The 2023 finalists

Already when we had the four semi-finalists we knew one team that had never won before would be World Champion. And now we have a final with two sides who have never been there before: Spain versus England.

Spain has been a rising power for many years, and the rising power of FC Barcelona (defending CL champions) and Real Madrid has become to transfer to the national team. That said, internal disagreements and their 0-4 loss to Japan in the first round cast some doubt on how far they could get. There is no doubt that they could go all the way now: they defeated Sweden 2-1 in a close-fought match. Only in the 81st minute Spain went ahead by the young Barcelona striker Salma Paralluelo, and while it seemed that they were on their way to victory, Sweden striked back in the 89th minute by Rebecka Blomqvist, and it appeared to be extra time. But one minute later, following a corner kick and poor defending by Sweden, Olga Carmona had a strike from outside the penalty kick that went over the Swedish goalie.

All in all Spain has shown that they are never beaten and will keep fighting, and that is a strength when going into the final.

England are defending European champions and went into the tournament as favourites, but have not looked strong throughout. But that may also be their strength: they have won matches where they have not necessarily looked as the best side. 

This was not the case against Australia. Despite massive home support, the English kept their head cold and looked stronger most of the match despite Australia's brave fight. It was Ella Ann Toone who brought England ahead in the first half on a great strike from inside the penalty area, following the buildup by a strong Alessia Russo. Australia went forward in the second half and it was a fantastic strike by Samantha Kerr that brought them the equaliser (perhaps one of the best goals of the tournament), and renewed hope for Australia. But seven minutes later Lauren Hemp won a clumsy duel with the Australia defender Ellie Carpenter, and pushed the ball past the goalkeeper.

Australia pressed forward and Samantha Kerr had two big chances to equalise, but in the end it was the Arsenal striker Alessia Russo who scored England's third and put England definitively in the final.

It will be a great final with two teams that both have chance. Also the first all-European final since 2003 (when Germany defeated Sweden), and the first final since 2007 without the USA. The poor showing of the USA is witnessed by the fact that this is the first World Cup ever when USA are not among the top-3.

A unique World Cup already!

Tension and surprises

 I have had a lovely weekend with great friends and traveling half across the world, so have had limited time to reflect on the semifinals.

I watched Argentina's match in a nice bar in San Salvador. Over beers and ribs I suffered greatly: Argentina apparently had the match under control after Nahuel Molina and Lionel Messi had brought them ahead 0-2, but Wout Weghorst, coming on for the Dutch, scored two for the Dutch to equalize and take it into extra time and an eventual nerve-wrecking penalty shootout.

I shit my pants as Argentina's Emiliano Martinez, Dibu, held strong and saved the penalties from Virgil Van Dijk and Steven Berghuis, with Lautaro Martinez in the end scoring the winner for Argentina.

It was an intense and dramatic match, but most of all, ugly, full of hate, mutual provocation, and a referee, Antonio Mateu Lahoz, that interestingly was accused by both sides of favouring the other side (maybe in the end that is the greatest compliment to a referee's neutrality). It is a pity that these players descend into that state of primitive cave-man mentality, but hey, that is why these guys are all footballers: they lack brains to be anything else.

As to Argentina: can they be World Champions? Yes, all four semifinalists can. But they are not the best or most stable team of the four. They could win the whole thing or end up losing 0-3 to the Croatians as they did in 2018. 

Because watch out for Croatia! Just as four years ago in the semifinals after two penalty shootouts, and having eliminated a great Brazilian side! Because Brazil were great and it is truly sad to see them eliminated, but they lost again to a strong European side (Brazil has not defeated a European side in a World Cup knockout match since 2002!) who proved disciplined, organized and were not at all intimidated at playing against Brazil.

Morocco are the first African team ever to make it into a semifinal, and that in itself is truly historical, besides the fact that they repeated their feat of 1986 by defeating a Portuguese side that had not watched Morocco's other matches. It is great and refreshing to finally see and African team through, and they will face their biggest challenge in France, the defending World Champions, but also a country with which they have strong bonds; I hope it will be a fair and great match of mutual respect rather than the hateful nationalistic shit we are seeing in the tournament.

If not, rather watch Netflix.

Football is home

I was not supporting England against Croatia, although I recognize that they had an interesting young team that exceeded expectations and who will probably go further in the future. But I got increasingly annoyed about English fans who kept saying that "Football is coming home".
The home of football has for a long time been the entire world. So I am happy to say that football remains home, while England is going home (although after a bronze-match).
Croatia in the final is great: the smallest country after Uruguay ever to make it to a final, shows that small European nations can also compete at the highest level in the expanded European Championship known as the World Cup.

The semifinals

The semifinals of the World Cup are as follows:

• France-Belgium: In my view this is the moral final of the tournament. Belgium eliminated mighty Brazil (who continues being not so mighty after all), while the French have not impressed, but have been steady throughout the tournament. France are favourites because of their history, but Belgium are favourites because of their players. Personally, I favour Belgium: it a great side and best of all, the least nationalistic country of the World Cup. I hate all the nationalistic shit of this tournament.
• England-Croatia: Croatia are in their first semi-final since 1998. Luka Modric has probably been the best player of the tournament, but the team has not always looked on top: against both Denmark and Russia (great sides but not among the best in the world) they struggled and only won on penalties, and have looked tired. England on the other hand have played well, but have only been up against quality opposition when they lost to a Belgian B-team. They struggled against a weak Colombia and easily pushed aside the overrated Swedes. I certainly hope Croatia takes out England, which I find the least likeable team of those four that are left. 

Day 28 of the World Cup: Copenhagen, Denmark

Denmark did not qualify to the World Cup, but this has not dented world cup fever in this small Scandinavian country. In fact, it is nice to see the world cup with fans without a dog in the fight, who nevertheless understand the passion and enjoy to discuss the game.

On top of all this, it was a lovely sunny day in Copenhagen; one of those days where the streets are full of music, beer drinking, beautiful women and cheerful crowds. No city in the world is as wonderful as Copenhagen on a day like yesterday. It was the perfect build-up for the semi-final.

I must admit that after yesterday's Brazilian debacle (it is still hard to believe) I was not optimistic regarding Argentina's prospects in the semifinal against the Dutch. The Argentines have given a lot of space and have taken pace out of their matches. It seemed to me that Europe would totally conquer South America.

So that is why I decided to play it safe and not wear my Argentina shirt (four years ago I wore it for the Argentina-Germany quarterfinal in a bar full of Germans in Brussels, and that was not a good experience).

After the great day I went with a group of friends to watch the match at a beautiful area by the harbor of the city called Islands Brygge. This is where Danish TV, Danmarks Radio (DR), has set up a World Cup fan area with giant screens and beer sales. It is from there that the DR football pundits, led by the former player Peter Moller, comment on the matches.

This has also, during the tournament, become the place to watch matches with fans of all nationalities coming through Copenhagen. Yesterday was no exception with a large crowd of orange Dutchmen and another large crowd of noisy and partying Argentines, who sang and screamed their way through the match. I could not help to get more and more smitten by their passion, and was fully immersed in the match as it progressed.

The Dutch have been strange in this tournament. After their flying start against the Spanish World Champions, they became steadily worse throughout the tournament: it was as if the fear of losing won the farther they got, playing more defensively and lacking creativity in attack. We saw it in their controversial last minute win over Mexico and their disappointing 0-0 with the Costa Ricans, where they continuously ran into off-sides.

Against Argentina they did not seem to have improved, although a strong Argentine defense, that has grown throughout the tournament, must be credited. Javier Mascherano played a fantastic match as holding midfielder, and hopefully Barcelona is watching.

Argentina were indeed the better team, creating the few chances of a very tactical match. In the end it was the first 0-0 semi-final in World Cup history (we have had two historic semi-finals!), and penalty kicks were perhaps predictable. 

Argentina have always been good at penalties, and this time looked as good as every other, with Sergio Romerio saving two penalties. The Monaco keeper has been one of the stars of Argentina in this tournament, and hopefully he will find a new club and get more games after the tournament.

Yes, Argentina play boring, but this is not equal to playing badly. Rather it means that the Argentines do not risk much. And when their (for some) fearsome offensive power is marked closely, as it has been throughout the tournament, they look boring. 

But they are in the World Cup final; without playing violently, without referee help, without controversy. It has all been about hard work, concentration and consistency for Argentina. Germany are favorites after their trashing of Brazil. But this is not to say Argentina are without chances, and that Germany should underestimate them. Argentina will work hard and fight to the last drop to get the title in Brazil.

And I will be wearing my Argentina shirt for the final.

Greatest World Cup Matches: Germany-Spain (2010)

Germany is one of the giants of world football. In spite of reaching the World Cup final of 2002 and making it to the third place in 2006, they were hungering for another title when they entered the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
Surely, German football was not the same it had been in the 20th century. After the debacles at the World Cup in 1998 and the Euro in 2000, Germany had started to rebuild its youth system around more skillful players and playing a more possessive style of football. This had resulted in an immensely popular side at home in 2006, when they made it to the semifinals under Jurgen Klinsmann with a youthful, attacking side that in many ways came to illustrate a new, diverse and multicultural Germany. The 2010 squad was also full of young stars, such as Werder Bremen's Mezut Ozil, Stuttgart's Sami Khedira (both were soon to change to Real Madrid) and Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller. These were supplemented by other great and more experienced players such as Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phillipe Lahm and Miroslav Klose. Germany had opened by trouncing Australia 4-0 in a match where they looked as candidates for the title. Although they lost their second match to Serbia, a 1-0 victory over Ghana in the last match gave them the first spot in the group. In the next two matches Germany suddenly looked unbeatable: they first triumphed over their eternal rivals of England with a resounding 4-1 victory and then destroyed Diego Maradona's Argentina 4-0 in the quarterfinal.
Germany was ready to take on the huge favourites of Spain!
In international football Spain had historically always been a notable under-performer. With a mass of talent and some of the best clubs in the world, Spain had never reached a World Cup final and had only succeeded internationally in 2008, when they had won the European Championship by defeating exactly Germany in the final.
With the Euro title Spain entered the 2010 World Cup with justified expectations, not least because of its amazing players that had been harvested mostly from FC Barcelona's base, and complemented by Real Madrid's flood of talent. Barcelona's Xavi and Andres Iniesta were surely the best midfield pair in the world. In defense Barcelona's captain Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique were complemented by Real Madrid's uncompromising Sergio Ramos, and in goal Real Madrid's Iker Casillas was definitely the best goalkeeper in the world.
Although Spain entered the tournament huge favourites, they fell in their first match against a defensive Swiss side that managed to get a 1-0 victory. This was perhaps healthy for the favourites who went on to defeat Honduras and Chile to win the group anyway. In the last-16 Spain defeated their Iberian neighbours Portugal 1-0 and in the quarterfinal had enormous difficulties defeating a great Paraguay 1-0.
Still, they had made it to their first World Cup semi-final since 1950, and were eager to get into their first final ever as they were to face Germany, the most scoring team in the tournament.
While Germany were without one of the best player of the tournament, Thomas Muller, Spain were in the strongest line-up, with seven Barcelona players and three Real Madrid players on the pitch. In the first half there was the predictable passing around by the Spanish, with the Germans trying to fight their way into the match. Even though Spain seemed to be passing the ball around a lot without getting anywhere, they still had the few best chances, while Germany still felt they could win the match at the end of the first half when Mezut Ozil should have had a penalty on a challenge from Sergio Ramos.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that Spain was so dominant without getting anywhere that prompted them to put more pressure in the second half. With Xabi Alonso at center stage, balls were passed more aggressively, but with little effect. Instead, halfway through the second half the young Bayern Munich talent Toni Kroos had a good shot that was saved by Casillas, and one could feel that Germany were still in the match.
But one of the many qualities of this Spanish team was their eternal patience. At no point did it seem they got nervous about Germany's chances, but instead they kept passing the ball, looking for the opening.
And it finally came in the 73rd minute.
Barcelona's Xavi took a corner into the area where his club captain Carles Puyol headed the ball with a smash, and even though the Spanish players never looked nervous, their celebrations certainly looked as relief.
It was now Germany that looked in shock. While coach Joachim Loew made a desperate offensive change, Spain's patient possession continued. In the last minutes Spain's young Barcelona striker Pedro even missed a huge chance to make it 2-0 when he preferred to be egotistical rather than play Fernando Torres, but that was quickly forgotten when Spain emerged victorious on Puyol's goal. Spain had been superior to Germany and went on to win the World Cup final, thus sealing their position as the best team in the world.
 

7^th July 2010

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

Attendance: 60,960

Referee: Viktor Kassai, Hungary

Teams:

Germany: Manuel Neuer, Friedrich, Sami Khedira (Mario Gomez), Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mezut Ozil, Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Piotr Trochowski (Toni Kroos), Phillip Lahm, Mertesacker, Boateng (Jansen)

Spain: Iker Casillas, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Joan Capdevilla, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso (Marchena), David Villa (Torres), Pedro (Silva)

Germany-Spain 0-1

Goals:

0-1 Puyol (73)

Greatest World Cup matches: Brazil-Uruguay (1970)

Twenty years after the most painful defeat in the history of Brazilian football in the World Cup final of 1950, Brazil and Uruguay were again facing each other in the semifinal of the World Cup in Mexico.
Both South American teams were strong, although the Brazilians had captivated the world with its beautiful style as they had cruised themselves to the final. In the first round Brazil had won all their matches against Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the defending world champions of England (a match remembered particularly for Gordons Banks spectacular save of a Pelé header), and in the quarterfinal had defeated Perú 4-2 in a match that arguably has been one of the most entertaining in terms of attacking technical football in the history of the world cup.
With Pelé as the star, the Brazilian team nevertheless had some of the most talented players of an entire generation of Brazilian football: Jairzinho, Rivelino, Tostão, Gerson, Clodoaldo and Carlos Alberto were some of the players of a team that by many is considered the best in the history of Brazilian football.
Uruguay played an entirely different defensive style of football than Brazil or Perú, and had more difficulty in reaching the semifinals: in the first round group they had just barely finished second behind Italy, after defeating Israel, tying with the Italians, and losing to Sweden.
In the semifinal Uruguay had defeated the USSR 1-0 after a extra time on a goal by Victor Espárrago in a match that was quickly forgotten. Uruguay’s star player was its goalkeeper, Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, who was also the best goalkeeper in the world at the time, and everyone was surely expecting his to have to play his best against the Brazilian attacking machine.
Due to its historical precedents, the match immediately caught the imagination of the world, in particular in Uruguay and Brazil, where a war of nerves ensued as the Uruguayans tried to appeal to the history of these matches: as some joked, Uruguay would be world champion every twenty years! (1930-1950-1970).
When Uruguay went ahead by 1-0 19 minutes into the match, it seemed history would repeat itself; the Uruguayans had played defensively and well-organized, and had scored by the Nacional player Luis Cubilla.
Although Brazil then tried attacking, it only bore fruit in the last minute of the first half when the extraordinary dribler Clodoaldo equalized for Brazil.
The Brazilians went out to the second half with a determination that history should not repeat itself, and there were some big chances before Jairzinho managed to bring Brazil ahead after a splendid pass from Tostão that split the Uruguayan defense.
Uruguay proved unable to respond, and in the last minute of the match Rivelino put the definitive score of 3-1 for Brazil with a shot from the edge of the area after a pass from Pelé.
The match is perhaps best remembered for a goal that wasn’t, and is perhaps considered one of Pelé biggest misses: on a one-on-one with Mazurkiewicz, Pelé totally confused the Uruguayan goalkeeper by letting the ball pass to the left of the goalkeeper while he himself runs around his right. Alone with goal, Pelé nevertheless miscalculates his shot, that goes wide of the goal.
Nevertheless, Brazil had been victorious and were now ready to take on the Italians in the final to finally exorcise the painful memories of 1950.

Match Stats:

• 17th June, 1970, Guadalajara, Jalisco
• Attendance: 61,000
• Referee: José Maria Ortiz de Mendibil (Spain)

Brazil-Uruguay 3-1
Goals: 0-1 Cubilla (19), 1-1 Clodoaldo (44), 2-1 Jairzinho (76), 3-1 Rivelino (89)

Teams:
Brazil: Felix; Brito, Piazza, Carlos Alberto, Clodoaldo, Jairzinho, Gerson, Tostão, Pelé, Rivelino, Everaldo
Uruguay: Mazurkiewicz; Ancheta, Matosas, Ubinas, Montero, Mujica, Cubilla, Maneiro (Esparrago), Morales, Fontes, Cortez

Greatest World Cup Matches: West Germany-Italy (1970)

West Germany entered the 1970 World Cup in Italy with a strong team of quite experienced players. Among them was Franz Beckenbauer, who only 25 years old already was one of the most experienced and established players in international football. The team was still captained by the legendary Uwe Seeler, who was playing his last World Cup, while the Bayern Munich striker Gerd Müller had seemed unstoppable, scoring seven goals in the first three matches, which the Germans won against Peru, Bulgaria and Morocco.
In the quarterfinals West Germany had played England, in a repeat of the 1966 final. This time though, the Germans were better prepared against an English team that was arguably better than it had been in 1966, but was apparently not well-adapted to the intense Mexican atmosphere. Also, Coach Alf Ramsey made obvious tactical changes when England could have carried the match away. In the end, West Germany won 3-2 after extra time, on a Gerd Müller goal.
This was only the second time England lost to West Germany, and as has happened so much since, the English swam over in references to the war.
Italy had not had good results for the World Cup for many years, but under coach Feruccio Valccareggi had built up a very strong team playing the reputed “Catenaccio” style, around a highly organised and very strong defense. The midfield led by AC Milan’s Gianni Rivera (who and 1969 had won the “Balon d’or” as best player of the year), and with powerful strikers, notably Gigi Riva from Cagliari (who is still the most scoring player in the history of the Italian national team). In 1968 Italy had won the European championship and was surely one of the best teams of the world at the time.
However, the Italians were not popular for their “catennaccio” style after their first round matches where they tied 0-0 with Uruguay and Israel, and defeated Sweden 1-0. In the quarterfinals they had nevertheless shown their attacking power against the hosts of Mexico, and won 4-1, and were now ready to the semifinal, where the winner would play the winner between Brazil and Uruguay.
The match in from of a full Azteca Stadium started well for the Italians: only eight minutes into the match the Inter striker Roberto Boninsegna got a return ball at the edge of the German area and resolutely shot and scored.
After this, Italy pulled back around its strong defense, and while the Germans had the ball the most, they were unable to open up the defense. It was frustrating for the many spectators as well as for the German players, to see the German team in possession and attacking, but unable to score. In particular Franz Beckenbauer was playing a strong match, and in the second half he dislocated his shoulder in a fearless tackle. However, unwilling to be substituted, the Bayern Munich star continued playing with a bandaged shoulder for the remainder of the match for what must have been a very painful sacrifice.
In the 90th minute of the match, the frantic German attacks finally paid off when the AC Milan defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (”Volkswagen”) suddenly found himself alone in front of the Italian goal on a cross by Jurgen Grabowski, and just had to put the foot on the ball, that went straight into the net. It was one of the few mistakes that the well-organized Italian defense had made.
West Germany had equalized and now seemed to have everything going for them as the match went into extra time.
Only four minutes later, Gerd Müller took advantage of a misunderstanding between the goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi and the defender Fabrizio Pelotti; when either decide to grab the ball, Gerd Müller quickly got in between them and squeezed the ball into goal for a German lead.
With the match completely turned on its head, it was now Italy’s turn to start attacking against the partly amputated German defense, and only four minutes later the Inter defender Tarcisio Burgnich scored after receiving a bounced off ball from a German defender. Another defensive mistake had equalized it for the Italians, who nevertheless continued attacking after the goal. At the end of the first half of the extra time, Gigi Riva was given too much space at the edge of the German area, and in spite of it not being a very hard shot, it was well-placed towards the far corner of the goal, and Sepp Maier had no chance.
The match had in fifteen minutes turned around twice!
Again it was West Germany’s time to attack as the teams went into the last fifteen minutes of the match, and after only a few minutes Gerd Müller scored to 3-3 on a header.
But the Italians, immediately when putting the ball into play, scored again, without the Germans even touching the ball: Boninsegna crossed the ball to a Gianni Rivera and the Milan striker made no mistake when carefully placing the ball perfectly behind Sepp Maier!
Anything seemed possible in this crazy semifinal, but it was the last goal of the extraordinary drama which Italy won 4-3 and put them in the World Cup final against Brazil.
An anecdote of this match tells that the guards at a prison near Acapulco, absorbed in the dramatic match on TV, didn’t notice the escape of 23 prisoners…
Surely one of the greatest World Cup dramas!

Match Stats:

• 17th June 1970, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
• Attendance: 102,000
• Referee: Arturo Yamasaki Maldonado (Peru)

West Germany-Italy 3-4 (After extra time)
Goals: 0-1 Boninsegna (8), 1-1 Schnellinger (90), 2-1 G. Muller (94), 2-2 Burgnich (98), 2-3 Riva (104), 3-3 G. Muller (110), 3-4 Rivera (111)

Teams:
West Germany: Maier; Schnellinger, Beckenbauer, Schulz, Vogts, Seeler, Overath, G. Muller, Patzke (Held), Loehr (Libuda), Grabowski
Italy: Albertosi; Burgnich, Facchetti, Cera, Rosato (Poletti), Bertini, Riva, Domenghini, Mazzola (Rivera), De Sisti, Boninsegna