John Giudetti! David Ginola may be smiling tonight, for he may no longer be remembered as the player who's ill-timed decision ruined a country's World Cup hopes.
If you weren't watching Germany-Sweden today or had tuned out by the 93rd minute, here's what happened. Towards the end of one of the best, if not the best, match at this year's World Cup, Sweden have the ball far up in the German half. It's 1-1. The Swedish fans are having a party. The German supporters are contemplating the possibility of no second round football. If it ends in a draw, Sweden would only need a draw against Mexico in their last match to eliminate the Germans.
The ball is played to Guidetti at the corner of the German penalty area. He takes a touch and the lazily takes a shot with an obvious lack of any conviction that he is actually going to score. As the ball bobbles towards Manuel Neuer in the German goal, I am sure I am not the only viewer who's thinking, "he has just handed Germany a lifeline". He could have used some of the skill that made him such a promising teen star many years ago to stop, turn and head towards the corner flag. Or, at the very least, he could have looked up and noticed his unmarked team mates running into the penalty box. But no. He took his shot, the kind of shot you hit when your team is losing 3-0 in the 93rd minute and all hope of a positive result is long gone, and when your manager has put you out there for a sympathy runabout for a few minutes.
So Neuer gets the ball moving and within a few seconds, Giudetti's team mate, and fellow sub, Jimmy Durmaz gave away the free kick which will be remembered for a long time with a rash, lazy tackle when it was really needed. Up stepped Toni Kroos and after the spectacularly struck winner with 18 seconds on the clock the mood in the stadium and the balance of the group completely changed. The Germans were ecstatic because they now see more light. The Swedes were devastated because they had it in their hands, the easy opportunity to eliminate Germany. Now they have to beat Mexico. And the Mexicans have gone from looking like comfortable qualifiers to having a battle on their hands. And South Korea, seemingly ready to pack their bags, now have mathematical hope, even though this requires a win against Germany.
It was quite the night (or afternoon here), quite the intense end to the day. Belgium's brilliance in their 5-2 demolition of Tunisia was the earlier excitement of a very different kind. And Mexico's 2-1 win over the Koreans has now changed in significance.
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