World Cup 2010 Final - Holland vs Spain

After the exciting 3rd/4th place game, many people were looking forward to the finals hoping for better game and excitement. Unfortunately that was not meant to be, what we got was a game of pure aggression. In the end the right team won. Spain got the cup with their usual 1-0 score.

Spain played their usual short but quick passing game. The quirky Jabulani ball really suited the Spanish gameplay. To play against Spain, three strategies can be used.
One is pure defense and then strike Spain during counter attack as was shown by Switzerland. The other strategy is aggressive football where every ball is fought over and no space is given to the Spanish players. This was shown excellently by Paraguay, who nearly won the game against Spain. This strategy requires a lot of stamina and strong upper bodies to wrestle the ball away from the Spanish players without committing hard tackles.

Another strategy is to use long passes across the field, which is quite popular in English football. This strategy is not recommended since the Jabulani ball is difficult to predict for long passes as was evident throughout the championship.

The wily Dutch used another strategy - controlled violence. This strategy requires the expectation that the referee will be inclined to keep same number of players in the field for both sides for the game. The strategy worked. The Dutch managed to rattle the Spanish game and managed to be dangerous in the later parts of the game.

The Dutch also used similar strategies against Brazil especially in the second half of the game and managed to escape caution from the referee.

The game was ugly to watch. There was so many fouls committed. Initially it was the Dutch who did most of the fouls but soon the exasperated Spanish followed suit. The karate kick given to Xabi Alonso deserved a red card but the perpetrator escaped with only a yellow. The referee had a hard nite but did admirably for most of the game. It was impossible for the ref to look after the game if one side is determined to foul no matter what the consequence.

The game would have gone to penalties if not for the strange substitution of Giovanni Van Bronkhorst, who was the best player in the Dutch team. After he was out, the Dutch defense turned into a joke.

It was the comedic multiple pinball clearance by the Dutch defense that handed the ball to Cesc Fabregas who nicely passed it to the onside Iniesta to score the decisive goal. The Dutch have themselves to blame for this and instead went after all the officials on the field.

The football authorities should come up with a new foul card - ideally orange in color - to commemorate the ugly game provided by the Dutch. This card will be in between the yellow and red card and will force the player who received it to be out of the game for 15 minutes or so. This will reduce the burden of referees who may be unwilling to spoil a game by giving a red card early on.

So congratulations to Spain for winning the 2010 tournament. The Dutch should go back to the drawing board and relearn the beautiful football they have created but abandoned in this World Cup.

World Cup 2010 - 3rd/4th Placing - Germany vs Uruguay

What an exciting game this was! Both teams have nothing much to lose except for pride and they showed it with an attack based strategies. In the end though, the Germans were slightly better than the South Americans with a 3-2 result.

From the start the Germans attacked while the Uruguayans defended lightly. Early on, the Germans put the ball in to the opposition net but was declared offside, which does not seem to be the right call. The Uruguayans also had a chance to score from a free kick twice but Diego Forlan could not convert that into a goal.

The Germans struck soon after with a goal from Thomas Muller, who had a lucky bounce off the Uruguayan goalie from a thundering shot from Schweinsteiger. The Uruguayans picked up their game after this goal and they were rewarded a goal before half time.

After the break, both team came storming into the field with the Germans taking the early initiative but it was Uruguayans who struck first. Diego Forlan hit a wonderful shot into goal to get them up 2-1 in the 51st minute.

The Germans then struck back 5 minutes later. Jansen headed in the ball when the Uruguayan goalie mistimed his clearance. Both team now played more aggressively with the Germans rekindling their style which got them so far in this tournament. They finally struck again in the 81st minute when Sami Khedira headed in a arcing header from a melee in the Uruguayan goal area.



Forlan could have leveled the score in the final minute of the game but the free kick he took hit against the top post and hence ended the game with a victory to the Germans.

World Cup 2010 - End of Semi-finals

So we have the two teams for the finals of the World Cup this Sunday in South Africa. Both Holland and Spain were deserving of their places in the finals. Their losing opponent were actually lost just by one goal and could have had their places in the final if luck served them on their semi-finals.

The Holland-Uruguay game tilted in the favor of Holland in the first part of the game. Only when Uruguay was down by 3-1, did they suddenly rise their games to be slightly better than Holland's and looked very dangerous. If there was another 5 minutes or so, Uruguay would have levelled and the game would have gone into extra-time. But Holland kept their nerve and deserved their victory.

Germany on the other hand played a very measured and respectful game with Spain, almost like a training game. There were almost no tackles of any sort in the first half and Germans were happy just to defend. Spain on the other hand looked imperious but the German strategy seemed to work since after the close probes of the earlier parts of the game, Spain were left to firing blanks from long distance.

For some reason, Germans did not have the confidence of their earlier games. Their passing was weak and not accurate, as if players forgot their movement strategies in the field. They also sorely missed the brilliant run of Mueller on the right. The game itself was lacked any fast action but was quite mesmerizing to watch the passes of the Spain against the blocks of Germany.

So in the end, the German-Spain game was decided by a rude header by Puyol, the most German of the Spanish players, quite ironic!

World Cup 2010 - End of 2nd round

With the Spain-Portugal game yesterday, the 2nd round of the 2010 World cup is over and the best teams have indeed progressed to the quarter-finals of this World Cup.

The best performance so far had been from Brazil, who were a much improved side compared with their first round performance. Their final game in the first round with Portugal was especially ghastly. If they can maintain their 2nd round performance throughout the remainder of the tournament, they will be an unbeatable force.

Argentina, Germany and the Spanish teams were good too but they had their weakness. Argentina went to sleep in the 2nd half after scoring the 3rd goal. One hopes they were only testing their defensive strategy. Germany were impressive but seem to have lost urgency and team structure after they were 2-0 up with England. Spain's passing game was precise and a joy to watch but they seem to lack the goal scoring accuracy.
These teams may not survive against Brazil if they don't fix their weakness in the coming rounds.

The worst game so far was between Paraguay and Japan but both were playing defensively so it dragged on till the penalties.

The next game will between the best European team, Holland and Brazil. So hoping for a beautiful display of attacking soccer this Friday

World Cup 2010 - 2nd Round: Germany vs England

Germany deservedly won this game 4-1 but England was denied a legitimate goal in the first half which would have put the score at 2-2.

This game promised to offer entertainment and it didn't disappoint. Before the match, both teams are deemed to be equally matched and the winner was expected to go home with one extra goal.

From the onset of the game, Germany slowed down England's fast paced game and dictated the game play. This unnerved England and allowed Miroslave Klose to score the first goal of the game. The way the goal was scored showed the lack of communication in the English defense. From a goal kick by the German goalie, Klose managed to out wrestle two English defenders and slide kick the ball in.

The second goal by Germany was also scored by another senior player, Lukas Podolski. The goal was the result of a beautiful long movement of the ball in front of the English penalty box with Podolski rediscovering his sharpness again.

After the second goal, Germany relaxed a bit and allowed England to get back in to the game with their fast pace. This caused havoc in the German defense and allowed the English defender, Mathew Upson to score a goal with a header.

England still controlled the pace of the game and then scored another goal, this time by Frank Lampard. Unfortunately, the ball bounced out of the goal after going in and the linesman didn't see the ball cross the line. So a perfectly good goal was ruled out.

In the second half, Germany managed to keep England totally out of the game. They scored two goals in the counter attack with the English defense totally out of their depth. Both the goals was scored by their youngest player on the field Thomas Muller, who was excellent in this game today together with Mesut Ozil.

There was no way back for England now. Their passing lack precision and there was little team work on the field. So the result at the end of the day stood at 4-1 although the Germans could have scored more if their substitute have been sharper.

World Cup 2010 - 2nd round 1st day

The 2nd round games started with Uruguay and South Korea. Uruguay started brightly and they got a goal within first few minutes from Suarez. After that goal, they decided to go into defense mode and just waited for the South Koreans to bring the ball to them.

This is usually a recipe for disaster especially if the opposing team is as good or slightly lower than you. And so it happens, late in the 2nd half, the Koreans strike back with a goal.

But the Koreans are no match for Uruguay. Suarez had another goal, this time a beautifully curved shot hitting the post and into the net. The 2-1 score made Uruguay the first country to progress to the quarter-finals.

The second game of the day was between USA and Ghana. This was an interesting and exciting match for the start. Ghana quickly settled and got the first goal in 5 minutes from Kevin Prince Boateng who managed to evade the disorganized US defense. The US quickly settled after this goal and started to attack Ghana who decided to get into a defensive mode.

Prince Boateng then got tackled quite violently and forced to exit the game. Amazingly the tackled laid on him was very similar to the one he gave Michael Ballack, the injured Germany captain which made Ballack miss this World Cup.

The US goal came from a penalty after the Ghana defender fouled in the penalty area. Up until then, Ghana defenders were superb and stole a lot of balls from the US.

The game went into extra time and within the first 3 minutes, Asamoah Gayan, in an amazing individual brilliance, managed to evade 2 defenders before ramming the ball in the back of the net. Both teams by now were on their last legs and struggled to play the game

The score stayed 2-1 until the end giving Ghana the 2nd sport in the quarterfinals and giving Africa the hope.

World Cup 2010 - End of first round

The first round of the World cup matches has ended and the last few games were quite boring to tell the truth. The game between Brazil and Portugal was almost a farce, with too many yellow card in the first half and almost a training ground match in the second.

From the first round, the best team and the most entertaining one is Argentina. The team with the most fighting spirit is US and the team which has disappointed the most is Italy. France has basically have shown why they should not be at the World Cup in the first place.

The African teams, while vibrant and full of energy, don't seem to have the killer goal mouth instinct which can be found in most South American teams. If they can improve in that department, they all could easily enter the 2nd round. For now, Africa have to make do with Ghana.

The World Cup is perfectly set for the two South American giants, Argentina and Brazil to meet in the final unless some unexpected upsets happen. Other teams to watch out for are Germany, Portugal and Paraguay.