A great deal of history between 1966 Champion England and Portugal, the only remaining team that is not in the exclusive club of World Cup winners. In the 1966 semifinal, England beat the great Eusebio and Portugal 2-1 en route to winning their only World Cup. In Euro 2000, Portugal went down 0-2 to England in their group stage clash only to come all the way back and win 3-2 on three beautiful goals by Luis Figo, Joao Pinto, and Nuno Gomes. Then in the quarterfinals of Euro 2004, these two played the match of the tournament which had absolutely everything. Rooneh dominated until he went off injured, 2 great goals in regulation, a controversially disallowed winner by Sol Campbell for England in the last minute of regulation, 2 more goals in extra time, then an epic 6-5 penalty shootout capped off by Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo saving an England shot by Darius Vassell and then stepping up to put home the match winning penalty himself in front of a raucous home crowd. Many of the same players from that epic match will be on the field tomorrow.
Thusfar England have played terrible but managed to win every match, while Portugal have played some beautiful soccer and survived their knock-down, drag-out with Holland thanks to the heroics of Dutch-killer Nuno Maniche. If Portugal had all of their players available I would bet the ranch on them to beat England, but...
She's got it all; the team are missing a few key parts
Yellow cards: Portugal are without the suspended defender Costinha as well as their most important player Deco, the QB midfielder who sets the table for them. Additionally, Christiano Ronaldo has still not recovered from that bad challenge in the Holland match that knocked him out of the game early. He has not practiced at all in the last 3 days and is a serious doubt. Damn near the rest of the team is "on a yellow": Figo, Maniche, Petit, Valente, and even goalkeeper Ricardo. England have a full squad to choose from, but John Terry, Jamie Carragher, and goalkeeper Paul Robinson are all on a yellow card.
Fitness/rest: Both teams are on 5 days rest; England are playing their 5th match in 22 days and Portugal their 5th in 21 days, so not much difference there.
Can Rooneh be effective? Can England have any more effective offense other than hopeful longballs up to Rooney or Crouch and Beckham set-pieces? If Rooneh and Owen could play together up fron in a 4-4-2, why can't Rooneh and Crouch do the same thing, instead of the horrible 4-5-1 that Sven is using? So many questions...
"A can of white, a can of red, and a brush. That'll do it."
For Portugal it is simple: they sure seem a superior team to England, but can they beat them without 2 of their 4 best players?
I am saying they can, although England are dangerous because in Rooneh and Gerrard they have two players that can take a game over with their own sheer will. But I am thinking that Sven will bottle it once again and get outmaneuvered by
Which brings us to something very funny I heard a woman say on Sky Sports the other night:
"If Scolari beats Eriksson a third time, does he get to keep him?"
That is of course a reference to Brasil being given the original World Cup trophy to keep in 1970 after becoming the first team to win it 3 times.
Half Time. 0-0. A pretty exciting 0-0, with England actually creating some chances and Portugal controlling the match and creating even more chances. Christiano Ronaldo is playing, and Scolari is smart to play him out wide on the left - he must remember that epic Euro 2004 match when he played C Ronaldo out wide on the right and England left back Ashley Cole absolutely dominated and nullified him in perhaps Ash's best performace of his career. Today, on the other side, he is causing problems for Phil Neville and the entire right flank of England.
50th min.: Wow. Beckham off for Lennon. Spiceman is either hurt, exhausted, or both.
60th min.: Rooneh the blockhead is given a straight red for stamping on Valente's balls right in front of the referee. The England fans are about to riot because it was hard to see and they think Rooneh was given a straight red for pushing his ManUtd teammate C Ronaldo. England to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men. This will be the talking point of the match. If it was in fact intentional, then it's hard to argue with the red, but the fact that the ref signalled intially for only a foul and then waited a minute to send Rooneh off will make it controversial. If it wasn't intentional then perhaps a yellow card would have been best. Could he have given him a straight red for the combination of the stomp, pushing C Ronaldo, and the series of "Fuck Off!"s that he gave to the ref, CR, and everyone else? If England manage to pull it out and win, then they will be without Rooneh in the semifinal.
61st min.: Crouch on for Joke Hole for England. Simao on for Pauleta for Portugal.
75th min.: Hugo Viana on for Tiago for Portugal. Each team has 1 substitution left.
Full Time. 0-0. England have actually played better and created more good chances with only 10 men - so weird how that happens sometimes. Between an uncalled hand ball early in the 2nd half, Rooneh's sending off, and C Ronaldo's dive-a-thon (he is being booed every time he touches the ball), England fans might burn Gelsenkirchen to the ground if they lose.
I have a feeling that there will be a goal in extra time; but will there be two, and then penalties? England fans are dreading them already.
End 1st extra period. 0-0. Why are England fans dreading penalties, you ask? They have been knocked out of the 1990 World Cup semifinals by Germany, the Euro 1996 semifinals by Germany, the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals by Argentina, and the Euro2004 quarterfinals by Portugal. All on penalties. They are 15 minutes from their nemesis, the lottery of the shootout.
118th min.: Carragher on for Lennon. Must be a good penalty taker, or at least Sven thinks so.
End 2nd extra peroid. Penalties. Can England conquer their demons, or is this a Charlie Brown & Lucy situation?
Portugal to shoot first.
Simao makes. Unsaveable. 1-0.
Lampard's shot saved by Ricardo, who guessed correctly. 1-0.
Hugo Viana hits the post and misses. 1-0.
Hargraves scores to the lower left corner. Ricardo guesses right and gets his hand on it, but it goes in off the post. 1-1.
Petit misses left. 1-1. Opportunity knocks for England...
Gerrard's shot is saved by Ricardo, who guesses right again. 1-1. Wow. "Sorry, opportunity, England is not home right now."
Postiga scores. 2-1 Portugal. Crunch time.
Carragher shoots early, scores, and has to retake his kick. Ricardo saves it, then it goes off the crossbar and out.
Portugal one kick away from the semifinal...
Christiano Ronaldo scores in the upper corner. Portugal break England's hearts again. The nightmare continues for the Three Lions.
England 0-0 Portugal. a.e.t (1:3 PSO).
Gelsenkirchen, look out. England fans will be on some Larry Munson shit:
"MAN! Is there going to be some property destroyed tonight!"
Oh, and think of what a joyful happy occasion that wedding is going to be in the next couple of hours.
I'm off to watch the QUE RIDICULO hottness on Republica Deportiva.
Brasil-France
There is also a great deal of history between 5 time champion Brasil and 1998 champion France. These two contested the 1998 final, where France shocked the favored Brasilians 3-0, handing them their biggest loss in their history (literally. Figuratively may be the 1950 final, where the lost at home to Uruaguay in front of a crowd of 200,000). Zidane scored two goals to achieve iconic legend status in France, and Arsenal duo Vieira & Petit killed the game with a third, which led to this epic headine in The Mirror:
The Gunners are doing pretty well this time around, too.
Ronaldo, then the best player on the planet bar none, played but was a complete zombie. The night prior he was mysteriously hospitalized, and it is widely thought that he had a seizure or breakdown of some sort, but that Nike insisted that he start, which he did, even though he was completely useless and actually hurt Brasil by being on the field. Several of the same players 8 years later, including Zizou in his swansong and Ronaldo, now the all time WC goalscorer looking for his redemption for that 98 final mystery.
Then there was the epic 1986 World Cup quarterfinal between these two, which Pele says is the best match that he ever
Which brings us to today. France's aging core of World and European champions trying for another classic effort against the heavy tournament favorites. France have a bit of mental hoodoo over Brasil, and know that they can be beat beacuse they have done it before themselves. Brasil are especially motivated to exact revenge for one of the darkest days in the nation's history.
Domenech will probably read his horoscope and then choose the 4-5-1 formation that actually worked fairly well against Spain. I politely disagree with him, and think that their best chance to win is by playing 4-4-2 with Henry and Saha up front; as I said before the last match, I think Saha is currently way more dangerous than Trezeguet, who like Roanldo is lazy and only runs when it will result in a scoring chance for him. Brasil have looked their best when Robinho was played; he may or may not still be injured.
Like the Champions League Final in May, this match will feature the two players generally considered the 2 best in the world: Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry. Both are used rather differently for their country than they are for their clubs, which is the main reason that neither is as prolific for their national teams. Neither did a whole lot in the CL final; today is another opportunity for both to shine.
Yellow cards: striker Adriano and defender Juan are on a yellow card for Brasil. France have 3 of their key payers on a yellow card: Vieira, Zidane, and Ribery.
Fitness/rest: Brasil and France are both on 3 days rest and playing their 5th match in 19 days.
Personallly I think that the winner of this match will win the World Cup. I appreciate Brasil and Joga Bonito as much as any neutral fan, but if you have been reading than you already know what I am rooting for and my prediction: a classic 3-2 win for France, with my man Vieira bossing the midfield, Zizou playing an inspired match, and Henry stepping up and scoring as well. I also think Ronaldo will score a goal to somewhat erase his demons of the 98 final.
Brasil 0-1 France.
It's official: France is Brasil's kryptonite.
What a performance! Zidane went into the time machine and set the dial to 2000. Vieira completely bossed the midfield for the third match in a row despite Brasil continually hacking the shit out of him. And Henry put to rest once and for all the ridiculous assertion that he doesn't show up big in big matches. Did today, or this World Cup, change anyone's mind about who is the best player in the world? Also, that GOLASO! was the first time that Henry has scored a goal for France from a Zidane pass. Amazing.
They finally did it, and couldn't have picked a better time.
I'm off to the Fillmore Jazz Festival; complete writeup later tonight.
***Update***: Sorry about the delay. One word: Sangria.
They finally did it. Ever since their epic win in the Euro2000 final, this France team has frustratingly failed to play to it's full potential, crashing out of WC2002 when Zidane and Pires were injured, losing in the Euro2004 quarterfinal 0-1 to massive underdogs and eventual champions Greece, and then failing to impress in World Cup qualifying and making it much more difficult than it should have been even though they didn't lose a match. But Zidane came out of international retirement, and in the must win match at Ireland, Thierry Henry scored the goal in a 1-0 win that put them into the World Cup. But as I said, for 6 long years, they didn't quite live up to what they were capable of, and it was mysterious and frustrating. Why can't they play a match with Vieira bossing the midfield and winning 50/50 balls all game long, controlling possession, Zizou's genius opening up the opposing team's defense, and Henry's pace, skill, and finishing wreaking havoc all at the same time? Time after time after time you were left to wonder why this hadn't happened since that Euro 200o Final. In this competition they started slowly, drawing with the Swiss, then they played better, beating the Koreans but only getting a draw, then when they needed to beat Togo 2-0 to go through they did. They improved further against Spain, and for the first time you got a glimpse of what this team can and should do when their big 3 are all on song, and the role players like Ribery, Maladou, Gallas, Thuram and the rest do their thing as well.
Well, against Brasil it all came together and this squad finally realized its long lost potential from 1998 and 2000. Zidane announced from the very beginning that he would not go quietly into that good night. In the first 30 seconds of the match, he got the ball, did a pirouette to elude 2 tacklers, then did a fake stepover move to elude a third before passing up to Henry who was offside. This was a messgae that he was up for it and would be a force to be reckoned with. He played the entire match this way - it was classic Zizou. As I said earlier it was as if he went into the time machine and dialed up the year 2000. I am glad that soccer fans who weren't soccer fans in 1998 and 2000 got to see what Zizou can do when he is at or near his best, and the fact that he could will himself to such a performance at the end of his career shows again that he is one of the most clutch players in the history of the sport.
Vieira completely bossed the midfield for the 4th match in a row. It is not as easy to see as a plyer like Zidane, but when PV4 is on he is still the best holding midfielder in the world. Period. There were about a dozen times when he got stuck in for 50/50 balls in the midfield and won the ball, stopping Brasil's attack and gaining possession for Les Blues, or when he made beautiful dispossessing takles of Brasilian players going forward. That's his job - win the ball, then get it to Zidane, and yesterday he did it amazingly well. On top of this he is a very good passer, is dangerous going forward, and can score goals (he has 3 thusfar but was only credited with two). The last two matches his heroic play has been overshadowed by the media fawning over Zidane. Against Spain this was lazy analysis, as Zidane didn't do much at all until his last minute goal while PV4 dominated the game and was definitely France's best player, but today it was accurate, as Zidane played the match of the tournament, but make no mistake - Vieira played another blinder as well, and had Paddy not done his thing then Zidane would not have been in position to do his.
Then there is Monsieur Henry. He was dangerous and menacing the whole match with his pace and skill, and he finished that goal with grace and power. Again, I am so glad that he scored that goal today to shut up all of the morons who criticize him for not playing big in big games. He now has 3 goals; one against South Korea that was hugely important, the 2nd against Togo where they had to win 2-0 to advance, and today's gem to knockout the heavy favorites, who had won 11 World Cup matches in a row and had not lost a World Cup match since the 1998 final to France. Oh, and on top of that Henry scored the goal in Ireland that got France to the World Cup in the first place. This on top of what he did against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, Juventus in the Champions League quarters, the hat trick aginst Roma (0-1 down to 3-1 up) that night in the San Siro against Inter (0-3 down to 6-4 up), or any and all of his huge goals over the years against ManUtd, Chel$ea, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur. Don't tell me or him that any of those aren't big games. So all you haters go find someone else to hate on about not playing big in biog matches. You might want to look at Ronaldinho, Ballack, or Frank Lampard for starters.
But make no mistake, this France team is not 3 stars and a bunch of scrubs. Ribery has played huge in his first tournament for France, and he definitely will be signed by a big club before the next season starts. Gallas and Thuram have been rock solid ageless warriors, while Malouda on the wing and left back Abidal have been excellent as well. Everyone is playing their role, and even Barthez has kept the comedic errors to one - that terrible mistake against South Korea. Makelele has done nothing, which proves the point I have been making the last four years that anyone who calls the holding defensive position the "Makelele Role" is baked, because he is such a poor man's Vieira that it isn't even funny.
And what of Brasil? You thought they would come out and take the game to France, but the exact opposite happened. The older legs of France took the match to them early and often. They seemed to be bogged down in the middle of the field a bit, and didn't get the ball out wide very much. The whole tournament I thought they looked best and most dangerous when Robinho was on the field, so I was suprised that he didn't start. Once he came on late they did look better, and created some good chances right at the end, but it was too little too late. And Roberto Carlos did not play well again, ,and Parriera will feel the heat for sticking with his "sacred cow" rather than Cicinho, who played better in the Australia match then Carlos did the entire tournement. And as beautiful as the France goal was, it was only made possible by the fact that Roberto Carlos was nowhere to be seen defensively on that play, as he stood still on the edge of the box and watched as Henry went in alone to blast into the roof of Dida's net.
Not much to say if you are Brasil. You got outworked and outplayed by France yet again. At least they lost with dignity and class unlike their South American neighbors who decided starting a fight would be a good last impression for this World Cup.
So there it is.
Germany, Italy, Portugal, and France.
Welcome to Euro 2006.
Au revoir, Selecao.
16 comments:
"Well, I can't imagine that the selection of an Argentinian referee to do the England quarterfinal match will prove controversial at all."
(Rooney, red carded--for what I'm not exactly sure.)
I guess, in the end, it's just another one of FIFA's brilliant moves.
One other thing, Kanu--I watched that 1986 1/4 final, and I am 100% certain that Pele was not involved, as he was 45 years old at the time and had long since retired.
Amazingly enough, though, Socrates (I believe, it might have been Zico)--who came on as a sub--if I am not mistaken, went on a surging run that led to a Brazil penalty (which was either saved, or led to the Brazil equalizer at 1-1), was at least in his 40's, and, for all I know, might have been in his 50's at the time of the match. Whatever he was, he was ancient (truth be told, I think he was 41).
Thanks - not enough sleep last night. Corrected. You can play stopper in front of Moin the Sweeper for FC Kanu.
"Pele famously said that the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal in Guadalajara, between Brazil and France, was the greatest game he had ever seen."
- A Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, page 133
Damn, I have seen the replay of the Rooney incident several times and I still can't see the ball stamp. Not saying it didn't happen--obviously, it did--but damned if I can't see it.
What the hell is wrong with me?
"You can play stopper in front of Moin the Sweeper for FC Kanu."
How's the pay? Did we qualify for Europe?
And I would prefer it if you refer to my position as libero.
Zidane, still the man. Man of the Match thus far. Juan is lucky not to be red carded off, and Brazil is starting to lose their composer, the break came at the best moment for them.
Agreed that Zidane is playing like this is, well, his last match. I think Vieira has been strong as well, between the 2 of them France are dominating in the middle of the park.
As far as the Juan situation goes, it is certain that he could have been sent off for his challenge. I would, however, like to commend the referee for his decision. Given the way this WC has gone, it's nice to see a player be given the benefit of the doubt for once and for it to remain 11 v. 11.
Part of me wants to congratulate France on playing a massive match--but part of me realizes that "Brazil" never really showed up for this World Cup. I suppose it was a good performance by France but not a great one.
One other thing--who comes up with the MOTM candidates, Disney or FIFA? France's best players, to me, were (1) Zizou, (2) PV4, (3) Ribery, and (4) Henry. You could argue that Sagnol should be rated higher than Henry.
Nevertheless, the French candidates for MOTM were Zidane, Henry, and Makalele. Henry, fine, he scored the goal, I guess you have to have him in there--but Makelele?
The only thing of note concerning Makelele in this match was that Harkes rather ridiculously claimed that he was 1 of the 2 best holding midfielders in the world--when, in reality, he isn't even the best holding midfielder for France.
Best player in the world, still Zidane? Thus far in this World Cup, nobody's really "stepped it up", other than Klose.
And oh yeah, we can finally get past that stupid storyline of "Zizou never assisted Henry". Yeah, because in football, the one who creates the goal doesn't always get credited with the assist. I think that Zidane and Henry is a irrelevant point.
Tough to call. No one has really stepped it up, that is for certain.
To me, Zidane hadn't really shown too much until today, although his match today was arguably the best match anyone has played in the entire tournament.
In my opinion, the best players in this World Cup have been Riquelme and Vieira. I doubt either is the best player in the world, although you could probably make a case for Riquelme.
And, before I say this, I want to make clear that I think ZIDANE IS GREAT--but doesn't it seem a little forced when all the announcers go on and on about how great he is, and hype every nice move he makes?
It's almost as though the narrative is that Zidane is great, so they have to play it up no matter what. And, for me, in this tournament, the narrative hasn't had any relation to reality until today.
Just a quick, timely note following France's strong effort to keep Brazil from doing their thing... Kanu, this is a long, complex tournament, and your coverage has never wavered - your best stuff keeps coming. We're thrilled. Thanks.
Kanu, voting for RM president is today, thought you'd be interested, with your boys are involved.
From the looks of it, it's gonna come down to Calderon or Palacio (ex-Board members both). Calderon has promised Mijatovic as new Sporting Director and Capello as new manager, along with Kaka, Robben, (some combination of Juve players), and Fabregas. Palacio has promised Camacho as Director and Del Bosque as manager while bringing in Ibrahinovic (now might be the time as his vaule has dropped), Zambrotta, Ibanez, Joaquin, Reyes, and Iniesta.
This is more for my records as well as I really don't want to go digging for it again.
Either way, you might lose one or two of your Spanish youngsters. But at least Villa-mir, who promised Wenger isn't winning (he's a fairly distant 3rd). Cristiano Ronaldo has publicly confirmed that he's linked to this guy, so... uh... I'm pretty sure he's gonna be a Madrista next fall, especially given that he obviously get along so well with Rooney
Thanks Moin - I was reading about this earlier this morning and wondering what your take on it would be.
They are all bullshitters as far as i am conerned, and this is what I know:
1) There is absolutely no way Wenger is going to Madrid, no matter who wins. He didn't built Arsenal up over the last 8 years to leave when the crown jewel of the new stadium will finally become a reality in 6 weeks.
2) Ditto Fabregas. He loves Arsenal & Wenger for giving him the oppiortunity that Barca never did, and he knows that he would not be anywhere near where he is today without him. He's the 3rd name on the teamsheet (Henry, Toure) at age 19, and I just don't see any way that a Catalan raised young man would leave the amazing situation he is in at Arsenal to go play under the pressure cooker in Madrid.
3) Reyes I could totally see going to RM. He has had the most trouble adapting to London life, especially they weather - he seems to always play well in August - October and then April & May, but during the winter he doesn't do so well. As much as I love him for his hustle, pace, and work rate, it would be sad to see him go because once he becomes a better finisher he is going to be world class. Everyone talks about Fabregas' young age, but remember that Reyes is only 21.
Either way I hope things work out for you today. They certainly have som rebuildiing to do, and I guess the best thing that could happen for RM would be for Juve to get relegated so they can go shopping at the Juventus Fire Sale.
1)I totally agree with you on Wenger. No way he's leaving Arsenal. A couple of years ago, when the whole new stadium thing was bogged down in paper work, maybe, but definitely not now. Truth be told, I'm just happy that one of the candidates that promised Sven isn't winning. Anything else is bonus (what happened? The man was so astute at Lazio.) Capello is a fine coach and I hope he instills some work ethic back at RM (but then again, Camacho promised this much this time 2 years ago).
2) As for Fabregas and Reyes, all I'm saying is don't be surprised. Despite all that Catalan-Castile-Basque tensions, alot of cross over happens in Spain. Much as Cesc might love Arsenal, he couldn't love it more than he did Barca, yet he left Barca when the money and the situation was advantageous to him and screwed Barca out of millions (imagine him anchoring THAT midfield). If he can do it to Barca, he can do it to Arsenal. That's the reality of it all. I don't think it's likely he'll leave a well run place like Arsenal for a transitional RM either, but just don't be shocked if it happens. Reyes, well, you've said it yourself. It looks like Calderon (the likely winner) prefers Robben first. But ya never know if you can bid a price on Chelsea, so unless Robben is signed soon, expect a fuss be kicked up about Reyes.
Some pics of the process, kinda fun to see such a "galatico" club be so... populist?
http://www.realmadrid.com/addon/img/1f9dc6288xinteriorcarpap.jpg
http://www.realmadrid.com/addon/img/1f9dc6288eleccionessolassociosp.jpg
http://www.realmadrid.com/addon/img/1f9dc6votantesamurp.jpg
There's the Juventus fire sale to wait for. But let's not forget the less likely Milan fire sale (though, come on, with the heads of Milan also the head of the Italian FA, that's not gonna happen).
That England-Portugal game was absolutely Marcelo Balboa at his worst.
My favorite's included
(speaking of Peter Crouch) "when you're 6'8" or 6'6" or whatever, you have to get your head on the ball"
and his absolutely misleading interpretation of the penalty kicks. Every England player "missed". Lampard, you could tell, had no confidence and that's why he missed his PK, according to Balboa. Nevermind that his shot was on goal, but saved. No credit for the amazing keeper. To listen to Balboa, you'd think he shanked the hell out of the ball.
grrrr
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