An Ugly Day of Soccer

Today's matches provided plenty of ammunition for the soccer detractors throughout the world.

For all the talent that England possesses in its midfield players and strikers, it is amazing how they produce some of the dullest, uninspiring, and numbing soccer. I'm so hard on England because I really like the way they are capable of playing. Individual players such as Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, and certainly Rooney have had their moments, but as a collective, they just aren't performing. Say what you will about David Beckham, but his free kicks have been directly responsible for two England victories, against the two South American teams they have faced. One might argue that it's a high price to pay for keeping him in the lineup if all he does is take charge of set pieces. But given how much England has come to rely upon these set pieces, it seems worth it. Rooney demonstrated that he can play the full 90 minutes, and that he can still cause havoc. I got the feeling that he is beginning to conclude that he has to take matters into his own hands, which is good for England--and bad for its opponents.

Apparently, Ecuador's manager, Luis Suarez, said they were happy to make it past the first round. They certainly played this way. Maybe the offensive flair they displayed against Costa Rica and Poland was possible only against weaker competition. It was conspicuously absent against both Germany and England. The most surprising aspect of their play was a lack of urgency, but not everyone is obsessed with marching through the tournament. They certainly represented their country well.

England and Ecuador may be criticized for playing poorly. As for the Netherlands and Portugal, they should be ashamed for behaving poorly. The Dutch and Portugese teams are amongst the most creative, elegant and talented teams in the world, which made it even more sad to see the WWE debacle during this match. Having watched so many of these players in club and national team matches, I was shocked to see them behave in this manner. World class players were anything but world class. Lost amongst the wrestling, head-butting, kicking and shoving, we witnessed this evening was a fantastic goal by Maniche. It offered such fleeting promise for the match.

I wonder about Van Basten's coaching this evening. Hindsight is always 20/20, but keeping out Van Nistelrooij was a curious decision. He's obviously not the most popular guy around these days, and perhaps he didn't play with tremendous intensity in the first three games. But the Dutch needed one goal to keep alive, and Van Nistelrooij represents a great option for that one special moment. I also think Scolari used the 4-5-1 formation masterfully. The Dutch couldn't find any space in the midfield or Portugese end of the field.

I'm a great admirer of both Dutch and Portugese, but this match was one of the worst displays in World Cup history. It's too bad we can't replace Portugal with Mexico.

And just when we thought the refereeing could not get any worse. How can a referee hand out 101,351 cards and still lose complete control of the match? FIFA has indicated that it will send home referees who perform poorly. I hope Ivanov was sent to the airport right after the match. If FIFA follows through with their plans, who will be left to referee the final matches?

Where are you, Pierluigi Collina :-)

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

For the round of sixteen, we have ten teams from Europe, three from South America, one from CONCACAF, one from Oceania and one from Africa. No team from Oceania had previously advanced to the second round, but Australia's an outlier in more ways than one. With their move into the Asian confederation, one wonders what will become of Oceania. Having a team from Africa in the knockout phase is becoming a trend, but most people wouldn't have expected Ghana to advance from Group E. Both the United States and Trinidad and Tobago had a sliver of hope on the final day, but Mexico alone represents CONCACAF. Everyone expected Brazil and Argentina to advance, but Ecuador surprised quite a few people. Asia, after having the co-hosts advance in 2002, is the only confederation watching the rest of tournament from the sidelines. There's been much said about the effects of playing on European soil, and perhaps with good reason.

Will there be any surprises in the next round?

My best pick for an upset is Ecuador. They played very well against Costa Rica and Poland, but didn't show up against Germany (resting players in the process). England is a different team when Wayne Rooney plays, but their defense was shaky against the Swedes. The game I am most eager to watch is Brazil v. Ghana. And, with all due respect, the game I am least eager to watch is Switzerland v. Ukraine. For what it's worth, here are my picks for the quarter-finals:

Germany, Argentina, Ecuador, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, and Spain.

Let the madness continue.

Group A Finales

Ecuador didn't show up today. Aside from resting both their starting strikers, the rest of the team looked completely different from the first two games. John Harkes said there's a fine line between pacing yourself and giving it too much effort. I wonder about Ecuador's decision. They played well in the first two games, but will they lose some much needed momentum for their second round encounter? Apparently, their manager has stated that they are pleased to advance into the knockout phase. Perhaps this is true. But if he has greater aspirations--and who wouldn't--then it will be interesting to see how they play against England. If they are flat and out of sync, his decision to rest players and coast will be costly. It would have been illuminating to see Ecuador test Germany's defense, which still hasn't the firepower of a top offense.

Germany, on the other hand, continued to impress. I have no doubt that previous German teams would have taken the foot off the gas after the first goal. Klinsmann seems determined to keep this team flowing. Perhaps we should expect nothing less from a former striker. Their third goal displayed timing, precision passing and team understanding that we've been looking for from Brazil (and seen from Argentina). Klose is rapidly moving up the all-time scoring list, but he basically disappeared during the knockout phase of the 2002 World Cup. As Germany faces some tighter defenses, he'll have to keep contributing--and making the home crowds cheer. I've read that Germans are somewhat reluctant to display and wave their flags. You wouldn't guess this from the stadium today.

When teams reach the point where they know their World Cup is over, interesting things can happen. Some managers empty their benches, allowing younger players to get a taste of the ultimate soccer tournament. Others retain their starters, but clearly given instructions to play freely. Both Poland and Costa Rica kept their starters on the field, and they played an entertaining game. While Poland's first goal should not have counted, given the clear foul on Porras by a Polish player, they did play well. Polish defender, Bosacki, certainly made an impression.

As did Polish goalkeeper, Artur Borac--but not the kind you want to make. Gomez's strike was strong, but Borac looked completely befuddled by the shot, which basically went through his legs. Anytime a team with high expectations doesn't advance, the manager comes under scrutiny. Borac's blunder makes one wonder about keeping Jerzy Dudek off the squad. Would Dudek have made the save against Germany, which would have preserved the draw? Maybe, but I doubt it would have made too much of a difference. Germany and Ecuador have played better than Poland and Costa Rica, both of whom will probably look to younger players and perhaps new managers as they look toward the 2010 World Cup.

Day One

The first day is over. The host nation has never lost the opening game, and the Germans continued this tradition--emphatically. Jurgen Klinsmann has the most difficult job in sports at the moment. Any manager of a World Cup squad faces criticism, but to be the manager of the host nation with such high expectations must be something. He has been criticized for living in the US, for marrying an American, for using American training tactics, for sending email messages instead of speaking in person...

In the victory over Costa Rica, he went from goat to hero to goat to hero in the first 16 minutes as the score changed. Even with the victory, there are still questions that Germans will raise. And perhaps rightly so. Germany won its first game in 2002 with an impressive 8-0 over Saudi Arabia. But they didn't impress throughout the rest of the tournament. Having said this, they reached the finals. Germans are capable of playing fantastic soccer. But they're also capable of taking the life out of a game. Previous German managers have noted that the World Cup is a marathon, a test of endurance and the road to the Cup is littered with elegant, creative teams who ran out of energy or lost because of one mistake (especially in the knockout stages). German teams, even those with less talent with their opponents, have a World Cup record surpassed only by Brazil (the one team whose elegance and creativity seems more than enough to overcome hurdles). Does anyone believe the German team in 1986 was more talented than the Platini-inspired Bleus of France? (There's an Adidas ad that cleverly shows Zidane and Platini paying mutual respects; imagine both of them in the same midfield). Following the memorable match in Guadalajara between France and Brazil, Les Bleus looked completely drained. Even their inspired play wasn't enough to overcome the German team. Newsweek magazine referred to the 1980s German team as "Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and ten robots."

Nonetheless, they reached the finals in 1982 and 1986, knocking out the French on both occasions (with Toni Schumacher horribly and literally knocking out Patrick Battiston in 1982).

Where was the steady, efficient, inexorable play of the Germans on the first day of the 2006 offering? Well, it was superceded by an attacking style that led to four goals. That's the good news. The bad news is that their defense looked suspect, getting caught on the offsides trap more than once. As one of my soccer viewing friends points out, the offsides trap is dangerous not only because players can get it wrong, but also because the linesman can get it wrong (and probably did so on Costa Rica's second goal). Lehmann didn't have his best game, but he can't be faulted for either of the goals.

Ecuador showed what can happen against a team with a (sometimes) slow to react defense by beating them on two occasions with precision passing and shooting (or heading). They also showed how to play impassioned, energetic defense. Poland repeatedly tried to exploit their height advantage, but to no avail. Poland might have been the better team, but they lost because of a few mistakes. If Ecuador beats Costa Rica, they will almost certainly advance to the second round. Poland is in the difficult situation of needing three points, but playing their next match against Germany.

If Germany plays attacking, free flowing soccer, but then loses because a mistake or running of energy, Jurgen Klinsmann better head back to the US.