Despite being knocked-out in the last 16 the USA still worked very hard to ruin last night's World Cup final.
The main part of this involved sending Los Angeles resident Vitalii Sediuk to invade the pitch at around 85 minutes. Describing himself as a "prankster" has suddenly risen to prominence at around the same time that the government in his native Ukraine was overthrown. At the Canne film festival in May 2014 he attacked US actress America Ferrera on the red carpet hiding under her dress. In June 2014 he attacked Brad Pitt on the red carpet of the LA premier of the film Maleficent leading to him being banned from all Hollywood events. At every single one of his stunts Sediuk has been the US' way of screaming; "Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine!"
Throughout the tournament pitch invasions have been used as shorthand for the pop-star Rihanna's rather disruptive Twitter commentary on the World Cup. Although I have been trying to diplomatically steer her in a better direction Rihanna's conduct throughout this tournament has been highly malicious and driven by a mistaken belief by her CIA handlers that the World Cup is a political event rather like the Olympics. The natural conclusion of this was that the US beer company Budweiser used part of their ticket allocation to bring Rihanna to last night's final in the sponsors section.
The main focus of Sediuk's stunt though was the VIP section which included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin who will host the next World Cup in 2018. The idea being to get Merkel and Putin talking about me, Rihanna and Ukraine in an effort to find out if it is possible to bring in more sanctions against Russia over its support for the Syrian government. The US' eyes and ears in the VIP section were supposed to be Lebron James or perhaps more accurately the security people looking after him.
The problem was that James filmed Sediuk's pitch invasion and immediately posted it on the Internet meaning that he provided really the only footage of the incident because the TV cameras immediately cut away. As a result James took full ownership of what his handlers were probably hoping would go unseen. I suppose there may have been some propaganda value to this by allowing the US to show its Gulf paymasters that it was taking action against the Russians. Due to the link to Dennis Rodman and "basketball diplomacy" there may also have been an attempt to provoke the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) who duly responded with a barrage of rocket fire against their southern neighbour. However given the tensions in the region I would think that the last thing the US want to be seen to be doing is antagonising the DPRK.
So I'm being charitable when I say that Lebron James made a huge fool of himself last night. I wonder if the people of Cleveland have realised yet that he's not returning. He's retiring.
Monday, 14 July 2014
Saturday, 12 July 2014
The Third Place Play-off.
Today at the World Cup has seen the third place play-off between Brazil and the Netherlands. Although the winners of this game get bronze medals and an extra USD 2 million is prize money for coming third it is simply not the final. As a result it is the game that nobody ever wants to play in and no-one really cares if they lose.
Added to some Brazilian defensive frailties that have recently become apparent the Dutch decided to abandoned their trademark tactical game in favour of just having a go at scoring. This paid off inside all of two minutes when Arjen Robben played a neat one two with Robin van Persie to get past the Brazilian defence and make a run into the penalty area. At this point Thiago Silva grabbed Robben firmly on the shoulder and pulled him to the ground. As Robben was still being pulled as he entered the penalty area this was a clear penalty and because Thiago Silva was the last man he should have received a straight red card and been sent off. However keeping with the exhibition spirit of the game the Algerian referee - Djamel Haimoudi - showed remarkable restraint and only showed Thiago Silva a yellow card. He did award the penalty though which van Persie blasted home to put the Netherlands 1-0 up.
Although as a neutral I think this was the worst possible start for the game Robben's charging run did highlight why I think he should win the Golden Ball award for the player of the tournament. While I appreciate that Robben isn't exactly popular in Mexico and hasn't really been rewarded with the goals his performances have been first rate and relentless in every game he's played and without him the Dutch would have just been rather good then the third best team in the tournament. In my eyes that clearly makes him the player of the tournament.
Brazil's defensive frailties very much came to the fore in the 16th minute when the Dutch put a pretty meaningless cross into the penalty area. This quickly found the head of David Luiz who - for some reason - decided to ignore the one bit of advice that defenders are given from about the age of 5 years old and simply head the ball out for a corner. Instead David Luiz headed the ball back into his own penalty area perfectly setting up Daley Blind who neatly slotted the ball into the top corner to put the Dutch 2-0 up.
This is where everyone started to become very worried for Brazil because in their last match they also found themselves 2-0 down inside 20 minutes which prompted them to completely collapse leaving them 5-0 down inside 30 minutes. On this occasion though Brazil managed to hold it together and not only didn't concede anymore goals but also started pressing forward to get back in the game.
Brazil were though hampered by a pretty dirty performance from the Dutch. For example in the 28th minute Bruno Martins Indi very subtly caught Oscar on his studs as he went by. This was just enough to knock Oscar off balance bringing him to the ground but the contact was so light you barely would have noticed it. The referee did notice it though and Martins Indi was warned but not booked. About 2 minutes later van Persie did almost exactly the same thing to Ramires preventing him from launching an attack. Then in the 43rd minute Ron Vlaar did an absolutely crunching tackle on Ramires straight in the centre of the shin. Although a free-kick was awarded Vlaar wasn't even booked when he could have well been looking at a red card.
The match sort of carried on like this into the second half until what had been a bad game for the referee came to a head with a monumental mistake in the 68th minute. Chasing the ball in the Dutch penalty area Oscar was just about to get past Blind when Blind stamped on his toes and crashed into his knee bringing him down. This again was a clear penalty but the referees response was show Oscar a yellow card for simulation. This was despite the impact of the clear contact being so severe that Blind himself was lying on the pitch having injured his knee. The Dutch team then immediately decided that Blind's injury was so severe that he had to be stretchered off to be replaced by Daryl Janmaat before the referee could catch up and correct his mistake.
One possible explanation for the referees poor performance is that the Netherlands' Head Coach Luis van Gaal has been at his mind games again. In his pre-match press conference he pretty much accused FIFA and everybody involved in the World Cup of fixing the competition to make sure that Brazil won. This was clearly intended to intimidate the referee into not being seen to be soft on Brazil and not to be seen to be hard on the Dutch. As a result I think van Gaal is going to be a very good fit at Manchester United. After all David Moyes has already proved that they can't win based on footballing ability.
Adding insult to injury Georginio Wijnaldum netted the Dutch's third in the 91st minute (90+ 5mins) giving them a 3-0 victory.
With Brazil's World Cup having drawn to a disappointing conclusion I have to say something about what I think went wrong. Despite their obvious defensive issues I think the main problem was this sort of cult Brazil built up around Neymar. Although this wasn't the greatest generation of Brazilian players they're not a bad team with Thiago Silva, Oscar, Willian, Ramires and David Luiz hardly being donkeys even if David Luiz would probably be happier as a mid-field player. However the team seem to have got it into their heads that they are a one man team built around their star player Neymar. So when injury forced Neymar out of the competition in the quarter-finals the whole team sort of mentally collapsed and convinced themselves they could no longer win. As a result they seem to have defeated themselves long before they ever stepped onto the pitch to face Germany.
Finally and going slightly off-topic I should point out that World Cup sponsor Budweiser have brought the popstar Rihanna to Rio to attend tomorrow's final. Budweiser's hope was that Rihanna's commentary so far would have created such a level of intrigue and interest that the World would flood to Budweiser's door to find out the amazing secret they hold. Personally if I was working the game I would look at the pitch invasions and ban the entire Budweiser delegation from the stadium due to them clearly being intent on causing trouble.
23:00 on 12/7/14 (UK date).
Added to some Brazilian defensive frailties that have recently become apparent the Dutch decided to abandoned their trademark tactical game in favour of just having a go at scoring. This paid off inside all of two minutes when Arjen Robben played a neat one two with Robin van Persie to get past the Brazilian defence and make a run into the penalty area. At this point Thiago Silva grabbed Robben firmly on the shoulder and pulled him to the ground. As Robben was still being pulled as he entered the penalty area this was a clear penalty and because Thiago Silva was the last man he should have received a straight red card and been sent off. However keeping with the exhibition spirit of the game the Algerian referee - Djamel Haimoudi - showed remarkable restraint and only showed Thiago Silva a yellow card. He did award the penalty though which van Persie blasted home to put the Netherlands 1-0 up.
Although as a neutral I think this was the worst possible start for the game Robben's charging run did highlight why I think he should win the Golden Ball award for the player of the tournament. While I appreciate that Robben isn't exactly popular in Mexico and hasn't really been rewarded with the goals his performances have been first rate and relentless in every game he's played and without him the Dutch would have just been rather good then the third best team in the tournament. In my eyes that clearly makes him the player of the tournament.
Brazil's defensive frailties very much came to the fore in the 16th minute when the Dutch put a pretty meaningless cross into the penalty area. This quickly found the head of David Luiz who - for some reason - decided to ignore the one bit of advice that defenders are given from about the age of 5 years old and simply head the ball out for a corner. Instead David Luiz headed the ball back into his own penalty area perfectly setting up Daley Blind who neatly slotted the ball into the top corner to put the Dutch 2-0 up.
This is where everyone started to become very worried for Brazil because in their last match they also found themselves 2-0 down inside 20 minutes which prompted them to completely collapse leaving them 5-0 down inside 30 minutes. On this occasion though Brazil managed to hold it together and not only didn't concede anymore goals but also started pressing forward to get back in the game.
Brazil were though hampered by a pretty dirty performance from the Dutch. For example in the 28th minute Bruno Martins Indi very subtly caught Oscar on his studs as he went by. This was just enough to knock Oscar off balance bringing him to the ground but the contact was so light you barely would have noticed it. The referee did notice it though and Martins Indi was warned but not booked. About 2 minutes later van Persie did almost exactly the same thing to Ramires preventing him from launching an attack. Then in the 43rd minute Ron Vlaar did an absolutely crunching tackle on Ramires straight in the centre of the shin. Although a free-kick was awarded Vlaar wasn't even booked when he could have well been looking at a red card.
The match sort of carried on like this into the second half until what had been a bad game for the referee came to a head with a monumental mistake in the 68th minute. Chasing the ball in the Dutch penalty area Oscar was just about to get past Blind when Blind stamped on his toes and crashed into his knee bringing him down. This again was a clear penalty but the referees response was show Oscar a yellow card for simulation. This was despite the impact of the clear contact being so severe that Blind himself was lying on the pitch having injured his knee. The Dutch team then immediately decided that Blind's injury was so severe that he had to be stretchered off to be replaced by Daryl Janmaat before the referee could catch up and correct his mistake.
One possible explanation for the referees poor performance is that the Netherlands' Head Coach Luis van Gaal has been at his mind games again. In his pre-match press conference he pretty much accused FIFA and everybody involved in the World Cup of fixing the competition to make sure that Brazil won. This was clearly intended to intimidate the referee into not being seen to be soft on Brazil and not to be seen to be hard on the Dutch. As a result I think van Gaal is going to be a very good fit at Manchester United. After all David Moyes has already proved that they can't win based on footballing ability.
Adding insult to injury Georginio Wijnaldum netted the Dutch's third in the 91st minute (90+ 5mins) giving them a 3-0 victory.
With Brazil's World Cup having drawn to a disappointing conclusion I have to say something about what I think went wrong. Despite their obvious defensive issues I think the main problem was this sort of cult Brazil built up around Neymar. Although this wasn't the greatest generation of Brazilian players they're not a bad team with Thiago Silva, Oscar, Willian, Ramires and David Luiz hardly being donkeys even if David Luiz would probably be happier as a mid-field player. However the team seem to have got it into their heads that they are a one man team built around their star player Neymar. So when injury forced Neymar out of the competition in the quarter-finals the whole team sort of mentally collapsed and convinced themselves they could no longer win. As a result they seem to have defeated themselves long before they ever stepped onto the pitch to face Germany.
Finally and going slightly off-topic I should point out that World Cup sponsor Budweiser have brought the popstar Rihanna to Rio to attend tomorrow's final. Budweiser's hope was that Rihanna's commentary so far would have created such a level of intrigue and interest that the World would flood to Budweiser's door to find out the amazing secret they hold. Personally if I was working the game I would look at the pitch invasions and ban the entire Budweiser delegation from the stadium due to them clearly being intent on causing trouble.
23:00 on 12/7/14 (UK date).
Friday, 11 July 2014
Ofz the Tournament.
With the 2014 World Cup preparing for its big finale and there being absolutely nothing on TV it seems like a good time to look back at the bests of the tournament.
For best match I think an honourable mention has to go to the Group B game between the Netherlands and Chile. Although this was a completely dead rubber with both teams having already qualified for the knock-out stages it did provide both sides with an opportunity to showcase how the tactical aspects of the game are supposed to work. As such both teams spent the first 75 minutes carefully choosing their positions on the pitch and precisely passing between themselves to mix probing attacks with periods of controlled possession in an effort to force the other to make a mistake. The Dutch of course then raised things in the last 15 minutes with Leroy Fer putting them 1-0 up in the 77th minute and Memphis Depay making sure of it in the 91st minute (90+ 3mins stoppage) with a goal that has stood him in good stead to in the young player of the tournament contest. However while this game had the football purists stroking their beards in admiration of the tactical display I think it lacked the excitement and passion to really qualify as the game of the tournament.
The opposite is probably true of the Group F game between Argentina and Iran. Although the football on display here was competent it was far from exemplary but that was more than made up for in the tension and drama of the match. As eventual finalists and counting the magician Lionel Messi amongst their ranks Argentina went into the game as clear favourites against an unfancied Iranian team that would eventually leave the competition with only 1 goal and a single point from a 0-0 draw against a mis-firing Nigeria. So great was Argentina's supposed superiority that there was an expectation that they wouldn't just defeat Iran but beat them by a margin that would equal Portugal's 7-0 defeat of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) at the 2010 World Cup or even threaten the all time World Cup finals winning margin of 10-1 that was set in the 1982 tournament when Hungary defeated El Salvador.
As a result I - as a neutral - spent the first 15-20 minutes thinking that at any second Argentina would start scoring and Iran would be destroyed. The next half an hour or so was spent thinking; "This is definitely going happen." Then as no goal came there was another 15-20 minutes where you started thinking that maybe it wasn't going to happen at all. Optimism started to raise its head at around 75 minutes when you started to think that not only might Iran not lose the match they may even go on to win. That hope was then dashed in the cruelest of ways when Messi turned on the magic in the 92nd minute with a spectacular 25 yard goal that saved Argentina's blushes but left all the neutrals slightly dejected but mainly emotionally exhausted.
I think the honour of "Game of the Tournament" though has to go to the Group B contest between Australia and the Netherlands. Again it had the David versus Goliath element of the Argentina V Iran game with the Netherlands coming in to the match off the back of a 5-1 trouncing of the reigning World Champions Spain against Australia coming in off the back of a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Chile. However Australia then produced a fast-paced pressing game that saw them press the Dutch at every opportunity which not only restricted the Dutch's trademark tactical game but also saw Australia displaying extensive tactical know-how of their own.
This produced as genuine end-to-end game with both sides matching each other almost blow for blow in attacking stakes. This was unlike say the Honduras V Ecuador game which only appeared end-to-end because both sides kept hoofing the ball from one end of the pitch to the other without producing any real chances. The Netherlands drew first blood in the 20th minute when Arjen Robben put them 1-0 up but very much setting the tone for the game Australia came back inside just 72 seconds when Tim Cahill levelled things with a spectacular volley. The game then turned in Australia's favour in the 52nd minute when Daryl Janmaat conceded a penalty the Mile Jedinak slotted away to give Australia an unexpected 2-1 lead. Again though the lead didn't last long with Robin van Persie equalising just 6 minutes later in the 58th minute. Australia very nearly took the lead again just 10 minutes later with Tommy Oar finding himself one-on-one with the Dutch 'keeper only resist taking a shot in favour of passing to an unprepared Matthew Leckie who fluffed his shot.
Just 40 seconds after that the Netherlands charged up the pitch and Memphis Depay let fly with a shot from 30-40 yards out. This proved to be the winning goal and rather summed up the game because Depay's shot was highly skilled and very impressive. However displaying almost equally impressive skill Mat Ryan - the Australian 'keeper saw the shot coming and dived with his hands being exactly where the ball should have been. Unfortunately the ball skimmed the pitch on its way in taking it just centimetres beyond Ryan's fingertips. So this great battle between the two sides was ultimately won and lost on luck alone.
As for the goal of the tournament every time I think about it quickly ends up giving me a headache. That's because I find myself saying things like; "Actually neither van Persie nor Robben's goals against Spain were really good enough" and that's normally a sign that you've started to lose your mind. However, in no particular order, my favourites include;
Gervinho's goal for Cote d'Ivorie against Columbia because it displayed the individual skill that took him past three defenders before blasting home a shot from deep inside the penalty area.
James Rodriguez's goal for Columbia against Uruguay because he first displayed the vision to get himself into space before chesting the ball to turn past the defender before volleying the ball home for 20-25 yards out.
Tim Cahill's goal for Australia against the Netherlands. As with Rodriuez's goal against Uruguay Cahill also showed great vision by getting himself into position before showing great skill by volleying the ball home from distance. However looking at them side by side I can't help but feel Cahill's goal is slightly better because the pass comes in from much further out and Cahill only needed the single touch to score a net buster of a goal.
Gonzalo Higuain's goal against Belgium. Although Higuain displayed great skill sweeping the ball into the net what really made this goal special for me was the skill shown by Messi whose dribbling pulled Vincent Kompany out of position before his pass found Di Maria who quickly passed it onto Higuain who had found the space where Kompany should have been. As such rather than showing a moment of brilliance from one player this goal showed three players of great skill combining to score and I think that element of teamwork is often forgotten in greatest goal competitions.
20:50 on 11/7/14 (UK date).
For best match I think an honourable mention has to go to the Group B game between the Netherlands and Chile. Although this was a completely dead rubber with both teams having already qualified for the knock-out stages it did provide both sides with an opportunity to showcase how the tactical aspects of the game are supposed to work. As such both teams spent the first 75 minutes carefully choosing their positions on the pitch and precisely passing between themselves to mix probing attacks with periods of controlled possession in an effort to force the other to make a mistake. The Dutch of course then raised things in the last 15 minutes with Leroy Fer putting them 1-0 up in the 77th minute and Memphis Depay making sure of it in the 91st minute (90+ 3mins stoppage) with a goal that has stood him in good stead to in the young player of the tournament contest. However while this game had the football purists stroking their beards in admiration of the tactical display I think it lacked the excitement and passion to really qualify as the game of the tournament.
The opposite is probably true of the Group F game between Argentina and Iran. Although the football on display here was competent it was far from exemplary but that was more than made up for in the tension and drama of the match. As eventual finalists and counting the magician Lionel Messi amongst their ranks Argentina went into the game as clear favourites against an unfancied Iranian team that would eventually leave the competition with only 1 goal and a single point from a 0-0 draw against a mis-firing Nigeria. So great was Argentina's supposed superiority that there was an expectation that they wouldn't just defeat Iran but beat them by a margin that would equal Portugal's 7-0 defeat of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) at the 2010 World Cup or even threaten the all time World Cup finals winning margin of 10-1 that was set in the 1982 tournament when Hungary defeated El Salvador.
As a result I - as a neutral - spent the first 15-20 minutes thinking that at any second Argentina would start scoring and Iran would be destroyed. The next half an hour or so was spent thinking; "This is definitely going happen." Then as no goal came there was another 15-20 minutes where you started thinking that maybe it wasn't going to happen at all. Optimism started to raise its head at around 75 minutes when you started to think that not only might Iran not lose the match they may even go on to win. That hope was then dashed in the cruelest of ways when Messi turned on the magic in the 92nd minute with a spectacular 25 yard goal that saved Argentina's blushes but left all the neutrals slightly dejected but mainly emotionally exhausted.
I think the honour of "Game of the Tournament" though has to go to the Group B contest between Australia and the Netherlands. Again it had the David versus Goliath element of the Argentina V Iran game with the Netherlands coming in to the match off the back of a 5-1 trouncing of the reigning World Champions Spain against Australia coming in off the back of a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Chile. However Australia then produced a fast-paced pressing game that saw them press the Dutch at every opportunity which not only restricted the Dutch's trademark tactical game but also saw Australia displaying extensive tactical know-how of their own.
This produced as genuine end-to-end game with both sides matching each other almost blow for blow in attacking stakes. This was unlike say the Honduras V Ecuador game which only appeared end-to-end because both sides kept hoofing the ball from one end of the pitch to the other without producing any real chances. The Netherlands drew first blood in the 20th minute when Arjen Robben put them 1-0 up but very much setting the tone for the game Australia came back inside just 72 seconds when Tim Cahill levelled things with a spectacular volley. The game then turned in Australia's favour in the 52nd minute when Daryl Janmaat conceded a penalty the Mile Jedinak slotted away to give Australia an unexpected 2-1 lead. Again though the lead didn't last long with Robin van Persie equalising just 6 minutes later in the 58th minute. Australia very nearly took the lead again just 10 minutes later with Tommy Oar finding himself one-on-one with the Dutch 'keeper only resist taking a shot in favour of passing to an unprepared Matthew Leckie who fluffed his shot.
Just 40 seconds after that the Netherlands charged up the pitch and Memphis Depay let fly with a shot from 30-40 yards out. This proved to be the winning goal and rather summed up the game because Depay's shot was highly skilled and very impressive. However displaying almost equally impressive skill Mat Ryan - the Australian 'keeper saw the shot coming and dived with his hands being exactly where the ball should have been. Unfortunately the ball skimmed the pitch on its way in taking it just centimetres beyond Ryan's fingertips. So this great battle between the two sides was ultimately won and lost on luck alone.
As for the goal of the tournament every time I think about it quickly ends up giving me a headache. That's because I find myself saying things like; "Actually neither van Persie nor Robben's goals against Spain were really good enough" and that's normally a sign that you've started to lose your mind. However, in no particular order, my favourites include;
Gervinho's goal for Cote d'Ivorie against Columbia because it displayed the individual skill that took him past three defenders before blasting home a shot from deep inside the penalty area.
James Rodriguez's goal for Columbia against Uruguay because he first displayed the vision to get himself into space before chesting the ball to turn past the defender before volleying the ball home for 20-25 yards out.
Tim Cahill's goal for Australia against the Netherlands. As with Rodriuez's goal against Uruguay Cahill also showed great vision by getting himself into position before showing great skill by volleying the ball home from distance. However looking at them side by side I can't help but feel Cahill's goal is slightly better because the pass comes in from much further out and Cahill only needed the single touch to score a net buster of a goal.
Gonzalo Higuain's goal against Belgium. Although Higuain displayed great skill sweeping the ball into the net what really made this goal special for me was the skill shown by Messi whose dribbling pulled Vincent Kompany out of position before his pass found Di Maria who quickly passed it onto Higuain who had found the space where Kompany should have been. As such rather than showing a moment of brilliance from one player this goal showed three players of great skill combining to score and I think that element of teamwork is often forgotten in greatest goal competitions.
20:50 on 11/7/14 (UK date).
Thursday, 10 July 2014
Lucky, Lucky Argentina.
Last night (9/7/14) saw the second World Cup semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina.
Throughout the tournament the Dutch side and in particular their head coach Louis van Gaal have liked to think of themselves as the master tacticians. For example in their quarter-final against Costa Rica they brought on a goal keeper in the last minute of extra-time specifically the psych out their opponents in the subsequent penalty shoot-out. In their second round match against Mexico they successfully lobbied for a cooling break to mitigate any fitness advantage the Mexicans may have had. In every match the Dutch have played tactics have also been first and foremost in how they play every game.
Their main tactic seems to have been inspired by the story of the Tortoise and the Hare in which a Tortoise and a Hare have a race. Being the faster animal the Hare immediately rushes into the lead but is forced to stop and rest allowing the Tortoise to to take the lead and win at the last minute due to its slow and steady plodding. This is exactly how the Dutch approached the semi-final with lots of precision passing and probing possession intended to force the Argentinians to chase the ball and tire themselves out allowing the Dutch to snatch a late winner.
The problem was that having watched the Dutch through out the tournament the Argentines were wise to this and deliberately slowed down their game in order to avoid falling into the trap. So while Argentina were much less disjointed and disorganised then they'd been in all of their previous matches they lacked the attacking zeal they'd shown in their quarter-final against Belgium which they won with an early (10th minute) goal by Gonzalo Higuaín ably assisted by Linoel Messi and Angel Di Maria. As a result the Dutch were allowed to be the superior team and were able to dictate the pace of the game throughout. However as the Argentines did not tire themselves out the Dutch were unable to find the late breakthrough they had been hoping for.
This lead many people to compare the slow paced match to a chess game. However I think it more closely resembled a very specific phenomenon of chess known as stalemate. This occurs when both players have the defence needed to protect their King in order to avoid defeat but each lack the attacking resources to to capture the opposing King in order to win. As a result the game remained goal-less and was decided on a penalty shoot-out. These of course owe much more to luck and mental strength then skill and footballing ability so when Ron Vlaar had the Dutch's first penalty saved the Netherlands immediately found themselves at a disadvantage from which they never recovered. With Argentina scoring all their penalties when Wesley Sneijder missed the Netherlands' third penalty the Dutch lost 4-2.
This means that Argentina will go on to face Germany in Sunday's (13/7/14) final while the Netherlands will face Brazil in Saturday's (12/7/14) third place play-off. I personally think this dreadful news. In part that is because from the start of the competition I've been saying that Argentina have been over-rated in a competition that I thought would be decided between Germany and the Netherlands. Mainly though it is because it means that the hosts Brazil will not face Argentina on Saturday.
Although it decides which team is better then 29 other teams in the competition the third place play-off is always overshadowed by the fact that it is simply not the final. However Brazil and Argentina are not only neighbours but the two giants of South American football. As such any match between the two is going to be a derby game loaded with pride and local bragging rights. I think that is exactly what Brazil needed because the way they move on from their crushing defeat at the hands of Germany in the semi-final is to pull on their shirts again and play their little legs off.
15:40 on 10/7/14 (UK date).
Throughout the tournament the Dutch side and in particular their head coach Louis van Gaal have liked to think of themselves as the master tacticians. For example in their quarter-final against Costa Rica they brought on a goal keeper in the last minute of extra-time specifically the psych out their opponents in the subsequent penalty shoot-out. In their second round match against Mexico they successfully lobbied for a cooling break to mitigate any fitness advantage the Mexicans may have had. In every match the Dutch have played tactics have also been first and foremost in how they play every game.
Their main tactic seems to have been inspired by the story of the Tortoise and the Hare in which a Tortoise and a Hare have a race. Being the faster animal the Hare immediately rushes into the lead but is forced to stop and rest allowing the Tortoise to to take the lead and win at the last minute due to its slow and steady plodding. This is exactly how the Dutch approached the semi-final with lots of precision passing and probing possession intended to force the Argentinians to chase the ball and tire themselves out allowing the Dutch to snatch a late winner.
The problem was that having watched the Dutch through out the tournament the Argentines were wise to this and deliberately slowed down their game in order to avoid falling into the trap. So while Argentina were much less disjointed and disorganised then they'd been in all of their previous matches they lacked the attacking zeal they'd shown in their quarter-final against Belgium which they won with an early (10th minute) goal by Gonzalo Higuaín ably assisted by Linoel Messi and Angel Di Maria. As a result the Dutch were allowed to be the superior team and were able to dictate the pace of the game throughout. However as the Argentines did not tire themselves out the Dutch were unable to find the late breakthrough they had been hoping for.
This lead many people to compare the slow paced match to a chess game. However I think it more closely resembled a very specific phenomenon of chess known as stalemate. This occurs when both players have the defence needed to protect their King in order to avoid defeat but each lack the attacking resources to to capture the opposing King in order to win. As a result the game remained goal-less and was decided on a penalty shoot-out. These of course owe much more to luck and mental strength then skill and footballing ability so when Ron Vlaar had the Dutch's first penalty saved the Netherlands immediately found themselves at a disadvantage from which they never recovered. With Argentina scoring all their penalties when Wesley Sneijder missed the Netherlands' third penalty the Dutch lost 4-2.
This means that Argentina will go on to face Germany in Sunday's (13/7/14) final while the Netherlands will face Brazil in Saturday's (12/7/14) third place play-off. I personally think this dreadful news. In part that is because from the start of the competition I've been saying that Argentina have been over-rated in a competition that I thought would be decided between Germany and the Netherlands. Mainly though it is because it means that the hosts Brazil will not face Argentina on Saturday.
Although it decides which team is better then 29 other teams in the competition the third place play-off is always overshadowed by the fact that it is simply not the final. However Brazil and Argentina are not only neighbours but the two giants of South American football. As such any match between the two is going to be a derby game loaded with pride and local bragging rights. I think that is exactly what Brazil needed because the way they move on from their crushing defeat at the hands of Germany in the semi-final is to pull on their shirts again and play their little legs off.
15:40 on 10/7/14 (UK date).
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Seriously, The F*ck?!
Today has seen the first semi-final of the 2014 World Cup between Brazil and Germany. Perhaps more importantly though this match was refereed by Mexico's Marco Rodríguez who was last seen 'refeering' the disaster between Italy and Uruguay in the final game of Group D.
As many people thought that performance should have seen Rodriguez sent straight home from the competition rather than being advanced to the pool of referees for the knock-out phase there was obviously a lot on interest in how he would cope during this match. There was particular concern over whether his obvious bias in favour of South American teams at the expense of European teams would once again kill the football game and hand Brazil an easy victory over a clearly superior German team. On the face of it I would say that generally Rodriguez had a fairly good game. After all he is generally considered a World class referee which makes his performance against Italy even more difficult to explain.
The confusion over what sort of referee would be turning up along with the obvious pressure of the occasion meant that the start of the game was very unsettled and disjointed. Having noticed how the Germans have been able to settle in and control a game the Brazilian side began with the obvious intent of playing a very attacking and harassing game in order to prevent the Germans establishing a rhythm. Obviously this also prevented the Brazilians establishing a rhythm of their own and in the early melee Germany won a corner in the 10th minute. From that corner Toni Kroos was able to deliver a cross that found Thomas Müller who neatly swept the ball into the net to put Germany 1-0 up.
Although every neutral wanted Brazil to equalise rather than Germany go 2-0 up we were also desperate for Germany's Miroslav Klose score his 16th goal in a World Cup finals in order for him to beat the Brazilian Ronaldo's record and become the player to score the most goals in a World Cup finals. In the 21st minute Klose decided to tease us when his left footed shot was saved by Julio Cesar - the Brazilian 'keeper. Teasing us further Klose picked up the rebound only for it to be blocked for a third time by Cesar. Picking up the rebound for a second time Klose made no mistake and netted Germany's second in the 23rd minute.
At this point the confusion over the referee along with the shock of going 2-0 down inside 25 minutes clearly added to Brazil's uncertainty over losing both their star-player Neymar and their Captain Thiago Silva and they began to collapse. In the 24th minute Kroos scored Germany's third and in the 26th minute he got their fourth. It was around this time people who normally only call me when there's been a death in the family started ringing to make sure I was watching. Despite this distraction though I'm pretty sure that Sami Khedira added Germany's fifth in the 29th minute.
Germany then took a short pause allowing us to realise that by half-time Germany had already equalled the record win of 5 clear goals in a semi-final and were well on track to beat the record win of 9 clear goals in any World Cup finals match.
Unfortunately for the record books Germany came out for the second half intending to rest up for the final while Brazil came out looking to at least limit the damage in order to restore something resembling pride. As a result Brazil had the best of the first 25 minutes of the half with Ramires, Oscar, Marcelo and Paulinho all creating chances without effect.
In the 69th minute though Schürrle decided he hadn't done scoring and netted Germany's 6th. Ten minutes later he netted his 3rd and Germany's 7th. This put Germany in sight of their all time biggest World Cup finals victory of 8-0 against the mighty Saudi Arabia in a group game in the 2002 finals. Sadly with Schurrle's hat-trick in the bag Germany took their foot off the gas and Oscar scored a late - consolation seems too strong a word - goal for Brazil in the 90th minute leaving the final score 7-1 to Germany.
As a result Germany will now go through to Sunday's final while Brazil will have to find a way to rise again for Saturday's third place play-off. In tomorrow's semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina we will find out who plays who.
23:10 on 8/7/14 (UK date).
As many people thought that performance should have seen Rodriguez sent straight home from the competition rather than being advanced to the pool of referees for the knock-out phase there was obviously a lot on interest in how he would cope during this match. There was particular concern over whether his obvious bias in favour of South American teams at the expense of European teams would once again kill the football game and hand Brazil an easy victory over a clearly superior German team. On the face of it I would say that generally Rodriguez had a fairly good game. After all he is generally considered a World class referee which makes his performance against Italy even more difficult to explain.
The confusion over what sort of referee would be turning up along with the obvious pressure of the occasion meant that the start of the game was very unsettled and disjointed. Having noticed how the Germans have been able to settle in and control a game the Brazilian side began with the obvious intent of playing a very attacking and harassing game in order to prevent the Germans establishing a rhythm. Obviously this also prevented the Brazilians establishing a rhythm of their own and in the early melee Germany won a corner in the 10th minute. From that corner Toni Kroos was able to deliver a cross that found Thomas Müller who neatly swept the ball into the net to put Germany 1-0 up.
Although every neutral wanted Brazil to equalise rather than Germany go 2-0 up we were also desperate for Germany's Miroslav Klose score his 16th goal in a World Cup finals in order for him to beat the Brazilian Ronaldo's record and become the player to score the most goals in a World Cup finals. In the 21st minute Klose decided to tease us when his left footed shot was saved by Julio Cesar - the Brazilian 'keeper. Teasing us further Klose picked up the rebound only for it to be blocked for a third time by Cesar. Picking up the rebound for a second time Klose made no mistake and netted Germany's second in the 23rd minute.
At this point the confusion over the referee along with the shock of going 2-0 down inside 25 minutes clearly added to Brazil's uncertainty over losing both their star-player Neymar and their Captain Thiago Silva and they began to collapse. In the 24th minute Kroos scored Germany's third and in the 26th minute he got their fourth. It was around this time people who normally only call me when there's been a death in the family started ringing to make sure I was watching. Despite this distraction though I'm pretty sure that Sami Khedira added Germany's fifth in the 29th minute.
Germany then took a short pause allowing us to realise that by half-time Germany had already equalled the record win of 5 clear goals in a semi-final and were well on track to beat the record win of 9 clear goals in any World Cup finals match.
Unfortunately for the record books Germany came out for the second half intending to rest up for the final while Brazil came out looking to at least limit the damage in order to restore something resembling pride. As a result Brazil had the best of the first 25 minutes of the half with Ramires, Oscar, Marcelo and Paulinho all creating chances without effect.
In the 69th minute though Schürrle decided he hadn't done scoring and netted Germany's 6th. Ten minutes later he netted his 3rd and Germany's 7th. This put Germany in sight of their all time biggest World Cup finals victory of 8-0 against the mighty Saudi Arabia in a group game in the 2002 finals. Sadly with Schurrle's hat-trick in the bag Germany took their foot off the gas and Oscar scored a late - consolation seems too strong a word - goal for Brazil in the 90th minute leaving the final score 7-1 to Germany.
As a result Germany will now go through to Sunday's final while Brazil will have to find a way to rise again for Saturday's third place play-off. In tomorrow's semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina we will find out who plays who.
23:10 on 8/7/14 (UK date).
Sunday, 6 July 2014
The Fantastic Four.
Yesterday (5/7/14) the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup drew to a close with matches between Argentina and Belgium and the Netherlands and Costa Rica.
The first match seemed the more difficult to predict because despite their obvious stars the Argentine team had been mis-firing throughout the tournament often relying on a moment of magic from Lionel Messi to get themselves out of trouble against lesser opponents such as Iran. It has been a similar story for Belgium with their team of young stars often relying on late goals to see off opponents although they always seemed more organised and co-ordinated then the Argentines.
Things changed dramatically in yesterday's match though with Argentina finally deciding to play as a team. So suddenly passes were completed and runs were predicted. Messi as usual was on spectacular form at one point riding tackle after tackle from five Belgian players to win a free-kick in the 38th minute. On this occasion though he was assisted by Gonzalo Higuaín who was excellent throughout until he was substituted in the 80th minute and Ángel Di María who at one point succeeded in juggling the ball on his feet to turn past a Belgian mid-fielder. It was these three who combined for the first goal with Messi causing chaos in the mid-field and drawing out Vincent Kompany - Belgium's talented defender - with his excellent dribbling skills before passing the ball to Di Maria who quickly passed it on to Higuain who was in the space where Kompany should have been. Higuain struck the ball on the half-volley and glided it in at the far post to put Argentina 1-0 up in just the 8th minute.
By contrast it was Belgium who seemed incredibly disjointed playing more as an unconnected group of talented individuals rather than a team. Obviously with their talent Belgium's stars did play the type of open, attacking football that we've become accustomed to during this tournament and did create goal-scoring opportunities. However none of these chances really felt genuine because the Belgians lacked the vision (or team-spirit) to identify players in good positions and provide them with the passes and crosses needed to score. This was probably summed up in the 75th minute when Jan Vertonghen won Belgium a free-kick on - their - left-side of the penalty area. This was really too far out for a shot on goal but seeing his name in lights Dries Mertens had a go anyway only for his shot to go wide of the goal. Meanwhile his teammates were left standing in the 6 yard box scowling at him for not crossing the ball into them.
As a result Higuain's goal was enough to take Argentina through to the semi-finals with them having finally delivered a performance that warranted being there.
On paper the other match of the day between the Netherlands and Costa Rica should have been much easier to predict. After all the Netherlands were finalists in the 2010 World Cup, had destroyed the 2010 winners Spain 5-1 in their opening game and had impressed everyone at this tournament with their very skilled and professional style of football. By contrast Costa Rica were supposed to have been the whipping boys of Group D rather than quarter-finalists.
As they have done throughout the tournament the Costa Ricans showed no interest what was on paper and from the start of the match started playing a very disciplined game that pressed the Dutch and prevented them from finding their rhythm. However that is not to say that Costa Rica set out to kill off the game and play for penalties instead coming forward whenever the opportunity allowed and creating chances of their own. For example Johnny Acosta came close in the 34th minute, Giancarlo Gonzalez came close in the 65th minute and most of the second-half of extra-time belonged to Costa Rica.
My only complaint about the way the Costa Ricans played was that in the build up to the match they seemed to have made the mistake of believing that Mexico's complaint that the Netherlands' Arjen Robben had dived to win the penalty that put Mexico out in the 94th minute (90+5mins stoppage) of the pair's last 16 match was widely shared. As a result they seemed to believe that the referee would be prepared to deliver a type restorative justice meaning that they could foul Robben with impunity and only needed to fall over in his general vicinity to win free-kicks and yellow cards.
The problem was that outside of Mexico no-one in the football world saw anything wrong with the way that Robben won the penalty and instead were rather impressed by his skill and professionalism. Plus there is a world of difference between a referee making up for an early mistake later on in the same match and a completely different referee trying to correct a mistake in a different match against different opposition. Even Uruguay were given fair treatment in their game against Columbia despite the refereeing in their match against Italy being so bad and so biased the result probably should have been annulled.
As a result Ravshan Irmatov - the Uzbek referee - had no intention of being anything other than fair and unbiased. Unfortunately the Costa Ricans didn't seem to get this message even after the referee made a big point of booking Júnior Díaz in the 37th minute for a foul on Robben. As a result they continued making bad fouls, diving and bad-mouthing (dissent) the referee every time he stuck to the rules and gave a decision against them. This meant that Costa Rica gave away a lot of risky free-kicks from which the Dutch could have scored such in the 52nd minute when Michael Umaña brought down Robben, the 73rd minute when Cristian Gamboa brought down Daley Blind and when Giancarlo Gonzalez brought down Robben in the 81st minute to name but a few.
It of course also meant that the Costa Ricans got on the referee's nerves which cost them chances of their own. For example when Marco Ureña was brought down in the penalty area in the 98th minute it was one of those 50/50 calls that go your way if the referee likes you but because Costa had annoyed the referee it went against them. So rather than being biased in favour of the Netherlands I found the referee to be very patient and professional. For example in the 91st minute (90+5mins stoppage) when Júnior Díaz again brought Robben down with a bad foul he really should have been shown his second yellow card and sent-off.
Despite their otherwise excellent performance Costa Rica were helped by the fact that luck didn't seem to be with the Dutch and they played with the sort of arrogance that suggested they felt that they didn't need to create a winning goal because one would come along soon enough. Plus their captain and supposed striker Robin van Persie had a really bad game. For example on another day Wesley Sneijder's 82nd minute free-kick would have gone in rather then hitting the post while van Persie's 92nd (90+5min stoppage) shot could well have curled in under the bar or not been blocked at all if only he'd hit it better.
After 90 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra-time there were no goals so the match went to a penalty shoot-out. It was here that the Dutch's infamous mind games returned when Tim Krul was brought on at the last possible moment to replace Jasper Cillessen who had played well in goal for the Netherlands throughout the game. The intention here was purely to unsettle the Costa Rican penalty takers by putting the thought in their head that Krul has been doing nothing throughout this World Cup other than studying Costa Rican penalty takers so he knew exactly what they were going to do.
For the most part this didn't seem to work with Celso Borges confidently scoring Costa Rica's first penalty so Krul stepped up his efforts. This involved him walking up to the Costa Rican penalty takers and getting in their faces pointing at them and generally trying to intimidate them just before they took their shot. I'm pretty sure that the only reason that Krul wasn't booked for this is because no-one is quite sure what happens when a goal keeper - who has to be pre-designated - is sent-off in a penalty shoot-out. However it seemed to work with Bryan Ruiz' nervous looking second penalty being saved by Krul. With the Dutch scoring all their penalties when Michael Umaña had Costa Rica's fifth penalty saved the Dutch won the shoot-out 4-3.
So now the Netherlands will go onto play Argentina in Wednesday's (9/7/14) semi-final but did so in such a way as to turn every neutral against them. However with their opponents being Argentina they will have to go a long way to turn the Brazilian fans against them.
18:00 on 6/7/14 (UK date).
The first match seemed the more difficult to predict because despite their obvious stars the Argentine team had been mis-firing throughout the tournament often relying on a moment of magic from Lionel Messi to get themselves out of trouble against lesser opponents such as Iran. It has been a similar story for Belgium with their team of young stars often relying on late goals to see off opponents although they always seemed more organised and co-ordinated then the Argentines.
Things changed dramatically in yesterday's match though with Argentina finally deciding to play as a team. So suddenly passes were completed and runs were predicted. Messi as usual was on spectacular form at one point riding tackle after tackle from five Belgian players to win a free-kick in the 38th minute. On this occasion though he was assisted by Gonzalo Higuaín who was excellent throughout until he was substituted in the 80th minute and Ángel Di María who at one point succeeded in juggling the ball on his feet to turn past a Belgian mid-fielder. It was these three who combined for the first goal with Messi causing chaos in the mid-field and drawing out Vincent Kompany - Belgium's talented defender - with his excellent dribbling skills before passing the ball to Di Maria who quickly passed it on to Higuain who was in the space where Kompany should have been. Higuain struck the ball on the half-volley and glided it in at the far post to put Argentina 1-0 up in just the 8th minute.
By contrast it was Belgium who seemed incredibly disjointed playing more as an unconnected group of talented individuals rather than a team. Obviously with their talent Belgium's stars did play the type of open, attacking football that we've become accustomed to during this tournament and did create goal-scoring opportunities. However none of these chances really felt genuine because the Belgians lacked the vision (or team-spirit) to identify players in good positions and provide them with the passes and crosses needed to score. This was probably summed up in the 75th minute when Jan Vertonghen won Belgium a free-kick on - their - left-side of the penalty area. This was really too far out for a shot on goal but seeing his name in lights Dries Mertens had a go anyway only for his shot to go wide of the goal. Meanwhile his teammates were left standing in the 6 yard box scowling at him for not crossing the ball into them.
As a result Higuain's goal was enough to take Argentina through to the semi-finals with them having finally delivered a performance that warranted being there.
On paper the other match of the day between the Netherlands and Costa Rica should have been much easier to predict. After all the Netherlands were finalists in the 2010 World Cup, had destroyed the 2010 winners Spain 5-1 in their opening game and had impressed everyone at this tournament with their very skilled and professional style of football. By contrast Costa Rica were supposed to have been the whipping boys of Group D rather than quarter-finalists.
As they have done throughout the tournament the Costa Ricans showed no interest what was on paper and from the start of the match started playing a very disciplined game that pressed the Dutch and prevented them from finding their rhythm. However that is not to say that Costa Rica set out to kill off the game and play for penalties instead coming forward whenever the opportunity allowed and creating chances of their own. For example Johnny Acosta came close in the 34th minute, Giancarlo Gonzalez came close in the 65th minute and most of the second-half of extra-time belonged to Costa Rica.
My only complaint about the way the Costa Ricans played was that in the build up to the match they seemed to have made the mistake of believing that Mexico's complaint that the Netherlands' Arjen Robben had dived to win the penalty that put Mexico out in the 94th minute (90+5mins stoppage) of the pair's last 16 match was widely shared. As a result they seemed to believe that the referee would be prepared to deliver a type restorative justice meaning that they could foul Robben with impunity and only needed to fall over in his general vicinity to win free-kicks and yellow cards.
The problem was that outside of Mexico no-one in the football world saw anything wrong with the way that Robben won the penalty and instead were rather impressed by his skill and professionalism. Plus there is a world of difference between a referee making up for an early mistake later on in the same match and a completely different referee trying to correct a mistake in a different match against different opposition. Even Uruguay were given fair treatment in their game against Columbia despite the refereeing in their match against Italy being so bad and so biased the result probably should have been annulled.
As a result Ravshan Irmatov - the Uzbek referee - had no intention of being anything other than fair and unbiased. Unfortunately the Costa Ricans didn't seem to get this message even after the referee made a big point of booking Júnior Díaz in the 37th minute for a foul on Robben. As a result they continued making bad fouls, diving and bad-mouthing (dissent) the referee every time he stuck to the rules and gave a decision against them. This meant that Costa Rica gave away a lot of risky free-kicks from which the Dutch could have scored such in the 52nd minute when Michael Umaña brought down Robben, the 73rd minute when Cristian Gamboa brought down Daley Blind and when Giancarlo Gonzalez brought down Robben in the 81st minute to name but a few.
It of course also meant that the Costa Ricans got on the referee's nerves which cost them chances of their own. For example when Marco Ureña was brought down in the penalty area in the 98th minute it was one of those 50/50 calls that go your way if the referee likes you but because Costa had annoyed the referee it went against them. So rather than being biased in favour of the Netherlands I found the referee to be very patient and professional. For example in the 91st minute (90+5mins stoppage) when Júnior Díaz again brought Robben down with a bad foul he really should have been shown his second yellow card and sent-off.
Despite their otherwise excellent performance Costa Rica were helped by the fact that luck didn't seem to be with the Dutch and they played with the sort of arrogance that suggested they felt that they didn't need to create a winning goal because one would come along soon enough. Plus their captain and supposed striker Robin van Persie had a really bad game. For example on another day Wesley Sneijder's 82nd minute free-kick would have gone in rather then hitting the post while van Persie's 92nd (90+5min stoppage) shot could well have curled in under the bar or not been blocked at all if only he'd hit it better.
After 90 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra-time there were no goals so the match went to a penalty shoot-out. It was here that the Dutch's infamous mind games returned when Tim Krul was brought on at the last possible moment to replace Jasper Cillessen who had played well in goal for the Netherlands throughout the game. The intention here was purely to unsettle the Costa Rican penalty takers by putting the thought in their head that Krul has been doing nothing throughout this World Cup other than studying Costa Rican penalty takers so he knew exactly what they were going to do.
For the most part this didn't seem to work with Celso Borges confidently scoring Costa Rica's first penalty so Krul stepped up his efforts. This involved him walking up to the Costa Rican penalty takers and getting in their faces pointing at them and generally trying to intimidate them just before they took their shot. I'm pretty sure that the only reason that Krul wasn't booked for this is because no-one is quite sure what happens when a goal keeper - who has to be pre-designated - is sent-off in a penalty shoot-out. However it seemed to work with Bryan Ruiz' nervous looking second penalty being saved by Krul. With the Dutch scoring all their penalties when Michael Umaña had Costa Rica's fifth penalty saved the Dutch won the shoot-out 4-3.
So now the Netherlands will go onto play Argentina in Wednesday's (9/7/14) semi-final but did so in such a way as to turn every neutral against them. However with their opponents being Argentina they will have to go a long way to turn the Brazilian fans against them.
18:00 on 6/7/14 (UK date).
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Psych!
I'll do a full write up of today's World Cup matches tomorrow. In part because it's late and in part because it will help fill the giant football-less wasteland between now and Tuesday. However I think I do need to quickly cover the controversial moments of the Netherlands versus Costa Rica match.
Basically the Costa Ricans big mistake going into the match was assuming that everybody in the footballing world agreed with the Mexicans who thought that Arjen Robben had cheated to win a penalty in the last 16 match. As a result they came out thinking that the referee would automatically be against Robben so would award everything against him. The problem was that the referee either wasn't going to retrospectively punish Robben or knew enough about football to know that he didn't cheat so refereed the game pretty fairly and evenly.
Unfortunately the Costa Ricans didn't seem to get this message even after the referee booked Júnior Díaz for a bad foul on Robben inthe 37th minute and continued to foul and dive. Along with the constant dissent from Costa Rica's players this obviously tried the referee's patience so when Marco Ureña tried to win a penalty for Costa Rica in the 98th minute (1st half, extra-time) the referee was in no mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. So rather then being biased towards the Dutch Ravshan Irmatov - the Uzbek referee- was overly patient with the Costa Ricans. For example Junior Diaz should have received his second yellow card and been sent off for another crunching foul on Robben in the 91st (5mins stoppage) minute.
The Dutch's big trick though was to substitute Jasper Cillessen who had played in goal throughout the match for Tim Krul in the 121st minute (2mins stoppage) specifically so Krul could take part in the penalty shoot-out. This was a clear attempt to psychologically unbalance the Costa Ricans by sending the message that Krul has been doing nothing else in this World Cup then study every penalty a Costa Rican player has ever taken so he knew exactly what they were going to do.
To their credit this didn't seem to have much effect on them with Celso Borges confidently scoring Costa Rica's first penalty. So Krul stepped things up by walking up to the Costa Rican penalty takers and whispering things to them just before they took their kick. This clearly put off Bryan Ruiz who missed Costa Rica's second penalty and I honestly think Krul should have been booked the second time he tried it. In the end Michael Umaña had Costa Rica's fifth penalty saved so the Netherlands won 4-3.
23:20 on 5/7/14 (UK date).
Basically the Costa Ricans big mistake going into the match was assuming that everybody in the footballing world agreed with the Mexicans who thought that Arjen Robben had cheated to win a penalty in the last 16 match. As a result they came out thinking that the referee would automatically be against Robben so would award everything against him. The problem was that the referee either wasn't going to retrospectively punish Robben or knew enough about football to know that he didn't cheat so refereed the game pretty fairly and evenly.
Unfortunately the Costa Ricans didn't seem to get this message even after the referee booked Júnior Díaz for a bad foul on Robben inthe 37th minute and continued to foul and dive. Along with the constant dissent from Costa Rica's players this obviously tried the referee's patience so when Marco Ureña tried to win a penalty for Costa Rica in the 98th minute (1st half, extra-time) the referee was in no mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. So rather then being biased towards the Dutch Ravshan Irmatov - the Uzbek referee- was overly patient with the Costa Ricans. For example Junior Diaz should have received his second yellow card and been sent off for another crunching foul on Robben in the 91st (5mins stoppage) minute.
The Dutch's big trick though was to substitute Jasper Cillessen who had played in goal throughout the match for Tim Krul in the 121st minute (2mins stoppage) specifically so Krul could take part in the penalty shoot-out. This was a clear attempt to psychologically unbalance the Costa Ricans by sending the message that Krul has been doing nothing else in this World Cup then study every penalty a Costa Rican player has ever taken so he knew exactly what they were going to do.
To their credit this didn't seem to have much effect on them with Celso Borges confidently scoring Costa Rica's first penalty. So Krul stepped things up by walking up to the Costa Rican penalty takers and whispering things to them just before they took their kick. This clearly put off Bryan Ruiz who missed Costa Rica's second penalty and I honestly think Krul should have been booked the second time he tried it. In the end Michael Umaña had Costa Rica's fifth penalty saved so the Netherlands won 4-3.
23:20 on 5/7/14 (UK date).
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