Antolin Alcoraz was lucky not to have received a red card for his foul on David Villa that resulted in the penalty kick(s).
Spain has suffered 85 fouls while committing 55. Germany has suffered 62 while committing 54. I don’t know for certain the significance of those numbers, but I believe it speaks to their respective skill level.
Vicente del Bosque has a serious decision to make regarding Fernando Torres. Torres is not fully fit, but there are players on the bench who are.
Spain doubled their overall yellow card total today. They now have three in five games.
I don’t understand why Xabi Alonso took the penalty kick for Spain. When he had to redo it, I don’t know why they let him do it again.
They will need a significantly better performance from Gerard Pique if Spain expects to stop Germany. His rugby-style tackling that led to the penalty was completely unnecessary.
Xavi needs to find a way to beat the swarming defenders. Paraguay did a good job bottling him up, but at the expense of their attack. I think the Germany v Spain game will be more free flowing.
The referee blew the blatant encroachment by Spain on Oscar Cardozo’s penalty kick, yet called the rather marginal encroachment on Xabi Alonso’s first attempt. A make-up call? I report, you decide.
Yes, the goal called back for offside was a correct call, but it wasn’t Nelson Valdez, the player who struck the ball who was offside; it was Oscar Cardozo.
David Villa is dogged and determined, but needs a strike partner who is fit. He’s now scored five of Spain’s six goals (Iniesta has the other one).
Off topic, but I was wondering, I’m always trying to improve my Portuguese vocabulary. Anyone know the Portuguese equivalent for schadenfreude? Maybe this?
Jonas
Why does Villa need a striking partner? Spain has been effective when they’ve played 4-1-4-1, with Villa as the lone striker and either a winger like Pedro or another midfielder like Fabregas.
Why would the Germany game be more free-flowing (for Spain)? If they can swarm Messi, they can surely swarm Xavi/Iniesta. It seems to me that Germany and Paraguay have been playing a similar style of football — physical counterattack. Except Germans have done it with a superior attacking midfield. (And Spain and Argentina have been playing a similar style too.)
Honestly, I’m quite worried for Spain.
lethargytartare
I thought there were about 5 Spaniards encroaching on the kick, but I didn’t see Paraguay’s, so I can’t really judge which was more egregious.
I thought Klose was offside on Germany’s 1st score, but haven’t seen a whisper of commentary to that effect.
Hoping for a Spain/Holland final now so at least one long wait will finally come to an end…
Punchy
I dont know if Cole reads these threads or not on the ‘kends, but I’d like to thank him for turning this blog into half ‘tics, half sports. I cant handle 100% Michael Steele and Biden gaffes.
That Germany game want pure fat titties. Watching Cokehead Maradona squirm in that 3-sizes-too-damn small suit and then pop off on the German fans was schendenfraude, or something spelled like that.
JenJen
I know. The ESPN announcers said it was because David Villa had missed a PK earlier in the tournament, which I don’t immediately recall. Fine. So after Alonso’s goal was discounted, why not let Villa take the mulligan?
That three minutes was probably the whackiest three I’ve ever watched in years of World Cup fandom. I loved it, I hated it. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
At the end of the day, we got a tense and rather unexpectedly tough match, with the deciding goal being taken by one of the stars of the game and this Cup. I’m a happy camper this evening. Loved every moment of every quarterfinal.
I’m also so taking Wednesday off.
A hearty “thank you” for my latest desktop wallpaper. It was time to say goodbye to Landon Donovan anyway, right?
Randinho
@Jonas: Because he needs someone to draw the Germans away from him.
As for being more free-flowing, Germany attacks a lot more than Paraguay as evidence by this comment of yours:
Except Germans have done it with a superior attacking midfield
Mark S.
Spain’s slight favorites over Germany and Holland’s a big favorite over Uruguay.
What the hell does “best book” mean?
mcd410x
Just a pleasure to see Fabregas on the pitch. Brilliant passer.
Evan
@lethargytartare: “I thought Klose was offside on Germany’s 1st score, but haven’t seen a whisper of commentary to that effect.”
You have to be in front of the ball to be offside.
Tracy
If I’m not mistaken, Alonso is Spain’s regular penalty taker. They were probably trying to get Villa a hat trick in the other game.
Also, since Alonso scored the first time, it really makes no sense to change the PK taker.
Bootlegger
The Germans can play more than one tactical game. They may or may not deploy the same tactics vs. Spain. I suspect Loewe may have a surprise or two for the Spaniards.
Regarding this:
I think it says that both teams win without fouling.
Germany will win because they are the more complete team, capable of playing different tactics while the Spaniards are one-note team… certainly a powerful note, but can you imagine them trying to soak up pressure and hit back on the counter? Or trying to squeeze the midfield like the Germans did to Argentina? My prediction is that the Germans double team Villa when he’s in possession, but try to pin him back on defense with Lahm’s runs up the side.
SLKRR
For the Brazilian schadenfreude, just look at the pictures Globo selected for their article on the game:
http://s.glbimg.com/es/ge/f/original/2010/07/03/maradona2_reu_62.jpg
http://s.glbimg.com/es/ge/f/original/2010/07/03/bastianschweinsteiger_get_620.jpg
There was also this article from Argentina yesterday:
http://s.glbimg.com/es/ge/f/original/2010/07/03/capa_ole_kaka_rep_397.jpg
which was answered by the headline here:
http://globoesporte.globo.com/jogo/copa2010/2010-07-03/argentina-alemanha.html
Ronnie P
I agree with Tracy. Why would you pull the PK taker who just made one? Surely this is nothing more than 20/20 hindsight to say they should have made the switch then.
handsmile
@ mcd410x
While surprised that del Bosque chose to substitute a midfielder rather than a striker (Randinho’s beloved Llorente, for example :) ) for the struggling Torres, the introduction of Fabregas immediately breathed life into a gasping Spanish offense. Tempo accelerated and new attacking options seemed to reveal themselves. Perhaps tactically unorthodox to have three world-class ballpassers (Fabregas, Xavi, and my beloved Iniesta) playing together in the midfield, but something clearly worked here.
To the football scholars in virtual residence on these threads, I’m curious to learn your opinion whether this formation would be effective against Germany or whether it was adopted solely to burst open Paraguay’s suffocating midfield play.
Perhaps it should be mentioned that Fabregas’s entrance occurred barely a minute before the funhouse of screams and moans of dueling penalty kicks and saves. That five-minute span certainly erased the torpor of the game. And may have reminded Spain that a 120-minute match of attrition with Paraguay was inadvisable.
For this acknowledged partisan of Spain, I really needed this to be an easier match. Now I must go off and brood about the upcoming semifinal.
Ronnie P
BTW, anyone know what instrument Puyol used to play when he was with Deep Purple?
Corner Stone
@Punchy:
I have no idea what this means. But I am 100% sure that I wish to.
Leeds man
@Corner Stone:
The mammary lingers on.
Jonas
@Randinho It seems unlikely Germans would be “drawn away” by a half-strength Torres or full-strength Llorente. Other teams haven’t. And when any of Fabregas, Xavi, or Iniesta (or even Pedro or Jesus Navas) pop up on offense from midfield, they have to be dealt with anyway. (See also @handsmile ‘s comment above.)
And I still don’t see how German’s attack results in a more free-flowing game for Spain. Argentina’s game certainly was not free-flowing. The superior attacking midfield just means they can finish on the counterattack that comes after stifling the other team.
Amok92
Randy needs to cut out the dumb ass snide remarks, nothing is going to make Brazil’s embarrassing performance go away. That “beautiful futbol” shit is just marketing now, Brazil only wins because it is 3 to 70 times bigger than other countries that play soccer well.
eastrive
Spn s gng t ls. -. f thr lck. Gng bck t ystrd, nthng mks m hppr thn sng Brzl ls. Wndrng th strts f Mnhttn wth thr sd lttl pntd fcs. ttrl djctd. Wtht j r thr rtrdd lttl dncs. Drggng thr ntnl flgs n th gttr bhnd thm. Fck thm, nd fck thr hrlss wmn. Grmn nd th Dtch n th fnl. rpl f th pnng f WW . lv th Sldrs f rng, bt Grmn s t dmn dmnnt ths Cp. nd dd mntn tht Brzl cn g fck tslf? dd? Wll, myb ts jst fn t s.
[I disemvoweled this one because you insulted my wife]
Andy K
Unlike league play, where teams play all of the other teams the same number of times- and a bit less consistently, the same referees- I don’t think you can use foul calls as a metric to compare teams in the World Cup.
frankdawg
I asked this in an earlier thread because a comment was made about SA vs EU teams. But it was late in the thread. I would like to learn though if someone can explain. Thanks
Noob question:
Other than cultural prejudices is there any reason to think in terms of ‘South American’ or ‘European’? I don’t see any style or trademarks that make me think one team plays like its region.
Is that just my inexperience or is the region as insignificant as AFC/NFC in football, an artificial division that makes for interesting arguments?
Tractarian
Ummm…because he did it perfectly the first time?
Andy K
@frankdawg:
Well…For cost-and-time-related travel issues, national teams compete against other national teams in their neighborhoods to get to the quadrennial finals. Teams from different qualifying regions then have to develop a style of play that most effectively sees them in the final 32. This means that South American teams have to find the best way to get by an Argentina and Brazil, while a European team has to adapt to getting by an Italy or Greece, whose styles are very different than Argentina’s and Brazil’s.
Andy K
And this- and the fact that the tortoise-like Michael Ballack won’t be playing- is why holding midfielder par excellence Marcos Senna should have been included on Spain’s squad. The Spanish backs are going to have to play the games of their lives if they want to get through to the final. Senna would have eased the pressure a lot.
Mark S.
Suarez gets just a one game ban.
Bill Murray
@Andy K: Marcos Senna would be especially useful until Busquets figures out the Spanish shirt color and then passes to the players wearing it
handsmile
@ Andy K
I too was disappointed upon learning that Marcos Senna had not been selected for this year’s Spanish national team. His performance at the Euro 2008 championship had been revelatory and he was justly named to the all-tournament squad.
I was reliably informed, however, that his past season at Villareal had been a mediocre one due to injuries from which he could not recover fully. Like the position of goalkeeper, the depth of talent available for the Spanish midfield makes selection fiercely competitive.
If the notoriously fickle football gods were to be kind, Senna’s return to fitness would compel a roster spot for the Euro 2012 competition. Regrettably, his age (mid 30s) will almost surely foreclose future World Cup participation.
As for Gerard Pique, after his brilliant season at Barcelona and four perfectly acceptable matches in South Africa, surely we can be lenient about one perfectly awful tackle.
Andy K
@handsmile:
I didn’t realize that he’d had injury problems this year. I don’t follow La Liga very closely.
Stephen Cohen and Kenny Hassan of the old Sirius World Soccer Daily broadcast made a convincing case that Senna was the MVP of Euro ’08 in the way he shut down the best players in Europe. Convinced me, anyway.
And Pique has played well thus far, but I’m concerned that there’s enough plod in his step that the speedy Germans will simply run around him. Smart positioning by Spain’s backs will be very important.
Punchy
@Corner Stone: “want” = “was”. Typo. Translation: that game was eggsalad. Mooey bweano. The bees knees. Da shiz, fo niz.
hg
“Yes, the goal called back for offside was a correct call, but it wasn’t Nelson Valdez, the player who struck the ball who was offside; it was Oscar Cardozo.”
What do you mean, any pass is invalid as long as some guy in the team is offside??
superfly
@hg: If a player is in an offside position, and is considered active in the play, either directly (going for the ball), or indirectly (the defense defends the offside player), then offside should be called.
If a player is offside, but isn’t anywhere near the ball or involved in the play (a good distance from the ball and not affecting the play at all), it shouldn’t be called and the play should continue.
Cordozo was offside when the ball was played, jumped for the cross and was defended, so the play couldn’t stand, even though it was Valdez who scored.
Joe
@hg:
No, another player in an offside position is not automatically called as offside if they are not “interfering with play”. However if they are, such as by attempting to play the ball then it is called as an offside. I’ve watched it again, and the cross played in goes over the head of Cardozo first before dropping for Valdes. If Cardozo had stood still it would not/should not have been called as offside, but he jumped and tried to head the ball (unsuccessfully), it dropped for Valdes who put the ball in the net. As Cardozo was offside when the ball was played in, and he interfered with play the offside call was correct.
Simon
I just want to say that it was a pleasure watching a game where the players stood up and fought for position instead of going down like falling leaves — that, and the general decent humor that held both between the opposing players and the refs, made it a hell of a lot more fun. Did anyone see the bit at the beginning where a couple of players went down over each other, and the Spanish player said (something like) — ‘Hey, you OK?’ and the Paraguayan grabbed his ankle and said (fictional translation) ‘Man, that hurt, I’m gonna feel that tonight.’
SLKRR
@Andy K:
I think the differences are less today than they were, say, 30 years ago, because now pretty much all of the stars from South America play all year long on European teams, so they’ve gotten accustomed to playing the same type of game.
frankdawg
@Andy K:
Thanks –
Well thats kinda what I was getting at, if you saw two teams playing could you tell they were SA or EU by watching them play? If so could you describe the difference so that a noob (me) could watch for signs? And do you think one style is superior?
Frank
If they hadn’t let him do it again and instead some other guy had missed, people would have second guessed that decision too. “If he made the first PK, why not let him kick again”.
And now that 75% of the teams in the semis are European perhaps it is time to talk about what South America’s demise and what they need to do differently going forward.
John
@Amok92:
Mexico is bigger than most other countries that play soccer well, and yet has never been better than a second tier side – they’ve never even made it to the semifinals. Russia is even bigger than Mexico, and has been just as bad in the World Cup. I don’t think Brazil’s strength can be attributed merely to population.
DavidB
While I thought it was great that the Germans knocked out both the English, who are overrated in this country because a lot of our media pick up the ridiculously biased English Tabloid media (which is dominated by Rupert Murdoch) and the Argentinians, at this level of play it is all about match ups. Just think of the NBA playoffs where the Lakers might be better than the Celtics, and the Celtics might be better than the Cavs, but the Cavs might have beaten the Lakers if they would have faced them.
The thing that I noticed about Argentina’s performance is that they did not appear to be a “team” when the chips were down. Juxtapose that with the Dutch, who as commented on this blog should have been knocked out in the first half against the anti-football playing Brazilians (payback for that Dunga led ’94 team, which I am sure Tab Ramos has something to say about “the beautiful game”), who took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half and deservedly won.
England was a fundamentally flawed team for lack of a defensive midfielder who would be able to do the dirty work as well as a poor center defensive partnership. Gareth Barry played that role the last couple of games and just couldn’t do it; I am a Spurs fan and Ledley King should NEVER have been considered a starter – he’s fool’s gold for your team.
Argentina was undone by the fact that they had two wing backs who were unable and/or incapable of playing offense and creating man over situations. It is no coincidence that Gabriel Heinze has gone from team to team and Ottomendi was just not a proper right back. Martin Tyler made the comment that “Maradona likes 4 strong guys across the back” That’s all well and fine, but you are then tying one hand behind your back on offense.
I always laugh at English commentators who state that Gio VanBronkhorst, or Arthur Numan before him, were such poor defenders – they are just there to provide width – it is why Van Gaal moved Lahm to right back from left.
Getting back to Argentina, they were undone by their poor roster composition and Maradona’s inexplicable substitution policies. diMaria was arguably his best player because he was at least creating width. I realize this just is not “done” but Messi, just like Torres should have been subbed.
The Germans biggest strength has been their transition offense – a lot of their goals have come off opposing corners and bad free kicks – that is a function of luck. I just don’t see Spain falling asleep on set plays like the English and Argentina did.
Spain will therefore prove a much more difficult challenge for Germany because Spain has faced a ton of defensive minded teams who place 10 guys behind the ball and clog their passing ability – once the game opened up yesterday vs. Paraguay, you saw the Spaniard ability to possess and ramp up their passing speed. I don’t think the Germans can or will do that on Wednesday.
The Germans are really going to miss Thomas Mueller as well who provided width and fearlessness – because of his youth he makes some runs that more experienced players don’t make because they are deemed “hopeless”. I also think that Schweinsteiger, who had a personal beef with Maradona and Argentina after the 2006 fisticuffs will not get the space, nor have the 1 in 100 game that he had yesterday.
Uruguay, especially with their losses of Suarez and one of their central defender (Fusile) are in trouble because they don’t have the depth – at this point in the tournament, that is what comes into play. The Dutch’s loss of Numan in the semi-final vs. Brazil in 98, for example, was really important as they did not have a suitable replacement at that particular position. That said, this is a typical “trap” game that Dutch teams tend to lose – their biggest weakness is not to take an opponent seriously; the Euro 2008 Russian game is a prime example of that – their players, a large contingent of whom played for Real Madrid, discounted the Russians because Spain had handily dispatched them 4-1 in a group game and once the game started they just could not get in the game. You will know in the first 15 minutes whether the Dutch are sharp or not – if they are not, they will lose, not because of less skill, but because of psychology.
This has been a great tournament so far – I am hopeful that teams that have wanted to play, rather than teams who want to stop others from playing have been rewarded, that the next 3 games that count will be great ones as well.
Morzer
The Portuguese for schadenfreude is mourinho.
HumboldtBlue
The Portuguese word for schadenfreude is ORANJE
Randinho
@Tracy: Except for the possibility of him being rattled . . .
@handsmile: My “beloved Llorente?” Look the guy played better in a short time than Torres has played the entire cup.
@eastrive: What happened? Some Brazilian woman dump or otherwise dis you? I can assure you as I know a number of Brazilians, Argentina’s defeat took away whatever sting they felt that day.
Here’s a good phrase in Portuguese for you to learn: Sua lingua é a chicote na sua bunda, which means Your tongue is a whip on your ass.
@Amok92: WTF? Explain how Uruguay won 2. The only sensible response to that comment of your is the number 5 followed by 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002, not to mention that Brazil is the only nation to qualify for all 19 World Cups. I also hasten to point that Italy has managed to win the cup four times with one third the population of Brazil and a smaller population than France and Germany which have won it once and three times respectively.
@Tractarian: Not if it had to be retaken for encroachment.
@Andy K: I disagree. Look at South Korea in 2002. They were fit, but their technical ability was crap. They couldn’t score against Portugal until the Portuguese were down to 9. They led the WC that year in fouling.
@Bill Murray: Against Portugal he completed 97 of 102 passes. That’s pretty good in my book.
@Frank: This is now the third time I’ve written this, so please pay attention: all five teams from South America moved to the knockout round from the group stage with four of the five winning their group. Six of the thirteen UEFA clubs moved on compared to ten in 2006 and 1998 and nine in 2002. That’s the issue I was addressing.
@DavidB: Good points all.