wrong, there was a similar incident whereby the then Tottenham player Pedro Mendes launched a blistering shot from distance and the then Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll parried it, but replays showed that the ball had passed the goal line before Carroll clawed it out of the net into safety. There are many more incidents like this, and the teams which are adversely affected by this such as Tottenham and England, especially England will argue to the end of the world that had their goal was allowed they would have clawed the scoreline back to 2-2 at that time with Germany after being 2 goals down, and they argue that they could have gone on to win the match. For one, I have to side with the English this time as prior to that incident, England was totally dominating the game, and had that gone in, I believe that England would have gone on to win the game, provided that they continue their dominance during that 15 minute period or so until the end of the game. This shows that this kind of unnecessary and frankly preventable errors definitely twist around the results of matches. Teams that should have won, did not, and on the other hand, teams that should not have won, won the match. Thus, it is absolutely necessary for FIFA to consider implementing technology in football so that teams that deserve to win a game could win a game. This is just about justice being heralded in the professional football games at the highest levels. Not forgetting the fact that football at that level should not contain such embarrassing errors.

The second reason is simply due to the flow of time. We have heard from topics outside of football on how certain beliefs are seen to refuse to embrace the modernity (or even post-modernity) which is here whether we like it or not, and that the reasons by the adherents of those certain beliefs are all pointing towards one word “traditionalism and purism”. Alright, basically that's exactly the very same set of reasons given by Sepp Blatter, the incumbent FIFA President against the implementation of technology in football. However, as mentioned above, football is inevitably will have to take on the modern era head-on, especially considering how other sports have taken those steps to adapt and evolve along with an era increasingly laden with various technological advancements. With the increasingly often game changing errors as mentioned just now, it adds more impetus for those at the top rungs of the footballing universe to just embrace the available various technologies and improve the game such that it would minimize and even eradicate ridiculous mistakes in the game at least at the professional level.

Another reason justifying the technology's introduction to football is of course to discourage yet another increasing sad trend in football, and that's the dark arts of the game such as diving (nowadays called simulating for softer effects), blatant handballs, and also influencing a referee by acting (such as when Maradona told his teammates “Hug me, or the ref won't allow it” right after the Hand of God goal). This will move us on away from tennis, and for the incorporation of the video replays into the games. We know that if we watch the football games on television, we are always served up plenty of video replays repeatedly after each goal and/or controversial decisions. Even in the stadium itself, there's a big screen basically screening the match to the people who are somewhere in row Z (read: at the very back end and high up in the stands). However, the referee must not make a decision out of those replays and even based on what he and/or his linesmen are seeing on the big screen in the stadum, and that the referee's decision is final, and not even if he realizes his mistake later on, he won't be able to make any changes to his decision no matter what. One example of this was in the 2006 World Cup final during the famous “Zidane headbutt” incident. When the referee was busy officiating with his back facing Marco Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane, Zidane headbutted Materazzi as it is said (although even until today no one knows the exact real event) that the Italian had blurted some words about Zidane's mother and sister which did not sit well with the Frenchman. Although the incident happened with the ref's back facing them, he was able to see the incident on the aforementioned big screen in the stadium and he duly dished out a red card for Zidane. Although the referee was not supposed to use video evidence and have to see it with his own eyes, he had dished the red card, and also considering the referee's decision is final, go figure... In any case, technology did help the referee to make an informed decision.

What was proposed is simply the kind of video replay utilization used in rugby, in which each team has several chances (usually two) to contest any controversial decisions in the match. Then, the video replays will be used to judge a decision, for example whether a handball is deliberate, whether the ball has crossed the line, etc. Then the referee could overturn that decision based on the video replays. Since it has been proven in the aforementioned 2006 World Cup Final that technology has the potential to help referees to make more informed and correct decisions, why not implement it. It is true that change will undoubtedly trigger resistance to change, but that's the way it is.

Another benefit that FIFA could gain from the above implementation is just like what NFL is benefiting. During the replay assessment period when managers call for the video replay to contest a decision, there will be a short break on the game, and in NFL, usually this is used as a room for advertisements. This will undoubtedly generate even more cash for FIFA, as since it is a non-profit organization, thus more profits could be generated and more funds could be directed to FIFA projects to make football worldwide better such as its GOAL project. This will certainly go a long way in making football a better sport around the globe.

However, despite the obvious benefits that the footballing universe stand to gain from the implementation of technology in football as explained above, we have to remember that despite any arguments around the world that technology will make football a game which is what they call “too perfect” and becomes boring and one-dimensional and that we will miss all those dramas and controversies, they are in for a surprise if technology is really implemented. We know that technology itself is not perfect, and at some point there might be errors with the technology itself. Who is to say that no matter how well tested and tried technology is totally foolproof? I believe even if there's a total revamp in football such that even the referees themselves are replaced by totally cold but advanced robots, there are bounds to be errors from them sooner or later, and it won't be long before a new debate surfaces about the re-introduction of more human elements in the game.

However, I still feel that a degree of technological implementations such as the goal line technology as well as the video replays are still necessary considering how every game at the top level is such a high-stakes game right now. In short, patience is not a virtue in modern football, and that winning is virtually everything. Managers are sacked as soon as they are hired just because of a few blips of performance and not only careers are in jeopardy with defeats, but even lives are in danger. We have seen how Andres Escobar was shot after 1994 World Cup due to his own goal. Thus, it is pertinent that we remember that those dangers exist for the players, managers, and even the referees (there have been countless cases of death threats against the referees, and few notable cases such as that of Andres Frisk that they have to retire to avoid all the flak) for any wrong decisions and/or defeats. Thus, it it still necessary and would be great for the sport if FIFA could come with a grand plan to minimize those mistakes and finally augment football with the kind of technologies that have been serving other sports well.

Diego Forlan Deserves the Golden Ball

World Cup 2010 has been done and dusted, as we have found a champion out of the 32 teams competing for the biggest prize of all in footballing universe, Spain, as well as Thomas Muller, the winner of the Golden Boot award and also for the young German to officially announce his arrival in world football. However, there's still one more award which drew quite a lot of criticisms and that's the Golden Ball award, awarded to the best player in the tournament. In World Cup 2010, the winner is Uruguay's Diego Forlan, and many pundits and fans, especially Internazionale fans out there feel that Forlan is not a deserving recipient of this award, as they feel that Wesley Sneijder, the runners-up for the award, or in other words the Silver Ball winner of this tournament who should have been the recipient of the Golden Ball. They argued that Sneijder has scored some great goals in the tournament that were crucial and game changing for the Dutch, especially his two goals that obliterated Brazil and sealed a 2-1 comeback win. However, we have to see that in relative terms, Forlan was much more impactful for his country than the Dutchman, as he virtually single-handedly carried his unheralded team all the way to the semi-finals and could have been in for much more. Thus, the reasons why Forlan is indeed a deserving recipient of the Golden Ball award will be outlined in the following paragraphs.

The first reason why Forlan deserves to be the winner of the Golden Ball was because of the fact that he single-handedly carried Uruguay forward with his goals (5 goals in total in the competition). Even during those games when he did not score, he helped the other players such as Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez to strut their stuff on the pitch to score the necessary goals for them to go through. When he scores the goals, of course I don't need to elaborate much on how Forlan carried the team forward as it's so plainly obvious, but even if he only has a meager 1 assist throughout the tournament (which we will touch upon again later).

Thus secondly, when he is not scoring in a game, Suarez scores. Just like when they were up against Mexico in the last Group A match which ensured they topped the Group and avoided Argentina in the last 16, and then in the last 16 itself when they were up against a solid and resolute South Korean side, in which Suarez scored 2 goals. So, what was Forlan doing in those occasions when he does not score at all? He simply acted as a decoy who drew defenders towards him. Even if it sounds really simple, being a decoy is not that easy. A decoy striker needs a huge reputation for being extremely dangerous when he has the ball on his feet or at least somewhere around him. Based on his records throughout his career (book blotting Manchester United records aside), his plethora of goals and individual accolades confirming his knack of scoring goals simply caused defenders to panic when he moves somewhere even if it's his off the ball movements, and thus whenever he goes to somewhere, the opposing defenders are likely to follow him around while subconsciously neglecting the other strikers such as Luis Suarez, arguably the main and sole beneficiary of Forlan's decoy play when he's not scoring goals for one reason or another such as being particularly marked very tightly by the opposing team.

Thirdly, one might still argue that only players from the winning team, the runners-up or at least from the team which clinched the third place as they ended the competition in glory. Since Uruguay did not fall into any of those criteria, it was deemed that Forlan should not have received the Golden Ball. Not only that it is such a naïve judgment, but that shows that anybody with that line of thought simply do not understand football at all and simply did not watch the competition at all, and basically just followed the competition solely through its Wikipedia entry. Yes, we have to admit that Sneijder, the player widely tipped to be the real best player in the tournament, did indeed play a huge and important role in his team's progress all the way to the final, but we have to look at things in perspective, and if the award is exclusively for the players from the winning teams, then I would suggest that FIFA rips the “My Game is Fair Play” flag draped by the local kids into the pitch before each match alongside the countries' flags that are playing in each game. Fortunately, FIFA's award committee was wise enough not to be so naïve, and simply carefully and meticulously assessed the candidates before deciding to settle with Forlan. Even if his team did not progress beyond the semi-finals, and they even lost to Germany in the third place playoff, but nevertheless in the semi-finals against Holland he scored a crucial equalizing goal in the 41st minute to get Uruguay back into the game after Holland had scored through van Bronckhorst's thunderbolt strike.

Even if it wasn't enough, Forlan continued to score again in the third place playoffs in the 51st minute to get Uruguay in front, but again it wasn't enough as they suffered yet another 3-2 defeat against Germany. However, those goals against Holland and Germany could not e taken lightly. In both occasions, especially in the Holland game, Forlan's goals in those games provided the impetus towards the rest of the Uruguay squad to keep on fighting all the way to the end. In the Holland game, they kept on fighting and when 3-1 down, Maxi Pereira managed to score at the last minute to make a grandstand finish, but even if they continued to threaten Holland for a dramatic equalizer, it simply wasn't enough, but it can be argued, especially by Uruguay fans that Forlan's goals in those games played a huge role in keeping their hopes alive. That's a sign of a great player inspiring a whole nation, even during an imminent defeat.

Fourthly, as mentioned earlier in the article, Forlan was also within a touching distance in becoming the tournament's top scorer. He has 5 goals in the end, and was tied with three other players (David Villa, Thomas Muller, and Wesley Sneijder). In the end, the young Thomas Muller won the Golden Boot award due to FIFA's tie-breaking criteria of counting the assist tally of the players in the event there's a tie. Muller has 3, more than Villa Sneijder, and Forlan all have only one assist in the entire tournament and those three are further separated by the minutes spent on the pitch. I somewhat feel that all three players should have won it jointly, instead of sorting out for just one sole winner based on assists and minutes on the pitch while it should have been a simple award in which the winner(s) would be decided by the amount of goals that they have scored. But since I am just an ordinary fan and that I am nowhere near the FIFA executive positions, I digress. But this is shared by many pundits who also feel that the award should have been jointly won. But nevertheless, Forlan was just within an inch from getting yet another award in the Golden Boot award, and this simply showed that Forlan was up there with the top strikers in the tournament alongside the de facto top names such as David Villa and Wesley Sneijder (Muller being a young breakthrough star of the tournament).

Fifthly, and arguably the most important is the fact that Forlan was one of the most fair play players in the tournament. Alright, I can understand that nowadays when the word “Uruguay” is mentioned, a plethora of negative connotations come to mind, especially for the English (Referee who did not see Lampard's “Goal”) and for the Ghanaians, obviously for the blatant cheating tactic that Luis Suarez employed to stop a goalbound header with his hands, as well as his arrogant reactions in the press afterward, in which he showed no remorse and gone on to even claim that Hand of God belongs to him now. However, this is an individual award, and we should not claim that every single Uruguayan in the squad is bad. Forlan was a player who set an example, and I believe even though Diego Lugano was the one wearing the Captain's Armband, but the real leadership was actually in Forlan's hands. He really led the team, spurred the team on with distinction, as well as leading by example. For example, if he's tackled roughly, he simply shrugged it, got up immediately like a man, and went on with the game, and if he's tackled lightly, he simply stayed on his feet and continued on playing. This is so contrasting to certain players out there who are supposed to be a world class footballer, but roll themselves 8 times with the slightest contact and sometimes due to a non-existent contact. Thus, the fact that he's the embodiment of the words “Fair Play” totally merits the fact that he got the Golden Ball.

Lastly, it's of course the psychological boost that he gives to the whole squad. When he's on the pitch, the whole squad simply believe in themselves and they simply go on an overdrive mode to go on a step further as individual players. Even Fernando Muslera, much maligned in Lazio as he is always seems insecure between the posts for the Roman club, but in this competition, he looked really world class and sturdy, with quite a few world class saves for the record. It seems that Forlan has this aura that simply spurs the rest of the squad. I saw caricatures of each of the 32 teams participating in the World Cup, and for the Uruguayan team, it is a sun with Forlan's face and with two hands holding to two Jules Rimet trophies the country has won in 1930 and 1950. The caricature simply sent a clear message, at least for me, that Forlan is simply the shining light of the team, the guiding sun of Uruguay, and I dare say was the lifeline of the squad. Had he been absent for just one match, this Uruguay team will not perform like what they had been performing in the World Cup.

Thus, based on those factors highlighted above, from his goalscoring exploits for his country in the competition, for the fact that one man simply lit up the whole nation, just like how a top pundit wrote in a top website while he was in Montevideo witnessing Uruguay's run in the competition from the Capital City, and when Forlan scores, the whole city, and he believes the whole country went silent and were simply stunned by the player, their guiding light. Also, not forgetting the fact that he is a real man who realizes that football is a contact sport unlike some players who whine and cry around when oposing players get near them as if football is a Texas Hold'em game whereby someone closing in on you means that he wants to take a peek at your two cards in hand, and simply for being the team's lifeline and the guiding light to glory, although it was close but no cigar for them. In short, Forlan fully deserves the Golden Ball award and I think I have to mention this, but Forlan was a promising tennis player in his youth before he decided to switch to football when his sister was paralyzed from a car accident. Since that touching story, he has become what he is today, and besides contributing for his family, and for his sister, and for their foundation to help campaigning for the preventions of car accidents, he has contributed a hell lot for football, and he will always be remembered for a prolific football player who has lit up a game so much, and how football has to be thankful that he switched to football, or else he will be lighting up Wimbledon, Roland Garros, Rod Laver Arena, and you name it instead of the “Beautiful Game”

World Cup 2010 Final Report Cards (Part 2/2)

In the previous part, it was about the assessment of whether Holland really executed what I had prescribed in another two part articles prior to the final match itself. In this part, of course it will now be about the newly crowned World Cup champions Spain. Amazingly, not that I am trying to exaggerate the way to stop each team that I formulated as mentioned, but the champions filled more tick-boxes than the Dutch in the match in terms of the number of ways really executed by those teams. Thus, the following will be the assessment on the champions Spain.

The first aspect I mentioned was about how Spain should exploit the fact that Holland is usually in their most vulnerable state when it is the last 5 minutes or so of the game. It has been proven in World Cup 2010 most notably against Slovakia and Uruguay in which they conceded at the very last minute, which put Holland in a dangerous position for the Uruguay game but they were fortunate that the Uruguayans were not able to score one more goal to push the match to extra time. Well, Spain did score at the last minute, but they were leaving it so late, and almost too late as they scored only 3 minutes before the match went to penalties, and thus a lottery, and it might mean that the Dutch hacked and cracked and even kung-fued their way to the title, leaving football as the losers.

However, what I meant by scoring late is around the last 10 minutes of the normal time, as it would be much better to finish a knock-out match within 90 minutes instead of spilling it over to extra time where the variables would get complicated as extreme fatigue and even bouts of cramps set in. Also, the failure of introducing Torres early on or even starting him with Villa baffled me. Had Torres started alongside Villa, I believe Spain would have scored much earlier in the normal time as even if he could not score a goal, there is another important function of him, and that's as a decoy to draw the attention of the Dutch defenders and start to gang up on him and even kick him around. But that's alright, that's a small sacrifice as long as David Villa is able to be set free and do his job properly, instead of being so isolated up front and always being surrounded by at least 4-5 Dutch players everytime he gets the ball or even when a ball is on his way to him. Thus, I would consider that Spain had failed to score even later in the normal time as they did not even really try to attack the Dutch who themselves play defensively. Yes, people might say, “Spain has won! So what?” but it could be much much worse for Spain had Iniesta wasn't able to score and the match had gone to penalties.

Still revolving around a time period in the match, I also mentioned how Holland is always at their most lethal around the 60th to 70th minute of the match, and that Spain have to pay extra attention not to over commit men forward in this period of time as the Dutch are very dangerous during this period of time. In the match against Spain, they did threaten around this period. There were two instances whereby Robben almost scored, (Can't really recall but should be within or around this period of time) as he was left one on one with Casillas and in both occasion Casillas did very well to stop him, the first perhaps with a tint of luck as he stopped the shot with his trailing leg, while for the second, Casillas managed to sweep the ball from Robben's legs and he was fortunate the Dutchman did not decide to send himself tumbling on the ground clutching his legs as it would have been a straight penalty. Many pundits claimed that Casillas was extremely fortunate, especially for the first Robben chance, but whether it was down to luck or whatever it was, Spain nevertheless managed to thwart the danger of conceding from the most dangerous Dutch player on the field that night, Robben. In this department, Spain did well in closing down shop (as they had been doing throughout the match unfortunately) to prevent the Dutch from scoring during this period of time in which they usually score goals.

With that, the Spaniards also managed to keep dangerous players such as Robben as mentioned, Sneijder, and even Gio van Bronckhorst. Spain did not let the Dutch from launching dangerous long shots and/or probing long passes for most of the time, and Sneijder had a surprisingly quiet game unlike in the previous games in which he has had a lot of say in Holland's matches and of course it simply means the Dutch's unstoppable progress all the way to the Final. Spain, again maybe due to its defensive oriented formation, managed to close down those players quite superbly, especially at the back whereby the two huge pillars of Barcelona duo Puyol and Pique managed to thwart the Dutch's attempts to attack, although sometimes Puyol was caught losing a sprinting race with Robben especially, but they did well in not providing any space and opportunity to launch meaningful long shots. As for Robben, even if he managed to win those sprinting races against Puyol and Capdevila before cutting in to the middle and launch his long shot, the shot was not really flying very well and Casillas only needed to do a routine catch to save it, that's because of the closing down from the Spanish defenders earlier even if they did not manage to dispossess Robben before he launches the shot.

The last aspect I mentioned was about how Spain must really exploit a weakness, which was actually the Dutch's game-plan for this game, and that's the tendency of the Dutch players, especially players such as Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong to play pro-wrestling instead of a prper game of football on the pitch. I mentioned that the Spaniards should, if they don't resort to stimulation, to simply channel the ball and play towards van Bommel and de Jong as they are the pillars of Holland, and if they get irritated so much with the Spanish midfielders buzzing around them and past them, they would resort to roughing them up in such a way that they would get cards, especially red cards and cause a Dutch collapse. Spain really succeeded in doing so, well, they did some simulations, but it was mostly due to some kind of retaliation towards the Dutch's extremely rough style as well as their own knack of simulating, especially players such as Robben. In any case, besides the cards that they collected themselves, they managed to make the Dutch collect a lot of cards, 8 in total and 2 of them resulted in a sending off as Holland's Johnny Heitinga was sent off for a second yellow in extra time. Actually, even within the normal time, the Dutch should have been a man down as Nigel de Jong was seen executing the “Big Boot” move straight from Pro-Wrestling into Xabi Alonso's chest. Had Xabi was a female, he should have been in heaven right now. The referee decided to brandish only a yellow card to the somewhat fortunate Manchester City hard-man. But nevertheless, when the opposition players are collecting cards there's one advantage gained by Spain. When a player is on yellow, they somehow reduce their intensity and also the frequency of them executing tackles, especially dangerous and 50-50 tackles such as the sliding tackle, and thus it means that it's unlikely that the Dutch would rough them up and also defend as tightly as when they had yet to get the yellow cards. Thus, Spain managed to make the Dutch to collect cards, even if they did not directly cause it. The Dutch themselves seemed to have been so intimidated by the Spain's squad on paper that they seemed to resort to stop them from playing their own brand of football properly.

As a result, Spain managed to win the World Cup for the very first time. But despite what the pundits around the world are saying about how Spain saved all of us from having an undeserving World champion, or in pro-wrestling terms, to have a “heel” winning the World Heavyweight Championship for instance instead of a fan favorite, “heels” deserve to win too, and had Robben scored just one of his two chances, Holland could have been the winners, much to those pundits' agony, and just like how a “heel” would be booed every time he appears with his shiny Championship Belt. But now, congratulations to Spain for winning their first ever World Cup title, and now they are able to legitimately stake their claims as one of the best national teams on earth.

World Cup 2010 Final Report Cards (Part 1/2)

Finally World Cup 2010 has ended, and it somewhat ended the way it started. No, not a match with a blistering thunderous shot, but actually the penultimate game of the tournament was simply the embodiment of one of the biggest criticisms about the tournament, especially early on regarding the extreme lack of goals in the matches. For one, I really pity my dear friends in those parts of the world with the time zones such as GMT +7, 8, 9, or 10. It means that fans in those places had to try their best to be awake at such an ungodly hours in which the demons, Dracula, vampires you name them reign supreme. To make matters worse, for those people, the World Cup 2010 final came at a very very ungodly early morning of a Monday, a true blue Monday Blues inducing workday. Many people that I know who happen to find themselves in countries with those time zones mentioned above had actually wanted to give it a miss, but they simply could not do so as the whispers of “Once in every four years” kept on haunting them to no end. Thus, they decided to simply sacrifice hours of precious sleeping hours and put their health in jeopardy just to see two teams playing with an exact same of a 4-5-1 formation's variant (thanks Mourinho) and doing what DPRK's goalkeeper Ri Myong Guk dubbed as “Defending the gates to the Motherland” (He said it during DPRK's 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh to seal their qualification to World Cup 2010). It was simply better to just sleep, wake up in the morning, grab the nearest newspaper, and take a good, long, hard look at that skimpy 1-0 scoreline and that's the World Cup final for you, without sacrificing hours of sleep and perhaps a workday/schoolday for the more daring ones.

In any case, this edition of the World Cup is over, and of course this is the time to analyze Holland and Spain, the two team that competed yesterday (Yawn!). Actually, it's sad to see two such traditionally attacking teams to play like Greece under Otto Rehhagel. But nevertheless, this is the time to assess both teams based on what I had written about the various possible ways that each one of those teams could do to stop another, and now this is the time to assess whether both teams did what I had stated and explained in great detail in those two part articles prior to the 3rd place playoffs and of course the final itself. Just like the preview articles, this one will also be divided into two parts, and the first report card to be flaunted around would be the one belonging to the runners-up, Holland.

The first way I proposed for Holland to be able to stop Spain was to put Spain in an unfamiliar position in this tournament of going a goal or more behind. Basically, the Dutch should have striven to attack the Spaniards very early on, put them in the position of what the Swiss had put the Spaniards in their Group H opening match, and with the qualities in the Dutch squad, they should have been able to shake Spain so much that they could have won by a bigger scoreline that the Swiss. However, the Dutch failed big time to fulfill this target to score an early goal against Spain and make them trail, and thus causing them to open up even more and thus be susceptible to the second and subsequent Dutch goals. Well, again, it was due to the rather conservative and defensive 4-2-3-1 formation with two defensive midfielders and with only one striker up front. For the Dutch, Robin van Persie was their lone striker, and it was too much to ask any player (Cristiano Ronaldo wilted in this role in this sadly popular formation) to be up front on his own and weave their magic alone to make the difference. Not that the Spaniards were playing with a more attacking approach. They utilized the exact same formation, and were defensive orientated in that match. Also, anyone having a tingle of football knowledge would have realized that van Persie will not have any chance against the double pillars of Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, augmented by players such as Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila. In short, van Persie was simply too isolated and there was totally no chance he could score in that match, let alone score early in the match. The same goes to Robben and Sneijder who simply could not do anything against 4-5 players who will surely come and surround them everytime they have the ball. This time, the example from another team is of course Leo Messi who looked so ordinary and even anonymous as he was shackled by 4-5 defenders each time he wants to do anything, let alone something magical with the ball. Therefore, the Dutch simply failed to score early on and kill off the match early on.

The second way for Holland to stop the Spaniards was to make their sheer physical superiority count at all costs. Well, “at all costs” would be too much as what we witnessed last night. I mentioned that especially in the midfield, the Dutch really had to utilize whatever advantage that they enjoyed such as the fact that they are endowed with two burly and rather steely defensive midfield duo of Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong who are more than capable of swatting aside pint-sized Spanish midfielders such as Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, and even the lone striker Villa, who was also too isolated on his own just like van Persie for the Dutch. However, the Dutch players, not only the two I have just mentioned but basically the whole squad overdid things a little. A look at the statistics of last night's match would reveal a harrowing and perhaps horrifying set of facts 9 yellow cards, including a red card for a second yellow received by Johnny Heitinga in the extra time and a whopping 28 fouls against Spain. Not forgetting the various rough fouls such as Nigel de Jong's infamous “Big Boot” onto Xabi Alonso's chest and he survived just because he is a man, if not... I shall not continue on. Many of the Dutch tackling, pushing, and shoving were all executed with no intention whatsoever to get the ball, as on many occasions the ball had long left the area. To be fair to the Dutch players, the Spanish players sometimes fell down rather too easily, but the Dutch players did it too, but nonetheless, the Dutch simply had to remember that they were playing football and not pro-wrestling, but their fouls, just like de Jong's Big Boot to Xabi Alonso indicated they were too carried away in executing the task of stopping the Spaniards.

Again, nevertheless, the Dutch managed to at least stifle Spain although the price was rather expensive to pay especially Heitinga's sending off in extra time. But it could have been much worse for the Dutch. Remember, Spain on paper is simply the most devastating and arguably the best team at present, just imagine Real Madrid and Barcelona combine forces with each other to form a coalition team, and that's Spain National Team. Despite the fact that Spain's performances have not been convincing all tournament long, they have to be stopped in each match and the Dutch, who have not been really that world beating and convincing themselves throughout the tournament might even suffer what England and Argentina did against their rivals Germany. One thing we have to remember in football is that, “Form is temporary, class is permanent”. All in all, despite the positive of how the Dutch managed to stifle Spain especially in midfield where they are the most dangerous, their plethora of cards collected and the dismissal of Heitinga simply overrode the positives as when players are on yellow, their tackling automatically become lighter as they are under the referee's and everyone's microscopes when an opposing player fell down around them. Just like how the commentator was radying himself to announce the dismissal of Spain's Carles Puyol (who was on yello) when Robben fell down around him and Capdevila when the ref turned out to give the real player who fouled Robben, Capdevila.

The Dutch also did quite well in nullifying the Spanish attacking threats from Villa as well as other players such as Iniesta (except for the only goal of the game), Jesus Navas, Xavi, Sabi Alonso, and of course David Villa by playing the stamina draining pressing game. Whenever a Spanish player advanced towards their penalty area, there were 4-5 Dutch players surrounding that player from all angles, just like how the Germans managed to neutralize Leo Messi and reduced him to just an ordinary player.

However, there was one thing that the Dutch did not manage to really embed into their minds prior to the match as well as the match proceeded on. The last thing I mentioned in the prescriptions on how Holland could stop Spain was regarding the psychological aspects of the game. I mentioned that the Dutch players really have to get rid of any psychological intimidation that the Spanish National Team exudes. A short while ago, I mentioned briefly on how the Spanish National Team is the best ever team in the planet on paper? But a football game is not won on paper, no matter how people might wet their pants just from seeing the composition and the sheer depth of world class players within the Spanish squad and even those outside who did not even make the cut, the Dutch as world class players themselves who are striving for glory should not have that kind of feeling, or in simpler and conservatively put term, they should not have respected the Spaniards too much. But they did. The fact that they overdid the second aspect of ways to stop Spain (to win the physical battles) proved that they were too eager or even too afraid to really let Spain play the game freely and gracefully. They were not willing to risk anything by bravely taking the game to Spain, to attack the oppositions head-on. But due to the sheer thought of Barcelona and Real Madrid when they are ticking, they simply wilted and resorted in stopping Spain from playing in whichever ways possible, as long as they are stopped, it's okay. Also, besides Robben's two spurned one on one chances against Casillas as well as Spain's odd chances here and there, both sides were frankly having one eye not only towards the extra time, but towards the lottery of the penalty shoot-outs. The Dutch, for one, did not even change their mentality once they know that even Spain did not try to go all the way to the top gear and try to get to the top gears themselves and simply bombard and suffocate Spain to put them to the sword once and for all. But they failed to do that and duly paid the prize when Iniesta slotted in that goal 3 minutes from the end of the second half of Extra Time.

Overall, perhaps due to the above psychological reasons or even due to the defensive oriented formation that the Dutch employed against Spain, the only objective they truly achieved was in stifling David Villa from scoring yet another goal in the World Cup and also prevented him from winning the Golden Boot award. They overdid the physical battles, they were not hungry enough to score plenty of goals especially early on to kill he game off before it spilled out to Extra Time, and they seemingly could not get past the psychological barriers of the sheer star-studdedness of the Spain National Team, now officially the best national team in the world, while Holland once again proves how they seem unable to win the World Cup no matter what and even if they look destined to win the whole thing, they are stopped right before they could reach the finish line... As usual...

3rd Place Play-off Conundrum

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.

How to Stop Them? (Part 2/2)

In the first part of this series, It has been explained deeply and in great detail about the possible ways that Spain could stop Holland in the World Cup 2010 final. Therefore, before I am being suspected of a staunch Spanish supporter or even a Spanish writer, I will now go through again in this second part about the possible ways and strategies that could be employed by Holland to stop the Spanish Armada from reaching the biggest treasure of them all in world football, the World Cup Trophy. There are several sides and aspects of how Holland could curb Spain en route to victory and to the trophy, namely winning the team battle on the pitch, winning the individual battles among individual players from both sides, and also the crucial and yet most underrated and unnoticed, the psychological battle on and off the pitch, especially the former during the 90 minutes or even 120 minutes of intense football.

The first aspect is of course the general battle between the two teams, culminating in scoring the necessary goals to wrap the game up before it could drag on to Extra Time and even the dreaded and much criticized penalty shoot-outs. Since that opening day defeat against Switzerland, Spain seems to have slowed down on their mesmerizing pass and move, or Barcelonaesque football if you like. They become somewhat a rigid and cautious unit and are not really hungry to inflict a bucketload of goals on the opponents, unlike their semi-final opponents, Germany. They have become so efficient as they grind 1-0 after 1-0 of results, which is not really what fans and pundits had hoped prior to the World Cup, but those are the kind of result which Jose Mourinho proudly and cockily would comment, “1-0? I don't care, we won!” and rightly so as Germany for all of their flashy football are consigned to competing in the low morale and infamous 3rd place play-off while efficient and pragmatic Spain are in the Final. If that is not enough, Carles Puyol's goal against Germany (only goal of the game of course) was dubbed by plenty of pundits as a “typical Bolton Wanderers goal”. That's another example of “Mourinho Effect” (hopefully I could write about this in depth in the near future) and also yet another sad example of Joga Bonito losing its life force steadily but surely to be replaced by pragmatic, catenaccio football. Welcome back 1960s, and Helenio Herrera would be shaking in delight in his grave as catenaccio makes a glorious comeback.

Alright, the point of the lengthy explanation above regarding the somewhat newfound playing habit of Spain was actually resulted in the aforementioned opening day defeat against Switzerland, in which their flashy football was thwarted in an efficient fashion with resolute defending and the Swiss simply ground a somewhat messy but no less than a 1-0 victory. Since then, especially during the knockout stages, Spain have knocked one team after another all with a 1-0 victory. Call them a squad of Megaman (for those who don't know, he's a robot who is able to copy and utilize his enemies' weapons) if you like, but they are playing to grind efficient 1-0 victory, and yeah, even if people want to argue that had Pedro passed the ball to Fernando Torres, they would have won 2-0 and not 1-0 all the way to the final, but yeah. Thus, since the opening day defeat of Switzerland, Spain have yet to concede a goal (except for that 2-1 match against Chile) and in any case they have yet to find themselves trailing their opponents in a match since Gelson Fernandes' winning goal in the opening match against Switzerland.

Therefore, what the Dutch should do is not to hold out themselves in search of a 1-0 win as Spain is most likely to be the team that gets the 1 winning goal and game over Holland. The Dutch have to take the Spaniards back all the way to the opening Group H meeting with Switzerland, and they have to do what Gelson Fernandes did to the Spaniards, score an early goal which would certainly put the Spanish players in a shell-shocked mode. After that 1 goal, the Spaniards are likely to panic and this would jolt their natural attacking instincts and just start playing their Joga Bonito game in their desperate attempt to equalize and save the game, it's Switzerland all over again. However, the Dutch, with Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt, the in form Golden Boot chasing Wesley Sneijder, and even van Persie have more than enough to quality to strike the heart of Spain's defense directly at the jugular, unlike the Swiss who really hung on to dear life with their staunch defending.

Of course, to score that early goal is not an easy task. Holland is up against the European Champions, a team which is scarily almost a hybrid of Barcelona and Real Madrid, almost a La Liga Selection Squad, augmented by other world class players such as Fernando Torres and Fabregas (who might well come home to Barcelona soon). Thus, as mentioned early on, the Dutch have to win their individual battles against the Spanish players. In the previous part, I pointed out Mark van Bommel as the weak link in the Dutch squad and might become their answer to Felipe Melo at anytime if the Spaniards are as crafty as the Dutch in their match against Brazil. However, we must not underestimate his importance in the match-up against Spain. Looking at the Holland midfield and defense consisting of players such as Nigel de Jong, van Bommel, van der Wiel, and Johnny Heitinga up against players such as Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Iniesta, and Pedro, you have to start thinking that it is just like a battle between Toms and Jerries. To stop the pint sized, speedy, and elusive Spanish midfielders from wreaking havoc and inflict damages to Holland, the Dutch need to really make the physical advantage that they have count to the last nanometer of their difference in height and build. Nigel de Jong and van Bommel together with the backline have to really use their physical superiority to stop them in their tracks, and if necessarily get a little rough with them. Heck with the yellow cards, as long as it's not red, and the small sized Spaniards are stopped, Holland have won three-quarters of the battle, and the only thing left is to finish off Spain by scoring a goal or two for good measure.

Another area which the Dutch must really pay attention to, especially if they fail to break the duck during the first half and/or up to 60th minute, they really have to find a way to stop the movements of David Villa and Fernando Torres (if the latter is playing). Despite many fans and pundits criticizing Fernando Torres to no end, even as far as calling him Samson as they claim that he has become useless after having a haircut. But I assure the world that Torres had done this before during his Atletico Madrid years in which he was sporting an identical hairdo as Juan Sebastian Veron and Stone Cold Steve Austin and I assure you he was still good with that hairdo. In the actual fact, Torres played a huge role in Spain's charge to the final, especially their charge to the semi-finals (as he didn't play vs Germany). The sharper ones among us have observed that during the knockout stages, David Villa has been scoring in those 1-0 victories, and he did not score in the semi finals against Germany. Why? Torres played in the previous matches but he did not play against Germany as mentioned. Even if he does not score any goals in this tournament, he has undoubtedly played a huge role for his team, and for their sake, I really hope a Villa-Torres pairing will be restored in the final. But yeah, this is about stopping Spain, and so, the role of Torres has actually been that of a decoy. He simply sacrifices hmself to make off the ball runs around the opponents' penalty area and players of his stature cannot be ignored by the opposing defense and they will commit men to mark him. This will undoubtedly free up space for David Villa to score.

Thus, assuming that those two play in tandem for Spain in the final, the Dutch will have to keep in mind never to over-commit their defensive manpower to just handle Torres alone as Villa is lurking around the penalty box himself, ready to pounce to any chances coming his way, or half chances for that matter to be converted into deadly goals. If possible they should close down the Spaniards as often as possible, even if this is a stamina wasting strategy, but letting Villa, Torres, Xavi, Iniesta et al. to roam freely is simply suicidal. Even during set pieces, extra attention have to be given to defenders such as Puyol and Pique from doing damage with their heads just like how the Germans found out to their cost and also they have to be careful with Sergio Ramos' deadly forwards runs and if possible to launch counterattacks through that flank. Especially with the aforementioned closing down strategy, the Dutch will have to find a way to conserve their stamina carefully, considering how they always deflate towards the end of the match as mentioned in Part I and that Spain is a team with plenty of explosive talents on the bench, such as Fabregas, Jesus Navas, and David Silva just to name three ready to destroy the surely tired Dutch defense at the point of their fresh introduction into the fray.

Lastly, it is certainly going to be the psychological aspect of the game. Like I said earlier, a glance at the Spanish squad list would send chills down anyone's spine, with glittering players plying their trade at the very best clubs. Plethora of world class talents in which 23 man slots seem to be unfair for a country with such an array of talents as many more of the world class talents such as Marcos Senna and Santi Cazorla are left out of the squad. This is truly the very best team in the world on paper at least! However, the Dutch must not have those words that I have just written in their minds. They have to clear their mind about how Spain is composed of players from Real Madrid, Barcelona, best teams blah blah, but they really have to believe that they are in the final against Spain, they are not any weaker than Spain, and that they are the best. Bert van Marwijk must simply show his motivational skills here and embed that in the players' minds while trying his best to erase any traces of inferiority complex in the squad. Jose Mourinho has done it, yes he's such an impactful manager, single-handedly resurrected catenaccio football, depose the long heralded 4-4-2 all the way to the dustbin and make 4-5-1 and its derivatives the new winning formula, as well as totally redefining the word “confidence”. He has done it with Inter as they totally stopped Barcelona from playing and simply defeat them over two legs in the Champions League en route to their historic Treble Winning season. Bert van Marwijk must do the same and psyche his squad up. Perhaps Wesley Sneijder could be of great help as he was part of that historic Inter team.

In any case, even though it doesn't really promise to be a match flooding with goals, and that both teams will cancel each other with their own ways and wits to stop each other (just like if you read Part I and II of this series in a row, everything will cancel out), it promises to be explosive, to be a final to remember, and as sad as it could be, the World Cup is ending, let us savor the last 180 minutes of football at the very least that is left (along with the 3rd place playoff between Germany and Uruguay) and simply enjoy the moment and the World Cup Spirit, and until the competition arrives again in four years' time in Brazil.

How to Stop Them? (Part 1/2)

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!

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 2/2)

In this second part about Argentina's visible gaping holes in their squad, it will now be about Javier Zanetti's possible impacts on the team had he been included in Maradona's 23 man squad alongside Esteban Cambiasso, whose analysis on his possible impacts have been explained in part 1. To be frank, no matter how well argued arguments such as the one written by yours truly in part 1 about the justifications for Cambiasso's inclusion in the squad, many would be able to still argue against it in a relatively effortless manner. However, for Javier Zanetti's inclusion, in which he would have been occupying the right back berth in the squad, there can be a much stronger case for his inclusion considering how that right back position has been a continuously persistent problem in Maradona's squad. Also, we have to bear in mind that all four goals that Germany scored against Argentina in that embarrassing 4-0 thrashing of Argentina came from the Germans' left flank (in other words, Argentina's right). Besides that, Javier Zanetti's inclusion will certainly add a plethora of dimension to the Argentine squad and will no doubt massively strengthening it as a whole, and all of these will be outline in the following paragraphs.

The first and main effect of J. Zanetti's inclusion in the Argentina World Cup 2010 squad is certainly to put a lid on Argentina's chronic and totally unnecessary as well as preventable right back conundrum. Throughout the tournament, Maradona has been struggling to put someone suitable for the right back position and throughout the tournament, he fielded players whose positions are anything but the rigght back position. At the beginning of the tournament, Maradona fielded Jonas Gutierrez, and his natural position is as a left winger. Even two victories out of two against Nigeria and South Korea could not save him from being criticized as “uncomfortable and unstable” playing as a right back, and thus for the last Group Stage game against Greece, the right back position was occupied by Nicolas Burdisso, a center back. Again, Argentina marched to a 2-0 victory. In their 3-1 victory against Mexico in the last 16, Maradona fielded Nicolas Otamendi, a center back by trade just like Burdisso, and after the victory Maradona finally settled for Otamendi, fielded him again for that fateful match against Germany in the quarter finals, and the rest, as they say, is history. As mentioned, that deficiency on the right back position was ruthlessly exposed by the efficient Germans and their goals were all from there. Also, Otamendi looked like Argentina's answer for Michel Bastos, as if they were competing just like how the Soviet Union and the USA competed for space technologies during the Cold War. Even in the midst of the thrashing, Otamendi was substituted deep into the second half, and was replaced by Javier Pastore, an attacking midfielder who did not even take that right back position and thus for the last 30 minutes, it was occupied by thin air, again I am sure thin air was “uncomfortable and unstable” as a right back. Jokes aside, all of those chronic problems involving the right back position would not be so problematic had Javier Zanetti was there.

I know I have been preaching a lot about how a player's club performance can never be used as a yardstick for their international performance and names such as Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney, and of course Cristiano Ronaldo will be thrown into the argument. However, let's just think rationally and look at it this way. Which one would you choose? Players who are not right backs at all, or an evergreen, age-defying, world class right back who is at 36 years old is still ready at anytime to give 110% for his team, be it Inter, the club he served with distinction for so long, or his beloved country? I believe most if not all would definitely choose the latter, and rightly so. We have seen from his 15 years in Inter, he has amassed a whopping 700 appearances for the Nerazzuri, and also 136 cps for Argentina. This proves his longevity and level of fitness in which he rarely gets injured or miss a match or two. I know it's futile to do an inquest or asking “what if” questions by now, but just think about it, considering how he has performed so admirably for Inter and Argentina in all of his 700 and 136 appearances for both teams respectively, one might wonder if no less than four goals would have been shipped in by Argentina all from their opponents' left flank (which is Argentina's right) had Javier Zanetti was the one playing for the Albiceleste as their right back... Think about it.

Secondly, besides the obvious fact that Javier Zanetti is a right back and should have played as a right back for Argentina, especially considering the very fact that Argentina did not have a right back at all throughout the tournament, Javier Zanetti's inclusion in the squad will surely add yet another leadership quality in the squad, which I must admit was sorely lacking in the squad. Argentina's staunch backers will ask “how about Veron? He's the one who's supposed to be what you call the team's “pseudo-manager”” Yes, Veron is a senior player, and the oldest member of the squad, but still, I can't remember Veron as a player with plenty of leadership qualities if there's any, and I know I will start yet another of those “Leaders are born vs bred” kind of debates, but I won't go there, but one thing I know for sure, Javier Zanetti will be one of the names that would be cited in the “leaders are born” side of the debate. I am perfectly aware that Maradona, the manager who is in charge of motivation, team talks, and those kind of things in this squad. However, a manager can only do so much, and more specifically, they can only (literally and figuratively) can be present up to the boundaries between the dugout and the pitch. How about the leaders on the pitch? The “pseudo-manager” who is in charge of organizing and keeping the team together on the pitch, during the two halves (or more) of the game especially when things get tough? Maradona couldn't just don an Argentina jersey and go out to the field with the captain's armband, as much as he would love to do oh so much, and thus it will be left to players like Zanetti.

Looking at the players on the pitch against Germany, the only player who is the closest to that “pseudo-manager” that I have been talking about since before the World Cup (mostly about Ballack which I have been proven totally wrong on that, but yeah) was the one wearing the captain armband, Javier Mascherano. He became the captain of the Argentina team when Maradona stripped the armband from Javier Zanetti, and although he continued to field the Inter player for the qualifying campaign, he excluded Zanetti altogether from the World Cup squad, a decision which baffled many, and many more right now including yours truly. Back to Mascherano, I don't think he is suitable to be the captain, not that I could see another alternative from this squad though, except for Veron (who did not feature in the game). Alright, even if Mascherano was still the one wearing the armband, Zanetti's presence will undoubtedly make him the “true” captain of the team and will certainly augment the squad with his leadership qualities and aura. Even if with his presence, Germany managed to score that early against Argentina, there will be Zanetti who will exercise his “pseudo-manager” role in the squad and calm the team down, gather all of them together, and direct them to regroup and not to panic, especially for the defenders and their goalkeeper, Sergio Romero. Thus, they would not leak in more goals and even start to break the Germans down. Even if the effect is only psychological, it would still be significant, just like what I have mentioned and explained in detail in the first part of this on Esteban Cambiasso, in which the mere presence of Zanetti will also psychologically strengthen the squad especially the backline. Besides that, Zanetti will also be very calm under pressure and even possible provocations from the opponents, and he won't have conceded so many unnecessary fouls like Otamendi and even concede that free kick which resulted in the Germans' first goal which set the ball rolling for the embarrassing destruction of Argentina.

The last and another effect, and again similar to what Cambiasso would offer is the fact that Zanetti will help the attack significantly as well. However, while Cambiasso would help the attack with his pinpoint through passes, Zanetti will help the attack as they would be having an extra man forward and he will certainly be able to cross the ball well to aim for Higuain for him to finish it off. In that match, the source of crosses from deep were from the forward running Gabriel Heinze on the left flank, and since he is not the best crosser in the world, his crosses tended to balloon away from Higuain rather than really approaching Higuain properly. In any case, it was such a waste that Argentina bowed down from the competition with Germany exposing their flaws and deficiencies so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly in front of literally the whole world. The German match really justified the Interista's arguments about the exclusion of both Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso by ten folds if not more.

In any case, what is done, is done. There's no point in looking backwards. No matter the reason, whether Maradona miscalculated or simply excluding both players on the same grounds as how Marcelo Lippi stubbornly excluded Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli, only Maradona himself knows for sure. But the fact remains that both players were not included in the squad, and although the effects were masked as Argentina simply notched victory after victory against teams who are to be frank, not contenders at all and are happy to go as far as they could, and when they really meet the real contenders, the big boys, the team that genuinely and realistically aim for the World Cup Trophy, they simply collapsed and the consequences from the exclusion of Cambiasso and Zanetti, especially Zanetti by manyfolds were ruthlessly shown and exposed, it showed that the Interistas might have been right after all.

Although all of these remain on paper and thus mere theories, and that things might even be not any better had they been included, but still, the way Germany won 4-0, all pointed to those two players and there's simply no room to hide for those who are still trying to justify the exclusion of the two Internazionale players.

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 1/2)

Argentina's and of course their manager Diego Maradona's dreams to join Franz Beckenbauer to have won the World Cup both as his country's captain and manager ended unceremoniously as they were utterly obliterated and generally capitulated ironically against an extra terrestrial Germany that is sure to be on a different time frame (faster) than their hapless opponents and simply thrash them one by one like pathetic mosquitoes facing the electric mosquito racket. As many people within the footballing universe have now grown accustomed to, even prior to this World Cup campaign, fans around the world, mainly Interistas and people who suddenly become Interistas after their marvelous Treble winning campaign have been constantly voicing out their utter discontent over Maradona's decision to exclude both the defensive midfielder Esteban Cambiasso and right back Javier Zanetti. At first I was baffled with this persistent complaints from the Interistas as I am not one of them, and I simply dismissed their complaints about Cambiasso and Zanetti as a simple example of a case of sour grapes towards Maradona as two of their key players in their aforementioned Treble winning season are not selected. This was even more so when Argentina blitzed through the Group Stages with three wins out of three even though they were against Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece.

Their 3-1 win against Mexico who looked like contenders just because France played like a pub team simply carried me away up up in the sky and further laughed the Interistas' complaints off. However, things went terribly wrong against Germany in the quarter finals, and amazingly, their destruction all stemmed from both defensive midfield and right back position, especially the latter. This played straight into the Interistas and will undoubtedly be the main source of ammunition against Maradona not only from them, but by most if not all pundits in their attempts to make an inquest against Maradona's World Cup campaign. Even I am starting to believe those Interistas after looking at how Germany systematically took apart Argentina on their way to a massive 4-0 victory that sent their Chancellor Angela Merkel dancing wildly in the stands. The Germans totally exposed their weaknesses and those weaknesses happened to be the positions occupied by Cambiasso and Zanetti, and I have also found the reasons on why the Intersitas were right after all. I will divide this into two, and I will start with my personal assessment on what Cambiasso's inclusion might have done to the Argentine team.

First things first, we know that Maradona played a rather attacking 4-4-2 diamond formation in World Cup 2010 to simply try and overwhelm their opponents and for their strong area (their attack) to be expressed. But Maradona should have played two defensive midfielders at the same time to screen and protect their fragile backline, an inherently weak area of a South American team, let alone Argentina. Their captain, Javier Mascherano can be one of the two defensive midfielders. But how about his partner? It is either Maxi Rodriguez or Juan Sebastian Veron who can partner him in that position in the current team. Both Maxi and Veron are all attacking oriented players and were certainly playing out of position and looked comfortable, despite many that might argue that since Maxi and Veron are ageing players, they have evolved and adapt to their advancing age by playing in a more withdrawn/defensive position but still, both players are still playing in an attacking role in their respective clubs and still, they are not comfortable playing as a defensive midfielder. Even if one might argue that Maradona could have fielded Mario Bollatti as Mascherano's partner, he still won't provide the same benefits that Cambiasso might have dished out for the team, and this will be argued and explained more and more as this goes on.

Since Mario Bollatti has come to the picture and he indeed could have partnered Mascherano had Maradona opted for two defensive midfielders to be played n his formation. But we just take a look at these two players. Bollatti is not really an experienced player on the international stage, as he only has 4 Argentina caps to his name, and he is so famous just because of his solitary and winning goal against Uruguay to clinch their place in the World Cup finals while consigning Uruguay to a tough and controversial playoff against Costa Rica. On the other hand, Cambiasso is a world class players with plenty of experience on the international set-up with 11 times the caps that Bollatti have amassed so far at 44 caps for his country. This would mean that had Bollatti partnered Mascherano, he would be a liability instead of becoming a useful helping hand to Mascherano. His inexperience will still be exploited ruthlessly by the mean machine, efficient, and even extra terrestrial Germans and Mascherano will be left covering for Bollatti and saving him for problems, and all this while he still needs to perform his own duty well to thwart the Germans. Also, there's no guarantee that the Germans won't do what Arjen Robben did to Michel Bastos and Felipe Melo, especially the latter. This will only mean that Mascherano will still be a one man defensive midfielder in the team, the team will be deprived of one attacking player which would inhibit their attacking flair (their strong point as mentioned) to be expressed properly, and also, carrying a potential liability and a time bomb. Cambiasso is experienced enough to avoid any dirty provocations like what Felipe Melo experienced and to slot into the formation perfectly and simply facilitating his partner Mascherano and to further augment the Argentine defense. In any case, for the German game especially, I still think that Argentina should have gone for a formation with two defensive midfielders as Walter Samuel, the only rock solid defender in the Argentina squad was absent with injury. When your team's defensive spine consists of Nicolas Burdisso and Martin Demichelis as your best options, and Sergio Romero as your very last line in defense, you really need to consider putting some kind of solid barricade in front of them.

In light of the previous explanation, the second effect of Cambiasso's presence in the squad will certainly still revolve around augmenting Argentina's rather porous defense. The presence of both Cambiasso and Mascherano, two world's premier defensive midfielders in front of the defenders and goalkeeper will certainly give them some kind of protective aura from which they could draw confidence and security in strutting their stuff on the pitch. The reason why Burdisso looks uncomfortable, Demichelis committing grave errors one after another, and Sergio Romero looks like an invisible man at times in goal is simply because they are continually called into action and ruthlessly exposed. Even seasoned central defenders and goalkeepers with nerves of steel will crumble and erroneous when chronically and consistently exposed against the brute of opponents' attacks. Thus, when the Argentine backline is screened with two world class defensive midfielders patrolling in front of them, chances of them being totally exposed by the opponents' attackers are considerably slimmer, and even if they are able to get past Cambiasso and Mascherano it's probably after a mountain of effort and even with s stroke of luck, and Burdisso and Demichelis can confidently and coolly and perhaps easily dispossess the shaken attacker and/or boot the ball away or pass it to another player to launch a fresh wave of attack. The psychological edge of having the aforementioned feeling and aura of security cannot be underestimated. Even placebo effects are so amazing, in which if one believes that a glass of ordinary plain water is a holy water taken from a particularly holy spring able to cure any diseases, the drinker will certainly feel so much better right after drinking the water. Thus, I strongly believe that the trio of Demichelis, Burdisso and Sergio Romero will certainly perform so much better had there been a proper screening and cover in front of them.

At this point of time, Argentina's fans will certainly think, “Hey, are you asking our proud national team to do a Dunga and even a step further by abandoning our proud attacking culture to Mourinho's Park-the-bus-in-goal tactics?” Definitely not, as it would certainly be such a waste of Argentina's array of massive attacking talents at Maradona's disposal in this tournament, and that parking a bus without doors and windows is never a good idea to prevent someone form slipping through easily through the bus and to the other side. Thus, the third and penultimate role that Cambiasso would have played had Argentina really fielded Mascherano and Cambiasso as two defensive midfielders, besides augmenting the defense, it would also be to bridge the defense and attack properly with his penchant of sending beautiful through balls whether on the ground or a long through ball in the air. Before I go further, I would say that the kind of formation that Maradona should have set-up would be a 4-2-3-1 formation widely used in this tournament. The “3” attacking midfielders would be Angel di Maria on the left flank, Maxi Rodriguez or even Javier Pastore as the right winger, and Messi as the “trequarista” with free role just behind the lone targetman Gonzalo Higuain who is a target striker in the mold of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Filippo Inzaghi.

We know that during the German game, Argentina's attacks were never successful and each time, they were thwarted properly in a scarily efficient manner. It seemed that they kept on running into an unbreakable invisible wall. (I won't say out the name of Germany's capital city as many Germans are still angry when one mentioned the word “Wall” after their capital city's name). Thus, the perfect solution would resemble Brazil's goal in their sad 2-1 loss against Holland in which Felipe Melo sent a through pass to bypass the entire Dutch midfield and defense to send Robinho clear on the goal one on one with the goalkeeper and duly scored from there. Thus, Cambiasso's penchant of sending precise, incisive through passes will be called into action here. Again, I am sorry I can't help but to refer to World War II to better illustrate what Cambiasso would do to augment the attack. Berlin was totally cordoned off and no food could be transported into the city (I won't go through the vivid details as it would mean I am out of point and I am diagnosed with ADHD), thus the Allies' solution was to send food and other necessities through the small air route that the Soviets had opened for air transports to and from Berlin, which was known as “The Berlin Airlift”. It is the same thing for Argentina. They had no way to go through the packed and efficient defense, and they kept on getting thwarted. Whenever di Maria and Messi tried to weave their magic, they can go past one or two Germans, but three or four more are waiting behind them and simply dispossess them. What to do? Even Messi can't do anything. Enter Cambiasso. He could have sent a incisive long ball which would bypass the entire midfield and defense of Germany (unless one of them is Superman's real identity and simply jumped up to head the ball away, I can't say anything) and to the path of Higuain who is certainly in the penalty area waiting for the ball as usual and he would just head the ball or send a deceptively simple tap-in into the net. I know it is not that easy as even in that match, he had one of his tap-ins ruled offside. Besides that, Cambiasso could also send a through pass to Messi, di Maria, or Maxi/Pastore and simply send them to be in a better position to dribble around and send that final ball to Higuain from a closer distance.

In any case, Esteban Cambiasso is a world class player with plenty of experience in the club scene as well as the national set-up of Argentina and will certainly add plenty of steel in defense while adding plenty of ammunition especially with his laser guided passes as mentioned above to further facilitate the attack, either directly to the targetman (Higuain) or via the creative players such as Messi, Pastore, and di Maria. What's done is done, and just like any inquest from any pundits in any medium, this is as futile as it could be, and still a theoretical framework which might not work well in practice when it is really implemented on the pitch. Detractors will still remind us to the 2006 version of the Argentina vs Germany match but it was the case of tactical mistake by the then manager and when utilized properly, Cambiasso will certainly add a lot of dimension and massively strengthen the Argentine team. The next part will be about Javier Zanetti, another player whose exclusion is lamented by Interistas worldwide, and which I also think they have a case as well, just like for Cambiasso.