WFC World Cup Diary: Matchday 4, 14 June 2010

The stands are alive with the sound of football

The buzz coming out of South Africa today was good news for fans and vuvuzela merchants.  FIFA has decided not to ban the loud plastic trumpets from the remainder of the World Cup.

As annoying as that may be for Patrice Evra, the tournament is ultimately a celebration of the game and what better way for fans to celebrate than by making music?  Often enough, the coaches and players elect to play careful, conservative, (aka dull)football, concerned more with a result than entertaining.  That is all well and good when you are looking to win the greatest prize in sports but it is too much to complain when your audience, left to its own devices, finds a way to entertain itself.

Out of tune with the fans

As for attractive football, Germany put a lot of pressure on the Day 4 participants to match their wonderful performance on the previous evening.  For the 1st time in the tournament, however, the most compelling game was scheduled to go off first, between the Dutch and their close neighbors, Denmark.  Even without Arjen Robben, l’Oranje had more than enough flair to put on a show.

The Danes, usually a side that likes to move the ball around as well, knew they were outmatched on this day and concentrated heavily on keeeping their opponents from in front of goal.  With Niklas Bendtner lurking, the Dutch were patient, almost content to keep the ball in midfield, waiting for a defensive breakdown.  Shortly after the 20 minute mark, Denmark, sensing the passivity in the Netherlands attack began to pressure the ball more and earned some good looks at goal on the counterattack.  After having nothing to do for quite some time, Maarten Stekelenberg was sharp in making 2 or 3 key saves.

Capitalizing on the Danish aggression, the Dutch began to find some room in the box.  Wesley Sneijder was distributing well from the middle and Rafael van der Vaart and Dirk Kuyt were cutting in beautifully from the flanks.  Unfortunately, Robin van Persie seemed hesitant and out of sync, botching a handful of excellent opportunities to put his side in front.

Oops! Poulsen doesn't see Agger, who hopes it wasn't the ball that just tapped him on the shoulder

Then, on the verge of the break, the Arsenal man outran a Danish defender to a wide ball, turned and lifted a dangerous cross into the six yard box.  Simon Poulsen headed a clearance that unluckily bounced off the shoulderblade of teammate Daniel Agger for an own goal.  It wasn’t pretty but the Dutch led 1-0.

In the 58th minute, van der Vaart sent a delicious redirection towards the top corner with his heel, forcing a diving save from Thomas Sorensen.  Eljero Elia would soon spell the Real Madrid man and liven up the match with several tantalizing runs.  One of those runs, on 72 minutes, was stopped by a lunging Sorensen, who then scrambled to his left as Mark van Bommel picked up the garbage and circled around, aiming for the far post.  The desperate Danish keeper made another spectacular save to keep his country in the match.

With just 8 minutes to go, Daniel Agger was again in the wrong place, this time deflecting a Wesley Sneijder shot lazily over the outstretched Stoke netminder.  Luckily it bounced harmlessly off the crossbar.

Elia does the work....

and Kuyt cleans up

Less than 120 seconds later, however, the Danish luck ran out.  Sneijder sent a perfect pass into the box, onto the feet of a streaking Elia, who chipped a shot off both Sorensen’s left hand and the post.  Dirk Kuyt was first to the ball as it bounced back into play, though and smashed it home, sealing all 3 points for the Netherlands.  The show wasn’t quite over for the orange shirts as Kuyt sent a perfect cross into the 6 yard box from the left corner.  Ibrahim Afellay muffed his shot, allowing Simon Poulsen to clear it off the line for Denmark, keeping the score 2-0.

While the Dutch attack wasn’t as deadly as the German’s, they did show, against tougher opposition that they were just as capable of working the ball at will.

The second game on tap for the day presented an intriguing matchup with the lithe and quick Japanese meeting the strong and fast Cameroon side.   As it turned out, though, all the color on display was in the bright blue and yellow, green and red uniforms of the two countries.

The Africans were heavy favorites but seemingly took their opponents for granted.  Lacking creativity in the middle and failing to finish numerous chances, Cameroon found themselves behind after another goal just before the intermission.  The Japanese enjoyed the majority of possession, passing the ball with skill.  They weren’t physical enough, however, to penetrate the sizable rearguard and midfield of the Indomitable Lions. That is, until a poorly defended long cross from Daisuke Matsui found an unmarked Keisuke Honda waiting at the far post.  Cooly, the Japan striker took the time to settle the ball before poking it past a desperately lunging Hamedou Souleymanou.

Honda puts the Japanese in the driver's seat

The lack of inspiration from central midfield left captain Samuel Eto’o as the only threat to equalize.  A desperate attempt at a flying backheel failed and actually earned him a foul, pre-empting what would have been an offside call on Geremi, who, in turn,  was stonewalled by the Nipponese goaltender, Elji Kawashima, when he pounced on the missed ball.  Achille Emana came on late and lit a spark in the Cameroon attack but it wasn’t enough.  The toothless lions best chance at goal came in the 85th minute, when Stephane Mbia’s blast from 30 metres thundered off the cross bar.

The Lions up against it, now

As a side note, was the only long shot that I’ve seen come anywhere near close to goal at altitude in the first 4 days of the tournament.  The Jabalani is still confounding attacking players as can be noted by the fact that forwards are being outscored by defenders to this point in the competition.

At any rate, the loss puts the Africans in a precarious position, with the Netherlands still on the horizon.  Meanwhile the Japanese are celebrating their 1st World Cup victory away from home.

The last match of the day pitted the Italians, according to most, a team in decline, against a Paraguayan side, judging by their qualifying campaign, very much on the ascendance.  By all accounts going into the match, you could not find two teams more different.  Yet, the eerily similar sound of their national anthems was a harbinger of what was to come.

Rumor has it Jet Li was in attendance

Although the Azzurri dominated the early possession, every attack was met by a fierce, unintimidated defense.  Carlos Bonet employed a perfect bicycle kick to clear one dangerous ball.  That was followed by a Kung Fu Hustle type duel between Gianluca Zambrotta and Antonin Alcaraz, with the latter winning as his flying karate kick made contact with the ball.

Without Pirlo and Camoranesi in the line-up, the Italians were unimaginative in their midfield play.  Youngsters Riccardo Montolivo and Claudio Marchisio were largely ineffective.  The South Americans contented themselves with containing the straightforward advances of the defending champions and, sitting back, calmly awaited their chance.

Paraguay celebrate a stunning goal

Once again, it came as the opening stanza was winding down.  A seemingly harmless free kick from 40 metres was met by a rising Alcaraz, sandwiched between Daniele de Rossi and Fabio Cannavarro, and headed with force into the side netting.  As the goal scorer’s new manager, Roberto Martinez, noted at half time, the “Paraguayans had just done an Italy to Italy.”

During the half time, I thought about the announcers and analysts that ESPN was employing for the World Cup.  Ian Darke, the commentator for this match, just barely outranks Martin Tyler for top honors over the more pompous Derek Rae and decent enough Adrian Healey.  Tyler and Darke are equally knowledgeable and humorous but it’s the latter’s more enchanting voice that makes the difference.  He takes you through a match wonderfully, while sometimes it’s a strain to catch the whisperings of Mr. Tyler.  The best game analyst is easily the Scot, Ally McCoist, although Robbie Mustoe is a lot of fun.

Mustoe’s story about his Premier League encounter with the oncoming Japanese sub, Inamuto, was a good laugh.  Apparently the Asian had a free elbow and used it to open Robbie’s lip in a match at Craven Cottage.  Once stitched up, Mustoe spent the remainder of the contest vainly attempting to exact revenge.  After the final whistle, the Englishman, still in severe pain from the needlework, was required to piss into a cup for a mandatory drug test, a most vivid image of the term, ‘adding insult to injury.’

In the studio, Juergen Klinsmann was quite good and the ever positive attitude of Martinez, even when he delivers damning criticism makes for great viewing.  On the other hand, I wish some club in the Far or Middle East would hire Ruud Gullit.  The man is nothing but negative, brashly criticizing the selections of Fabio Capello and condemning the tactics of countryman Bert van Marwijk, when his own CV is almost bereft of any suggestion of good judgment or tactical nous.

Will he return?

Anyway, back to the match.  At the restart, Gianluigi Buffon, the talismanic netminder was conspicuous in his absence.  Apparently, he suffered a hamstring injury at some point in the first half.  How serious the injury is wasn’t immediately known but the Italians are surely concerned.

Early in the second half, with francesco Marchetti of Cagliari now between the pipes, the Italians still showed no signs of life, until,  in the 58th minute, Marcello Lippi sent on Mauro Camoranesi.  The Juve veteran immediately resuscitated the champions, weaving in and out of the midfield and sending dangerous balls into the box.  As the match continued, Marchetti seemed to settle in but there was an argument with Simone Pepe as the Azurri prepared to defend a corner.  It would not be the Euro keeper who would slip up today, though.

Daniele de Rossi is brutally mugged after tying the match

It was Justo Villar who became the latest netminder to make a critical error, whiffing on what should have been an easy punch out of a corner kick.  The errant ball fell right at the feet of de Rossi who put his country on level terms.

The Paraguayans did not push the panic button, however.  Instead, they realized their good fortune in securing at least 1 point from what should be their toughest group match and got behind the ball for the rest of the way, to preserve it.

Tomorrow, Fab Presilli will take you through the matches between New Zealand and Slovakia, Brazil and North Korea and, most significantly, the hugely important tussle between the Ivory Coast and Portugal.

Enjoy the day!

Previous Entries in WFC’s World Cup Diary

Match Day 1:  South Africa v Mexico, France v Uruguay

Match Day 2: South Korea v Greece, Argentina v Nigeria, England v USA

Match day 3: Slovenia v Algeria, Ghana v Serbia, Germany v Australia