The not-so beautiful game
If last night’s semifinal between Italy and Germany was a celebration of football, tonight’s clash between France and Portugal came close to being an abherration of the beautiful game.
Neither of the teams seemed to be overly bothered with securing a ticket to Berlin: after a lively start, the Portuguese were more concerned about perfecting their diving skills in the hope of being awarded a generous penalty (no presents from the referee but why didn’t he book them once for that?), while France looked like they were always in control, despite no texactly trying very hard.
All in all it was a very boring encounter that resembled more an average group stage match than a semi-final… There was a goal, for France, of course: Zidane coolly slotted in a penalty awarded after Carvalho’s foul on Henry in the 33rd minute. And that was pretty much it. Portugal never looked like a real threat, and the impression they gave was that had the match lasted 180 minutes or more, they would have still failed to put one in.
Maybe had they had a proper striker (can someone explain us how Pauleta managed to score 47 goals in 83 international appearances?), things could have been different. It wasn’t meant to be: the French curse continues for the Portuguese, and Zidane and co are now off to Berlin to face Italy on Sunday 9 July.
Make no mistake: they will have to step up one or two gears if they want to have a chance to beat the mighty Italians.
July 6th, 2006 at 8:43
Is it just me or are Portugal the most annoying team in this World Cup? Their theatrics against Holland, England, and France seem to know no bounds. Scolari is from the school of winning at every cost, and cheating is just another path to victory. After the game Scolari and Ronaldo blamed the defeat on the ref, rather than their absolute lack of ambition and a game-plan based on gamesmanship. As for Scolari being a great coach, you can see his game plan and substitutions last night and wonder how he ever managed to make it as a football coach.
July 6th, 2006 at 9:17
Have to disagree. Scolari is a great coach. To take a Portugal team lacking the calibre and experience of the heavyweights (Italy, France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil) to the semi finals is very very credible. Albeit, dubious tactics and gamesmanship aside, they surpassed their pre-tournament objective.
Scolari has done well with the players at his disposal - doubt anyone else could have taken them this far. As for Pauleta, it’s time to hang up his boots - after his hat-trick against Poland in the 2002 WCup, never really performed in tournament football.
Shame on the BBC though, very tabloid-like commentary on the match.
Great, another familiar name on the trophy (again). Atleast it’s not the mediocre England team…..