The Favourites Fall
Who would have expected it?
Brazil is out.
At the quarterfinal stage no less. I guess in retrospect it was not such a big surprise. The reputed Fearsome Foursome of RRAK were hardly in top form throughout the whole tournament. The press were more interested in talking about Ronaldo's weight than his goals. Adriano looked more like a piece of lumber than a bullish striker. You could have easily mistaken Ronaldinho for a Sengkang Punggol player, rather than the World Footballer of the Year. Kaka seemed bogged down by doing donkey work in midfield and was not free to attack as he is in the Milan midfield.
Herein lies the flaw in Brazil's ultra offensive 4 - 2 - 4 formation. The 4 man attack has to press the opponents back by constant attacking to protect the flimsy 2 man midfield. The 2 attacking midfielders Kaka and Ronaldinho have to track back to help out in midfield when they lose the ball. Too often, Kaka has been the only one willing to run back to help out Emerson and Ze Roberto, who must feel like they had been tasked with a thankless job. Against France, this 2 man midfield was simply out-manned. Zidane had 2 bodyguards in hardmen-supreme Virea and Makalele. Malouda and Ribery often started their attacks from deep, effectively giving France a 5 man midfield. No prizes for guessing where this game was won and lost.
Finally, we got to see a glimpse of the Zidane of old. You could see the silky mastery of the ball, the ability to boss the tempo of the game. This was vintage Zidane. Reminiscent of the player at the peak of his powers. I'm far from a Zizou fanboy (even though I have a Zidane Juve jersey from 1997), but I do appreciate genius and beauty when I see it. It has been painful to see a great player slogging it out after coming out of international retirement, and realizing that the game is now one step faster, one blink more competitive and one kick more painful than it was when he left the international scene. To recapture one night of magic, was priceless. We'll have to see if this flash of brilliance was just that, a flash, or will Zizou be able to bring his A game for 2 more matches. Next up are the gritty Portugese.
In case, anyone is wondering why I have not written anything about the England v Portugal game, it's because I missed it. Then again, I was told I didn't miss much. I caught the only highlight of the game when I watched Rooney step on Carvalho's groin on ESPN. One might just even forgive Roo for perhaps exacting a measure of payback to the man who broke his metatarsal 2 months ago.
If someone cares to contribute something on the game, pls email it to me and I'll post it.
Brazil is out.
At the quarterfinal stage no less. I guess in retrospect it was not such a big surprise. The reputed Fearsome Foursome of RRAK were hardly in top form throughout the whole tournament. The press were more interested in talking about Ronaldo's weight than his goals. Adriano looked more like a piece of lumber than a bullish striker. You could have easily mistaken Ronaldinho for a Sengkang Punggol player, rather than the World Footballer of the Year. Kaka seemed bogged down by doing donkey work in midfield and was not free to attack as he is in the Milan midfield.
Herein lies the flaw in Brazil's ultra offensive 4 - 2 - 4 formation. The 4 man attack has to press the opponents back by constant attacking to protect the flimsy 2 man midfield. The 2 attacking midfielders Kaka and Ronaldinho have to track back to help out in midfield when they lose the ball. Too often, Kaka has been the only one willing to run back to help out Emerson and Ze Roberto, who must feel like they had been tasked with a thankless job. Against France, this 2 man midfield was simply out-manned. Zidane had 2 bodyguards in hardmen-supreme Virea and Makalele. Malouda and Ribery often started their attacks from deep, effectively giving France a 5 man midfield. No prizes for guessing where this game was won and lost.
Finally, we got to see a glimpse of the Zidane of old. You could see the silky mastery of the ball, the ability to boss the tempo of the game. This was vintage Zidane. Reminiscent of the player at the peak of his powers. I'm far from a Zizou fanboy (even though I have a Zidane Juve jersey from 1997), but I do appreciate genius and beauty when I see it. It has been painful to see a great player slogging it out after coming out of international retirement, and realizing that the game is now one step faster, one blink more competitive and one kick more painful than it was when he left the international scene. To recapture one night of magic, was priceless. We'll have to see if this flash of brilliance was just that, a flash, or will Zizou be able to bring his A game for 2 more matches. Next up are the gritty Portugese.
In case, anyone is wondering why I have not written anything about the England v Portugal game, it's because I missed it. Then again, I was told I didn't miss much. I caught the only highlight of the game when I watched Rooney step on Carvalho's groin on ESPN. One might just even forgive Roo for perhaps exacting a measure of payback to the man who broke his metatarsal 2 months ago.
If someone cares to contribute something on the game, pls email it to me and I'll post it.
PS: Kheva is on MC today. Perhaps the shock of England getting knocked out was too much for him. Oh... the horror.... the horror....
posted by buggsuperstar @ 12:28 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Finally, down to the final 3 people of Kenneth's quick pick. JSONG has 2ce the chance as compared to myself and Kheva. Time to get the TABLES!
:O
It's EDGE!!!
GET THE TABLES!!!
When did Edge start using tables? Where's the chairs?
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