Carlo's Corner: Netherlands-Holland World Cup Final Preview

Friend of the show Carlo returns to preview the World Cup final. Enjoy. -Kanu

As many others have stated, this final features the two nations with the proudest footballing histories to have never won the World Cup. These teams also share the distinction of being arguably the two most dominant teams of the past 18 months, with neither having dropped a single point during World Cup qualifying.

Holland has continued its winning ways in the World Cup and is looking to achieve a perfect record in the tournament. Spain suffered an early setback, losing its first match 1-0 to Switzerland, but has since gone on to win all of its fixtures.

Throughout the tournament, Bert van Marwijk's side has looked to maintain possession while slowly working the ball towards its attacking players. In this match, the Dutch will likely find themselves in the strange position of not having the lion's share of possession. If the Spanish begin to dominate possession, as they have against every team they have played for the past couple years, van Marwijk will be faced with an interesting tactical dilemma. With the exception of Chile, every team the Spanish have faced has elected to put 8,9, or 10 men behind the ball and defend deeply, while hoping to strike on the counter. While this strategy worked for Switzerland, it has failed for the rest of Spain's opponents, with all three of its knockout round foes failing to score a single goal. If Spain dominates possession, will van Marwijk instruct his players to sit back and defend and play on the counter, or will he have them defend higher up the field in an effort to gain control of the midfield? The Dutch haven't shown themselves to be a counter-attacking side thus far, but if they lose the central midfield battle, they may feel as though there only option is to play in this manner.

With question marks still surrounding the Dutch central defense, the pressure will be on defensive midfielders Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong to provide as much cover as possible for the Dutch defense. In addition, at least two of HOlland's four attack-minded players will be asked to do a lot of defending, with the tournament's co-leading scorer Wesley Sneijder dropping deeper to help van Bommel and de Jong in midfield, and winger Dirk Kuyt tracking Sergio Ramos whenever he makes forward runs from his right back position.

When the Dutch do have the ball, expect them to look to find Arjen Robben. His matchup against Spanish left back Joan Capdevila may be the only area where Holland has a distinct advantage. Capdevila doesn't have the pace to keep up with Robben, so Spain may have one of its midfielders double team Robben whenever he is in possession.

Overall, it's hard to see Spain losing this match. Although the Dutch attacking players have the quality to trouble the Spanish defense, because of Spain's ability to control the game with their passing and movement, opportunities to get at Spain's defense may be few and far between. While Holland's defense has performed much better than expected, it may be asking too much to expect them to keep Spain at bay for the entire match.

Carlo's Corner: Argentina V Germany Preview

Guest columnist Carlo gets you primed and ready for tomorrow's titanic quarterfinal clash between Argentina and Germany. Enjoy. -Kanu

Argentina vs. Germany
Saturday, June 3 – 10:00 a.m ET/7:00 a.m. PT
ESPN and Univision

Just as they did in the 2006 World Cup, Argentina and Germany will square off on Saturday with a birth in the semi-finals at stake. Germany won that encounter on penalties, after the teams were tied 1-1 after extra time.

Throughout this World Cup, these historic rivals have had more in common that one might think. Both teams won their round of 16 matches fairly easily, albeit with the help of two atrocious referring decisions. Both Argentina and Germany have lots of firepower on offense, topping the World Cup scoring charts with 10 and 9 goals, respectively. Finally, despite fairly impressive defensive records thus far, both squads have shown some weaknesses in defense that both sets of attacking players will look to expose.

There had been some speculation in the Argentine media that Maradona might make a couple of changes to the side that defeated Mexico 3-1. The thought was that he might replace either Angel di Maria or Maxi Rodriguez, both outside midfielders, with a more central player to help strengthen the team's central midfield. Nevertheless, it now looks as though Maradona will field the same starting XI that he did against Mexico. With this lineup, the Albiceleste have pace and skill on the wings, but may find themselves outnumbered in the center of the park. They will certainly be heavily reliant on Javier Mascherano, who could find it difficult to deal with the German midfield trio of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira, and Mesut Ozil. If Argentina are losing the central midfield battle, we may see either Carlos Tevez or Lionel Messi drop deeper into midfield to help maintain possession.

It will be interesting to see if Maradona instructs his side to press Germany’s defenders when they are in possession, as they did against Mexico, or if he prefers them to sit back and defend from a deeper position. The strategy worked well against Mexico, producing the giveaway that led to Gonzalo Higuan’s goal. The risk with defending high up the pitch against Germany is that it may allow their speedy attacking midfielders and forwards to get behind the Argentine back line. Having said that, Argentina looked uneasy when they tried to sit back and kill the game off against Mexico. Maradona may therefore feel that his team’s best chance for victory lies in pressing Germany all over the field so that Argentina can recover possession as soon as it is lost.

As you might expect, the key for Germany’s defense will be to contain Lionel Messi. Messi will again be given freedom to roam the pitch and take up positions that best allow him to attack Germany’s defense. Midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira will probably be most responsible for marking the diminutive Argentine, but this task could be shared by other players, depending on where Messi positions himself. Both Schweinsteiger and Khedira have made incisive forward runs throughout the tournament, so it will be interesting to see if they are still encouraged to make such runs or if one or both of them is directed to hang back and keep an eye on Messi.

How well Messi performs may very well determine the outcome of this match. I have the feeling that Argentina could have advanced this far in the tournament without his services, such is the attacking talent they have at their disposal. From this point on, however, they will need him to be at or close to his peak in order to advance. He should have ample opportunity to do so against a German defense that looked shaky at times against both England and Ghana. In addition, this has the potential to be the type of open, end-to-end affair that should suit Messi's style perfectly.

As mentioned earlier, Argentina faces similar questions about its defence, especially with regard to its ability to defend speed, a quality that Germany's attackers possess in abundance. One player in particular that Argentina must be able to account for is Ozil. While all of Germany’s attackers are allowed a significant amount of freedom in their movement, Ozil is the player who is given the most freedom to roam in between the opposition’s midfield and defense. Maradona may entrust Mascherano with the task of accounting for Ozil. While the Liverpool midfielder is no doubt a fine candidate to do so, the concern is that in tracking Ozil, he will leave Argentina vulnerable to attacking runs made by either Schweinsteiger or Khedira.

Finally, I don't usually like to talk much about intangibles, but I feel they deserve at least some mention in this match. Argentina and Germany appear to be two of the most spirited sides in the tournament. They each faced skepticism before the tournament, and are now playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. I don't expect either side to go as quietly into the night as Brasil did. Rather, they will both fight until the final whistle (and maybe beyond).

Carlo's Corner: Netherlands-Brasil Preview

Guest columnist Carlo provides you with a great preview of tomorrow's titanic clash between the Oranje and the Selecao. Enjoy -Kanu

Netherlands v Brasil
Friday July 2nd 7am PST

This is a mouth-watering matchup between two familiar World Cup foes. Brasil has won the last two World Cup encounters – winning 3-2 on a long-range free kick from Branco in the 1994 quarterfinals and on penalties in the 1998 semi-finals. The stakes are incredibly high in the match, with the winner likely to be favored to defeat either Uruguay or Ghana and secure a place in the final.

Although both of these squads have a great deal of offensive talent, don’t be surprised if this is a low-scoring affair. As Chile can attest, Dunga’s side are very well organized in defense and are difficult to break down. They are happy to defend patiently and wait for opportunities to score through set pieces and counter-attacks. Despite pre-tournament questions about its back line, Holland’s defense has held up so far, allowing only two goals in four matches. While it has yet to dazzle offensively the way it did in some of its pre-tournament friendlies, Holland look solid in all phases of the game and should be a worthy opponent for Brasil.

Bert van Marwijk’s team will have studied Brasil carefully and will be well aware of just how devastating Brasil can be on the counter attack. The Dutch will also be especially fearful of conceding the first goal. Doing so will force them to push additional players into attack, a strategy that plays right into Brasil’s hands. Consequently, rather than throwing several players forward at once, as did Chile, Holland will try to stay much more compact. Defensive midfielders Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel will serve as a shield for the back four as they attempt to thwart any attacks. With most of its players being carrying such defensive responsibilities, the Dutch will have to hope that the attacking quartet of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt, and Robin van Persie is able to create scoring chances.

Based on his performance in Holland’s previous match, as well as on his form all season, it would seem that the most likely candidate to do so would be Robben. As he has done all year for both club and country, Robben will play as an inverted right winger and will look to cut inside and shoot with his favored left foot, like he did here against Slovakia.

Robben never suffers from a shortage of confidence and should be especially eager to take on Michel Bastos, who is being used as a left back, but who generally plays as a left winger for his club team, Lyon.

Although they will have noted Holland’s strong defensive record in this World Cup, Brasil will feel that they can trouble the Dutch defense. While the central-defensive pairing of John Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen have performed well so far, they have yet to face attacking players of the caliber of Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano. As evidenced by Brasil’s second goal against Chile, the trio has an excellent understanding that comes from having played together on the national team for the last couple of years.

Brasil may also look to attack the left side of the Dutch defense, where the ageing Giovanni van Bronckhorst may find it difficult to cope with Maicon’s speed and power. Holland may try to mitigate this threat by having the hard-working Kuyt track Maicon whenever he makes one of his forward runs.

While most people would love to see a wide-open goal-fest, I expect to see a cagey, low-scoring match. The Oranje will do all it can to avoid conceding the first goal, as they know that Brazil are excellent frontrunners. Brazil have to be considered favorites to win both this match and the entire tournament, but don’t sleep on the Dutch. If they can keep Brazil from scoring, they have several attacking players (including super-sub Eljero Elia) that can be match winners.