WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Before the semi-finals

I have never followed any of the previous world cup championships or for that matter any major international football tournaments as closely as the 2006 world cup. This world cup has been an interesting one, especially qualifying rounds and the round 2. But quarter finals haven’t lived upto the expectations. Most of the teams resorted to defensive tacticts and seemed to be driven by “not to concede goal first” theory. When I looked at average no. of goals scored / match during various stages of the world cup, an interesting trend emerged:

Round                   Matches             Goals             Average No. of
                                                     Scored*         Goals / Match

Qualifying               48                     117              2.44

2nd round              08                     15               1.88

QFs                        04                     06               1.50

* – Excludes penalty shoot-outs

Statistics supported the theory that probabaly teams become defensive as they progress. Or may be that the teams as they progress, encounter stiffer opposition and hence are not allowed to score as freely as in the initial rounds. But has it been the trend even with earlier international tournaments? Lets hope that semifinals and final betray this trend.

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 21

England “red-carded” from the world cup 2006

English victory was in the air when the match started. Though there were odd moments of brillance from England, their perfromances in the 2006 world cup lacked team game. Lampard, Gerrard and even Rooney were absolutely lacklustre. Despite this, I wanted Beckham’s team to win. Till the 62nd minute, the match looked extremely ordinary heading nowhere. The defining moment came in the 62nd minute when England were looking to up the tempo. Rooney appeared to stamp Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho for which he was penalized and shown the red card. All the English fans and media cried foul over the incident. But I must say that I was disappointed with what I saw. Rooney probabaly deserved what he got. Fortunately this had a positive impact on the English team and they held on. In fact despite being one player short, English team appeared lot more aggressive and kept Portugal defense under pressure.

The most impressive of the lot during this period were Lennon who replaced Beckham and Hargreaves. The match went into extra time. However, despite best efforts from English players, England couldn’t force the issue and the match headed towards penalty shoot-out. England went into penalty shoot-out with a reputation of having never won the penalty shoot-out in the world cup finals. They held on to their reputation. Gerrard and Lampard, both of whom had an indifferent world cup displayed the same form and missed their penalty shots. To his credit, Portugal keeper Ricardo displayed briallant goal keeping skills and blocked 3 of the 4 penalties. He bacame the 1st goal keeper in the history of world cup finals to have saved 3 penalties. With this effort, he secured a semi-final berth for his team.

 
Brazilian goal keeper looks on as Thierry Henry kicks brazil out of the world cup

If English victory was in the air, Brazil victory was almost a certainty in their match against France. Zidane’s French side had an ordinary world cup till their match against Spain. They disaplayed a pretty good show against Spain but I wondered whether France’s ageing side had any chance against Brazil. But to everyone’s surprise, France caused the biggest upset of the world cup 2006. Through-out the match, the famous four of Brazilian front line – Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos looked unimpressive. On the other hand Zidane, left his impressions all over the game. In the 57th minute, his free-kick was volleyed into the Brazilian goal by Theirry Henry to the dimay of Brazilian fans. France held on to the lead till the end of the match to earn the rightful place in the semi-final against Portugal.

Will Portugal be able to overcome France in the semi-final? My guess is  a big NO.

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 20

Jens Lehmann blocks Argentina from moving into the semi final

Germany and Argentina have been two of the strongest contenders to lift the world cup 2006. And hence the quarter final match between the two teams was exciting as well as disappointing. Exciting because the match promised to showcase the best football skills. And disappointing because one feared that the world cup to reach the climax much before the finals. Despite the hype that was associated with the match, I must confess that the match did not live up to all its promise.

Argentina took the lead in 49th minute when Ayala headed a corner kick into the goal. Germany could have avoided this goal had their defense been on alert. Thereafter, though Germany had to show a sense of urgency and equalise quickly to stay in the match. The equaliser from Germany was the high point of the match. Ballack’s cross from left flank was directed by Borowski towards Miroslav Klose who didn’t err in heading the ball into the net to score the 5th goal of the tournament. The equaliser from Germany came in the 80th minute. In the next 10 minutes there were no further goals and hence match went into extra time, which looked a major burden on the players. The players seemed to have resigned to penalties.

It was extremely painful to see Argentina exit the world cup on penalties. Germans looked cool and confident compared to their Argentine counterparts. Some good guess work by German goal keeper Jens Lehmann and poor penalty shots lacking confidence by Ayala and Cambiasso  ensured Germany a berth in the semi final.

The seond quarter final was between Italy and Ukraine. Italy scored an easy 3-0 victory during which Tony scored twice. Contrary to their defensive game, Italians were a  buyoant lot. Ukraine had their chances but Buffon was excellent in the Goal and thwarted easily all Ukrainian attemtps to score goals.

The 1st semi-final line-up will be Germany Vs Italy. Germans will have have the home advantage and Italians their defense to rely on. I expect a dull match. I won’t be surprised if the match gets decided on penalties.

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 19

Ronaldo moves past Ghana goalkeeper to score his 15th goal in the world cup finals

Brazil scored an easy 3-0 victory over Ghana. Brazil’s victory was a foregone conclusion even before the match began. So, the result was no surprise at all. The only point on interest in the match was whether Ronaldo would be able to make the new world record for the most number of goals. And Ronaldo didn’t keep his fans waiting for long. In the 5th minute of the match he scored an easy goal to break Germany’s Gerd Muller’s world record of 14 goals in the world cup finals.

Zidane celebrates his 1st goal of the tournament

Even a die-hard french supporter would have hesitated to predict the victory for France in their match against Spain before the match began. Not only becuase Spain had marched into the Round of 16 with some emphatic wins in their group but also because France were absolutely pathetic in their performance in the world cup so far. None of their stars had sparkled. But today was a different day. Although Spain took the lead, France equalised the goal in 41st minute and then came back very strongly in the 2nd half dominating Spain. Although Spain had more ball possession, France scored twice in last 10 minutes to throw Spain out of the world cup. Both the goals had Zidane touch. The 3-0 victory over Spain takes France into the quarter final where they meet Brazil. Althoguh the French team showed some rhythm in their match today, I do not see them progressing beyond quarter final stage.

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 18

Fabio Grosso’s phony fall earns Italy a penalty kick

Australia looked a lot better team than Italy. They were better organized, more agressive and had a stronger desire to win in comparison to Italy. However, the defining moment came in the injury time, when referee fell for the deceiptful fall staged by Fabio Grosso and awarded Italy a penalty. The TV replay clearly showed that Lucas Neill’s challenge was fair and it was Grosso who was responsible for his own fall. Totti in the dying moments of the match sealed the fate of Australia as he kicked the ball into the net to the distress of the whole Australia.

Italy will now meet Ukraine in the quarter final. Ukraine defeated Switzerland 3-0 on penalties.