Brazil 6th World Champion

The 10th FIFA Futsal World Cup has just ended with Brazil winning an impressive 6th title since the tournament started in 1989. The final was a classic match between Brazil and Argentina.

I watched the final. Futsal is much quicker than standard football, and that demands more from the players' technical skills. Given that the pitch is smaller there are many more goal attempts. I have a much more difficult time disengaging the tactics (besides bringing the goalkeeper into attacks and getting caught up in the match, despite the fact that in this final that Brazil won 2-1 went into a thrilling final as Argentina (apparently) put all into attack, while Brazil (apparently) played defensive football.

The Brazilian goalkeeper Willian was outstanding and made some amazing saves. But at the same time Brazil were incredibly fast and dangerous on their shots (counterattacks?), so I had a hard time seeing who were the best and deserved the title. To me they were the same and only the luck of a great goalkeeper gave Brazil the title.

I was not engaged and Futsal is not something that thus interests me much. That said, congratulations to another title for great Brazil!

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.

The use of technology

France deserved to win against Australia; they are clearly a better team than Australia (Bert van Marwijk has made them a solid, boring, physical team, which works better than what he did to Netherlands in 2010). But what this match will be remembered for is the use of technology by the referee, for good and for bad....
I am not in favour of using VAR for penalty situations or off-sides. It should only be used for outright violence or for goal situations. And in my view France's penalty was such a case: maybe it was a penalty (I do not think it was), but it is clear that VAR does not take the controversy away, but just adds to it. Such a call has a high degree of subjectivity that VAR does not eliminate.
The second French goal clearly showed the good use of goalline technology, and I can think of other situations where this goal would not have been called (think Germany-England 2010 or Brazil-Spain 1986). It is great that the message that the ball is in goal, goes directly to the referee, avoiding the use of VAR. This is a huge improvement, but the way VAR is being used is no improvement, but just serves to further create controversy.
I look forward to a faraway Star Trek future where AI Androids are refereeing. At least they will be immune to temptation, if not to hackers!

Greatest World Cup Matches: Spain-Netherlands (2010)

The first World Cup final on the African continent was special for many reasons. Firstly it was the first all-European final outside Europe, but also the first final ever without the participation of either Brazil, Argentina, Italy, or Germany.
And there was certainly going to be a new world champion: for Spain it was their first World Cup final; it was the third for the Netherlands, having lost their two previous finals in 1974 and 1978.
The Netherlands had always had a complex of not achieving the pinnacle. Besides their European Championship title of 1988, success had always eluded them. With some of the best football academies in the world, the Dutch produced a long line of incredibly talented players who were schooled in the Dutch model of total football, combining tactical and physical skills and a well-developed understanding of the game.
The Netherlands always entered the tournaments as favourites, but had largely disappointed. In 2008 the former Feyenoord coach Bert van Marwijk was made manager of the team to lead them to the 2010 World Cup. In qualifying the Dutch made a clean sweep by winning every match. But there was criticism on their style: always proud of playing beautiful football the Dutch became, like the Argentines, divided on whether to play a more cynical style in order to get results. The 2010 team was a result of this. The side contained some superb technical players such as Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder, Arsenal's Robbie van Persie and Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben, but also some uncompromising players such as Bayern Munich's Mark van Bommel, Manchester City's Nigel de Jong (known as the lawnmower) or Everton's John Heitinga. While there were occasional brilliant moments, the team played more result-oriented and physical football than previous Dutch sides. And it seemed to be working.
Arriving at the World Cup the Netherlands had won all three first round matches against Denmark, Japan and Cameroun. In the last-16 they defeated a Slovakian side that had eliminated the defending World Champions of Italy 2-1 on goals by Robben and Sneijder.
In the quarterfinals the Dutch played the favourites of Brazil. After being down 0-1, Wesley Sneijder scored twice in the second half to give his side a semi-final match against the double world champions from Uruguay.
The Dutch won an exciting match 3-2 and were ready to face Spain in Johannesburg.

As defending European champions Spain entered the tournament as the biggest favourites, but started with a debacle when they lost their first match 0-1 to Switzerland. It was a match where Spain had possession and chances, but their feeble attack gave no results. Spain lacked a strong striker, and manager Vicente del Bosque sometimes chose to play without a striker, giving Spain a lot of possession but little to show for it. The side was not outright defensive, but their main strength came from their possession and their outstanding defense around FC Barcelona's Carles Puyol and the Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
In their following two matches Spain fought themselves back to win the group by defeating Honduras and Chile. The next three games resulted in three narrow 1-0 victories against Portugal, Paraguay and Germany to make it to the final. All victories were achieved by a high level of possession that had become Spain's trademark, just as FC Barcelona, but without the powerful striking force of the Catalonians. Still, Spain had every reason to be optimistic before the final against the Netherlands, who nevertheless must have noted the possibility of winning against Spain's low-scoring side.

It was not a nice match. Netherlands came out to destroy Spanish possession, and had already received five bookins within the first 30 minutes of the match. Nigel de Jong should have been given a direct red card by a vicious karate kick against Xabi Alonso, but a forgiving referee Howard Webb only booked him, and the Dutch violence did nothing but break the rhythm of the match.
This was the least likely Dutch side in the history of football.
While not being able to play as polished as before, Spain still had possession; Sergio Ramos had a great chance on a header that was saved by Stekelenburg, but otherwise it was a hugely disappointing first half.
The ugliness continued in the second half, and the increasingly frustrated Spaniards also joined the fight; while they continued having more possession, Arjen Robben had the biggest chance of the match to put the Dutch ahead after Wesley Sneijder had torn apart the Spanish defense, but Robben was prevented by the great Iker Casillas.
In the 83rd minute, Arjen Robben had another a good run against Casillas but Spain's captain again saved his side.
The true star of the match, who gave Spain the title, was Iker Casillas.
Before that Sergio Ramos had missed a free header to put the Spanish ahead, but in the end it was 0-0 of a very ugly final that went into overtime.
Spain tried to put pressure on the Dutch with Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas coming in for Xabi Alonso. And Fabregas had the first big chance of extra time when he missed alone with Stekelenburg. In the second half of extra time the Dutch were finally given a red card when John Heitinga brought down Fernando Torres. And soon after this Spain scored the winning goal after a controversial situation where the Dutch should clearly have been awarded a corner-kick after a free kick.
But the Netherlands had made no friends, and nobody really cared about the Dutch protests after Andres Iniesta smashed the ball in with his right foot after Fabregas' through-pass caught Iniesta on-side.
Spain were champions.

The fourth 1-0 victory for Spain in a row made them the least-scoring World Champion ever. Still, it was a well-deserved title, and nobody felt sorry for the Netherlands. It was a record final in terms of yellow cards (12), and it was a pity that the first final on African soil should have been such an ugly match after a wonderful tournament. A historical victory, not only because Spain won for the first time. It was also the first victory of a European side outside Europe.
 

11^th July 2010

Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg

Attendance: 84,490

Referee: Howard Webb, England 

Teams:

Spain: Casillas, Pique, Carles Puyol, Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Capdevilla, Busquets, Alonso (Fabregas), Villa (Torres), Pedro (Navas)

Netherlands: Stekelenburg, Van der Wiel, Heitinga (RC, 109), Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst (Braafheid), Van Bommel, De Jong (Van der Vaart), Kuyt (Elia), Van Persie, Sneijder, Robben 

Spain-Netherlands 1-0 (after extra time)

Goals:

1-0 Iniesta (116)

Greatest World Cup matches: Ghana-Uruguay (2010)

The first World Cup in Africa came amid criticism whether the South African hosts were ready to host the tournament. On the pitch however, there was surely no doubt that Africa was ready: since the 1970s African football had taken enormous strides to take its place among the top world football. First Cameroun and Morocco had taken the world by storm in 1982 and 1986, and were then joined by Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, all nations that in their World Cup appearances had performed at the highest level.
So as the tournament came to Africa for the first time ever, expectations were understandably high. But most were left disappointed: After a promising opener, the South African hosts proved to be the first host nation eliminated in the first round of a World Cup. Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroun all came last in their respective groups, while Cote d'Ivoire came third in a difficult group behind Brazil and Portugal. After the first round, only one African team was left in the tournament: the “Black Stars” from Ghana.
Ghana had until 2006 been a notable under-performer at senior level, while they had come to the forefront of youth football: World champions for U-17 in 1991 and 1995 and runners-up in the U-21 World cup in 1997, as well as a memorable bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics. The incredible pool of talent and a high level of organization had always made it only a question of time before Ghana would emerge on the stage, something that finally happened in 2006, for their first world cup, where they surprised everyone by making it to the last-16 ahead of the Czech Republic and the USA, and there losing to Brazil.
In 2006 they had been one of the youngest sides, so in 2010 they were a team with more experience that was to face Serbia, Australia and Germany in the first round. Under the Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac it was a more cynical Ghanaian side than the charming but naive side of 2006. They had started with a difficult 1-0 victory over Serbia and had then tied 1-1 with a fighting Australian side. Both goals were scored on penalty by the Rennes striker Asamoah Gyan. In their last group-match Ghana lost 1-2 to Germany, but when Australia managed to defeat Serbia, Ghana was through on goal difference.
In the last-16 Ghana faced the USA, and as in 2006 the Black Stars won 2-1, but after extra time.
As only the third African team to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal, all the hopes of the continent were now with Ghana, who were to face Uruguay. The team had been strong an efficient, but had been mired in some controversy as the Inter Milan striker, Sulley Muntari, who had been suspended from the team during qualification, had been expelled for insulting Rajevac. However, captain Stephen Appiah's plead to the coach had allowed Muntari to be pardoned by the coach.

It was proper that the double world champions of Uruguay would participate in the first World Cup in Africa; as the first hosts and champions themselves, Uruguay had also been the first country to use black players on their team, at a time when other countries were still immersed in their colonial racism and idiotic arrogance.
Although Uruguay had struggled to qualify (they qualified as the very last team after a hard-fought play-off match against Costa Rica), they arrived to the tournament with a powerful striking force in Diego Forlan, from Atletico Madrid, and Luis Suarez from Ajax Amsterdam, supplemented by players with a lot of experience in the top European leagues.
Uruguay started with a tie against France before defeating the hosts of South Africa 3-0 and Mexico 1-0 to take the first spot in their group. In the second round the South Americans played South Corea and won 2-1 on two goals by Suarez, and were now to face Africa's darlings in the quarterfinals.

The Uruguayan team started best in a match between two very skilled but also very physically strong sides. The South Americans completely dominated the first twenty minutes of the match, and the Wigan goalkeeper Richard Kingson had two good saves. But slowly Ghana fought themselves back into the match, and towards the end of the first half they were dominating when Uruguay was seriously weakened: Their experienced captain, Diego Lugano from Fenerbahce in Turkey, was injured and had to replaced by Andres Scotti. And things started to look bleaker for Uruguay when Ghana went ahead in the last seconds of the first half. The goal was scored on a long-range effort by the controversial Sulley Muntari, whose shot curled in such a way that it caught goalkeeper Fernando Muslera on the wrong foot.
But Uruguay kept their cool, and ten minutes into the second half Diego Forlan took a free kick outside the Ghanaian area, and also gave the ball a curve that caught Kingson on the wrong foot.
1-1.
The match then became a hard fought physical affair, with chances on both sides, although Luis Suarez missed a couple of great chances against Kingson. 1-1 in ordinary time, and the extra time was mostly characterized by tiredness, nerves and long-range attempts as the minutes slowly moved forward, until the last minute of extra time: Ghana got a free kick on the right side outside the Uruguayan penalty area. As the last kick of the match, they sent all men forward to try to get a goal before the penalty kicks. Dominic Adiyiah, AC Milan player who had come in for Muntari, got a strong header towards an empty goal, but Luis Suarez, who was standing on the goal-line, saved it with his hands to avoid Ghana taking the victory.
The referee was not in doubt: direct red card for Luis Suarez and penalty kick for Ghana, which would put them in the semifinal of the World Cup. Asamoah Gyan, who had scored three goals in the tournament, two of them on penalty, completely overshot his kick.
The villain, Luis Suarez, celebrated the miss from the sidelines.
Most people had the feeling that Uruguay, after looking into the deep hole of elimination, had all the advantages as the penalty kicks started. After John Mensah and Adiyiah missed for Ghana, Sebastian Abreu elegantly scored the goal that put Uruguay in the semifinal of the World Cup.
Until now, no African team has come closer to a World Cup semifinal. And it is scant consolation that Uruguay, without Suarez, lost the semifinal 2-3 to the Netherlands, and went on to lose the bronze match as well, 2-3 to Germany.
 

2^nd July 2010

Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg

Attendance: 84,000

Referee: Oligario Benquerenca (Portugal)

Teams:

Uruguay: Muslera, Maxi Pereira, Diego Lugano (Scotti), Victorino, Fucile, Alvaro Fernandez (Lodeiro), Perez, Arevalo Rios, Cavani (Abreu), Luis Suarez (RC, 120), Diego Forlan.

Ghana: Kingson, Pantsil, Vorsah, John Mensah, Sarpei, Annan, Inkoom (Steven Appiah), Asamoah, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Suley Muntari (Dominic Adiyiah), Asamoah Gyan

Ghana-Uruguay 1-1 (after extra time)

Goals:

1-0 Sulley Muntari (45)

1-1 Diego Forlan (55)

Penalty kicks:

Ghana-Uruguay 2-4

0-1 Forlan

1-1 Gyan

1-2 Victorino

2-2 Appiah

2-3 Scotti

Mensah missed for Ghana

Pereira missed for Uruguay

Adiyiah missed for Ghana

2-4 Abreu

Uruguayan superiority

Uruguay is almost certain to be in Brazil next year after having trashed Jordan 0-5 in Amman in the first leg of their play-off match. Next week's match in Montevideo is now just a formality where the Uruguayans will nevertheless be forced to entertain a sold-out stadium, so it seem likely Jordan are up for another beating.
Edison Cavani, who scored a beautiful fifth goal for Uruguay, was only too nice to Jordan when he said that "it looked like it was easy, but it was not" (he even added that "we still have a difficult match ahead of us").
Of course it was easy, because let us face it, Asian football is many light years away from South American football, and there is not a single of the ten South American sides that would not have defeated the fourth best Asian side to make it to the World Cup. That is what makes it so grotesque when some people talk about Asia and Africa deserving to get more spots in the World Cup, mostly instead of Europe, but certainly also instead of South America.
Really? That would mean that number four in Asia, Jordan, would have qualified, but we would have missed Uruguay!?
Any right-minded football fan (even Jordanian football fans) have to agree that the World Cup would only be weaker and more boring with teams like Jordan instead of Uruguay, and the humongous difference in quality between the sides was only much too obvious today.
I am not saying it will always be like that. Perhaps one day number four in Asia will be as good as number five (or six if we count Brazil) in South America. But frankly, I do not believe I will see this happen for many decades!
Congratulations to Uruguay! Cannot wait to see them in Brazil! (let us not forget what happened last time Uruguay played a World Cup in Brazil....).

Top 10 heartbreaking penalty misses

It is really heartbreaking to see your team lose on penalties, or when a penalty would have meant the difference between winning or losing. And if it is heartbreaking for the fan, how heartbreaking may it not be for the player?
The recent Africa Cup of Nations semifinal between Ghana and Burkina Faso, where the latter won on penalty kicks, made me think of the most heartbreaking penalty kicks I could think of in my life. Here are my top ten:

• 10) Chris Waddle, England against West Germany, semifinal of the 1990 World Cup: The only interesting thing in this World Cup was the penalty kicks, and I would have loved to see England against Argentina in what would have been a historic final. 
• 9) Joaquin, Spain-South Corea, quarterfinal of the World Cup 2002: A historic triumph for Asian football, but a great defeat by the young Joaquin who never seemed really to recover from this.
• 8) Mauricio Pellegrino, Valencia-Bayern Munich, Champions League final 2001: Valencia will never come so close to a CL title. Pellegrino missed the last kick to give the Germans their title and me a really bad day.
• 7) Pierre Wome, Cameroon-Egypt 2006 World Cup qualifier. The score was 1-1 in Yaounde in the last match of the group. Cameroon had to win to make it to the World Cup. In the 90th minute Cameroon got a penalty kick. Nobody wanted to kick, so Wome stepped up, and shot wide. Cameroon did not make the World Cup and Wome was frozen out of the Cameroon national team.
• 6) Maxime Bossis, France-West Germany, semifinal of the 1982 World Cup: France surely had one of the best teams in the world, and after a spectacular semifinal against West Germany, it went into extra time and penalties, where Maxime Bossis missed the last shot for France, and Horst Hrubesch could take the winning kick for the Germans.
• 5) John Terry, Chelsea-Manchester United, Champions League final, 2008: It was Chelsea's first Champions League final against the rivals of Manchester United, and the intense and dramatic match ended 0-0. In the penalty kicks captain John Terry could take the shot that would give them a victory, but he slipped and missed, and Manchester went on to win as the kicks continued.
• 4) Zico, Brazil-France, World Cup quarterfinal 1986: One of the best players in history in one of the most memorable teams, in what many consider the best World Cup match ever. Zico missed a penalty at the score 1-1 in the second half, and Brazil went on to lose in penalty kicks.
• 3) Roberto Baggio, Italy-Brazil 1994 World Cup final: The star of Italy's team in the 1994 World Cup missed the last kick that ended up giving Brazil the World Cup in the first World Cup final that was ever decided on penalty kicks.
• 2) Miroslav Djukic, Deportivo la Coruna against Valencia, 1994: Little Deportivo La Coruna had been leading the Spanish league most of the season until the last match, where a victory at home against Valencia would give them the title ahead of mighty FC Barcelona. At the score 0-0, La Coruna was awarded a penalty in the last minute of the match. Bebeto refused to take it. Djukic took it, and missed, and the title went to Barcelona.
• 1) Asamoah Gyan, Ghana-Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinal: Ghana was the only third African side to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal. In the last minute of extra time, Uruguay striker Luis Suarez saved the ball with his hand to avoid certain defeat. He was immediately shown a red card and Asamoah Gyan was set to make the shot that would make Ghana the first African side in a World Cup semifinal. But he made a high shot that just touched the crossbar, and in the following penalty kicks Ghana lost.

These are the ones I can think of that have made me annoyed. Of course, there are some I am happy about: Batty's miss against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup; Van Basten's against Denmark in the 1992 Euro semifinal; or Aldo Serena against Argentina in the 1990 semifinal.
There are surely more that I either do not remember or know about, so I would love to hear some of your opinions!

The fifty greatest matches

I have over the last 8 months or so tried to find and tell about the 50 greatest matches in World Cup history, as a way of preparing for this coming World Cup in South Africa.
The final list is (in chronological order!):

1. France-Mexico, 1930
2. Uruguay-Argentina, 1930
3. Italy-Czechoslovakia, 1934
4. Brazil-Italy, 1938
5. Italy-Hungary, 1938
6. USA-England, 1950
7. Brazil-Uruguay, 1950
8. Hungary-Uruguay, 1954
9. Hungary-West Germany, 1954
10. Sweden-Brazil, 1958
11. Brazil-Czechoslovakia, 1962
12. Italy-North Corea, 1966
13. England-Argentina, 1966
14. Portugal-North Corea, 1966
15. England-West Germany, 1966
16. West Germany-Italy, 1970
17. Brazil-Uruguay, 1970
18. Italy-Brazil, 1970
19. West Germany-East Germany, 1974
20. Yugoslavia-Zaire, 1974
21. Netherlands-Brazil, 1974
22. West Germany-Netherlands, 1974
23. Argentina-Netherlands, 1978
24. Hungary-El Salvador, 1982
25. Algeria-West Germany, 1982
26. Italy-Brazil, 1982
27. France-West Germany, 1982
28. Italy-West Germany, 1982
29. Morocco-Portugal, 1986
30. Brazil-France, 1986
31. Argentina-England, 1986
32. West Germany-Argentina 1986
33. Cameroon-Argentina, 1990
34. West Germany-England, 1990
35. Italy-Argentina, 1990
36. West Germany-Argentina, 1990
37. Russia-Cameroon, 1994
38. Italy-Spain, 1994
39. Bulgaria-Germany, 1994
40. Italy-Brazil, 1994
41. USA-Iran, 1998
42. Croatia-Germany 1998
43. Argentina-England 1998
44. France-Brazil 1998
45. USA-Mexico, 2002
46. South Corea-Spain, 2002
47. Germany-Brazil, 2002
48. Italy-Australia, 2006
49. France-Brazil, 2006
50. France-Italy, 2006

Not all may agree, and there are some matches that may deserve a position here; for instance: France-Italy 1938, Sweden-West Germany 1958; Chile-Italy 1962; Peru-Brazil 1970, etc....
However, I feel this list is quite good, including matches for their importance, their historical context, their geographical significance and in a few cases, mere political implications. In any case, as are now having a new World Cup, there will soon be more matches to add to this great list!

The interesting thing...

The interesting thing about Mexico defeating the defending world champions of Italy 2-1 in a friendly match today, is that nobody really believes that Mexico has a chance of winning the world cup, while Italy will undoubtfully remain a favourite for the title! And this is perhaps a more wider repercussion of the fact that historically big nations will do better, and the smaller nations will not.
And well, how much do the friendlies actually mean...?
Italy remains one of the main favourites to win the world title.

"My" countries in the World Cup

As the World Cup is less than two weeks away, it is time for a personal review of the state of "my" countries participating in the World Cup:

Argentina: I lived in Argentina as a child, and my football heart is unapologetically Argentinean, no matter who they play against. With their extraordinary players, first and foremost Messi, I have huge hopes, but at the same time, I share the nagging doubt about some of the selected players, some of the absent players (notably one of my own favourites, Javier Zanetti, as well as Gabriel Milito), and their style. Still, I will be celebrating each of their victories!

Chile: I was born in Chile, and although never really followed them in footballing terms, I hope the team does well under coach Marcelo Bielsa. They will surely be exciting to watch, as they are the South American team participating that will be playing the most attacking football. But history is against them.

Denmark: I am Danish by passport and father, and will be cheering on the Danish Dynamite. The team is not as exciting nor talented as previous years, but it is solid, and will not be easy to play against. That said, they will probably be fighting for the second spot in the group with Cameroon, as Netherlands seems like an awfully big mouthful, although Denmark has defeated the Dutch before when grossly underestimated!

Ghana: Ghana was the first African country I lived in, and will never forget the wonderful people and atmosphere. I was living there during the last World Cup, where Ghana was a sensation, and was caught in the wonderful atmosphere. Although I am surely biased, I do believe that Ghana is the best footballing nation in Africa, and should have a great chance of getting far. However, the absence of the injured Michael Essien will be very difficult, and their continuous lack of a quality striker will also affect them. In any case, I will be wearing my Ghana shirt and cheering for the Black Stars!

Spain: I have lived in different parts of Spain, have some Spanish family, and feel closely connected to the country. In footballing terms, I have never been a huge fan of the national team (as many Spaniards, I much prefer to support a club, in my case Valencia), but was happy for their deserved victory at the Euro 2008, and recognise their wonderful players. Still, expectations will be enormous, and Spain has before crashed their heads against the walls of big expectations.

USA: I lived there for a year when young, but it was a bit like living in football wasteland, and I don't exactly support them... Still, their progress since 1994 has been spectacular, and it will be interesting to see if the excellent national team can take it further. In any case, be sure that I will be cheering for Team USA against England, hoping they can repeat the legendary 1950 match!

Well, I will obviously have plenty to cheer for! I will miss some other of "my" countries: Colombia, Mozambique, Belgium,and surely, Venezuela!

Football blues

I am having football blues. I guess I have moved to a non-footballing country, and I actually miss to go to a good pub and watch some football over a large pint of beer. But also, I am wondering whether this will be a football year that will bring some of the great moments; will my teams win anything? Will I watch any memorable matches? Will this World Cup will be memorable....?
Sure I will remember it; I record everything about a World Cup. But will it have some amazing matches? Will it have any matches that I will remember watching? The moment? The place? The people I watched it with?
Last World Cup was not that good in terms of quality and excitement. Still, I remember it mostly for being in Ghana for the memorable matches of that country. Will the next world cup bring any memorable moments...? (Venezuela is not in the world cup!).
I need a few pints of beer and talk football, something I haven't done for ages! Good I have this blog!

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

The World Cup draw

The draw for the World Cup in South Africa was today, and there are some very interesting matches to look forward to!

Group A:

• South Africa
• Mexico
• Uruguay
• France

The hosts of South Africa will be playing their opening match against Mexico in what is arguably one of the most difficult groups to predict. France may seem like the favourites, but neither Mexico or Uruguay should be underestimated!

Group B:

• Argentina
• Nigeria
• South Corea
• Greece

A very interesting group where Argentina and Nigeria are undoubtedly favourites; both teams have faced one another in very interesting matches before, for instance in USA 1994, where both teams also defeated Greece. The best Asian team will have its hands full in this group.

Group C:

• England
• USA
• Algeria
• Slovenia

A group where England are undoubtedly favourites in what will be a repeat of the legendary 1950 sensation where USA defeated England in the British team's first world cup ever. Algeria are participating again after 1986, while Slovenia are looking to improve their meager participation of 2002.

Group D:

• Germany
• Australia
• Serbia
• Ghana

Undoubtfully one of the most interesting groups. Germany are always strong, but will have their hands full against the Australians, who have been steadily improving for the last decade, Serbia, who have been awesome in their qualifying group ahead of France, and Ghana, who are surely Africa's most serious candidate for a finalist.

Group E:

• Netherlands
• Denmark
• Japan
• Cameroun

Netherlands look as favourites against three teams that should undoubtfully not be underestimated, but in particularly Cameroun and Denmark will likely be fighting between them for the second spot.

Group F:

• Italy
• Paraguay
• New Zealand
• Slovakia

The defending world champions have had a lucky draw: the only team that apparently can threaten them are Paraguay, but then you have to be a staunch Paraguay supporter. Italy will probably go through on one 0-0 and two 1-0 victories.... It will be interesting to see the only debutants in the tournament, Slovakia.

Group G:

• Brazil
• North Corea
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Portugal

An extremely interesting group: the two lusophone powers Portugal and Brazil face one another, while Cote d'Ivoire is the African dark horse of the group, that could in fact take first place. North Corea is a totally unwritten team in all this, whose main asset seem to be their sensational tournament of 1966.

Group H:

• Spain
• Honduras
• Chile
• Switzerland

Spain enter the tournament as favourites yet again, but with a European Championship title. In 1982 at home, they totally missed their chance, for instance against Honduras, who will be looking to upset the Spaniards yet again in their second World Cup (I wouldn't put my money on it though...). Switzerland look strong yet again, but the really interesting team of this group is Chile, who under Marcelo Bielsa has bloomed into one of the teams to keep an eye on in this tournament!

The World Cup is on the way!

South Africa 2010: Qualified teams

The qualification for the World Cup is over, and the 32 countries that will be at the World Cup in South Africa are ready.

South America:

• Brazil: the five-time world champions have participated in all previous 18 World Cups.
  
• Paraguay: One of the strongest and most stable South American sides are participating in their seventh world cup, and fourth in a row.
  
• Chile: Participating in their 8th World Cup with an outstanding side coached by the Argentinean Marcelo Bielsa.
  
• Argentina: Maradona's team has qualified for their 15th World Cup.
• Uruguay: The two-times World Champions were the last ones to qualify in their play-off against Costa Rica, to their 11th World Cup.
  

Asia:

• North Corea: Are participating in their second World Cup ever, their first being their very succesful 1966 World Cup.
  
• South Corea: The Asian giants have qualified for the seventh time in a row, and eighth in total.
  
• Australia: Qualifying from Asia, Australia have now made it to their third World Cup.
  
• Japan: Entering their fourth World Cup in a row and in total.
  

Africa:

• South Africa (hosts): Without having to qualify, the South Africans will participate in their only third World Cup since their first in 1998.
  
• Ghana: A succesful debut in 2006 will lead to high expectations in this their second World Cup.
  
• Côte d'Ivoire: Their first World Cup of 2006 was unsuccesful, so they will be looking to improve it this second time.
  
• Cameroon: Participating in their 6th World Cup makes them the most succesful African World Cup nation ever.
  
• Nigeria: The African giants will be playing their fourth World Cup after a dramatic last-round qualifier against Kenya.
  
• Algeria: Algeria was at their first World Cup in 1982, sensationally defeating West Germany, and in 1986. This is their third World Cup.
  

Oceania:

• New Zealand: The absence of Australia from the Oceania qualifiers gave New Zealand the surprise participation in their second World Cup (the first being Spain 1982)
  

North America:

• USA: Participated in 1930 and 1950, and in every World Cup since 1990.
  
• Mexico: The North Americans are entering their 14th World Cup.
  
• Honduras: Participated for the first time in 1982, and this will be their second time.
  

Europe:

• Netherlands: The Orange Dutch are participating in their 9th World Cup.
  
• Denmark: Entering their fourth World Cup, their last one being in 2002 where England eliminated them in the last-16.
  
• England: The 1966 World Champions are entering their 13th World Cup.
  
• Spain: The defending European Champions are looking for the World Cup glory that has always eluded them in 12 previous participations.
  
• Germany: As a united Germany they are participating for the seventh time (and here in include 1934 and 1938). As West Germany they participated ten times and won three. This will thus be their 17th tournament.
  
• Italy: The Italians are going to defend their 2006 title in their 17th World Cup participation
  
• Slovakia: As Slovakia they will be playing their first World Cup ever, but as Czechoslovakia played in eight World Cups.
  
• Serbia: Participated nine times as Yugoslavia, once as Serbia-Montenegro in 2006, and this will be the first time they participate as Serbia alone.
  
• Switzerland: The Swiss will participate in their 9th World Cup, and second in a row.
  
• Slovenia: Their surprise qualification against Russia put Slovenia in their second World Cup ever.
  
• France: The 1998 champions and 2006 finalists barely qualified to their 13th World Cup after a controversial goal against Ireland.
  
• Greece: The 2004 European Champions coached by Otto Rehagel have qualified for their second World Cup.
  
• Portugal: Probably one of the most talented nations in the world, but are only participating in their 5th World Cup.
  

It looks like it will be a great world cup on the variety of participation, but as in the latest World Cups, there should not be great expectations to the quality of football, although there will surely be some national dramas in the latter rounds. Some countries that have played poorly and been quite problematic will not be missed, such as Egypt, Sweden or Russia, but others will surely be missed, such as Turkey, Senegal, Angola and the Czech Republic. I will definetly miss Trinidad & Tobago!

Greatest World Cup matches: Italy-North Corea (1966)

The World Cups have, especially in the start, been the complete dominance of South America and Europe. Therefore, throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, the “rest of the world”, that is, Asia, Africa and Australia had to play between them for one meager qualifying spot.
For the 1966 World Cup in England, this “rest-of-the-world” spot went to the small and closed Communist dictatorship of North Corea. Although nobody knew anything of the team, there was not any big respect, and many spoke degrading of the Corean side, which also started unimpressively by losing 0-3 to the USSR, and then tying 1-1 with Chile, in what everyone thought would be their only point.
Italy on the other hand had defeated Chile and lost to the USSR, but nobody thought this would be a big deal since they basically only needed a tie against North Corea to progress to the next round, but nobody, even the North Corean officials (who had made plane reservations home on the day after the Italy match), thought that the Italians wouldn’t win.
However, as the match got underway in Middlesborough it immediately became clear that it would not be a walkover for the Italians: the Coreans were quick, controlled the ball well, and attacked eagerly the Italians all over the pitch, and there was nothing to tell that they were the underdogs. The Corean’s excellent style quickly won them many fans in Middlesborough, where the fans openly cheered for the Asians.
In a 2002 BBC documentary about the match, the journalist Dan Gordon explained how the North Coreans in fact played a quick style of football that had seldom been seen in the more physically focused European pitches: “"Football in 1966 was incredibly slow, and nowadays teams play like the Koreans did in 1966.”
Five minutes before the end of the first half Corea went ahead 1-0 on a goal by Pak-Doo Ik, who, as all players on the North Corean side, was a member of the North Corean army, and was promoted to sergeant after his feat in the World Cup.
Italy was stunned, and was unable to respond in the second half.
North Corea won, and had made it to the quarterfinal, in what is arguably one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.
The Italian team did not act as good losers, and said that the Coreans had changed players at half-time, but that since all looked the same, nobody could tell the difference.
Understandably and deservedly, the Italian players were received with a hail of insults in Italy.

Match Stats:

• 19th July 1966, Ayresome Park, Middlesborough
• Attendance: 18,727
• Referee. Pierre Schwinte (France)

Italy-North Corea 0-1
Goals:Pak Doo-Ik (41)

Teams:
Italy: Albertosi; Facchetti, Janich, Fogli, Guarneri, Landini, Mazzola, Rivera, Barison, Bulgarelli (c), Perani
North Corea: Lee Chan-Myung; Shin Yung-Kyoo, Lim Zoong-Sun, Pak Doo-Ik, Han Bong-Zin, Oh Yoon-Kyung, Ha Yong-Won, Im Seung-Hwi, Pak Seung-Zin (c), Yang Seung-Kook, Kim Bong-Hwan

Ghana World Champions 2009!

I lived in Ghana for many years, and it is with happy nostalgia that I have seen that the Ghana U20 team has won the 2009 U20 World Cup in Egypt, by defeating Brazil in the final, 4-3 after penalty kicks! This is the first time ever an African team wins this tournament, and breaks eight years of South American dominance in the tournament, although Ghana was also in the final in 1993, losing to Brazil, and in 2001 (in fact defeating Brazil in the quarterfinals), losing 3-0 to an outstanding Argetninean side in the final.
But Ghana are now World Champions!!!!!
In most of Europe the Cup has had very limited interest, which just shows that Europe has little interest in the stars of the future, beyond the ones they can pay millions to get outside Europe.
And this is a pity, as the U20 World Cup in Egypt has been excellent, and I do not believe the significance of Ghana's victory should be underestimated: after an outstanding 2006 World Cup (when I happily lived in Ghana), Ghana has now qualified for the 2010 World Cup as well. With players in the best European league, a strong domestic league, outstanding youth-talent, and what is arguably the best and most professional football organisation in all of Africa, Ghana has really become the only serious contender for being Africa's first World Champion.

It will be a long road to travel, but Ghana has taken a first step, and I am celebrating with all wonderful people of Ghana!

Greatest World Cup matches: Brazil-Uruguay (1950)

The World Cup of 1950 in Brazil was the only one ever that was played without a final. Instead, all four teams in the final round (Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and Sweden) played in a final group, where the winner would become world champion. In spite of this, the group went into what was practically a final when Brazil faced Uruguay in Maracana in the last group match on the largest football stadium in the world, the mighty Maracaná in Rio de Janeiro, that had been built specially for this tournament.
Before this final match Uruguay had tied Spain 2-2, and barely defeated Sweden by 3-2. In the meantime, the Brazilians had been awesome: Spain had been defeated by 6-1 and Sweden had been trashed by 7-1 in a match where the later top-scorer of the tournament, Ademir, scored four goals.
In front of 200,000 spectators in Marcaná against their tiny neighbors of Uruguay, Brazil needed only a tie to proclaim themselves as world champions for the first time ever, and nobody really doubted that it would happen: more than 500,000 shirts with the inscription “Brazil campeón 1950” had already been sold; gold watches and limousines reserved for the Brazilian players, parties prepared, the newspapers had already prepared their celebratory front-pages, and the Brazilian national bank had even printed a commemorative coin with the triumph. The security went beyond Brazil, as the president of FIFA, Jules Rimet, had prepared a speech in Portuguese to congratulate the victors.
At the same time, the Brazilians had been so superior before the match that even the leaders of the Uruguayan Football Federation urged their players to play to limit the loss, and that they had done what they could by reaching the final.
This greatly angered the great captain of the Uruguayan side, Obdulio Varela, who urged his companions to do their best and ignore the Uruguayan leaders, whom he refused to talk to after the match that led to a very unlikely result: Uruguay won, and became world champion for the second time.
The game had otherwise started as had been anticipated for the Brazilians: they pressed massively, but were nevertheless unable to score against the Uruguayan and Peñarol goalkeeper Roque Maspoli. Still, Uruguay was barely able to attack, and 0-0 at halftime still made Brazil world champion.
Early in the second half all of Brazil exploded in the expected celebration as Friaca brought Brazil ahead. The legend tells that the Uruguayan captain Obdulio Varela picked up the ball, and spent many minutes protesting an unexistant off-side. He later recalled that he had done it on purpose, as they needed to cool down the match against the Brazilian “football machine”. “If not they would overrun us”, he added.
From that moment the Uruguayans started attacking: they had nothing to lose in the inferno of Maracaná.
In the 66th minute the outstanding tehcnical player Alcides Ghiggia, who a years later captained AS Roma in Italy, received the ball on the right hand side and spectacularly got around a defender to make a perfect pass to the Peñarol and later AC Milan striker Juan Alberto Schiaffino, who got in front of the defender to make the equalizer for Uruguay.
The stadium was dead quiet, in spite of the fact that Brazil still had all the odds with them. Obdulio Varela nevertheless recalled “…I saw our rivals who were pale and insecure and I told my comrades that these guys can never win, that we had passed our nerves over to them. The rest was easy.”
Eleven minutes before the end of the match Alcides Ghiggia again outplayed a defender and made a shot at the nearest corner which went in and brought Uruguay ahead 2-1. The Brazilian goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa looked somewhat duped, and was blamed for the goal for many years after. In fact, he was largely despised in all of Brazil, and in an interview in 2000 he bitterly said "The maximum punishment in Brazil is 30 years imprisonment, but I have been paying, for something I am not even responsible for, by now for 50 years.”
Brazil tried to attack during the last ten minutes of the match, but without belief against the Uruguayans who had done what nobody believed to be possible.
As the game ended silence descended upon the Maracaná. People cried, and many suicides were reported in Brazil on the following days. The ceremony to hand over the trophy didn’t take place, and instead Jules Rimet handed Obdulio Varela the trophy amid the chaos of the pitch.
The Uruguayan players didn’t leave the stadium for four hours, afraid of what could happen to them. However, many of the players of the team later recalled that there was no reason for this: when they went out into the streets of Rio de Janeiro the following day, they said that they were only met with congratulatory remarks by Brazilians, who nevertheless didn’t show the same grace towards their own players, who had to live the rest of their lives with this defeat.
This was Brazil’s most painful defeat ever. To this day, Brazil, the mightiest footballing nation of all time, is still the only world champion that has never won the title on its own soil.For Uruguay, this is their greatest victory ever.

Match Stats:

• 16th July, 1950, Estadio Maracana, Rio de Janeiro
• Attendance: 200,000
• Referee: George Reader (England)

Uruguay-Brazil 2-1
Goals: 0-1 Friaca (47), 1-1 Schiaffino (66), 2-1 Ghiggia (79)

Teams:
Uruguay: Maspoli, M. Gonzalez, Tejera, Gambetta, Varela, Andrade, Ghiggia, Perez, Miguez, Schiaffino, Moran
Brazil: Barbosa, Augusto, Juvanal, Bauer, Danilo, Bigode, Friaca, Zizinho, Ademir, Jair, Chico

The mysterious 1930 bronze match

I was just looking at some information on USA in the world cups and came across a mystery which I would like to hear if someone knows more about.
The USA made it to the semifinal of the very first World Cup in 1930, in Uruguay, where they were destroyed 6-1 by Argentina. The other semifinal was between Uruguay and Yugoslavia, with Uruguay also winning 6-1.
Now, according to official information, there was no game for third place, which was thus shared between the USA and Yugoslavia. However, according to a 1984 FIFA bulletin (which I have not been able to find, but have found some references to, notably from RSSSF), there was a match for bronze, which Yugoslavia won 3-1!

How can there be no information on this? What about some notice in a Uruguayan newspaper from the time, or, even better, some of the players that played back then? Of course, most have probably passed away, but some of them became great players and passed away at an advanced age, and might be able to tell something? I found that Aleksandar Tirnanic was the young star of the Yugoslav time and coached Yugoslavia in the World Cups of 1954 and 1958, and only passed away in 1992. Bane Sekulic passed away in 1968, but coached Switzerland, Red Star Belgrade and Juventus, while Blagoje Marjanovic passed away in 1984.
Of the US players there is even more information, as there has been controversy on whether they were actually legit to play, as many were important Scottish and English players. The point nevertheless is: don't any of these people or their descendants have any information on this forgotten match?

I would love to hear if anyone has any information!

Mighty mighty Brazil

That USA defeated Spain in the semifinal of the Confederations Cup was perhaps the best that could happen, since the USA contributed to a quite exciting final against Brazil, where two outstanding counter-attacks in the first half made them believe that they could actually do it. 2-0 at half-time was probably more than most dared believe!
Still, Brazil has been the best team of this Confederations Cup, and proved beyond doubt that they are still a far better team than the USA. Second half was simply a question of survival for the US, and although one can have sympathy for the US, Brazil was the rightful winner.
But don't worry, I am sure that this is not the last we have seen of this US side!
This Brazil side is excellent, harmonious, and spirited, and should now again stand as favourites to win the world title in South Africa next year.

Denmark to South Africa

Perhaps it is a bit premature and too optimistic for the carefully cautious Danish mentality, but I can simply not see it go wrong: Denmark will qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa! After winning 1-0 against Sweden in Stockholm tonight, Denmark has cemented its lead in Group 1 with 16 points ahead of Hungary, Portugal and Sweden. There are four matches left, three of which are at home in Copenhagen, so it all seems set for the Danes. I have a difficult time seeing how it could go wrong, even more as I consider that the other teams will be taking points away from one another as they fight for the spoils.

The match between Sweden and Denmark was not particularly good. The Danes were better organised and intelligent than a Swedish side that really proved inefficient, showing why they have have such a poor score in the qualification so far. Sweden is a team that needs renewal, and it does not seem readily available; as they are now, they belong at the bottom of European football. Denmark was nevertheless lucky today (with Thomas Sørensen saving a penalty and Thomas Kahlenberg's goal coming after a grave defensive mistake), and one could argue that they have been lucky in the qualification so far, in particular following the win against Portugal in Lisbon.
But this is to simplify the truth: Morten Olsen has skillfully created a solid team that takes advantage of the other teams' weaknesses and gets the best out of players that are otherwise no super-stars. That is a true achievements, and I am certain that Denmark will be one of the teams to avoid in the South African World Cup: they do not look overly scary with only limited stars, but can defeat anyone if the opponent makes a mistake (surely something the Swedes were formerly known for).
That is not luck, but it is skill.
Denmark will surely be in South Africa next year, and I am looking forward to it!