Spain 1 Puyol 73
Germany 0
No time for a proper report on this one, I'm afraid, as I've been back at work, and doing overtime.
Just a quick summary then. The first half was a bit dull, with Spain dominating but not breaking through. Germany seemed to be playing on the defensive, a tactic which doesn't seem to be working against Spain since Switzerland blagged a win with it in the first game. To counter, the Spanish just did their usual thing of wearing down the opposition. It took 63 minutes against Portugal, 82 against Paraguay and 73 here. Let's hope the Dutch come up with something new.
Germany's defeat means a new name on the trophy, as neither Holland nor Spain have won before. One of them will become the eighth winner, following Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina and France.
If Spain win, it will be Holland's first defeat of the tournament. All teams in the World Cup will have been beaten at least once, with one exception. Guess who?
New Zealand of course. They finished third in Group F, so never made it into the knockout phase, but did so with three draws, against Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay. You'd have to reckon that as the achievement of the tournament.
I'm rooting for Holland, though. You may be recall me tipping them to go far earlier on. I've never had someone I tipped actually win before, and the lure of it is irresistible.
Next, the third place play off between Germany and Uruguay.
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Monday, 5 July 2010
Quarter finals
Uruguay 1 - 1 Ghana aet (Uruguay 4 - 2 penalties)
Holland 2 - 1 Brazil
Germany 4 - 0 Argentina
Spain 1 - 0 Paraguay
Plans for coherent blogging of the quarter finals were rather scuppered on Friday night when my neighbour Sean knocked on my door and asked me if I fancied a beer at about 5:30. I did fancy a beer, then I fancied another one, then I realised the landlord was firing up the barbecue and they'd be showing the football when it came on in a couple of hours, and my evening plan seemed to emerge quite naturally from the circumstances.
Thus the late appearance of this post, you see. Saturday wasn't the most energised of days. And Sunday was my birthday. So I'm covering the quarter finals in this merged and truncated format.
It may have been the booze, but Uruguay v Ghana was one of the best games of the tournament. Two great goals, extra time and some spectacular cheating. What more could you possibly want?
Ghana got the first, on the stroke of halftime. Sulley Muntari got the ball about forty yards out, and just hit it. Most of the time when someone at this World Cup has done that with the Jabulani ball it's gone sailing well over the bar or halfway to the corner flag, Jabulani being the Xhosa word for flies through the air like Hansie Cronje's plane didn't. Muntari, though, managed to put all those failed efforts in context with one sweet shot, curling away from the unsighted Muslera and in.
Muntari having subverted the World Cup form for the long range shot, Forlan decided to do the same for the free kick. His effort cleared the wall and crashed in, wrong footing Kingson on the way. He'd made the classic keeper's error of moving just before the kick was taken, an understandable urge but one which so often leads to a goal when the attacker happens to choose the opposite side to the one the keeper expects.
As I said, it may have been the booze, but it was a great game. Everyone watching was perfectly happy when full time came, because it guaranteed us another half hour of drinking and watching. I can't give you a lot of detail, I'm afraid. I didn't take my notebook to the pub, and if I had it would mainly have said I fucking love football, it's the best game and people who don't like it are just cunts, rather than anything more coolly analytical, so you'll have to settle for a rather broader brushstroke than I normally use.
In fact I spent most of extra time talking to the woman stood next to me at the bar. Her boy has been signed up as an apprentice for Rovers, and she was worried that he might be corrupted by the superstar life style. I reassured her, and I can reassure you, that there's absolutely no question of the glamour of Bristol Rovers corrupting anyone. If there was a version of Big Brother shown on Dave, at three in the morning every other Wednesday, the people choosing the housemates would pose a greater threat to their young charges' sense of proportion. Parents up and down the land are despearate to reassure agents and talent scouts that rumours of their boy spending time as a Rovers apprentice are entirely unfounded.
No, I wasn't trying to chat her up. She had a husband in tow. I have to say, though, it's a little dispiriting to realise that someone can have a son old enough to be an apprentice and still be unattainably young from my point of view.
The killer moment in the game came right at the end of extra time. From a Ghana corner, Adiyiah's shot was blocked by Suarez on the line. It came back to him, he headed it where it came from, and Suarez blocked it again. This time, though, he used his arm. He was sent off, and Gyan took the penalty. If he'd scored from the penalty, there wouldn't have been penalties. Because his penalty hit the bar and went over, there had to be penalties. Clear?
He took the first Ghana penalty himself. He scored. Like Yakubu for Nigeria, you couldn't but admire his guts. Also like Yakubu for Nigeria, it didn't change a goddam thing. Mensah and Adiyiah missed, Uruguay won the shootout 4-2, and on they go.
As you may imagine, there's been no little discussion of this. Suarez, who misses the semifinal, didn't entirely helped matters by cheering Gyan's penalty miss as he walked off the pitch, and when he said his hand was now the new hand of God he achieved the remarkable feat of making himself unwelcome in Africa, England and Diego Maradonna's house all at the same time.
Even in those parts of the world Suarez could safely visit, there is a general sense that an injustice was done, and that a little humility on the part of Uruguay wouldn't go amiss. Ghana would have been the first African country to reach a World Cup semifinal had Suarez not deliberately handled the ball on the line. It has been said that keeping the ball out by any means is instinctive for a footballer, which is fair enough, but you really ought to eat some humble pie afterwards.
There also seems to be a strong argument for introducing a penalty goal, like the penalty try in rugby. Under this rule, if a player commits a blatant penalty offence in such a way that a definite goal is prevented, by handball, pushing an attacker over as he goes to tap a ball over the line, or whatever, then a goal should be given.
Uruguay now have to play the semifinal without Suarez, but apparently if they should win that game Suarez would be available for the final again. He could easily end up scoring the most unpopular World Cup final winning goal ever.
They play Holland, who beat Brazil in a thrilling game. A few days ago I said this
They haven't got Brazil next any more. They've got a semifinal against a Uruguay side who have lost their best striker.
It was Brazil's own fault, they threw it away quite casually. They started so well, with Robinho scoring twice in two minutes. The first one was disallowed for offside, but the second one was fine.
It was a freak goal that changed things. Sjneider's lofted cross came quite naturally through to Cesar in goal. He was slightly impeded by Melo, but not enough to justify what happened. He just completely missed the direction of the ball, and punched the empty air just to the left of its flight path instead. It hit the top of Melo's head and went in. Initially it was given as a Melo own goal, but after the game FIFA awarded it to Sjneider instead. This seems only fair, as the ball would have gone in anyway if it Melo's head hadn't been there, the crucial factor in the attribution of goals.
It seemed to throw Brazil. They've always been equal parts butterfly and bee, but sometimes they've got a bit of a glass jaw to go with it. This was one of those days. Sjneider's headed winner came from a perfectly straightforward corner from Robben, flicked on by Kuyt and knocked in without a serious challenge. Soon after Melo was sent off for stamping on Robben (I've always said watching Rooney is just like watching Brazil), and Brazil ended their World Cup on something of a whimper.
I don't think any of us expected that to happen, and I don't think any of us expected Germany to steamroller Argentina like they steamrollered Australia and England. I mean, Cahill and Terry are one thing, but this was the team of Messi and Maradonna. Their uncharacteristic loss to Serbia aside, no-one has looked vaguely like stopping them.
Klose, meanwhile, has scored 14 World Cup goals in his career. This puts him equal on Gert Muller, and one behind Brazilian Ronaldo in the all time list. He's 32, so this is probably his last chance to get to the top. He's also in the running for the Golden Boot, the highest number of goals in this tournament. He won this in 2006 with five, and no-one has ever won it two tournaments in a row.
They got started quickly in this one. Mueller got his head on a Schweinsteiger free kick from the left and deflected the ball ever so slightly. I think Romero in goal was prepared to either hurl himself across the goal after a proper header or stay right where he was if Mueller missed it. The slight deflection caught him out. It hit his right leg and bounced in, and Germany were one nil up before I'd so much as had a sip of my tea.
Like England, Argentina had plenty of pressure, but it didn't matter this time either. Germany scored a second when Mueller, lying on the floor, was able to flip a ball through to Podolski. He found Klose unmarked in front of an empty net, and Klose, no doubt remembering the Yakubu miss against South Korea, had the calmness to control it first before tapping in.
Schweinsteiger had his moment next, running right through a bedraggled and shell shocked Argentine defence to knock it back for Friedrich, who made no mistake. Klose got a fourth just before the end, and that was that.
Ein, zwei, drei, the Germans go marching on, said Gary Lineker, remaining mysteriously unsacked. Why xenophobia against Germans gets a free pass at the BBC I don't know, but it does. Dutch footballing legend Clarence Seedorf did his level best to show a more cultured and urbane face to the world than the company he found himself in, although he did accidentally undermine his dignified avoidance of national stereotypes by saying how hard it was to break through the German wall. Use a pickaxe is my advice, Clarence.
Lineker was right about one thing, they do go marching on. Although given the joyfulness and panache of their play, we might more accurately characterise their style of movement as a sashay.
The fourth quarter final, Spain v Paraguay, was a tale of posts and penalties. The first half was pretty dull, but there was more than enough material in five minutes of the second half to fill a post. Follow the details, the details are important. I'm afraid the referee isn't about to cover himself in glory.
It started on 59 minutes. Paraguay had a corner, Pique pulled on Cardozo's arm like a child demanding ice cream as the ball swung into the box, and a penalty was given. Pique got a yellow card, and Cardozo took the penalty. It was a poor penalty, Casillas saved it and held on to it, and the game carried on. Thus far, no problem.
A minute later at the other end, Villa got to a ball into the Paraguayan penalty area just before Alcaraz, who pushed him in the back. It was a definite penalty, which was given, but Alcaraz only got a yellow. This was hard to understand, as it was clearly a goal-scoring opportunity for Villa, so if it was a foul it should have been a straight red.
No matter, at least Spain have a penalty. Up steps Alonso, and he tucks it away calmly enough. Except that the referee decides it has to be taken again, for encroachment. This time Villar saves, and the rebound comes out to Fabregas. He tries to go round Villar, who blatantly trips him. No penalty given. The ball comes to Ramos, but his shot is cleared off the line by Da Silva.
All clear? Not quite. Replays show that there was encroachment on all three penalties, and that more Spanish players encroached the Paraguayan penalty miss, saved by Casillas, than encroached Alsonso's first, successful kick.
So the referee has made three game changing mistakes in five minutes. First he missed the encroachment on the first penalty (or mistakenly gave it for the second, depending on the level of tolerance you choose to apply to encroachment). Then he gave Alcaraz a yellow rather than a red. Then he missed the Fabregas trip. And we laughed at Graham Poll four years ago.
After the penalties, the posts. There were three of those as well. In the 82nd minute, Iniesta broke through to the edge of the Paraguayan box, and laid the ball off to Pedro. Pedro's shot hits the left hand post, and comes back to Villa. He controls, steadies himself (it's amazing how the top players know to the nearest tenth of a second exactly how long they have to do this) and shoots. The ball hits the right hand post, runs along the goal line behind Da Silva, hits the left hand post and rolls in.
Poor Da Silva. He'd kept out Ramos after the penalty save, and his position on the goal line was ideal, but the ball pinged one side of him, behind him, and in on the other side. His face as it did this was a comedy classic from the silent era - he looks right, he looks left, he looks bemused, he looks disconsolate. It would have won Buster Keaton an Oscar.
They were unlucky, Paraguay. They had the ball in the net in the first half, but Valdez's goal was disallowed because Cardozo was offside. He'd risen for the cross, hadn't touched it but had got near enough to it to be interfering with play. If he'd left it, the goal would have stood.
They nearly scored again right at the end. Barrios, on for Caceres, had a shot which the normally reliable Casillas spilled. Santa Cruz beat him to the ball as it rolled across the box, but Casillas made himself big and Cruz's shot pinged off him and away. On such margins are these things resolved. Spain go on, Paraguay go home.
So that's the semi final line up.
Holland v
Uruguay and
Germany v
Spain
which spells out a message, from the World Cup to all of us. HUGS, says the World Cup, as it prepares to take its leave. Hugs to you too, World Cup. If I could enter a stasis chamber until your blessed return, I surely would.
The next one is in Brazil, in 2014. South American teams will hope to use it to improve on their performance this time, which rather flattered to deceive. From a position of complete dominance, no South American country has earned an honest semifinal place. Only Uruguay survive, courtesy of Suarez and Gyan's penalty miss.
And there's a real chance of a new name on the trophy. Germany have won before, obviously, but Spain and Holland haven't. If they win they get a final against each other, with a new winner guaranteed. Uruguay, surprisingly, are three time winners, in 1934, 1938 and 1950. This makes them the only team with more years of hurt than England, so if they win England go home crowned champions of something, after all.
Holland 2 - 1 Brazil
Germany 4 - 0 Argentina
Spain 1 - 0 Paraguay
Plans for coherent blogging of the quarter finals were rather scuppered on Friday night when my neighbour Sean knocked on my door and asked me if I fancied a beer at about 5:30. I did fancy a beer, then I fancied another one, then I realised the landlord was firing up the barbecue and they'd be showing the football when it came on in a couple of hours, and my evening plan seemed to emerge quite naturally from the circumstances.
Thus the late appearance of this post, you see. Saturday wasn't the most energised of days. And Sunday was my birthday. So I'm covering the quarter finals in this merged and truncated format.
It may have been the booze, but Uruguay v Ghana was one of the best games of the tournament. Two great goals, extra time and some spectacular cheating. What more could you possibly want?
Ghana got the first, on the stroke of halftime. Sulley Muntari got the ball about forty yards out, and just hit it. Most of the time when someone at this World Cup has done that with the Jabulani ball it's gone sailing well over the bar or halfway to the corner flag, Jabulani being the Xhosa word for flies through the air like Hansie Cronje's plane didn't. Muntari, though, managed to put all those failed efforts in context with one sweet shot, curling away from the unsighted Muslera and in.
Muntari having subverted the World Cup form for the long range shot, Forlan decided to do the same for the free kick. His effort cleared the wall and crashed in, wrong footing Kingson on the way. He'd made the classic keeper's error of moving just before the kick was taken, an understandable urge but one which so often leads to a goal when the attacker happens to choose the opposite side to the one the keeper expects.
As I said, it may have been the booze, but it was a great game. Everyone watching was perfectly happy when full time came, because it guaranteed us another half hour of drinking and watching. I can't give you a lot of detail, I'm afraid. I didn't take my notebook to the pub, and if I had it would mainly have said I fucking love football, it's the best game and people who don't like it are just cunts, rather than anything more coolly analytical, so you'll have to settle for a rather broader brushstroke than I normally use.
In fact I spent most of extra time talking to the woman stood next to me at the bar. Her boy has been signed up as an apprentice for Rovers, and she was worried that he might be corrupted by the superstar life style. I reassured her, and I can reassure you, that there's absolutely no question of the glamour of Bristol Rovers corrupting anyone. If there was a version of Big Brother shown on Dave, at three in the morning every other Wednesday, the people choosing the housemates would pose a greater threat to their young charges' sense of proportion. Parents up and down the land are despearate to reassure agents and talent scouts that rumours of their boy spending time as a Rovers apprentice are entirely unfounded.
No, I wasn't trying to chat her up. She had a husband in tow. I have to say, though, it's a little dispiriting to realise that someone can have a son old enough to be an apprentice and still be unattainably young from my point of view.
The killer moment in the game came right at the end of extra time. From a Ghana corner, Adiyiah's shot was blocked by Suarez on the line. It came back to him, he headed it where it came from, and Suarez blocked it again. This time, though, he used his arm. He was sent off, and Gyan took the penalty. If he'd scored from the penalty, there wouldn't have been penalties. Because his penalty hit the bar and went over, there had to be penalties. Clear?
He took the first Ghana penalty himself. He scored. Like Yakubu for Nigeria, you couldn't but admire his guts. Also like Yakubu for Nigeria, it didn't change a goddam thing. Mensah and Adiyiah missed, Uruguay won the shootout 4-2, and on they go.
As you may imagine, there's been no little discussion of this. Suarez, who misses the semifinal, didn't entirely helped matters by cheering Gyan's penalty miss as he walked off the pitch, and when he said his hand was now the new hand of God he achieved the remarkable feat of making himself unwelcome in Africa, England and Diego Maradonna's house all at the same time.
Even in those parts of the world Suarez could safely visit, there is a general sense that an injustice was done, and that a little humility on the part of Uruguay wouldn't go amiss. Ghana would have been the first African country to reach a World Cup semifinal had Suarez not deliberately handled the ball on the line. It has been said that keeping the ball out by any means is instinctive for a footballer, which is fair enough, but you really ought to eat some humble pie afterwards.
There also seems to be a strong argument for introducing a penalty goal, like the penalty try in rugby. Under this rule, if a player commits a blatant penalty offence in such a way that a definite goal is prevented, by handball, pushing an attacker over as he goes to tap a ball over the line, or whatever, then a goal should be given.
Uruguay now have to play the semifinal without Suarez, but apparently if they should win that game Suarez would be available for the final again. He could easily end up scoring the most unpopular World Cup final winning goal ever.
They play Holland, who beat Brazil in a thrilling game. A few days ago I said this
We're seeing a new, efficient Holland, without the flamboyancy, haircuts or public spats of yesteryear. I like what I'm seeing. Mind you, they've got Brazil next.
They haven't got Brazil next any more. They've got a semifinal against a Uruguay side who have lost their best striker.
It was Brazil's own fault, they threw it away quite casually. They started so well, with Robinho scoring twice in two minutes. The first one was disallowed for offside, but the second one was fine.
It was a freak goal that changed things. Sjneider's lofted cross came quite naturally through to Cesar in goal. He was slightly impeded by Melo, but not enough to justify what happened. He just completely missed the direction of the ball, and punched the empty air just to the left of its flight path instead. It hit the top of Melo's head and went in. Initially it was given as a Melo own goal, but after the game FIFA awarded it to Sjneider instead. This seems only fair, as the ball would have gone in anyway if it Melo's head hadn't been there, the crucial factor in the attribution of goals.
It seemed to throw Brazil. They've always been equal parts butterfly and bee, but sometimes they've got a bit of a glass jaw to go with it. This was one of those days. Sjneider's headed winner came from a perfectly straightforward corner from Robben, flicked on by Kuyt and knocked in without a serious challenge. Soon after Melo was sent off for stamping on Robben (I've always said watching Rooney is just like watching Brazil), and Brazil ended their World Cup on something of a whimper.
I don't think any of us expected that to happen, and I don't think any of us expected Germany to steamroller Argentina like they steamrollered Australia and England. I mean, Cahill and Terry are one thing, but this was the team of Messi and Maradonna. Their uncharacteristic loss to Serbia aside, no-one has looked vaguely like stopping them.
Klose, meanwhile, has scored 14 World Cup goals in his career. This puts him equal on Gert Muller, and one behind Brazilian Ronaldo in the all time list. He's 32, so this is probably his last chance to get to the top. He's also in the running for the Golden Boot, the highest number of goals in this tournament. He won this in 2006 with five, and no-one has ever won it two tournaments in a row.
They got started quickly in this one. Mueller got his head on a Schweinsteiger free kick from the left and deflected the ball ever so slightly. I think Romero in goal was prepared to either hurl himself across the goal after a proper header or stay right where he was if Mueller missed it. The slight deflection caught him out. It hit his right leg and bounced in, and Germany were one nil up before I'd so much as had a sip of my tea.
Like England, Argentina had plenty of pressure, but it didn't matter this time either. Germany scored a second when Mueller, lying on the floor, was able to flip a ball through to Podolski. He found Klose unmarked in front of an empty net, and Klose, no doubt remembering the Yakubu miss against South Korea, had the calmness to control it first before tapping in.
Schweinsteiger had his moment next, running right through a bedraggled and shell shocked Argentine defence to knock it back for Friedrich, who made no mistake. Klose got a fourth just before the end, and that was that.
Ein, zwei, drei, the Germans go marching on, said Gary Lineker, remaining mysteriously unsacked. Why xenophobia against Germans gets a free pass at the BBC I don't know, but it does. Dutch footballing legend Clarence Seedorf did his level best to show a more cultured and urbane face to the world than the company he found himself in, although he did accidentally undermine his dignified avoidance of national stereotypes by saying how hard it was to break through the German wall. Use a pickaxe is my advice, Clarence.
Lineker was right about one thing, they do go marching on. Although given the joyfulness and panache of their play, we might more accurately characterise their style of movement as a sashay.
The fourth quarter final, Spain v Paraguay, was a tale of posts and penalties. The first half was pretty dull, but there was more than enough material in five minutes of the second half to fill a post. Follow the details, the details are important. I'm afraid the referee isn't about to cover himself in glory.
It started on 59 minutes. Paraguay had a corner, Pique pulled on Cardozo's arm like a child demanding ice cream as the ball swung into the box, and a penalty was given. Pique got a yellow card, and Cardozo took the penalty. It was a poor penalty, Casillas saved it and held on to it, and the game carried on. Thus far, no problem.
A minute later at the other end, Villa got to a ball into the Paraguayan penalty area just before Alcaraz, who pushed him in the back. It was a definite penalty, which was given, but Alcaraz only got a yellow. This was hard to understand, as it was clearly a goal-scoring opportunity for Villa, so if it was a foul it should have been a straight red.
No matter, at least Spain have a penalty. Up steps Alonso, and he tucks it away calmly enough. Except that the referee decides it has to be taken again, for encroachment. This time Villar saves, and the rebound comes out to Fabregas. He tries to go round Villar, who blatantly trips him. No penalty given. The ball comes to Ramos, but his shot is cleared off the line by Da Silva.
All clear? Not quite. Replays show that there was encroachment on all three penalties, and that more Spanish players encroached the Paraguayan penalty miss, saved by Casillas, than encroached Alsonso's first, successful kick.
So the referee has made three game changing mistakes in five minutes. First he missed the encroachment on the first penalty (or mistakenly gave it for the second, depending on the level of tolerance you choose to apply to encroachment). Then he gave Alcaraz a yellow rather than a red. Then he missed the Fabregas trip. And we laughed at Graham Poll four years ago.
After the penalties, the posts. There were three of those as well. In the 82nd minute, Iniesta broke through to the edge of the Paraguayan box, and laid the ball off to Pedro. Pedro's shot hits the left hand post, and comes back to Villa. He controls, steadies himself (it's amazing how the top players know to the nearest tenth of a second exactly how long they have to do this) and shoots. The ball hits the right hand post, runs along the goal line behind Da Silva, hits the left hand post and rolls in.
Poor Da Silva. He'd kept out Ramos after the penalty save, and his position on the goal line was ideal, but the ball pinged one side of him, behind him, and in on the other side. His face as it did this was a comedy classic from the silent era - he looks right, he looks left, he looks bemused, he looks disconsolate. It would have won Buster Keaton an Oscar.
They were unlucky, Paraguay. They had the ball in the net in the first half, but Valdez's goal was disallowed because Cardozo was offside. He'd risen for the cross, hadn't touched it but had got near enough to it to be interfering with play. If he'd left it, the goal would have stood.
They nearly scored again right at the end. Barrios, on for Caceres, had a shot which the normally reliable Casillas spilled. Santa Cruz beat him to the ball as it rolled across the box, but Casillas made himself big and Cruz's shot pinged off him and away. On such margins are these things resolved. Spain go on, Paraguay go home.
So that's the semi final line up.
Holland v
Uruguay and
Germany v
Spain
which spells out a message, from the World Cup to all of us. HUGS, says the World Cup, as it prepares to take its leave. Hugs to you too, World Cup. If I could enter a stasis chamber until your blessed return, I surely would.
The next one is in Brazil, in 2014. South American teams will hope to use it to improve on their performance this time, which rather flattered to deceive. From a position of complete dominance, no South American country has earned an honest semifinal place. Only Uruguay survive, courtesy of Suarez and Gyan's penalty miss.
And there's a real chance of a new name on the trophy. Germany have won before, obviously, but Spain and Holland haven't. If they win they get a final against each other, with a new winner guaranteed. Uruguay, surprisingly, are three time winners, in 1934, 1938 and 1950. This makes them the only team with more years of hurt than England, so if they win England go home crowned champions of something, after all.
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Spain v Portugal
Spain 1 Villa 63
Portugal 0
I took a day off before I wrote this one. I've been writing about football fairly much all the time I haven't been watching it, and it suddenly dawned on me it was nineteen days since I'd been further than the Tesco round the corner.
So I got on my bike and went down to the city. I was a bit nervous at first, but it all seemed to be where I'd left it. You've even added a couple of new bits. Shops, taxis, swing bridges, emergency services, you've kept them going right through the World Cup. Well done.
It was lovely to sit down by the harbour with a coffee and a burger and do the crossword in the paper while people chugged, sailed and rowed all around me. I didn't even mind the lack of football. It turns out that four to six hours a day for nineteen days in a row is actually enough. Football: a bit like cocaine, but much more like custard.
Unfortunately, the down side of a day off is that when you do finally get round to writing up a game report, your notes can seem a little thin. 12 short corner, Torres shoots just over, 15 wide right, unlucky, it says. I really don't recall, so I'm going to have to take my word for it. So, Torres was unlucky after twelve minutes when his shot from the right hand edge of the box went just over after Spain caught Portugal napping with a short corner, I'm going to write. And now I have.
There are some moments I remember with startling clarity. Ronaldo pushed by Piquet, no foul, I enjoyed that. Shortly followed by my favourite moment of the World Cup so far, Ronaldo quite clearly fouled, blatantly pushed over, nothing given ha ha twat. Truly these are great days we're living through.
Not for Ronaldo, though, or for Portugal. Tuesday in particular wasn't their day at all. They'd clearly been told to go out there and defend, and they kept two lines of four most of the time with Wonder Boy on his own up front. It worked for them for an hour, which is how long the tactic usually works for, but in the end the constant pressure wears you down and you crack.
It started with a diving header for Llorente, who'd come on for the unfit Torres. The defence seemed to just let him go, and if he'd managed to put it either side of the keeper it would have been in.
A minute later, and Villa's shot from the edge of the box just curled wide. They'd defended well, the Portugese, the keeper was doing everything asked of him, they'd even had a few chances themselves, but you could feel the momentum build.
The goal came two minutes later. The ball came through to Xavi in the box, his little back heel flick was so subtle you had to check the replay to be sure he'd made contact, but it just gave it the slight vector and momentum shift to land it perfectly in Villa's path. Eduardo saved the first shot, but the rebound came back to Villa, who made no mistake with his second.
It looked fractionally offside to me, but you'd be hard pressed to work up any sense of outrage for a poor and unambitious Portugal side, especially one with Ronaldo in it. At the end they may have been the victims of another injustice, when Costa was sent off for elbowing Capdevila. Replays were inconclusive, an odd thing to say about an incident where one player elbows another in the face, but it was genuinely hard to tell if there was contact or not from what we saw.
The whistle blew soon after, and that was that. So, Spain go marching on, and Portugal go home. Bye Ronaldo. Bye bye. Twat.
Portugal 0
I took a day off before I wrote this one. I've been writing about football fairly much all the time I haven't been watching it, and it suddenly dawned on me it was nineteen days since I'd been further than the Tesco round the corner.
So I got on my bike and went down to the city. I was a bit nervous at first, but it all seemed to be where I'd left it. You've even added a couple of new bits. Shops, taxis, swing bridges, emergency services, you've kept them going right through the World Cup. Well done.
It was lovely to sit down by the harbour with a coffee and a burger and do the crossword in the paper while people chugged, sailed and rowed all around me. I didn't even mind the lack of football. It turns out that four to six hours a day for nineteen days in a row is actually enough. Football: a bit like cocaine, but much more like custard.
Unfortunately, the down side of a day off is that when you do finally get round to writing up a game report, your notes can seem a little thin. 12 short corner, Torres shoots just over, 15 wide right, unlucky, it says. I really don't recall, so I'm going to have to take my word for it. So, Torres was unlucky after twelve minutes when his shot from the right hand edge of the box went just over after Spain caught Portugal napping with a short corner, I'm going to write. And now I have.
There are some moments I remember with startling clarity. Ronaldo pushed by Piquet, no foul, I enjoyed that. Shortly followed by my favourite moment of the World Cup so far, Ronaldo quite clearly fouled, blatantly pushed over, nothing given ha ha twat. Truly these are great days we're living through.
Not for Ronaldo, though, or for Portugal. Tuesday in particular wasn't their day at all. They'd clearly been told to go out there and defend, and they kept two lines of four most of the time with Wonder Boy on his own up front. It worked for them for an hour, which is how long the tactic usually works for, but in the end the constant pressure wears you down and you crack.
It started with a diving header for Llorente, who'd come on for the unfit Torres. The defence seemed to just let him go, and if he'd managed to put it either side of the keeper it would have been in.
A minute later, and Villa's shot from the edge of the box just curled wide. They'd defended well, the Portugese, the keeper was doing everything asked of him, they'd even had a few chances themselves, but you could feel the momentum build.
The goal came two minutes later. The ball came through to Xavi in the box, his little back heel flick was so subtle you had to check the replay to be sure he'd made contact, but it just gave it the slight vector and momentum shift to land it perfectly in Villa's path. Eduardo saved the first shot, but the rebound came back to Villa, who made no mistake with his second.
It looked fractionally offside to me, but you'd be hard pressed to work up any sense of outrage for a poor and unambitious Portugal side, especially one with Ronaldo in it. At the end they may have been the victims of another injustice, when Costa was sent off for elbowing Capdevila. Replays were inconclusive, an odd thing to say about an incident where one player elbows another in the face, but it was genuinely hard to tell if there was contact or not from what we saw.
The whistle blew soon after, and that was that. So, Spain go marching on, and Portugal go home. Bye Ronaldo. Bye bye. Twat.
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Group H - final games
Spain 2 - 1 Chile
Villa 24 R Millar 47
Iniesta 37
Honduras 0 - 0 Switzerland
Another disappointing team bite the dust, and I'm not talking about the Honduras.
It's like my junior school headmaster said in assembly once. I had two pieces of work given to me last week. I accepted Boy A's work because I knew it was his best. I gave Boy B's work back to him to do over, even though it was better than Boy A's work, because I knew it wasn't his best.
He wouldn't have been impressed by Switzerland. If he was running the World Cup, they'd be playing their games again and again until they got them right.
The Honduran team would have got a B plus. Despite being a lesser kind of a team, drawn mainly from domestic teams and Europe's lesser leagues and consisting almost entirely of brothers, they've made the most of their slender resources. They haven't scored, but they've tried to score. They let one in against Chile and two against Spain, but kept out a Swiss team that must have wanted to win. No goals, but a point, and a measure of self respect.
Switzerland, though. Talented players, but none of the virtues that impress headmasters. For the second World Cup in a row. Now go home, and next time try harder.
The real action was in the Chile v Spain game. Chile started really well, but fell behind when their goalkeeper ran out to clear a ball five yards from the byline, and instead of hoofing it over knocked it very precisely to Villa. Seeing the empty goal fifty yards away, Villa chipped it over the rapidly retreating goalkeeper and the covering defender, and was already celebrating by the time the ball crossed the goal line.
Thirteen minutes later Iniesta put in a second, and Chile's Marco Estrada got sent off for bringing down Torres. The replay suggested it was accidental, but sometimes defenders are unlucky.
Two goals and one player down, Chile rallied after the break. They got a goal back, at which point both teams realised that would do, and settled. Because of the extra goals, Switzerland would have needed to score twice, and that didn't seem very likely. And so it proved.
So Spain play Portugal, and Chile play Brazil. Something to look forward to.
Villa 24 R Millar 47
Iniesta 37
Honduras 0 - 0 Switzerland
Another disappointing team bite the dust, and I'm not talking about the Honduras.
It's like my junior school headmaster said in assembly once. I had two pieces of work given to me last week. I accepted Boy A's work because I knew it was his best. I gave Boy B's work back to him to do over, even though it was better than Boy A's work, because I knew it wasn't his best.
He wouldn't have been impressed by Switzerland. If he was running the World Cup, they'd be playing their games again and again until they got them right.
The Honduran team would have got a B plus. Despite being a lesser kind of a team, drawn mainly from domestic teams and Europe's lesser leagues and consisting almost entirely of brothers, they've made the most of their slender resources. They haven't scored, but they've tried to score. They let one in against Chile and two against Spain, but kept out a Swiss team that must have wanted to win. No goals, but a point, and a measure of self respect.
Switzerland, though. Talented players, but none of the virtues that impress headmasters. For the second World Cup in a row. Now go home, and next time try harder.
The real action was in the Chile v Spain game. Chile started really well, but fell behind when their goalkeeper ran out to clear a ball five yards from the byline, and instead of hoofing it over knocked it very precisely to Villa. Seeing the empty goal fifty yards away, Villa chipped it over the rapidly retreating goalkeeper and the covering defender, and was already celebrating by the time the ball crossed the goal line.
Thirteen minutes later Iniesta put in a second, and Chile's Marco Estrada got sent off for bringing down Torres. The replay suggested it was accidental, but sometimes defenders are unlucky.
Two goals and one player down, Chile rallied after the break. They got a goal back, at which point both teams realised that would do, and settled. Because of the extra goals, Switzerland would have needed to score twice, and that didn't seem very likely. And so it proved.
So Spain play Portugal, and Chile play Brazil. Something to look forward to.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Outcomes - groups G and H
Group G
If Portugal beat Brazil, then Portugal top the group and Brazil finish second.
If Brazil and Portugal draw, then Brazil top the group and Portugal finish second.
If Brazil beat Portugal, then Brazil top the group and second place goes to Portugal or the Ivory Coast, depending on goal difference. The Ivory Coast would need to overturn a nine goal gap as things currently stand.
Group H
Another complicated one.
If Chile beat Spain and Switzerland win or draw against Honduras, Chile top the group and Switzerland are second.
If Chile beat Spain and Honduras beat Switzerland, Chile top the group and the team with the best goal difference from the other three are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Honduras win or draw against Switzerland, Spain top the group and Chile are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Switzerland beat Honduras, Honduras are eliminated and the other three nations are placed according to goal difference. Spain are guaranteed a place, while Switzerland get a place if they beat Honduras by two goals or more, or Chile lose by two goals or more.
If Spain and Chile draw, Chile top the group, while Spain are second unless Switzerland beat Honduras, in which case Switzerland are second.
If Portugal beat Brazil, then Portugal top the group and Brazil finish second.
If Brazil and Portugal draw, then Brazil top the group and Portugal finish second.
If Brazil beat Portugal, then Brazil top the group and second place goes to Portugal or the Ivory Coast, depending on goal difference. The Ivory Coast would need to overturn a nine goal gap as things currently stand.
Group H
Another complicated one.
If Chile beat Spain and Switzerland win or draw against Honduras, Chile top the group and Switzerland are second.
If Chile beat Spain and Honduras beat Switzerland, Chile top the group and the team with the best goal difference from the other three are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Honduras win or draw against Switzerland, Spain top the group and Chile are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Switzerland beat Honduras, Honduras are eliminated and the other three nations are placed according to goal difference. Spain are guaranteed a place, while Switzerland get a place if they beat Honduras by two goals or more, or Chile lose by two goals or more.
If Spain and Chile draw, Chile top the group, while Spain are second unless Switzerland beat Honduras, in which case Switzerland are second.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Spain v Honduras
Spain 2 - 0 Honduras
Villa 17, 51
The big news for Spain was that Torres was starting. In the end, it was Villa's night.
They combined in Spain's first big attack, when Villa's cross found Torres unmarked in the box, but his miskick spun into Valladares' welcoming arms. In the next attack Villa went alone. His shot, from 35 yards and out of nothing, hit the Honduran bar, with the keeper nowhere.
You sensed it would be a long night for the semi-professional defence. Ramos headed over a Xavi cross, Villa cut inside but his shot missed, and then they scored.
It was a Villa solo effort again. He came in from the left again, nipped easily past Mendoza and Guevara, dinked it to the right of Chavez and shot. The keeper did remarkably well even to get a hand on it, but there was no way he was keeping it out.
They could have had more before the break. Xavi headed Navas' cross just over, the ball having come to him a few inches too high, Then Ramos put it on Torres' head soon afterwards. Torres' header hit the ground hard and bounced over, the story of his night. Soon after that he was wrongly given offside, and just before the break his shot was blocked. Pranav Soneji on the BBC website asked how come he hadn't scored yet, but if anyone knew they weren't texting in.
Villa settled any persistent Spanish nerves on 51 minutes. He hit Xavi's pass on the edge of the box perfectly well but was perhaps lucky to see it get a slight deflection and spin over the goalkeeper's arms.
Ten minutes later he missed a penalty, after Izaguirre had brought down Navas. It looked goalbound, sending Valladares the wrong way, but went just the wrong side of the post. It didn't matter.
Midway through the second half, Fabregas came on for Xavi. He beat the offside trap, took it round the keeper with his first touch and shot, only to see it cleared off the line. Villa had a great chance blocked by Mendoza's athletic recovery tackle, to stop him getting his hat trick, while Navas and Ramos both had chances.
In the end, Honduras held out at two nil. They had a couple of chances of their own, Georgie Welcome spurning the chance for more name-based punning by heading wide from a free kick, but there was only one winner.
That was the end of the second round of games. Everyone has now played twice, and has one group game left, so this was the last game to leave a team's fate undecided. Now it all comes down to Spain against Chile. Can't wait.
Villa 17, 51
The big news for Spain was that Torres was starting. In the end, it was Villa's night.
They combined in Spain's first big attack, when Villa's cross found Torres unmarked in the box, but his miskick spun into Valladares' welcoming arms. In the next attack Villa went alone. His shot, from 35 yards and out of nothing, hit the Honduran bar, with the keeper nowhere.
You sensed it would be a long night for the semi-professional defence. Ramos headed over a Xavi cross, Villa cut inside but his shot missed, and then they scored.
It was a Villa solo effort again. He came in from the left again, nipped easily past Mendoza and Guevara, dinked it to the right of Chavez and shot. The keeper did remarkably well even to get a hand on it, but there was no way he was keeping it out.
They could have had more before the break. Xavi headed Navas' cross just over, the ball having come to him a few inches too high, Then Ramos put it on Torres' head soon afterwards. Torres' header hit the ground hard and bounced over, the story of his night. Soon after that he was wrongly given offside, and just before the break his shot was blocked. Pranav Soneji on the BBC website asked how come he hadn't scored yet, but if anyone knew they weren't texting in.
Villa settled any persistent Spanish nerves on 51 minutes. He hit Xavi's pass on the edge of the box perfectly well but was perhaps lucky to see it get a slight deflection and spin over the goalkeeper's arms.
Ten minutes later he missed a penalty, after Izaguirre had brought down Navas. It looked goalbound, sending Valladares the wrong way, but went just the wrong side of the post. It didn't matter.
Midway through the second half, Fabregas came on for Xavi. He beat the offside trap, took it round the keeper with his first touch and shot, only to see it cleared off the line. Villa had a great chance blocked by Mendoza's athletic recovery tackle, to stop him getting his hat trick, while Navas and Ramos both had chances.
In the end, Honduras held out at two nil. They had a couple of chances of their own, Georgie Welcome spurning the chance for more name-based punning by heading wide from a free kick, but there was only one winner.
That was the end of the second round of games. Everyone has now played twice, and has one group game left, so this was the last game to leave a team's fate undecided. Now it all comes down to Spain against Chile. Can't wait.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Switzerland v Spain
Switzerland 1 Spain 0
Fernandes 52
Well now we've seen everyone, and everything. That's three shocks in two days.
Nothing much was expected of Switzerland. They'd managed to lose to Luxembourg at home during the qualifiers, and in the last World Cup they'd played out games against France and Ukraine which made any game this week look like watching Brazil. Spain, meanwhile, had won all ten games in their qualifying group, following on their triumph in Euro 2008. Ignoring friendlies, they were on a sixteen game winning streak.
They're on a nought game winning streak now, and it's still hard to understand quite how it happened. They started strongly enough. There wasn't a lot of end product early on, but it was beautiful to watch. Xavi and Alonso were busy, confusing us with their names (Xavi ... Alonso is when Xavi passes to Alonso, Xabi Alonso! is when Xabi Alonso gets on the ball near the other team's goal, Xavi ... Xabi Alonso! is when the one follows the other, and X is pronounced like a French J), and Villa and Iniesta always looked capable of getting a conclusive shot in, even if they never quite did.
Meanwhile the commentating team were playing a blinder. Jonathan Pearce suggested Sepp Blatter might be in line for a Nobel Peace Prize because he was popular in Africa, a suggestion we should probably just draw a veil over, while Mick McCarthy was celebrating the top quality of the HD coverage. Great picture, you can see all the pain of him falling, was his analysis of one collision. I think he's noticed how we all see him, and he's starting to play up to it.
Switzerland were struggling to cope, as well they might. Grichtling got booked for a tug on Iniesta, and Senderos accidentally kicked one of his team mates, hurt his foot and had to be substituted. His dad is Spanish, thus the name. His mum is Serbian, but he's Swiss through and through, as anyone who saw him in the last World Cup will already know. I remember him battling through the South Korea game with blood pouring from him, pulling a drab team into the knockout phase by the force of personality alone. Switzerland had lost their most spirited player. Who could help them now?
They had one decent chance in the whole first half. Siegler took a free kick from just outside the box, and Casillas saved well. See, even if you get anywhere near the Spanish goal, they've got Casillas in it. What could possibly go wrong?
Early in the second half we found out. Fernandes and Derdiyok got into the box together, and Derdiyok had the shot. The ball bounced off everyone in the box in turn, rolled along in front of the goal with the Spanish prone all around it, then stopped and waited for Fernandes to tap it in. A scrappy goal after all the Spanish artistry, but every flick and step over is worth exactly zero goals in the final tally.
McCarthy was thrilled. The talented showoffs with all their entertaining ways were losing to brute force and ignorance and that's how he likes it. The Spanish brought Torres and Navas on.
Torres has been injured, and wasn't considered match fit for the whole game. Navas is less well known in this country, as he plays for Seville, but he was arguably the livelier of the two. The rest of my notes just say Torres shoots, wide or Navas shows great pace to get in the box, but shot easy for keeper. Oh, except for Derdiyok hits post, very unlucky and Barnetta (Swiss) on break, shoots from 30 yards, just over. Once they started to harry Spain a little more, the Swiss did a lot better.
Towards the end they not surprisingly fell back in numbers, and there was constant pressure on the Swiss goal, but no clear chances. It was as if the game was looking for melodic closure, by recapitulating the theme from the opening. After a frenetic injury time coda, the whistle sounded the final plaintive note. The Spanish had lost.
They sank to their knees in frustration, while the Swiss jumped all over coach Hitzfeld. He's won the Champions League with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, which might have given us all pause if we'd thought on before hand. As for me, I forgive the Swiss for being so boring last time. It was a defensive display, but there was no way they could have competed with Spain in an open game, and they deserved their win. I think I'm turning into Mick McCarthy.
Fernandes 52
Well now we've seen everyone, and everything. That's three shocks in two days.
Nothing much was expected of Switzerland. They'd managed to lose to Luxembourg at home during the qualifiers, and in the last World Cup they'd played out games against France and Ukraine which made any game this week look like watching Brazil. Spain, meanwhile, had won all ten games in their qualifying group, following on their triumph in Euro 2008. Ignoring friendlies, they were on a sixteen game winning streak.
They're on a nought game winning streak now, and it's still hard to understand quite how it happened. They started strongly enough. There wasn't a lot of end product early on, but it was beautiful to watch. Xavi and Alonso were busy, confusing us with their names (Xavi ... Alonso is when Xavi passes to Alonso, Xabi Alonso! is when Xabi Alonso gets on the ball near the other team's goal, Xavi ... Xabi Alonso! is when the one follows the other, and X is pronounced like a French J), and Villa and Iniesta always looked capable of getting a conclusive shot in, even if they never quite did.
Meanwhile the commentating team were playing a blinder. Jonathan Pearce suggested Sepp Blatter might be in line for a Nobel Peace Prize because he was popular in Africa, a suggestion we should probably just draw a veil over, while Mick McCarthy was celebrating the top quality of the HD coverage. Great picture, you can see all the pain of him falling, was his analysis of one collision. I think he's noticed how we all see him, and he's starting to play up to it.
Switzerland were struggling to cope, as well they might. Grichtling got booked for a tug on Iniesta, and Senderos accidentally kicked one of his team mates, hurt his foot and had to be substituted. His dad is Spanish, thus the name. His mum is Serbian, but he's Swiss through and through, as anyone who saw him in the last World Cup will already know. I remember him battling through the South Korea game with blood pouring from him, pulling a drab team into the knockout phase by the force of personality alone. Switzerland had lost their most spirited player. Who could help them now?
They had one decent chance in the whole first half. Siegler took a free kick from just outside the box, and Casillas saved well. See, even if you get anywhere near the Spanish goal, they've got Casillas in it. What could possibly go wrong?
Early in the second half we found out. Fernandes and Derdiyok got into the box together, and Derdiyok had the shot. The ball bounced off everyone in the box in turn, rolled along in front of the goal with the Spanish prone all around it, then stopped and waited for Fernandes to tap it in. A scrappy goal after all the Spanish artistry, but every flick and step over is worth exactly zero goals in the final tally.
McCarthy was thrilled. The talented showoffs with all their entertaining ways were losing to brute force and ignorance and that's how he likes it. The Spanish brought Torres and Navas on.
Torres has been injured, and wasn't considered match fit for the whole game. Navas is less well known in this country, as he plays for Seville, but he was arguably the livelier of the two. The rest of my notes just say Torres shoots, wide or Navas shows great pace to get in the box, but shot easy for keeper. Oh, except for Derdiyok hits post, very unlucky and Barnetta (Swiss) on break, shoots from 30 yards, just over. Once they started to harry Spain a little more, the Swiss did a lot better.
Towards the end they not surprisingly fell back in numbers, and there was constant pressure on the Swiss goal, but no clear chances. It was as if the game was looking for melodic closure, by recapitulating the theme from the opening. After a frenetic injury time coda, the whistle sounded the final plaintive note. The Spanish had lost.
They sank to their knees in frustration, while the Swiss jumped all over coach Hitzfeld. He's won the Champions League with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, which might have given us all pause if we'd thought on before hand. As for me, I forgive the Swiss for being so boring last time. It was a defensive display, but there was no way they could have competed with Spain in an open game, and they deserved their win. I think I'm turning into Mick McCarthy.
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