Of FIFA World Cup 2010 : Semi Finals

Dear Readers,

Sambutan perayaan Piala Dunia hanya tinggal beberapa hari saja lagi. Malam ini, berlangsunglah perlawanan separuh akhir antara Holland dan Uruguay. Sepanjang 3 minggu ini, pelbagai reaksi telah dapat dilihat dari segenap pihak, tak kiralah pemain, pengurus, mahupun pelayan kedai mamak. Ada yang sombong dan takbur dengan pasukan pilihan masing-masing, namun akhirnya menyesal kerana pasukan pilihannya kandas di peringkat kumpulan. Sebagai penganalisa bolasepak suku profesional, di sini saya ingin berkongsi prestasi-prestasi pasukan-pasukan pujaan dan juga pasukan-pasukan hinaan anda.

France

For some reasons, France's exit from the World Cup is not much of a surprising news to me. Not only they failed to progress, but they also failed to win a single match. To me, there are too many factors that contributed to this. For one, they do not have a charismatic captain, or at least an influential figure in the team. No one has been able to fill in the shoes of the legendary French, Zinedine Zidane. And then there's Domenech. Well, one thing led to another, a demoralized team turned to a row with the management. In the end, France went back in disgrace.

Argentina

One of the favourites in the tournament, eventually fell down during the quarter finals. Maradona, full of himself and his team, in the end was left dejected. The team, star studded as it was, didn't shine for the full duration of the tournament. The open game that they claimed to play, was torn down to pieces by the young Germans. While Argentina admittedly played brilliantly during the earlier stages, they also left their weaknesses unchecked. The Germans on the other hand, saw this and left no mercy for them during the quarter finals.

England

I've mentioned earlier in this blog that England has not won the World Cup since like, the 60's. Well, unfortunately for England fans, the wait is to be extended at least another 4 years. England's exit during the knockout round was rather eventual. They stuttered during the group stages, scraped a draw with the USA, bored the spectators against Algeria, and somehow lucky enough to win the last game. That put them in second for Group C, setting them up against Germany. Thus, it was only a matter of time before they bowed out. Although it was almost unanimously agreed that their second goal against Germany should count, it did not change the fact that England played way below par.

Germany

A lot of praises should be given this edition's German team. With a team that comprised of players aging in an average of 25 years old, a lot of positives could be found with their performance. Lack of experience in the premier stage was compensated with their discipline to adhere with the tactics and the game style. The game against Argentina was a great example of what this team is capable of. When the ball goes their way, at least 5 of them are around to repel the attack. They did not rely on any certain individual, and their fitness deserves a lot of commendations. Even if they don't manage to win the World Cup this time around, it would befitting to pronounce the team as having a lot of potential.

Netherlands

The "total football" that the Dutch is so synonymous with, was not apparent this time around. But even so, they have managed to progress up to the semi-finals and perhaps continue on to the finals. Some may call it sheer luck, having a fairly easy group and consequently Slovenia as their knockout round opponent. Not much could be said about their games, but nevertheless they won all of them. The so-called "Big 4" that consists of Van Persie, Van der Vaart, Robben and Sneijder was really not that big. Well, Sneijder did play an important role in Holland's progress, and the same could be said for Robben. Van der Vaart on the other hand missed out due to injury. Van Persie however, somehow did not live up to his name. Regardless, they are in the semis now, and let's see how they'd proceed to win on squander the cup.

Italy

A lot of critics did not expect much from the aging Italian squad, but few would expect them to crash out during the group stages. With a lot of players that won the World Cup last time missing, the Italians did not even manage to play with their brand of football. Although a few young talents could be seen from their matches, apparently they were not enough for them to progress further into the tournament. I recalled a joke being made out of this situation, that goes something like the following:

"In 2006 : World Cup Finals - France Vs Italy - Berlin Stadium."
"In 2010 : World Cup Finals - France Vs Italy - Johannesburg Airport"

Brazil

I find this edition's Brazilian team to be sort of low-profiled. Although not as star-studded as England or Argentina namely, they managed to produce a convincing display this time around, as compared to the previous World Cup. But their exit from the tournament may be due to the individual players not performing up to par. Kaka for example, did not really have a great season at Real Madrid, similarly for Robinho who did not prosper much at Manchester City. Compare the squad with the one that won the World Cup - with the three R's (or maybe four or more) Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos; one could see that this squad was never meant to go very far anyway.

Portugal

I was never a fan of Portugal. Mainly because of that I was of the opinion that just because that team consist of Cristiano Ronaldo, the could win the tournament easily. Football is very much a team sport, highlighted especially during this edition's World Cup. Their demolition of North Korea was definitely an eye-opener, but that is still insufficient evidence of how far the team could go.

Spain

The kings of Europe are not acting like one in this tournament. Spain boasts the most number of creative midfielders than any other team of the tournament, but their games so far are much behind as compared to their display in the European tournament two years back. Perhaps being favourites of the tournament mean that you would be studied more by your opponents, and thus you would struggle harder for victory. Succumbing to Switzerland in the opening match, and producing two more or less emphatic win in the group stages, Spain's performance is still far from convincing. David Villa prevailed to be the top scorer in the tournament so far, but Torres on the other hand is still struggling to find his form. The chances that Torres would otherwise easily slot in, were disappointingly squandered. But apart from below average performance, they have reached the semifinals, their first since some 40 or 50 years ago. They will meet the Germans, who undoubtedly would have studied them very well by now.

Bottom line, given the level of unexpectedness ( a term that I'm not sure exists) of this year's World Cup tournament, any two of the four teams competing in the semi-finals have a fair chance of reaching the Finals. I for one, am rooting for a Netherlands vs Spain final; so that i could wear one team's jersey and switch to the other when the other team scores (as I have both). I heard that Paul the squid has predicted that Germany will lose out to Spain on the semis tomorrow. The bloody squid has been right so far, but let's see if it would be made into sotong goreng tepung soon.

Time to rest, before the game.