Our excitement have been cut short when the news that Frank Lampard will be fit for the game against Portugal. He will as usual, continue to donate the "TeamGeist", or the football to the fans behind the England goal. But they recieve a defensive boost when Gary Neville is being passed fit and will regain his right-back post from Owen Hargreaves.
But Portugal will be without their influencial midfielders, Deco and Costinha due to their suspension, after receiving red cards on their previous game against Holland. CRonaldo is also a major doubt for this game. Tough times for Portugal.
Drogballs' Prediction:England 1-0 Portugal. Portugal will sorely miss their midfield general, Costinha and their inspirational Deco. Also, England will be fired up for this game, as they have been kicked out of the last 2 major competitions by none other than Portugal's coach, Scolari.
Waldstadion
BRAZIL vs France
Ah, it's the 1998 World Cup Finals yet again. Deja vu for the Brazillians, as they were utterly humiliated by the French back then, losing 3-0 with Zinedine Zidane and Emmanuel Petit scoring. 8 years on, there is still remnants of the previous team here in this game. Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Cafu, Henry and just to name a few. Brazil will want to bury the nightmare of that game tonight by beating the French and gaining a place in the semi finals facing either England or Portugal. There are no injury problems from both the squad so they'll likely start with their normal first XI.
Brazil (4-4-2):1-Dida; 2-Cafu, 3-Lucio, 4-Juan, 6-Roberto Carlos; 17-Gilberto Silva, 11-Ze Roberto, 8-Kaka, 10-Ronaldinho; 9-Ronaldo, 7-Adriano Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira
France (4-2-3-1): 16-Fabien Barthez; 19-Willy Sagnol, 15-Lilian Thuram, 5-William Gallas, 3-Eric Abidal; 4-Patrick Vieira , 6-Claude Makelele; 22-Franck Ribery, 10-Zinedine Zidane, 7-Florent Malouda; 12-Thierry Henry Coach: Raymond Domenech
Drogballs' Prediction:Brazil 2-1 France. I personally have this gut feeling that Ronaldo will play a blinder due to the fact that he missed the '98 World Cup Finals with an unknown illness and he'll be out there to prove his worth. And of course Brazil will want to up their game and get their revenge, especially Ronaldinho, who has been largely disappointing.
Germany 1 - 1 Argentina (Germany win 4 - 2 on penalties)
Football's a cruel thing isn't it. One mistake. One wrong move and your dreams will come crashing down. And especially your sadness and joy is being decided by penalties, as if it's hanging on by a thread. It's only just THIS close to be at the top of the world, but there bound to be a loser when there is a winner, and the winner last night was German spirit, while the loser was the Argentina, not only losing it on penalties, but losing their sportsmanship as well. The handbags at the end of the game was a shame and shouldn't have happened. But we're not sure what made Gabriel Heinze so incensed that he was like a raging mad man with an intention of killing Olivier Bierhoff. Whatever's the case, Germany is through to the semi-finals and to me, they looked on course for the finals yet again.
First Half:
As expected, the match was pretty cagey and both sides struggled to find the opening as their defence held firm. Usually matches like this are meant to be quite slow paced and maybe I should quote 'boring'. Both teams would not want to concede the first goal therefore always starts very cautiously with at least 7 players behind the ball and theother 3 upfront trying to find gaps in the opposition defence where they can exploit. It was just like that in the first half anyway. Both teams had men behind the ball and therefore isolated their forwards uptop and to be honest, both Argentina and Germany's forward got lost and were annonymous during the first half. Oh, actually in the first half, both teams looked like they were just playing out the time and were extremely patient. But it was hotly contested and tackles were flying in, man marking was evident and zone pressing were effective for the defence, nuiance to the offence.
Second Half:
No point being defensive throughout the whole game though. The objective's to score a goal isn't it? Argentina seemed to have a little rythmn with them as Carlos Tevez impressed yet again with his movement on the field and also his contributions. He's the Argentina's Wayne Rooney and this comparison doesn't flatter both the players, as it seemed like they're the mould of each other. Stocky and strong, but packed with pace and power. But Rooney is a more direct type of player whom run into your face while Tevez seemed to be a little more nimble and his ability to find a way past the defence without getting his face smacked.
But the goal came from the unlikey source. Roberto Ayala of Valencia, was picked out by Juan Riquelme's corner and he was at hand to head home past a helpless Lehmann. It was apparent that the goal was a mistake from Per Mertesacker, who was supposed to mark Ayala but lost him and Klose was never going to cover the ground in that amount of time. The goal changed the tempo of the game and also the mentality and psychological state of the players. Argentina looked confident after that and nearly got the second after some good work from Riquelme. Germany on the other hand, still looked really toothless and never at all worked Abbondanzieri, who as a virtual spectator. But his participation came to an end when Klose's knees crashed against his ribs during one of the penalty box melee. Leo Franco was brought on to replace him.
Argentina's Tactical Mistake:
Actually, it was not a tactical mistake, more of a carelessness in the substitutions. So the goalkeeper's injury forced Pekerman to make a change. So he's left with 2 substitutions and the mistake was to take Riquelme out. He wasn't at his best, but he is clearly the pivot of the team and the funnel of Argentina's attacking prowess. When Argentina was leading 1-0, they changed Riquelme out for a more defensive Esteban Cambiasso and sent a signal to the German camp that they're ready to hold on to their lead. Little did Argentina expected that Germany soon equalised and Argentina is left with 2 strikers and a whole lot of defenive midfielder and no creativity and an extra man to help out Cruz and Tevez. They left themselves with no backdoor then, and paid for it. So the score remained 1-1 till extra time. Up till then players from both sides are clearly fatigued especially Michael Ballack, who looked knackered. Without any way of seperating this two sides, penalty shoot out was inevitable. Both sides goes into the shoot out with excellent records, who 0 loses on penalty shoot out in the World Cup. But surely Germaný's home support is the key, and of course Kahn's encouragement to Jens Lehmann! This pic below is PRICELESS.
The only way of seperating this 2 great footballing sides was the cruel way of taking the penalties. It looks easy, but you've got to understand how much pressure this players are under and of course standing right infront of you is Mad Jens Lehmann! He was the hero as he made 2 crucial saves to deny Ayala and Cambiasso. The Germans were estatic with Beckenbauer and their ministers looking on, they live to fight another day and next it is going to be Italy.
And this is disgraceful. Let's wait and hear for more of what actually happened. But it just speaks of the tension during the penalty shoot out, the emotion running high and sometimes these footballers just lose control of their temper and senses. So Argentina crash out of the competition quite disappointingly, as they are one of the teams that performed really well throughout the course of the competition. But so did Germany.
So, after 2 days of rest and meditational period, the World Cup kicks off once again and it's already the quater finals before you know. Already 50 odd games have been played and we're just 6 games away from the finals and only 1 of the 8 teams are going home happy with the prestigious World Cup and the crowning of the world champions. Tonight we'll see 2 sides going home and 2 sides one step closer to crown. I'm very excited by that prospect and I can feel that Germany vs Argentina is gonna end up with extra time...
Berlin
Germany vs Argentina
Klinsmann is likely to keep the side that was victorious against Sweden. Actually...he didn't change much during the course of this World Cup and this could prove to be an advantage for the Argentinians. Michael Ballack on the other hand states that the chances of winning the World Cup is 60-40. So inspirational from the captain, eh? It really doesn't make sense of course, we know every team up till now has a 100% chance of winning the World Cup isn't it? Argentina won't make much changes as well so we're in for a cracking match.
Drogballs' Prediction:Germany 1-1 Argentina (Germany to win after extra-time). It's so difficult to call that I have to sit on the fence and predict a draw. But there is no such thing as draw in the quater finals, so I have to pick a winner and I pick...Germany, for they hold the advantage of having the home support and their form at the moment is excellent.
Hamburg
Italy vs Ukraine
Italian centre-back, Alessandro Nesta is set to miss out of this match after failing the late fitness test. His replacement, Marco Materazzi will also sit out of this game after he was sent off against the Socceroos. The one that is set to stand in is Andrea Barzagli. He might be the weak link in the defence and Ukraine will look to exploit his inexperience. Ukraine will start this game as the underdogs.
Drogballs' Prediction:Italy 2-1 Ukraine.Ukraine might score a goal due to the absence of Nesta and Materazzi. But Italy will still prove to be too strong for the Ukrainians.
As usual, I was checking out the Football365 website and I realised they did an article on who's flopped at the World Cup so far and guess what, the names in the list was almost identical to the ones I have mentioned 2 days ago in my post about players that have flopped and disappointed so far. My list consisted of Ronaldinho, Lumpard, Henry, Ballack Toni, Ibrahimovic and Sven + Walcott (jokingly) while the F365 list consists of Ronaldinho, Lumpard, Henry, Toni, Ibrahimovic and van Nistelrooy (I placed him under surprisingly bad). So I might not get the scores right, I least I got the players right! Football's Not About Just Kicking The Ball...
Joe Cole, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Jose Antonio Reyes, Robert Pires and Cristiano Ronaldo. Oh and just to name a few. What has this guys have in common? Uhm yea, you should know it if you've been following football. The are players who have a special technique when playing football and are graceful actors on the field. The fall like flies when being touched and looks as though they got shot in the head when somebody had contact with them anywhere above the legs. Most of them made their names through their theatrics on the field and you have to wonder what has football becoming to.
To me, cheating and diving seemed to be seeping into the sub-culture of football and it's a real sad thing. They used it to get an advantage over the opponents and to trick the referee into believing something else. We might love the beautiful game but it's an inevitable thing that teams will use underhand methods to gain the advantage and bringing the beautiful game into utter disrepute. I was disappointed by the authority and referees so far, for NOT stamping out on cheating and outright diving. They booked players for time-wasting, minor challenges, but why is it that diving seemed to be a special rule where it seemed untouchable? Maybe it's really time to introduce the video technology. I'm not happy with the present way of doing things anyway. Wondered why the players can dive so 'realistically' and could get away with it? Watch this video:
Indeed, they practice diving during trainings. What a shame....
The Performers Thus Far :
I've covered the flops and surprises for the World Cup already, so it's time for the performers. Every World Cup, there's always a shining light among the players, an inspiration among the team and the star of the show. WC '98 was Davor Suker and Zidane. WC '02 was Ronaldinho, Klose and Ahn Jung-hwan. Well, this time round?
Xabi Alonso (SPA)- Liverpool's very own playmaker, his passing and overall composure has been great and also getting Spain's first goal in the competition with his head. Has been an integral part in the current Spain set up and Aragones said he's one of the players that will be the first on his list. I'm a keen admirer of this graceful player who seemed to have a radar on him whenever he plays because he knew exactly where everyone is.
Luis Figo (POR) - He's 34 and before the tournament started, everyone said he's past his sell-out date. But this time, he showed everyone that he might be 34, but he still can perform up to his best. I don't really rate Figo very much, but seriously I thought he have been playing really well and deserved a spot over here.
Rafael Marquez (MEX)- What on earth is his position anyway. He used to play as a defensive midfielder for Barca, then a centre-back this season. He seemed to have the license to attack when he's wearing the green Mexican jersey and the ability to lead an attack from behind. His performances have been immense, bar the match against Portugal where the whole team went misisng anyway. There is a lack of graceful sweeper like Beckenbauer in modern day football, but here he is. He's the person that Rio wanted to immitate but failed.
Didier Zokora (CIV) - Apparently signed for Spurs after Ivory Coast's early exit, he have been impressive in the 3 games against the 3 deadly teams from Europe. Although small in stature, he's never afraid to stuck a foot in and get involved. Great tackler and good passer of the ball, Spurs, you got a great deal from him. Lucky you.
Andrea Pirlo (ITA)- Famous for going for disappearing acts in his AC Milan shirt, but have been ever-present for the Italians since Day 1. Scored a beauty against Ghana in the opening game and was the source of inspiration when Totti and Del Piero failed to shine. Might be a little weak and his sh*tty dribbling skill, but he's one of the best passers of the ball.
Fabio Cannavaro (ITA)- Once told he's too short to be a defender, and how did those words came to haunt whoever that idiot is. Yes he might be as tall as me, but he is no doubt one of the best defender in recent times. His reading of the game, tackling and his discipline is the key reason why Italians are so strong at the back. He's a captain for a reason, you know.
Richard Kingston (GHA)- Who? Erm, the goalkeeper of Ghana. There should be European teams interested in this guy from now on I think. Although flaps at corners like most African keepers do, his shot stopping skills are quite good. If not for him, maybe Italy could've scored more than 2 and impressed me in the match against the Czechs.
Mikael Essian & Stephen Appiah (GHA)- The midfield lynchpin(s) of the Ghana side. They were the ultimate source of inspiration for the Ghanians and should be proud of themselves for bringing them thus far. They seemed to cover every blade of grass when they play, excellent running off the ball and their energy never seemed to run out. Essien showed what he could do IF only Chelsea and Jose did not suppress his attacking prowess due to his role in Chelsea.
Miroslav Klose (GER) - Once again the man who haunted those in WC '02 is back. I actually thought he's pretty average and jut another targetman who got lucky in the previous WC, but once again he showed his goalscoring touch and is currently the top-scorer of Germany '06. Linked up with Podolski seamlessly too.
Philipp Lahm (GER) - Scored a brilliant goal in the opening match and have been performing at his best in almost all the games. Statistics doesn't lie when they say he had they highest success rate in tackling. He loves to go forward in support and isn't too bad defending as well.
Willy Sagnol & Eric Abidal (FRA) - The wingbacks of the French team, they performed well in the games they played in and I was very impressed by Willy Sagnol in the game against Togo. Playing side by side with an ageing but experienced defenders helped them too.
Ze Roberto (BRA)- Usually in the Brazil team, the attacking players are the one that shines, like Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. But the hardworking Ze Roberto is my pick this time round. He runs around to cover the ground left behind by the attacking players and allows Roberto Carlos to go on his bombing run. His passing and tackling stats are almost perfect and scored a goal against Ghana too.
Roberto Ayala (ARG)- Rock solid defender from Valencia, he's the very reason why Argentinian attackers could attack without having the burden to worry about the defence for too much. Like Cannavaro, is getting on with his age, but his experience is invaluable and like a wine, it gets better as it gets older.
Maxi Rodriguez, Juan Pablo Sorin & Juan Roman Riquelme (ARG) - The 3 inspirational players of the Argentinian side, they work really hard every game and have impressed me. Rodriguez coming into the World Cup as a relative unknown but scored 3 goals including that cracker against Mexico. Sorin the captain runs up and down the left wing and is hard as nails. Riquelme, the brain of the team, the playmaker. Although he has a chronic lack of pace, his brains rule over brawns and he's one of the best passers of the ball.
That's all, it's a long list, but it just shows that this World Cup is entertaining with star players shining and also seeing the unknown quantities rised to become stars of the future. I might have missed out on some so do drop a comment or an email. Thanks.
FABIO AURELIO will officially become a Liverpool player this weekend. Aurelio will sign his four-year Anfield contract on July 1, having already agreed terms with the Reds. The 27-year-old Brazilian left back, who is signing on a free Bosman deal from Valencia, will start pre-season training with the rest of Liverpool's non-World Cup internationals next week.
Benitez will welcome at least three new faces to Melwood when the players return, with Aurelio joining fellow South American Gabriel Paletta and new striker Craig Bellamy. Unfortunately, Mark Gonzalez will still need to await clearance from the department for education and employment, although that decision is anticipated a week today.
Ideally, Benitez wants at least a fifth new face to join the club by then - followed by another two before the transfer deadline.
Drogballs:Hopefully, the report is true. He rejected Barca and Real Madrid for Liverpool, so he must be really desperate to play for the Reds I guess. The Brazillian left back a little injury proned, but has an excellent record of scoring as a defender and is a free-kick specialist, adding to the list of players like Gerrard, Alonso and his new competitor, Riise. And if Mark Gonzalez's permit is approved (PLEASE!), then we'll have lots of cover for the left winger position with Kewell and Zenden the left wingers while Riise and Aurelio the wing-backs. He'll give us more 'POSSIBILITIES' as said by Rafa. But, after watching Dirk Kuyt played against Portugal, I have my doubts. Let's hope it all turns out well.
Surprises, Anyone?
The World Cup is always filled with joy, disappointments and of course, surprises. So after yesterday's post on Flops, today I'll name some of the major surprises in this World Cup, be it teams or players.
Lucas Neil (AUS)- The rugged right-back of Blackburn Rovers, he has impressed me in this WC with his performance. He's ordinary when playing in the Premiership, but looks class in the middle of the defence for his nation. Surprisingly good!
Czech Republic - They performed extremely well in Euro 2004 and is said to have their best squad in recent times. Was touted to be one of the 'black horses' of the competition but after losing to the Ghanians, they did not pick themselves up and lost to Italy on the last and crucial match. But I sympathise them for losing both their Milan Baros and Jan Koller.
Owen Hargreaves (ENG)- The media slates him and I do criticise him sometimes, but he really surprised everyone this time round. He played the holding midfielder role in the game against Sweden and was one of the better player while still competent enough to play in the right-back role in the game against Ecuador. Shares the title of Carraher for Mr. Versatile.
Ghana- When they're grouped together with Italy, Czech Republic and the USA, everyone wrote them off and thinks that their exit in the first round is inevitable. But they defied the critics and went out only to world champion, Brazil in the second round. Still, they managed to put up an excellent show and beat USA and Czech Republic in the first round, while the lost against Italy looks more like a lesson for them rather than a defeat.
Ruud van Nistelrooy & Wesley Sneijder (HOL) - I wanted to place this two names under the 'flop' section, but I really didn't expect them to do so badly, so it's more of a surpise. Ruud's season went pear-shaped near the end of the season as he was being taken over by Saha in the ManYoo starting XI. Poor form and attitude was to be blame and he managed only 1 goal in the 2 games he played. Still, overall performance is disappointing. Sneijder, alot are expected from this young midfielder, but surprisingly did real badly. Can't shoot or pass I presume.
Arthur Boka & Yaya Toure (CIV)- One is an unknown quantity while another is the elder brother of Kolo Toure. They played well considering they were not big names and were relatively unknown, especiall Arthur Boka, who was named the Roberto Carlos of Africa.
Poland- Surprisingly finished 3rd in the group after being defeated by Ecuador on opening day and succumbed to a last minute winner by the Germans. Everyone expected them to go through to the second round along with Germany, but failed spectacularly.
Serbia & Montenegro - They conceded 1 goal in 10 matches during the World Cup qualifers. But after getting their butt smacked by Argentina and Ivory Coast, they are now officially the team that concedes the most number of goals, that is 10 in total.
Switzerland - A team that doesn't have any history when it comes to World Cup, they did really well especially defensively when they conceded a grand total of ZERO goals in the 4 games they played. Shame they lost to Ukraine in the penalty shoot-out and missed all 3 of them. Defence doesn't win you games for sure.
Angola - Everyone thought they're gonna be te whipping boys and cannon fodder of the World Cup. But they managed to put up good performances and deserved a litte credit here.
Saudi Arabia - Surprisingly good. Oh, wait.....
Agree? Disagree? Please drop a comment or email. Constructive criticisms accepted of course!
Aight, so caught the new 'Superman Returns' movie with wk, rivand and a bunch of people whom, I'm not so familiar with over at the brand new Grand Cathay. Don't really anticipate this movie as much as others in the past but I must say that this movie will be one of my all time favourite movies. It was superb in all sense, visuals, sound effects, storyline and also touched me a little. You might read this just like a normal rubbish review from Drogballs, but may this be a little inspiration to people out there, as normal and nerdy as Clark Kent.
I hate to go into the story and spoil it fr you guys, but it's just basically a story on how Mr Superman save the world, his 'super-ness' and also his 'non super-ness'. His strength and weakness lies with love and all this coming from a man who is just, a nerdy reporter who's mild mannered and introverted. Bah, I shall not go on about the story but do catch it as it's brilliant if you have time to spare (its almost 3 hours long) and looking for a little inspiration.
Positives: + Excellent CGI, sound effects and the acting isn't too shabby either. Clark Kent surely will melt lady's heart and Lois is stunningly gorgeous. Ah, if they're not then they would not have been in a movie anyway.
+ Character development. The movie wasn't too rushed in the beginning and explained much things clearly, from the opinion of a guy whom have never watch Superman, Smallville or even the comics. You could feel the pain when Superman got owned and got a little kick around from the Russian gangsters.
+ Witty one liners! It's alright to put in some lines that makes people have a laugh at it and it actually made the movie a little more enjoyable and bearable due to the draggy nature of the movie.
+ Story. Might not be the best and might not beat Spiderman movies, but it's good enough I think. It makes you feel that you're IN the movie and I was deeply immersed in the movie before it was too late to realised...I missed the last train home.....This is one of those Superhero movies that actually featured so much action and drama in it. Brilliant.
Negatives: + Draggy. It's hard to pick out the negatives of this movie. Oh well maybe I'm not picky enough, or I'm just not good enough to write this reviews, but one thing I must comment about is the length of the movie. The ending was not concise and went dragging and dragging and I felt like I was watching LOTR: Return of the King once again.
I contemplated on placing ' Unrealistic' under the Negatives. But since this is a Superhero movie, not much stuff's gonna be realistic anyway right? How on earth did Lois survived when she was toss around like a doll in that aircraft? Nevermind about that, it''s a fantastic movie and a good one for those comic junkies. If you hae 3 hours to spare, there you go, you WON'T regret this.
To All Of You...
Have you ever wondered why Superman has been portrayed as an introvert, a nerd with 4 eyes (wearing spectacles that is) and always so shy? Well, it's because there are a lot among us are what he's being portrayed in the movies. You feel that you're powerless and you're nothing. Maybe you're a nerd, maybe a timid person like I am, an introvert or even a really shy person that still lacked the courage to do what you think is right.
Why not, be a superman (or woman) to the very someone. He/she might say 'I don't need a superman' like Lois did in the movie, but what he/she says might not mean what he/she thinks. He/she might not appreciate you, might not have noticed you yet or even see you differently, but why not be there for that person always and do whatever you can for that person just so that you could be the difference in that person's life. You might be an insignificant someone in this big world, but you could still make a difference. That is IF you want to take up the challenge or not. It's never gonna be easy you know, but it might just turn out to be alright.
Okay, hope you guys get a little inspiration from this, or maybe you would laugh at me for being stupid. Ah, whatever the cause, this is what the movie's trying to tell you and that the most insignificant things in the world, could still make the ultimate difference.
And the problem with me now is, I can inspire you, but I can't inspire myself to do it. I guess I'll just be what I am, because not everyone could be a superhuman after all. I'm tired. So I shall find my rest now. Good night people. Early school tomorrow. Back to Clark Kent I guess.
So I was discussing with Sylvia about footie yet again and she claimed the French deserved their victory. Well, on the bus trip home I had a serious thought about it and took off my red-tinted glasses and I would like to say, yes they deserved to lose. Firstly, their coach, Luis Aragones once called Thierry Henry 'a black sh*t'. It's a racist comment and I never had respect for that old man anyway. Secondly, the booing of the French national anthem. It's shameful and this was the first incident in the World Cup that a nation's anthem was being jeered. Very disrespectful from the mindless fans and football might be competitve and rivalry does exists between nations, but it's time to make friends, right?
And now, this is the perfect example of what it is to have an egg on your face. Now, he comes back and haunt you and finished you lot off with the 3rd goal and what do you have to say? Well in Zizou Zidane. He is one player that everyone should look up to and learn from. He was poor, but used his extraordinary talents well. Once he got rich he didn't flaunt them around and remained one of the most low profiled 'stars' around. I hate to see him retire, but he already has left a legacy among us.
All in all, the Spanish got what they deserved. Karma.
Flops & Disappointments So Far
So now we are left with 8 teams competing for the prestigious World Cup. So far I have watched the majority of the matches and have been impressed as well as disappointed by some players during the course of the World Cup. Some came into the competition as man-to-watch but flopped spectacularly and some just flattered to decieve. I shall try to name a few players that I find are major disappointments and flops so far.
Ronaldinho (BRA)- He is without a doubt the best player on planet fotball when he's on form. But rather surprisingly he's had 4 disappointing games already and looked distinctly average and he's currently over-shadowed by compatriot Kaka and maybe even Juninho. Still haven't found the net yet but managed to notch up an assist last night. Really could have done better.
Frank Lampard (ENG)- The Chelsea midfielder hailed with an impressive 21 goals in the Premiership season of 05/06. But he apparently arrive in Germany not to play in the World Cup, but perhaps having a little competition with new team-mate, Michael Ballack on who's the first to put 20 shots into the stands. Caught practicing shooting secretly with the Ghana squad. (Sarcasm Alert)
Thierry Henry (FRA) - The famed big game bottler was at it again last night, when he was caught offside a total of 8 times and had 0 shot on goals the entire night. This coming from a supposed world's best striker and scoring bucketloads for Arsenal. But I wasn't surprised, watching him play against Barcelona in the CL Finals. Lacked support, but to be honest he looked like he don't give a toss anyway. Oh, and he did a 'Rivaldo' last night too. Cheating French.
Michael Ballack (GER) - If you frequently watch him play, you know his performance has been sub-par so far and although his shooting might be a little better than Lampard, but still very disappointing from the German captain. I believed he disrupted the German squad a little when he came back into the squad in the match against Poland. Can be better and SHOULD be better.
Luca Toni (ITA)- The first striker in Italian Serie A to score a whopping 30 goals in a single season. 30 goals in Italian League is a major achievement that even top class strikers like Shevchenko and Inzaghi couldn't do but this big man came into the tournament as a striker on fire. Now he is the striker under fire after failing to score in his 3 games.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE)- As I have stated over and over and over again, this big Swede is the one of the most over-rated footballer ever. Everyone hails him as the best thing to Sweden since Henrik Larsson. How he flopped spectacularly in this tournament as he finished without a goal and now suddenly, everyone noticed that he's not that special after all.
Theo Walcott & Sven Goran-Eriksson (ENG) - The pairing made in heaven. In case you thought they're gay, you're wrong. Sven brought little boy Walcott to the World Cup to be a back-up of Owen, Crouch and Rooney. Oh maybe not, he apparently have never seen Walcott played and gambled to bring this kid to the WC. Now with Michael Crocked Owen out of the WC, he now has only a Roonster, a lanky RoboCrouch and...DAVID JAMES. Great.
Anyway the following players are who I thought have flopped or disappoint in the tournament. You can have a different view from me so please do drop a comment or an email if you wish to share your views. Thanks alot and enjoy the 2 days of break before the Quater Finals start again this Friday. Have fun! I'm watching Superman tonight so maybe a review tonight? Cheers.
Scorers: ESP - D. Villa (pen 28min); FRA - F. Ribery (41min), P. Vieira (83min), Z. Zidane (90+1min);
When I saw Joaquin and Luis Garcia coming on for David Villa and Raul, I saw it coming, maybe you knew what's going to happen as well. Negativity was the word. As I have stated on my previous post, Spain is notorious for screwing up big games and bottling it and this time round, no difference and their armada have come to an abrupt end, after an encouraging start to the tournament while the French stuttered and were lucky to get into the 2nd round after some inept performance against the South Koreans and Switzerland. But the French had the last laugh as they put up thier best performance so far to put an end to Spain's hope.
(Shame, I loved that jersey and was about to buy it...should I?)
Spain seemed to stamp authority early in the game as they passed the ball around smoothly with Xavi, Fabregas and Xabi Alonso in the middle of the park and Raul playing just behind Torres and Villa. The French seemed to struggle a little at the beginning as Fernando Torres constantly uses his pace and ran at the ageing French defence consisting of Thuram and Gallas.
I wasn't long before Spain found the opening. Pablo Ibanez was fouled in the French penalty area by Lilian Thuram and referee, Roberto Rosetti point straight to the spot with much conviction. It was David Villa to step up and he calmly smashed the ball past Barthez into his right hand post. Advantage Spain, early in the game.
The French to be honest, looked a little disjointed and they actually left Henry isolated up on top and the closest player are Zidane and Ribery. He could've won himself an award for the most number of offsides in a game when he constantly got caught offside by the Spanish offside trap. But there were a few moments were the Spanish defence was caught square and needed some intervention from Puyol and Ramos to stop the French from breaking. But against the run of play, the French found a way past the untidy Spanish defence. The defence was caught up field with sixes and sevens and Zidane managed to thread a throughball to the onrushing Ribery, who's had a fine game. He rounded Iker Casillas before firing home his first goal in the tournament. Therefore both teams going into the break one apiece.
The French came out a little more positive in the second half, perhaps taking the inspiration from Ribery's goal. Zidane showed more of his old self and was the pivot of all the French attacks while Ribery was lively throughout and seemed to be on form and raring to go. Spanish however became a little complacent and a change by Luis Aragones means the formation of the team have been changed and they went from a 4-3-1-2 into a negative 4-5-1 with Joaquin and Luis Garcia supporting lone striker, Fernando Torres.
Suddenly France found themselves ahead just 6 minutes before time as Spain paid for Puyol's silly action, but to be honest Henry went to the ground a little too easy, as if he got shot by a sniper. Henry and Puyol were chasing for the ball while Pernia was already back covering and will get to the ball. But Puyol had his elbow into Henry's chest and the French striker went down. Yellow card for Puyol and a freekick for the French. Zidane delivered and found Vieira on the back post. He headed goalwards and although Casillas might have saved it, Sergio Ramos deflected the header into the net. That's the punishment for not putting the French under pressure.
As Spain poured forward to find the equaliser, Spain's offside trap failed once again as they were caught out by Zidane's perfectly timed run as he took the ball into the box, skipped past Puyol and buried the ball past his Real Madrid team mate, Iker Casillas. A fantastic finish from a legendary player, whom we thought was already past his sell-out date. He once again showed that he IS still the player that could bring glory to France.
Poor substitution decisions from Aragones cost Spain the game, I fear. Let's not take the credit away from the French though. They played well and actually managed to limit the Spanish to only a few shots on goal and Barthez was rarely troubled. Zidane was immense and Ribery has improved greatly from the first few games, where he was disappointing. Tough luck Spain, as the under-achiever tag's gonna stay with them for another 2 years until they start to perform in th European Championship in 2008.
Scorers: BRA - Ronaldo (5min), Adriano (45min), Ze Roberto (84 min);
You doubted him. You criticized him. He comes back bigger (no pun intended!), stronger and scoring important goals. He is Ronaldo. One of the most talented footballer in modern era and today, he broke Gerd Muller's World Cup goal scoring record by scoring his 3rd of the current World Cup and the 15th in the all time World Cup goal scoring charts. He might have put on some weight over the years, but his predator instinct has never been a doubt and today, he silenced all the critics yet again and scoring Brazil's first in the last 16 match against African, Ghana.
Instead of looking at Brazil, why not let's change the topic and talk about Ghana. Quite honestly, Brazil's hype bores me and I'm actually hoping they won't be in the finals this time round. Kill me if you want! Okay anyway I thought Ghana did really well throughout the game, but a few fundamental mistakes costed them the game and their finishing was simply, horrendous. I believe any half decent striker would have scored at least a goal against the Brazillians today as they looked extremely vulnerable. Their constant blasting of ball irks me and they just couldn't find a way past Dida, who was quite magnificent and saved Brazil's blushes.
Another of Ghana's problem was the defence. They are FAR too indiscplined to play the off-side trap and they got punished for it. Their 'trap' was all over the place and the first goal from Ronaldo was down to the positioning of the line of defenders. If you want to play off-side trap against Brazil, you have to be extremely disciplined and defenders have to communicate well. From what I have seen, Brazil seemed to struggle a bit when they're up against a team with men behind ball, teams like Croatia did well to stifle the Brazillian flair with their men behind ball and man-marking system. To play against a team with excellent passing, technique in the middle and pace upfront, it's suicidal to play offside trap against.
And that offside trap created more problem for the Ghanians rather than the Brazillians as Adriano raced on to Ze Roberto's through ball and he took the ball past the goalkeeper, Kingson. Kingson seemed to have tripped Adriano and looked more convincing than the Italian penalty yesterday, the referee gave Adriano a yellowcard instead for diving and it's a disappointing decision. But he seemed to even things up later when Adriano was awarded a goal which is scored in an offside position. The Ghanian defence was once again tore apart and Cafu with his marauding run down the right, centered the ball for Adriano to tap it in. It was clearly offside, but the referee gave it and it was 2-0 just before half time.
It was not the most ill-disciplined match in the World Cup, but still the referee managed to get his red card out yet again. Asamoah Gyan was sent off for second bookable offence. The first yellow card was a little harsh and the second was for a blatant dive and rightly so. I think it's time to stamp out on the diving and cheating because it's getting on many people's nerves.
Ghana is no pushover really. Like Australia yesterday, they actually had more of the ball than Brazil did and the only problem with them was that they didn't turn their possesion into goals. Sounds familiar? Yea, they had chances, but they weren't clinical enough, unlike the Brazillians. It's nice to see a World Cup debutant performing well in such a big match, against the world champion and actually causing the defence lot's of trouble. They stiffled Ronaldinho well and leasen his influence in the game. The absence of Mikael Essien was a blow, but they still do extremely well with Muntari and Appiah starring in the midfield.
Remember the goal Argentina scored against S&M, where they strung a move with 24 passes and finished the move with Cambiasso's left foot drive? Well, today Brazil triump that move with their own version of it and it consisted of 25 passes, 1 more than the Argentina. Once again the Ghanian off-side trap sprung opened and Ze Roberto was one on one with the keeper. He tapped the ball over the keeper before tapping the ball into an empty net. It was harsh for the Africans, who I think really don't deserve to lose by that much of a margin. But Brazil were just too strong and clinical.
Ghana was taught a lesson of football by the masters. That's how I'm gonna sum up the match. Possesion doesn't win you games but putting the ball into the net. Brazil showed us that they don't need much of the ball to actually finish teams off. Not a brilliant performance by the Brazillians, but a professional one and good bye Ghana, I think we'll see you again in 4 year's time.
Brazillian forward, Robinho will most likely sit out for this match as he's carrying an injury. The Real Madrid player suffered an ankle injury and hasn't been training for days. Ghana too, have absentees from their squad. Inspirational midfielder, Mickael Essien will miss this game as he picked up a 2nd booking last week against USA. It will be a blow to Ghana, as they need to be at their best if they are to get something out of this game, against the reigning world champion.
Drogballs' Prediction:Brazil 2 - 1 Ghana.Brazil's defence have been quite vulnerable to counter attacks and pace. Therefore Asamoah Gyan wll look to have a run at the Brazillian defence. Although their attack haven't been up to their standards, the Brazillian flair will be hard to defend against.
AWD Arena
SPAIN vs FRANCE
Real Betis winger, Joaquin might start this game along with Raul and Cesc Fabregas. He came on as a substitute against Tunisia and impressed while he had a good game against Saudi Arabia. France's talismanic midfielder cum captain, Zinedine Zidane should be back in the first 11 after he got suspended for the last match and had to watch from the sidelines. This will prove to be a huge psychological boost to the French. But will the return of Zizou disrupting the French's plan of continuing with their 4-4-2 formation. We could only wait and see.
Drogballs' Prediction: Spain 1 - 1 France(Spain to win in Extra Time). Well as a Spanish supporter of course I would want them to finish off the French in normal time. But we all know Spain always let people down and fail to turn up for important games. Let's hope this will be an exception.
We all know that the Japanese are a very weird bunch of people. I don't know what better words to use to describe them other than perculiar. Oh anyway rivand gave me a link to the youtube video of their variety show. After watching it you'll surely ask, WTF? Variety show?! Oh yes it's a definitely MUST WATCH for everyone and have a laugh. It's freakishly funny and a little demented. How sick can they get?!
Part I:
Part II:
HAHAH. I shall comment no more. Sick yet creative! Hats off to you Japoonese!
Haha, so Sylvia sent me an email on how to make your very own TeamGeist, which is the official World Cup ball. I'm sure it's by kennysia.com, a famous blogger from Malaysia but it's on my email so I shall post it for all of you. It's brilliant and maybe some of you don't know where they got the designs of the ball from. Well, it comes from a very product that is intimate to ladies...shy-ed away from the guys...uhm yea.
Yea, this is how the ball looks like.
The price...it's over-priced to be honest.
That's why kennysia is teaching you the DIY steps.
1. Get a football, any football. Just not those plastic ones you get from the mama store, eh.
2. Paint the ball white. Have to be white!
3. Uhm, yea expect the unexpected. Get a box of kotex.....
4. Stick em on the ball, follow the patterns below.
5. Use a marker or colour pens or whathaveyou, draw it like this. Beware of the Adidas logo though, you might get sued!
6. Do a comparison and last check on the ball. Does it look similar? If yes, then you have successfully made your very own TeamGeist!!
Hahaha fecking brilliant. A work of the genuis, kennysia that is. Credits will be to him of course with his brilliant creativity and taking his time to do up this..informative piece of article. Oh and of course THANK YOU SYLVIA for sending me the email. She asked me to credit her anyway so there you go.
Dubious, dubious decisions by the referee yet again, for the gazillionth time in this World Cup. The standard of football is decent, but the refereeing standard is p*ss poor. A game decided by a penalty given 5 SECONDS before the final whistle? If it's a stonewall penalty then there won't be complain, but what a sh*t penalty to give away. I think any half-decent referee would have waved it away and let the game play on.
But this time the referee presumably melting in the summer heat, wants the game to end within 90 minutes and therefore awarded a dubious penalty right at the dot of full time and leaving Australia with no chance of a come-back.
Fabio Grosso, the Italian left back barged into the penalty box and Lucas Neil, who had an outstanding game tried to cover the angle by stretching his body wide and Grosso took the ball past him and he ran onto the body of Neil and fell over instead of what the referee believed, which is Lucas Neil fouled him. It was right at the end of the injury time and Francesco Totti stepped up and fired the penalty into the top right corner of Mark Schwarzer's net. Game over for the Aussies, who fought and contained the Italians well throughout the game and all you could say is, they're just pure unlucky.
In the starting 5 minutes of the game, the Australians made themselves feel at home with a whopping possesion percentage of 72% and were quick to close down the Italians when they're on the ball. Italians had no choice but to resort to long ball tactics and pumping balls to Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino. They did create a few decent chance with Toni and Gilardino coming close, but they were far too cautious for my liking and always had around 7-8 players within their own half. The referee made another shocking decision that is to sent off Marco Materazzi in the 51st minute.
To be honest I saw nothing but just a yellow card offence or did the ref sent him off for tackling his own player? He slid in and caught Zambrotta as well, so I presume it was for that offence. So Italians down to 10 men and they as anticipated, started their 'catenacio' mode and camped within their own half and left Del Piero and Iaquinta up front. To be very honest with you, the entire second half looked as if it was played in the Italian half with almost the entire Australian team surrounding the Italian turtle. But strange enough was that the Australians didn't try their luck and hit shots from range and instead, they tried to put ball into the Italian box, which was well-marshalled by captain fantatic, Fabio Cannavaro.
Other than the sporadic attack on the Australian goal, all they did was to soak up all the pressure from Australia and you have to wonder why the Aussies didn't try luck from range. Their killer balls in the box obviously doesn't work and crosses into the box are not really a big threat to them, with Buffon commanding the area brilliantly.
But sometimes you pay for not finishing the game off. Dilly-dallying with the ball and showed little urgency, the Italians got their chance from a dubious decision, but that's football, it's how you take you chances and putting the ball into the net, not how much possesion you have and how dominant you are. You might sympathise the Socceroos like I do, but to be honest they failed to turn their dominance into a goal and was punished. No matter how sh*t the referee 's decision might be, at the end of the day it's just about finishing your chances.
Credits to the Italians too. I might be harsh to say they robbed the Aussie, but they defended supremely and you could see why they're famed for their defensive tactic. Their formation when they're without the ball looked so compact and every players knows exactly where they must be positioned. Look at the number of passes cut out by the defence and crosses cleared and you could see that they're a strong defensive unit and are extremely disciplined. But defence won't win you games, so start scoring Italy, or the game against Switzerland or Ukraine is not going to be a walk in the park.
Note: My nightmare has started, that is my school term starts again and therefore I might not be able to post the latest match updates again until the Semi Finals. But of course I'll keep this site updated so no worries, continue to drop by and THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
21 Fouls, 16 Yellow Cards And 4 Red Cards
Frankenstadion
Portugal 1 - 0 Netherlands
Scorer: POR - Maniche (23 min);
Sent Off:
POR - Costinha (45min):
HOL - K. Boulahrouz (62min):
POR - Deco (77min):
HOL - G. van Bronckhorst (90min):
Oh yes, Portugese captain, Luis Figo might also miss the match against England after being caught head-butting Holland's Mark van Bommel.
When he didn't score , he whines. When he loses a game, he cries. When he's substituted, he cries too. When he's being substituted due to injury, HE BLOODY CRIED AGAIN. God, what a crybaby. Even the commentator who's serious most of the time laughed at him being a big wussy. I think we'll see him cry again, this Saturday most presumably and I would love to see that. Oh, there are plenty of chances, I tell ya!
Oh, and how can I ommit this lady below from the hottest WAGS (Wives And Girlfriends). She's Sylvie van der Vaart, wife of Dutch midfielder, Rafael van der Vaart.
One of the most eventful match up this World Cup and is set to be a talking point in years to come, when FIFA decides to make a documentary on the past World Cups. A total of 21 fouls (NOT ALOT, SERIOUSLY) which warrented 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards. I think the Russian referee, Valentin Ivanov clearly lost control of the game and had gone bonkers.
Some of the yellow card offence looked a litle too harsh and it's a joke. How could this happen in a World Cup, and in such an important match, with millions of people viewing. He makes Graham Poll looks competent and Heskey a world class player. It's farcical and the refereeing standards in this World Cup is getting from bad to worst. FIFA, you really need to set things straight NOW and make radical changes, before football is being turned into a game for....Cristiano Ronaldos.
So now Portugal would have to play England in the quater finals without Deco and Costinha. While Cristiano Crybaby Ronaldo might miss the game due to injury and Luis Figo MIGHT be suspended for the head-butt on Mark van Bommel. And with most of their players on a yellow card, they'll be walking on tight-ropes as they will try not to get themselves suspended and have to play safe. This leaves England with a huge advantage and Portugal might find themselves a little stretched, if Ronaldo and Figo are not available.
Founded on the 25th March 2006, this blog is not only for the Liverpool fans, but for anyone who loves football. Latest stories, banters, personal thoughts, up to date match reports, videos, pictures and a whole lot more!
If you have any stories to share or wishes to contact me, please mail to:skyjames87@gmail.com
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