Germany 2006: The highlights (part 2)

I remember Germany 2006 for its sheer drama. The group stages had good football being played, but when the knockout stages came, there was high tension, tactical battles and a number of unexpected outcomes. I'll start with what I remembered most in chronological order.

Great football
It started with the Czech Republic's 3-0 thrashing of the U.S.A. That got me excited about the Czech's chances, because they were the best team in Euro 2004. Players like Neved, Poborsky and Rosicky were controlling the U.S.A midfield. 2 great goals from Rosicky sealed the 3-0 win. Unfortunately, the Czech's lacked strength in depth. The moment Jan Koller got injured, their chances at the World Cup evaporated. They lacked striking options and they were kicked out in the group stages.

The next best game was Spain vs Ukraine. It was quite an easy match for Spain. They got 2 penalties and scored the 3rd from a free kick, but it was the 4th goal that was contender for goal of the tournament. Puyol intercepted a ball at the opponent's third of the pitch, did a 360 degree spin to get past 1 defender, then passed the ball to a teammate, continued running to the edge of the penalty area, and headed a pass into the path of Fernando Torres, who ran in and scored on the half volley. Amazing play! More so by the fact that it was created by Puyol, a central defender.

Finally, the highlight of the World Cup - the 6-0 thrashing of Serbia & Montenegro by Argentina. Every goal was a beauty. The first goal involved a backheel by Sorin down the touchline towards Saviola, who slipped the ball into the path of Maxi Rodriguez, who lashed a right footed shot into the goal. The second goal was, in my opinion the best goal of the tournament. It characterized everything about Argentina's play. Controlled patient passing to wear down opponents. The 2nd goal involved 24 passes. The 24th pass was a backheel by Crespo into the path of Cambiasso, who lashed the ball into the net. From that point on the S&M team knew it was game over, and Argentina were displaying exhibition stuff. Lionel Messi (I was very disappointed he did not play more) and Carlos Tevez came on in the 2nd half, and terrorized the defenders and were involved in the last 3 goals.

Messi scoring the 6th Argentina goal
They became my favorites to win the tournament, but unfortunately they let me down in the knock-out stages.

Dramatic moments
I love football, not just for the wonderful skill and technique displayed by the players, but also for the exciting and dramatic moments it can produce. Indeed, football matches can be dull, and at times it can almost put you to sleep (England comes to mind), but just one moment of skill or mistake by a defender can get you off your feet cheering.

One of the first moments was the extra-time goal by Argentina against Mexico. Argentina weren't playing their fanatastic football, and were held by Mexico 1-1 in extra time. The 2nd half of extra time started, and Sorin played a long ball from the right to Maxi Rodriguez. He must have received some message from above to do something special, because he deftly controlled the ball on his chest, and unleashed a curling shot into the top corner with his weaker left foot!!

Going into the top corner
It was truely a moment of inspiration, and a goal worthy of winning any match.

But nobody beats the Italians for drama in this World Cup. The Italians, long known for their defensive prowess and boring spectators to death with their catenaccio play, used a different script this World Cup, and conjured up 2 of the most dramatic finales in 2 different games. The first was the first knock-out game against Australia. Australia was not supposed to have an inkling of a chance against Italy. This was only their 2nd appearance in the World Cup, and they were going up against the 3 times World Cup Champions. The Italians were dominating, but early in the 2nd half, Materazzi got himself sent off, reducing the Italians to 10 men. But as the commentator said, "The Italians are the pass masters at playing with 10 men". I thought to myself, yeah... the Italians are going to use every trick in the book to win this game. The game swung in Australia's favour after that, and they kept attacking without making any breakthrough. And right on cue, nearing the end of the 90 minutes, the Italians decided to wake up and play football. 3 minutes of added time were to be played, and right on cue, at the 92nd minute, Fabio Grosso made a run into the Australian's penalty area, and at 92 mins 51 secs, 8 SECONDS before the final whistle, fell over the unfortunate Lucas Neill to earn a penalty. Deep down I expected the Italians to win it, but not with such drama.

Watch Grosso's "earning" a penalty against Australia.
The semi finals against Germany ended in similar dramatic fashion. Both teams were tied at 0-0, after playing an exciting 90 minutes without any goals. In extra-time, the pace was slower, with the Germans, with their superior (in fact the best) record at penalty kicks, happy to play for a goal-less extra-time. But Italy, in extra time, had 4 strikers on the field - Gilardino, Del Piero, Iaquinta and Totti. But it was a defender who made the breakthrough. At the 119th minute, just 1 minute before penalty kicks, Pirlo made a superb "no look" pass to Grosso, who curled a fantastic shot inside the German's right post. It was another Italian job. Score and leave no time for opposition to equalize. And just when you thought there was no more time, Italy went on the score another goal on the counter attack, with Del Piero scoring with the last kick of the game. In terms of drama and excitement, this was undoubtably the best game of the World Cup.

The Final
This was a repeat of the Euro 2000 final. France vs Italy. While in 2000 it was the best attack against the best defence, in this match-up, both teams had the best defences - Italy having only conceded 1 and France conceded only 2. It wasn't a classic final. Italy put on the shackles on Zidane and France showed Italy that they could defend as well. Instead, it was the Italian defender Marco Materazzi who had the most eventful final. He conceded the early penalty (a very soft one I might add), in which Zidane chipped in delightfully. I thought this would open up the game, but Italy equalized very soon after, with Materazzi heading in the equalizer. So the game went into stalemate again.

In extra-time, closing in on penalties, that was when the talking point of the World Cup arose. It was unfortunate that this was the most exciting part of the Final, but it was certainly a dramatic twist nonetheless. The great Zinedine Zidane, 2 times World player of the Year, the best player in this World Cup, playing his FINAL game before retiring, with less than 10 minutes before the penalty shoot-out, had a few angry exchanges with Materazzi before driving his bald head into the Italian. I don't think anybody around the world could believe what was happening. Instead of lighting up the Finals with footballing magic, he decided to make an impact by making an impact on Materazzi. Well nobody knows what Materazzi said to incite Zidane, but it was certaintly not the fitting end of the career for a player as great as Zinedine Zidane.

I supported Italy for the win, but not in such an anti-climatic way as a penalty shoot-out. The second Finals I have witnessed decided by a penalty shoot-out. Oh well, I felt that the best team of the tournament won. Overall, it was a very exciting World Cup, not much great football played, but certaintly one with lots of unexpected moments.

Germany 2006: My thoughts (part 1)

After a hectic 1+ month of football, it is finally time to get back to the normal routine. Like spending more time at work. And blogging more. So here's my analysis on the World Cup 2006 and how it compared with the previous ones I watched before.

Overview
This World Cup wasn't about individual players. No player set the tournament alight, or brought himself to the forefront of football. While the last World Cup was about upsets, with Turkey and South Korea making the semi-finals, this one was about the Heavyweights - the traditional powers of football. All the previous winners except Uruguay made it to the quarter-finals. This World Cup was about teams and their tactics, and the team managers became the focus of the attention in this World Cup. England's Sven Goran Ericsson and Brazil's Carlos Alberto Parreira were criticized for their poor formations and refusal to drop star players, and both teams were rightly dumped out of the tournament after 5 poor games. On the other hand, Germany's Jurgen Klinnsman was applauded for turning the underdogs into tournament favorites with an attacking flair (something I have not seen Germany do before - play nice football); Portugal's Phil Scolari was considered the inspiration for getting his team to the semi-finals and Marcello Lippi for adding an attacking flair to Italy's usual catennacio style.

Playing styles
Another interesting thing for me was seeing the teams playing style - some sticking to their traditions while others losing sight of theirs. Let's start with the champions Italy. When they had to, they stuck to their 'catennaccio' style. Catenaccio means "door bolt" or "bolting the door" in italian, and it means to have a highly organized defense and play counter-attacking football. Of course, this makes for boring football, especially when Italy takes the lead, or when the team has achieved their objective. This was especially evident in the World Cup 2002 group game between Italy and Norway, where both teams got a draw, and Italy basically decided to sit back and defend, while Norway decided not to attack. It was terrible. But I also came to appreciate it in the games Italy played in Euro 2000. With Cannavaro, Nesta and Maldini, Italy had argubly the best defenders at the time. Against Netherlands in the Euro 2000 semi final, they played with a man down, and it was then I came to appreciate the catenaccio. In this World Cup, Cannavaro was the main man, and he had to play without the injured Nesta and the retired Maldini. Against the Czech Republic in the group game, they only needed a draw. Played their catenaccio style. They got a goal through a set piece, then sat back defend, then counter attack. Got the second goal. Game over. Against Australia, they got a man sent off, and again they repeated their performance in Euro 2000. Australia kept attacking, but Italy sat back until the last few minutes, turned it on, and bam! Won a penalty kick. Win 1-0.

France the losing finalist, combined their typical flair with resolute defending. France, along with Brazil had arguably the most skillful players in the world. Both teams had problems in getting their good players putting good performances. France managed to "turn it on" in the knockout stages. Brazil didn't.

Which brings me to Brazil, the biggest disappointment this World Cup. Brazil is famous for their 'samba' football - mazy dribbles, near telepathic understanding and passing, brilliant attacking football. They are the anti-thesis of Italy, with the motto - "Attack is the best form of defense". In Ronaldhino, Kaka, Robino, Adriano and even a buldging Ronaldo, they had players that any team would want. Unfortunately they didn't function as a team. They got to the quarter-finals without facing any tough opponents, and against France, Brazil only showed one aspect of their traditional style - the poor defending.
(above: I searched for 'Fat Ronaldo' under Google. This is what I got. LOL! )


Argentina were my favorites before they got kicked out. They put in the best team performance in the World Cup - a 6-0 win over Serbia & Montenegro which got the whole world drooling over that performance. In that game, they displayed the slow passing game that they are famous for. Pass and pass until the opponent tires or make a mistake... then bam! The second goal in that game involved 24 passes!! Absolutely brilliant. A few pundits said that the team "peaked too early", and they were right. Their performances stuttered in the later rounds, and got kicked out on penalties by Germany.

Germany. What can I say? I hate them. They were applauded for abandoning their traditional efficient style and grinding out 1-0 wins for attacking flair, and rightly so. But being bias that I am, I would say that they could do that because the teams they played were inferior teams. They were under pressure against Argentina, and lost out to Italy. But when it came to the crunch of penalty kicks, the Germans did what they historically have done best. Win a penalty shoot-out. Before World Cup 2006, Argentina and Germany had the best records in penalty shoot-outs. 5 wins, 0 losses. Now Germany is undisputed with 6 wins.

England played their traditional long-ball crap. They had good players, we all know that. Not the best players, but all very good. But again, year on year, we believe the hype the British media churn out about their team being the best, and every tournament the fans get disappointed, not just with the results but the performances.

Keeper was distracted by the moving goalpost

(to be continued - Highlights of the World Cup)