Spain and Holland are both teams that have contributed a massive amount of entertainment, grandeur and skill to this sport and this is a dream final for me, as just like Johan Cruyff I find myself in a win win situation.
Spain is slightly the stronger team but it could go either way, enjoy it... and I will be posting all the post-tournament analysis next week.
Showing posts with label Holland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holland. Show all posts
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Uruguay can win today
The Dutch team have to earn the final... Uruguay are strong, and are capable of doing damage today... even without Suarez.
This will be interesting.
Whatever happens I have very much enjoyed this pivotal World Cup and think both teams have earned the final.
This will be interesting.
Whatever happens I have very much enjoyed this pivotal World Cup and think both teams have earned the final.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Quarterfinal Preview: Holland versus Brazil
VERSUS
Match Preview: HOLLAND versus BRAZIL
Stage: Quarterfinal
Winner Plays Versus: Uruguay or Ghana
Time: 1600h GMT +1
Venue: Port Elizabeth Stadium – Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth – The best match played here so far was South Korea’s 2-0 demolition of Greece, but the camera work has been distant and uninspiring so far. Many long range pivotal views, and too little close ups combine with some mediocre live editing can hopefully be improved for this classic, and we will be able to hear both the Dutch and Brazilian fans over the Vuvuzela drone.
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura of Japan has kept a clean, controlled, and impressive record so far refereeing at this tournament, and certainly has been right up there with the big name referees like Rossetti who have already been sent home blamed for FIFA’s shortcomings. He did a great job with Uruguay-France. He is one of the few fully professional referees in this tournament, and we can only hope for more in future World Cups.
Date of Birth: 17.04.1972
Height: 181 cm
Occupation: Professional Referee
Mother tongue: Japanese
Other languages: English
International since: 2004
First international: Thailand-United Arab Emirates (13.10.2004)
Hobbies: Golf
Fondest memory: FIFA U-17 World Cup Korea 2007: Final Spain - Nigeria
Overview: The revolutionary differences in this World Cup so far could not be better described than by two teams that historically represented the flowing, entertaining attacking game Brazil and Holland, now impressive more for their tactical and defensive styles despite the vocal dissatisfaction of many of their fans.
Holland is the most extraordinary team in World Cup history that never won anything, with the Golden Generation of the 1970s only managing second places and one of the most talented teams ever to grace the World Cup Holland of 1994 getting kicked out in the.... quarterfinals in a historic 3-2 match, which was settled by Branco’s famous dive and freekick very late in the game.
Nevertheless, the talent collected on the pitch today is more than enough for us to witness a real classic. Powerhouse Brazil versus talented Holland should not be missed, as only one of these top teams is going to the final.
Install seat belts on your couch, and turn off all other media, this will be a thrill ride.
Historical Match Up:
The teams have played 3 games at the World Cup, with one win, one loss and one draw each.
The teams have played 3 games at the World Cup, with one win, one loss and one draw each.
Brazil’s coach Dunga, and Holland assistant Frank de Boer were both on the pitch during World Cup 1998 when the two clashed in Marseille for a riveting semifinal, which ended 1-1 after a Ronaldo ‘46th minute goal after half-time cancelled by Patrick Kluivert in the 87th minute and forced into penalties. The extra time led to penalties, where Frank hit his and his twin brother Roland saw his penalty saved to send the Brazillians through. Dunga scored the winning penalty.
In 1994 in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, Holland’s Golden Generation met the future World Champions in the Quarterfinal, only to lose 3-2 in one of the most thrilling game in the history of the competition. Dunga was again on hand as was Frank de Boer, and the match was 2-2 until the 81st minute. Then Branco, the Brazillian wingback obviously dived for a foul, and smiled cunningly while the Costa Rican referee awarded a freekick which he stepped up to take and scored, eliminating Holland on a referee mistake.
This was sweet revenge for the Brazillians, for the 1974 2-0 demolition that Holland gave their own golden generation, with the legendary Johan Neeskens and Johan Cruyff scoring both goals for a major upset of the then World Champions in front of 52000 fans in Dortmund.
Suggested Menu With Your Game:
Don’t eat before... this will be a gut-wrenching thriller.
Squad Analysis:
HOLLAND:
Unofficial Theme Song to Accompany Style of Play:
Again its 2 Unlimited as it worked last time, and its a tribute to the 1994 generation that lost:
An oldie, Dutch ‘90’s dance group 2 Unlimited provides us with “Are you for this?” and “No Limit” (One of the best electronic songs of al time really) because we still haven’t seen the real Holland and now is the time, and so far Holland has looked limited... and because there is no limit when Holland plays at its best.
Statistics so far:
7 goals for and 2 against
63 fouls committed 65 suffered including 8 yellow cards
2 penalties given away (against Cameroon and Slovakia)
45 attacks (17 on left, 19 in the center and 9 from the right)
14 times offsides
55% percent average ball possession (good)
74% pass completion rate (52% for long, 31% for crosses, 82% for medium, 72% for short, 25% for corners)
Most shots on goal – Wesley Sneijder with 15
Highest player statistical-ratings according to the Castrol Index so far:
Right wingback Gregory van der Wiel – 9.11
Central midfielder Mark van Bommel – 9.06
Attacking midfielder Wesley Sneijder – 9.03
Tactics: This is the most defensively minded, and secure at the back Holland the World Cup has seen since the 1970s. Playing a similar 4-1-1-3-1 formation with a defensive midfielder (De Jong), a central midfield organizer (Van Bommel), a central free-roaming playmaker (Sneijder), 2 great wingers (Robben and Kuyt), and a technically skilled attacker with creative ability (van Persie) Holland looks very attacking on paper and exposed in defence... but in practice the opposite is true.
All the players have contributed defensively so far, and van Persie has been rather inefficient in front of goal. The attacking midfield has a little more work given the defensive posture going forward, but if anyone can break Brazil’s defence its Holland with the attacking options on both sides and through the center, even if Chile didn’t manage.
Strengths: Skill and experience at the top level is not lacking in this Holland team, and there are a number of very talented offensive players, not in the least the hard working Dirk Kuyt , lighting fast Robben and top-of-the-World Wesley Sneijder.
Weakness: The defence has not yet played a top opponent, and looked vulnerable for the first 45 minutes against Denmark and at the end of the game against Slovakia.. can they hold Brazil?
Key to beating Brazil: The Dutch and Brazilians have been two of the best teams in football history, but Brazil has won it 5 times to Holland’s 0.
The Dutch must exhibit a determined resistance to Brazil’s attack, taking the model of Portugal in their 0-0 draw perhaps, and counterattacking with the skill and speed of Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder. Van Persie has been on poor form and I would perhaps start Klaas Jan Huntellar for this game as he seems in better finishing form.
The Dutch must exhibit a determined resistance to Brazil’s attack, taking the model of Portugal in their 0-0 draw perhaps, and counterattacking with the skill and speed of Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder. Van Persie has been on poor form and I would perhaps start Klaas Jan Huntellar for this game as he seems in better finishing form.
If the Dutch hold and hit back efficiently, they can really win this game and have a bit of historical revenge.
If anyone in this tournament can beat Brazil, Holland should be able to. The best approach is hit hard, hit first, and keep attacking without sitting back.
Key Squad Members:
Maarten Stecklenburg has received praise for his World Cup performances, but the Ajax keeper will be truly tested with Brazil’s shooting ability thus far. Is he up for it?
Mathijssen of Hamburg and Heitinga of Everton are really up for a challenge today,and have to disprove all of the worries about the state of the Dutch central defence that arose before the tournament arose.
Nigel de Jong has performed excellently against weaker opposition, but will his defensive midfield talent be enough for Brazil? His fast pace and rather good technique will be applied to limiting opportunities caused by Kaka.. and this will be a very interesting matchup given Kaka’s poor form.
Wesley Sneijder is one of the best performing Dutch players at this tournament, and will be another member of the Inter team on the field Friday. His long range shooting and creativity for Holland has been key, but it will take something really special to beat Brazil.
Dirk Kuyt is a very hard working right winger for Holland, although is normally an attacker. His efforts and goal have been important for Holland, and here will need to unsettle a spectacular Brazilian defensive. This will be a historic match for Kuyt is he up for it?
Weakest Link: Robin van Persie has had a miserable tournament so far even though he has scored a goal it was much less than is expected of him. His injury ridden season with Arsenal seems to have affected his physical form, but what drove him to arguing with Dutch coach van Marwijk when subbed against Slovakia? There is a possibility he will start on the bench, or be quickly dropped to it if he fails to score. BRAZIL:
Unofficial Theme Song to Accompany Style of Play:
One of the best Samba rhythms from Rio de Janeiro sings about what else than football.... “O mundo e uma Bola” or “The World is a Ball” was performed by the Beija Flor Samba School in 1986 in support of their team and became something of an anthem... and is a perfect example of a rhythm that Brazil need to find in order to please their fans, the neutrals, and progress at the same time:
Statistics so far:
8 goals for and 2 against
58 fouls committed 59 suffered with 6 yellow cards and one second yellow for red (Kaka)
0 penalties given away
59 attacks (15 on left, 21 in the center and 23 from the right)
4 times offsides
57% percent average ball possession (very good)
80% pass completion rate fantastic! (60% for long, 23% for crosses (poor), 85% for medium, 79% for short, 46% for corners)
Most shots on goal – Robinho with 10 although this is more distributed for Brazil than Holland.
Highest player statistical-ratings according to the Castrol Index so far (very defensive):
Central defender Juan – 9.56
Left wingback Michel Bastos – 9.34
Central defender Lucio – 9.30
Defensive midfielder Gilberto Silva – 9.28
Tactics: Brazil has historically been the best attacking team, and now after defensive midfielder Dunga became the manager and revolutionized the side, they defend like the World’s best. A highly disciplined Brazil deploys the classic Brazilian 4-2-2-2 formation but with many changes.
The most important difference between the South American teams and the European teams in this tournament has largely been that the old-world teams deploy symmetrical, tested formations and force the players to fit in, while Brazil and the South American teams deploy unsymmetrical, tailor-made formations to accentuate their players abilities. There are off course drawbacks to both ways, but the Brazilian 4-2-2-2 sees all the 2s with rather unique ability-centred responsibilities on the pitch.
For example, Robinho plays wide as a playmaking forward and Luis Fabiano as the dedicated penalty box terrorizing striker in the offensive duet, while Kaka plays centrally and Elano or Dani Alves wide in the offensive midfield duet.
The result is, that Brazil have been carefully constructed to complement their player’s abilities, and thus there is little room for non-conformist superstars like Ronaldinho, Adriano, Pato or Diego in the team.
Strengths: A defensive and offensive punch like few other teams, despite a sacrifice of creative freedom. Brazil showed against Chile that if you give them a finger they take your entire hand.
3-0 was the score, but the game was far closer in terms of attacking and possession, what Brazil showed is ruthless efficiency with the opportunities they had, and a disciplined, tight defensive game to base their attack on.
Individually they have a squad of 11 players that on any given day can count themselves among the best in the World.
Weaknesses: It hard to attribute weakness to Brazil, but they have been rather attackable, and it hasn’t been impossible to reach their penalty area on counter attacks.
It remains to be seen, but the Brazillian team has a lot of negative pressure to win, which could result in the team coming unstuck in the middle of a big game and losing their current harmony.
Key to beating Holland: Test and stretch the Dutch offense, especially on the wings with the experienced but slow van Bronckhorst on the left, and the fast but inexperienced van der Wiel on the right, the Dutch should be vulnerable to good crosses. Marking out Wesley Sneijder has to start with high pressure against Nigel de Jong and van Bommel in midfield... simply prevent the forward line from getting the ball high up on the pitch and the Dutch attack will be frozen.... easy right?
Key Squad Members:
Julio Cesar has been superb for European Champions Inter all season and is in terrific form for Brazil... such goalkeeping has often been the key to World Cup Winning teams.
Maicon the unusually strong right back, is another treble winner with Inter, has scored perhaps the goal of the tournament, but now his performances give slight indications of getting more and more relaxed. He will have the tough task of stopping the superb Dutch wingers, and contributing to the offense.
Lucio of Inter gets all the credit and is more famous, but Roma’s Juan has been superb in defence for Brazil winning the deserved Man of the Match award against Chile and contributing a perfectly timed headed goal. They have formed the defensive unit to beat so far.
Gilberto Silva is Brazil’s veteran defensive midfielder, and plays the same role for Brazil as Dunga in their 1994 win and1998 road to the final. Today he will have to stop one of the best attacking midfielders in the World right now Wesley Sneijder, and show that at 33 he is not yet over-the-hill.
Luis Fabiano thinks the World of himself, but many fans doubt he can emulate the performances of Ronaldo or Romario in the past. He is a skilled diver and con artist, has scored a goal with a double hand ball, but possesses truly incredible finishing power and skill which he still has to show. His finishing and run will be vital to Brazil’s success, especially if he can create space between Dutch defenders Mathijssen and Heitinga.
Weakest link: Based on input to the tournament so far, Kaka has been inefficient with his passing and shooting, and picked up a red against the Ivory Coast although a controversial one. His weak(er) form for Real Madrid this season is causing rumours of an impending sale and this could be a reason for his apparent lack of focus in this tournament.
Expected Result: Brazil are favourites to beat Holland 2-1 more or less.
A Slight Surprise: Holland beat Brazil 2-1 in a tight game after extra time.
A real shocker: Either team wins big.
Obi Wan Asterix Says: I am saying Holland will pull a 2-1 upset here... its more of an intuitive guess but I often support the underdogs.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Group E: Epitaphs and Evolutions
Overview: Holland strolled to a win, not because of attacking, but because of tight defending. Japan did exactly the same, with experimental tactics prepared very carefully and trained very thoroughly that have shown them as a very good team in the tournament. Cameroon and Denmark both flopped honestly, and this group final outcome was very just in end, with the Danes failing to qualify from a World Cup group for the first time, and Cameroon continuing years of poor form.
Dutch Engine Gets a Long Warm Up While Waiting For Robben
Tribute:
Chuf chuf sputter the badly oiled engine,
With lots of shots far off the margins,
The Dutch have collected full points,
Without even warming up their joints,
Now its time to turn on the style,
And secure their first World Cup by a mile.
Analysis: Its as if the Dutch were waiting for Arjen Roben to recover from injury before really showing the world the famous attacking machine that Holland is know and loved to be. While the pre-tournament worry was about their defensive ability, this department seemed to perform excellently, while the offence was wasteful and frankly unusually un-entertaining. Bert van Marwijk gambled on strengthening the defence for this group and came out the winner, really preparing the team for the upcoming challenges.
Several of the Dutch players including van Persie, van der Vaart and to a lesser degree Sneijder are not performing up to their famously high standards, in a similar fashion to club colleagues from France, Spain and Italy or England. With 9 points the Dutch ended up not having any problems advancing, while improving their team defensive skills. When Robben came on at the end of the final game, the engine suddenly increased in RPMs dramatically and a goal came out of it. This is much more what is to be expected from the Dutch in the playoff round.
Strengths: The Dutch have seemed more adequate in every department except the actual forward line which consists almost exclusively of van Persie since Babbel and Huntelaar have not played that much. The real strength of this team is in that they allow very few opportunities for opponents to reach their defence.
Prognosis: The Dutch should have no problem dispatching the capable Slovak team, but then again everything seems backwards sometimes at the South African World Cup.
Japan’s Sushi Doesn’t Fall Off the Rice
Tribute:
Gambaro! (A Japanese encouragement which means work hard and is used for almost anything)
Analysis: Obviously excellent preparation for this World Cup has resulted in a clockwork team, which defends better than any previous Japanese team fielded in an international tournament. Manager Takeshi Okada has really worked the freekicks, the team defence, and the attacking movement and his players are performing much better than normally. His most interesting achievement was to get Keisuke Honda from drowning in his own ego after his recent successes, and harnessing the power of this very very interesting player.
Strengths: Primarily in defence, the outstanding duo of Nakazawa and Tanaka works impressively with goalkeeper Kawashima which makes attacking the Japanese very difficult indeed. The two defensive midfielders of Abe and Endo shield the team from attacks, and the team go forward on the pivot of Honda, who much like Forlan for Uruguay receives the ball up front waiting for his colleagues to run onto his passes. This has been highly effective so far.
Prognosis: Japan will have an extremely difficult test with Paraguay, who does all that they do but better. Possibilly Paraguay is the worst opponent for them to face at this stage as they could have had more success against many other teams. Expect a tight battle that could easily go to penalties, unless one side breaks under the extreme pressure that the match will produce.
John Dahl Tomasson Slips on a Herring
Epitaph: A fantastic Danish generation was recalled for this tournament, but very sadly they were mostly past their peaks... this is especially unfortunate given that their participation at the last Euro tournament was undermined by a rampaging home fan, a tournament which they could have dazzled at.
Analysis: Denmark lacked fitness... and mainly due to their best players being too old. The great names of Martin Jørgensen, Jesper Grønkjær, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Thomas Sørensen, Daniel Jensen and Christian Poulsen were all off the beat and the younger players were not yet demonstrating their potential. The ten year reign of coach Morten Olsen seems to be running a little over its peak as well, and a fresher approach could, or could not bring fresher results.
Dennis Rommedahl deserves a special mention, as he and young Simon Kjaer really stood out from the rest of their team. Rommedahl single handedly looked like he was going to lead Denmark to upsetting Holland, and demolished Cameroon with his wing play and scoring. Kjaer still has an entire career ahead of him, but for Dennis its probably a last major outing.
The famous Danish 4-4-2 has failed utterly for the first time since Olsen took over... it has been effective at beating all sizes and types of opponents over the past decade, so this can rightly be called the end of a glorious era for Denmark, with not much to show for it.
The Cameroonese Lyon Never Made it Through South African Customs
Epitaph: The Lyon wasn’t even on the bus
Analysis: Too much is expected of Samuel Eto’o, and while Cameroonian fans will blame him for this great disappointment, many of his colleagues were deadweights in controversial manager Paul Le Guen’s messy team building and tactical deployments. Cameroon were weak in every department, only the goalkeeper and defender N’Koulou really stood out with exceptional performances. Why Le Guen didn’t use the veterans and Achille Emana we will never know... this Cameroon team will be best forgotten, and Samuel Eto’o joins a long list of superb players who didn’t manage to deliver as much for their country as for their clubs.
Cameroon’s problems were that the three lines, meaning the defence, offence and midfield had sincere trouble connecting, and therefore the attacking play was disorganized and desperate. Another problem was that the normally strong Cameroonians failed to recuperate the ball sufficiently.
Paul Le Guen’s squad selection was very mediocre. He played the excellent ball winner M’Bia of Marseille in defence, used Alexander Song on the wing and favoured 18 year old Joel Matip of Schalke with barely any experience to run the Cameroon team’s midfield. He tried to play Eto’o in midfield, despite this not having worked in countless previous attempts, as the player is a dedicated attacker. He also left out the experienced Rigobert Song and used the strong Achille Emana as a substitute... all decisions that backfired. These tactics can be labelled as suicidal and Le Guen leaves this tournament, and the Cameroon bench as a major flop.
11 Performances to Remember
Eiji Kawashima – Another great Japanese goalkeeper. The fact that Japan got through this group conceding only two goals, one of which was the result of an unfair penalty which he even managed to save is a monumental achievement for the Kawasaki Frontale shot stopper, who for those who don’t know Japanese football was a surprise starter for those that don’t know Japanese football well, over his two more experienced glove-wearing colleagues.
Hounourable Mention: Souleymanou Hamidou – In Turkish Kayserispor’s Hamidou Cameroon have a more stable goalkeeper than the more skilled Kameni. None of the goals which Cameroon allowed where his fault, and he managed to pull off several excellent saves. Well played.
JOINT BEST OF THE GROUP: Yuji Nakazawa – This tall Japanese defender has been spectacular this tournament, he plays his club football for modest Yokohama Marinos, but he has 107 appearances for Japan, and played in all of Japan’s matches getting no yellow cards and no reds, and not missing a single tackle... a real achievement for a central defender.
Marcus Tulio Tanaka – Everywhere in Japan’s defence at the same time, and forming an excellent partnership with Nakazawa, both are the first honestly good defence that the Japanese team has ever fielded. His physical strength and tackling ability is really an asset for Japan. He does the ground work while Nakazawa the air work. The Nagoya Grampus defender’s statistics of tackling and passing are right up there with the best at this World Cup.
Honourable Mention: Nicolas N’Koulou – 87% pass completion and a good defensive performance in what was a poor Cameroon side... his defensive statistics show he that he already is and has to potential to be an even greater player. A move to a club like Arsenal from his current Monaco would really be mutually beneficial.
Honourable Mention: Simon Kjaer was a high not in the Danish dramatic musical. His defending was better than his more illustrious colleague Agger, and Denmark looked at times unassailable as the young Palermo star put in an air-tight defensive performance. A big club move is pending for him already the second season running.
Very Honourable Mention: Dennis Rommedahl – One of Denmark’s best performers, his game againt Cameroon, and his first half threat to Denmark was superb. The 31 year old Ajax winger is the last of a great Danish generation that still had it in him to do well here, and his wing performance might just have been the best of the tournament so far.
Yasuhito Endo – A superb freekick goal against Denmark has been the least of contributions. As a defensive midfielder he is filling something of a Gatusso role for Japan, and excellent in defensive midfield.
Nigel de Jong – Rather surprisingly included over the more offensive Demy de Zeeuw of Ajax, the Manchester City defensive midfielder has been excellent in protecting the Dutch defence from too much work in all three matches. Van Marwijk has simplified his main role, and he is playing better for country than club.
Mark van Bommel – Has been very solid for Holland all three games, the Bayern Munich midfielder is a major cylinder in the Dutch engine, with loads of offensive and defensive input, doing all of the dirty work on the pitch to a World Class level.
Makoto Hasebe – Has organized Japan’s midfield in a spectacular fashion, and its no surprise the Wolfsburg man has pushed the more famous Junichi Inamoto out of the first team with great passing, movement and work ethic for Japan.
Wesley Sneijder – Not as good as with Inter this season, but good. He has done just enough as a playmaker, and hopefully can explode into what he is really capable of during the playoff phase. What is interesting is his considerable defensive input, which we have not often seen in the past.
Dirk Kuyt – “A” for unbreaking work ethic from the Liverpool man. If the Dutch succeed in South Africa, his input is set to be key.
Honourable Mention: Elijero Elia – The Hamburg winger has been dazzling with dribbles and even assists as a substitute, and its a shame Dutch coach van Marwijk doesn’t give him more time instead of the mediocre van der Vaart.
JOINT BEST OF THE GROUP: Keisuke Honda – His outstanding form with Venlo in the Dutch league, gave way to brilliant performances with CSKA Moscow in the Champions League and Russian Premier League, and now his calculated, clever offensive play for Japan has been one of the high points of the tournament. His freekick against Denmark might rank as one of the goals of the tournament the way it curled away from Sorensen, and his unselfish assist at the end of the match resulted in a team goal.
Honourable Mention: Vincent Aboubakar – The 18 year old still plays his football in Cameroon with Cotonsport Garoua, and looked very dangerous when he came on against Denmark. Its a shame Paul le Guen didn’t give him more time, as he really seems quite a prospect.
Coach: Takeshi Okada – the Japanese coach has prepared his team spectacularly, with an excellent highlighting of their strength and compensation for their many weaknesses in his tactical approach. They have obviously spend monumental amounts of time training freekicks and their attacking movements, performing to an excellent degree in South Africa so far.
11 Flops to Forget
Jerome Damon – The South African Referee had one of the worst performances during the Japan, Denmark game... awarding a penalty for a Daniel Agger dive, carding two Japanese players for delay of game in the first twenty minutes without any real warning or logic, and missing many heavy fouls altogether.
Thomas Sorensen – This great and experience keeper fell for every trick in the book, and will be considered this World Cup a personal failure. Some of his saves were exceptional, but he is one of the players that seemed to have trouble with the Jabulani ball, never really catching it correctly. This resulted in a number of goals. Additionally he got fouled with the second Japanese free kick, and although he had some good saves in all three matches, Sorensen proved once and for all that he is no Peter Schmeichel.
Lars Jacobsen – The Blackburn Rovers man was nowhere nearly as good as his club colleague Ryan Nelsen of New Zealand, and the image of him that remains from this tournament is his flapping offside’s hand when the opponents are halfway to the goal perfectly legally.
Martin Jorgensen – Proof that moving to the Danish league six months prior to the World Cup won’t help you re-find your brilliant form. Once a great player, but horrible out of shape at this tournament, Denmark’s loyalty to him was sadly not paid off.
Daniel Jensen – Only played 47 minutes, and failed to bring his Werder Bremen form to Denmark. He should have been playing a key role in South Africa for his country, but instead polished the bench with his buns.
Needed Criticism: Christian Poulsen – Continue his weak season at Juventus with and under par turnout in South Africa. He used to be a great defensive midfielder, especially in blocking the opponents’ creativity, but looked out of sorts against Japan and Holland.
FLOP OF THE GROUP: Jean Makoun: What happened? After moving from Lille to Lyon he never really recovered his incredible Flanders form. Here he was next to abysmal, and a waste of 209 minutes on the pitch doing little to nothing.
Eric Choupo Moting – There is a fine line in introducing new and exciting youth, and another in calling up and playing for 147 minutes a player who is still very much on the fringes of his modest German club Nurnberg. The result was the attacker didn’t even get a shot on goal, and ate up Cameroon’s precious energy with wasteful play.
Yoshito Okubo – The former Wolfsburg and Mallorca man, now of Vissel Kobe was one of the few underperformers in the Japanese team, and contributed to their success by wasting several chances and creating too little.
Robin van Persie – Yes he finally scored, but he also looked as exciting as moss on a tree for most of his three games played. Recovering from a long injury, van Persie needs to get his game in gear if the Dutch are to do well at this World Cup.
Pierre Webo – After 168 minutes on the pitch the fans and he were finally put out of their mercy and he was benched. He is normally a great player with club Mallorca, but if we criticize Eto’o for underperforming for Cameroon, Webo has been something of a refrigerator in Cameroon’s attack at the Nation’s Cup and World Cup, He managed only 2 shots on goal in two games, and not very good ones.
Jon Dahl Tomasson – The 33 years old is Denmark’s all time leading top scorer and has done great things in the past, but this World Cup was decisively over-the-hill for him. He was usually late to the ball, implying poor fitness from the Feyenoord man, and squandered many opportunities that fell to his feet especially against Japan.
Coach: Paul le Guen – Who ever said that choosing young players over veterans is right solution? He drafted numerous foreign born players into the Cameroon squad, and completely failed to integrate his 23 into any sort of team. Normally great players all looked like out of their depth, and that is the responsibility of a coach... This is not the first time we have seen this, as Cameroon was reminiscent of Le Guen’s nearly relegated Paris Saint Germain of recent years. his departure will be a good thing for Cameroon.
FINAL TABLE:
| TEAM | WON | DRAWN | LOST | GOAL DIFFERENCE (FOR, AGAINST) | POINTS |
 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +4 (5,1) | 9 |
 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 (4,2) | 6 |
 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3(3,6) | 3 |
 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -3 (2,5) | 0 |
Dutch Engine Gets a Long Warm Up While Waiting For Robben
Chuf chuf sputter the badly oiled engine,
With lots of shots far off the margins,
The Dutch have collected full points,
Without even warming up their joints,
Now its time to turn on the style,
And secure their first World Cup by a mile.
Analysis: Its as if the Dutch were waiting for Arjen Roben to recover from injury before really showing the world the famous attacking machine that Holland is know and loved to be. While the pre-tournament worry was about their defensive ability, this department seemed to perform excellently, while the offence was wasteful and frankly unusually un-entertaining. Bert van Marwijk gambled on strengthening the defence for this group and came out the winner, really preparing the team for the upcoming challenges.
Several of the Dutch players including van Persie, van der Vaart and to a lesser degree Sneijder are not performing up to their famously high standards, in a similar fashion to club colleagues from France, Spain and Italy or England. With 9 points the Dutch ended up not having any problems advancing, while improving their team defensive skills. When Robben came on at the end of the final game, the engine suddenly increased in RPMs dramatically and a goal came out of it. This is much more what is to be expected from the Dutch in the playoff round.
Strengths: The Dutch have seemed more adequate in every department except the actual forward line which consists almost exclusively of van Persie since Babbel and Huntelaar have not played that much. The real strength of this team is in that they allow very few opportunities for opponents to reach their defence.
Prognosis: The Dutch should have no problem dispatching the capable Slovak team, but then again everything seems backwards sometimes at the South African World Cup.
Japan’s Sushi Doesn’t Fall Off the Rice
Gambaro! (A Japanese encouragement which means work hard and is used for almost anything)
Analysis: Obviously excellent preparation for this World Cup has resulted in a clockwork team, which defends better than any previous Japanese team fielded in an international tournament. Manager Takeshi Okada has really worked the freekicks, the team defence, and the attacking movement and his players are performing much better than normally. His most interesting achievement was to get Keisuke Honda from drowning in his own ego after his recent successes, and harnessing the power of this very very interesting player.
Strengths: Primarily in defence, the outstanding duo of Nakazawa and Tanaka works impressively with goalkeeper Kawashima which makes attacking the Japanese very difficult indeed. The two defensive midfielders of Abe and Endo shield the team from attacks, and the team go forward on the pivot of Honda, who much like Forlan for Uruguay receives the ball up front waiting for his colleagues to run onto his passes. This has been highly effective so far.
Prognosis: Japan will have an extremely difficult test with Paraguay, who does all that they do but better. Possibilly Paraguay is the worst opponent for them to face at this stage as they could have had more success against many other teams. Expect a tight battle that could easily go to penalties, unless one side breaks under the extreme pressure that the match will produce.
John Dahl Tomasson Slips on a Herring
Analysis: Denmark lacked fitness... and mainly due to their best players being too old. The great names of Martin Jørgensen, Jesper Grønkjær, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Thomas Sørensen, Daniel Jensen and Christian Poulsen were all off the beat and the younger players were not yet demonstrating their potential. The ten year reign of coach Morten Olsen seems to be running a little over its peak as well, and a fresher approach could, or could not bring fresher results.
Dennis Rommedahl deserves a special mention, as he and young Simon Kjaer really stood out from the rest of their team. Rommedahl single handedly looked like he was going to lead Denmark to upsetting Holland, and demolished Cameroon with his wing play and scoring. Kjaer still has an entire career ahead of him, but for Dennis its probably a last major outing.
The famous Danish 4-4-2 has failed utterly for the first time since Olsen took over... it has been effective at beating all sizes and types of opponents over the past decade, so this can rightly be called the end of a glorious era for Denmark, with not much to show for it.
The Cameroonese Lyon Never Made it Through South African Customs
Analysis: Too much is expected of Samuel Eto’o, and while Cameroonian fans will blame him for this great disappointment, many of his colleagues were deadweights in controversial manager Paul Le Guen’s messy team building and tactical deployments. Cameroon were weak in every department, only the goalkeeper and defender N’Koulou really stood out with exceptional performances. Why Le Guen didn’t use the veterans and Achille Emana we will never know... this Cameroon team will be best forgotten, and Samuel Eto’o joins a long list of superb players who didn’t manage to deliver as much for their country as for their clubs.
Cameroon’s problems were that the three lines, meaning the defence, offence and midfield had sincere trouble connecting, and therefore the attacking play was disorganized and desperate. Another problem was that the normally strong Cameroonians failed to recuperate the ball sufficiently.
Paul Le Guen’s squad selection was very mediocre. He played the excellent ball winner M’Bia of Marseille in defence, used Alexander Song on the wing and favoured 18 year old Joel Matip of Schalke with barely any experience to run the Cameroon team’s midfield. He tried to play Eto’o in midfield, despite this not having worked in countless previous attempts, as the player is a dedicated attacker. He also left out the experienced Rigobert Song and used the strong Achille Emana as a substitute... all decisions that backfired. These tactics can be labelled as suicidal and Le Guen leaves this tournament, and the Cameroon bench as a major flop.
11 Performances to Remember
Eiji Kawashima – Another great Japanese goalkeeper. The fact that Japan got through this group conceding only two goals, one of which was the result of an unfair penalty which he even managed to save is a monumental achievement for the Kawasaki Frontale shot stopper, who for those who don’t know Japanese football was a surprise starter for those that don’t know Japanese football well, over his two more experienced glove-wearing colleagues.
Hounourable Mention: Souleymanou Hamidou – In Turkish Kayserispor’s Hamidou Cameroon have a more stable goalkeeper than the more skilled Kameni. None of the goals which Cameroon allowed where his fault, and he managed to pull off several excellent saves. Well played.
JOINT BEST OF THE GROUP: Yuji Nakazawa – This tall Japanese defender has been spectacular this tournament, he plays his club football for modest Yokohama Marinos, but he has 107 appearances for Japan, and played in all of Japan’s matches getting no yellow cards and no reds, and not missing a single tackle... a real achievement for a central defender.
Marcus Tulio Tanaka – Everywhere in Japan’s defence at the same time, and forming an excellent partnership with Nakazawa, both are the first honestly good defence that the Japanese team has ever fielded. His physical strength and tackling ability is really an asset for Japan. He does the ground work while Nakazawa the air work. The Nagoya Grampus defender’s statistics of tackling and passing are right up there with the best at this World Cup.
Honourable Mention: Nicolas N’Koulou – 87% pass completion and a good defensive performance in what was a poor Cameroon side... his defensive statistics show he that he already is and has to potential to be an even greater player. A move to a club like Arsenal from his current Monaco would really be mutually beneficial.
Honourable Mention: Simon Kjaer was a high not in the Danish dramatic musical. His defending was better than his more illustrious colleague Agger, and Denmark looked at times unassailable as the young Palermo star put in an air-tight defensive performance. A big club move is pending for him already the second season running.
Very Honourable Mention: Dennis Rommedahl – One of Denmark’s best performers, his game againt Cameroon, and his first half threat to Denmark was superb. The 31 year old Ajax winger is the last of a great Danish generation that still had it in him to do well here, and his wing performance might just have been the best of the tournament so far.
Yasuhito Endo – A superb freekick goal against Denmark has been the least of contributions. As a defensive midfielder he is filling something of a Gatusso role for Japan, and excellent in defensive midfield.
Nigel de Jong – Rather surprisingly included over the more offensive Demy de Zeeuw of Ajax, the Manchester City defensive midfielder has been excellent in protecting the Dutch defence from too much work in all three matches. Van Marwijk has simplified his main role, and he is playing better for country than club.
Mark van Bommel – Has been very solid for Holland all three games, the Bayern Munich midfielder is a major cylinder in the Dutch engine, with loads of offensive and defensive input, doing all of the dirty work on the pitch to a World Class level.
Makoto Hasebe – Has organized Japan’s midfield in a spectacular fashion, and its no surprise the Wolfsburg man has pushed the more famous Junichi Inamoto out of the first team with great passing, movement and work ethic for Japan.
Wesley Sneijder – Not as good as with Inter this season, but good. He has done just enough as a playmaker, and hopefully can explode into what he is really capable of during the playoff phase. What is interesting is his considerable defensive input, which we have not often seen in the past.
Dirk Kuyt – “A” for unbreaking work ethic from the Liverpool man. If the Dutch succeed in South Africa, his input is set to be key.
Honourable Mention: Elijero Elia – The Hamburg winger has been dazzling with dribbles and even assists as a substitute, and its a shame Dutch coach van Marwijk doesn’t give him more time instead of the mediocre van der Vaart.
JOINT BEST OF THE GROUP: Keisuke Honda – His outstanding form with Venlo in the Dutch league, gave way to brilliant performances with CSKA Moscow in the Champions League and Russian Premier League, and now his calculated, clever offensive play for Japan has been one of the high points of the tournament. His freekick against Denmark might rank as one of the goals of the tournament the way it curled away from Sorensen, and his unselfish assist at the end of the match resulted in a team goal.
Honourable Mention: Vincent Aboubakar – The 18 year old still plays his football in Cameroon with Cotonsport Garoua, and looked very dangerous when he came on against Denmark. Its a shame Paul le Guen didn’t give him more time, as he really seems quite a prospect.
Coach: Takeshi Okada – the Japanese coach has prepared his team spectacularly, with an excellent highlighting of their strength and compensation for their many weaknesses in his tactical approach. They have obviously spend monumental amounts of time training freekicks and their attacking movements, performing to an excellent degree in South Africa so far.
11 Flops to Forget
Jerome Damon – The South African Referee had one of the worst performances during the Japan, Denmark game... awarding a penalty for a Daniel Agger dive, carding two Japanese players for delay of game in the first twenty minutes without any real warning or logic, and missing many heavy fouls altogether.
Thomas Sorensen – This great and experience keeper fell for every trick in the book, and will be considered this World Cup a personal failure. Some of his saves were exceptional, but he is one of the players that seemed to have trouble with the Jabulani ball, never really catching it correctly. This resulted in a number of goals. Additionally he got fouled with the second Japanese free kick, and although he had some good saves in all three matches, Sorensen proved once and for all that he is no Peter Schmeichel.
Lars Jacobsen – The Blackburn Rovers man was nowhere nearly as good as his club colleague Ryan Nelsen of New Zealand, and the image of him that remains from this tournament is his flapping offside’s hand when the opponents are halfway to the goal perfectly legally.
Martin Jorgensen – Proof that moving to the Danish league six months prior to the World Cup won’t help you re-find your brilliant form. Once a great player, but horrible out of shape at this tournament, Denmark’s loyalty to him was sadly not paid off.
Daniel Jensen – Only played 47 minutes, and failed to bring his Werder Bremen form to Denmark. He should have been playing a key role in South Africa for his country, but instead polished the bench with his buns.
Needed Criticism: Christian Poulsen – Continue his weak season at Juventus with and under par turnout in South Africa. He used to be a great defensive midfielder, especially in blocking the opponents’ creativity, but looked out of sorts against Japan and Holland.
FLOP OF THE GROUP: Jean Makoun: What happened? After moving from Lille to Lyon he never really recovered his incredible Flanders form. Here he was next to abysmal, and a waste of 209 minutes on the pitch doing little to nothing.
Eric Choupo Moting – There is a fine line in introducing new and exciting youth, and another in calling up and playing for 147 minutes a player who is still very much on the fringes of his modest German club Nurnberg. The result was the attacker didn’t even get a shot on goal, and ate up Cameroon’s precious energy with wasteful play.
Yoshito Okubo – The former Wolfsburg and Mallorca man, now of Vissel Kobe was one of the few underperformers in the Japanese team, and contributed to their success by wasting several chances and creating too little.
Robin van Persie – Yes he finally scored, but he also looked as exciting as moss on a tree for most of his three games played. Recovering from a long injury, van Persie needs to get his game in gear if the Dutch are to do well at this World Cup.
Pierre Webo – After 168 minutes on the pitch the fans and he were finally put out of their mercy and he was benched. He is normally a great player with club Mallorca, but if we criticize Eto’o for underperforming for Cameroon, Webo has been something of a refrigerator in Cameroon’s attack at the Nation’s Cup and World Cup, He managed only 2 shots on goal in two games, and not very good ones.
Jon Dahl Tomasson – The 33 years old is Denmark’s all time leading top scorer and has done great things in the past, but this World Cup was decisively over-the-hill for him. He was usually late to the ball, implying poor fitness from the Feyenoord man, and squandered many opportunities that fell to his feet especially against Japan.
Coach: Paul le Guen – Who ever said that choosing young players over veterans is right solution? He drafted numerous foreign born players into the Cameroon squad, and completely failed to integrate his 23 into any sort of team. Normally great players all looked like out of their depth, and that is the responsibility of a coach... This is not the first time we have seen this, as Cameroon was reminiscent of Le Guen’s nearly relegated Paris Saint Germain of recent years. his departure will be a good thing for Cameroon.
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