Winter in Barcelona and Madrid

Amid a pandemic and and harsh winter in Spain, the two greatest Spanish football sides, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are both undergoing extended crises. Both have recently suffered humiliating defeats that have underlined their current low forms and the fact that they increasingly risk ending with no titles this season, something that would be completely unheard of.

FC Barcelona has been in a deep crisis even since before their 2-8 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The drama of Lionel Messi's wish to leave and the changes of managers was already taking a toll on their performance, and the side has struggled in the new season under Ronald Koeman. This culminated in their recent Supercup 2-3 defeat to Athletic Bilbao, which also saw Lionel Messi receive his first ever red card in the Barcelona shirt when he punched an opponent in the last minute of the match. Messi's action appeared as a complete act of desperation, not just at losing at that match, but at the entire situation with the club. While Messi is clearly carrying a non-performing team on his shoulders (he is the most scoring player), he is clearly not happy; and this is not good for Messi, for his teammates, for FC Barcelona, and for football fans in general. FC Barcelona is in need of some renewal, and as of now, it does not appear that it can happen under the current circumstances.

In Real Madrid Zinedine Zidane, who has otherwise been an outstanding manager, seems unable to manage the crisis that culminated with Real Madrid being eliminated in the Copa del Rey by the 2B Division side Alcoyano, in what should otherwise have been a walkover for a team as Real Madrid. The beauty of football is that these results like these do happen (which Zidane also underlined), but it does points to a crisis where Real Madrid's style and player commitment seems shaky. The team appears to depend on Sergio Ramos, the veteran captain, who seems able to inject energy into the side. There has been a lot of talk of Zinedine Zidane losing his job, but perhaps it shows his enormous standing in the club (having won everything there both as player and manager) that he has not been fired yet. But a lot of (justified) questions are being asked about the route the club is taking.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are trailing Atletico Madrid in La Liga, but are still in the last-16 round of the Champions League, where their current form will be tested to the fullest against Atalanta and Paris St. Germain respectively.

Top Ten Managers of 2017

I have over the years, on this blog, made annual top 10s of players and teams who in some way impressed me in the past year. This is a pure subjective list. Over the years I have nevertheless forgotten someone who is much more important perhaps than the players (an eternal discussion), but that of the manager. So now I will also make this list of 10 managers of the year 2017:

• 10. Marcelino: As a disillusioned fan of Valencia over many years it is great to see them now again at the top of the Spanish league (and hopefully back in the Champions League). Often players go to Valencia as a step towards other Spanish clubs, as the club has been in dire need of money for many years. At the same time a lot of notable managers have been in the club without success, so expectations are beginning to be low. But Marcelino, who successfully managed the local rivals of Villarreal until 2016, has done magic so far in Valencia, and hopefully he will continue.
• 9. Maurizio Sarri: In 2015 when Maurizio Sarri replaced Rafael Benitez as Napoli manager, many had not really heard about him: he had only managed Empoli for one season in Serie A, but otherwise his entire experience was in Serie B and C. But as Napoli manager he has taken the South Italians to the top of the league (they have qualified for the Champions League every season since he took over) and currently being the most serious threat to the dominance of Juventus.
• 8. Pep Guardiola: One thing about a good manager is that he learns on the job, and one has to admire Guardiola for that. In FC Barcelona he won everything, refining (not inventing) the tiki-taka with his extraordinary side. He then took the style to Bayern Munich, totally dominating the German league, although not taking the Champions League title, which in the end cost him. Manchester City immediately stepped in with a lot of money and players for him to build a competitive side. But in his first season he won nothing (for the first time in his career). He seemed surprised at a more competitive and intense league than he had tried before (contrary than for Barcelona or Bayern Munich, there are no easy matches in the Premier League), but in the new season he seems to have learned and adapted Manchester City to the rhythm. Still playing entertaining football, City seems bound for the title, and are also looking strong in the Champions League. Guardiola may yet prove he is not just a luxury manager.
•  7. Joachim Low: It is not clear whether Low would be a good manager for a club side, but there is no doubt that as a national team manager for Germany he is the perfect match. Not just because of the World Cup title, but also because he is a primer contributor to the development of football and young players in Germany. The 2014 victors are in a sure transition under Low, which was seen when Germany went on to win the Confederations Cup in style, with a lot of young players. Under Low, Germany are also favourites for the World Cup in Russia.
• 6. Jose Mourinho: As much as he is easy to dislike, one cannot deny the managerial skills of Jose Mourinho. Although his controversial personality seems to have led to chaos in both Real Madrid and Chelsea, he nevertheless has won titles everywhere: two Champions League titles (with Porto and Inter), Spanish League (with Real Madrid), Premier League (with Chelsea), Portuguese League, Italian League, etc. After his chaotic exists at Real Madrid and Chelsea, it did nevertheless seem like Manchester United was taking a chance with the controversial Portuguese. But the club is now on the right direction after the chaos under Louis Van Gaal. They won the Europa League, and are at the top of the Premier League, having returned to the Champions League as well. His style is not what the fans prefer, making it so much easier to dislike him! But football certainly needs someone like Mourinho.
• 5. Tite: The Brazilian was a successful club manager in Brazil before becoming Brazil national coach, taking Corinthians to a record Brazilian title, Copa Libertadores, and even a Club World Cup (in 2012, the last time a non-European side won). The Brazil he took over in 2016 were in complete disarray: nothing had happened under Dunga following the 1-7 World Cup humiliation of 2014, and they had performed poorly in the 2016 Copa America. In the World Cup qualifiers they were struggling. But Tite transformed the team: after he took over Brazil won 9 qualifiers in a row and swept to first place. It is not only that Brazil are winning again, but also that they are playing more modern and positive football, rather than the defensive physical style under Dunga. In this regard Tite has done a favour to the entire football world.
• 4. Massimilano Allegri: Allegri took over Juventus from Antonio Conte in 2014, and went on to win all the subsequent leagues, but also the Italian Cups for 2015, 2016 and 2017. And besides, he led Juventus to two Champions League finals. In 2015 they lost to mighty Barcelona, but destroyed them in the quarterfinals of 2017, only to go on to lose the final against Real Madrid. That said, Juventus remains strong in the sure hands of Allegri.
• 3. Antonio Conte: After managing Juventus and Italy Antonio Conte took over at Chelsea when the club was in disarray. Jose Mourinho had led the club in chaos, and Guus Hiddink was managing a team that did not even qualify for the Champions League, and the players seemed disillusioned and tired. The following season 2016-17, Antonio Conte had led the transformation of a team that ended up winning the Premier League with the most wins ever, and nearly took the Double, when they made it to the FA Cup final (losing to Arsenal). The team has struggled more in defending their title, notably against Manchester City, but are still in the CL, and expect them to be a team that could defeat anyone! 
• 2. Jurgen Klopp: If I had a football team I would want it to be managed by Jurgen Klopp. The German is charming, funny, and is obviously a passionate fan of the game, but more importantly, he is a highly competent manager, who also excels at managing players and giving youngsters a chance. And his approach to the game is very positive: modern German football (from the Mainz school), technical and high pressure. For Liverpool it is refreshing that he has a long term plan (contrary to many of their former managers), although I do not think that they are ready to take titles yet. But if they reinforce their defense and have patience, every neutral fan should hope for a manager like Klopp to have success!
• 1. Zinedine Zidane: The hardest unimportant job in the world is not that of president (you kidding!? it barely makes the top 10!). It is that of manager of Real Madrid. In early 2016 Zinedine Zidane initially came in as a temporary replacement after Rafa Benitez left the Spanish giants. He is certainly no longer temporary as he gave stability to a club that needed it, a clear direction in its play, and opportunities to young players. In almost two years he has won almost everything there is to win, and while attention has gone to a lot of other managers, very little has gone to the great Frenchman. With some difficulties the last months, he may be ousted by a Real Madrid club that is traditionally intolerant and ungrateful towards its greatest, but be sure that Zinedine Zidane is much greater than Real Madrid!

Others who did not make the list but surely deserve a mention: Leonardo Jardim, Diego Simeone, Marcelo Gallardo, Ricardo Gareca, etc...

End of the year in Spain

For Real Madrid it has been a good year: winners of the Spanish League, the Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup (when they trounced Barcelona) and lately the World Club Cup against Gremio. Zinedine Zidane has been a genius managing the Spanish side, so it must be strange for him to end the year in such a bad way by losing 0-3 at home to their arch-rivals from Barcelona, and almost surely disqualifying themselves from the title race, being 14 points behind Barça.
Will this mean the end of Zinedine Zidane as manager? In my view that would be cruel to the best manager that Real Madrid has had for a long time, and I think he could bring them back (all eyes will be on the Champions League), but Real Madrid does not work like that.

Real Madrid on top and a weak Barcelona

I am not a Barcelona or Real Madrid fan. In fact in terms of fandom I pretty much dislike both teams, although in terms of football quality I am full of respect and admiration for what they have achieved. Therefore, pretty much the only thing I look forward to in the Spanish league is to see these teams play against each other, so watching the first leg of the Supercopa final tonight was obligatory.
But it angered me.

The quality of both sides is unquestionable, which Ronaldo and Asensio's amazing goals for Real Madrid are witness to. And Real Madrid are truly amazing at the moment, picking up where they left last season: Zidane has created a team that combines experience with immensely talented youth (and he shows he believes in them), freedom of action with tactical discipline, and with a strength in depth that Barcelona cannot match.
But both teams lower their own quality by not letting the ball alone talk, but constant acting, diving and bitching. It is at times painful to watch.

The vulnerability of Barcelona became so obvious today against a top Real Madrid side, that only favourable refereeing gave them a chance in the match: an incorrectly cancelled goal for Real Madrid, a non-existent penalty and a questionable red card for Ronaldo (despite the fact that one cannot help but be smugly happy for Ronaldo's off-the-shirt yellow card that he seems to get on purpose) just helped Barcelona not become totally humiliated.
Two of the best teams in the world, and refereeing is totally amateurish... This happens more in the Spanish league than in any other league (both Real Madrid and Barcelona have favourable referees in any match against other sides), and there is no question that a league with such low quality of refereeing (where players again and again take advantage of them) can in no way be called among the best in the world.

And finally, about Neymar: I understand why left Barcelona. It was not the money: as an ambitious young man he went to a side that is looking forward and investing, while he left a Catalonian side that before was relying on Messi-Suarez-Neymar, now seems to rely solely on Messi and Suarez, with quality in some positions, but barely any in others.
In the meantime Neymar scored in his debut for PSG, starting what looks like a great partnership with Edison Cavani...
Look to PSG for the coming season, not to Barcelona!

Masters of the Universe

I watched the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus  in a bar called Lila Brown in Monrovia. Not many people and a pleasant atmosphere, but as Liberia is entering rainy season the satellite signal was unfortunately quite bad, and it was difficult to enjoy the game in full.

After the first half the score was 1-1, and it still looked as the match could go to either side: Juventus had dominated the start of the first half until Ronaldo's excellent counter-attacking goal. Mandzukic made the outstanding equalizer, and with such a goal one could justifiably expect anything to happen.
But Real Madrid turned up the volume in the second half, and won 4-1 against a Juventus side that proved broken after only letting three goals in during the entire Champions League season. Cuadrado's unfair red card against Ramos' disgraceful acting did not make any difference, except the feeling of Real Madrid players being allowed to do whatever they want with impunity. Sergio Ramos does not deserve to be called a champion.

Despite Ramos, this is Real Madrid's 12th title, and the first time the Champions League is won twice in a row. It seals the club as the best in the universe. They have been very solid during the season, all thanks to the genius of Zinedine Zidane, who must surely enter the annals of one of the greatest managers of all time, alongside that of one of the greatest players of all time.
I truly admire Zinedine Zidane. What a pity he is with Real Madrid....

Real Madrid still champion

It is not with delight that I say that a team that I dislike is the best, but after seeing Real Madrid take out Atletico Madrid 3-0, on three goals by a Cristiano Ronaldo on fire, I can barely see that any team can threaten them from retaking the Champions League title.
Of course a lot of things can happen in football, and both Monaco and Juventus are quality sides, but last nights' display must be among the best I have seen from Real Madrid. And it was not just against any side: it was against Atletico Madrid, a side that has had a good take on Real Madrid, and is notoriously organized and difficult to play against. But Real Madrid made it look easy.
One thing I could not help but think about is Zinedine Zidane: all attention goes to so many other managers in Europe, but no attention seems to be going to Zidane's managing qualities, which are proving to be truly outstanding as he is managing one of the most difficult clubs in the world!
If they end up taking the title again, Zinedine Zidane should be the stars above them all in Real Madrid!

The Greatest Euro Matches: France-Italy (2000)

The 2000 European Championships were the first that were held in two countries, as Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosted the tournament that following the 1996 tournament continued to involve 16 teams.
In 1998 France had won the World Cup at home in awesome style, and had thus entered the European Championships as favourites for the European title, as they indeed had one of the best teams in the world led by the undisputed best player in the world at the time, Zinedine Zidane, who at the time was playing for Juventus. But Zidane was not the only star in the French side. The veteran Manchester United keeper Fabien Barthez stood behind a strong defense led by Inter's veteran Laurent Blanc, alongside a string of outstanding defenders: Parma's Lilian Thurram, Bayern Munich's Bixente Lizarazu, Arsenal's Patrick Vieira and Chelsea's Marcel Desailly. Chelsea's Didier Deschamps was the captain of a team with a fantastic midfield alongside Zinedine Zidane, alongside Arsenal's Emmanuel Petit, Marseille's Robert Pires or Kaiserslautern's veteran Youri Djorkaeff. Up front coach Roger Lemerre had difficult but luxurious choices: Bordaux's Christophe Dugarry, Real Madrid's Nikolas Anelka, Monaco's David Trezeguet or the young Arsenal striker, Thierry Henry.
In spite of it all France had struggled a bit in qualification winning their group ahead of Ukraine and Russia. In the first round of the tournament they had beaten Denmark 3-0, the Czech Republic 2-1, and had lost the final match 2-3 to the Netherlands to take second place in the group.
But France had proven that they were a great team that grew with the tournament, and they defeated Spain 2-1 in quarterfinals and Portugal 2-1 in a difficult semifinal match, with a Zinedine Zidane that had grown steadily with each man to become the best player of the tournament. He and France were now in the final to try to become the first team since West Germany in the 1970s to take both the World and European titles.
 Italy were the rivals.
Italy had not done well in the European Championships since they had taken the title in 1968. Coach Dino Zoff nevertheless had a strong list of players from the best clubs in Europe: AC Milan's veteran Paolo Maldini was the captain of the side alongside other of Europe's best defenders: Parma's Fabio Cannavaro, Juventus Gianlucca Pessotto, Lazio's Alessandro Nesta and AC Milan's Demetrio Albertini. In midfield there were some fantastic offensive players such as Juventus Alessandro del Piero and Rom'as Francesco Totti with the striker's choices being Roma's Marco Delvecchio, Vicenzo Montella and Juventus Filippo Inzaghi.
Italy had qualified ahead of Denmark and Wales and had won their first round group with three straight victories over Turkey, Belgium and Sweden. In the quarterfinals they had defeated Romania 2-0 and had been in a long semifinal against the Netherlands, winning a goalless match only on penalties.
The match was largely seen as a contest between the French offensive prowess and the Italian disciplined defense. Alessandro del Piero was left on the bench as three players were put on the Italian midfield to check Zinedine Zidane, who was largely absent from the first half. Still, France had some isolated attempt, most closely Youri Djourkaeff when he shot weakly almost alone in front of the Fiorentina keeper Francesco Toldo.
Thierry Henry hit the post in a rather clumsy shot that wasn't really threatening, but repeatedly troubled the Italian defense with his speed, and they fouled him repeatedly. In the second half the French coach decided to push Zinedine Zidane forward to get him more involved in the match. Ironically, this had the effect of freeing up the Italian midfielders, and with the introduction of Alessandro del Piero Italy became more threatening. In the 55th minute Francesco Totti made an heel kick overlap to Gianlucca Pessoto that completely took apart the French defense. Pessotto's cross into the French area was first-timed into goal by Marco Delvecchio, sneaking in between two defenders.
The French reply was to introduce two new strikers, Bordeaux's Sylvain Wiltord and David Trezeguet, in the next twenty minutes, and pushing forward. This gave the Italians more space up front, where Alessandro del Piero missed a couple of chances that would have sentenced the match.
However, it was mostly France trying to get that vital equalizer, and it happened in the third minute of injury time, when Italian fans were are already celebrating the title. Sylvain Wiltord, one of the substitutes, received the ball inside the right hand side of the Italian area. At a rather steep angle he shot flat and hard towards the near post and the ball seemed to sneak in below Francesco Toldo, who should perhaps have had it.
France had managed the equalizer against all odds, and the match now went into extra-time, with a newly added courage against the Italian disappointment. It was France pressing in extra time, and towards the end of the first half it was two substitutes who produced the golden goal: Robert Pires elegantly dribbled through four Italian defenders on the left side, and his cross into the Italian area was a bit behind David Trezeguet, who nevertheless stepped back and in one elegant movement and hammered the ball into the upper right-hand corner of the goal, this time with no chance whatsoever for Toldo.
This was the second time a Euro final was decided by a golden goal, and the last time as well, since the rule was discontinued afterwards. It just seemed too odd to fans that there was no chance of return. The clash between these two arch-rivals would be repeated in the 2006 World Cup final, where Italy would get their revenge for this painful defeat.
At the same time this was the last tournament won by this great French side.

Rotterdam, 2nd July, 2000, Feyenoord Stadium 
Attendance: 48,200
Referee: Anders Frisk, Sweden

France-Italy 2-1 (AET) 

France: Fabien Barthez; Bixente Lizarazu (Robert Pires, 86), Patrick Vieira, Laurent Blanc, Youri Djorkaeff (David Trezeguet, 76), Didier Deschamps (c ), Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Liliam Thuram, Christophe Dugarry (Sylvain Wiltord, 58). Coach: Roger Lemerre. 
Italy: Francesco Toldo; Paolo Maldini (c), Demetrio Albertini, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianlucca Pessotto, Alessandro Nesta, Luigi Di Baggio (Massimo Ambrosini, 66), Mark Iuliano, Stefano Fiore (Alessandro Del Piero, 53), Francesco Totti, Marco Delvecchio (Vicenzo Montella, 86). Coach: Dino Zoff 

Goals:
0-1 Delvecchio (55) 
1-1 Sylvain Wiltord (90+4) 
2-1 David Trezeguet (103) (gg)

Greatest World Cup matches: France-Italy (2006)

France and Italy are two of the most powerful footballing nations in the world. With Italy having a long history of dominating the match, France had only won its first world title in 1998, and remained at the top of the world game since then. Both teams had played many times, also in the World Cups: in 1938 in a legendary quarter-final, in 1986 in the last-16, and in 1998 when France had defeated the Italians in the quarter-final on the way to win their first world cup title. But not only had they faced one another in the world stage: in the 2000 European championship final France had defeated Italy 2-1 in extra time in a dramatic match. So the two team knew each other well before facing one another in the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin.
France had entered the tournament looking rather weak, fighting hard to qualify from an apparently easy group, and with an ageing team. The star of the team, Zinedine Zidane from Real Madrid, three time FIFA World Player of the year (1998, 2000, 2003), had retired from the national team in 2004, but when things were going badly for the French, he was asked to return, and he captained France to the World Cup. Nevertheless, things had still not looked good for France: they had not played well, and had opened with ties against Switzerland and South Corea, before a 2-0 victory against Togo had put them through to the last-16 against Spain. But here the French veterans woke up: facing the fancied Spaniards they won 3-1, giving the French renewed energy. In the quarterfinal France outplayed the defending world champions of Brazil, winning 1-0, and in the semifinal they had defeated Portugal 1-0 to make it to their second World Cup final ever.
Italy, coached by Marcelo Lippi, had not entered the tournament as outright favourites for the title, but with a very strong and disciplined team: Defensively the team was outstanding with for instance Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi from Inter, and Juventus’ Gianlucca Zambrotta. In midfield they had the elegant Francesco Totti from AS Roma, and the great Alessandro Del Piero from Juventus.
In the first round Italy had won their group ahead of Ghana, the Czech Republic and USA. In the last-16 they had played a very close match with Australia whom they only managed to defeat 1-0 on a late penalty kick. In the quarterfinals Italy defeated Ukraine 3-0, and in the semifinals they played a great match against the popular German hosts, whom they defeated 2-0 on two late goals in extra time.
While Italy had looked the strongest, France had grown the most during the tournament, and considering their previous history, it looked to become a final full of drama.
France started the game best: after only six minutes the Olympique Lyon winger Florent Malouda was brought down inside the Italian penalty area by Marco Materazzi, and Zinedine Zidane brought France ahead 1-0 on the following penalty. Zinedine Zidane thus became the only fourth player ever to score in two different World Cup finals. The goal nevertheless did not discourage the Italians: the AC Milan midfielders Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso started taking over the midfield, and only 19 minutes into the match the growing Italian dominance led to a goal: Marco Matterazzi scored on a header after an Andrea Pirlo corner kick.
The score being 1-1, the game continued back and forth, with no team really dominating, although Italy had the biggest chances on corner kicks from Andrea Pirlo, one on which Luca Toni hit the crossbar.
In the second half both teams went for the victory: both Luca Toni and Thierry Henry had good chances, but were unable to capitalize, and the match ended 1-1, and had to go into extra time.
France seemed more energized in the extra time, and both Frank Ribery and Zinedine Zidane had good chances. However, the most dramatic and memorable moment of the final (and perhaps of the entire tournament) came five minutes into the second half of extra time: with the ball not nearby, Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi seemed to be discussing something, when Zinedine Zidane suddenly turned around and headbutted Matterazzi on the chest. There was no doubt from the Argentinian referee Elizondo who correctly gave Zinedine Zidane a red card.
This was Zinedine Zidane’s last match in a World Cup and for France, ending a great career in disgrace. However, he remains popular as his aggression was seen as a response to Matterazzi’s provocations, although this meant a significant weakening of his team, and an thoughtless act in front of the whole world.
The match was to be only the second World Cup final ever to be decided on penalty kicks, and Italy had been the losing side on the previous one in 1994. But this time things went better for Italy: all the Italian players scored, while Juventus’ French player, David Trezeguet, hit the crossbar for France.
Italy had won their 4th World Cup, becoming the second most winning nation ever after Brazil.

Match Stats:

• 9th July, 2006 Olympia Stadium, Berlin
• Attendance: 69,000
• Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

Italy-France 1-1 (After Extra Time)
Goals:0-1 Zidane (7) (pen)1-1 Materazzi (19)

Penalty kicks:
Italy-France 5-3

• 1-0 Pirlo
• 1-1 Wiltord
• 2-1 Materazzi
• Trezeguet missed for France
• 3-1 De Rossi
• 3-2 Abidal
• 4-2 Del Piero
• 4-3 Sagnol
• 5-3 Grosso

Teams:
Italy: Buffon, Cannavaro, Grosso, Materazzi, Gattuso, Pirlo, Camoranesi (Del Piero), Totti (De Rossi), Zambrotta, Perrota (Iaquinta), Toni
France: Barthez, Abidal, Vieira (Diarra), Thuram, Sagnol, Ribery (Trezeguet), Galas, Makalele, Malouda, Zidane (RC, 111), Henry (Wiltord)

Greatest World Cup matches: France-Brazil (2006)

After the 2002 debacle, France had again had problems in the European Championships of 2004, where they had been eliminated in the quarterfinals by the later champions of Greece. For the 2006 their qualifying campaign had not been convincing in a group where they should otherwise have done better, but the team had qualified ahead of Switzerland.
On paper, France retained one of the strongest teams in Europe: Fabien Barthez from Olympique Marseille, the veterans Patrick Vieira and Lilliam Thuram from Juventus Chelsea’s Claude Makalele and William Gallas, Arsenal’s prolific goal-machine Thierry Henry, Bayern Munich’s Willy Sagnol, as well as Olympique Marseille’s talented Frank Ribery.
The star of the ageing team was undoubtedly Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane, three time FIFA World Player of the year (1998, 2000, 2003). He had announced his retirement from the national team in 2004, but in the face of France’s meagre qualifying campaign had returned in 2005, and had captained the team to qualify.
It was indeed a team to be feared, but they remained unconvincing.
In the opening matches France had been poor to say the least: they had opened with 0-0 against Switzerland and 1-1 against South Corea, before a 2-0 victory against Togo had put them through to the last-16 against Spain. The Spaniards had been outstanding in the first round, and were looking to defeat the shaky French. But in this match the French players stepped up a gear, showing that they were indeed a team to be reckoned with, and won 3-1.
In the quarter-finals they were to face the defending world champions of Brazil.
Brazil had, as always, entered the tournament as huge favourites. The team looked at least as good as the winning side of 2002, with Ronaldo continuing from where he had left off in 2002, and complemented by FC Barcelona’s Ronaldinho, AC Milan’s Kaka, Inter Milan’s Adriano, Bayern Munich’s Ze Roberto, as well as Real Madrid’s Roberto Carlos and the veteran captain Cafú, from AS Roma.
Brazil had indeed also looked awesome: in the first round they had swept aside all opposition, defeating Croatia, Australia and Japan. In the last-16 they had crushed a naive Ghanaian side 3-0, in a match where Ronaldo had become the most scoring player ever in World Cup history by scoring his 15th world cup goal in the match against Ghana, thus passing Gerd Müller’s record of 14 goals. Brazil were now huge favourites against the French in the quarter-final, in what some were touting to be revenge for the 1998 World Cup final where France had crushed Brazil.
It was to be no revenge, and if anything, Brazil played an even worse match than in 1998: had it been a stronger French side, the score might have been as bad.
That said, Zinedine Zidane was spectacular: he completely dominated the midfield, playing the ball superbly, and inspiring his team-mates, and in the first half setting up chances both for Laurent Malouda and for Patrick Vieira, but without resulting in goals. In spite of the 0-0 score after the first half the Brazilians had been a shadow of themselves, while France had been far superior.
This continued as the second half started, and 12 minutes into it, France finally went ahead: Zinedine Zidane took a free kick from the left side, and the ball went perfectly to Thierry Henry, who by the far post was completely alone to volley the ball into the net. Although it was a great goal, the fact that Henry stood so alone can only be blamed on Roberto Carlos, who in one of the most pathetic pieces of defending in World Cup history, seemed to be tying his shoes as the free kick was taken, instead of marking Henry. The images are so blatant that it has led to conspiracy theories flourishing on the internet, but it is perhaps more correct to say that while Roberto Carlos was a great offensive right back, he was an extremely sloppy defender; this was not the first goal that he cost, but surely it was the most important.
The zombie-like Brazilians seemed unable to reply, while France remained in control of the midfield, and even created more chances for a second goal.
Towards the end of the match, Ronaldo came close to getting an equalizer for Brazil, but was denied by Fabien Barthez. Instead, France won as they had done eight years before, and Brazil repeated against France, what is perhaps the poorest match that the mighty South Americans have ever played in a World Cup.
France in the meantime, emerged as favourites to win the tournament, and in the semifinals defeated Portugal to make it to the final, where they lost to Italy after penalty kicks in Zinedine Zidane’s last match on the national team.

Match Stats:

• 1st July, 2006, FIFA WM Stadium, Frankfurt
• Attendance: 48,000
• Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

France-Brazil 1-0
Goals: 1-0 Henry (57)

Teams:
France: Barthez; Abidal, Vieira, Gallas, Makalele, Malouda (Wiltord), Zidane (c), Henry (Saha), Thuram, Sagnol, Ribery (Govou)
Brazil: Dida; Cafú (c) (Cicinho), Lucio, Juan, Roberto Carlos, Kaká (Robinho), Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Ze Roberto, Gilberto Silva, Juninho (Adriano)

Greatest World Cup matches: France-Brazil (1998)

France had always been a reluctantly great footballing nation. With great teams, from their 1958 bronze winners to their legendary squad from the 1980s, the title of champions of the world had nevertheless eluded them, in spite of the huge amount of enormously talented players that were being produced in the excellent youth academies of the countries. Although the 80’s team had retired, new stars were there to take over in the 1990s: Eric Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin and Yuri Djorkaeff were only a few of the many stars. France had nevertheless been unable to capitalize on this talent: France did not qualify to the world cups of 1990 and 1994, and at the 1992 European Championship they had fallen in the first round to the underrated Danes. However, the French were committed to build a new team to do well in the World Cup at home in 1998. Gerald Houllier had been fired after the debacle at not qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, and his place was taken over by Aimé Jacquet, who started building up a new team around the young star Zinedine Zidane. He did not select some of the major French stars like Jean-Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona and David Ginola for the 1996 European Championship, where the French with a defensive style made it to the semifinals. Although the team was heavily criticised for being too defensive, it soon became obvious that it was a very solid and stable team, and when the world cup started, the French entered as one of the favourites.
And indeed, the Blue and multiethnic team swept all opposition aside in the first round: three victories against South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Denmark saw France through to the last-16. The following two matches were more difficult: first, France faced Paraguay, a solid and defensive team centered around the legendary goalkeeper José Luís Chilavert. France won a hard-fought victory 1-0 after extra time.
In the quarterfinal the French hosts played Italy in one of the classics of international football. Another hard-fought match where France won on penalty kicks after a goalless draw.
In the semifinal France played the sensational Croatians, who were playing their first World Cup and had made it to the semifinals. In another difficult match France won 2-1 on two goals by the Parma defender Lilian Thuram – the only two international goals of his career.
Thus, France was ready for its first World Cup final ever, at home in Paris, and ready to face the defending Brazilian world champions.
Brazil had as always entered the tournament as heavy favourites for the title. But it was obvious from the start that the team was less stable than the 1994 team, although with a stronger attacking force that included the veteran Bebeto, FC Barcelona’s offensive midfielder Rivaldo, and the the Inter striker Ronaldo, who at the time was the best player in the world, already having been awarded the FIFA world player of the year award in 1996 and 1997.
The Brazilian team opened with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Scotland, before going on to defeat Morocco 3-0. Although they had qualified for the next round before their last match against Norway, their 1-2 defeat showed them as vulnerable. The last-16 match against Chile was won with 4-1, but the quarterfinal again showed the Brazilians in trouble against European teams that gave the Brazilians little space and punished defensive mistakes. Still, Brazil managed to win 3-2 against Denmark, before facing the Netherlands in the semifinal. Again in a difficult match, Brazil managed 1-1 after extra time, and won on penalty kicks.
Although not playing brilliantly, Brazil had nevertheless made it to the World Cup final, but was to play one of the worse matches in their history against a French side whose outstanding players were highly motivated, riding on a wave of intense national excitement, that came to its full expression during the national anthem being played in a full Saint Denis stadium in Paris.
While the French were being pushed forward, Brazil was having problems before the match: there were rumours surging about Ronaldo, who was said to have had a breakdown only hours before the match, and should not have been able to play (other Brazilian players later said that they feared for Ronaldo’s life). However, the rumours also said that Ronaldo had been forced on the pitch by his and the Brazilian team’s main sponsor, Nike, who obviously also denied it all.
This was indeed the culmination of the commercialization of the world cup that had been going on since the 1980’s, had reached a pinnacle at USA 1994, and was now firmly established: All the rumours about Ronaldo were perhaps more a symptom of the fact that the World Cup no longer belongs to the fans or the teams, but now belongs to the sponsors.
This final was to see Adidas (France) against Nike (Brazil).
France started the final in complete dominance, offensively, and putting pressure on the Brazilians. Captain Didier Deschamps had a good long range effort, and after only four minutes the Auxerre striker Stephane Guivarch had a great chance when he was played open by a splendid Zinedina Zidane pass, but missed. Brazil was quite anonymous against the overwhelming French attacks, although Ronaldo had a creeping shot and Rivaldo an excellent header, that were both saved well by the charismatic and confident French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez from AS Monaco.
Finally, in the 27the minute the French pressure bore fruit: Real Madrid’s Roberto Carlos gave away a corner-kick (and got himself a yellow card on the way for kicking the corner-flag in frustration) that was taken by Arsenal’s Emmanuel Petit. He kicked it towards the near post where Zinedine Zidane got in front of Leonardo and headed hard into goal.
1-0 to Brazil by the Algerian-descended Zinedine Zidane from Juventus, who had been the best player of the tournament, but had until then not scored a goal.
France continued the pressure after the goal, and at the end of the first half Zinedine Zidane scored for the second time, something that had not happened in a World Cup final since Mario Kempes for Argentina in 1978.
France was leading 2-0 at half-time and had been far superior to the Brazilians.
In the second half the pressure was on the Brazilians, and coach Mario Zagallo put in the offensive Denilson for Leonardo. The French on the other hand, could pull back and threaten the Brazilians on counter-attacks. Within the first fifteen minutes of the second half the Brazilians had two good chances, one to Ronaldo and another one to Bebeto, who was given a free chance by a Barthez blunder, but his shot was cleared by Marcel Desailly.
On the other side, Guivarch had a huge chance for a third for France, but shot over the goal, and was soon replaced by Cristophe Dugarry.
Soon, Brazil was given new hope when Marcel Desailly, who had been one of France’s and the world’s best defenders during the tournament, was given his second yellow card for a challenge on Cafú. Down to ten men, Aimé Jacquet replaced Yoiri Djorkaeff with the more defensive Patrick Vieira, and explicitly played in counter-attacks. The Brazilians were nevertheless still unable to threat the French goal and instead, in the dying minutes of the match Emanuel Petit scored after a good French counter-attack, thereby sealing the French victory.
France, one of the greatest footballing nations never to win, had finally taken the World Cup title in their first final ever.
And Adidas was victorious as well...
This was one of the world cup finals with the greatest qualitative difference between the two sides ever; France was simply far superior on all aspects of the game, while it was probably one of the poorest matches a Brazilian side has ever played.

Match Stats:

• 12th July, 1998 Saint Denis, Paris
• Attendance: 80,000
• Referee: Said Belqola (Morocco)

France-Brazil 3-0
Goals: 1-0 Zidane (27), 2-0 Zidane (45), 3-0 Petit (90)

Teams:
France: Barthez, Lizarazu, Leboeuf, Desailly (RC, 68), Thuram, Djorkaeff (Veira), Deschamps, Zidane, Petit, Karembeu, (Boghossian), Guivarch (Dugarry)
Brazil: Taffarel, Cafu, Aldair, J. Baiano, R. Carlos, C. Sampaio (Edmundo), Dunga, Rivaldo, Leonardo (Denilson), Bebeto, Ronaldo

Zinedine Zidane's apology

Some things are so horrible that they don't deserve an apology, and surely what Materazzi said to Zinedine Zidane in the world cup final was one of those things. It has nothing to do with fair play - Zinedine Zidane got and accepted his punishment for what he did. Materazzi got all the glory in the world and his apparent apology is not credible.
Zidane has apologised to his fans and to the football world, and we have accepted his apology. That he does not want to apologize to Materazzi should not bother anyone.
Zinedine Zidane will always be remembered foremost for being one of the greatest players ever, and a man of honour. Materazzi is the complete opposite.

Jupiter in retrograde

I have little time to write a long blog on my disappointment of Italy's victory. Of course, maybe I should start by congratulating the Italian fans and my friends, whom I am sure had a great party last night.

Nevertheless, the Italian victory was a bore. A pity an otherwise good tournament ended with that result, although we did miss the epic clashes I had expected. I think what I will most remember is Zidane's exit... One of the best player's ever, and he finishes off in such pathetic manner, it is almost to cry about. Has he been too many years in Real Madrid!? What went through his head?

Sadly, he could have been remembered as a great player only, but now we have to add great idiot to it as well.

Oh well, back to normal life...

The Great French

What distinguishes great teams through history, is that they win the right matches at the right time. Spain has never been a big team. But France has, and showed it again last night.

Walking into the match, Spain had three first round victories, while France had been mediocre to say the least, barely qualifying for the last-16 by defeating Togo. So all eyes were set on Spain, and the fact that this might be their year. It wasn't, even though David Villa brought the Spaniards ahead on a penalty kick. 3-1 for France was the end score, where Ribery, Vieira and Zidane took advantage of Spanish mistakes. It is amazing to see Spain, again and again losing in important tournaments, by being naive and unconcentrated.

Only pity is that Thierry Henry didn't score, so he could get back on Luis Aragones racist comments...

In any case, Brazil-France in the quarterfinal is another clash of titans, much more than a Brazil-Spain. So that is something to look forward to indeed!

Zinedine Zidane in the Blue shirt - again

Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest players in the world for almost 10 years, decided to stop on the French national team last year, after the Euro 2004, during which the French performance was disappointing.

France has been a shadow of its former self ever since. In the qualifiers for the World Cup in Germany next year, they are currently on the 4th spot in Group 4, with 10 points, behind Ireland, Switzerland and Israel. Granted, they are also one match behind Ireland in the first spot with 13 points. But this does not take away the disappointing performance of a highly talented but inefficient French side.

Now, Mr. Zidane might be coming to the rescue. Although he is not his former self, his routine, extraordinary skills, - and even his mere presence -, may be what gives France a boost to complete their qualification for the World Cup.

France's next match is on September 3rd, at home against the Faroe Islands. Although I would expect them to win, Mr. Zidane will be very welcome back in the blue shirt!