Day 18. What happened today in Brazil.
I said this before and I'll say it again...Costa bloody Rica happened today. But more of that later.
First up today was Holland-Mexico. Holland were looking to show that
they could live up to their "serious contenders" tag, which only started
after the first round. Before that, everybody in Holland seemed to
think they were pretty bad and were definitely going
out in the first round. Even the manager, Van Gaal, didn't have much
hope for the future and had decided that getting criticized constantly
in Manchester was better than abuse at home. To make matters worse when
Holland qualified for the last 16 as the top scoring team, the Dutch
critics complained that Van Gaal's team had abandoned the Dutch way of
playing football. As far as I can remember when they reached the final
in 2010, the Dutch looked as far from Total Football as Greece did. But
Holland found a way. After going behind to a beautiful Mexican goal, the
Dutch kept going and going and going, until finally equalizing 2
minutes from the end, and winning with a controversial (when are they
not?) penalty in the 4th minute of injury time.
Of course we
can all feel sorry for the Mexicans. They really were very, very close
to the quarter finals. But they really needed a second goal. You can
never sit on a one goal lead when you have a goalkeeper who is that
good. You know, the kind who has the game of his life against Brazil and
then does it again today, but part of his brilliance is down to his
eccentricity. And at one point he will decide to come for a cross
because in his head he is going to spectacularly punch it away, but in
reality he realizes he is nowhere near able to do that, and he looks
like a fool when the other team scores because the goalie is nowhere to
be seen. The goalie in question, Ochoa, knew he was at fault. How was it
obvious? Did he do what every goalkeeper does when they concede a goal,
yell at their defenders? No. Silence. Mea culpa. Of course the gullible
English clubs are lining up to sign him, based on a couple of inspired
performances. Ajaccio, in the French second division, who released him
at the end of this season must know better.
Mexico, and their
captain Marquez, gave away the late, late penalty. Was it a foul? The
debate in Mexico will go on forever. In Holland it ended once everybody
Dutch heard a whistle and the referee's arm pointed to the penalty spot.
Does Robben dive? Sure. Did his foot make contact with Marquez's foot?
Yes. Should Marquez have stuck his foot out, knowing he had a known
diver trying to get around him? No. Is it fair? Happens all the time,
and if it wasn't given the debate would have raged the other way. In the
end the men in the orange ties and blue jackets were jumping out of the
Dutch dugout, and looking forward to how they could not screw up
against either Costa Rica or Greece.
I imagine that many
Europeans, apart from the Greeks I hope, might have gone to bed before
the end of the Costa Rica-Greece match. So allow me to describe what
happened. The teams came out, the national anthems were sung and that
was it. Excitement over, until 120 minutes later. In between, Costa Rica
ran with the ball, Greek defenders hoofed the ball as far away as
possible, Samaras tried some skill but was offside. Karagounis fouled a
Costa Rican and then threw his arms up in the air...What. me? Costa Rica
ran with the ball, Greek defenders hoofed the ball as far away as
possible, Samaras tried some skill but was offside. Costa Rica ran with
the ball......the crowd did the Mexican wave......another Greek player
was offside. Karagounis fouled a Costa Rican and then threw his arms up
in the air...Ref, c'mon, I didn't touch him. But hold on, a
chance...Greece must score...no...ball hits Costa Rica goalkeeper on hip
and goes out. Half-time whistle. Second half.....Here we go, Costa Rica
running, nothing doing, Greece lob a few passes up field, nothing
happening. Then suddenly Bryan Ruiz hits a pass towards the goal.....and
it is a goal! Best thing that could have happened, Greece had to attack
now. They tried and tried but couldn't break down the defence of the
team that has St Kitts and Nevis as it's regional competitors. And then
Costa Rica had a player sent off for a second yellow card. And the crowd
went wild (the Greeks) or booed (the Costa Ricans and Brazilians). Or
did they? Most of them must still have been in line for the toilet or
beer (see yesterday). Or they were so bored they just couldn't be
bothered. And on we went. Greece brought on the mystery man, Kostas
Mitroglu, the striker who couldn't stop scoring in Greece, was
transferred to Fulham for a record fee, but was then injured or not fit
enough for English football, and.....nothing happened. The Greeks
seemed disinterested in scoring, which was rather concerning for any
knowledgeable neutral watching. Greece always do this, yet in the end,
the very end as it turned out today, they find a way. 90th minute and
Sokratis Papastathopoulos bundles in a rebound and we all nodded (or
shook?) our heads in complete acceptance of the inevitable. Extra time
had a little drama, mostly centred around who looked more knackered form
running around aimlessly for 120 minutes. At the end of the extra time,
before penalties, Fernando Santos, the Greek coach managed to get
himself sent off for arguing with the referee. The penalties were going
pretty well for both sides until number 5 for Greece was saved and Costa
Rica scored the next one to go where they have never gone before. And,
thankfully, it was all over.
This really was a terrible match.
Bbc pulled out the "turgid affair" description again but really turgid
does not do it justice. This was the match that you hoped anybody
wanting to watch football for the first time was not watching. I was
thinking of all the Americans who had heard about how great this Fifa
World Cup thing is and wanted to get in on the action on a Sunday
afternoon and saw this. They must have really wondered how this could be
any more exciting than watching cars going round an oval track for
hours, or sitting in a half empty baseball stadium hoping somebody would
hit a ball so they don't have to keep checking facebook, twitter and
instagram on their phone, in the hope that somebody's updated a status,
because there's nothing happening out on the field. Yes, it was that
bad. There have been some exciting 1-1 draws over the years
(France-Brazil 1986 was one of the best ever), and others where you
could at least appreciate the tactical battle. This had nothing. It's
only saving grace, that saved me looking for re-runs of question time in
the Canadian parliament, was that it was the last 16 of the World Cup.
Hopefully never again in the next 2 weeks.
Tomorrow, we should
have a couple of crackers. Maybe. France and Nigeria might battle end
to end, or France might just be too good. And Algeria are out for
revenge against Germany. The head says Germany will be too good, but I'm
sure many heads said that in 1982. For 90 minutes, or 120, can we
ignore oppressive regimes and...one, two, three! Viva L'Algerie!
Sunday, 29 June 2014
Fred and Jo....and Neymar.
Day 17. What happened today in Brazil.
Brazil are just not very good, are they? Colombia are probably one of the best teams of this World Cup. What will happen when they meet on Friday in the quarter final?
Brazil huffed and puffed, and chased, and rode their luck and ended up with a penalty shoot out win against Chile. As negative as the prognosis on Brazil may be, at the same time they didn't concede more than one bad-mistake goal against what was supposedly one of the best attacking teams out there. In the final minute of extra time Pinilla, for Chile, hit an amazing shot against the crossbar. It would have been game and World Cup over for Brazil. But it didn't go in, did it, and nobody has ever won anything by going close. Brazil scored first through David Luiz's first goal ever for Brazil, although there is debate over whether he got the final touch. The Brazilians then looked like they were going to saunter through the rest of the match, maybe score a couple more goals, and that would be that. However, Hulk showed he had the touch of a uncoordinated, muscle oaf out of a fantasy comic book and let Chile in to score. To his credit, Hulk became a man possessed in the second half, a man possessed by the fear of being the reason for Brazil having no more interest in their World Cup. He repeatedly attacked the Chilean defence on his own, and he kind of had to since Neymar was having a no-shoot day. Even his change from gold boots to his regular ones at half-time didn't seem to make a difference. Of course no Brazil match would be complete without an ode to those 2 wonderful Brazilians, Fred and Jo. Fred's expected goal rush, after he scored his first goal against Cameroon, never looked like it was going to happen. He was back to the lovable Fred who you would love if you were the opposing team's defence. So, poor old Big Phil had to do what he himself must loathe to admit that he has to do. He brought on Jo, to replace Fred. Not sure if Big Phil hates more that he has to take off Fred, who he has high hopes for, or that the only other striker he can replace him with is Jo. Maybe that's why Neymar kept refusing to shoot today: he said to Big Phil if you are really going to keep lumping me with Fred and Hulk let's see what happens when I leave the goal scoring to them. And Big Phil, not one to mess with, thought, fine, you little so and so, you don't like Hulk and Fred, here's some real punishment...deal with Jo. Jo reminds me of that guy at school, who was told that he was good, or got lucky playing with boys much younger than him, but now that he's playing with the big boys is completely out of place. But he can't admit to it. Every time, he completely fluffs a good chance, he has that look; the look of, "what, how didn't that go in", which quickly changes to "hey, everybody that wasn't my fault, look, that blade of grass was out of place" which then becomes a look of "ok, stand tall, eyes wide open, if I look good and imposing nobody will notice I can't play this game".
At the beginning of the second half (and when I say beginning, I mean well past the 60 minute mark), the main stand across from the cameras had way more empty seats than in the first half. Again, my belief is that all those people are stuck in a queue for the toilet or beer. The real fans, in the upper tiers, just give up and go back to their seats. The number of fans constantly walking back and forth in that stand reminded me of watching football in Toronto, in Major League Soccer. It's amazing how many people just constantly walk around. Not in a football stadium to watch the football, obviously.
Colombia beat the Suarez-less Uruguayans pretty easily. It's was, as we say, a comfortable 2-0. With all the fuss about Suarez nobody seems to mention how his strike partner Edison Cavani is supposedly a highly rated player himself. But just not good enough. Like the rest of the team. Their era, if there was one, is definitely over. This was a victory for quick attacking football over let's-kill-the-game-and-win-of
Tomorrow the Dutch and the Mexicans do battle before Costa Rica and Greece fight it out for the title of the most unlikely team in the quarter finals.
Brazil are just not very good, are they? Colombia are probably one of the best teams of this World Cup. What will happen when they meet on Friday in the quarter final?
Brazil huffed and puffed, and chased, and rode their luck and ended up with a penalty shoot out win against Chile. As negative as the prognosis on Brazil may be, at the same time they didn't concede more than one bad-mistake goal against what was supposedly one of the best attacking teams out there. In the final minute of extra time Pinilla, for Chile, hit an amazing shot against the crossbar. It would have been game and World Cup over for Brazil. But it didn't go in, did it, and nobody has ever won anything by going close. Brazil scored first through David Luiz's first goal ever for Brazil, although there is debate over whether he got the final touch. The Brazilians then looked like they were going to saunter through the rest of the match, maybe score a couple more goals, and that would be that. However, Hulk showed he had the touch of a uncoordinated, muscle oaf out of a fantasy comic book and let Chile in to score. To his credit, Hulk became a man possessed in the second half, a man possessed by the fear of being the reason for Brazil having no more interest in their World Cup. He repeatedly attacked the Chilean defence on his own, and he kind of had to since Neymar was having a no-shoot day. Even his change from gold boots to his regular ones at half-time didn't seem to make a difference. Of course no Brazil match would be complete without an ode to those 2 wonderful Brazilians, Fred and Jo. Fred's expected goal rush, after he scored his first goal against Cameroon, never looked like it was going to happen. He was back to the lovable Fred who you would love if you were the opposing team's defence. So, poor old Big Phil had to do what he himself must loathe to admit that he has to do. He brought on Jo, to replace Fred. Not sure if Big Phil hates more that he has to take off Fred, who he has high hopes for, or that the only other striker he can replace him with is Jo. Maybe that's why Neymar kept refusing to shoot today: he said to Big Phil if you are really going to keep lumping me with Fred and Hulk let's see what happens when I leave the goal scoring to them. And Big Phil, not one to mess with, thought, fine, you little so and so, you don't like Hulk and Fred, here's some real punishment...deal with Jo. Jo reminds me of that guy at school, who was told that he was good, or got lucky playing with boys much younger than him, but now that he's playing with the big boys is completely out of place. But he can't admit to it. Every time, he completely fluffs a good chance, he has that look; the look of, "what, how didn't that go in", which quickly changes to "hey, everybody that wasn't my fault, look, that blade of grass was out of place" which then becomes a look of "ok, stand tall, eyes wide open, if I look good and imposing nobody will notice I can't play this game".
At the beginning of the second half (and when I say beginning, I mean well past the 60 minute mark), the main stand across from the cameras had way more empty seats than in the first half. Again, my belief is that all those people are stuck in a queue for the toilet or beer. The real fans, in the upper tiers, just give up and go back to their seats. The number of fans constantly walking back and forth in that stand reminded me of watching football in Toronto, in Major League Soccer. It's amazing how many people just constantly walk around. Not in a football stadium to watch the football, obviously.
Colombia beat the Suarez-less Uruguayans pretty easily. It's was, as we say, a comfortable 2-0. With all the fuss about Suarez nobody seems to mention how his strike partner Edison Cavani is supposedly a highly rated player himself. But just not good enough. Like the rest of the team. Their era, if there was one, is definitely over. This was a victory for quick attacking football over let's-kill-the-game-and-win-of
Tomorrow the Dutch and the Mexicans do battle before Costa Rica and Greece fight it out for the title of the most unlikely team in the quarter finals.
And on the 16th day, they rested.
Day 16. What happened today in Brazil. Teams
went home, others trained, or didn't in the case of Nigeria. Following
Cameroon and Ghana's players' strike over unpaid bonuses, now it was the
Nigerian's turn. Whatever we may think about greedy,
overpaid footballers if they have contracts that promise these bonuses
they should get it. It seems like President Goodluck's intervention has
saved the day.
England have been home for a few days and a couple of their players are happily moving on and sorting out their futures, with a little bit more money to come their way. Defender Luke Shaw, who is 18, signed for Man United for a transfer fee of 27 million pounds. Yes, he's eighteen. Adam Lallana has had a medical at Liverpool in expectation of a 25 million pound move. More will follow, once the bigger teams start getting eliminated and the agents kick into high gear selling the new World Cup stars at terribly inflated prices to the gullible English teams.
Tomorrow, the action reaches a new level of excitement. Lose now, and it may take extra time and penalties, and losers there will be, and you're on your way home. No goal difference to the rescue now. It's South American day on Saturday. Brazil-Chile, followed by Colombia-Uruguay.
Chile have reached the last 16 three times and each time they have lost to, yes, Brazil. It wouldn't take that brave of a person to bet on the un-thinkable (to Brazilians) happening. Chile have looked mighty good and Brazil have been iffy. Only question about Chile is how Holland dealt with them pretty easily in the last group match.
Colombia-Uruguay, I imagine, is going to be ugly. Not ugly, in the turgid (thanks BBC) Italy-Uruguay way, but I suspect that especially if things aren't going Uruguay's way we are going to see some nastiness that the Colombians may get caught up in too. Uruguay are now in the us against the world mood, after Luis Suarez's suspension. Their coach, Oscar Tabarez, had quit his Fifa advising roles in disgust, the captain Lugano says Suarez did nothing wrong, Maradona has become an honorary Uruguayan to defend Suarez against the 'mafia' at Fifa, and the whole team refused to speak in English to English journalists because, in case you didn't know, Suarez only chewed at Chellini's shoulder because he is a victim of the English media's harassment and torture.
Colombia have only played a South American team once at the World Cup, and again you guessed it, it was Uruguay, who won 2-1 in 1962. Colombia won 3 games so far, which is the total number of wins in their previous 13 matches in World Cups. They have some wonderful players, and I hope we get to see them, and their fantastic goal celebration, again after tomorrow. Enjoy....this is going to get really good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLAIjbJvx7s
England have been home for a few days and a couple of their players are happily moving on and sorting out their futures, with a little bit more money to come their way. Defender Luke Shaw, who is 18, signed for Man United for a transfer fee of 27 million pounds. Yes, he's eighteen. Adam Lallana has had a medical at Liverpool in expectation of a 25 million pound move. More will follow, once the bigger teams start getting eliminated and the agents kick into high gear selling the new World Cup stars at terribly inflated prices to the gullible English teams.
Tomorrow, the action reaches a new level of excitement. Lose now, and it may take extra time and penalties, and losers there will be, and you're on your way home. No goal difference to the rescue now. It's South American day on Saturday. Brazil-Chile, followed by Colombia-Uruguay.
Chile have reached the last 16 three times and each time they have lost to, yes, Brazil. It wouldn't take that brave of a person to bet on the un-thinkable (to Brazilians) happening. Chile have looked mighty good and Brazil have been iffy. Only question about Chile is how Holland dealt with them pretty easily in the last group match.
Colombia-Uruguay, I imagine, is going to be ugly. Not ugly, in the turgid (thanks BBC) Italy-Uruguay way, but I suspect that especially if things aren't going Uruguay's way we are going to see some nastiness that the Colombians may get caught up in too. Uruguay are now in the us against the world mood, after Luis Suarez's suspension. Their coach, Oscar Tabarez, had quit his Fifa advising roles in disgust, the captain Lugano says Suarez did nothing wrong, Maradona has become an honorary Uruguayan to defend Suarez against the 'mafia' at Fifa, and the whole team refused to speak in English to English journalists because, in case you didn't know, Suarez only chewed at Chellini's shoulder because he is a victim of the English media's harassment and torture.
Colombia have only played a South American team once at the World Cup, and again you guessed it, it was Uruguay, who won 2-1 in 1962. Colombia won 3 games so far, which is the total number of wins in their previous 13 matches in World Cups. They have some wonderful players, and I hope we get to see them, and their fantastic goal celebration, again after tomorrow. Enjoy....this is going to get really good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLAIjbJvx7s
One, two, three...Viva L'Algerie....sshhhhh!
Day 15. What happened today in Brazil.
Watching, and supporting the idea of, the World Cup is a moral dilemma,
with all the well reported issues in Brazil that need money more than
brand new stadiums. So does wanting Algeria to win make one an even more ethically inept person?
Algeria, the country and the regime, survived the Arab Spring by using a tiny portion of it's vast oil wealth to keep the people happy for a while. While appearing to be a little more democratic than Tunisia and Libya, it is still a country run by a privileged inner circle, with backing from the very powerful military. Today Algeria made history of a completely different kind. They drew 1-1 with Russia to make it into the second round of the World Cup for the first time. If we really want to get into the existing political scenarios, it would be a tough choice to choose between Russia and Algeria for who would be a better choice to progress.
Hard as it is, and morally questionable, taking it just as a football event it was a momentous occasion, and especially so when you realize who Algeria play in the round of 16. Germany. Not the same West Germany but close enough to the team that is the reason why Fifa introduced the simultaneous match times for final group games after 1982. In that World Cup, after Algeria beat W Germany 2-1, the Germans and Austrians knew that a 1-0 win for Germany would see both teams qualify for the second round, as they knew the result of Algeria's final game, played earlier. And, that is what happened. One goal scored and an agreed non-aggression pact between the teams after that. And there was nothing that Algeria could do. Except for waiting 32 years to get revenge. I'm looking forward to this one.
Amongst the intensity of the Algerians, players and fans, and the desperation of the Russians I found time for a chuckle towards the end. As the ball went out of play in front of the Algerian bench, one of the subs kicked it, as commentators are wont to say, into row z, to the frustration of the Russians who didn't have a second to spare. Over trotted Mr officious referee, who found the offending sub, and brandished a yellow card in his face for time wasting. Now, if that was the only ball they had I would understand it because it would take a long time to find it and throw it down from the top tier. However, Fifa provides what seems like a constant supply of footballs and as soon as one goes out, another one appears. By the time the referee had come over, identified the player, shown him the yellow card and made note of his name, the Russians were probably waiting to take the throw in with a new ball. So it is the referee who should get a yellow card for wasting time.
At the same time as Algeria-Russia, Belgium were beating South Korea 1-0, despite playing all the second half with 10 players. This two-matches-at-the-same-time thing presents a dilemma. Which to watch? They both count. My decision was based on potential for excitement (Belgium had played 2 very boring matches, Algeria had looked like the version of Brazil that Brazil haven't found in their last match), potential for wild supporters celebrating historical moment (definitely Algeria) and potential for once almighty manager looking increasingly desperate as his team struggles against supposedly inferior opposition (only one candidate, Mr Cappello). The right choice was made.
In other happenings today, Germany beat USA 1-0 and thousands of Americans celebrated a defeat because Portugal hadn't beaten Ghana by enough goals. Apparently more Americans are now watching football than baseball. I'm sure many of them were baffled by the above reasons for celebrating but are doing it anyway, because it makes a nice change from celebrating a team's win which could be one of over a 100 games played in a season, many of which against the same opposition, and just as long as they finish somewhere towards the top of the league still have a chance of winning the whole thing in the post-season, even if they were the worst of all those teams. Confused now? Yes, goal difference seems a lot simpler, no?
Ghana ended with a defeat and without 2 of their players who were sent home before playing Portugal because of an argument with their coach and Ghanaian officials. I wonder if they met the specially chartered plane from Ghana carrying their bonuses, in cash, at the airport on their way out.
Tomorrow, they, and we, rest. Enough time to digest what has happened over the last 15 days, and to enjoy this moment one more time. Will revenge be sweet? Will revenge happen? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJD79UQihZw
Algeria, the country and the regime, survived the Arab Spring by using a tiny portion of it's vast oil wealth to keep the people happy for a while. While appearing to be a little more democratic than Tunisia and Libya, it is still a country run by a privileged inner circle, with backing from the very powerful military. Today Algeria made history of a completely different kind. They drew 1-1 with Russia to make it into the second round of the World Cup for the first time. If we really want to get into the existing political scenarios, it would be a tough choice to choose between Russia and Algeria for who would be a better choice to progress.
Hard as it is, and morally questionable, taking it just as a football event it was a momentous occasion, and especially so when you realize who Algeria play in the round of 16. Germany. Not the same West Germany but close enough to the team that is the reason why Fifa introduced the simultaneous match times for final group games after 1982. In that World Cup, after Algeria beat W Germany 2-1, the Germans and Austrians knew that a 1-0 win for Germany would see both teams qualify for the second round, as they knew the result of Algeria's final game, played earlier. And, that is what happened. One goal scored and an agreed non-aggression pact between the teams after that. And there was nothing that Algeria could do. Except for waiting 32 years to get revenge. I'm looking forward to this one.
Amongst the intensity of the Algerians, players and fans, and the desperation of the Russians I found time for a chuckle towards the end. As the ball went out of play in front of the Algerian bench, one of the subs kicked it, as commentators are wont to say, into row z, to the frustration of the Russians who didn't have a second to spare. Over trotted Mr officious referee, who found the offending sub, and brandished a yellow card in his face for time wasting. Now, if that was the only ball they had I would understand it because it would take a long time to find it and throw it down from the top tier. However, Fifa provides what seems like a constant supply of footballs and as soon as one goes out, another one appears. By the time the referee had come over, identified the player, shown him the yellow card and made note of his name, the Russians were probably waiting to take the throw in with a new ball. So it is the referee who should get a yellow card for wasting time.
At the same time as Algeria-Russia, Belgium were beating South Korea 1-0, despite playing all the second half with 10 players. This two-matches-at-the-same-time thing presents a dilemma. Which to watch? They both count. My decision was based on potential for excitement (Belgium had played 2 very boring matches, Algeria had looked like the version of Brazil that Brazil haven't found in their last match), potential for wild supporters celebrating historical moment (definitely Algeria) and potential for once almighty manager looking increasingly desperate as his team struggles against supposedly inferior opposition (only one candidate, Mr Cappello). The right choice was made.
In other happenings today, Germany beat USA 1-0 and thousands of Americans celebrated a defeat because Portugal hadn't beaten Ghana by enough goals. Apparently more Americans are now watching football than baseball. I'm sure many of them were baffled by the above reasons for celebrating but are doing it anyway, because it makes a nice change from celebrating a team's win which could be one of over a 100 games played in a season, many of which against the same opposition, and just as long as they finish somewhere towards the top of the league still have a chance of winning the whole thing in the post-season, even if they were the worst of all those teams. Confused now? Yes, goal difference seems a lot simpler, no?
Ghana ended with a defeat and without 2 of their players who were sent home before playing Portugal because of an argument with their coach and Ghanaian officials. I wonder if they met the specially chartered plane from Ghana carrying their bonuses, in cash, at the airport on their way out.
Tomorrow, they, and we, rest. Enough time to digest what has happened over the last 15 days, and to enjoy this moment one more time. Will revenge be sweet? Will revenge happen? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJD79UQihZw
Shaqiri...Shaqiri...Shaqiri...
Day
14. What happened today in Brazil. What do you need on the day that
comes after the day that was yesterday? Bad defending, that's what. That
will lighten up the day and give us lots of goals. Argentina beat
Nigeria 3-2, with both teams moving on, but both coaches and supporters
will be hoping they don't keep up the "it doesn't matter how many we
concede, we'll just score more" strategy. Argentina's
winning goal is a classic in "oops, I didn't mean to that, but wait,
it's a goal...sure, planned it all along". As Rojo was coming down from
his leap and missed attempt at a header the ball hit his knee and in it
went. Nigeria still made it through after Iran's game plan fell
apart....lose to Argentina, draw with Nigeria, beat Bosnia and hope that
will be enough. Bosnia's determination to leave with a win overcame
Iran's confusion as to how to try to attack and win.
Switzerland and France were the other winners today. Switzerland beat Honduras 3-0 to finish second and France drew 0-0 with Ecuador to win the group. Xherdan Shaqiri scored a hat-trick for the Swiss, but take a look at the first goal. Yes, it was a beautiful curling shot, but on the many replays, from many angles, it looks like the goalkeeper is waving the ball in. Really. He seems incapable of jumping to the right and halfheartedly stretches out a hand, and just seems to say..."well, that one's gone".
France couldn't keep up their great scoring run. On the other side Ecuador got nothing from the man who I have nominated as the winner of the category "looked good for average side at World Cup, fooled middle of the pack teams in England willing to spend money to reach the holy grail of top 4, bought by one of them and was playing second division in Spain within a few months". Yes, the winner is Enner Valencia. He scored 3 goals, including 2 against the mighty Honduras and all of a sudden "three teams in England are showing interest". Remember Asomoah Gyan, winner of this category in 2010. Sunderland were the transfer record suckers, some team in the UAE were his employees after a few miserable months in wonderful North East England. I'm sure it's lovely.
Really, nothing very inspiring today apart from the quality of Shaqiri's hat-trick and Messi's two more goals. The more important update today is the number of coaches who have resigned, the ones who are smart enough to go before the inevitable firing. Unfortunately, just getting to the World Cup means nothing any more for some of the smaller countries. Even Honduras expect second round action. Costa Rica have spoiled all the fun for the minnows. Gone so far are:
Prandelli (Italy)
Lamouchi (Ivory Coast)
Zaccheroni (Japan)
Luis Suarez (no, not that one....this one was Honduras' coach)
Still there. Roy Hodgson.
Tomorrow is the day of justice for Algeria. Thirty two years after beating West Germany, but the falling foul of the agreement between the Germans and the Austrians, they have the opportunity to make it to the second round. Only Russia stand in their way. A draw could be enough, but let's hope Algeria go for it, if only to see the look on Capello's face when his team is knocked out by....Algeria.
Switzerland and France were the other winners today. Switzerland beat Honduras 3-0 to finish second and France drew 0-0 with Ecuador to win the group. Xherdan Shaqiri scored a hat-trick for the Swiss, but take a look at the first goal. Yes, it was a beautiful curling shot, but on the many replays, from many angles, it looks like the goalkeeper is waving the ball in. Really. He seems incapable of jumping to the right and halfheartedly stretches out a hand, and just seems to say..."well, that one's gone".
France couldn't keep up their great scoring run. On the other side Ecuador got nothing from the man who I have nominated as the winner of the category "looked good for average side at World Cup, fooled middle of the pack teams in England willing to spend money to reach the holy grail of top 4, bought by one of them and was playing second division in Spain within a few months". Yes, the winner is Enner Valencia. He scored 3 goals, including 2 against the mighty Honduras and all of a sudden "three teams in England are showing interest". Remember Asomoah Gyan, winner of this category in 2010. Sunderland were the transfer record suckers, some team in the UAE were his employees after a few miserable months in wonderful North East England. I'm sure it's lovely.
Really, nothing very inspiring today apart from the quality of Shaqiri's hat-trick and Messi's two more goals. The more important update today is the number of coaches who have resigned, the ones who are smart enough to go before the inevitable firing. Unfortunately, just getting to the World Cup means nothing any more for some of the smaller countries. Even Honduras expect second round action. Costa Rica have spoiled all the fun for the minnows. Gone so far are:
Prandelli (Italy)
Lamouchi (Ivory Coast)
Zaccheroni (Japan)
Luis Suarez (no, not that one....this one was Honduras' coach)
Still there. Roy Hodgson.
Tomorrow is the day of justice for Algeria. Thirty two years after beating West Germany, but the falling foul of the agreement between the Germans and the Austrians, they have the opportunity to make it to the second round. Only Russia stand in their way. A draw could be enough, but let's hope Algeria go for it, if only to see the look on Capello's face when his team is knocked out by....Algeria.
Monday, 23 June 2014
Hey Messi...where are Brazil?
Day
12. What happened today in Brazil.
Can somebody please explain where the real Brazil is? You know, the team made up of players that make you want to watch them over and over again, even repeats on TV of the same match, and that make you wish that the 90 minutes never end. Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1 today to move into the last 16. A comfortable scoreline, but a disjointed performance. I cringe when I read on Bbc live text comments about how great it is to see the "real" Brazil playing. Today may have been good for anybody who has seen Brazil play in the last 10 or 20 years. But it's ironic that in this World Cup of open attacking football, the team that should be putting on the finest display of attacking genius as they did regularly up until 1986, has been overtaken in that department by Algeria. And they were playing against a team that had nothing to play for, nothing to lose who even when they did have something to play for, barely bothered. When Brazil did put together a couple of quick, defenders-chasing-shadows passes the ball ended up at the feet of Hulk, and unlike most average players who would have been celebrating a goal he looked like his name and that was that. It had to be Neymar to lift the team, the 22 year old. And he did, with two goals. Just before the second, at 1-1, he went over to the touchline and had a few words with coach Big Phil. He spoke to Big Phil with his hand over his mouth, as is the norm with players and coaches at this World Cup (lest their conversations are picked up by the microphones and relayed back to the opposing coaches) and from the body language I imagined the conversation going something like this:
Neymar: "coach, I am the superstar, what am I am doing with these guys. And why are they called Fred and Hulk?"
Big Phil (and you have to picture his big shrug of the shoulders and roll of the eyes): "Neymar, what can I do? I have to let Fred play, he found God, he's important for the people and Hulk, pfff, he's Hulk, you know, he sounds kind of scary"
Neymar : "but, coach, every time I pass them the ball they fall over or forget if they are left or right footed...what do I do?"
Big Phil: " look, I cant stand it either. They're crap, but better than Jo, so go score a another goal all by yourself. The people will be happy. Then pass the ball to them a few times, maybe one of them will bounce of Fred's head into the net and nobody will notice he is offside. What can I do?"
Neymar: "ok, coach, watch this......"
Brazil had the champagne moment of the 4th goal, by which time the Cameroonians were wishing they hadn't made such a stink about their bonuses before they came to Brazil, and just wanted to go back to their club teams.
In other news.....Holland beat Chile 2-0. Both teams go through. Holland play Mexico, who finished second in Brazil's group, in the last 16 and Chile play Brazil.
That will be good, really good....Saturday at noon (Toronto time)
In still more news.....Spain played their meaningless match against Australia and took the opportunity to look to the future by playing David Villa and Fernando Torres. You know Villa is way past it because he recently moved to playing football in the US as he became New York City's first signing, although "moved" and "playing" are a little bit of a stretch as the team will not exist until early 2015. And Torres, well, as big of a fan as I have been, even I have to admit that a guy who has been a bit player in England for a couple of years is surely way past his glory days.
Tomorrow, is the big battle...Uruguay-Italy. One's in, one's out. Suarez or Balotelli? Who's going to the worst of the "why-always-me" boys?
Can somebody please explain where the real Brazil is? You know, the team made up of players that make you want to watch them over and over again, even repeats on TV of the same match, and that make you wish that the 90 minutes never end. Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1 today to move into the last 16. A comfortable scoreline, but a disjointed performance. I cringe when I read on Bbc live text comments about how great it is to see the "real" Brazil playing. Today may have been good for anybody who has seen Brazil play in the last 10 or 20 years. But it's ironic that in this World Cup of open attacking football, the team that should be putting on the finest display of attacking genius as they did regularly up until 1986, has been overtaken in that department by Algeria. And they were playing against a team that had nothing to play for, nothing to lose who even when they did have something to play for, barely bothered. When Brazil did put together a couple of quick, defenders-chasing-shadows passes the ball ended up at the feet of Hulk, and unlike most average players who would have been celebrating a goal he looked like his name and that was that. It had to be Neymar to lift the team, the 22 year old. And he did, with two goals. Just before the second, at 1-1, he went over to the touchline and had a few words with coach Big Phil. He spoke to Big Phil with his hand over his mouth, as is the norm with players and coaches at this World Cup (lest their conversations are picked up by the microphones and relayed back to the opposing coaches) and from the body language I imagined the conversation going something like this:
Neymar: "coach, I am the superstar, what am I am doing with these guys. And why are they called Fred and Hulk?"
Big Phil (and you have to picture his big shrug of the shoulders and roll of the eyes): "Neymar, what can I do? I have to let Fred play, he found God, he's important for the people and Hulk, pfff, he's Hulk, you know, he sounds kind of scary"
Neymar : "but, coach, every time I pass them the ball they fall over or forget if they are left or right footed...what do I do?"
Big Phil: " look, I cant stand it either. They're crap, but better than Jo, so go score a another goal all by yourself. The people will be happy. Then pass the ball to them a few times, maybe one of them will bounce of Fred's head into the net and nobody will notice he is offside. What can I do?"
Neymar: "ok, coach, watch this......"
Brazil had the champagne moment of the 4th goal, by which time the Cameroonians were wishing they hadn't made such a stink about their bonuses before they came to Brazil, and just wanted to go back to their club teams.
In other news.....Holland beat Chile 2-0. Both teams go through. Holland play Mexico, who finished second in Brazil's group, in the last 16 and Chile play Brazil.
That will be good, really good....Saturday at noon (Toronto time)
In still more news.....Spain played their meaningless match against Australia and took the opportunity to look to the future by playing David Villa and Fernando Torres. You know Villa is way past it because he recently moved to playing football in the US as he became New York City's first signing, although "moved" and "playing" are a little bit of a stretch as the team will not exist until early 2015. And Torres, well, as big of a fan as I have been, even I have to admit that a guy who has been a bit player in England for a couple of years is surely way past his glory days.
Tomorrow, is the big battle...Uruguay-Italy. One's in, one's out. Suarez or Balotelli? Who's going to the worst of the "why-always-me" boys?
One, two, three Viva L'Algerie!
Day
11. What happened today in Brazil.
There's been a theme this weekend. Superstar Messi does nothing for the whole match yesterday but then scores a wonder winner. Today, Belgian, wannabe superstar, Hazard, looks like he should be playing with the Under 18s for 88 minutes and then sets up the winning goal. And the best of them all, supposedly, Ronaldo after 94 minutes of almost complete non-superstardom, whips in a perfect cross onto his teammates head for the goal that silenced the USA! USA!
What a day it was. The boring match of the day was supposed to be Algeria-South Korea. The Koreans never score many and Algeria had defended for 89 minutes in their last match. But suddenly the Algerians had a become a one touch, quick on the counter attacks football machine. At 3-0 it looked like this could be the one big one sided one that happens at every world cup....would it be 6,7. And this was Algeria, who are supposed to be on the receiving end of these hidings. The Koreans made it 1-3 early in the second half, Algeria made it 4-1, and finally it was 4-2. Revenge for 1982 is getting closer.
This match followed Belgium -Russia, which one could have been forgiven for expecting a classic: the hot shot Belgians against the battle hardened Russians. Well, the hot shots are firing quite a few blanks and the Russians might be having a hard time understanding Mr. Italian taskmaster Fabio Cappello. This was memories of Italia 1990, lazy, boring matches in the hot sun, a bit like watching baseball....you want to be excited but nothing, and I really mean nothing, happens. Finally, 2 minutes from the end Hazard, who spent the afternoon being knocked off the ball like he was a teenager invited to play with the big boys, goes off on one of his runs and sets up the young substitute, Origi, to score. Belgium have scored 3 goals, all by substitutes. Coach Wilmots must be planning 3 good substitutions for the next match.
As again my mind wandered, I realized something that's happening a lot at this world cup. Well over 5 minutes into the second half there were still lots of empty seats. Either there's not enough toilets, or the beer takes a long time to be poured.
Portugal-Usa was another, to quote the BBC, belter. Maybe every team and every coach was so sick of Tika Tika that they all agreed that they all need to play all out attacking football. Belgium and Russia didn't get the memo. This was end to end, non stop. The US came back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 with 30 seconds to go when Ronaldo planted the ball right on Varela's head. You really had to feel for the Americans, they were almost there, almost the first team qualified from the group they were tipped to finish last in. But they are still very close. In the last round of matches they could lose to Germany 1-0 and Portugal would have to beat Ghana 5-0. In an easier scenario if Germany and USA draw, then they both move on. For the non-followers out there USA are coached by a former German idol, Klinsmann, who was also coach of Germany...and his assistant was the current German coach. Now if ever a couple of.old friends needed to do each other a favour. And it's not like the Germans haven't asked, allegedly, unproven of course, for a favour before....Algeria, 1982.
There's been a theme this weekend. Superstar Messi does nothing for the whole match yesterday but then scores a wonder winner. Today, Belgian, wannabe superstar, Hazard, looks like he should be playing with the Under 18s for 88 minutes and then sets up the winning goal. And the best of them all, supposedly, Ronaldo after 94 minutes of almost complete non-superstardom, whips in a perfect cross onto his teammates head for the goal that silenced the USA! USA!
What a day it was. The boring match of the day was supposed to be Algeria-South Korea. The Koreans never score many and Algeria had defended for 89 minutes in their last match. But suddenly the Algerians had a become a one touch, quick on the counter attacks football machine. At 3-0 it looked like this could be the one big one sided one that happens at every world cup....would it be 6,7. And this was Algeria, who are supposed to be on the receiving end of these hidings. The Koreans made it 1-3 early in the second half, Algeria made it 4-1, and finally it was 4-2. Revenge for 1982 is getting closer.
This match followed Belgium -Russia, which one could have been forgiven for expecting a classic: the hot shot Belgians against the battle hardened Russians. Well, the hot shots are firing quite a few blanks and the Russians might be having a hard time understanding Mr. Italian taskmaster Fabio Cappello. This was memories of Italia 1990, lazy, boring matches in the hot sun, a bit like watching baseball....you want to be excited but nothing, and I really mean nothing, happens. Finally, 2 minutes from the end Hazard, who spent the afternoon being knocked off the ball like he was a teenager invited to play with the big boys, goes off on one of his runs and sets up the young substitute, Origi, to score. Belgium have scored 3 goals, all by substitutes. Coach Wilmots must be planning 3 good substitutions for the next match.
As again my mind wandered, I realized something that's happening a lot at this world cup. Well over 5 minutes into the second half there were still lots of empty seats. Either there's not enough toilets, or the beer takes a long time to be poured.
Portugal-Usa was another, to quote the BBC, belter. Maybe every team and every coach was so sick of Tika Tika that they all agreed that they all need to play all out attacking football. Belgium and Russia didn't get the memo. This was end to end, non stop. The US came back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 with 30 seconds to go when Ronaldo planted the ball right on Varela's head. You really had to feel for the Americans, they were almost there, almost the first team qualified from the group they were tipped to finish last in. But they are still very close. In the last round of matches they could lose to Germany 1-0 and Portugal would have to beat Ghana 5-0. In an easier scenario if Germany and USA draw, then they both move on. For the non-followers out there USA are coached by a former German idol, Klinsmann, who was also coach of Germany...and his assistant was the current German coach. Now if ever a couple of.old friends needed to do each other a favour. And it's not like the Germans haven't asked, allegedly, unproven of course, for a favour before....Algeria, 1982.
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