day 8
the beach beckons, so this straight to the matches:
match 21: argentina v. serbinegro
what can one say about a 6-0 thrashing? well, how about this: how sick are argentina that they can take their foot off the gas for most of the second half, already up 3-nil, and then still flip a switch and score three goals in ten minutes toward the end of the match? it was so bad that we were thinking the referee was going to call the game in the 85th minute when it was 4-0 and the serbinegrans having already been down a man for 20 minutes at that point. that he even gave a minute of injury time was merciless.
the argies simply ran riot over the serbinegrans. their second goal was one of the sickest of the tournament, a seven-pass buildup (including five one-touch passes) in which the final pass was a backheel in the box by hernan crespo to a surging esteban cambiasso, who finished brilliantly. to be honest, all six goals were of quality not seen everywhere and it was mesmerising to watch. i don’t much like argentina, but one had to admire this insane display of fabulous footie. if they keep this up, it’s going to take an otherworldly effort to conquer them.
match 22: holland v. cote d’ivoire
perhaps the best overall match of the tournament was on display in this from stuttgart. given argentina’s ridiculous display in first match of the day, the loser of this match was almost definitely going to be going home sooner rather than later. and it would be a shame, too, because either of these teams could easily qualify for the knockout rounds, if not win the group outright, were they in any of the other seven groups.
for the first ten minutes, the two sides were like heavyweight fighters measuring each other up. then, after the game opened up in the next ten minutes, an undisciplined foul by the ivorians’ kolo toure gave the oranje a free kick just outside the west africans’ box. robin van persie stepped up and rifled such a pacey shot that jean-jacques tizie, the elephants’ goalkeeper, had no chance even though it was directly at him. he couldn’t react quickly enough and, in the 23rd minute, the dutch were up, 1-nil.
they doubled their advantage four minutes later when arjen robben served ruud van nistelrooij with a fine reverse pass that beat the offside trap (in case you’re wondering, the ivorian defender who was more than twenty yards away on the other side of the trap played van nistelrooij onside) and jerry seinfeld’s long-lost younger brother clinically finished, as he most often does. hard to believe, but it was horse-face’s first world cup goal ever.
the elephants came flying back and dider zokora almost halved the score moments later with a shot that nearly went through the crossbar rather just inside it for a goal. but the ivorians weren’t discouraged at this misfortune and kept pressing and were finally rewarded with a fabulously-taken goal by bakary kone from just outside the right top edge of the box that did, in fact, halve the score.
mere moments later, cote d’ivoire nearly levelled the score when didier drogba nicked the ball from marco van bommel near midfield and roared, 2-on-1, in on goal. all that was needed was a simple early pass to teammate arouna kone to leave him one-one-with edwin van der saar, the dutch keeper, for a certain goal. instead, drogba panicked and kicked the ball into the feet of the oncoming defender, giovanni van bronckhorst. then and there, one could sense that such a gaffe from such a gift was going to bedevil the ivorians later in the match, especially if they never could equalise.
sadly for the world cup, the equaliser never came, though the ivorians poured forward and threw all they had and more at the dutch defense throughout the second half. time and again, the ivorians showed class all over the field in all aspects, but they just didn’t have enough to finish anything well. perhaps their best chance after the restart came late, about twelve minutes from time, when drogba bounced a header at the dutch goal only for van persie to bravely chest it off the line and out of harm’s way. the dutch hung on the last bit of time and emerged battered, but unbowed, and into the round of 16.
as for cote d’ivoire, it was a second successive heartbreaking loss to a team considered a contender for the cup itself. however, as against argentina, the ivorians just lacked that something extra in finishing and it ended up costing them. they deserve to go home because they lost to two very good games, but their fine play over two games suggest that the world cup is not the better off for their having failed to reach the second round. i know that i, for one, will miss them in the next round because they had a real chance to make a run and offer rebuttal to all who criticise the african teams, the elitists who forget that it’s the world cup, not the european or south american cup, the snobs who feel that five teams from africa are too much (like senegal or cameroon or nigeria couldn’t have done better than serbia tonight, costa rica last night, ukraine a few nights ago, and the u.s. the night previous to that one?). theirs was the best chance to do africa and all fans of football minnows proud. there are still four african teams alive, and even if one or more them make the second round, this world cup, as well as i, will still miss cote d’ivoire.
mexico-angola perhaps to follow after the beach...
match 21: argentina v. serbinegro
what can one say about a 6-0 thrashing? well, how about this: how sick are argentina that they can take their foot off the gas for most of the second half, already up 3-nil, and then still flip a switch and score three goals in ten minutes toward the end of the match? it was so bad that we were thinking the referee was going to call the game in the 85th minute when it was 4-0 and the serbinegrans having already been down a man for 20 minutes at that point. that he even gave a minute of injury time was merciless.
the argies simply ran riot over the serbinegrans. their second goal was one of the sickest of the tournament, a seven-pass buildup (including five one-touch passes) in which the final pass was a backheel in the box by hernan crespo to a surging esteban cambiasso, who finished brilliantly. to be honest, all six goals were of quality not seen everywhere and it was mesmerising to watch. i don’t much like argentina, but one had to admire this insane display of fabulous footie. if they keep this up, it’s going to take an otherworldly effort to conquer them.
match 22: holland v. cote d’ivoire
perhaps the best overall match of the tournament was on display in this from stuttgart. given argentina’s ridiculous display in first match of the day, the loser of this match was almost definitely going to be going home sooner rather than later. and it would be a shame, too, because either of these teams could easily qualify for the knockout rounds, if not win the group outright, were they in any of the other seven groups.
for the first ten minutes, the two sides were like heavyweight fighters measuring each other up. then, after the game opened up in the next ten minutes, an undisciplined foul by the ivorians’ kolo toure gave the oranje a free kick just outside the west africans’ box. robin van persie stepped up and rifled such a pacey shot that jean-jacques tizie, the elephants’ goalkeeper, had no chance even though it was directly at him. he couldn’t react quickly enough and, in the 23rd minute, the dutch were up, 1-nil.
they doubled their advantage four minutes later when arjen robben served ruud van nistelrooij with a fine reverse pass that beat the offside trap (in case you’re wondering, the ivorian defender who was more than twenty yards away on the other side of the trap played van nistelrooij onside) and jerry seinfeld’s long-lost younger brother clinically finished, as he most often does. hard to believe, but it was horse-face’s first world cup goal ever.
the elephants came flying back and dider zokora almost halved the score moments later with a shot that nearly went through the crossbar rather just inside it for a goal. but the ivorians weren’t discouraged at this misfortune and kept pressing and were finally rewarded with a fabulously-taken goal by bakary kone from just outside the right top edge of the box that did, in fact, halve the score.
mere moments later, cote d’ivoire nearly levelled the score when didier drogba nicked the ball from marco van bommel near midfield and roared, 2-on-1, in on goal. all that was needed was a simple early pass to teammate arouna kone to leave him one-one-with edwin van der saar, the dutch keeper, for a certain goal. instead, drogba panicked and kicked the ball into the feet of the oncoming defender, giovanni van bronckhorst. then and there, one could sense that such a gaffe from such a gift was going to bedevil the ivorians later in the match, especially if they never could equalise.
sadly for the world cup, the equaliser never came, though the ivorians poured forward and threw all they had and more at the dutch defense throughout the second half. time and again, the ivorians showed class all over the field in all aspects, but they just didn’t have enough to finish anything well. perhaps their best chance after the restart came late, about twelve minutes from time, when drogba bounced a header at the dutch goal only for van persie to bravely chest it off the line and out of harm’s way. the dutch hung on the last bit of time and emerged battered, but unbowed, and into the round of 16.
as for cote d’ivoire, it was a second successive heartbreaking loss to a team considered a contender for the cup itself. however, as against argentina, the ivorians just lacked that something extra in finishing and it ended up costing them. they deserve to go home because they lost to two very good games, but their fine play over two games suggest that the world cup is not the better off for their having failed to reach the second round. i know that i, for one, will miss them in the next round because they had a real chance to make a run and offer rebuttal to all who criticise the african teams, the elitists who forget that it’s the world cup, not the european or south american cup, the snobs who feel that five teams from africa are too much (like senegal or cameroon or nigeria couldn’t have done better than serbia tonight, costa rica last night, ukraine a few nights ago, and the u.s. the night previous to that one?). theirs was the best chance to do africa and all fans of football minnows proud. there are still four african teams alive, and even if one or more them make the second round, this world cup, as well as i, will still miss cote d’ivoire.
mexico-angola perhaps to follow after the beach...
posted by shaved wave at 11:54
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