footballspectator

If anyone ever asks you why you love football, hand them a DVD of last night’s World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany. To those that say “a goal-less match is dull” say “watch the first 90 minutes of this game” and then ask them if their opinion has changed. This match defined why football is called the beautiful game. It’s beautiful because it’s cruel, because a match can be decided in an instant, because a team can dominate and still be in danger of losing.

With one minute left to play, Italy fans were fearing that this would happen. Their team had dominated from the start displaying an attacking gusto not traditionally associated with Italian teams. They had created numerous chances but not converted them having been denied either by Lehmann or the frame of the goal.

To make things worse, Germany had played the role of villain, (usually played by the Italians) perfectly. There were decisions that went in their favour - notably a non-existent free kick on the edge of the box with minutes of normal time left. They did not return the ball when   Italy kicked the ball out of play for an injured player to receive treatment. Ballack dived constantly but was never booked. They also had chances in the dying minutes - Podolski’s free header which he put wide, his shot which was saved by Buffon. To score now though would reduce the torture. It was all set up for that classic sting in the tail. Penalties were looming and as every fan knows a penalty shoot-out against Germany equates to a defeat. The editors of La Gazzetta and Tuttosport were putting their finishing touches to their morning headlines: “Heroic Italy fall in penalty shoot-out“, “The curse of the penalties strikes again”.

Then in an instant, everything changed. Andrea Pirlo’s clever reverse pass found Fabio Grosso, whose curling shot beat Jens Lehmann to put the Azzurri ahead - euphoria. “But wait! this is Germany, they might still pull it back!“, cried the fans. The doubt began to set in.

Every great drama needs a hero and one minute later, Gilardino found Del Piero the man who is still blamed for Italy’s defeat to France in Euro 2000. The Juve man took the ball in his stride and shot the ball past Lehmann to become that hero and finally give Italy the victory that their performance deserved. If France win tomorrow, he will have a chance to take his revenge and complete his rennaissance in the biggest final of them all.

The penalty shoot-out is one of the most testing events that a professional footballer will have to endure in his career. Unless he is Belgian, or Korean or, of course, German. In fact most nationalities other than English or Italian.

This is according to statistics published in today’s “The Times“. Belgium and South Korea enjoy a perfect 5 out of 5. More remarkable however is the fact that Germany have only missed 1 of the 18 shootout penalties they have taken, Uli Stieleke’s in the 1982 semi against France. In contrast Italy’s and England’s success rate of around 50% looks pathetic. So if it goes to penalties tomorrow, there is only ever going to be one winner…

[from “The Times“]

Ramon Calderon triumphed in yesterday’s vote to take over the presidency of Real Madrid following Florentino Perez’s resignation following the faillure of his “galacticos” project. Calderon, Marca’s preferred candidate will now install former striker Predrag Mijatovic as his Director of Football. As has become the tradition in Spanish club presidential elections, Calderon promised he would deliver some big signings if elected: Juve coach Fabio Capello, Arjen Robben of Chelsea, Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal and Kaka of Milan. Whether these signings materialise remains to be seen. Barcelona’s Joan Laporta was elected on his promise of delivering David Beckham, who ended up signing for Real…..

What a difference a year (or two) makes. Two summers ago Greece were celebrating being crowned European champions. A year later, they are left wondering when they will play international football again as FIFA suspended them from all international competition over government interference in the sport. The ban extends to the involvement in international club competitions. A spokesman for the Hellenic Football Federation claimed that “it was not something we had expected“. This is a strange statement to make given that FIFA had warned that a ban would follow as early as 2004 unless the state stopped interfering. Instead of heeding the warning however, the Greek sports minister George Orfanos introduced a law effectively legalising state intervention in the sport. Since then there has been constant bickering between the HFF and the government leading to today’s embarrassing outcome. Only in Greece….

Juninho Pernambucano and Roberto Carlos have both retired from internation football. Juninho, 31,who has been critical of Brazil’s performances at this World Cup, said it was time for the thirty-somethings to retire to allow the rebuilding of the squad for 2010 to begin. Roberto Carlos followed his team-mate’s advice, retiring after 132 matches and 11 goals for the Seleçao at the age of 33.

Finally, Asia’s first football superstar Hidetoshi Nakata retired from football altogether at the age of 29. Nakata was the original  pioneer, showing Europeans that the combination of the words “Japanese” and “footballer” were not a bad joke as he played for clubs such as Perugia, Roma, Parma, Fiorentina, Marseilles and Bolton. Nakata’s last match is probably going to be one he would want to forget, a 4-1 thrashing by Brazil….

Germany will have to do without influential Torsten Frings in tomorrow’s semi-final against Italy in Dortmund. FIFA suspended Frings for one match for “violent conduct” for his part in the mass brawl which started after Germany’s penalty shoot out win over Argentina. Frings was caught on camera directing a couple of “punches” at Julio Cruz.

If the following is deemed violent conduct, Maxi Rodriguez and Leandro Cufre should probably expect jail sentences for launching a flying punch at Schweinsteiger and karate kicking Mertesacker respectively..

Zinedine Zidane gave a footballing masterclass last night as France deservedly knocked out favourites Brazil last night in Frankfurt . He showed that he can still turn it on at 34 and that when he does, no one can match him, not even current World player of the year Ronaldinho. His touch was sublime, his passing pinpoint, his repertoire of skills mesmeric. On top of that he delivered end product - it was his cross which Henry volleyed home for the only goal of the game.

Brazil started well as their new formation, with Adriano dropped in favour of Juninho Pernambucano, looked more mobile. Ronaldinho at last looked like he was going to have a good game, with a couple of intelligent passes. But he quickly faded and ZZ took control.  He was so good was ZZ that at halftime Robinho stepped off the bench to shale the big man’s hand. His level of performance continued in the second half and as Brazil pressed for an equaliser, he and Ribery began to exploit the spaces left at the back. The champions never really threatened however and the French, so poor in the group stages but brilliant in the knockout rounds booked their place in the semis.

Brazil must now return home to face the ire of their fans. With the talent that they have in their squad their performances have been a disgrace. They thought they just had to turn up to win. Their stars were clearly out of shape and out of form. A lot of the blame must be Parreira’s - he did not prepare them properly and persisted with Ronaldo and Cafu despite their poor performances. He also moved Brazil away from their traditional style - which confused the players and a result they played as if shackled. France look hungry and if they can keep up this performance level, they will surely lift the trophy on 9 July.

In a poor match, Portugal beat England in Gelsenkirchen yesterday to make the semi-finals for the first time since 1966. The match really came alive following the dismissal of Wayne Rooney on 62 minutes for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho’s delicate region. It is difficult to know whether Rooney’s actions were intentional. The replay seems to indicate not and there wasn’t much space for Rooney to plant his foot elsewhere. However, if it was intentional his red card was fully deserved.

From then on, for England it became a matter of holding out for penalties, which they did quite comfortably mainly because Portugal lacked a cutting edge but also because of big performances from Terry, Ferdinand and the much maligned Hargreaves. Portugal themselves also seemed to be looking for penalties, with Scolari strangely taking off Pauleta to leave Portugal without a recognised centre-forward for several minutes. Eriksson brought on Crouch who once again showed just how far off he is from being an international player - his touch was awful and he kept falling over.

In the shoot out it was obvious that England would lose - they always do. Ricardo saved from England’s supposed “big game” players Lampard and Gerrard as well as Carragher before Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home to send the Portuguese wild. So another overhyped England team goes crashing out. The team contributed nothing during the tournament and their heroic rearguard action and penalty exit will probably alter this impression and many will believe that England were unlucky - they weren’t, they just weren’t good enough.

Much has been made at this World Cup about the size of Ronaldo’s waistline. He arrived at the World Cup weighing over 95 kg, 13 kg above his normal “fighting weight”. The question is what made him so fat? At footballspectator, we believe we have found the answer. He seems to have Coke’s slogan: “Eat football. Sleep football. Drink Coca-Cola” rather too literally……

It seems Argentineans have forgiven Jose Pekerman for the mistakes that he made in the match against Germany. Shortly after the match with Germany, Pekerman announced he would be leaving his post. Major newspapers Clarin and La Nacion immediately launched polls asking whether Pekerman should continue. The results were heavily in favour of Pekerman continuing to be the manager with over 74% of readers voting this way in each poll. If Pekerman stands by his word, the fans would like to see ex Atletico Madrid and Boca Juniors coach Carlos Bianchi to take his place.

An inhabitant of the tiny Bavarian village of Konzel discovered an eery correlation between German victories and a local festivity called “Kirta Sonntag”, a religious celebration which takes place annually on the first Sunday after 4 July:

1954: West Germany wins the World Cup in Switzerland on 4 July, the same day as Kirta Sonntag.

1974: The “Nationalmannschaft” lift the World title on home soil on Sunday 7 July, again Kirta Sonntag.

1990: Brehme’s penalty hands West Germany victory over Argentina in Rome on 8 July. Yes you guessed it, Kirta Sonntag.

This year’s final in Berlin also falls on Kirta Sonntag and the locals of the “modern oracle of Delphi” (as the Germans have taken to calling Konzel) are convinced that Klinsmann’s squad will be crowned World champions. So far their prediction is looking good with the team safely through to the semi-finals.

The Italians have had an easy draw with the Czech Republic being the only big name they have faced so far. The Ukraine proved no match as Italy breezed through 3-0, hardly having to break sweat. They now have a semi-final clash with hosts Germany on Tuesday to look forward to.

Italy opened the scoring early with the excellent Gianluca Zambrotta smashing a shot through the legs of a Ukrainian defender which Shovkovskiy should have saved. He only got a hand to it however and Italy were ahead. From the neutral’s point of view this was the worst thing that could ave happened as Italy sat back for the rest of the first half. The Ukraine were totally devoid of ideas and with little quality in their team never looked like getting an equaliser. Their one moment in the spotlight came early in the seocnd half when they created 3 chances in about a minute. First, Buffon made as superb save from Gusev’s header, smashing his own head against the post in the process, he then saved Gusev’s drive and Zambrotta cleared Kalinichenko’s effort on the rebound off the line.

Annoyed by the efforts of the Ukrainian upstarts, the Italians decided to put them back in their place. Serie A’s top scorer Luca Toni scored his first goal of the tournament, heading in Totti’s cross. His second followed a little later as he tapped in Zambrotta’s cross. Game over. As they celebrated, Cannavaro held up a flag in support of Gianluca Pessotto, ex-player and now Sporting Director at Juve who is in a serious condition in hospital following a suicide attempt earlier this week. Playing for Pessotto may just give Italy the motivation to go all the way.