Some random thoughts on the last group fixtures of the 2006 FIFA World Cup:   

  – Germany looked their best yet in defeating Ecuador. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann employed a more tactically rigid 4-4-2 formation, which did a good job of cutting off Ecuador’s attacking options going forward; Ecuador was never able to link up with their forwards in the box. In attack the Germans still sent men forward but not as recklessly as in their past two fixtures – it still worked beautifully. Ecuador didn’t put a man on Michael Ballack, and it mattered; he had the time and space to find Miroslav Klose in the penalty area, and Klose made the Ecuadorians pay for that oversight. That said, a lot of the credit for Germany’s attack during the group stage has also got to go to Bastian Schweinsteiger and especially defensive midfielder Thorsten Frings, who is one of the two or three best holding midfielders going forward in the tournament so far. Germany needed to get Lukas Podolski off the scoring shneid – just so future knockout stage opponents recognized another scoring threat they would have to account for – and they did in a big way. Germany’s counter attacking score was a result of Ecuador sending too many players forward. Not clear why it is Klinsmann left Ballack, who was sitting on a yellow card coming in, in the game all match long; that was a huge risk, especially considering how card-happy these referees were this tournament. Ecuador coach Luis Suarez claimed that he wasn’t playing for a draw; you sure as hell couldn’t prove it by their performance. Germany has gotten steadily better with each passing fixture. That certainly doesn’t bode well for their opponents in the next stage. 

  

– Costa Rica and Poland had nothing to play for, and both teams played to form in this fixture: Poland lacked any real organization going forward and Costa Rica used their speed up front (i.e.: Paulo Wanchope) to break the Polish offside trap. Not any really good ball distribution from either side, though Costa Rica showed a little more direct attacking early. Poland showed some uncharacteristic disorganization on set pieces early, and it mattered on Costa Rica’s early goal. It turned out that set pieces were the key to the outcome of this match. I don’t know whether Poland deliberately tries to find players with size but for their last two appearances in this tournament they’ve had a decided height advantage over their opponents, and in this fixture it mattered. That the leading scorer for Poland was a defender — Bartosz Bosacki, who scored both of Poland’s goals – is a testament to Poland’s lack of service inside to their forwards. Costa Rica didn’t get a point out of this World Cup but they sure did what they could to at least make it entertaining for their fans, and Paulo Wanchope is still an effective striker on the international stage. Poland clearly has some talent but needs to find some organization in attack if they ever plan on making an impact internationally. 

  

– As Sweden found out the hard way, England’s midfielders are deadly accurate shooters from long distance. Throughout the entire group phase Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole have taken aim at the opposition goal from outside the penalty area with virtually precise accuracy, and David Beckham has reestablished himself as the best crosser and set piece taker there is (so precise is his service from long range). Cole’s goal caught Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson off guard and off his line, and for one Isaksson’s height mattered not a whit. Gerrard, who didn’t start, was Johnny-on-the-spot (and in this instance it was from a Cole cross). Wayne Rooney got the start and his energy just seems to lift the entire England squad. Once again Rooney was all over the place, going back and from flank to flank, creating space and linking up with everyone well (he really is more of a forward than a striker; that is really how good he is off the ball, with the ball and outside the box). Poor defense on the second half Sweden set piece led to the goals by Markus Allbeck (his inclusion in the lineup at the expense of regular starter Zlatan Ibrahimovic seems like a masterstroke) and Henrik Larsson. England had the better ball distribution, but Sweden didn’t lack for any direct attack; they just weren’t getting the ball into the box during the run of play. England played well going forward but let two leads get away from them, including one late. They had better show a lot more heart in closing out a match from here on. Unfortunately England lost Michael Owen to a torn ACL very early in this match (he will be gone for months). England is very thin on strikers, and that probably is going to matter (Eriksson should have brought one or two more strikers with a little more pedigree at a high level, instead of two teenagers, one without any high-level experience at all). 

  

– Even though they never scored a goal, Trinidad & Tobago should leave this tournament with their heads held high and their dignity intact. The team that came into this with no expectation of doing anything played their hearts out for 270+ minutes. T&T gained their lone point largely by frustrating Sweden and England by swarming their own goal and defending as if their lives depended on it. With a real chance at advancing (at least theoretically) T&T became a little more expansive and against Paraguay opened up their attack. This opened things up for Paraguay and their slick passing game – with predictable results. Paraguay had the talent and tactics to create direct attacking opportunities, and they had the majority of play going forward; the T&T goal was under siege from the jump. Even after the Brent Sancho own-goal gave Paraguay a goal lead, T&T kept on attacking and kept on trying, but to no avail. Sub Nelson Cuevas’s breakaway goal late ended the dream for T&T. Not even the all-over-the-pitch play of Dwight Yorke, who was more of a striker this time out and looked more to score than in the previous two fixtures, could stave off the inevitable. Paraguay finally put together some good creative attacking, finding the space that England and Sweden did not (more due to circumstance than anything else). Paraguay had the players to make more of an impact on the international scene than they do, they just lack attacking quality. T&T, the smallest nation to ever play in a World Cup, didn’t settle for just being happy to be here. MADD, MADD, MADD props to them for earning a little respect along the way. 

  

– A highly entertaining win by Portugal, although Mexico certainly were as entertaining in attack. What did Mexico in was the uncharacteristic mistakes on their backline by Rafa Marquez, who handball in the box was the fatal error that got Portugal the game-winner. Nonetheless, Portugal played some wonderful flowing ball even though Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco and Pauleta were on the bench. Helder Postiga spelled Pauleta as the striker but was magical on the left flank, becoming more of a provider that Mexico clearly wasn’t prepared for, and Portugal clearly didn’t lose anything with Maniche filling in for Deco as he provided fantastic direct attacking through the middle. Two mistakes early in the second half did away with any chance Mexico had – a badly missed penalty by Omar Bravo and a dive by Luis Perez that got him sent off – but they get Madd Props for continuing to keep the attacking pressure up even with only ten men. Portugal may have won this game and this group but they certainly knew they had been in a game, and for the first time this tournament had to work hard for it. Of course, it seems to really not matter who took first or second in this group, because it’s a function of pick your poison in the second round: The Netherlands or Argentina? 

  

– Iran I’m sure is not happy with the 1-1 tie they got from an Angola side that still had something to play for. Iran had much the better attacking quality throughout the first 60+ minutes of this fixture, and couldn’t come away with a goal – which speaks volumes about how Iran performed throughout this tournament. They showed good energy, found space to create chances, and had good movement off the ball, and they attacked Angola relentlessly; they should have had a comfortable lead, so dominant was their attack. Angola kept their defensive discipline, however, and in the process kept sending ill-advised long-range shots on Iran, not getting forward in numbers, not maintaining any semblance of possession, and still relying almost solely on Akwa to do most of the attacking – which also speaks volumes about how they performed here. I find it instructive to note that once Akwa was replaced – by Amando Flavio – they finally broke through. As I’ve been saying all along, Akwa clearly has the talent but not the maturity to play at this level. Still, a relatively decent attacking game, with both sides not letting the ball spend too much time in the middle third of the pitch. Kudos to Angola, though, for making it interesting even if it was for only two games. I’m not high on their chances in the future, though: As long as they continue to cow-tow to one player – Akwa – they aren’t going to be much of a team. 

  

(EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m getting tired of hearing about how Iranian striker Ali Daea is the most prolific scorer in international history. He got an overwhelming majority of his international goals against supremely weak Asian opponents that couldn’t come within a sniff of getting a ticket to watch a World Cup, much less play in one [Kazakhstan? Pakistan? India? Afghanistan? Bahrain? Qatar? Kuwait? Syria? Jordan? The United Arab Emirates? PUH-LEEZE! Oh, yeah, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Holland really have a tough time with those heavyweights, now don’t they?]. In three World Cup appearances by Iran [’94, ’98, and 2006] he has not scored one single goal – NOT A ONE! So until he scores with any regularity against some of the mainstays from Europe and South America, he doesn’t even rate as a solid international striker, much less a real scoring threat of any kind. Sorry.) 

  

– The Argentina-Netherlands matchup was the fixture everybody was waiting for, even though both teams had already locked up places in the knockout round. Massive replacements on both sides due to yellow card danger. Argentina showed most of the free-flowing attacking quality, like they had in their first two fixtures; lots of midfield linkup with their front men and running into open spaces with creative flair. Not that the Netherlands lacked for any attacking quality; theirs was more direct, and they finally got their three-man midfield a lot more involved, something that had been missing in their first two fixtures (I guess in a matchup like this against this good an opponent they couldn’t afford to not get their midfield involved). I’m sure it’s hard for a lot of people to imagine why it is that Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi are not ordinarily starters, but that is just a testament to how deep Argentina is (probably the deepest team in the tournament, Brazil notwithstanding). The Dutch just didn’t seem to link up as well in the final third as in past fixtures, but that may have been a result of how well organized the Argentine defense was. Ruud van Nistelrooy was looking to distinguish himself – he hasn’t done it so far, displaying hardly any finishing quality whatsoever and being replaced in every game as a result. Both teams kept their defensive discipline and form and that actually bodes well going forward. 

  

– The team with the best defense during qualifying, Serbia & Montenegro, had by far the worst defense in this tournament. S&B gave up ten goals in the group stage to embarrassingly crash out. They lost key central defender Nemanja Vidic just before the World Cup began, but I can’t believe they lost all semblance of defensive form because of it. Even a team as lacking in attacking creativity as the Ivory Coast put a three-spot on them – and this after taking an early two-goal lead. Aruna Dindane had a wonderful match in the box, finally getting on the ball and scoring two goals. The Ivory Coast, with nothing to lose, used a more attack-minded 4-3-3 formation for the first time, showed unrelenting direct attacking, sending players in waves, possessing the ball by an unheard-of 2-1 advantage, and raining shot after shot on a Serb goal that just couldn’t stop anybody, anywhere, at any time; Serb goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric was under siege (not even Holland and Argentina rained as many shots on S&B). Why Serb coach Ilija Petkovic decided to play this game with a more defensive-minded 4-5-1 when the Ivory Coast was nearly as impotent in front of goal as they were is just bewildering. That they scored two goals against the Ivory Coast’s inconsistent defense should have motivated them to finish them off. That a team with this much talent didn’t finish them says that S&B needs to start from scratch, scrap whatever they did to begin with, and find some players with some backbone and heart. The Ivory Coast can be proud of their finish – they clearly have a future on the world stage. Serbia & Montenegro can go home with their tails between their legs, crawl under a rock and hope nobody notices. 

  

– A 4-5-1 formation from the outset doesn’t exactly say you plan on attacking and creating scoring chances. That’s the formation Bruce Arena put out on the field for the USA. Way too conservative a lineup in a must-win situation – and it mattered. The USA showed no consistent attack against Ghana – or in any of their three group fixtures – and for a team that couldn’t get any real attack up top when they had two strikers, with one they were just downright impotent. Ghana relied on their speed and workrate to counterattack, and had the Americans on their heels all match long. Whether the USA had one man in the back or ten Ghana was going to counterattack, so Arena may as well have just come out with an attacking formation from jump city and just sent men forward; why he waited until the second half to get a second striker on (and they did much more direct attacking afterwards, although no more effective) is beyond me and leaves Arena’s future as the USA coach in question (I’m surprise that a coach as good as Arena didn’t have the USA better prepared for this tournament, so it may be time for him to go). For most of this tournament, Landon Donovon, DeMarcus Beasley and Brian McBride just didn’t come to play. Not so Clint Dempsey, who showed good attacking quality the few times he took the pitch this tournament. Madd Props to Ghana, though, for showing good direct counterattacking quality from their second group fixture on; even with their starting two forwards suspended they attacked with confidence. Like I’ve said before, Michael Essien is a quality midfielder who gets his side into consistent and quality direct attacking – there clearly is a reason why he is the most expensive African footballer to date. Both Ghana goals you can probably chalk up to really bad officiating (Haminu Draman clearly knocked down Claudio Reyna, and Oguchi Onyewu certainly didn’t do any more than what is normally expected from a defender marking a striker), but that is no excuse for the USA playing as badly as they throughout this entire tournament. Ghana took advantage of an improbable Czech Republic choke and salvaged the reputation of African football by winning their last two fixtures and earning a second round date with Brazil. Despite how strong this group was it was winnable for the USA; they didn’t show up to play. 

  

(EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m not just saying this because of what happened to the USA in this last fixture, but the refereeing in this World Cup is really atrocious all around. These are supposedly the best officials in the world, and yet they can’t exert any semblance of control other than to just throw yellow and red cards left and right early and often. In a lot of instances, once an infraction has been committed, talking to the players and captains and telling them that there could be repercussions if their behavior continued would have been much more effective, would have kept a lot of teams at even strength throughout their fixtures, would have kept the flow of the matches going, and most importantly would have kept them, the referees, out of the proceedings. As it is, more than a few fixtures thus far have been inextricably altered because the guys in yellow don’t know how to exert any control and keep a game moving beyond meting out punitive discipline. There are at least two referees – and maybe even more than that if you were to ask other football spectators – who need to be sent home for ruining games. As I pointed out before: Players win games, coaches lose games, and referees ruin games.) 

  

– Probably the greatest single collapse in I-don’t-know-how-long is by the Czech Republic. After their shellacking of the USA in their first group fixture they looked like one of the best teams in the tournament. That they crashed out the way they did, and in monumentally spectacular fashion, has got to be some kind of record. The Czechs had control of this group from Day One – and then just fucked it all to shit! The only player who had any kind of heart for the Czechs was Paval Nedved, who went forward early and often and tried his damdest to get on the scoreboard; it seemed as if he was the only one on the side who was trying (how it is a midfield that showed the kind of world-class quality they did against the Americans just died on the vine is bewildering at best and angering the very least). Once Jan Koller was lost to them the Czechs just couldn’t get any quality in front of goal. For the first time this tournament, Francesco Totti showed up, showing the creative and attacking flair we’ve come to expect from him. Italy is getting better with each passing match — which is the right time to be getting better – but they still could show some better finishing up front, where at the moment they are on the inconsistent side (Filippo Inzaghi came on late and guess what? He found the net. I realize he doesn’t have much in the way of ball skills, he is somewhat selfish and not much of a team player, but Inzaghi finishes his chances. That has got to count for something). They certainly are glad they get to avoid Brazil – for now. 

  

– A rather uneven and chaotic Australia-Croatia fixture. Croatia gets the better of the play from the jump, gets an early Darijo Srna goal, then drops back in numbers and lets the Socceroos have the majority of play and possession. Then when the Aussies get the equalizer – a Craig Moore penalty due to an untimely Stjepan Tomas handball — they in turn lose their offensive form and drop back in numbers, letting the Croats have the majority of play and possession. No sooner do the Croats get the lead back – on an obscenely badly played Niko Kovac shot by Zjelko Kalac — than the offensive momentum switches back to the Aussies, who get the Harry Kewell equalizer late and, lo and behold, drop back in their own end in numbers and let the Croats come at them from all sides and all angles. From a fans standpoint this is entertaining as hell. From a tactical and technical standpoint this is sloppy and unorganized, like watching a bunch of six-year-olds play. Referee Graham Poll managed to maintain control early without whipping out a lot of cards, but it got so sloppy late that he had no choice after about the 80^th minute. Then the match devolved into an ugly slugfest in stoppage time, so Poll just ended it (I’ll bet without all of stoppage time being played). However sloppy they were, Australia came to play in all three of their group fixtures, expecting to make it through to the next round, showing good direct attacking form – however unimaginative it may have been – by getting people into the box and continually getting them the ball there. A clear tactic Croatia should have used. Instead the Croats never got their front people into their matches because (1) they never got them any real service, and (2) their front people (Dado Prso, Ivan Klasnic, Ivica Olic) just plain sucked. I made this observation before: When Croatia’s front people are scoring goals at this level Croatia wins (third place at France ’98); when they don’t they crash out early (Korea/Japan 2002 and now). Australia saw an opportunity to get to the next round and took it. Croatia let a clear opportunity to take the last group place into the next round – much like the USA — and didn’t finish Australia off. That is why Australia has a date with Italy and Croatia is going home. 

  

– Japan had one shot on goal all match long against Brazil – and they finished it (how’s that for efficiency?). What happened when Japan took that early lead? They woke up a sleeping giant. Brazil then proceeded to pick them apart. It was Shakespearian in its execution: Brazil was basically disinterested until this upstart Japan had the unmitigated gall to score on them, then Brazil spent the rest of the match mercilessly treating Japan like a prison bitch, to the point of degradation. Brazil had practically unencumbered access to the Japan penalty area from the jump anyway; they just hadn’t put the ball in the net. The Keiji Tamada goal in the 33^rd minute changed all that. Midfielders Ronaldinho, Kaka and Juninho Pernambucanu became bloodily efficient in their service after that, and Ronaldo, who had played like crap for two and a half games, all of a sudden became ruthlessly accurate with his shots (he still isn’t moving around a lot, but he’s found space for himself nonetheless, actually had quality strikes at the goal the few times he’s taken them, and finally gotten off the scoring shneid, so we’ll cut him some slack for now). This was the wakeup call Brazil needed; they had played like they were bored and just mailing it in until now. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the field the rest of the way, because Brazil is hitting their stride at just the right time. That said, defensive midfielders Emerson and Ze Roberto and central defenders Juan and Lucio have actually had a good tournament staying home, keeping their defensive form and turning away opposition attacks. So it will be interesting to see how they fare against Ghana, a team that loves to counterattack with zeal. 

  

– Ukraine-Tunisia was one of the least interesting matches of the tournament, but unlike a lot of the last group fixtures both teams still had a spot to play for in the next round, so it was an important game. Both teams looked to get the ball quickly up field. But whereas Tunisia looked to dispossess and make a long pass to Jaziri, who was practically their only attacker going forward, the Ukraine actually had a few players in the box other than Andrei Shevchenko and looked to service them. That said, Tunisia finally got Hatem Trabelsi forward along the right sideline (about time), and that gave them a more coordinated attack. The refs distinguished themselves once again (sarcasm intended) by sending Zaid Jaziri off due to a nonsense foul call, thereby taking away what at the time appeared to be Tunisia’s only real scoring threat. But because Tunisia relies on a more tactically disciplined approach, plays in the center of the field more than on the flanks, and doesn’t attack in numbers even at full strength, the loss of a man didn’t impact them as much as most. And it showed; until the Shevchenko penalty shot Tunisia actually had more shots on goal in the second half. Central defender Rahdi Jaidi played way below his capabilities for most of the match, basically making a strategic mistake in chesting a back pass down without knowledge of Shevchenko’s presence, which led to the penalty. That has been Tunisia’s problem all tournament long; flashes of tactical consistency with a smattering of critical errors that mattered. Tunisia has a way of making their opponents play out-of-sync, which was what was happening to the Ukraine, but the Ukrainians understood that the name of the game is to play for a result. That’s what mattered in the end. An unexceptional yet functional performance by a Ukraine side that too often looked predictable and over-reliant on their captain, Shevchenko, and they seem unlikely to progress past the next round. 

  

– To give you an idea of how group winners Spain approached their last group fixture against Saudi Arabia, they started eleven new players. Yet they still managed to play that attractive attacking football for at least a half, with three midfielders and three front men, and they were deadly on set pieces (lone scorer Juanito can attest to that). Then in the second half, Spain looked to just mail it in; thinking that this was a lesser opponent and that they had done enough, Spain played lackluster football, and as a result Saudi Arabia dictated play the last half, showing lots of energy and heart, finding space to make plays going forward, showing a real propensity to get into the box and make things happen, and basically putting Spain back on their heels. In the second half, in fact, the Saudis spent more time in the Spanish penalty area than the other way around. Spain just shut down tactically and offensively – they took the half off and didn’t play hard — and that let the Saudis back into the match. It really doesn’t say anything about Spain because clearly they can play world-class football (they are so deep that they can afford to put this many reserves on the pitch at once just to see what they’ve got in a situation where they already had wrapped up a place in the next round), but given their enigmatic history in this tournament, that they did this is not a very good omen. Saudi Arabia only got a point this time out and finished in last in this group, but they clearly showed something by playing at lot better than I thought they would (and a really strong performance by netminder Mabrouk Zaid, who stopped shot after shot throughout). They clearly have the players and the quality to build on for the future. 

  

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Neither the Ukraine nor Spain was pretty to watch, but they got the job done, and that’s what it’s all about. Clearly a lesson the USA, the Czech Republic and Croatia could learn.) 

  

– France finally started with David Trezeguet in front (about damn time, better late than never, I guess) in their final group match against Togo. He immediately started making an impact. Without Zinedine Zidane, suspended due to yellow cards, Thierry Henry found Trezeguet in the box early and often. Even though Togo kept numbers back (basically counterattacking with Emmanuel Adebayor almost exclusively), France got the better of the direct attacking, finding space to service Trezeguet and Henry on numerous occasions. Togo probably could have gotten France to commit more people in the back if they had shown any kind of attacking quality, but they hadn’t before – why should now have been any different? Good man-marking and dispossessing from the French backline, which didn’t have to work too hard because Togo wasn’t sending too many attackers into the box. Togo did show some unexpected physicality, though, an idiosyncrasy I’m sure the French weren’t expecting. . It isn’t that France played an especially strong game – they did – it’s that Togo played on their heels all game long, giving France way too much possession and way too many opportunities in the penalty area. France deserves the second-place finish they got, because they deserve to get an in-form Spain in the next round. 

  

– South Korea, despite leading their group, decided that they weren’t going to stand on their laurels, and they started with an attack-minded 3-4-3, looking to put points on the board early. Switzerland looked to counterattack with a midfield-intensive 4-5-1, looking to clog up the middle and slow down the world-class pace of the Koreans – it worked early. I give all the credit to the Koreans for coming out and playing aggressively, but with a three-man backline they just didn’t transition from offense to defense and vise-a-verse well, and as a result spent more time on their heels defending Swiss counterattacks than I’m sure they had planned to. The one area that is the Korean Achilles Heel – weak in the air – Switzerland took advantage of on the Philippe Senderos set piece header for a score. Swiss striker Alexandre Frei had several good looks at the Korean goal; he just shanked some really good scoring opportunities. Needless to say, the worst officiating decision so far was in this game. When the side judge put his flag up signaling an offside on a Swiss attack, the Koreans rightly stopped play, but Frei was allowed to continue by the referee to score, ending South Korea’s chances at advancement. It was baldly unfair, and all I can say is I hope both of those two officials never do international competitions again. No World Cup match should ever have to come down to obscenely bad officiating; that virtually every fixture so far has been affected in some way or another by atrocious officiating is nothing short of criminal. This set of officials have literally gone out of their way to stamp their imprimatur on this tournament, making sure we all know they were integral factors in what transpired. In the process they’ve ruined this tournament for everybody involved: players and fans alike. I’ll say it ‘til I’m blue in the face: Officials ruin games. 

  

– As a side note to the knockout phase, no team that has lost a group fixture has ever won the World Cup. That bodes well for Germany, England, Sweden, Argentina, Holland, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Switzerland, France, and Spain. That is not a good omen for Ecuador, Mexico, Ghana, Australia and the Ukraine. 

  

daveydoug