by Nick Holt
Ghana totally dominated the first half of their match against the USA, and should have had more than Boateng’s enterprising goal to show for their superiority. The African side seemed flustered by the penalty award that led to the equaliser, and lost control of the game; they were lucky their goalkeeper stayed steady and kept them alive with a couple of crucial saves. Ghana steeled their nerves before extra-time and emerged deserved winners. Asamoah Gyan showed amazing energy and led their line superbly and scored the winner when he took down a long ball, outmuscled two defenders and scored from a tight angle. The Americans were undone by coach Bob Bradley’s emphasis on fitness and strength and discipline, and looked a one-dimensional side. It is to be assumed they will show a more imaginative approach in Brazil under Jürgen Klinsmann.
United States Squad 2010:
GK: Tim Howard (Everton, 31 years old, 51 caps), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, 25, 16), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers, 37, 7)
DEF: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, 31, 79), Jonathon Bornstein (Chivas USA, 25, 32), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, 31, 60), Jay DeMerit (Watford, 30, 19), Clarence Goodson (Start, Norway, 28, 14), Oguchi Onyewu (Milan, 28, 54), Jonathon Spector (West Ham United, 24, 25)
MID & WIDE: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, 28, 92), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 22, 43), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt, 27, 29), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy, 28, 123), Mauriuce Edu (Rangers, 24, 13), Benny Feilhaber (GF, Denmark, 25, 32), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers, 24, 14), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, 22, 10)
FWD: Jozy Altidore (Hull City, 20, 25), Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy, 29, 3), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, 27, 62), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake, 24, 6), Hérculez Gómez (Puebla, 28, 4)
The next day saw two games spoiled by awful refereeing decisions. While Argentina and Germany were the better teams in their matches against Mexico and England respectively, both benefited from some atrocious officiating.
After an evenly contested opening, Argentina took the lead in Johannesburg from a Carlos Tévez header with the striker standing five or six feet offside. The linesman was perfectly well placed, so possibly just oblivious to the rules. That Argentina were the better team thereafter is incontestable, and Tévez’s second goal was a spectacular strike, but Mexico were visibly unsettled by the appalling decision for the last twenty minutes of the first half, and lost concentration for Higuaín’s goal, Argentina’s second.
Earlier in the day an even worse decision had caused controversy in the England versus Germany game. Germany outplayed England for much of the first half, their width and precision too much for a demotivated team playing a pedestrian system. Ironically Germany’s opener was straight out of the Charles Hughes textbook, a big punt from goalkeeper Neuer finding Terry and Upson in “after you, John, no, no, I insist, Matthew” mode at the heart of the defence. Klose couldn’t believe his luck as he ran on to welly the ball past David James, restored to the No.1 shirt after Rob Green’s opening display.
More poor defending saw Klose set up Podolski for a second and England were reeling. Then Neuer came for a cross when he shouldn’t and was beaten to it by Upson, which gave England some hope, and the game looked wide open again when Frank Lampard feigned to belt the ball from eighteen yards and instead executed a perfect chip over Neuer onto the bar and into the goal. Well, that’s what happened, but unfortunately for England the Uruguayan referee didn’t see it that way, and was backed up by two equally incompetent assistants. Play on, waved Mr Larrionda, as the watching TV and stadium audience stared in disbelief. The incident did more than any other to bring forward the use of technology to eradicate such controversy
Adding insult to injury another fine Lampard strike hit the bar with Neuer beaten at the start of the second half. Germany made the most of these reprieves, reasserting control and scoring from two beautifully fashioned breakaways. Both goals stemmed from errors by Gareth Barry and both were scored by the exciting Thomas Müller.
Awful as Larrionda’s decision was – and not just the English saw it as one of the worst ever seen at this level – England were not good enough in this World Cup. It represented a step backward even from the rather laboured quarter-final appearances of Sven’s teams. Capello, a good coach, just never “got” England or English football, and made some poor selections; the use of Upson in this match instead of Carragher, Dawson or indeed my mother being one of them.
England Squad 2010:
GK: David James (Portsmouth, 39, 50), Rob Green (West Ham United, 30, 10), Joe Hart (Birmingham City, 23, 3)
DEF: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool, 32, 36), Ashley Cole (Chelsea, 29, 78), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur, 26, 0), Glenn Johnson (Liverpool, 25, 22), Ledley King (Tottenham, 29, 20), John Terry (Chelsea, 29, 60), Matthew Upson (West Ham, 31, 19), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa, 28, 1)
MID & WIDE: Gareth Barry (Manchester City, 29, 36), Michael Carrick (Manchester United, 28, 22), Joe Cole (Chelsea, 28, 54), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, 30, 80), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 31, 78), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham, 23, 17), James Milner (Villa, 24, 8), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man City, 28, 31)
FWD: Peter Crouch (Tottenham, 29, 38), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham, 27, 39), Emile Heskey (Villa, 32, 58), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd, 24, 60)
Holland and Brazil saw off Slovakia and Chile with something to spare. Arjen Robben, feeling his way back from injury, started for the first time in the tournament and scored a terrific solo goal for the opener, running at the defence and unleashing a quick shot before it was expected. Holland took their time finishing Slovakia off but never looked in much trouble and Sneijder’s second goal finished the game – there was no time for the game even to restart after Vittek’s injury-time penalty.
Brazil beat Chile efficiently and scored a terrific team goal (finished by Luís Fabiano), but they still didn’t quite look the business. Dunga, the coach, was a superb professional but a very un-Brazilian type of player and this team were moulded more in his image than some of the crowd-pleasing sides of the past. And Kaká, supposedly the playmaker, still wasn’t firing.
The final two games were a disappointment. Japan and Paraguay played out a cautious bore-draw before Paraguay prevailed on penalties, while Spain and Portugal failed to deliver the fireworks the fixture promised. There was plenty of technique and skill on display, but Portugal never really cranked up the pressure on their neighbours and after Villa’s goal they subsided without much resistance other than a red card for an off-the-ball incident for Costa. Ronaldo disappeared again; like Lionel Messi he is yet to lighten up the biggest stage of all.
QUARTER-FINALS
The quarter-finals, which pitted South American sides against European or African opposition, provided some better football and more excitement at last. Holland trailed Brazil after ten minutes and had to produce a gritty performance to come back. Holland had to replace Mathijsen with Ooijer just before the kick-off and were still finding their feet when Robinho latched on to Melo’s pass to give Brazil the lead; it was the Manchester City striker’s last meaningful contribution to the game. Holland were rocking and needed two excellent saves from Stekelenburg to stay in the game at half-time.
The equaliser was a gift from the Brazilian defence. Wesley Sneijder sent in a testing free-kick which was met by Júlio César and his centre-half Juan at the same time; the result was that neither made clean contact and the ball went into the goal. Sneijder was lucky to be credited with the goal as it touched one or both of the Brazilian players on the way in. The defending wasn’t too great for the second goal either. Robben’s corner was flicked on by Dirk Kuyt and headed in by Sneijder – the oldest routine in the book.
Brazil gave it a go belatedly but Melo’s sending-off for an ugly stamp put them at a huge disadvantage, and for the second Finals tournament in a row they went out at the quarter-final stage. Holland were now unbeaten for twenty-four matches and were looking especially determined and obdurate.
The other major South American team, Argentina, fared even worse the next day. They had
saved all their defensive frailties for one match and found unforgiving opposition in Germany. The problems started for Maradona’s side after three minutes when Schweinsteiger’s free-kick was headed down and in by Thomas Müller. Argentina found a measure of control before the interval and enjoyed a good spell after half-time but a shoot-from-anywhere policy, while it kept Neuer busy in the German goal, also meant that a number of shots were taken when colleagues were better placed. Once again Messi was anonymous, forced deep by the excellent Schweinsteiger and powerful holding midfielder Khedira.
Miroslav Klose, on his 100th appearance, should have put Germany two-up in the first half but missed horribly. He made amends after sixty-seven minutes, walking the ball over the line after good work from Podolski. Klose had a terrible season for Bayern Munich but coach Joachim Low kept faith with his top scorer and Klose rose to the World Cup atmosphere, as he had done before. His late second goal put him within one of Ronaldo’s all-time record and he has every chance of going to Brazil if fit, where he will make a very useful impact substitute. Full-back Arne Friedrich got forward well to convert Schweinsteiger’s cross for the third German goal.
Germany looked the most complete side in the competition at this stage. Good goalkeeper, excellent full-backs, balanced midfield with plenty of goals in it and a knowledgeable and experienced striker; Maradona’s confidence and chat was exposed as hollow bombast.
Paraguay were as dull and unadventurous as they were against Japan, losing to a solitary David Villa goal. The game was played at a slow pace with both sides keeping possession for long periods without threatening the opposition goal. Even the purists who fawned at Spain’s feet admitted this was a crashing bore.
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.25
2 July 2010, Soccer City, Johannesburg; 84,017
Ghana (4–5–1): Richard Kingson (Wigan Athletic); John Paintsil (Fulham), Isaac Vorsah (1899 Hoffenheim), John Mensah (Cpt, Sunderland), Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen); Samuel Inkoom (Basle), Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese), Anthony Annan (Rosenborg), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth), Sulley Muntari (Internazionale); Asamoah Gyan (Rennes).
Subs: Stephen Appiah (Bologna) 74m for Inkoom; Dominic Adiyah (Milan) 88m for Muntari
Uruguay (4–4–2): Fernando Muslera (Lazio); Maxi Pereira (Benfica), Diego Lugano (Cpt, Fenerbahçe), Mauricio Victorino (Universidad de Chile), Jorge Fucile (Porto); Álvaro Fernández (Universidad de Chile), Diego Pérez (Monaco), Egidio Arévalo (Peñarol), Edinson Cavani (Palermo); Diego Forlán (Atlético Madrid), Luis Suárez (Ajax). Subs: Andres Scotti (Colo Colo) 38m for Lugano; Nicolas Lodeiro (Ajax) 46m for Fernandez; Sebastián Abreu (Botafogo) 76m for Cavani
Cautioned: Fucile (Uru) 20m, Arévalo (Uru) 48m, Paintsil (Gha) 54m, Pérez (Uru) 59m, Sarpei (Gha) 77m, Mensah (Gha) 93m
Dismissed: Suárez (Uru) 120m
While all eyes were on fancied sides like Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Spain, Uruguay and Ghana played out a thriller, the best game of the tournament.
Both sides had grown into the tournament. Ghana had overcome the loss of Essien by packing the midfield and using the willing Asamoah Gyan as a lone striker. Their defensive midfield player Annan looked composed and disciplined, and on the left Muntari had a cultured left foot and a dangerous shot. The defence survived a few shaky moments and were grateful for the form of the unheralded Kingson, who couldn’t get a game at Wigan.
Uruguay had a fine defence, with the captain Lugano and the right-back Maxi Pereira outstanding, and Suárez and Forlán looked the most dangerous attacking partnership in the competition. They were a little short of quality in midfield and seemed reluctant to use the gifted but inconsistent Lodeiro, but so far hard work had made up for any shortcomings.
Both sides liked a tackle and the game was feisty from the start without ever teetering over into anarchy. The referee used his cards judiciously and made sure the fiery stuff added to the game rather than detracted from it.
Kingson came to his colleagues’ rescue twice in the first half as Ghana struggled to get any rhythm. First he palmed away Mensah’s clumsily miscued clearance and then he leaped acrobatically to turn away a short from Suárez, who was turning the Ghanaian centre-halves inside out. Uruguay were hampered by an injury to Diego Lugano, their influential captain, before halftime, but he could have done nothing about Muntari’s spectacular opening goal, which bounced evilly as it went past Muslera in first-half injury-time.
The game opened up in the second half, as Uruguay introduced Lodeiro, whose greater range of passing helped stretch the Ghanaians at the back and took the ball out of the areas patrolled by Boateng and Annan. The equaliser came from a free-kick on the left. Kingson positioned himself in the centre and as Forlán hit the ball he moved to his left, expecting the whipped kick into the near corner; instead the ball sailed beyond him and went in just under the bar. Forlán was dragging defenders across the line as players tired, and the space left for Suárez gave the Ajax man two opportunities, but neither was easy and both went narrowly wide. At the other end Gyan was proving a handful for the second string Uruguay centre-backs and twice he nearly barged his way through on goal; the man’s stamina was a marvel.
The game became more and more open in extra-time, but the final ball became as tired as the defenders and both goalkeepers remained alert; Muslera saved from Gyan and Kingson tipped away another Forlán effort. Kevin-Prince Boateng came closest with a fierce header from Paintsil’s long throw, but the ball fizzed just wide. The tension built to an extraordinary climax. Muslera saved well and Uruguay countered; the attack broke up and some neat Ghanaian passing took the ball back into the Uruguay half and won a free-kick. Muslera missed the chipped cross and the ball fell to Appiah, but his shot was blocked on the line by Luis Suárez. The ball broke to Dominic Adiyah and a goal looked certain until Suárez beat the ball away again, this time with his hands. A red card and a penalty to Ghana was the referee’s only option.
The media, prompted by Ghana’s Serbian coach, made much of the incident, and questioned Suárez’s sportsmanship. In fairness to the player he only did what the vast majority of professional footballers would instinctively have done. What he should not have done was celebrate Gyan’s missed penalty quite so gleefully on the touchline, but that is the sort of behaviour we have come to expect of a man who consistently shows no respect for his opponents. Nor should one or two of his team-mates have chosen that moment to taunt the distraught Ghanaian striker. It was really harsh on Gyan, who had a terrific tournament and played with great heart and courage.
The missed penalty was the last kick of the game, and after Forlán tucked away the first penalty of the shoot-out it was a shock to see Gyan walk forward to take Ghana’s first kick. He scored one of football’s greatest “bottle” penalties, but unfortunately for Ghana, two of his colleagues’ nerves failed and Muslera saved twice to send Uruguay into the semi-final. Ghana had come closer than any African country to the last four.
SEMI-FINALS
THIRD-PLACE MATCH
Holland’s win over Uruguay was easier than a 3–2 scoreline suggests. Uruguay showed little ambition in the absence of Suárez (suspended after his red card) – odd, given that they had Cavani and Abreu in their squad, both good-quality forwards. The game was settled in four minutes in the second half when Sneijder scored with a deflected shot, and then Arjen Robben, who had looked the player most likely to win the game, converted Kuyt’s cross; the Dutch winger looked as surprised as anyone that he scored the goal with his head.
The game’s best moment came in the first-half when Giovanni van Bronckhorst drifted upfield from left-back and unleashed a spectacular shot for the opener; Muslera barely twitched as the ball flew past him. Uruguay’s first-half equaliser was another long-distance strike from Forlán but Stekelenburg should have saved it, and Maxi Pereira’s second for the South Americans came too late to have any real impact.
The Germany versus Spain game was odd. Germany had looked the best side in the tournament before this game, but see
med to suffer a collective failure of nerve against the side who beat them two years previously in the European Championships.
Neither side created many clear cut chances in a cat and mouse first half where Spain had a predictable amount of possession and probed and pushed, while Germany seemed happy to rely on the counter-attack and the pace of Özil and Podolski.
The second half followed a similar pattern but the German became more and more cautious and allowed Xavi and Xabi Alonso to dominate the centre. Schweinsteiger, so effective in pushing back Argentina, played as a second defensive player alongside Khedira. Klose became increasingly isolated and the Spanish full-backs roamed forward more – Ramos came close to the opener when he got behind Lahm and just missed Alonso’s through ball.
The game was settled in the simplest manner, Puyol burying a straightforward header from a corner. Germany were beaten, and didn’t create a chance after the goal; Spain should have added a second when Pedro selfishly took the ball on himself when Torres was free for a tap-in. The form of their forwards probably explains why Spain scored so few goals in this tournament. Torres was only just back from an injury that he never fully recovered from, while Pedro just ain’t that good. Two years later in the European Championship Spain played without a recognised striker, preferring Fabregas in an advanced role to an out-of-form centre-forward. None of the three great midfield players, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Iniesta, was a prolific scorer, and without Villa’s goals from out wide Spain would have struggled to win.