How to Stop Them? (Part 2/2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Stop Them? (Part 1/2)

The semifinals of the World Cup 2010 have come and go. Holland managed to overcome the resilient but under strength Uruguay in a thrilling 3-2 encounter, while Spain finally managed to shake off their “flopping on a big stage” curse and cruised to the final to face Holland after totally turning off the goal tap of Germany and finished them off by a narrow 1-0 scoreline. Holland and Spain will battle it out in a high stakes battle to become the very first European nation to win the trophy outside of their own continent and also for each of them to win the thing for the very first time in their respective histories. One main question which is undoubtedly in the minds of everyone associated with the respective teams the moment Spain defeated Germany 1-0 last night is surely just like what the title above is saying, “How to stop them?”. The following will be some possible ways that could be employed by the respective teams to halt the other in their quest for glory. In this first part, it will be about how to stop the first team that reached the final, and that's Holland.

Despite the latest 3-2 victory against Uruguay which brought them straight to the final in a few days' time against Spain, I for once feel that it is still necessary to pinch one's hand to make sure that Holland really have reached the final of the competition. Since their opening match against Denmark all the way until now, it seems that they have yet to really hit the high gears, and they have progressed only with strolling pace at most. But they are here, collecting one major favorites' scalp of Brazil along the way. However, not matter how slow they have “crept up” all the way to the final, they are indeed unstoppable, having won every single match in the competition so far, and only Spain provides the last and massive challenge to claim their very first World Cup title in their history, another hard-to-believe fact considering how Holland have been and are one of the biggest football powerhouses of the world. No matter what, Holland is now seemingly unstoppable and despite their lack of visible overdrive unlike their rivals Germany (except for their anti-climax loss against Spain) they are unstoppable and Spain have to find some ways to stop them. Nevertheless, Holland is just a football team, and like any other team, other football teams should be able to find some ways of stopping them.

The first thing that Spain should bear in mind is that this Holland team only seem to be able to hold their lines out for 85 minutes. In the Group Stages, it is not really shown as to be frank, Japan, Denmark, and Cameroon are not really the world beaters around, and as for Brazil in the quarter finals, the Brazilian team was so chaotic and in such a state of disarray during the second half of the match against Holland that again it didn't show. But, Holland's weakness in the last 5 minutes or so of the match were shown clearly in two matches. Firstly, it was the last 16 match against Slovakia. Holland scored at the 18th and 84th minute in a relatively comfortable match for them to have a 2-0 lead. However, for reasons unknown, in the last few minutes of the match, they were pinned back by Slovakia, and the Slovaks looked closer and closer to scoring one or more goals to force the match to extra time. However, with some luck and the goalkeeper Stekelenburg's heroics, they manage to keep the Slovak bombardment at bay until they conceded an unnecessary penalty kick and they were pegged back 2-1 albeit in the last minute. Another instance was of course during their semi final match with Uruguay in which they romped to a 3-1 lead up to the 73rd minute before again being pegged back 3-2 at the last minute, and between then and the final whistle, they were always in danger of conceding one more to force extra time.

Another fact would be that the Dutch almost always score goals between the 70-80th minute, in which after that period of goals galore for them, then the aforementioned slack of defense started to show. Thus, assuming that Spain continues to play the way they have been playing since that 0-1 opening match defeat against Switzerland and especially the knockout stages, Spain's best bet would be not to lose concentration throughout the match to thwart the deadly and stealthy Dutch attacks especially during the aforementioned 10 minutes period in which the Dutch have the knack of scoring deadly goals and to keep their attacking approach in the last 10 minutes of the match plus injury time to score the goals that will surely kill the Dutch as they are the most vulnerable during the dying minutes of the match. Spain have to score more than one if necessary, especially if they concede early on, as they don't want to be like Slovakia and Uruguay, scoring at the last minute but only for a futile goal which is more of a consolation goal rather than an equalizing or a winning goal.

When I mentioned keeping guard of the Dutch players throughout the match, the first element of that would be to try to keep the rearguard tight, and also to pay attention to the outside of the penalty area, between the center circle and the penalty box to be precise, as the Dutch are extremely dangerous with their long, accurate, and deadly powerful shots. Arjen Robben has shown what he could do with his deadly left foot during the Slovakia match. Sneijder during almost all of the matches especially the Brazil match, and even the aging but still reliable Captain Gio van Bronckhorst who showed the world that his left foot still contains plenty of fuel with his crashing long shot to open the scoring in the match against Uruguay. Thus, the key is for Spain's defenders, especially midfielders to deny all of these players any space to execute their long shots and/or magical pass into the box, as even if they are denied a chance to shoot properly, if they could still pass, the increasingly forgotten van Persie is still up front, and ready to strike at anytime. It would not be easy as players such as Xabi Alonso, Xavi, and Sergi Busquets will have to find a way to balance their attacking duties with their defensive ones to contain the Dutch players. It will also be wise for the Spanish players to refrain from fouling the Dutch players around the penalty area and of course inside of it.

The second component of Spain's defensive work would be the most obvious one, which is to shackle Sneijder in place so that he won't be free to roam everywhere on the pitch to cause troubles. Fro the aforementioned long shots, sending amazing passes especially from free kicks around the penalty area, as well as heading the ball despite his rather small size. To keep things simple and in perspective, Sneijder is a complete package of utter destruction for the opposing teams, and thus he has to be contained as if Spain fail to do that, the world can be as sure as hell that Sneijder will be the direct cause to their defeat and that he will undoubtedly be on the scoresheet at least once and is almost certain to claim the tournament's Golden Boot award (barring a flurry of goals from Klose in Germany's match against Uruguay). It will surely be a busy night for the Spanish defenders, and Sergio Ramos will once again need to curb his knack of galloping forward all the way to the opponents' goal to help contain the real danger posed by the Inter player.

The Dutch skillfully masterminded a total detonation of Brazil's walking time-bomb, Felipe Melo. However, the Dutch fans around the world or even the Dutch squad themselves may not realize that they have something resembling Felipe Melo in their squad, and that man is Mark van Bommel. The midfield hard man has been quite rough throughout this career, and it showed rather clearly in this tournament as wayward fouls, bone crunching tackles, fierce bully-like intimidation to opponents and even the referee have been regular fixtures in the Bayern Munich man's game. Even though he has been rather lucky not to receive red cards for his antics, he is nevertheless a walking time bomb, and an accident waiting to happen. That's not to say that I am suggesting Spain to stoop so low as to ask Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, or even Villa to just do simulation antics repeatedly in an attempt to get van Bommel sent off, but at least there's one way within the boundaries of fair-play that could be utilized by the Spanish players to do some damage here. The way could be a way resembling how Holland systematically took advantage of Brazil's weak link Michel Bastos and of course Felipe Melo, and also how Germany took apart Argentina by taking advantage of a chronic weakness of Argentina's right side of its defense. Thus, players such as Xabi Alonso and Xavi should direct the attack through the center, especially towards the right in which van Bommel is stationed. Sooner or later, when faced with so many balls, so many players, and also so much pressure, van Bommel might just boil over and start conceding unnecessary fouls that will benefit Spain and even start to collect cards. This strategy might seem to be unethical, but that's football, and in such a high stakes match in the biggest football event in the world, any opportunities to win (within the boundaries of fair play of course) should be exploited to bridge the difference between winners and losers, which is as thin as the air in high altitude.

Lastly, Spain have to have the belief in themselves that the fact they are in the final is not a mere accident or even a fluke, like how some sections of the pundits and fans around the world have started to whisper around. They have to belief that they are in the final due to merit, due to their sheer determination to win, and above all, due to the quality of the players in their squad, and not forgetting the abilities of their rather low profile but world class coach Vicente del Bosque. This match will determine which team becomes the very first European team winning the World Cup outside of their own continent, and above all, this match will determine which federation will receive their first ever star above their crest, in other words, the very first World Cup in their history. Spain have to believe that this is the time which their glittering stars, an amazing, almost dream team like coalition of world class players mainly from Barcelona and Real Madrid reach the apex of the footballing universe by winning the grandaddy of them all, the World Cup trophy!

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 2/2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 1/2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!