The Brilliant Azzurri

The World Cup semi-finals, the most consistent team against one of the most criticized team that many considered was lucky to even be here. The Germans were considered outright favorites, but the Azzurri (Italy) had different ideas.

The game kicked off in an attacking mode, was extremely fast and it never lost pace. Every attack was responded with a fitting counter-attack and before you knew, the game was in extra time. The start of extra time saw Italy hit the goal-post twice within a minute and one could not help but think that it probably was Germany’s day.

With two minutes left in extra time and penalty shoot-out looking a certainty, a forceful Italian attack saw Grosso produce a brilliant shot to give Italy the lead. A deathly silence seemed to spread across the stadium. The Germans had no option but to push forward and try to score and this move backfired since they left their defense wide open and Del Piero scored to take the Azzurri into the finals beating the Germans 2-0.

This was soccer at its best and considering the way Italy is peaking at the right time, I would not be surprised if they go all the way to be World Champions.

Brazil gets Les Bleus

It was supposed to be a repeat of the World Cup 98 finals and Brazil was seeking revenge. But instead they got the blues against Les Bleus (that’s what France is calling itself in this World Cup)

If you hadn’t seen the 98 finals, this match was almost a rerun of it. Brazil looked completely listless and clueless. Their big stars – Ronaldinho (FIFA footballer of the year), Ronaldo (the most feared striker) and Kaka were completely shut out by the French defenders and the Brazilian mid-field seemed like it had never ever heard of the word “creativity”.

On the other hand, Zidane has gotten better with each game and seems to reserve his best against Brazil and yesterday he was the Wizard of the French mid-field. Henry was explosive in spurts but was well marked by the Brazilian defense. However a rare lapse in concentration saw Henry being left unmarked and Zidane’s masterful cross was bang on target and all Henry had to do was put his toes to it and France was ahead 1-0.

Aggressive substitutions saw Adriano and Robinho take the field for Brazil to add some sting to their attack but it was little too late.

No South American team has ever won the World Cup when it’s held in Europe except on one instance. This instance was in 1958 and the team was none other than Brazil and that was also the last time Brazil had beaten France in a competitive match. So I was hoping against hope that Brazil would be able to break that curse again, but it was not meant to be. They will have to wait another four years to take a shot at the cup. It also marked the end of the World Cup carrier for Ronaldo, who would have been thrilled to have at least scored against the French.

Another One Bites The Dust

So another game went down to the wire and Portugal eliminated England from the World Cup via the penalty shoot-out. The game was a closely fought one with neither team willing to budge.

The game started off at a really fast pace with both teams attacking relentlessly, but after the initial burst, the game slowed down a couple of notches with neither team really troubling the opponent goalkeeper. From the statistics, it would like both teams deserved to win. However the actual game was different all together.

I would say that England lost the game due to a lot of missed chances. Right from the start of this World Cup, their passing has been atrocious and though the team consists of the best players from England, it is not the best team from England! The players seemed to lack the pin-point accuracy displayed by Argentina, Brazil and Germany that comes only when the players know each others game inside out.

Another big factor in this loss was the outright stupidity of Wayne Rooney. While jostling for the ball, he stepped on his tackler while he was down. The referee intervened and this is when Rooney should have just walked away. Instead he stayed on and shoved aside Cristiano Ronaldo who was protesting with the referee. The referee did not hesitate in flashing the red card to give Rooney the marching orders. This was definitely the turning point of the game.

As for the penalty shoot-out, the lesser said the better. I will sum it up in three words – Royal Mess Up!

Lady Luck (and the referee) ignores Argentina

It was THE match of the World Cup and it didn’t fail to impress. Both Argentina and Germany played some amazing soccer and it was really difficult to differentiate between the two teams during the first 90 minutes and then through the 30 minutes of extra time. It was the sort of game where you would say “may the better team win”, but in this case it was more of “may the luckier team (aptly aided by the referee) win”.

No, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to take away any credit from the Germans. They played some brilliant soccer, especially Ballack, who carried on, assisted in their only goal during regulation time and even took a penalty kick despite and niggling leg injury. However the match referee Michel Lubos was blatantly harsh on Argentina and just ignored any German misbehavior. While Rodriguez was shown the yellow card for play-acting when in fact he was fouled, Ballack was just let go when he play-acted. Germans were awarded free-kicks even when the player took a fall themselves whereas the game went on even when the Argentina players were blatantly tripped and pushed. Though it did not directly count towards a goal, this does go a long way in messing up the players focus and that could be clearly seen in the way Argentina began to lose focus towards the end of regulation time and looked completely down during extra time.

Luck seemed to be against them too when they lost their best goalkeeper Abbondanzieri to an injury that in turn reduced their substitution options. Earlier in the second half, Ayala opened the scoring through a beautiful header off a perfect cross from Riquelme. But soon the refereeing started getting horrible and in between losing their focus and their goalkeeper, Argentina conceded a goal to the Germans. The goal itself was a brilliant piece of soccer from Ballack and Klose.

Argentina also flawed in their tactics by replacing a Riquelme with Cambiasso and Crespo with Cruz a little too early. Cruz was a complete dud and moved around as if he had an iron ball tied to his legs. I am still clueless as to why Messi wasn’t unleashed on the Germans?

When it came to the penalties, Neuville, Ballack, Podolski and Borowski all managed to score for Germany. Cruz scored the first one for Argentina. Next up was Ayala who looked all but confident as he walked up to take the kick. His shot was pathetic and was easily saved by Lehmann. Rodriguez scored and Cambiasso came up to the spot. He had to score but his body language said otherwise. His shot was kept out by Lehmann and I just couldn’t control my tears.

My favorite team is out of the World Cup and now its time to root for the other South American magicians – BRAZIL!

Argentina’s Six-Shooter

What a performance!!! Argentina has made the entire soccer fraternity to take notice with their majestic performance against Serbia and Montenegro. It was an all-out assault that was executed with utmost precision. What we saw yesterday was a perfect combination of team-work, superlative soccer skills and the South American flair.

It took all but 6 minutes for Argentina to open their account with some brilliant passing between Sorin, Saviola and the finisher Rodriguez. Serbia was continuously under pressure with the incessant attack from Argentina.

The second and probably the best goal of the game came in the 32nd minute when the ball was beautifully swept across the field from one player to another to arrive at Cambiasso’s feet. He slid it to Crespo who skillfully back-heeled it to Cambiasso who nailed it in.

The third goal came close to half-time when Saviola’s shot was deflected by the goalkeeper towards Rodriguez who netted his second of the match.

The first half hour of the second half was full of missed opportunities by Argentina. With barely 15 minutes left, the teenage sensation Lionel Messi took the field and after being on the field for all of 3 minutes, he carved out Argentina’s fourth goal by using his skill and speed to outwit the defence and send a low cross in the penalty box to Crespo who did the rest.

Tevez, another sensational young forward, outwitted two defenders and sent low shot into the net for the fifth goal.

In barely another 3-4 minutes, Messi burst into the penalty area and Tevez fed him with a beautiful pass and the teenager did the rest to score the sixth goal.

This game showed the world as to why Messi is so highly rated since he is not only a great finisher but also a brilliant creator. Watch out Brazil, here come Argentina!

Brazil Fail To Impress

After waiting to watch Brazil in action, I geared up to stay up late in the night to watch them play Croatia. The Brazilians were in the attack mode right away with Ronaldinho coming within striking distance within the first 5 minutes itself. Then Roberto Carlos unleashed a furious shot that Pletikosa did well to clear over the crossbar. Another brilliant save followed within a minute or so off a Ronaldinho shot.

The Croatians counter-attacked and seemed to be completely unfazed by the mighty Brazilians. However the game lacked the flair that the Brazilians bring to soccer. Ronaldo seemed to be out of sorts and looked like a blob on the field and most of the Brazilian team seemed to be uninterested in the proceedings.

I was planning to switch off the television at half-time and go to bed. Just then, Kaka unleashed a scorcher from outside the penalty area and scored the first goal for Brazil. I thought – “Ah! Here we go now!” But that was not meant to be. After the break, the Brazilians returned more lethargic than before and the Croatians attacked relentlessly.

Within 5 minutes of the start of the second half, Dida had to keep a shot out of the Brazilian goal and within 2 minutes was again left fending off another great shot from the Croatians. Ronaldo gave us a flash of his capability when his shot just sailed over the crossbar, but that was about it and he returned to his laziest best. Ronaldinho seemed to be the only busy person and only a great save from Pletikosa kept his header out. Croatia was attacking again and was applying relentless pressure on the Brazilian defense.

Though Brazil came out victorious, they were made to work hard for it till the very end and I feel that they were quite lucky to not have drawn or lost this game. I personally felt that Croatia played a better game and I would not have felt bad had they won.

World Cup 2006: Update 1

Finally the wait was over when Germany kicked off the first game of the FIFA World Cup 2006. The first match was between Germany and Costa Rica and what I thought would be a lopsided affair turned out to be a gripping game. Though Germany won 4-2, the game was a closely fought one and the Germans won through sheer finishing skills and experience. The surprise of the game was the Germans, famous for their strong defense, were actually playing an attacking game.

The first upset of the tournament soon followed in just the second game when Ecuador beat Poland 2-0.

On day two, England – one of my favorite teams – started the proceedings against Paraguay. Boasting of a starting line-up that included David Beckham and Michael Owen, they failed to impress with a 1-0 win. The sole goal came in the form of a self-goal of a Beckham free-kick.

My personal favorite Argentina took the field against Ivory Coast. This match was one of the fastest paced games I have seen so far. Both teams were in an all-out attack mode in the first half. Controversy followed in the first fifteen minutes when a header by Argentina defender Ayala clearly hit the post and crossed the goal line but was disallowed by the referee denying Argentina their first goal. Soon after, Hernan Crespo made his presence felt by scoring off a deflected free-kick to give Argentina the lead. The brilliant forward Saviola formed the heart of the Argentina attack. In the 38th minute, he displayed his scoring skills by clinically finishing off a wonderful ball from Riquelme.

However, Ivory Coast didn’t seem to be overwhelmed and came out attacking even harder in the second half. Their first and only strike came with 12 minutes of the game left. However the lack of precision finishing skills by their biggest international star Drogba and some strong Argentina defense and brilliant goal-keeping kept Ivory Coast at bay. Argentina has announced their arrival with a 2-1 victory and their teenage prodigy Lionel Messi didn’t even play!

Go Argentina!