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.

Argentina 0-4 Germany World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals

Just after the Group Stage matches have been concluded in World Cup 2010, South American countries were so dominating with every single countries qualified to the last 16 in a so scintillating manner beating everything in their path and playing beautiful football yearned so much by fans to boot. Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay all qualified in a convincing manner into the last 16 of the competition. At this point of time, I even read a long-winded and detailed assessment on the various reasons for the dominance of the South American countries, and of course laced with superlatives. But, something went terribly wrong from there onwards as the South American countries fell out one by one from the competition. Argentina were dumped unceremoniously last night against Germany in which it was really supposed to be a tightly contested match between two giants in the game, but Germany were so extraterrestrial that it did not happen. Germany totally and thoroughly obliterated Maradona's boys, and to think that Thomas Muller, the one Maradona “mistook” as a ballboy in a press conference dishing out the most damage, I shudder to think what Maradona would be feeling right now.

Actually, what Germany did was very simple, they took apart Argentina ruthlessly by taking a leaf out of their arch-rivals Holland's book in which they exploited a weak link in Argentina's squad just like how Holland exploited the weak link of Brazil in their match. It was Michel Bastos for Brazil on the left flank, but for Argentina, it was their right flank and the hapless Nicolas Otamendi which was truly overwhelmed and exposed by the Germans. In fact, all of the four goals conceded by Argentina were all from blitzkrieg (literally, as the speed of each attack is out of this world) piercing attacks from the left flank (thus Argentina's right). Two German facts. First, Saucer shaped flying vehicles were reportedly invented in Germany as blueprints or even prototypes of them were reportedly retrieved from Germany upon the Third Reich's defeat. The second fact is that, whenever we hear the world “Germany” or “Germans”, one thing comes to mind, “efficiency”. First up, the Germans really moved and passed the ball like how UFOs maneuver, just like how they thrashed England badly in the last 16 match, and just like the efficiency of the UFOs shape and mechanism, they do their moves in an efficient manner. Despite the wicked twists and turns all over the field, they really wasted little energy if not at all and no single move was wasted. They also totally exposed Argentina's general weakness which is their back-line especially the right back position but they also efficiently and ruthlessly prevented Argentina from showing their strong points, which is their supposedly overwhelming attacks with an array of world class attackers at Maradona's disposal in this tournament. Also, to Germany's full credit and/or to an off day for the Argentine attackers, Germany foiled each attempts on goal very very easily in which Argentina were only restricted to futile long shots and even Messi was powerless against the German defense. Even if they got behind the German defense, such as how Higuain managed to “score” in the 36th minute, he was caught offside. Besides stopping Argentine attacks right on its tracks, they immediately launched their extra terrestrial counter led by Ozil and Muller which was truly devastating each time for the shaky Argentina's defenders.

As for Argentina, it still baffles me as how Maradona managed to leave a gaping hole to be exploited ruthlessly by the efficient German UFOs. Nicolas Otamendi looked shaky throughout the match and Jonas would have been a much better choice. This is also in light of the fact that the Argentine defense was already very porous due to the absence of Walter Samuel, who earned the nickname “The Wall” certainly not for nothing. Tough luck for Argentina as the Inter defender was absent when Argentina needed him the most in this tournament. When Otamendi received a yellow card early in the match, I was sure that he was Argentina's answer to Michel Bastos, or even worse to Felipe Melo, and when I saw several Argentina substitutes warming up early on I was relieved as I believed Maradona was about to make a very early change to alter the game's proceedings especially as Argentina's plans were failing as they conceded very early in the match and were in danger to concede more (which they did in the second half). I expected Jonas to replace the hapless Otamendi as he would be much more sturdy and solid in thwarting the German Blitzkrieg attacks from their left flank. But, Otamendi stayed on.

In the second half, Maradona did not make any changes and it duly got worse and worse and worse for Argentina as they conceded one more goal in the 67th minute. After this, Otamendi was finally brought off, but even if it was for Jonas, it was too late. But it wasn't for Jonas, but for the attacking midfield Javier Pastore! Instead of plugging the leak, it only caused the already porous Argentine defense to be even more porous. At this time, with their attack totally shackled, Higuain caught in the efficient German offside traps plenty of times (as his style is in the mold of Inzaghi and van Nistelrooy) while Messi was closed down by 4-5 Germans when he tries to weave his magic, and their defense was totally shambolic and totally in chaos at this point of time as they conceded one more goal through Arne Friedrich, a defender scoring his first ever goal for the national team in the 73rd minute, a substantiation and a stamp of approval that Germany played close to their rivals' Total Football and/or Argentina's defense preferring the final whistle to be blown there and then. In the 75th minute, Sergio Aguero was brought on by Maradona to try to change the game, but at 3-0 down, it was futile, even if other two Messi-s were brought on at that time, it would have been futile. With Argentina all but given up, and Maradona's face expression showed it all, as he ditched his usual animated and enthusiastic antics on the touchline and for the first time in this tournament he stood there in a stoic manner and was pale-faced from then on. At the 88th minute, Klose scored one more goal to make it 4-0 and also took his personal tally in the World Cup tied with Gerd Muller with 14 goals and just 2 more goals away to overtake Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima (so that people, especially younger ones won't be confused with the Portuguese version).

As for Maradona, it would be inevitable from here on that the pundits and the media in general will be licking their lips with plenty of ammunition to be dished out to the coach. Once again, every section of the media and most if not all pundits will again be condemning the man which they have just started to praise and acknowledge as a good manager. However, the most potent and plentiful ammunition will be from the Interistas, in which they will undoubtedly re-ignite the debate about the exclusion of Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso from the Argentina squad, a debate which has been silent for a while prior to his horrendous defeat. In any case, looking at how weak and exploited Argentine's right back position was, even I am starting to be carried off by those Interistas in which had Javier Zanetti occupied that right back position, all four Germany goals might have been prevented as all four goals came from the Germany's left flank as mentioned in detail above. Javier Zanetti is certainly more solid and capable than Otamendi and even Jonas, whose natural position is as a left winger.

It was a bad day for South American football, just when pundits around the world started to embrace Maradona as a world class coach, with one journalist from a top newspaper even go as far as writing a long winded formal apology to Maradona, and another explaining in detail full of superlatives to South American football and the reasons for their dominance in great detail, South American teams fall down one by one, and after Argentina was knocked out in the match above, Paraguay was also knocked out by a somewhat fortunate Spain side once again having to thank David Villa as their messiah. Just two rounds from the seemingly imminent conversion of World Cup 2010 to Copa America 2010, with only Uruguay as the only remaining South American representative, many pundits and fans are already predicting a final which is the rematch of 1974 World Cup final between rivals Germany and Holland. In other words, instead of Copa America 2010, now it is becoming Euro 2010.

Holland 2-1 Brazil World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals

After two horrendous days without the usual kick obtained from the daily dose of World Cup football, in which the very thought of the long days between 12 July to August or the start of the new season of the club season in most of Europe, we have the quarter finals of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa underway. The last 8 of the competition is usually where the competition starts to get really interesting with teams having moved to the higher gears as well as now finally able to unleash the much conserved energy from the Group Stage and this is where the big boys are finally colliding. Although the downside is that from here onwards, the World Cup looks more like an Intercontinental Cup, a hybrid of the European Championship and the Copa America. Back to the topic at hand, the first match of the last 8 was between Holland and Brazil. This match was intriguing as it was a game of two halves, belonging to the respective teams. In the first half, the justification and the real mechanism of Dunga's much criticism set up of the team was shown. In the second half, it was the moment when a certain masterstroke decision made by the Holland manager Bert van Marwijk finally showed in the half which was totally Oranje in color. Thus, keeping that in mind, I will just go about writing this by dividing it into two, about Brazil, and about Holland according to each half owned by each of them.

So the first half belonged to Brazil, thus I will start from here. Dunga's team have been heavily criticized by pundits around the world including Brazil itself (although it owed greatly to Dunga's frosty relationship with the Brazilian media but that's another story) for being veered of so far from the track of traditional flashy, ultra attacking, samba football. However, in this World Cup 2010 so far, we have seen Brazil taking care of opponents so ruthlessly and efficiently (the Portugal game excluded as it was pretty much a dead rubber) from the resolute DPRK in the first match, to the strong Ivory Coast, and the last victim before this match was the attractive Chile. For a team in the very image of Dunga, just like how those pundits would say it, the actual results and performance of the team so far only contradict their arguments! The first half showed that Dunga has cleverly set up this team in two images and literally sliced this team into two, and then implement two totally different mindsets and ways to play the game. 5 players, from Julio Cesar the goalkeeper, the two center backs Juan and Lucio, as well as the two defensive midfielders (and this is where the critics draw their fuel from) Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva all have the defensive mindset.

Thus, for this part of the team, it is collectively a huge, rigid, and unforgiving block of ice in which the play is no frills, ultra defensive mentality (except for Lucio in his occasional forward gallops). Then we have the two wing backs Michel Bastos and Maicon, as well as Dani Alves for the right hand side as he played for the injured midfield Elano can all be considered as the flowing water. They take on the dual role of attacking and defending. While up front,players such as Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano (and Elano if fit) are all the raging fire in the team. All of them, especially Kaka and Robinho, are given a free role and also high creative freedom. They are also not required at all to track back and help to defend and also to regain possession so staunchingly when off the ball. That task I left to the first layer of the aforementioned rigid ice block of Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva (the two defensive midfielders). The raging fire area of the team is simply where the traditional samba football of Brazil is being executed, and that's why they are able to stay strong and solid at the back, while exhibiting loose and delightful attacking moves up front, unlike the all flashy attacking team of 2006 with their famous (or infamous) 4-2-4 formation with virtually a 2 men defense as the wing back go up so far alongside the strikers most of the times.

However, this Brazil team has one great weakness which would send them back all the way to Brazil in this encounter with Holland. Any raging fire can be doused, and water can be parched, while any solid bloc of ice can be melt or even exploded. To be more precise and to the point, this Brazil team is very prone to provocations and anything of that sort. Just recall the dead rubber Group G encounter against Portugal in which both teams were already in the last 16 and that a draw was the best result for both teams, we all remember that in the first half of that match, it almost turned into a fracas as Brazilian players, especially Felipe Melo (remember this name for the subsequent paragraphs) who was substituted even before half time to prevent further card collection. Things calmed down only in the second half and we know it ended 0-0. Thus, despite Brazil's domination in this very match in which Robinho scored after such a beautiful move as Felipe Melo, of all people sent a delightful through ball to Robinho to score the first goal at the 9th minute. Everyone surely felt that it was the first of so many to come in that match, especially with Brazil's continuing to dominate proceedings as they created more chances to make it 2-0 at least and pretty much seal the game for themselves. This failure to go beyond 1-0, an always dangerous scoreline to keep throughout the match, as well as the success of the Dutch tactics as will be explained later, contributed to their downfall.

As for Holland, they were the masters of the second half. In the actual fact, their dominance did not start after the half time team talk in their dressing room. A closer look at how their players were lined up prior to the game suggested that Holland had already won half of the match even before any ball was kicked. One doesn't have to look so far but just look at their wings. Let's start with the Dutch left wing. Usually, it's Rafael van der Vaart who is there, but he was not there.. No, Eljero Elia was not there too. Dirk Kuyt was there! Why? We want Elia, not that burly slow guy! But it was the first of two masterstrokes by the Dutch coach. The Brazilian right flank (Dutch's left) was populated by two of the most dangerous right wing backs in the world, Maicon and Dani Alves. Someone has to defend them, and certainly the ageing Giovanni van Bronckhorst cannot do it alone and he has to have a reliable cover. Kuyt was the man. He proved he was able to keep up with Maicon and Dani Alves, especially the former and even in the first half, we saw how in a few instances Kuyt was able to block off and/or hold them up physically so they they were not able to weave their magical feet.

Now, the second and most significant masterstroke by the Dutch. Robben again started ton the right wing. This time, there was a real purpose. Brazil actually has a huge weak link and that's the left back position, left wing as a whole to be precise. With the formation and the aforementioned system that Dunga is employing, the defensive duties on the left flank would fall to the inexperienced and rather shaky Michel Bastos and also Felipe Melo (who happened to be the left side of the two DMCs). Both of them had the task to contain Robben. But Robben was not going to make life so easy for both of them, and for Brazil as a whole to be precise. In the first half, precisely at the 34th minute, the Dutch won a corner, and Robben was about to take it. However, he tried a strange and peculiar trick in which he tried to catch the whole Brazil squad off guard by running and slightly touching the ball, and thus the corner kick was deemed to be taken while pretending that the corner had not been taken and that he pretended to left the corner duty to Sneijder. However, before the real purpose of that unfolded, Dani Alves was alert enough to realize that and closed the ball down before further damage was caused from that.

That's not the end for Robben. Actually, this had started from as early as the 2nd minute when he fell down easily and the match almost turned into a fracas when Brazilian players especially Robinho were visibly furious and unhappy. The second half was even worse. It was so visible that the Dutch attacks were to be concentrated solely on their right flank, and thus Robben was the focal point of their attack. Michel Bastos was on a yellow card (also because of trying to contain Robben) and he was clearly overwhelmed by the antics of Robben, his skills as well as the fact that he went down far too easily most of the time in the match. One such incident at the 51st minute resulted in the Dutch equalizer when a Dutch free kick was passed to Sneijder, and Sneijder launched a long lob which Julio Cesar decided to go off his line to catch the lob when he collided with Felipe Melo and the defender simply deflected the ball into the net, thus he scored an own goal.

By this time, there was an observable phenomenon I would dub the “Robben Effect” in which prior incidents involving the literally flying Dutchman caused Brazilian players to not dare to close Robben down in fear that he would fall down so easily again, the ref buys it and more damage to Brazil. Robben was increasingly getting freer and freer on the Dutch right flank. Dunga finally decided to take off the beleaguered Michel Bastos for Gilberto Melo, but the sub was no better than the man he replaced and it was useless. In the 67th minute, things got even worse for Brazil as the Dutch got a corner, and from a Kuyt flick on, Sneijder was totally unmarked and he had a free header in which he scored the winning goal from. For a player of Sneijder's height to score from that kind of header, anyone can be sure that no marking existed. At the 72nd minute, worse became worst as Robben fell down for the umpteenth time, and very easily. This left Felipe Melo so frustrated that he perhaps stupidly stamped the Dutchman repeatedly on his hamstring, and the Japanese referee had no choice but to give Felipe Melo a straight red card in which his face told the whole story as if he knew what was coming and he left the field immediately without any protesting antics. Towards the end of the match, the dutch were so dominating, and the Robben Effect so prevalent that even Mark van Bommel and Dirk Kuyt were able to waltz around the Brazil penalty area just like how Cristiano Ronaldo did and do to BPL and La Liga defenses respectively week in week out. Nevertheless, they failed to score the third goal but it was enough to knock Brazil out.

The Dutch will now face either Ghana or Uruguay in the semi-finals and credit to their manager Bert van Marwijk for the absolute masterstrokes as mentioned which totally showed that in chess terms, he was thinking 3 or even 10 moves ahead prior to the match when he set the team up for this match up. As for Brazil, after all those wins, their ultimate flaws and weaknesses of the teams (read: easily provoked, left back position) were so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly exposed literally to the world. Dunga, or whoever is in charge of Brazil next must really put a lid on those weaknesses and rebuild again for the future, starting from the Copa America next year, and Brazilian media, as well as so many pundits around the world will now have plenty of ammunition to attack Dunga with, but life goes on, and for Brazil, this is just like the overly used and almost cliched French phrase, “C'est la Vie...”

Better ways to separate the inseparable

After the heartbreaking and a rather undeserved loss and knocking out of the very last Asian representative in World Cup 2010, Japan, few if not most people might ask questions about the credibility of penalty shoot-outs in the World Cup or any other competitions to separate two teams that simply cannot and will not be separated, even after an arduous 120 minutes or 2 hours of intense football game. Many have labeled the penalty shoot-outs as a lottery, and also most out of this group have labeled the system as a backdoor or even a loophole ready to be exploited by a much weaker team to just defend and defend, or in Jose Mourinho's words to “park the team bus in front of the goal” throughout the aforementioned 120 minutes and to just simply try their luck in the penalty shoot-outs where they have much more chance of progressing at the expense of their stronger opponents compared to an open play of a football game. No matter the circumstances, when teams are separated after penalty shootouts, there are always a plethora of “what if” questions being asked non-stop in the aftermath of the game, and the losing team is always regarded as a victim, a team which doesn't deserve to be the losers. On the other hand, it's always the case that the winning team is always regarded as undeserving to have their victory clinched through the penalty shootout, especially if it involves the opposing player missing his kick while the goalkeeper has been completely beaten. From Roberto Baggio's miss in 1994 World Cup final, to David Trezeguet's miss in 2006 World Cup final, to the recent Yuichi Komano's miss against Paraguay which effectively the very kick that knocked the Japanese out, we have the aforementioned feelings to the winning and losing teams respectively.

Despite this fact, there doesn't seem to be any replacement to this seemingly flawed deciding system which is criticized and questioned by many within the footballing universe. There are actually three possible alternatives (which have surely been considered before but I am just contributing my two cents' worth on these alternative methods) to the penalty shoot-outs.

Firstly, if after 120 minutes both teams are still tied and can't be separated, why not just keep playing? Instead of stopping both teams that are trying ferociously to break one another down and to send them to the penalty shoot-outs? Just like the recent game between Paraguay and Japan, it was able to be seen that the faces of players from both teams showed that they want to keep getting on with the game, to just try to score that one goal that will surely separate the two teams at that point of time. Even more so for Japan at that time as they were about to take a free kick and the face of Yasuhito Endo, the man who was about to take the kick said it all, he was simply eager to launch the ball into the penalty area for the equally eager other Japanese players to try to score from.

While it is true that even if the game from the end of the 120th minute onward is using the discarded golden goal system, the game will drag on longer and potentially for a very long time. For whatever reasons (which it is beyond my scope to fathom), FIFA have made it clear that they don't want a football game, especially in the World Cup arena to be too long. In fact, that's one of the reasons put forward by FIFA to justify their firm stance against the implementation of various technologies in the matches such as the hawk-eye technology and others of the same mold. Thus, FIFA would not want it to drag matches too long and thus this method is already out even if it looks fair that teams fight it out to matter for how long, and how many 15 minutes half will be played, but the game will only end when someone scores, just like the good old days of extra time. But, who is to say that the old golden goal debate will not surface if this method is indeed implemented? It might even resurrect a long exorcised football debate ghost. Also, if this is implemented, players might even show their unhappiness as longer matches would mean further tiring their already spent bodies after 120 minutes of intense, high stakes football.


Still sticking with the “Keep playing” concept, perhaps we can also go back much further into the distant eras in which matches are played just within 90 minutes, and even during knockout stages, each match is still 90 minutes long at most. Well, I am not trying to say that we should go back to an era in which the “final round: of the world cup is a group, or a mini league to be precise, and the champions, runners up, and third placed teams are determined by the final position after the mini league has been played. In my humble opinion, a glance at that method is also not foolproof and flawed, and that's why the system is defunct as of now. What I am trying to say is actually also to resurrect another defunct concept, in which if a match is tied after 90 minutes, it's over, but it is to be replayed again another day, perhaps 3 days afterward to give the players adequate rest. However, it would be unfeasible in the World Cup as the schedule being run is very tight. Start too early, and it will clash with the tail end of the club season. Start too late and/or end much later, and it will clash with the clubs' pre-season preparations. In short, the schedule is tight, and I don't think such a replay can be carried out. Also, it will be unfair for the teams that have to replay a game, or even two games if the first replay also end with a draw. It means that even if the next round is delayed to facilitate these replays as well as including some days to again give the players adequate rest before the next round, this exhausted team will be in an extreme disadvantage over their opponents in the next round who have rested so long while waiting for the teams to slog it out in the replay(s). While many might argue that the lack of matches might also decrease their match fitness and sharpness, the strain from the plethora of replays will certainly put them in a much worse position than their well rested opponents. Again, it will even be more unfair than the current penalty shoot-outs system, and this idea is again out.

Lastly, as mentioned in the beginning, since many people have dubbed the penalties as a lottery system in which weak teams are able to exploit by just aiming to get to the “lottery” when they face a stronger team, why don't we, for once follow their advice? Why don't we just scrap the penalties and just put in its place a lottery system. Perhaps a coin toss system just like at the beginning of a match in which the two captains of the opposing teams alongside the assistant referees witness the referee determine who will get the chance to kick-off with a coin, and why not we determine the winning team after the arduous 120 minutes of football by using the same coin or even a similar system to the cup draws in the World Cup, FA Cup, or Champions League draws? Well, to keep things short and simple, it mgiht even spark a massive riot and even something resembling coup d'etat in FIFA if this goes ahead. Assuming that the coin and/or the drawing system is a fair one, each team, no matter how lop sided the match is, have a 50% chance of winning the match. It is just like gambling! Imagine this, Brazil vs Papua New Guinea match with a coin toss. Each team has a 50% chance of winning the match even though at the time of writing, Brazil and Papua New Guinea are the first and last team respectively in the FIFA rankings!

Thus, despite the lottery nature,and the seemingly unfair nature of the penalty shoot-outs. It seems that it is still the best way to go, even after dissecting the various alternative methods as above. Also, penalty shootouts can sometimes be a fair game, especially if a goalkeeper has performed admirably well in his reflexes in correctly determining ( I won't use the word “guess”) the direction of the shot from the opposing player and to save the shots, just like what Jerzy Dudek did in the famous 2005 Champions League final for Liverpool. Also, we have to realize that goalkeepers sometimes are an unheralded bunch. It's always about the strikers and/or attacking midfielders. Even defenders get their fair share of glorious moments as well as goals during matches. But goalkeepers? Even with plenty of saves in a match, they still won't be glorified so much. Thus, penalty shoot-outs does have a positive in which it is a huge chance for goalkeepers to shine in a match, and be an ultimate hero for their respective teams. Call it the best methods out of the worst, but still, it is there to stay, along with its ability to elevate our heart rate by oh so much!

Japan 0-0 Paraguay* World Cup 2010 Last 16

First off, have we realized that in every single World Cup, when knockout stages start, especially from quarter finals onwards, the competition is more of a hybrid of Copa America and Euro, except for the occasional anomalies in which teams from Africa and/or Asia are able to go through to the quarter finals. Thus, in the long run the World Cup is more of an Intercontinental Cup rather than a World Cup. It is a World Cup only in the Group Stage, that's all there is to it as far as living up to the name of the competition is concerned. Besides, from the first World Cup in 1930, the winner of the competition has either been from South America or Europe. Last night, Japan had the chance to at least try to break that tradition, joining Ghana in the quarter finals, and to keep the “World Cup” feeling alive as the quarters would have been represented by 4 continents. They also had the hopes of the whole of Asia since they were the only one remaining in the competition after South Korea had been knocked out by Uruguay. They, along with Paraguay for this one, were also trying to get into the quarter finals for the very first time in their history.

Prior to the match, everyone kept on calling Keisuke Honda as Japan's best player, the hope for Japan, no player in Japan is of more important than him. Actually, I have been arguing ever since their 1-0 victory against Cameroon that the real hero, or heroes I should say is Japan's backline, to be precise the three pillars of Tulio, Yuki Abe, and Nakazawa. For Tulio, the Brazilian born defender was actually Japan's best player throughout Japan's stint in this World Cup overall as he excels both up front as well as at the back. He has always been Japan's greatest attacking threat when he roams forward, and especially in this match against Paraguay in which he always galloped forward whenever he has a chance. In other words, he played as a libero, a position long gone since the glory days of Franz Beckenbauer in 1970s. When he's at the back, he's ever so sturdy, thwarting everything that the oppoennts threw at him alongside his partners Yuki Abe and Nakazawa throughout the match. Without them, Japan would not even dreamed of getting this far in the tournament and also for last night's match, they might not even had the chance to have the penalty shoot-out. As for Honda, he was too isolated up front with little support. Whenever he has the ball, he had to hold the ball up long enough for the rest of Japanese players to go up and support him properly. With his relatively small frame as well as Paraguay's style of always closing down swiftly, he had no luxury nor time to wait for his team mates to arrive up front and support him.

Japan was also very fortunate in the 67th minute when Tulio, my choice of Japan's best player in the tournament, collided violently with his own goalkeeper. The stretcher was brought on the pitch, but fortunately for Japan, he was able to continue on to play the rest of the game. It was a crucial moment for Japan, had he stretchered off and replaced by someone else, Japan's backline would become fragile and their notable attacking threat at the other end would be nullified with his departure from the field. Despite trying their very best to score, Paraguay were not able to, and despite their attacks being improved considerably when the livewire Nelson Haedo Valdez joined the fray, they still weren't able to break the solid and resolute Japanese defense. Another player of note from Japan would be Daisuke Matsui, a player who came close n this match of scoring a scorcher from distance, but hit the bar. He always gives 110% for his country in each match, always seen chasing for every ball just like Argentina's Carlos Tevez. His commitment and work rate can be seen when he's substituted, his hair is always a mess at that time, I am pretty sure he covers quite a distance throughout his involvement in a match.

Since both teams were not able to break one another down as it seemed that both teams were so resolute as not to let go of a chance to make history by going to the quarter finals for the very first time, and thus, the scoreline was still tied at 0-0 even after two halves of extra time. The match inevitably went into the nerve-wracking penalty shoot out.

In the dramatic penalty shoot out, Paraguay managed to score all 5 of their kicks while Japan missed their third penalty kick by Yunichi Komano. I had a feeling that when he stepped up he might miss and he indeed hit the bar, although to be fair to him, he had beaten the goalkeeper. It is true that usually, managers would assign their best penalty takers for the last kick, but I don't think it is a good idea to do that as evident in last night's match as when Komano missed, and Paraguay managed to score all 5 of their kicks, the last kicker, (presumably Tamada) did not get a chance to take a penalty. In my opinion, had Honda and Tamada were the 4th and 5th kickers respectively, Japan might have stayed at least a bit longer, but this is certainly not the time to as what if questions. As cruel as it might be, this is the knockout stages, and one of the two opposing teams have to get out no matter how evenly matched they are throughout the 120 minutes. When there's a winner, there has to be a loser, and Japan was unfortunate enough to hold the latter mantle.

Congratulations to Paraguay for clinching a date with Spain in the quarter finals, time to celebrate their historic achievements, and juts like the commentator said, even if Spain awaits them in quarter finals, they don't really care, for now they want to celebrate their first ever qualification to the quarter finals of the World Cup. As for Japan, despite the defeat, they really showed up in this tournament, and they really fight till the end. Even though the heart-wrenching sight of the Japanese players, especially the inconsolable Komano at the end, Japan will rise up again just like the rising sun and try to beat the big boys again, starting with the 2011 Asian Cup! Ganbatte Nippon!

Holland 2-1 Slovakia World Cup 2010 Last 16

A look at the firepower that Holland are blessed with, it was a shoe-in on paper that they would destroy the minnows Slovakia in which prior to the World Cup especially, an average fan would struggle to cite any member of their squad besides Marek Hamsik. On the other hand, a look at the front-line of Holland would make anybody shiver. Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben. These three, especially the last two, would bring fans to their club exploits last season in which both of them featured in the final of the Champions League after having such blistering runs in the competition as a whole. But, we have to remember that club form cannot be used as a yardstick, just like how many people mistakenly written off Argentina, as well as continuing to lament the exclusion of J. Zanetti and Cambiasso from Maradona's 23-man squad. Last night proved this as the whole witnessed a toothless Holland side taking on a determined Slovakian side.

To be frank, both goals from Holland were not scored with the exquisite passing and attacking movements just like what Germany were doing against England the day before in which I compared their movements just like the wicked maneuvers of UFOs in the sky. It is ironic to see that both rivals have swapped playing style with one another after all those days in history in which one has been criticizing the other for their respective playing style. Total Football vs Berlin Wall, that had been the case. Now, it's the other way round.

The first goal was scored only owing to Arjen Robben's flash of individual brilliance when an English style punt from a Dutch defender from the back was chased with his trademark lightning speed from the right flank, he then cut into the center of the pitch and launched a nice left footed strike from outside of the penalty area to give the Dutch the lead. Surely, together with the fact that they won all three of their group games, it further masked the fact that the Dutch attack has been toothless throughout the World Cup . As has been the case in this World Cup when one team takes the lead, they start to get bogged down right after the first goal has been scored. Perhaps it was the Dutch trying to “play safe” and just defend to the death, or perhaps it was Slovakia exhibiting some sort of sense of urgency, but nonetheless, the Dutch started to get pinned back and the Dutch were not able to string together nice passes, let alne emulating the German “UFO maneuvers”.

The second half was even worse with Slovakia continued to dominate the Dutch, with only Maarten Stekelenburg and a few last ditch tackles preventing the Slovaks, mainly through Robert Vittek from scoring an equalizer. However, the Dutch finally found the second goal, but again it was not through a masterful attacking move but it was due to an event bordering on the ridiculous. At around the 83rd minute, all Slovak defenders left their posts to surround the referee to protest a certain decision prior to that and while the Slovak were left without their defenders who were busy arguing, the play went on and the Dutch again sent a long ball from the back towards Dirk Kuyt who collected the ball, beat the onrushing and desperate goalkeeper, and sent a low cross towards the center for Wesley Sneijder to make it 2-0. Again the Dutch got lucky with their “kick and rush” style and again masked their inept attack. However, many people especially the Holland fans would argue that the introduction of the livewire Eljero Elia was the catalyst of the second goal, but still he replaced Robben not a defensive player and thus it could not be considered as a positive substitution.

The Slovaks were not interested to surrender meekly as they piled on strikers onto the pitch for te last few minutes of the game to at least get a consolation goal and perhaps to steal 2 goals to drag the match to extra time. However, they only managed to get one consolatory goal through Robert Vittek's penalty kick at the very last touch of the game. While it is true that the Dutch has progressed and no matter how the Dutch fans want to say that “winning is everything”, I am worrying over their prospects against Dunga's Brazilian anti-Samba Boys. They certainly are much stronger and much more efficient due to Dunga's aforementioned style, and they will certainly punish the Dutch's inept attack as well as a shaky defense. The Brazilians will certainly not leave it so late like the Slovaks to score a goal or two or even three.

Germany 4-1 England World Cup 2010 Last 16

Prior to the conclusion of this match, every section of football media around the world heavily used World War I and II (mainly the latter) puns and references. Even yours truly wasn't able to resist such temptations and went on to make a rather direct comparison between World Cup 2010 and World War II. Now, after that result, nobody dares to make one, I am sure. Any attempts to even try to ask a “what if” questions regarding if World War II had ended the way last night's match did or conjure up a scenario of what would happen to the world in an alternate universe, I would just dare to go as far as say that for one, German would have been the international language, and a certain swastika logo would have been everywhere, and for the Asians, they would be speaking in Japanese. Although the sight of pretty girls in sailor uniforms would be a sight to behold, I still shudder to think of such scenarios. Even the Germans and Japanese themselves would shiver thinking about that. So I shall go mainstream and just throw anything related to wars out of the window.

I would love to argue that Germany's comprehensive win against England was not because of the fact that Germany is an all conquering team which is ready to even face an extra terrestrial team had a team UFO landed on earth and challenge us earthlings to a “friendly” match of football. I would love to think that it's all due to the propaganda of the English dominated soccer media of the world. However, it would not be fair to the England team, and especially for Frank Lampard who has managed to control the Jabulani so perfectly and were denied a goal or two because of the crossbar as well as a huge refereeing error in which the time and space seemed to be distorted and overlapped with a certain event in 1966. All of us, especially England fans are entitled to argue that the controversy involving Lampard was the absolute defining point of the match.

At the beginning of the match, Germany were already the much better team and they were 2-0 up within 30 minutes from Klose and Podolski. In both occasions, Germany showed that their “Teamgeist” was certainly there as their passing and off the ball movements were truly mesmerizing and out of this world. The attacks were so swift that they resembled the wicked maneuvers of UFOs that witnesses usually report upon seeing one or a group of them in the sky. However, perhaps it's the natural instinct of any team to shift a gear or two down after they have taken a lead, let alone a comfortable 2-0 lead or perhaps it was simply a sense of urgency for England, they started to strike back and threaten the German goal. They managed to pull one back at the 37th minute when Mathew Upson scored a towering header. Even after that they continued to attack and attack and one minute later was when the a huge controversy occurred. Lampard had shown with his direct free kicks and long shots that he was able to control the much derided Jabulani ball so perfectly and he was only denied from scoring by the crossbar. However, he was to be denied in a spectacular fashion. On a regular England attack, Lampard launched a perfect shot towards goal. What happened was more or less a repeat of the incident in the 1966 World Cup Final between Germany and England in which the England player Geoff Hurst struck the bar, and the ball bounced onto the ground, and bounce out of the goal. The linesman (Tofik Bakhramov, still famous among England fans) and the referee awarded the goal in which grainy replay from that time shows that it did not cross the line. Lampard's shot went pretty much the same way, the only difference was that the ball had entered the goal, in fact it was halfway into the goal, but amazingly it bounced out again and into the safe hands of the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

To be frank, the ball had entered the net. It should have been a goal. Everyone knows it. For example, I have just seen a joke picture about that goal, and according to that pic (which must have been made by a German), it wasn't a goal because in that pic, the goal line bent so much that it was still behind the ball. But even the person who created that funny photo should know deep in his heart that it was a goal as he simply had to bend the goal line so much so that the ball was still in front of the goal line. It was as obvious as that, that the goal was already scored. This will certainly re-ignite the famous/infamous technology debate in football. However, it is likely that things would go nowhere as FIFA president Sepp Blatter has made it clear that it is such controversies and intense debates after the game that according to him conjures up more passion within the game and makes the game more interesting. But I think something has to be done as referees might receive death threats due to this kind of controversies and might even be forced to retire early sch as what had happened to Andres Frisk just to name one. The long term effects might be dire such as the sport might have too little referees as young potential referees might be too scared to become one due to the controversies and what happened to their predecessors.

Back to the match, despite the controversy, England was still attacking Germany but soon, half time came to Germany's rescue. But nevertheless, the damage had been done to England and the complexion of the match was arguably to be so different had the goal was acknowledged.

Even in the second half, England still dominate and Lampard even hit the bar one more time from his free kick. However, as the half wore on and England committed more and more bodies forward, they were prone to any counterattack. Germany launched an extremely swift, yet another extra terrestrial UFO maneuvers passing from flank to flank led by the tiny but fast Mesut Ozil. It culminated in the young Thomas Muller finishing it beautifully to make it 3-1 for Germany. Just over three minutes later, yet another counterattack initiated by Ozil, another UFO like maneuvers, and again finished by Muller who got to the end of Ozil's cross. 4-1 and certainly England were down and out.

After this goal, Germany simply took off their feet from the pedal and were simply happy to just pass the ball around among them to loud cheers from the Germany fans and that's about it. Since Argentina won 3-1 against Mexico, the next match at the end of this week will be between Argentina and Germany. Yet another big and explosive match, a rematch of the 1990 World Cup final for Maradona and a rematch of 2006 Quarter finals for the players in which they lost to the Germans in the penalty shootout thanks to Lehmann's famous piece of paper containing the shooting habits of the Argentine players.

Had Lampard's goal was counted at that time, it was arguable that the match could have gone on to extra time or even penalties, or considering how England dominated, England might even have pulled off an amazing comeback win after being 2-0 down. But at least, at least for the Germans, the intense and long winded and rather futile debate about the 1966 incident has finally, finally been exorcised with the Lampard incident. Also, it was such a delight to see a great team chemistry in the German team, and that they have more superstars to rise to become world beaters such as Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Thomas Muller (who was voted man of the match last night). In 2006, it was players such as Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Lahm and others, now they have yet another set of emerging superstars. A really amazing team with marvelous regenerating prospects. I shudder to think how the new superstars would be like in 2014 but at the moment, Germany will face Argentina, and it will be another explosive match between these two great football nations.

Uruguay vs South Korea World Cup 2010 Last-16

By now, many fans would certainly have asked, “what makes South Korea looks so damn good in football?”. Well, that question would generate a plethora of answers from ginseng, Korean people's hardworking ethos, taekwondo, and the list goes on and on and on. However, I have to move on from all those almost cliched answers to something simpler. They simply look really good because their opponents let them do become so. The recently concluded match was the substantiation of my analysis. During the last 10 minutes or so of this game, the commentator commented that South Korea was flirting with elimination as they trailed Uruguay 2-1 at that point of time. I think Uruguay should not have done what they did right after each time they take a lead against the Koreans.

Uruguay actually started in an attacking manner and they duly scored early, through a combination of movements from Edinson Cavani, Forlan, and for Luis Suarez to shoot at the empty goal as the South Korean goalkeeper was stranded due to Forlan's low cross prior to the goal. At this point of time, I had expected more goals from Uruguay. However, Uruguay surprisingly decided to sit back and defend. The only attacking move they made was futile long balls towards Diego Forlan up front. It was futile as the long balls were simply dealt with by the tall Korean defenders very easily and the fact that Uruguay concentrated on defending gave plenty of space and thus chances for the Koreans to start attacking their goals. Bad decision by Uruguay because of several reasons firstly, to beat the South Koreans, a team, especially a South American team which is generally known for their multi-barreled attacking options have to make use of this advantage and overwhelm the Koreans. Just like how Argentina managed to do against them from the moment Sergio Aguero entered the fray. The match ended 4-1 for Argentina. Secondly, South American teams are well known to be having their defense, especially their goalkeepers as their weak link. Trying to defend with a not so good defense but an overwhelming attacking threat is simply not a rational decision. Lastly, South Korea is a team full of confidence. They believe they are capable of beating anybody on earth or even outside of it. Thus, give them plenty of chances to make attacking moves like what Uruguay were doing, and it is only a matter of when, not if that they are going to score against your team.

It happened a the 67th minute when Lee Chung Yong scored to make it 1-1. Although it came from an indirect free kick, nevertheless their pressure throughout the match on Uruguay paid off really handsomely. Uruguay were shocked and started to alter their tactics again to an attacking mode. It was also raining very heavily by this point of time in the match. They continued to threaten to score and they did through a marvelous swerving, curling shot by Luis Suarez at the 80th minute when he launched a sweetly struck long shot that curled into the net beautifully. 2-1 for Uruguay. By this time, I thought Uruguay had learned their lessons and continued to attack throughout the game to really kill the game off, just like what Argentina were doing against South Korea in their Group B match. Turned out that Uruguay again switched to the defensive mode and also went as far as subbing the excellent and heroic Luis Suarez with 10 minutes left. Wrong move, South Korea, this time also augmented with a sense of urgency, duly attacked and 10 minutes were more than enough time for South Korea to even score 2 goals if Uruguay is to defend. They were really fortunate not to concede further and was able to hold on to book their ticket to the last 8 as well as sending the Koreans all the way home although South Koreans would argue that the referee blew his full time whistle when there were around 8 seconds left to play and when South Korea were attacking at full speed from the right flank, but that's it.

Despite many people being too occupied and overwhelmed with Suarez's heroics, it masks the fact that Uruguay were so close to being eliminated no thanks to their mistake not to utilize their superiority in the attacking department to overwhelm and choke their opponents to submission while masking their own frailties at the back, especially between the goalposts. Nevertheless, congratulations Uruguay, and credits to the South Koreans for their gallant efforts in the tournament!

Portugal 0-0 Brazil World Cup 2010 Group G

Portugal vs Brazil. A glance at that fixture would make any football fans drool in excitement. Fanciful predictions started to fly around. How about a repeat of the 6-2 thrashing of Portugal by Brazil in the friendly match? How about a thrilling, heart stopping 4-4 draw? How about Cristiano Ronaldo rescuing his country in a 3-2 win by scoring a hat-trick? Wow, it must be some sort of a game! Even more so if the match is in the World Cup 2010! How can it get any bigger than that! A huge match on the grandaddy of them all of football. It has to be a cracker! But then again, we as fans tend to be carried away a bit too far to say the least. I consider myself to be an alert football fan. When I looked at this fixture being the third match of Group G, in which Brazil has secure qualification, and the probability of Portugal being knocked out was just merely a mathematical probability, I knew that both teams might not go above the proverbial second gear at most. But nevertheless, I didn't want to miss this game. Too big of a fixture to miss, what a huge mistake!

From the onset all the way to the end of the match, it was such a drab match that I yawned, my first in World Cup 2010. It was arguably the most boring match ever so far in this competition. I had jokingly predicted the score would be a 4-4 thrilling draw, but I came close only in the accumulated yellow cards, 4-3 to Portugal, all accrued in the first half. In the first half, the players seemed to be carried away themselves as throughout the first half, tackles started to fly off wildly and both set of players started to accumulate yellow cards. Temper also flared, between Luis Fabiano and Pepe, as well as Felipe Melo who was clearly so uncomfortable and his temperament boiling, Dunga decided to pull him off to prevent any unnecessary events (read: red card)

However, it seemed that in both dressing rooms of Portugal and Brazil, both Carlos Queiroz and Dunga said the same thing to their respective set of players. Basically, what must have been said in the two dressing rooms was that, “Take it easy guys... Come on, we only need a draw to secure 100% qualification for both of us”

The second half started in a very drab manner. Throughout the second half, both teams were only happy to pass the ball around the field sideways, and hold up the ball so much, and when one team is with the ball and holding it up, the other did not close down the other team at all. When any of the players got somewhere near the penalty area, they just launched blind shots without taking specific aim and/or without trying to breach the opponents' defense further and score from a closer distance. When the fourth official signaled for the 5 minutes of injury time to be played, I really wished the match to end at that point of time. I wanted to switch my TV off in disgust but decided against it as sometimes things go against me and had I switched off the TV, there might have been 2-3 spectacular goals for all I care.

It was such a disappointing end to Group G, but to be expected. Even after the alteration of rules since that 1982 “Anchluss in Gijon” incident such that the third match of the group stages are played simultaneously, it could not be helped that the last matches are always anomolous. However, let's not dwell on the group stage, and start looking forward to the next match of both teams in the last 16. Brazil vs Chile, and also the derby of Iberian Peninsula between Spain and Portugal! Mouth watering matches to come!

Intertwining of Football, History, and Reality

Last night's 3-2 victory of Slovakia over defending champions Italy should provide a lot of writing materials for any football writers around the world, let alone a passionate budding football writer like me. However, I faced some sort of the dreaded writer's block today and I simply couldn't muster any inspiration to write a good piece about yesterday's match. Despite that slight hindrance, finally I received some sort of salvation. It is well known throughout my social circle that besides football, I also have an intense passion in history, despite many people dismissing it as a dead subject, studying about some dead guys killing other dead guys in dead places and in dead eras. Nevertheless, now I am able to at least draw a certain parallel of football with history. The salvation came from someone I did not expect to give me such a huge inspiration (thanks Niwde! I appreciate it). This guy simply sent me one solid sentence about a certain parallel between the World Cup 2010 so far with the World War II. I think I really have many things to say about that as well as to expand that aforementioned solid sentence.

Let us first take a look at the European theater. We have France who have just been knocked out from the competition so meekly and shamefully. They also surrendered quite early to the Nazis during the World War II initially before USA's landing in Normandy, but that's for much much later as we will see when we get to that. We also have Italy who also surrendered tamely and also shamefully. In World War II, especially in the 1940s even before Hitler's fall, Mussolini's Italy was already in tatters, a series of mismanagement and internal strife culminated in Mussolini being ousted from the Prime Minister post as well as arrest and even with Hitler's assistance to bring him back by rescuing him from prison in the famous (or infamous) Operation Eiche, and also by establishing an Italian Nazi Puppet State in the name of Italian Social Republic, the puppet state soon collapsed as well. As for Holland who have just started the World Cup brilliantly by winning all of their three Group matches so far, it is just like the full glory of the Dutch domination with their array of colonies spanning from the West Indies (Suriname) to the East Indies (Indonesia).

Still in Europe, we also have Germany. In the World Cup, Germany started in a really convincing manner by beating Australia 4-0, but then suffered a setback against an Eastern European nation Serbia as they lost 1-0 and ended the match with 10 men. But then, they regained some footing by defeating Ghana 1-0. In World War II, we know that Germany also started in a blistering fashion as they annexed countries in Europe as such speed that people simply felt that the whole world might soon be a Nazi world. However, a very big mistake in Hitler's part by trying to invade Soviet Union by arriving there in a cold, harsh Eastern Europe winter. They simply lost a lot of men and simply failed big time, having to retreat shamefully. However, around the 1940s, Germany also launched an African campaign with their Afrika corps. We also have England, who are totally unconvincing so far and only with USA's sudden victory at the very last minute, that England managed to get some footing to go through to the last 16. In World War II, the UK simply could not fend off Germany alone and son they formed an alliance (Allies) with the likes of USA to fend off Germany's threat. How fitting that Germany and England are to meet in the last 16, just like in the World War II in which they traded blows such as when Germany launched their blitzkrieg campaigns against the UK, and the UK launching its own strategic bombings all over Germany later on.

Moving on to the North America. As I have mentioned so many times above, the USA only stood up and be counted at the last minute. In this World Cup, they simply drew 2 games, before winning against Algeria in the very last minute to win 1-0 and book their ticket to the last 16. In the World War II, the USA simply stayed neutral for most of the duration of the war, until Pearl Harbor was heavily bombed by the Japanese in 1941 then the USA decided to join the World War at the very last minute and they finally do so with a blazing trail at that.

Moving on to Asia, we have Japan who have just booked their ticket to the last 16 by beating Denmark. This is also quite parallel with the Japanese Empire in World War II when they really threatened to conquer the whole of Asia and was truly renowned as a world power at that time. As for Korea, their form in the World Cup 2010 is more parallel to the Korean War, which is in 1953, so I am not going to really delve into this in detail as I have to stick with World War II, and besides, the Korean issue is a sensitive issue at this time.

It is in Africa that the similarities with World War II really struck. During this time, Africa were only the Europeans' toys. They were simply colonies, partitioned in the way that the Europeans wanted to do and they were simply in chaos, under their European masters. Sadly, this is also the case in World War II. Just look at the six African team managers. Besides Algeria which is managed by Sabah Raadane, the rest are managed by European managers. Also, under their European managers, the African teams simply lose their footing so much that one by one dropped like flies when a lot is expected from them considering the resources that they have, especially Ivory Coast. For now, only Ghana managed to go through to the last 16 by the skin of their teeth. Even then they are not expected to go through further as USA lies in wait. This is the same as in reality. Africa is continuing to be pincered by poverty and chaos despite the obvious potential and the abundance of natural resources that they have.

The similarities of the World Cup and the real world is so uncanny that I am starting to shiver. Football is supposed to be so different, so separated with real life, with history and even more so politics. But it seems that it can't be helped that football is after all part of those reality however grim, and I could only say one thing, reality bites. OUCH!

England vs Germany. It has to happen, is it?

If fate is a person, he would be a very funny guy. I mean, picture this situation. You take a stroll around the neighborhood where you are living, then at one point, you meet someone that you know. I know people would classify such unplanned meetings as mere coincidences or pleasant surprise, but none would go as far as classifying it as fate. But picture this, it's quite funny how one could meet one another at that exact same point of time, and both of these guys were at the exact same location without any prior planning? I guess it's safe to say that fate plays a part, at least something resembling that. Well, I know blabbering about that is out of sync with the subject/title, and thus before psychiatrists out there or wannabes start diagnosing me with ADHD or anything of that sort, I'll delve into the topic at hand right away.

Yesterday was when the teams from Group C and Group D in World Cup 2010 were determined whether they continue on fighting in the last 16 of the competition, or simply have to prepare for an early flight back home. Amazingly, events clicked in such a way in the four matches between the two groups that the match between England and Germany was ensured. First up in Group C. With their newly acquired Italian Catenaccio skills, England managed to snatch a 1-0 win over Slovenia while the USA, amazingly scored a last minute goal against Algeria and also won 1-0. This put the USA on top of the group due to goal difference. England finished second in the group. The first part of the events has been fulfilled. In Group D, it was even more dramatic. Germany managed to yet snatch 1-0 win against a fighting Ghana side while in the other match, Serbia lost 2-1 to Australia with a very late equalizer chalked off for offside. This ensured Germany came on top while Ghana go through as the group's runners up. Thus, it means that Germany will meet England in the last 16. What a mouth watering prospect of a match, despite the fact that goals come at a premium in this World Cup. As for Ghana, again fate simply dictated that there have to be at least one African representative remaining past the Group Stages, and the dramatic 2-1 Australia vs Serbia match set that up nicely.

The animosity between England and Germany go a very long way, in football or outside of it. Those inclined in history would start picturing the intense and deadly trench warfare in World War I between the two sides, the “Christmas Truce” and all. Also, in World War II in which the Third Reich bombarded London in a Blitzkrieg campaign, as well as Britain and its Allies strike-back in their own strategic bombing campaigns against Germany. In football, many fans would evoke memories from 1966 when England won its first and so far only World Cup title on home soil by defeating the then West Germany in a very controversial nature especially due to Geoff Hurst's goal which did not cross the line. Fans from both sides are still debating about that goal. Moving forward, in 2002, English fans would keep on reminding their German counterparts about how they thrashed Germany 5-1 in Munich. Those events are basically those I could remember spontaneously at the moment, and there might well be even more animosity between these two nations.

No one had planned this meeting, at least not so early in the competition as most if not every fan had predicted England and Germany finishing top of their respective groups. Even if after two matches in these groups all 4 teams in the respective groups were still able to go through, after all that drama, there wasn't to be a twist of fate. England vs Germany, always a destiny to happen in this World Cup. Now, it's time for fans all over the world, not only English and German fans to start licking their lips over the prospects of this match which is sure to be as explosive as the trench warfare and the Blitzkrieg, but we are all confident that there will be the kind of fair play involved such as the “Christmas Truce” in the aforementioned trench warfare between these two great nations.

South Africa 2-1 France World Cup 2010 Group A

After all those turmoils surrounding the beleaguered French team, finally they are put out of their misery by a gallant South African side, the host nation, who huffed and puffed their way trying to extract every single ounce of their energy in trying to, no matter how slim their chances are, to avoid the unwanted tag of the first host nation to be knocked out in the Group Stage. While the French, at least in the first half only wanted this match to be done and over with. However, both teams simply crashed out from the Group Stage despite showing some form of fighting spirit throughout the match.

For South Africa, they seemed to go on course to defeat France by at least 3 goals, the very result they need to maintain their hope, however small to advance to the last 16. They stormed to a 2 goal lead by the end of the first half, but subsequently, they were not able to make the most of the chances that the French generously gave them. Despite South Africa surely gathering lots of praises from all directions after their victory which clearly wasn't enough, I have to say that they are really not good enough as they were really profligate in front of the goal, with Mphela the main culprit. Had all of their chances resulted in goals, they would have probably thrashed France 5-0 at least and considering the 1-0 victory of Uruguay over Mexico, South Africa would have ousted the Mexicans and go through to the last 16. Too bad they didn't have what it takes to convert all those chances into goals. The way they wasted chances also gave the French a chance to make a comeback, despite having to play with 10 men most of the match. In any case, despite being a sad day for South Africa as they become the first nation to fail to qualify past the Group Stage, they at least gave their fans something to cheer about as they have defeated France, a world class team nonetheless despite being an embodiment of problems at the moment.

As for France, they looked totally out by the end of the first half. When Yoann Gourcuff was sent off in the 27th minute, it seemed all over for the French. Their players were visibly dejected and looked lost. The second goal which they conceded even reminded me of one of the goals that Portugal scored against the mysteriously switched off DPRK side in the second half of that match. Only the aforementioned wastefulness of South African strikers gave them an impetus to strike back and they did through Florent Malouda. An interesting incident also happened at around 64th minute when Henry received a ball on the left flank, the ball hit his hand, and the ref spotted the handball. Interestingly, he was on the same flank during that fateful incident in the match against Republic of Ireland in the playoffs. Not sure if he deliberately did it, but if he really does, then he has no shame as the incident against Ireland really tarnished his reputation and he's under intense scrutiny. But nevertheless, France showed the will to comeback when Malouda scored their consolation goal at the 69th minute. However, no further goal was scored, and that's the final scoreline, 2-1 for the host nation.

It was such a case of “what ifs” for South Africa, as the Uruguay vs Mexico match did not end in a draw as expected, and had they been more prolific in their finishing, they would be in the second round now. But too bad, sometimes things don't go your way, and that's exactly what South Africa is experiencing now. In any case, it has been a commendable performances by the host nation, and their performance and experience over the three games and the hosting of this tournament itself will go a long way in shaping the future for the South African football. As for France, this is the end of an era full of turmoil. An era supposed to have ended long ago. But finally it has ended. Now, they only have to look forward to the upcoming Laurent Blanc era and simply just try to forget the forgettable reign of Raymond Domenech, the most hated man in France at the moment.

Chile 1-0 Suisse World Cup 2010 Group H

This match was a truly explosive match from the beginning all the way to the end. Plenty of talking points in this match such that I don't even know where to start. Simply amazing, adrenaline pumping match we have just been fortunate enough to witness. I'll start with the breakdown of the two teams fighting it out today at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. This match could be described as a match between a thesis and an anti-thesis. I would describe the Chilean team as the lighter version as the Arsenal team. Lighter at the back that is as this Chilean team doesn't have the kind of defense like what Arsene Wenger's boys are having with bulky guys at the back such as Gallas, Vermaelen, and Sagna. Chile also play in the same way as Arsenal in which they frustrate fans a lot. They dominate a match thoroughly, stringing a lot of beautiful and quick passes but there's one thing lacking from all those moves, goals. They are also very susceptible at the back. On the other hand, their opponents Suisse is a different kind of team altogether. Just look at the Suisse squad form Diego Benaglio, the goalkeeper, all the way to Blaise Nkufo the striker. Every single one of the Swiss player has one thing in common, that they are tall, big, bulky, an muscular. They are like a huge wall. They are extremely secure at the back, that's one thing for sure.

This match is a very crucial match in Group H, especially so for Chile. If they lose this match or being held to a draw, they will be in a real danger of not qualifying to the last 16 as the Swiss will be facing Honduras next while Chile will be facing Spain, who are poised to win their upcoming match against minnows Honduras. The match started in a really explosive fashion with Chile showing their hot and spicy brand of football with their extremely high octane style of play. The Swiss also kept up the tempo as they didn't want to be outdone by the South Americans. The first half an hour was a delight to watch and I dare say that it was even played in a faster tempo than the fabled high octane English Premier League games. However, the referee for this match was one who will not hesitate to blow his whistle and brandish plenty of cards and after players from both sides were booked for silly and simple reasons, The Swiss were outraged when Valon Behrami was sent off at the 30th minute when he elbowed two Chilean players in a row, even when it seemed that the Chilean players fell a bit too easily, but it happens all the time and even the Swiss resorted to this kind of dark arts of the game later on in the match. When the red card was brandished, many fans would have recalled the mighty collapse of Nigeria and Germany when one of their players was red carded. However, it was not to be as Suisse is a mighty defensive team and one player less in the team won't have a significant effect on their defensive wall play.

From this moment onwards, it was all Chilean attack, and that's when the way they play simply has the aura of Arsenal behind it. It was simply vintage Arsenal, a typical way of Arsenal playing the beautiful game. Graceful attacking football, but no finishing and thus no goal to show their dominance in the game, but it was largely thanks to the extreme solidity of the Swiss defense. The aforementioned incident about the Swiss employing some dark arts of the game happened at the 60th minute when there was an altercation between the two sets of players when the Swiss defender von Bergen showed his unprofessional side by falling theatrically onto the ground to get a Chilean player booked or even sent off. However, Chile was finally rewarded (with a slice of good fortune and a controversy) for their plentiful shots on goal when their substitute attacker Paredes was in an offside position to receive a through pass and then he crossed it for Mark Gonzalez to get a free header and head it past Diego Benaglio to finally bring the Swiss wall down. Firstly, Mark Gonzalez is not a player known for his heading ability. Secondly, the Swiss defense was non-existent as the CSKA Moscow player had a free header, and thirdly, the header bounced into the net instead of going over the bar.

However, the Swiss resembled Australia when they played against Ghana when Suisse managed to threaten the Chilean goal so many times at the closing minutes of the game, growing in confidence as Chile continued to miss chances after chances to make it 2-0 and totally kill off the game. However, they held on and Chile has won the game.

What's so interesting about Group H is that it's still pretty much very open. Assuming that Spain beat Honduras as expected in the upcoming match for today and the Swiss also beating Honduras in their penultimate game in the group, and then Chile lose to Spain in their penultimate game in the Group, then the three teams barring Honduras will be left with 6 points and goal difference will play a role in determining which team out of the three will have to fly back home early. Thus, despite two wins out of two, Marcelo Bielsa's boys still have an awful load of work to do when they face Spain. No matter what, they have to win. Things will get very complicated if Suisse and Spain manage to thrash Honduras heavily and all their efforts in winning their first two games in a row will all be wasted if Honduras loses all of their games, and Spain beat Chile in the last game. Basically, this Group turns out to be the most interesting group, even more open than the supposedly Group of Death of the tournament, Group G which has pretty much been concluded on which teams will be knocked out.

Portugal 7-0 DPR Korea World Cup 2010 Group G

It was simply a sickening second half of this match, simply abominable I almost shed some tears despite the fact that I am not a citizen of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Prior to the match, it was hoped and expected by neutrals as well as myself that this match would bring more surprises and drama especially after witnessing New Zealand's best ever football result ever against Italy yesterday, after Portugal's rather insipid 0-0 draw against Cote d'Ivoire after DPRK's gallant defeat against Brazil. It was simply too outrageous and too sad for the Asian side's brave and commendable journey in World Cup 2010. I, for one still could not fathom what really happened at half time in the DPRK dressing room. The Portuguese as well as everyone who supports them will staunchly argue that it was the sheer management expertize of Carlos Queiroz which inspired them to this massive victory which consigned the East Asian side to an early flight home. I am as sure as hell that something serious happened in the DPRK dressing room. But whether it was a similar case to what Tottenham's players experienced in the last match of 2005-06 season against West Ham, or whether it was because they received a stern telling off by the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il through video call or even a surprise appearance of the reclusive leader, we will not know, at least not now. One thing for sure, something abnormal was going on. The DPRK team that turned up at the start of the second half simply were not the same players as those playing in the first half.

To be fair to the Portuguese, they really played well by dominating the match. Let's not count the second half as the DPRK were simply not playing at all. They totally had no spirit at all throughout the second half and it was as good as a walkover for the Portugal as far as the second half is concerned. N the first half, Portugal really played well by dominating but the gallant Korean players simply held their line firmly, not letting their opponents to score against them. They even created quite a few chances at the other end but had no space nor time to execute a proper finish, not with their sole hope Jong Tae-Se totally shackled by Ricardo Carvalho, a huge rock in the Portugal defense. Actually, the first goal of the match was preceded by a controversial incident in which at the 27th minute, DPRK's Hong Yong-Jo was wrongly accused of offside when he was totally onside, and from the resulting free kick, Portugal scored the first goal, and arguably the killer goal of the match throught Raul Meireles. Even after the goal, all the way to the end of the first half, Portugal were not able to find the second goal, then it was half time. DPRK were still on with every chance to set up a remarkable comeback in the second half. However, the second half was truly horrible as mentioned at the beginning and I won't describe all the goals in detail as it is simply not worth it. Every goal was just like the Portuguese national team playing against an Under-12 side. It was that bad, and I am not even joking. The goals came from Miguel, Simao, H. Almeida and Tiago (from 50th to 59th minute) and from another spell of goals scored in quick succession by Liedson, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tiago again from 80th to 87th minute.

This horrible defeat means that Portugal's last match against Brazil will be a cracker in determining which team finish at the top of the group or go through as runners-up although whether Portugal will try to win depends on Spain's performance in their two games against Honduras and Chile as both teams are likely to try their best to avoid Spain in the last 16. Basically, Portugal are 100% through to the last 16 as even if they lose against Brazil, with the massive goal difference separating Portugal and Ivory Coast, the Ivorians will need to win against DPRK by at least a whopping 9 goals. Even with the abominable performance in the second half, I am sure DPRK will want to save their faces, redeem themselves, and to go out from the World Cup with a bang by getting at least a point. Simply horrible, whatever happened at half time to the DPRK players must be serious and there's no joke at all.

Italy 1-1 New Zealand World Cup 2010 Group F

Moving on from the previous match which had little or no controversy and drama if there was any, now it's time for the ultimate David vs Goliath match so far. Alright, not many people support Italy (even some Italian guys that I know of support countries such as Spain). To be frank, I am also not a fan of Italy, no, not the food, not the country, not the team, but the selection policy of Marcelo Lippi. Alright, he has contributed a hell lot for Italian football, culminating in his World Cup victory in 2006. However, I am not a big fan of the way he has been selecting the players for gli Azzuri. Besides preferring to choose players who are 30 and older, he also chooses players on a like and dislike basis at a very personal level such that he refuses to call up absolutely able players such as Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli just to name two just because he does not like them. But nevertheless, Italy is a very big name in the footballing universe, the defending champions in this World Cup, and thus they are the Goliath. Meanwhile, New Zealand is much more known for the All Blacks than the All Whites who are in the World Cup finals arguably because of Australia decided that the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) is a greener pasture for them. This is their first appearance in World Cup finals since their maiden appearance in 1982 and they have just collected their first point, along with the first goal in the previous match against Slovakia. To cut the long story short, they are the David.

On paper, this match was a shoe-in for Italy's obvious victory. Prior to the match, I was able to see many people dishing out bold predictions to the tune of 5-0 to Italy, which also happened prior to the match between Germany vs Serbia not so long ago, and we know how that match turned out. Thus, I wasn't drawn into that false image of a football game seemingly being concluded on paper and I knew something great is going to happen. Besides, just smarting from the lack of drama and controversy from the Slovakia vs Paraguay match, I was longing for more drama, more surprises, more controversy. Besides, I won't be ashamed to admit that I am pretty much an underdog guy, so yeah. Basically, I got everything that I wished for prior to the match, and the match turned out to be one hell of a complete package of whatever I had wished for as mentioned.

The match started with a surprise, the first thing that I wished for. New Zealand scored after only 6 minutes through their best attacking player Shane Smeltz, albeit a controversial one as he was in an offside position when he latched on to a lobbing free kick. Italy, who had started the match like someone who is jarred from a very deep REM sleep, suddenly felt a sense of urgency and started to dominate the match. However, another controversy as from here on (although the second half is not as bad as the first), the Italian players seem to fall down rather “very very easily” with the slightest of nudges bringing them down onto the pitch. Even if they have fouled an NZ player, they would just tumble down themselves to give the illusion that it was not a foul, but a crashing incident. At the 27th minute, Italy got what they want after Daniele de Rossi fell down quite easily in the penalty area, taking advantage of the fact that his shirt was grabbed moments earlier and V. Iaquinta equalized from the resulting penalty shot.

Besides both goals of the match, the first half also saw some incidents relating to the debates that have been raging about the Jabulani match ball. The first incident was when during Riccardo Montolivo's completely missed long range shot, the ball suddenly swerved wickedly mid flight and managed to clip the post, nearly entering the net. Another one was at the 45th minute, when de Rossi's long shot changed direction wickedly in mid air, and the NZ goalkeeper Mark Paston spilled it when he tried to parry it.

The second half also had its fair share of drama especially in the latter part of the game. Throughout this half, Italy also continued to dominate the game and threatened the New Zealand goal but they were not able to find a way through to score the winning goal mainly because of the great performance by the Kiwis' goalkeeper Mark Paston who made marvelous saves to deny Italy. He's my personal choice for the man of the match for this game. New Zealand also gathered confidence little by little as time passed and they even came close through substitute C. Wood at the 82nd minute, which would be a historical day for New Zealand as a whole if that goal had gone in! As an underdog guy, the last 10 minutes of the game (ie. From 85th minute all the way to the end of the 4 minutes injury time) seemed to have been an eternity and also a passionate period of time such that just like during the first NZ game against Slovakia, I felt like what a New Zealander would have felt during the aforementioned 10 minutes period. Ultimately, New Zealand held on despite memories from a certain Man Utd 4-3 Man City match last season started to haunt me but ultimately, that kind of silly capitulation didn't happen to the Kiwis despite the referee prolonged the injury time for a bit at the end of the 94th minute. Truly a historical day for the Kiwis as they managed to hold the defending champions of the World Cup 1-1 and they managed to match the Italians in all departments as they even came close to winning this one to boot!

New Zealand could etch even more history and spring even more surprises by qualifying to the last 16 by defeating Paraguay, as unlikely as it sounds, but don't write off the Kiwis just yet before the final whistle of that match has been blown. As for Italy, this draw is not as fatal as it seems (as far as their World Cup chances is concerned) as they only need to win against Slovakia in their final game in Group F regardless of what happens in the New Zealand match. In any case, just for this night at least, the All Whites of New Zealand have stolen the good spotlights from their more illustrious All Blacks rugby team counterpart!

Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay World Cup 2010 Group F

On paper, Paraguay have just secured their qualification to the last 16 with this rather one sided victory over the hapless Slovakia in the sparsely filled Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein who is also, on paper, edging ever closer to an early flight home. Why on paper? It is because although there is still one match to go in Group F, Paraguay's next match will be against minnows New Zealand while Slovakia's next match will be against the defending champions Italy. Again, while these matches are seemingly to have been concluded on paper, football matches are not won on paper and there could still be more surprises in store for all of us on the last match-day of Group F. To be frank, this match was devoid of all the drama, the goal flood, the excitement that have been evident in the past few days. To emphasize on the lack of exciting points to take note of, this match was even devoid of any debates to be raised pertaining to the much maligned Jabulani match ball.

From the onset, this match was thoroughly dominated by Paraguay to prove the gulf of class between the Eastern European side and the Latin American flavor brought all the way from South America to this match. It seems that the reason why Slovakia looked half decent in the match against New Zealand (at least before the last minute Kiwi goal) was because of the fact that their opponents were the All Whites, that's all. The dominance shown in ust 27 minutes when Paraguay took the lead through H. Vera with a nice shot lobbed into the net when he was closed down by two Slovakian defenders. Even though just like any teams in this World Cup that is a goal down, Slovakia started to show some sense of urgency and started to attack Paraguay but none of those attacks was incisive and their attacking spells were only up to the end of the first half.

The second half started when the commentator reminded us that the stadium floodlights were switched on despite the fact that the sky was very bright. I am not sure myself on what's the deal with the switched on floodlights. Was it to dispel any myths about Africa being short on uninterrupted electrical supply? Or was it simply the standard operating procedure? Or was it perhaps because of a precautionary measure in anticipation of an unpredictable weather in this era of Global Warming? Who knows?

What's interesting about the way the Paraguayans play is that when the Slovaks were in possession, the Paraguay players simply closed them down no matter where they are and even the Slovak goalkeeper was not spared as we were able to see a Tevez like closing down on the Slovak goalkeeper Mucha. Basically, the Slovaks were not allowed to be with the ball for more than 2-3 seconds at most before being dispossessed by the extremely strong Paraguayan players as this style of play, especially throughout the match as this style requires a very strong stamina.

In a game devoid of any notable points, Paraguay finally managed to have something to take note of as they scored the second and arguably the proverbial killer goal at the 85th minute which put the result of the game beyond doubt. Although Slovakia managed to test the Paraguayan goalkeeper for the first and only time in the match in the very last minute of the stoppage time when Robert Vittek had his long range shot saved.

As mentioned at the beginning in the first paragraph, Paraguay will face New Zealand next which they are expected to defeat to secure their spot in the last 16, while Slovakia will be facing a very tough test against Italy, still a top team despite being much criticized for their average age and great players criminally excluded from the squad. However, don't think Group F has been settled, as I am pretty damn sure that there will be more surprises, starting from the upcoming match between Italy and New Zealand.

Ghana 1-1 Australia World Cup 2010 Group D

Prior to this entertaining match, I have to admit that I was too carried away by Ghana's 1-0 victory against Serbia in their first match as well as Australia's 4-0 collapse against Germany in which I should not have been like that at all. This culminated when a family member (who is not well versed in football at all) asked me, “What's so good about Ghana? Ghana is bad!”. Well, I strongly felt that Ghana is a strong team, due to the aforementioned illusion from the first games, as well as a fond memory of Ghana gloriously defeating Czech Republic back in 2006 World Cup in which I still remember what Stephen Appiah had said in his interview after that victory. So there was a conflict between the “I and me” in my mind as I wanted to answer him that Ghana is very strong while my subconscious football instinct whispered me otherwise. Thus, I settled by answering him that “At the very least, Ghana is much stronger than a certain country” (sorry but I don't wish to name that country, but that answer will create a definite impression to anyone let alone that family member of mine that Ghana is a strong team). I should have known better that Ghana is after all not that great, especially so in attack.

In this match, the Jabulani debate once again rears its ugly head once again. After a few days of relative quiet about this, Jabulani simply refuses to let go of the microscopic attention as well as the massive spotlights on it. It seems that it is trying its best to obtain the World Cup 2010 golden ball and even more ambitiously, it seems intent on winning this year's TIME Person of the Year. Australia started the match with technically no striker at all since the one leading their attack was Harry Kewell whose natural position is not a striker, let alone a targetman. Joachim Low, the Germany manager was also seen in the stands seemingly to scout on Ghana, their next opponents. Australia started attacking aggressively, seemingly desperate to banish all those criticisms and condemnations directed to them no thanks to their heavy 4-0 defeat against Germany. The aforementioned Jabulani debate erupted again when the Aussies scored after only ten minutes of play. The Ghanaian keeper Richard Kingson becomes the next goalkeeper to spill a long range shot, this time from Mark Bresciano's direct free kick and Brett Holman was only too happy to pounce onto the rebound and score to give Australia the 1-0 lead. As mentioned previously, Jabulani seems not ready to give up the spotlight, isn't it? A ball who has plenty of balls. Good pun, no?

Sense of urgency for Ghana, but they did not seem to be incisive in their attacks against the Aussies. (A chronic illness in this Ghanaian squad which I realized only much much later in the game). However, first major drama in the game as well as a major controversy in this match. At the 23rd minute, Ghana launched a long shot from outside of the penalty area which was destined to be into the net, but Harry Kewell was at the right hand post and he simply used his chest to keep the ball out. However, the ball simply bounced along his body and hit his right arm in the process before going out. The Italian referee Roberto Rosetti simply treated it as a deliberate handball to prevent a clear goalscoring opportunity and he promptly dished out a red card for Kewell and thus Australia have 2 sending offs in a row, and Ghana was awarded a penalty kick due to handball, just like the previous match against Serbia. Also, just like that match, Asamoah Gyan sent Mark Schwarzer the wrong way to score with his ice cool nerves from the spot. 2 out of 2 for Gyan from the spot. 1-1. So far, Nigeria and Germany have collapsed due to a sending off, and had that happened to Australia and had they lost heavily to Australia, it would have served the Aussies nothing more than intensifying their Italophobia as World Cup 2006 is still fresh in their minds.

The second half of the match simply saw the increasing intensity of the attacks of both teams, especially Australia. Surprise surprise. Despite having one less man than the Ghanaians, the Australians didn't show any signs of hindrance to their game let alone the potential collapse. In fact, the Australians were trying to gun down a victory, basically trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as they brought on two strikers from their bench on the 65th and 67th minute and they are Scott Chipperfield and Josh “Jesus” Kennedy. The nickname comes from his beards and long hairdo that he sports by the way, but he didn't manage to live up to that nickname by becoming the Aussie's messiah tonight. Despite the see-sawing of attacking moves between the two teams, Australia was the team that looked like scoring at anytime and clinch a victory compared to Ghana who statistically dominated the game (with about 20 shots throughout the game) but they are so impotent in front of goal that those shots count for nothing. Their impotence in front of goal is simply what I was trying to point out about the “chronic sickness” that this Ghanaian team is unfortunate enough to have. At the 84th minute, the Australians brought on even more attacker by bringing in the Ukrainian born Nikita Rukavytsya. While the Ghanaians brought on Quincy Owusu Abeyle, Sulley Ali Muntari at the 56th and 76th minute respectively and also bringing in Matthew Amoah at the 87th minute, but still, it did not cure their impotence.

Although in the end, none of the teams managed to score more goals for the match, amazingly, the Australians ended up having no less than three strikers on the pitch with ten men when they started the match without any striker as mentioned earlier. The match, however, ended rather unceremoniously ith the sight of John Pantsil being stretchered off with his white shirt heavily stained red with blood due to a collision with Josh Kennedy in an aerial duel.

In the end, Ghana failed to clinch a victory and progress to the last 16 while the Australians would be happy with their performance with 10 men in the game and the fact that they are pretty much still alive in the competition. They play Serbia next and it is of course a must win game now for them to have any hopes of progressing but they will not be with the sent off Kewell and solid veteran defender Craig Moore who collected his second yellow card of the tournament, although Tim Cahill will be back to boost their chances.

While for Ghana, they are up against Germany next. On paper, it is no contest, as Germany have too much class to lose against Ghana. However, football matches are not won on paper, but still, judging from how impotent Ghana is besides from the penalty spot (and how many times could they rely on that?) and how Germany must be fired up now to win the remaining game as to progress into the last 16 and to forever bury the embarrassment they suffered in their recent defeat against Serbia once and for all. Ghana is in a tight spot, unless they are able to cure their impotence in front of goal, I am afraid to say that they have little chance of getting anything from the last game against Germany let alone a victory against Joachim Low's boys.