Just over three days since the start of the World Cup and ten games (or fifteen hours) of football watched. Can we keep this up for a whole month? Of course we can!
There have been some fairly dull matches (especially the 0-0 draw between France and Uruguay) and some nervy individual performances, but of the teams in with even an outside chance of winning the tournament only France and England have really disappointed so far.
The Netherlands were quiet by their standards earlier today but never looked threatened by Denmark and showed sparks of their potential in the tournament even without Arjen Robben. Eljero Elia of Ajax, on as a substitute, showed that he can offer the pace and penetration on the left wing that was badly needed as an alternative to the neat but often pedestrian play of Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and co.
Germany showed a fresh, attacking approach during the game yesterday evening in which they thrashed Australia 4-0. This could have been helped, rather than hindered by the loss through injury of their captain and dominant dressing room force Michael Ballack. His absence gives more of a free reign to Bastian Schweinsteiger and his young Bayern Munich team-mate Thomas Muller, whose superb goal – breaking into the area and beating a man before slotting calmly into the corner – showed an energy that in all probability is beyond the 33-year-old Ballack.
Argentina proved that however unpredictably and tactically haphazard Diego Maradona may be, they have the players to beat anyone. Although Maradona seems to have galvanised an enviable team spirit within his squad, and as technically adroit as their six attacking players are with some outstanding replacements on the bench should they be needed, you can’t help thinking that they could have been even better had Maradona used his head for once, and not his lion heart.
One of Argentina’s only weaknesses is at right-back. Apparently Jonas Gutierrez is one of the first names on Maradona’s team-sheet but as Alan Shearer (who knows Gutierrez well from his time at Newcastle United) said, he is an attacking left-winger and not a right full-back. This showed as he was caught out of position time and again and earned a yellow card for a clumsy recovery tackle on one of those occasions.
As has been well documented Maradona inexplicably left out the Champions League winning pair of the versatile former captain and superb full-back Javier Zanetti, who surely deserves to start in Gutierrez’s place, and Esteban Cambiasso, one of the main protagonists of Argentina’s metronomic passing game in Germany in 2006. While this is a disappointment it is the omission of Juan Riquelme (after a petulant argument between the two men) that is most saddening for lovers of the beautiful game.
One of the finest passers and set-piece takers in the global game, Riquelme could have been the catalyst to maximise the significant danger of Argentina’s myriad attacking threats. The clever runs of Messi and Tevez could have been pin-pointed by his superb passing range. Seba Veron also has a formidable passing repertoire but prefers a withdrawn role these days. He and Riquelme, with Javier Mascherano doing the dirty work behind them, could have formed a formidable midfield trio. Angel Di Maria has potential but is not yet on the same level as these three.
Another Inter Milan treble winner, Diego Milito, will have been disappointed not to start in place of Gonzalo Higuin. Although Higuin was excellent for Real Madrid this season, Milito scored the only two goals of the Champions League final in his last competitive game, so it is surprising that Maradona did not let him try to continue his hot streak and play him from the beginning.
Apart from Argentina the real entertainment so far has been provided by England’s Robert Green. I am an Englishman myself, but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his comical error. At least it was in the first game and Green has a chance to redeem himself, but I personally wouldn’t give him the chance. However, it is hard not to feel sorry for him. All these jokes are getting out of hand. In fact, you could say they’re crossing the line...
No comments:
Post a Comment