Some World Cup match reports:
France 3-1 Spain
This might have been France's last hurrah, but they looked fantastic to me. Veira and Makalele dominated in the midfield, and Frank Ribery has found his form and looks like the most dangerous player on the pitch. Henry (i think 5 offsides) didnt play well, and unfortunately flopped to get a free kick that led to the go-ahead goal in the 82nd minute. I guess after suffering the Spanish racist comments, he was owed one. Zidane scored the 3rd after setting up the 2nd from his free kick. Don't think he played great, but the others in the midfield were so good that it didn't matter.
I like the way the younger French players looked, partic Ribery but also Abidal and Malouda - thought they won tons of balls and posed threats throughout. I like the way the team pressured the ball and forced errant passes, without ever leaving real gaps in behind. Willy Sagnol had another great game in back. If they build on this game, I think they could definitely beat Brazil.
Spain laid a real egg, and I place a lot of blame on the tactics. Raul was way out of place in the midfield and was largely invisible. To me, if you play Raul, you want him in the box and hope to give him a chance or two for a quick turn and shot. I think Aragones should have played Luis Garcia, who wasn't all that effective when he came in, but is an underrated ball winner and at least showed a desire to push forward with the ball.
Spain just looked like they wanted to hold the ball, and when they tried to venture forward they were unable to string passes together effectively. They never once used their speed to penetrate down the wings (until sub Joaquin did once or twice), and were constantly forced into knocking it laterally and backwards. Xavi and Xabi Alonso were medicore.
The defense looked porous - they defended individually and not as a team. Watching France move the ball through the midfield, I felt like they were going by pylons. Spain played a dangerously high line in back the whole game and it came back to haunt them.
Portugal Holland
I wanted to take a shower after this match - it was more like a prizefight than a soccer match. Neither country can be proud of this one. Lowlights:
-Portugal
-Holland Portugal Portugal
- Mark van Bommel - he was just up to no good the whole damn game (and tourney for that matter). He has sullied a great reputation with this WC.
Lost in all this was a wonderful goal by Maniche, who showed great composure and touch in the box before knocking it past Van der Sar.
Italy Australia
Italy Italy Australia
Luca Toni was robbed by Schwarzer once, but missed a couple half-chances. Gilardino did nothing. Both were subbed off, but Iaquinta and Totti did nothing either. Real questions about their attack.
Ukraine
This game tested the patience of even the rabidest soccer fans. Each team's striker had 1 really good chance and each hit the crossbar. After that, no one could come up with anything of quality or invention in the midfield and the game bogged down there. As the teams tired late on, it looked like a bad high school soccer game. No one could do anything. The winner was the ref, who repeatedly let play go (and issued only 1 or 2 yellow card the whole game!). When the players were exhausted and there was so much falling over from so little contact, the ref just smartly waved play on.
Ghana 2-1 USA
TheUSA
I also blame him for playing so many different potential players and line-ups in the matches leading up to the Cup (thinkEngland
Landon sucked, Reyna sucked (and cost us a goal), Beasley (did send a great ball in for our goal) largely did nothing, and Lewis did nothing. Dempsey was the only one doing anything, but aside from his peach of a goal could not produce enought to cover all that shoddy midfield play. I thought Onyewu was the USA's best player again and would not be surprised if he is plucked up by a top European club in the coming weeks. The penalty call on him was one of the worst calls I have ever seen. Frustratingly, the ref then tried to make it up to us by giving us 30 little calls our way in the 2nd half. We'd rather have that goal back.
Brazil 4-1 Japan
Brazil looked devastating today - some crazy, awesome skill and passing on display against Japan Japan Brazil
Italy 1-1 USA
This was some gripping stuff. I am a little hoarse from screaming so much. It is a pretty good result for us and a heroic effort, but the phrase "we could have beaten Italy," is repeating in my head.
Before the red card procession started, we showed some of our newfound class in this game - pretty passing, good ball-winning, clever runs. Our midfield controlled the ball and showed good patience and intelligence. We looked dangerous on the counter-attack fast breaks. A US-Italy game, despite some past close scorelines, has never, ever looked like this.
On the downside, we still do not posess a world class striker, and after two games we have one own goal to our credit. Our defense needs to scrap the offside trap - we benefitted from some terrible offsides happy linesman who punished the Italian striker style of being right on the edge of the last man. When we did not trap, we were organized and composed in back.
Some thoughts on our players performance:
Bruce Arena - He rebounded from his disastrous game plan v the Czechs (bad time for our worst perfromance in probably 10 yrs), getting the tactics right this time. He moved Donovan back to the midfield, put Dempsey and Bocanegra in - all heavily improved our look and perfromance.
He did in my view make some terrible mistakes though. As I told my friend at halftime, Eddie Pope needed to be subbed off. Though it is an unorthodox move to use a sub on a defender in a tied game - Pope was way off the pace and on a yellow card. I thought he was likely to get the second yellow and he did. That really killed us, as we had to expend so much energy defending, that we couldn't attack much in the 2nd half.
He played Convey again, who offered little on the left. I don't think he can beat defenders off the dribble consistently (or at all) at this level and our attack down the left was non-existent. I would have played Eddie Johnson up front and exploited his speed to trouble a slower Italian defense.
I cannot believe he did not use our 3rd substitute. We were so exhausted in the last 25 minutes and needed fresh legs. Or at least use the last sub in the last couple minutes to kill time and hold on to the point, which we were pretty much resigned to down the stretch.
Kasey Keller - great performance. Gave our defenders confidence in fornt of him and played like we need him to. He needs to shave his remaining hairs, they are doing nothing for him.
Oguchi Onyewu - my player of the match. Just a 4 star performance in the back containing Toni and not taking a red card. After watching his horrow show against the Czechs, I thought Arena had foolishly fallen in love with his strength, physicality, and athleticism when was not ready for the tactics and craftiness needed at this level. This game I saw why everyone is so high on this kid. Believe our fans were chanting "Gooch" when he made a play. It might have been Lou.
Carlos Bocanegra - Very good performance and will certainly play again v the Czechs. Almost scored own goal, but won so many balls in the box and out wide. A bit of a red card threat from what I've seen of him in the Premeirship, but strong and athletic and tough as balls.
Steve Cherondolo - much better game for him than his weak outing v the Czechs. Really defended well and even offered some attack (and one stunning move around Pirlo) down the right. Was great helping on Toni when he was forced his way, looking like a little gnat next to Toni.
Eddie Pope - Goodbye, Eddie Pope. He has been one of my fav players over the last 10 yrs for us - great defender, who can also score with his head on set pieces. But he is several steps off the pace of the game. He is thankfully suspended for the next game so Arena (who adores him) cant pick him. He cost us a goal by doing a 1 man offsides trap and then got a red card later. He looked scared during the national anthem and played like it. Disaster.
Jimmy Conrad - did really well as a subsitute and might have earned spot replacing Pope next game. Must be careful as he tugged on Gilardino's jersey while in the box - got away with it, but it could have been a penalty.
Claudio Reyna - I am not sure I have ever seen a player more tired during a match than he was in the last 20 minutes. He really gutted it out and I thought he was really, really good, giving as much as he took in the midfield until his legs gave way. I wish he had tried to slide it to Donovan after Reyna had made a great run through several players and shot from distance as he almost collapsed. But overall - great.
Pable Mastroeni - What a pity his red card was. It was (as Balboa called) a make-up call. Definitely a bad foul and a yellow. But not a red. Before that incident, he looked great, almost scoring on a fantastic strike from distance that needed only one downward bobble at the end to tuck under the bar. Great ball winner - stopped so many attacks on our wobbly d with timely tackles. Shut Totti down in the middle (and forced him off pitch with Italy's post-red sub) Will be really missed in the middle of the pitch v Ghana's tough midfield. .
Bobby Convey - I have been down on this guy and he didnt show me much (see Coach Arena review above), but he might have a role against a weaker Ghana defense. Not convinced, though.
Clint Dempsey - He is the real deal. He seemed a little out of shape strangely, as he was exhausted with 2 minutes of the second half. Gives us a threat down the right side - can take guys on, can create, and can finish. Clearly, not overawed by occasion and opposition - Arena must play him next game.
Landon Donovan - Really benefitted form a move back to the midfield. As Balboa said, he offers so much more facing goal and running at guys than playing with his back to goal. He also has great touch, composure and vision distributing the ball in the midfield, helping us maintain posession in tricky spots. Linked well with Reyna today.
Demarcus Beasley - Yes he did almost score the winner and created some threats, but I agree with Marcello Balboa - as a sub, he needed to be running more. Why did I repeatedly see a dead-legged McBride hustling back on D while DeMarcus jogged leisurely back? It really infuriated me - I have seen him use his speed to play great back-tracking defense and create turnovers in the past. Why not now?
Brian McBride - Great game. Heroic effort. Didn't score, but worked his ass off all day, and feel like he will score for us v Ghana.
Argentina 6-0 Serbia
Argentina put on a beautiful passing display throughout, highlighted by a 24 pass move (you heard right) ending with a goal. They passed effortlessly, strikers made creative runs opening space everywhere, and finished with precision. They used 3 subs and all 3 scored and the team never missed a beat. Compelling stuff, and one has to consider them a serious contender to win it all.
Holland 2-1 Ivory Coast
The Ivory Coast played well against Argentina and Holland and were unlucky not to get a result in either. The Dutch looked great from the outset, scoring on a Van Persie gem from a free kick and Robben passing neatly to van Nistlerooy for the second. It looked like Van Basten had talked to Ribben about passing and he was distributing early and effectively in the 1st half. Von Persie looks deady cutting in from the right side onto his stronger left foot.
But after the second goal, Holland did nothing and the IC dominated with some fantastic play from defenders attacking through the middle, and nice linking among the midfield. They got a beauty of a goal late in the first half and spent much of the second closing in on a second. Holland offered nothing going forward and their midfield is a huge question mark as the IC dominated the center of the field. Another great game.
Mexico 0-0 Angola
Good perfromance from Angola who grew in confidence as the match went on and offered some decent control in the midfield, but lacked any quality finishing. Mexico started off passing beautifully, but suffered through long ineffective spells throughout and blew some great chances.
England 1-0 Paraguay
Crappy match, and England doesn't look the part of world beater to me.
- The midfield, while on paper is incredible - doesnt play all that well together. Joe Cole was the lone bright spot and seemed the only one with any real endeavor - he must continue to do so throughout the tourney.
- Beckham is so static now. His free kick/own goal today justified his place out there, but he has to do more down the road, and I dont know if he can anymore.
.
- The 5'3" Mexican referee I think was freaked out by Peter Crouch and called everything against him on some real iffy stuff.
- Lampard's compass seems slightly off on his shots (maybe its the ball). He can't justify cracking shots from 35 yards unless he fixes this.
France 3-1 Spain
This might have been France's last hurrah, but they looked fantastic to me. Veira and Makalele dominated in the midfield, and Frank Ribery has found his form and looks like the most dangerous player on the pitch. Henry (i think 5 offsides) didnt play well, and unfortunately flopped to get a free kick that led to the go-ahead goal in the 82nd minute. I guess after suffering the Spanish racist comments, he was owed one. Zidane scored the 3rd after setting up the 2nd from his free kick. Don't think he played great, but the others in the midfield were so good that it didn't matter.
I like the way the younger French players looked, partic Ribery but also Abidal and Malouda - thought they won tons of balls and posed threats throughout. I like the way the team pressured the ball and forced errant passes, without ever leaving real gaps in behind. Willy Sagnol had another great game in back. If they build on this game, I think they could definitely beat Brazil.
Spain laid a real egg, and I place a lot of blame on the tactics. Raul was way out of place in the midfield and was largely invisible. To me, if you play Raul, you want him in the box and hope to give him a chance or two for a quick turn and shot. I think Aragones should have played Luis Garcia, who wasn't all that effective when he came in, but is an underrated ball winner and at least showed a desire to push forward with the ball.
Spain just looked like they wanted to hold the ball, and when they tried to venture forward they were unable to string passes together effectively. They never once used their speed to penetrate down the wings (until sub Joaquin did once or twice), and were constantly forced into knocking it laterally and backwards. Xavi and Xabi Alonso were medicore.
The defense looked porous - they defended individually and not as a team. Watching France move the ball through the midfield, I felt like they were going by pylons. Spain played a dangerously high line in back the whole game and it came back to haunt them.
I wanted to take a shower after this match - it was more like a prizefight than a soccer match. Neither country can be proud of this one. Lowlights:
-
-
- Mark van Bommel - he was just up to no good the whole damn game (and tourney for that matter). He has sullied a great reputation with this WC.
Lost in all this was a wonderful goal by Maniche, who showed great composure and touch in the box before knocking it past Van der Sar.
Luca Toni was robbed by Schwarzer once, but missed a couple half-chances. Gilardino did nothing. Both were subbed off, but Iaquinta and Totti did nothing either. Real questions about their attack.
This game tested the patience of even the rabidest soccer fans. Each team's striker had 1 really good chance and each hit the crossbar. After that, no one could come up with anything of quality or invention in the midfield and the game bogged down there. As the teams tired late on, it looked like a bad high school soccer game. No one could do anything. The winner was the ref, who repeatedly let play go (and issued only 1 or 2 yellow card the whole game!). When the players were exhausted and there was so much falling over from so little contact, the ref just smartly waved play on.
The
I also blame him for playing so many different potential players and line-ups in the matches leading up to the Cup (think
Landon sucked, Reyna sucked (and cost us a goal), Beasley (did send a great ball in for our goal) largely did nothing, and Lewis did nothing. Dempsey was the only one doing anything, but aside from his peach of a goal could not produce enought to cover all that shoddy midfield play. I thought Onyewu was the USA's best player again and would not be surprised if he is plucked up by a top European club in the coming weeks. The penalty call on him was one of the worst calls I have ever seen. Frustratingly, the ref then tried to make it up to us by giving us 30 little calls our way in the 2nd half. We'd rather have that goal back.
Italy 1-1 USA
This was some gripping stuff. I am a little hoarse from screaming so much. It is a pretty good result for us and a heroic effort, but the phrase "we could have beaten Italy," is repeating in my head.
Before the red card procession started, we showed some of our newfound class in this game - pretty passing, good ball-winning, clever runs. Our midfield controlled the ball and showed good patience and intelligence. We looked dangerous on the counter-attack fast breaks. A US-Italy game, despite some past close scorelines, has never, ever looked like this.
On the downside, we still do not posess a world class striker, and after two games we have one own goal to our credit. Our defense needs to scrap the offside trap - we benefitted from some terrible offsides happy linesman who punished the Italian striker style of being right on the edge of the last man. When we did not trap, we were organized and composed in back.
Some thoughts on our players performance:
Bruce Arena - He rebounded from his disastrous game plan v the Czechs (bad time for our worst perfromance in probably 10 yrs), getting the tactics right this time. He moved Donovan back to the midfield, put Dempsey and Bocanegra in - all heavily improved our look and perfromance.
He did in my view make some terrible mistakes though. As I told my friend at halftime, Eddie Pope needed to be subbed off. Though it is an unorthodox move to use a sub on a defender in a tied game - Pope was way off the pace and on a yellow card. I thought he was likely to get the second yellow and he did. That really killed us, as we had to expend so much energy defending, that we couldn't attack much in the 2nd half.
He played Convey again, who offered little on the left. I don't think he can beat defenders off the dribble consistently (or at all) at this level and our attack down the left was non-existent. I would have played Eddie Johnson up front and exploited his speed to trouble a slower Italian defense.
I cannot believe he did not use our 3rd substitute. We were so exhausted in the last 25 minutes and needed fresh legs. Or at least use the last sub in the last couple minutes to kill time and hold on to the point, which we were pretty much resigned to down the stretch.
Kasey Keller - great performance. Gave our defenders confidence in fornt of him and played like we need him to. He needs to shave his remaining hairs, they are doing nothing for him.
Oguchi Onyewu - my player of the match. Just a 4 star performance in the back containing Toni and not taking a red card. After watching his horrow show against the Czechs, I thought Arena had foolishly fallen in love with his strength, physicality, and athleticism when was not ready for the tactics and craftiness needed at this level. This game I saw why everyone is so high on this kid. Believe our fans were chanting "Gooch" when he made a play. It might have been Lou.
Carlos Bocanegra - Very good performance and will certainly play again v the Czechs. Almost scored own goal, but won so many balls in the box and out wide. A bit of a red card threat from what I've seen of him in the Premeirship, but strong and athletic and tough as balls.
Steve Cherondolo - much better game for him than his weak outing v the Czechs. Really defended well and even offered some attack (and one stunning move around Pirlo) down the right. Was great helping on Toni when he was forced his way, looking like a little gnat next to Toni.
Eddie Pope - Goodbye, Eddie Pope. He has been one of my fav players over the last 10 yrs for us - great defender, who can also score with his head on set pieces. But he is several steps off the pace of the game. He is thankfully suspended for the next game so Arena (who adores him) cant pick him. He cost us a goal by doing a 1 man offsides trap and then got a red card later. He looked scared during the national anthem and played like it. Disaster.
Jimmy Conrad - did really well as a subsitute and might have earned spot replacing Pope next game. Must be careful as he tugged on Gilardino's jersey while in the box - got away with it, but it could have been a penalty.
Claudio Reyna - I am not sure I have ever seen a player more tired during a match than he was in the last 20 minutes. He really gutted it out and I thought he was really, really good, giving as much as he took in the midfield until his legs gave way. I wish he had tried to slide it to Donovan after Reyna had made a great run through several players and shot from distance as he almost collapsed. But overall - great.
Pable Mastroeni - What a pity his red card was. It was (as Balboa called) a make-up call. Definitely a bad foul and a yellow. But not a red. Before that incident, he looked great, almost scoring on a fantastic strike from distance that needed only one downward bobble at the end to tuck under the bar. Great ball winner - stopped so many attacks on our wobbly d with timely tackles. Shut Totti down in the middle (and forced him off pitch with Italy's post-red sub) Will be really missed in the middle of the pitch v Ghana's tough midfield. .
Bobby Convey - I have been down on this guy and he didnt show me much (see Coach Arena review above), but he might have a role against a weaker Ghana defense. Not convinced, though.
Clint Dempsey - He is the real deal. He seemed a little out of shape strangely, as he was exhausted with 2 minutes of the second half. Gives us a threat down the right side - can take guys on, can create, and can finish. Clearly, not overawed by occasion and opposition - Arena must play him next game.
Landon Donovan - Really benefitted form a move back to the midfield. As Balboa said, he offers so much more facing goal and running at guys than playing with his back to goal. He also has great touch, composure and vision distributing the ball in the midfield, helping us maintain posession in tricky spots. Linked well with Reyna today.
Demarcus Beasley - Yes he did almost score the winner and created some threats, but I agree with Marcello Balboa - as a sub, he needed to be running more. Why did I repeatedly see a dead-legged McBride hustling back on D while DeMarcus jogged leisurely back? It really infuriated me - I have seen him use his speed to play great back-tracking defense and create turnovers in the past. Why not now?
Brian McBride - Great game. Heroic effort. Didn't score, but worked his ass off all day, and feel like he will score for us v Ghana.
Argentina 6-0 Serbia
Argentina put on a beautiful passing display throughout, highlighted by a 24 pass move (you heard right) ending with a goal. They passed effortlessly, strikers made creative runs opening space everywhere, and finished with precision. They used 3 subs and all 3 scored and the team never missed a beat. Compelling stuff, and one has to consider them a serious contender to win it all.
Holland 2-1 Ivory Coast
The Ivory Coast played well against Argentina and Holland and were unlucky not to get a result in either. The Dutch looked great from the outset, scoring on a Van Persie gem from a free kick and Robben passing neatly to van Nistlerooy for the second. It looked like Van Basten had talked to Ribben about passing and he was distributing early and effectively in the 1st half. Von Persie looks deady cutting in from the right side onto his stronger left foot.
But after the second goal, Holland did nothing and the IC dominated with some fantastic play from defenders attacking through the middle, and nice linking among the midfield. They got a beauty of a goal late in the first half and spent much of the second closing in on a second. Holland offered nothing going forward and their midfield is a huge question mark as the IC dominated the center of the field. Another great game.
Mexico 0-0 Angola
Good perfromance from Angola who grew in confidence as the match went on and offered some decent control in the midfield, but lacked any quality finishing. Mexico started off passing beautifully, but suffered through long ineffective spells throughout and blew some great chances.
England 1-0 Paraguay
Crappy match, and England doesn't look the part of world beater to me.
- The midfield, while on paper is incredible - doesnt play all that well together. Joe Cole was the lone bright spot and seemed the only one with any real endeavor - he must continue to do so throughout the tourney.
- Beckham is so static now. His free kick/own goal today justified his place out there, but he has to do more down the road, and I dont know if he can anymore.
.
- The 5'3" Mexican referee I think was freaked out by Peter Crouch and called everything against him on some real iffy stuff.
- Lampard's compass seems slightly off on his shots (maybe its the ball). He can't justify cracking shots from 35 yards unless he fixes this.
posted by the idiot at 9:28 AM
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