WC 2010 - The Final

Holland - Spain

A level of fatigue had set in by now and I skipped watching the Germany - Uruguay playoff match. Especially in the Indian timezone the last set of matches start at 11.50 PM and end at 2 AM the next day, definitely an issue if one has to go to work in the morning.

I prepared for the final by catching a couple of hours of sleep late in the afternoon on Sunday so was relatively fresh when the match started. From the beginning it was clear that the Dutch had not learnt from the mistakes made by the Germans. Spain stuck to their now familiar gameplan of playing the passing game with brief raids into opposition territory and the Dutch tried to muscle the ball from them. Given that Spain was passing very well, it quickly resulted in a level of frustration coming into the Dutch players and the outcome was a spate of yellow cards.

There were chances on either side but it was clear that the match was being played according to the tempo dictated by Spain. By half-time the writing was on the wall and it was only good saves by both goal-keepers in the second half which resulted in the 0-0 regular time scoreline.

It seemed as if the match was destined to go to a penalty shoot-out and the Dutch seemed to be mentally prepared for it till the volley by Iniesta in the 116th minute resulted in the decisive goal. After that it was relatively easy for Spain to hold on for the win and the Dutch were sent home empty-handed.

All in all the final did not live up to expectations (rarely do finals come up to the level of the QFs or Semis) and the physical nature of the match did not do justice to the way the Dutch had played throughout the tournament. The beautiful game did not look too beautiful but one cannot argue with results.

In the final analysis, Spain did whatever they needed to do to win and it was upto the rest to stop them, however the consistent 1-0 scorelines by which Spain won its matches would not endear them to the fans of the game.

Ultimately teams like Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany and Holland would be left wondering as to how Spain managed to outlast them all. But to be fair, all credit to Spain as the team that out-thought and outlasted everyone else. If you have enjoyed reading this blog, do drop me a line, all bouquets and brickbats welcome! - it means that at least someone out there is reading this :-)

Now that the excitement of the World Cup is over, I will turn my attention to other topics that I have been ignoring till now !

FIFA 2010 - Semis

Uruguay - Netherlands

 Finally the matches started living up to a certain standard. Uruguay played very well in the first half, but so did the Dutch. For me the highlight of the match were the two first half goals by both teams, classic field goals from top of the box. These were no slide the ball in slam-dunks or headers (though a lot of headers are quite skillful, many are quite lucky too), but proper full fledged drives that beat the goal keeper for pace and placement.

After the first half, Uruguay seemed to lose their way for a bit, which was exploited by the Dutch. Two goals in quick succession meant that Uruguay had their backs to the wall. Even then, they seemed to wake up only around the 86th or 87th minute and by the time injury time started, they were looking threatening, however it was a little too late in the game. The referee made it exciting by refusing to blow the final whistle (had his watch stopped?!) and Uruguay got a second consolation goal, but the Dutch held on for the win.

Though the result was widely expected, Uruguay by no means disgraced themselves and in fact probably won over a few fans. IMHO, I would rather have a team like Uruguay which under-promises and over-delivers rather than the other big names which went out with a whimper (Italy, France and England come to mind, and some may include Brazil and Argentina in this, but I would like to give them the benefit of doubt).


Germany - Spain

 Another widely anticipated match, though I thought Germany would prevail purely on current form and the sheer relentlessness of their attack and solid defense.

Spain started off slowly and their game plan emerged in the opening few minutes. Deny possession to the Germans was their goal and the statistics at the end of 20 minutes said it all, Spain had 70% possession of the ball. Spain's passing was a treat to watch, though they were not looking too threatening from a scoring perspective. On the few occasions Germany got the ball, they tried too hard to penetrate and ended up giving possession back to Spain.

Germany though continuing to be disciplined seemed to have no answer to Spain's tactics, in fact I thought that they did not grasp the game plan for the entire first half and a good portion of the second half. Both teams had some chances, however Spain was now looking much more assured. The header by Puyol was bang on target and Spain went 1-0 up. Now it all started to unravel for Germany and it was evident in the frustrated looks that were being exchanged on the field. Germany now went all out on attack, but Spain by now with the lead did an excellent job of defending it.


The final score was more of a testament to Spain's tactical victory and Germany will be wondering how it all went so badly wrong for them. Maybe they were looking ahead to the finals instead of trying to beat Spain ... A fair result for Germany for the team they came with, however with the major teams being out of the competition, they lost a golden chance to go all the way.


On to the finals !

FIFA 2010 - Week 3 (Pre-QF/QF)

Standard disclaimer: Based on the matches I saw and not all matches

Lets deal with the England situation first. England qualified last week for the second round last week which was expected by their followers to act like a tonic. However the tonic seemed to have been mixed with too much gin. The way they succumbed to Germany was a rude shock to the diehard England supporter, but quite expected by everyone else. Germany after a shock defeat in the league stage (to Serbia), seemed to be finding their feet. More on this later.


Brazil, the golden boys of world football seemed to be doing no wrong. Dunga's strategy of having a solid defense combined with attacking flair (maybe flair may be putting it a bit too strong, but at least effectiveness has to be granted), seemed to be the magic formula for Brazil to regain lost glory. Their match against Chile was much anticipated. Chile started very well and for the first ten minutes had the upper hand, but Brazil stood strong. The tide started turning after the first goal and the second goal by Fabiano in the second half put the dagger in. Chile seemed dispirited by it and the third goal just served to emphasize Brazil's domination of the game.


The Spain-Portugal match promised much, however Portugal could not live up to expectations and had to bow out. Cristiano Ronaldo will have to await his turn on the world stage (all in all this is turning out to be a bad world cup for big name stars, some of whom missed out because of injury and others have had to swallow the bitter pill of defeat). For my money the most skillful goal of the tournament has been scored by Ronaldo in their 7-0 decimation of North Korea, the way he effortlessly dribbled the ball on his back before casually tapping it home is a treat to watch (in case you missed it, it can be seen on YouTube here).


Ghana survived as the lone African nation in the round of 8, with 5 South American teams and 3 from Europe. Japan was unlucky  to lose to Paraguay (to lose on penalties seems a cruel way to lose the game), however given that the teams were locked 0-0 after extra time, imho, both teams had not done enough to be deserving winners.


To round off the other matches, Argentina had the measure of Mexico, while the Dutch quietly booked their place in the round of 8 to setup their match with Brazil. And so, on to the quarter-finals.


The Brazil-Netherlands match was expected to be well fought with the Netherlands succumbing to the legacy of Brazilian football at the end. It all seemed going according to script after Brazil scored the first goal and the celebrations were already starting in Rio. The Oranje though remained mentally strong and the equalizer after the break (though Brazil will blame themselves for it for the way their goalkeeper was unsighted),  meant that the match was evenly poised. This is when Dunga's strategy started to unravel and Brazil's hitherto strong defense suddenly started looking shaky with Dutch raid after raid. The second Dutch goal actually was a fair reflection of the way both sides were playing and based on the performance on the day, the Dutch were deserving winners and Brazil were left facing the long flight back home and the disappointment of their fans (not just in Brazil but world wide - yours truly included).


Uruguay  - Ghana. I did not watch the entire match, the early moments did not seem to be taking the match to any great heights. It came alive in the dying moments and the ball handling by Suarez meant that Ghana needed to convert the penalty to go ahead. The penalty was missed Ghana lost on the tie-break and the miss of the penalty kick is something which will take them a long time to forget.


Argentina vs Germany was also a very widely anticipated match. I thought that Argentina, though they had played well earlier had not been stretched, except for the first match against Nigeria, which they must have written off as a bad dream. However, the nightmare was yet to come. Germany started the match strongly and their hard running was taking its toll on Argentina. Messi was hardly visible in the first half and the early goal meant that the onus was on Argentina to take the fight to the Germans. The first half ended with chances on either side and setup the match nicely for the second half. If Argentina expected the Germans to run out of steam, they had reckoned without Schweinsteiger was a livewire on the field and well supported by Podolski, Mueller, Boateng and Lahm. Miroslav Klose is as dangerous a striker as any in the world and was always half a step away from scoring, Ozil (my favourite player from earlier matches, I am sure he will leave his mark in the SF and beyond) seemed a little off colour. Germany slowly started dominating after the second half started and the brace of goals mid-way through knocked the stuffing out of Argentina. Messi, Tevez and di Mario tried hard, but were unable to combine well to pierce the German defence which made no mistakes. The 4-0 final score was a drubbing that Maradona would not have anticipated and what seemed like a bad dream was turned into harsh reality when the final whistle was blown. The two favourites from Week 1 have now been knocked out.


On to the last match of Week 3 - Paraguay - Spain. Paraguay was competing well all through the match, though Spain looked a little more organized and dangerous in offense, however the Ghana bogey of a penalty miss struck Paraguay. For Spain, Villa and Xavi played well and Villa justified his star billing by scoring the only goal of the match.


This sets up the semis nicely, Uruguay vs the Dutch and Germany vs Spain. If current form is anything to go by, the final will be Germany vs Holland, a fair reward for both teams.


Some observations on matches to date. One of the inexplicable aspects of this World Cup has been the really poor taking of free kicks from outside the box. Invariably the ball has shot way over the goal, the same holding for the booming shots being taken from outside the box during the course of play. This leads me to think that the criticism of the Jabulani ball is somewhat justified, otherwise there is no explanation for free kick specialists to be so consistently wide off the target. Some more information, including player reactions to the ball are here.


On to the final stage.