July 1: The Daily World Cup Wrap

July 1st, 2006 | by: Daryl |

Deja vu for Brazil. Being taken apart by Zinedine Zidane will bring back memories of 1998. Brazil’s problem seemed to be summed up when Ronaldinho produced a beauty of a stepover to beat a full back, only for Cafu to take the ball off his toe. Too many stars, not enough team.

Deja vu for England too. After 1990, 1996, 1998 and 2004 losing on penalties is nothing new to England fans, and losing on penalties to Portugal will feel oddly familiar. Sven-Goran Eriksson leaves his post having failed at the quarter final stage on three occasions, and all at the hands of Big Phil Scolari.

Daily Wrap Awards:

Top Man: Zinedine Zidane. Has to be.

Top Team: France

Top Goal: Thierry Henry’s (from a shortlist of one).

Bit of Skill: Zidane’s dribble.

Saw That Coming: England losing on penalties.

But Not That: Owen Hargreaves man of the match performance.

England vs Portugal | LiveBlog | England World Cup Gear, Portugal World Cup Gear

England 0
Portugal 0
aet Portugal won 3-1 on penalties

After a goalless 120 minutes, England lose on penalties again. Portugal failed to offer a real attacking threat with a five a man midfield lacking the creativity of Deco (absent through suspension), while England failed to get going until injured captain David Beckham was replaced by the speedy Aaron Lennon in the 52nd minute.

Ten minutes later came the games defining moment. Wayne Rooney capped a series of increasingly aggressive tackles by stamping on Ricardo Carvalho’s manly bits. In the inevitable argument this caused Rooney gave Cristiano Ronaldo a shove and the ref gave Rooney his marching orders. All that work to recover from broken metatarsals ruined in an instant.

Ronaldo’s subsequent wink to the bench (plus his scoring the winning penalty) mean he may not be too popular when (if?) he returns to English football with Manchester United. Though there’s no excuse for Rooney’s actions, some blame must also lie with Sven-Goran Eriksson since his decision to play Rooney alone up front can only have added to the youngsters frustrations.

Somehow England performed even better without their two star players, possibly because Peter Crouch’s introduction was more condusive to the lone striker system. Lennon continued his attacks down the right flank, Owen Hargreaves buzzed around making tackles and starting counter attacks, and Paul Robinson produced one great save from Figo’s long range effort, but inevitably this went all the way to penalties. Here’s how the penalties happened (from our LiveBlog, courtesy of Bob).

Portugal penalty #1 With his teammates at midfield locked arm in arm, Simao steps up to open up the penalty shoot out. He rubs his hair. Looks around the stadium. Robinson is on the line looking nervous. Simao drills it left corner. Goal one for Portugal.

England penalty #1 Lampard taking the first one for England. It is saved by Ricardo who guesses to the right.

Portugal penalty #2 Viana up next for Portugal. He hits it off the post and is out. Still 1 for Portugal and 0 for England. England is back in it.

England penalty #2 Hargreaves looking to equalize and he is able to sneak it by Ricardo. 1-1

Portugal penalty #3 Petit on for Portugal’s next kick. He misses the goal completely. 1 good and 2 misses for Portugal.

England penalty #3 Gerrard looking to put England up one. But it is saved by Ricardo who guesses to the right again. Still 1-1.

Portugal penalty #4 Postiga looking to put Portugal up. He punches it to the left and Robinson is flat footed. 2 made and 2 missed for Portugal.

England penalty #4 Carragher takes it but the referee didn’t blow the whistle. He has to retake it. It is saved by Ricardo who dives to his left. 1 made, 3 missed.

Portugal penalty #5 Cristiano Ronaldo looking to put Portugal through to the semifinals. He hesistates and drills it in the goal to give Portugal the win in penalty kicks 3-1.

Ricardo produced a World Cup record three penalty saves to take Portugal through to the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1966, while England continue to live in the shadow of that same year. And penalties.

Video highlights here.

Fan Photo: England and Portugal fans…

Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thanks to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
Want to discuss todays action? Go to the England or Portugal team pages.
Buy World Cup tickets to Portugal’s next match.

France vs Brazil | LiveBlog | France World Cup Gear, Brazil World Cup Gear

France 1 (Henry 57)
Brazil 0

Before this tournament started no one would have backed France to win this game, but Zinedine Zidane rolled back the years ( specifically to 1998) and produced a midfield masterclass to pick Brazil’s defence apart time after time. At the end of the first half he produced a turn and through ball to send Vieira through, with only a foul from Juan (who was booked) bringing him down. Ribery produced another dangerous dribbling display while Henry did a solid job leading the line for France.

In the 57th minute Zidane crossed in a free kick and found Henry unmarked. The Arsenal man side footed a volley home with his right foot for what proved to be the winner. France’s defence held fast against Brazil’s search for an equaliser, with Ronaldo being reduced to a pathetic dive in the last ten minutes. The ref bought it, but the free kick came to nothing.

Ronaldinho was given a more attacking position, playing wide left in an approximation of his Barcelona role. It was a more eye catching display than his previous World Cup games, with ocassional moments of Joga Bonito that went nowhere. Makes me wonder, was that whole Nike campaign just an Eric Cantona conspiracy to help his countrymen?

Video highlights coming soon.

Fan Photo: Thirsty Brazil fan…

Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thanks to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
Want to discuss todays action? Go to the France or Brazil team pages.
Buy World Cup tickets to France’s next match.

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Claude

I have to question Eriksson’s pick of strikers for the World Cup. You have Rooney who was questionable if he would even play in Germany and if he does wouldn’t you suspect he is rusty and not game fit to last 90 or even 120 minutes. You have Michael Owen who just returned from injury. You have to question his match fitness and how rusty he is. Crouch you have no problem with. Lat you pick a 17 year old who has barely played for Chelsea or whatever his Premier team is. Seems to me a lot of pressure to dump on a 17 year old. Didn’t England have more than 3 veterans they could have brought? Why not bring 5 strikers with all the question marks they had at that position. Even if England advanced they would have only had Crouch and the 17 year old.
Jonny Iselin

I have to question their choice of penalty kick takers:
Carrigher, Viana, Postiga, Hargreaves, who are these guys?

What happened to Luis Figo or Pauletta, their lone striker?
http://www.talkturkey.us metin

It’s horrible that do-or-die elimination matches in arguably the most important sports tournament of the world has to be decided by penalty kick shootouts, and not by playing the game . . . that some call not boring.

And what makes the rulebook-writers think that tacking 30 more minutes of overtime (with the same rules and regulations) is really going to change anything if 90+ minutes of play hasn’t produced a clear winner.

So, in the interest of fair-play or the typical ‘American’ intervention, I’d like to propose some changes to make the game more enjoyable for all of us, instead of playing to the whims of the old guard.

(1) After 90+ minutes of play, send both of the goal keepers to the locker room, leaving each team less 1 player, and with no ‘goal keeper-only’ saves, involving the use of hands and body, thereby truly making it a ‘foot’ball game.

(2) As soon as one of the teams scores, the game comes to an end. Sudden Death. No bottom of the ninth heroics. First come, First serve!

(3) If no goal is scored after 15 minutes of overtime, another set of players (decided by each coach as to whom) from each team is taken out, and this goes on every 15 minutes, till there are only 2 players (1 from each team) left. Scoring a goal into an empty net with only one player to tackle should be pretty easy. (Just tell that to Argentina – 1 for 3 in the shootout vs Germany.)

(3b) . . . if not, short of forcing the coaches to enter a smoke-a-thon to see who can finish an entire pack of cigarettes the fastest, neither team should advance, and the next round opponent gets an automatic bye. This will surely eliminate the intentional defensive stance some teams display in the waning minutes of the game hoping to deliver the goods via the footwork of their star kickers.

Anyway, these changes would make the game more enjoyable and there would be no crying foul because a penalty kick goes amiss. What do you think?
prastuh

i completely agree with metin that these rules will changed and mostly agree to the suggested alternatives also
the thing which can be done is after 90 min if scores are leveled keep 7 players each side on ground (with goalie) and the one who first hits the goals advances there will be definite result
michel platini

first.

figo and pauleta were subbed-out, making them ineligible to take a penalty. hargreaves was man of the match and best player on the pitch, clearly.

second, the proposed changes from the above post are absolutely ridiculous.

watch some footy. educate yourself, i do not have the luxury of such time to do it myself.
Arch Stanton

I for my part find penalty shootouts highly entertaining. It is the ultimate test of mental toughness for a player when the hopes of a nation rest on you to make that one shot. The suspense and drama is almost unbearable.
Jason

Why did Sven pick Walcott on his team, he’s utter useless and crap, I mean he has not even played a game for Arsenal yet, I can think of loads better strikers than him, Bent,Alan Smith, even Heskey are better than this piece of sh*t. Well at least now Mclaren’s the coach and not loony old Sven.
http://www.worldcup-blogger.com MuhammadZainul

France deserved the win. They play superbly and outclass Brazil’s defender. Florent Malouda and Franck Ribery all together cause more problem. Their two defensive mid, Makelele and vieira claimed to be the best defensive midfielder in the world and they prove it.

But in 10 FIFA World Player of the Year including Ronaldo, ROnaldinho and Zidane, only Zidane showed the true form on Saturday.