by Nick Holt
Ivory Coast, without the suspended Drogba, did really well to come back from two-down to beat Serbia 3–2. They would have caused havoc in any other group.
GROUP D
This group was over after two rounds. An early goal settled the colonial dispute in Cologne, while the diminutive winger Omar Bravo ran Iran ragged and scored two of his side’s goals. In the group’s decisive game Maniche’s cleverly worked opening goal, set up by a great run from Simão, and Simão’s penalty after Marquez’s daft handball seemed to hand the group to Portugal, but Mexico came back well. Had Bravo converted a penalty in the second half the end result may have been different, but when Perez was sent off for a dive, the game was done. Neither of the second round opponents represented a kind draw for these two.
GROUP E
Italy: competent – indifferent – very good. Czech Republic: good – poor – indifferent. USA: poor – good – indifferent. Ghana: indifferent – very good – good. Thus, a group in which each game was tough to call, never mind the final outcome. Andrea Pirlo played in that deep-lying creative role he enjoys and scored the first goal against Ghana with a superlative thirty-yard strike. He also made a late second for Iaquinta, although Kuffour should have done better than just push the ball into Iaquinta’s stride when he tried to intercept. The Czechs dealt easily with the Americans. Milan Baros, like Savo Milosevic before him, so bad for Villa but so good for his country, set up Jan Koller for an early start and then it was the Tomas Rosicky show. The busy little Dortmund player added a second with an absolute snorter that curled away from Keller into the inside side netting. He nearly bettered it with a run from deep and shot that spanked against the crossbar. Another run took him past two defenders, and clear of the defence, and the finish was ice cool, flicked over Keller with the outside of the right boot as the goalkeeper came to challenge.
A goal after two minutes against the Czech Republic reminded Ghana they were a good side, and their midfield looked the equal of the Czechs’ talented quartet. The Czechs looked the best team in Euro 2004 until they foundered on the Greek wall in the semi-final, and they had much of the same team. The best of them, Pavel Nedvěd had been injured and this was his last big tournament at thirty-four. Another of the 2004 stars, the rugged Fiorentina centre-back Tomas Ujfalusi was sent off for a professional foul. Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty, having scored the opening goal, and Ghana had to wait until the eighty-second minute before Sulley Muntari put the game to bed. The Czechs were a huge disappointment. The USA upped their game against Italy, but the match is remembered for three red cards. The goals came early, Gilardino stooping low to head in Pirlo’s teasing free-kick, and Christian Zaccardo comically hacking into his own net.
The first card was indisputable, Daniele De Rossi’s elbow on McBride was deliberate and brutal and left the American striker with blood pouring from a head wound. The second, for Mastroeni’s late tackle on Pirlo, was debatable, it was more of a yellow-and-a-half. Eddie Pope’s first card was borderline, but his second was for a tackle from behind and brooked no argument. Keller earned his team a point with the save of the tournament from Del Piero, a truly brilliant piece of reflex athleticism.
Czech midfielder Jan Polák did his team no favours in the last match against Italy when he picked up a second yellow for a silly tackle only ten minutes after the first; neither was malicious but both were ill-judged. Italy were already one-up through a fabulous header from Materazzi – Pirlo’s delivery, inevitably – and they should have scored more before Inzaghi rounded the ’keeper with no Czech defenders within twenty yards. Materazzi was only on as a replacement for the injured Nesta and it was his first goal for Italy.
The USA were crying foul again after a physical encounter with Ghana, although their problems started when their experienced captain Claudio Reyna was robbed by Dramani, who ran on and finished really well. Clint Dempsey pulverised Beasley’s curled cross to equalise, but a soft (like Andrex toilet tissue soft) penalty award restored Ghana’s lead. They defended aggressively in the second half, as African sides tend to, but the Americans were short of imagination and created few chances – McBride’s header against the post was a brilliant effort rather than a missed chance.
United States Squad 2006:
GK: Tim Howard (Manchester United, 27 years old, 16 caps), Kasey Keller (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 37, 93), Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, 33, 6)
DEF: Chris Albright (LA Galaxy, 23, 20), Gregg Berhalter (Energie Cottbus, 32, 44), Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, 27, 40), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 27, 35), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards, 29, 15), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liège, 24, 14), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake, 32, 80)
MID & WIDE: DaMarcus Beasley (PSV Eindhoven, 24, 58), Bobby Convey (Reading, 23, 39), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards, 22, 18), Eddie Lewis (Leeds United, 32, 69), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids, 29, 48), John O’Brien (Chivas USA, 28, 31), Ben Olsen (D.C. United, 29, 34), Claudio Reyna (Cpt, Manchester City, 32, 109)
FWD: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo, 28, 20), Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution, 23, 21), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy, 24, 81), Brian McBride (Fulham, 33, 92), Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards, 29, 47)
GROUP F
Really easy for Brazil, not so easy for Croatia, who expected to qualify alongside them. Ronaldo, still barrelling along, was back in search of a record, and Ronaldinho was by now regarded as the world’s best player. The new stars off the conveyor belt were Kaká, who went to Japan & Korea as a teenager but didn’t play, Adriano and Robinho. All three played in Europe; Kaka was the playmaker at Milan, Adriano a brilliant but fitful star at Inter and Robinho, still only twenty-two, was a goalscoring winger with Real Madrid.
Tim Cahill, surprisingly left on the bench by Guus Hiddink, came off it to turn the opening game with two goals. Japan’s opener was ill-deserved as Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was clearly being held as Nakamura scored.
Australia only succumbed to Brazil after half-time; against Croatia, needing only a draw, they gave a gutsy performance to twice come from behind. Hiddink over-thought his selection and left out Schwarzer for a taller goalkeeper, Kalac, who was at fault for the second Croatian goal. The last ten minutes after Harry Kewell’s equaliser became tetchy and ended in a flurry of cards. A huge media meal was made out of Graham Poll’s failure to send off Josep Simunic after a second yellow card on ninety minutes. Poll compounded the error by issuing said card after the final whistle for Suminic’s protests as the teams left the field. What is forgotten is that Poll actually handled a tricky game quite well, spotting a crafty handball for Australia’s penalty that no one saw on TV. What goes around comes around and Poll was always a referee who enjoyed the limelight, although this would not have been how he envisioned the attention would fall at this World Cup. What time’s the next flight to Tring in Hertfordshire, please?
Ronaldo got his record, passing Gerd Müller’s World Cup scoring record. Müller was still better.
GROUP G
Had South Korea shown a little more enterprise they might have got out of this group. Their coach, the Dutchman Dick Advocaat, seemed content to play a defensive waiting game and in all three ties he kept Ahn Jung-hwan on the bench and played Choe Jae-jin up front on his own. Ahn had not been on form, but he galvanised the side here, there was a noticeable lift in tempo when he came on.
Togo were in some disarray. Arguments between Adebayor and the coach had led to a change, with the German Pfister brought in, sent away and brought in again. Adebayor’s subsequent career suggests belated sympathy is due for the original coach Stephen Keshi, the former Nigerian international. They played well against Korea after all the fuss died down, and deservedly took the lead when the powerful Kader knocked the ball forward of his inhumanly large thigh, surged past the Korean defenders and whacked the ball across Lee – a really decisive finish. Lee, now the Korean captain, tipped over a free-kick to keep his side one-down at the break. The turning point came in the fifty-third minute. Park Ji-sung, the Manchester United m
idfielder with lungs the size of Kader’s thighs, drove through the centre of the Togo defence and was chopped down by Abalo before he could get into the box. Graham Poll sent off Abalo, who had already been booked, and Lee Chun-soo exacted further punishment by curling the free-kick inside the post. Lee Chun-soo was guilty of the tournament’s worst coiffure, an achievement of sorts. Ahn won the game with an aggressive run and shot, although a deflection helped loop the ball past Agassa.
France opened with a woeful scoreless draw against Switzerland but were better against South Korea. They would rue a number of missed chances as Park’s late goal stole a point. France laboured against Togo for an hour but goals from Vieira and Henry eased their passage, and that of coach Domenech, who must have been dreading a second consecutive humiliating exit at half-time.
Switzerland beat South Korea, but Advocaat made it easy by keeping a single striker formation until far too late in the game. A Philippe Senderos header gave Switzerland the lead and only a couple of long-range shots threatened Zuberbühler’s goal until Ahn’s introduction sparked a late rally. The Paraguayan referee spoiled the game, over-ruling an offside flag and allowing Barnetta an easy goal. Senderos had enjoyed a good first full season at Arsenal and played well at the World Cup, but his career went progressively backwards in England when a weakness to the high ball was discovered.
GROUP H
The two European sides had too much for Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. Spain stunned Ukraine in the opener; the east Europeans appeared tentative in their first Finals appearance, and Spain took full advantage, with the movement of David Villa causing horrendous problems for the Ukrainians. In a highly entertaining game in Munich Tunisia took the lead against Saudi Arabia only for the Saudis to turn the game around and take the lead themselves with a goal from veteran striker Sami Al-Jaber six minutes from the end. A last-minute header from the huge Bolton centre-back Radhi Jaïdi ensured a fair result.
Jaidi marshalled the Tunisian defence expertly against Spain, who only scored their goals in the last fifteen minutes after Mnari surprised them with an early goal, volleying in the rebound after Casillas saved his first shot. Raúl, on for Luis García, who did little in the first half, pounced on a half-stop by the goalkeeper to equalise. The winner was pure Fernando Torres, still with Atlético Madrid, still looking about twelve years old and still with that electrifying burst of speed that his injuries took away. He accelerated away from the defence, went to the ’keeper’s left and flicked the ball in with the outside of his right. An injury-time penalty slightly flattered Spain.
Spain’s reserves beat Saudi Arabia, while the Ukraine needed a sending off and an iffy penalty to see off Tunisia, who were stubborn and courageous even when clearly outgunned.
SECOND ROUND
The Argentina match didn’t take long to explode into life, but not in the way Pekerman’s team would have hoped. Méndez’s free-kick travelled too far across the area, Barcelona’s Rafael Márquez finished brilliantly for a centre-half. Argentina were level when Crespo and Borgetti challenged for a free-kick; the ball skewed in off Borgetti’s head but Crespo was wrongly awarded the goal.
The game was never boring but we had to wait until extra-time for the next goal. Borgetti was a handful – he had the beating of Heinze and Ayala in the air and with more support Mexico might have created more clear chances. Mexico’s all-time top scorer, Borgetti plundered stacks of goals in qualifying, and did well here, but he never acclimatised to the Premier League in a disappointing season and a half with Bolton. Messi had a goal questionably ruled offside, but against that Gabriel Heinze was lucky to escape with a yellow card for a blatant professional foul. No Golden Goal this time around so Argentina had to hold on for a while even after Maxi Rodriguez’s wonderful strike from the edge of the area put them ahead.
Germany beat Sweden with some ease in Munich. Early goals help, and they got two, the first when Podolski put away a rebound after Isaksson thwarted Klose, and the second a clean finish from Klose’s clever reverse ball. The new German strike force looked Poles apart. Get it? (They were both of Polish origin, Klose and Podolski.) Sweden had a bad day at the office; Lucic was sent off for a second yellow card and Larsson missed a penalty that should never have been given. At least five Germans made sure the referee knew Lucic had already been booked, waving imaginary cards. I hate that, the deliberate effort to see another player punished. We see less of it now after a clampdown, but it was endemic throughout this tournament.
I can’t muster the energy to write much about England against Ecuador. Ashley Cole’s knee and David Beckham’s right foot redeemed another woeful effort. Cole deflected Carlos Tenorio’s shot onto the bar after Terry’s comically bad header let the striker in on goal, and Beckham’s free-kick on the hour cocked a snook at those demanding his omission. He certainly played no worse than Gerrard or Lampard in this competition, despite starting it in a trough of form. The problem England now had was that, having found the right pattern with Rooney up front on his own and two supporting players out wide, they needed the right combination to fill the positions, and Sven couldn’t do the jigsaw. And with Neville injured they couldn’t find a right-back. Jamie Carragher was a club footballer elevated beyond his ability even at centre-half and was way too slow at right-back, while using Hargreaves there was a waste of England’s most in-form midfielder. Conundrums.
Portugal against Holland I covered in Dirtiest Games. A disgraceful exhibition from both teams and attempts to blame the referee just added to the shame. Awful. Maniche won the game with a clever individual goal.
Italy beat Australia with a late, late penalty when Fabio Grosso tumbled over Lucas Neill’s prone body. Questionable, but Neill was rash to go to ground. Totti kept his nerve to score from the spot past a red-hot goalkeeper; Schwarzer had made three or four good saves in the first half. Australia moaned about the penalty, but Italy were the more accomplished side even after Materazzi was sent off for a two-footed challenge.
Switzerland against Ukraine was hardly a feast of football. Even without Senderos, who was injured, Switzerland looked comfortable against a team in which Shevchenko, supposedly the best striker in Europe, was anonymous. He even missed his penalty in the shoot-out. Fortunately for the Ukraine their next three guys all scored, and the Swiss missed all three of their kicks, the only team to suffer this degree of ignominy in a World Cup penalty shoot-out. They were also the first side to be eliminated without conceding a goal.
Brazil moved up a gear, and Ghana actually played quite well to hold them to three. The first was a result of a poor offside trap. Ronaldo had already been pulled back for an incorrect offside decision and almost immediately sprung the trap again, finishing with minimum fuss as usual. A second goal just before the break when Adriano put in Cafú’s inviting cross seemed to end the game. Ghana kept coming, to their credit. Muntari and the captain Stephen Appiah matched Brazil in the centre of midfield, and the forwards peeled off wide to press Cafú and Carlos with some success. But they couldn’t find a way past Lúcio in the middle and when Gyan was – correctly – given a second yellow card for diving they were done. Zé Roberto finished cheekily for the third goal, nudging the ball one way past the ’keeper and going around the other side to score.
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.24
27 June 2006, Hanover, Germany; 43,000
Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
Coaches: Raymond Domenech (France) & Luis Aragonés (Spain)
France (4–2–3–1): Fabien Barthez (Olympique de Marseille); Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Lilian Thuram (Juventus), William Gallas (Chelsea), Éric Abidal (Lyon); Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Claude Makélelé (Chelsea); Franck Ribéry (Olympique de Marseille), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Florent Malouda (Lyon); Thierry Henry (Arsenal). Subs: Sidney Govou (Lyon) 74m for Malouda; Sylvain Wiltord (Lyon) 88m for Henry
Spain (4–3–3): Iker Casillas (Real Madrid); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Pablo Ibáñez (Atlético Madrid), Carlos Puyol (Barcelona), Mariano Per
nia (Getafe); Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Xavi Hernández (Barcelona); David Villa (Valencia), Fernando Torres (Atlético Madrid), Raúl González (Cpt, Real Madrid). Subs: Luis García (Liverpool) 54m for Villa; Joaquin Sánchez (Real Betis) 54m for Raúl; Marcos Senna (Villareal) 82m for Xavi
Cautioned: Vieira (Fra) 68m, Puyol (Spa) 82m, Ribéry (Fra) 87m, Zidane (Fra) 90m
The wannabes versus the has-beens. Spain were unbeaten since Luis Aragonés took over as national coach after the 2004 European Championships; France had struggled but improved since recalling some of the legends who had brought them success in the past.
Spain were starting the tiki-taka era, using the patient possession-first game that would provide them with their breakthrough at the next European Championships. France relied on solidity through the middle, Makélélé and Vieira providing an extra barrier in front of Gallas and the veteran Thuram.
Spain knew France could be got at down the flanks and they started well, feeding in Torres and Villa as they moved wide. France looked to get Henry in behind the Spanish central defenders, and Aragonés’ team selection was complicit in allowing them to do just that.
Spain struck first; an unnecessary and untypically clumsy challenge from Thuram on the centre-half Ibanez, up for a corner, allowing David Villa to score from the spot. The Valencia striker came into the tournament with only a handful of caps but his movement and passing were a revelation.