Spain wins FIFA, Netherlands deseRvED ignominious defeat

Spain – the “Masters of midfield” dominated the FIFA 2010 Cup final towards a well “fought” victory over Netherlands in a battle of cards. Iniesta scored a well deserved goal as he was the main tormentor of the Netherlands midfield and defense as he repeatedly made forays into danger territory. Netherlands played a typical game similar to tbeir victory over Uruguay and Brazil.

The game

The game started with character, both teams trying to control possession and start the attacks. Ramoes came through well for Spain with a couple of great runs and close attacks. Alas the attacks also drew fire (foot) from the Netherlands and the card games began. Netherlands drew 2 cautions while spain drew level very quickly. The possessions were close while the “Orange” defense was pretty strong. The Netherlands players seem to magically materialize at both ends of the ground very quickly. It felt like there were more orange shirts than black. Netherlands were pushing spain to pass and make mistakes and were also trying to kick them down. One particular kick by ”Nigel De Jong” landed on Xabi Alanso’s chest. Should have been a direct Red card, but he was left off with a caution. At the end of first half the card score was 3-2 with Netherlands in the lead, while the goal score was 0-0.

The second half saw more action and attacks on the goals. Netherlands also started attacking and creating chances. Holes in both defenses were exploited repeatedly, only to be thwarted by goal keepers at the last moment. (Robben and Fabregas had wonderful opportunities in front of the goal post by some excellent saves by the Goal keepers denied the scores).

The 2nd half ended with many more shots at the goal, but score line as 0=0. But Netherlands was a clear victor in the card game with many more cards in its pocket.

Extra time & the Goal

The first area of extra time also went scoreless. Torres was brought it from Spain for the 2nd half of the extra time. Heitinga was cautioned the 2nd time against Iniesta and was packed off the game. It was only 4 minutes before going for penalty shoot-outs when Fabregas who found iniesta. Iniesta has been making breaks repeatedly into the Netherlands territory and was fouled and floored repeatedly by the Orange. He found a good angle and bounce that beat Maarten stekelenburg to the one and only goal of the match. Glory to Spain!!!!

The vanquished

For Netherlands, the mistake lay in their approach to the game. I had been a fan of the Netherlands team in earlier times with Gullit and Marco Van Basten showed much promise. But the current team seems concentrating much on physical attacks and histrionics to win. Robben plays a well rehearsed routine of falling at convenient locations for free-kicks and the team could have made a better impact if as a whole they had concentrated more on the game rather than the attacks. Netherlands had committed 28 fouls in this single match and got 7 yellow cards and 1 Red. Even after fouls and cards they still continue to play the same game of deception, cheating and acting. That they can force teams like Spain to attack back in defense is telling on the impact of such notoriety on the game.

The worst part is the pride they show in playing nasty. Shame on them and Shame on their coach!!!

The Winners

Congrats to Spain for bringing back beauty to the game. They won the FIFA fair play award. Vicente Del Bosque is so composed and well mannered and was encouraging his players even as they missed the goal posts at the fag end of the game. Great guy and the team reflects the good approach with clean takes.
May their tribe grow!!

And oh!. Paul proved he is the best sooth sayer by getting one more right (of course, he was right on the Germany-Uruguay Semi finals too). In fact he has got 8 out of 8 in this world cup.!

Spaniards “Pass” their way through Germans and onto Finals in a clean game

Spain – The team of “one thousand passes”, passed their way nicely through the stoic German defense and onto the finals for the first time.

Spain with Torres rested, dominated the game from the beginning – at one point having as much as 70% possession. They held the ball and moved it all around until the box area. There they had to contend with the German “wall”. Seemed like Germany had planned to defend more than attack. They allowed the Spanish team to move the ball freely up to the box and executed very less offensive runs – in fact Only one run in the first half.

Spain had multiple shots at the goal, but they were poorly executed – Alonso had 3 shots that went away from the goal post in varying degrees. A wonderful header by Puyol went over the crossbar while a sliding attempt earlier by Villa was stopped by the Goal keeper few feet ahead of the goal post. On the other hand, Germany made only one attempt which was more accurate and saved by a Whisker. First half ended with no goals for either team.

Spain dominated the 2nd half in similar fashion, but brought the ball to the goal post more frequently. Finally in the 73rd Puyol rose above ordinary to head a wonderful goal from a corner shot. Great aim, Great Finish. The German team suddenly woke up and changed their play from defense to attack, taking more possession and moving bravely into the Spain area – as if they had nothing to lose. This was what was missing in the first half and the earlier part of the 2nd one.

Torres coming as substitute, missed a wonderful chance at opening his account, when Pedro failed to pass to him in front of the goal post with only the Goalie to cover. The final few minutes saw some aggressive and good attempts by Germany, but all ended well for the Spanish team to ensure their first foray into the Finals!

Appreciation for both the teams for a clean and entertaining game of football (No Yellow cards from either side). Gives hope for clean football after seeing the likes of Chile, Ivory coast and even Netherlands to an extent , going more for the foot than the ball.

If Spain learns a thing or two from Germans on shot accuracy, they should have no problem in getting a score of 5-x in the finals.

Paul was correct once again.

Netherlands’ players good Actors. Fake their way to a European finals.

Uruguay-Netherlands match ended with a 2-3 win for the latter, effectively snubbing out the last South American team from the tournament. The brazil-defeaters kept up their reputation as tormentors of South American teams and continued their winning streak in this world cup – winning all their matches till now.

The score line does not give the complete picture though. For the first 20 minutes, Netherlands dominated the match with possession and good attacks. Their dynamic plays resulted in a wonderful goal in the 18th minute from skipper Van Bronckhorst. Around the 30th minute, Uruguay suddenly started coming back strongly by making plays and creating chances. Forlan’s left footer was a beauty to have found its mark in the 41st minute.

In the second half, although Uruguay had good possession of the ball in the midfield – in fact they were getting the ball at will from the Netherlands players, many times the throw-ins from Netherlands were directly picked up by Uruguay players, they were not able to dominate the box on either side. Their attacks seem to lose steam as they reach the goal area and their defense was slow to react. Uruguay even got a wonderful chance to equalize in the last 10 secs of injury time - Would have pulled the match into overtime, but the lacked strike to convert.

Of course, Netherlands had another ace up its sleeve. Netherlands had to give a lot of credit to its star actors – Robben, Mark Van Bommel played the lead roles while Persie and Wesley Sneijder provded to be good supporting actors. In fact the first Netherlands goal itself could have been disallowed for an unwanted “attack” on an Uruguay defender. Persie and Robben were so ready to fall, squirm, and fake just to start running again in seconds. Mark Van Bommel hit an Uruguay defender and rolled over and started clutching his own waist, all to limp for a few seconds and then to be back in action, truly the work of a genius – Shame on them.

Uruguay did fail to convert its chances, but Netherlands did not play as a team worthy of even being in the Finals on 11th.

12 member Netherlands beats 10 member Brazil

World cup becomes that much less important for many many fans as Brazil is beaten by Netherlands 2-1.

After a super quick pass in the 10th minute that Robinho converted, Brazil was coasting nicely during half time. Kaka was getting his foot on the ball and had some nice shots on the goal.
The game after half time was a completely different story, a self goal and later another header from Sneijder put Brazil behind.

But what kept them behind was some very physical play by the Netherlands and convenient Referreeing. Referee "Yuichi NISHIMURA" of Japan was consistently partial towards Netherlands players. Of course Brazil's Melos "earned" the Red card, but by the same token, Netherlands should have gotten atleast 5 more cards. In many instances, Brazil players had to play the ball and pull one or sometimes two opponents. Kaka was marked, and repeatedly fouled against and many Netherland players -mainly Persie, Robben adn Sneijder can easily earn some Oscars for very good acting.

Fifa should start making the games stricter in order to preserve the beauty of the game that is getting tarnished by physical attacks and Fake moves.

Brazil lost, but not purely to better football.

Brazil marches ahead..

With Kaka and Robinho back in the attack, Brazil did a good job of marching ahead towards quarter finals, beating Chile 3-0.

Chile looked promising during the initial periods, having good possession and even executing some runs towards the goal, but once Juan Headed a regulation corner shot into the goal, Chile seemed to fall apart.

Brazil showed some glimpses of their famous/quick counter attacks that have taken teams by surprise. Both the goals - by Fabiano and by Robinho were very quick moves that left the opponents with little time to react.

Kaka could not shine much, hope he does so in the quarters and later.

Brazil, Brazil, where art thou?

The Brazil-Portugal y'day was a stalemate in more ways than one. With Kaka disqualified, Elano injured and Robinho as substitute, Brazil lacked the zing in terms of swift moves and accurate attacks.
The attacks lacked sting and were not controlled well enough.

Although Kaka and Elano were expected to be out on the sidelines, thought this would be a chance to see some pyrotechnics from Robinho - It was not to be and turned out to be quite a dull contest.

Hope the three come out rested and fresh for future contests.

Brazil comes unscathed, Ivory coast plays more "Foot" than ball

It is obvious that there is some Foot in Football, but Ivory coast literally took to the heals and played a mean and physical 90 minute routine against Brazil. The game was full of nudges, hits, kicks and holds.
Brazil could scrape through with Fabiano scoring once with his foot, once with his "hands". Kaka helped Elano score an elegant third and Brazil were safely through.

The last 30 mins of the game was like a gladiator match. It was like watching the last quarter of NBA basketball, as the game went in fits and starts, a stoppage every few mins.

Glad Brazil could pass this grueling test. Wish Ivory coast does not make to the round of 16 with so blatant a game.

Brazil, Beware of the Argentine Army

Watched the Argentina-SouthKora match. Check out the here - http://xr.com/gimz
Argentina played excellent football, great possession, excellent passes, no-foul takeovers from the Koreans, and some good striking.
They handled the freekicks the best – getting as close to the goals, rather than wasting them with uncontrolled shots as other teams. The strikes were slow, deliberate and well planned.

The result might as well be 14-1 (yeah, no typos) – There were 22 shots and 18 freekicks.

Brazil, better beware!

Brazil survives scare, Maicon to the rescue

Mighty Brazil Vs Minnow North Korea – How it turned out ?

First half: Max possession by Brazil – 60% plus. A few attempts. No success. North Korea into long periods of Solid defense and bursts of a couple of attacks.
Brazil players – Trying to no end
NK Players – Wall is their middle name
Coach Dunga – Tense as hell (Can these guys see the goal post?)
Commentators – Initially “Fantastic contest”, after 30 mins – Zapped
Brazil fans in the stands – Crest fallen!, (What are they doing?)
Brazil fans watching T.V – Is this Brazil?

End of First half: Everyone waiting to see more aggression from Brazil an dlapse in concentration from North Korea

Second Half: Max possession again by Brazil, but more aggression and more attempts. Attempts are better – Either due to better coordination or the tired legs of Korean players.

55th Min: Unbelievable angle from Micon, almost from the end line , parallel to the goal post, ball passes between the goalie and the goal post and curves to end up nicely in the middle of the net on the other side of the goal. Just unbelievable.
One of the commentators mentioned in the first half about the need of “Divine intervention” and it looked like the god of football just sent out a gust of wind to curve the ball at the right angle!
Brazil players – Relaxed after the emotional celebration
NK Players – Resigned to fate
Coach Dunga – First signs of smile.
Commentators – Talks of Brazils historical record of good opening matches
Brazil fans in the stands – Erupting, samba drums and colors come out
Brazil fans watching T.V – Hey, things are back to normal finally!!

All are awake and excited and the stands are erupting. Elano gets a nice pass from Robinho later to put it 2/0.

Korea did show its Mettle with a nice goal from Ji in 89th minute. Great achievement from a player and a team that was written off at every instant.

Hope Brazil sheds complacency, regroups itself quickly, puts in more aggression in the attacks and learns a thing or two on the defense from DPR (North Korea).

Fifa2010 - Schedule for Indian fans

Schedule for Indian fans of all the matches in IST (Courtesy "The Hindu")

From Citi Notes