"High Noon" for players and officials alike in Germany...

What is that one movie... "The quick and the dead". The World Cup is starting to remind me of the theory behind that film in a metaphorical sense... and in my opinion this is detrimental for the current state, and future of international football.

Today's explosive game has brought the issue to the fray, though the whole thing has been boiling steady since the tournament began in early June. The two instances that previously caught everyone's eye occurred in the Croatia Australia game (when Graham Poll failed to send a player off after showing 2 yellows) and then in a contradictory rather violent fashion when Italy played the USA, and three were dismissed, 2 (both Americans) were shown their marching orders in highly suspicious circumstances.

Moreover, the referee from the USA Italy.. "brawl", Jorge Larrionda, was suspended in 2002 from officiating because of improper conduct. How can FIFA allow such preposterous errors to occur when the fate of nation's future footballing destiny is at stake? Larrionda clearly should not have sent off Mastroeni because there were tackles as such flying in left right and centre during that game. If that tackle warranted a red card, there probably would have only been Keller and Buffon left on the field of play.... disgraceful!

Poll's performance in the Croatia game is... forgivable (at best), but Valentin Ivanov's horror show of a performance in today's round of 16 game was almost laughable. Such was the magnitude of disbelief surrounding the countless cards being dished out by the ruthless Russian, Deco (dismissed in the 78th minute), was seen confiding with his fellow Barca teammate Van Bronckhorst (who was ejected in the 90th minute) over the reasons behind their respective Red cards. Did Mr. Ivanov think he would get his Christmas cards sent out early? It certainly seemed the man from Russia was not offering "any love" between himself and the players. He was more "trigger happy" than a hunter and the beginning of hunting season... in total the four red cards set a new tournament record, surpassing the three dismissals which occurred in the matches between USA and Italy (2006), Denmark and South Africa (1998), Brazil and Hungary (1954) and Brazil and Czechoslovakia (1938). Also, the number of yellow cards equaled the World Cup record which was set in 2002 when Germany played Cameroon!

Now surely, common sense is needed to be placed in abundance when a Referee takes charge of a game this massive. Not withstanding, there is a recent history between these two teams, Holland have not beaten Portugal since 1991 and the Dutch were eliminated by the Portuguese in Euro 2004 (also to a fabulous strike by the mercurial Maniche). Honestly... the official should not have acted in such a way that degragated the quality of what was a potentially brilliant game, which rather was twisted into a slug fest in which both sets of players frequently clashed in unnecessary fashion. In truth, if the two teams had possessed a greater "historical" rivalry - like the one that exists between the Dutch and the Germans - Mr. Ivanov could have caused a riot with the way he dealt with today's game.... it was that shocking!

I for one echo the post match comments of FIFA President Sepp Blatter that "the referee himself deserved a yellow card". I personally believe that FIFA is partially to blame in their appointment of such dreadful officials, and for their remarks before the competition began about referees taking a harder line on players who foul/cheat on the football pitch. I believe that too many yellow and red cards ruin the spectacle of, what is undoubtedly, the greatest show on earth. Enough of the yellow and red "confetti", and more of the main course (a fantastic football match), bitte, Herr Blatter!

source =

www.bbc.co.uk/football

Argentinian devastation....

Undoubtedly the most scintillating performance of the World Cup so far! I personally thought they were terrific against the Ivory Coast, whereas others thought otherwise. As a result of their "six" against Serbia and Montenegro - I am going to analyze what makes this Argentina team so good.
I think we are starting to see the benefits of the youth policy that exits in Argentina. People forget, this is the team who won the Gold Medal at the Olympics in Athens in 2004. I think there has been a great benefit, since their awful showing at 2002, at dropping the likes of Ortega, and Batistuata, and including the likes of Messi, Javier Mascherano, and Carlos Tevez.

There is a great technical level to Argentina's play. They enjoy playing through the middle and using width through their full backs. They have a fantastic, what I call, "tripod" in attack of Crespo, Saviola, and Maxi. The key to their attacking success is the ability of Saviola and Maxi to drop back into the final third and join in with the play, so they can turn, and allow the likes of the full backs and Crespo and other midfield players to bomb forward. This was perfectly illustrated for Argentina's second goal - in which he combined with Cambiasso - a truly devastating strike which may go down as one of the greatest goals in World Cup history! Additionally - the fact that both Maxi and Saviola have great ball control and passing precision - means that their attacks are normally fluid and rapier sharp in accuracy and precision. Compare this to England - who struggle to join the strikers and the midfield - you have the exact opposite with Argentina.

This could not all work without the intelligence of Crespo. He reminds me personally of a Robbie Fowler in his time - except with greater power and presence. He "comes alive" around the penalty box, the perfect combination of an artist and a predator. He has the ability to come back all the way to midfield and link the attacking minded players with himself. He also has a perfect sense for being in the right place - at the right time. He times his runs deep into the box to perfection - and is normally poised to strike from rebounds/deflections around the 6 yard box. He is the definition of a complete striker. In actual fact - if he possessed the pace of an Henry or an Eto for example - he could be the greatest striker in the world...
Not forgetting Riquelme. He glides through games as if he were a hawk soaring through the sky. The Villarreal playmaker makes the game look effortless. In truth, the Serbs gave him an absolute of Eternity of time on the ball and this is criminal. His passing is accurate and penetrative - his eye for a pass is second to none, and his ability to slowly prowl forward like a panther and inter-act with the attacking minded players is like watching an expert pack of lions hunt down a herd of bewildered Zebras. People cannot live with Riquelme when he is playing well; when he is on song you are in trouble. Man marking him is crucial because he is the ignition... the oil in the engine for Argentina. He makes things flow and lubricates the midfield.
At the back, they have the experience, power, and strength of Heinze, Ayala, Sorin and Burdisso. All these players have premium experience at the top level in Europe. Bang around the names of European superpowers like Barcelona, Lazio, Manchester United, Valencia, Juventus..PSG - these players have all competed with those premium European teams. The experience and know - how of Ayala is crucial - a man who has been around since 1998, famously skinned by Owen in St Etienne against England, he is the leader of a defence which relies on his dominance to keep the opposition quiet. Their goalkeeper - one of the few in the starting line up to play in South America (for Boca) is a calm, collective presence. Nothing spectacular or eccentric like a David James or Fabien Barthez - Abbondanzieri provides a sense of security at Argentina's last line of defence.

What should scare the competition is that 3 of Argentina's 6 strikes in this "training exercise" of a match came from substitutes. In truth, the likes of Julio Cruz, Aimar, Messi, and Tevez are not in Argentina's starting 11. Every other country in the world, with maybe the exception of Brazil, those players would walk right into the team. As a result of this plethora of brilliance within this team, many fans of Argentina's opposition may well be singing "Don't cry for me Argentina" - as they will be yielding more footballing master-classes to other inferior opponents before this World Cup is over....