footballspectator

Marcelo Lippi’s players managed to put the recent Italian scandal out of their minds to beat a competitive Ghana 2-0 in Hannover in tonight’s match. Ghana started strongly but the Italians quickly got into the game and seemed to cause havoc everytime they crossed with Ghana goalie Kingson looking decidedly shaky. Having said that Kingson saved well from Gilardino and cannot be faulted for Italy’s opener. Pirlo was given enough time to have a cappuccino and read a copy of La Gazzetta before deciding where to direct his shot which took a slight deflection as it came through a mass of bodies to nestle in the bottom right hand corner of Ghana’s net.
Italy’s refreshingly attacking approach in the first half gave way to the more traditional style of sitting back in the second (especially following the withdrawal of Totti as a precaution), but Ghana struggled to break the Italians down. Their forward line was static in the extreme. The Black Stars lacked width and seemed to rely almost exclusively on their star midfield duo of Essien and Appiah to do all the shooting.

Meanwhile Kingson quickly turned from villain to hero, saving well from Gilardino and Perrotta and even catching a couple of crosses. Italy eventually made it 2-0 when a terrible back-pass from Roma’s Samuel Kuffour was gleefully latched onto by Iaquinta who made no mistake and celebrated with a tears of joy normally reserved for the victory in the final rather the opening group game.

The Italians are many people’s dark horses and if they play as they did in the first half they have a good chance. However, it will be interesting to see how they will fare against a team which actually has a forward line. The Czechs will not be so generous.

The Czech Republic continued where they left off at Euro 2004 and produced some sublime football to destroy the USA 3-0. The match highlighted the uselessness of the FIFA World rankings with the US apparently the 5th best team in the world if you believe FIFA’s classifaction but clearly not in the same league as the Czechs.

Giant centre forward Jan Koller showed Peter Crouch how a big man should play when he powered in Zdenek Grygera’s cross with a thumping header in the 5th minute, but was strechered off shortly afterwards with a hamstring injury which may rule him out of the next few games. However, new Arsenal signing Tomas Rosicky picked up the slack, first with a long range curler from 25 metres in the 36th minute, later smashing a shot against the bar and finally by finishing off a flowing move in the 76 minute to make it 3-1.

The Czechs ooze class but much depends on how quickly Koller and fellow striker Milan Baros recover from injury. Vraclav Lokvenc, Koller’s replacement, is more in the Peter Crouch mould, not in Koller’s class. In any event the Italians will be worried. They are likely to have to beat them in order to avoid a last 16 clash with Brazil. Based on today’s displays, the Czechs seem destined to win the group.

Japan were worried before the match by Australia’s tough, physical approach and they were right to be as the Aussies eventually wore Japan down to score their first goals ever in a World Cup and achieve a 3-1 victory in the opening tie in Group F. Trailing 1-0 from the 26th minute to a Nakamura goal following a huge error by goalie Mark Schwarzer, substitute Tim Cahill came off the bench to score 2 of the Socceroos 3 goals, all of which Japan conceded in an explosive final six minutes. Cahill’s second is another contender for goal of the tourament, his rasping shot from the edge of the area smashing against one post and flying along the line to go in just inside the other post. The third was scored in the last minute by John Aloisi.
In truth the Aussies deserved their win with Kawaguchi by far the busier of the two keepers, with Zico’s team trying to defend their lead in contrast to the carefree abandon that their coach showed as a player. With the wily Guus Hiddink in charge, Australia are strong contenders to finish second in Group F (assuming that Brazil take the group seriously enough to win it).

The match with Croatia will be particularly interesting;  a number of the Socceroos, such as Viduka and Skoko have Croatian roots while a few players in the Croatian squad grew up down under but preferred to represent the nation of their forefathers e.g. Seric and Didulica.

In contrast with tough encounters against Croatia to follow Japan look destined to go home early.

The last time Portugal met Angola in  a “friendly” 2001 the match had to be abandoned at 5-1 to Portugal as the Angolan had their fifth player sent off. This time the match was much closer with a fourth minute goal by Portugal’s all-time leading goalscorer Pedro Pauleta enough to give Portugal victory over their former colony in yesterday’s match.

Portugal started strongly with Pauleta almost scoring after a few seconds and when he eventually did, it looked likely that the floodgates would open. However, the Portuguese became arrogant with Cristiano Ronaldo indulging in unnecessary showmanship and the Angolans grew in confidence. Akwa tried the spectacular with two attempts at unlikely overhead kicks but found only air both times. The second half was a drab affair but Figo showed throughout that he still has despite beig in the twilight of his career.

Portugal will have to improve their attitude if they do not want to suffer the ignominy of an early exit as in 2002.

There was something unconvincing about Mexico’s win over Iran. On paper they were undoubtedly the stronger team and the end result of 3-1 would seem to suggest this was true. But the match today told a slightly different story.

Iran started strong, constructing a lot and coming close to scoring twice with Vashid Hashemian. It was Mexico that took the lead after 28 minutes with Omar Bravo, but it wasn’t long until Iran equalised after 8 minutes with Yahya Golmohammadi. The first half ended 1-1: a just result, with Iran looking overall slightly stronger than Mexico, and arguably deserving more.
In the second period Mexico controlled the game much more and the Iranians didn’t seem to try as hard, failing to find the intensity they had displayed in the first half. Nevertheless, they managed to cling on to the draw until, in the 76 minute, a defensive blunder by Razaei allowed Brasilian born Zinha to slip a perfect ball to Omar Bravo, who netted his second. Iran had officially given up by this stage, and only 3 minutes later 163cm tall Zinha scored an impressive header to make it 3-1.

All in all, this was not a comfortable win for Mexico, although they shouldn’t have any problems progressing to the next stage. As for Iran, it’s a shame they didn’t manage to come away with at least a point: with a little more self belief in the next two games they could still hope to make it through to the last 16.

Arjen Robben gave Holland a 1-0 victory over Serbia & Montenegro in Leipzig this afternoon. In a tight encounter, Robben ran on to Van Persie’s flicked pass to coolly slot past keeper Jevric in the 18th minute. S&M created a few half chances mainly through the dangerous wing play of Olympiakos’s Predrag Djordjevic, and Ognjen Koroman added some impetus with his introduction shortly before half-time.

In the second half, Nikola Zigic, the tallest outfield player in the tournament replaced Savo Milosevic, but saw little of the ball as S&M almost seemed to accept a 1-0 defeat as a good result. Ljuboja brought more energy, but Holland always looked dangerous on the break and had Robben not been so selfish and passed to better placed team-mates rather than shooting on several occasions, Holland might have increased the margin of victory. The match reaffirmed our belief that Group C will be extremely tight.

When your coach resigns 4 days before the biggest tournament in your country’s history things must be going badly wrong. But then things see to have been going wrong ever since Togo qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time. Otto Pfister’s resignation came in the wake of a long running dispute over bonuses. The players had refused to play unless they were each paid appearance bonuses of £100,000, win bonuses of £20,000 and £10,000 per draw. When the Togo FA refused to clear these, the players boycotted training sessions and it was at this point that Pfister decided he had had enough and quit.

This is not the first time that such a dispute has arisen. Back in January a similar row almost resulted in Togo not participating in the African Nations Cup. While the dispute was eventually resolved, it badly affected Togo’s performances and they crashed out of the tournament with scoring a goal.

It’s understandable that players look for and deserve reward for achieving success, especially when they come from one of the poorest countries in the world. They also have the right to feel angry when promises are not delivered. At the same time, the opportunity to play in a World Cup should provide enough motivation even if it is for free. The Togolese players should derive enough satisfaction from the joy the are giving their long suffering compatriots by representing them on a world stage. Further if it is finances they are concerned about, what better way to secure their futures than by catching the eye at a major tournament and securing a lucrative transfer. Refusing to play over money leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

Argentina prevailed 2-1 in last night’s Group of Death opener in Hamburg. First half goals from Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola put the albiceleste in control, before Didier Drogba’s late strike breathed life into the match and made it a nervy last ten minutes.

The match was easily the best of the World Cup so far, with two high class teams playing open attacking football. Argentina should have taken the lead following Roberto Ayala’s powerful header which goalkeeper Tizie appeared to fumble across the line early in the first half, but the linesman failed to spot this and play continued. However, with Riquelme pulling the strings it was not long before they went ahead. First, Crespo bundled in his teasing cross and then Saviola ran on to his perfectly weighted slide-rule pass for a neat second. Keita should have pulled one back but his point-blank header from Drogba’s clever flick was straight at Abbondanzieri.

In the second half, Henri Michel made a series of attacking substitutions which almost paid off. In contrast Pekerman withdrew Riquelme and Saviola and Argentina began to sit back. Too often however, selfishness cost the Ivorians as Dindane in particular looked to go it alone rather than pass to a better placed team-mate. Their persistence paid off in the 82nd minute when Drogba converted Boka’s cross but their was no dream finish.
Argentina are the most impressive team we have seen so far. With players like Messi and Tevez still to feature, their squad has a lot of depth, more so than the likes of Germany and England. As for the Ivorians, their first appearance in a World Cup was excellent and the Dutch and the Serbs must be concerned. Based on performances to date , I would rank them second behind Argentina. It’s a shame that only two teams can qualify from this group.

Trininad & Tobago pulled off a remarkable result against Sweden in the afternoon match in Dortmund yesterday. The smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, held the Swedes to a 0-0 draw despite having to play almost the entire second half with 10 men following the dismissal of Avery John for two robust challenges. The Swedes created numerous chances but came up against a wall in the form of goalkeeper Shaka Hislop who pulled off a series of remarkable saves. Hislop was a last minute replacement for Kelivin Jack, T&T’s number one who injured himself in the warm-up. T&T were almost rewarded for Beenhakker’s boldness in sending on an extra attacker following the sending off, when Glen’s vicious shot crashed against the crossbar.

Ultimately it was Sweden’s lack of ideas in midfield which cost them, as they relied too heavily on the trio of Ibrahimovic, Larsson and Ljungberg to create. Linderoth was functional (which is not what was needed) and Sweden would have been better off starting with Kallstrom’s passing and vision. The match against Paraguay is now crucial for the Swedes and the Paraguayans must be confident based on yesterday’s showing. England were ultimately the main beneficiaries of this result.

A third minute own goal by Carlos Gamarra gave England a 1-0 win in the opening match of Group B. In a dour encounter in Frankfurt, England struggle to impose themselves against a competitive Paraguay. With beanpole Peter Crouch the focus, England’s long ball style was ineffective and they failed to create any real chances of note.

Paraguay were poor in the first half but improved in the second as questionable tactical decisions from Eriksson played into the South Americans’ hands. The withdrawal of Owen created a huge gap between midfield and attack and England began to sit back and play the “catenaccio” style which cost them at Euro 2004. With Valdez increasingly dangerous and substitute Cuevas starting to run at their defence, the English started to look nervous, losing possession easily.

But Paraguay failed to translate their second half territorial dominance into clear cut opportunities and England held on. The highlight of the second half was probably Robinson’s goal kick hitting the massive TV screen suspended above the pitch.

On this evidence, England seem vastly overhyped. The team lacks creativity and movement in attack in the absence of Rooney and catenaccio will not worry the likes of Brazil or Argentina.

We all remember those classic moments - Baggio’s goal against the Czech Republic at Italia ‘90, Maradona’s goal against England at Mexico ‘86, Carlos Alberto in the World Cup final at the Azteca Stadium in 1970. Germany 2006 has already produced two great goals to remember - Torsten Frings and Philip Lahm against Costa Rica. Here is a selection of the best goals of the past. Enjoy!

The opening match of this year’s World Cup set a new benchmark for the number of goals scored in the official opening game of a World Cup Finals tournament. Germany’s 4-2 victory finally put an end to the tradition which has seen low scoring matches, shock results (e.g. Argentina’s defeat to Belgium in 1982) and nervy wins for the favourites (e.g. Brazil’s 2-1 victory over Scotland at France 1998).

Opening matches

1966 (England): England v Uruguay 0-0

1970 (Mexico): Mexico v Soviet Union 0-0

1974 (Germany): Brazil v Yugoslavia 0-0

1978 (Argentina): West Germany v Poland 0-0

1982 (Spain): Argentina v Belgium 0-1

1986 (Mexico): Italy v Bulgaria 1-1

1990 (Italy): Argentina v Cameroon 0-1

1994 (USA): Germany v Bolivia 1-0

1998 (France): Brazil v Scotland 2-1

2002 (Japan/Korea): France v Senegal 0-1

2006 (Germany) Germany v Costa Rica 4-2