Author Archives: Gaby

D.A.M. he’s good!

Posted on by
6

In a delightful doco, “In the Hands of the Gods”, Diego’s injunction is to “Love the ball, love the game”. I love the sentiment and its simplicity. And I love the fact that he can still say it after all the game has brought him, and wrought upon him. Now on the sidelines, he is still that “extraterrestial” kid juggling a ball on a patch of dirt. But I’ve always been a Maradona fan. I say forget the “hand of god”, but remember and marvel at the second. Peter Reid et al will be forever remembered.

So, I do hope Argentina beat Germany. I think they will. Argentina was one of my pre-tournament fancies given the strength of their squad, along with Spain, for similar reasons. I saw the Argentina v Brazil qualifier, and although Argentina lost 3-1, they were better, but just defended absurdly.  Their defence is still their chink. Which German “ruthless efficiency” and dogged tenacity may exploit.

The two best players in the tournament will be on show: Messi and Ozil. Messi plays with a devastating incisiveness and a prodigious imagination. The simplicity of his dribbling reminds me of Best and of course Diego. He has an insatiable appetitie for the ball. Ozil is a delightful player, subtle, cultured but very effective.

Again, I say England lost because they were inept, not because the Germans were that good. Although they carved them up in a very similar manner to Australia. The first two goals were  farcical. To see Terry running forward on the long ball from the German goalie, have it go over his head by about 20 metres and leave a huge hole behind him was perplexing. Combine this with James’s dithering about whether to attack the ball and then arrive too late, and its a comedy of errors. Add to this James’s charge from the near post when Podolski had no angle, only to be beaten through his legs and it is just slapstick!

Holland v Brazil will be an absorbing encounter. Holland’s play is not to my taste. Too slow, over-elaborated, ponderous from what I have seen. Brazil is efficient, all are comfortable wih the ball and it has players who can create chances out of nothing and who can score.I love watching its players move for each other. It’s like embroidery with the pattern never repeating. I think Brazil, but it could go to extra time.

In the other matches,  I think Spain will win in what could be a dour struggle. Xavi and Iniesta play some delightful soccer. And finally I think Uruguay will beat Ghana.

Just think what could have been. I thought Australia in 10 in the second half were the better side against Ghana.

“Tactics, tactics? Aren’t they a mint?”

Posted on by
4
Australia vs Ghana: “Tactics? Tactics?…I thought they were a type of mint!”…

So Ally Maclleod, manager of Scotland’s shambolic team in the 1978 World Cup, was reputed to have said.
But let’s remember that that Scotand did give us Archie Gemmil’s lovely solo goal, and celebratory sprint after, strands of hair streaming behind him, against Holland ( see Trainspotting).

What an interesting night of soccer, sort of…two “bipolar” performances from Serbia and Slovenia. Both did their best to lose after being in front. It was torture watching Serbia. Last week I describe the soocer they can play as “cerebral”. I think that is a thing of the past now. I don’t think those players need a coach, but a therapist to deal with the issues they have with winning!

And you have to admire Germany for how they tenacious they are in adversity. But the game also supports my thesis about the Australia game that it was not that Germany was so good, but that we were so bad. They weren’t helped last night by their “coach” taking off their two best players: Uzil and Muller. Uzil had just set up Podolski a couple of times and Muller always tried to be creative. Germany promptly went into a lull until  the last few minutes after this coaching masterstroke.

The less said about England and their overrated cohort the better. There is not much to say, as they played hardly any soccer.

So, turning to Australia, it was a shambles against Germany. As i said, it wasn’t that Germany was so good, but that we were so bad. I think Pim panicked after the friendlies when he considered our manifest problems and weaknesses. And it was unpardonable to play an untested formation in such an important match.

But the reaction after the match has simply been hysterical. I’d like to single out Craig Foster, who has simply been ridiculous. To call for Pim’s sacking is just childish, especially when I never heard him raise any concerns with the team and its performances when they were getting  “results”, and when, to me,  our deficiencies were blatantly obvious. And secondly, to say that the players have no blame is egregiously sycophantic.

Furthermore, there has been a lot talk about tactics. Tactics in soccer only get you so far. Hence my reference to Ally Macleod.

They are necessary, but not sufficient. You have to “play”, that is defend strenuously and attack effectively. We patently did neither. This was our biggest problem. And our biggest skill and positional errors were basic and fundamental.

For example, we barely played two forward passes all match. Our defence was a sieve, especially in the middle. Schwarzer bears partial responsibility for the two first goals.

Our midfield did not provide any defensive cover. They didn’t mark or track their players back who were moving into offensive positions. For instances, who was marking Podolski on the first goal? Where was a right back, midfielder, winger, 4th ref, anyone. The cross to him was hit along the ground through our box! And we didn’t adjust the disposition of our players to counter their threats at all.

Playing Cahill as a lone striker was a bad tactical error. First, he doesn’t have the characteristics. Secondly, it is a very difficult formation to play and requires a lot of mobility of midfielders to make ii work. Otherwise the striker witll just be isolated.

Turning to the Ghana game, we have to learn from the Germany experience. These things happen and it is not irredeemable. And should be so for seasoned professionals. There is no point worrying about your last performance.

Ghana will be tough: fast, physical, skillful and creative. They will test us. And we have to go back to the basics that we just didn’t put into practice against Germany.

That is to “play”. First, to defend by working hard and marking tightly. Secondly, by being quick and creative in attack and being mobile in offering options for teamates with the ball.

Oh and the ball. My view is that free kicks need to be hit low. Then it could fly like a rocket. This seems to be Italy’s and Agentina’s ploy with it. A simple square pass giving the kicker a better angle past the wall. It seems to me that players are unable to spin the ball fast enough to curl and dip as much as players are used to.

I hope we can get a result. I can’t say that I “believe” it. But if we do, who knows which Serbia may turn up against us. Probably one of several.

Pim needs more vim: not enough Guus-to

Posted on by
14

James Farrell has very kindly asked me to post my thoughts on the Australia vs Germany World Cup Finals tie to be played tomorrow morning.

So far, for me, the tournament has got off to a relatively entertaining start. The opening game between South Africa and Mexico was a promising beginning: a fast, skillful and open match. Argentina vs Nigeria was similar with the bonus of Messi in sparkling form (and of course some lovely sideline flicks from the incomparable Diego).

First things first though. FIFA has done it again with the ball! Players aren’t confident in hitting it. It flies too long and doesn’t curl. It seems to me that they are concentrating on keeping it low to avoid it skying away. I’ve felt it in a shop. It’s light and is covered with a rough skin, perhaps to help players bend it? This is just ridiculous. If FIFA wants a new ball, they should just tell Adidas to produce the Champions League ball and name it and wrap it however it likes!

Secondly, the stadia look terrific, especially the one for the opening game.

On to Australia. We are in a tough group with three teams of contrasting styles. Germany plays a similar game to us: very tight, with attacking tending to flow down the wings. Serbia’s has a very cerebral and technical style that can really hurt us. And I would imagine that Ghana’s game will be very similar to the way South Africa and Nigeria play:physical and fast but skillful with attacks coming quickly and from all directions.

Before our qualifiers, I said that we could be good for a point against Germany. They didn’t impress in the qualifiers and provided we could defend well, and closed them down in midfield, our two styles would nullify each other.

But we haven’t played well in our friendlies. I know that they are only that, and we have had some star players injured, but what you want to see is a team that has cohered. And we haven’t.

You only have to compare us now to our side under Guus just before the previous Finals. He had definitely, and very quickly, blended a tight unit. The team pretty much picked itself and had been playing together successfully for a while.

And a good soccer team is not best described as a machine, but as an organism whose functioning is dependent on an almost unconscious continual feedback loop among its vital components, the players. This understanding takes talent and time to fashion, and a coach’s primary role is to try to create this out of his squad. (This is how the Golden Team of Hungary was fashioned and what Guus did with South Korea in 2002.)

This takes us to Pim. And it is this cohesion that he has failed to achieve as evidenced in our generally unconvincing qualifiers in the World and Asia Cups.

He seems more an auditor, than a coach, ticking boxes on some pro forma checklist from a coaching manual. He certainly lacks the fire and gusto of Guus (remember Guus on the sidelines defending his team in the match against Japan). Pim seems to take little joy from his role in a match, with the same dour expression even after a good passage of play. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him kick or juggle a ball, and all soccer players, no matter how old or in what role, love the ball (q.v. Diego again).

To wrap up, I think Australia will put up a brave fight. We are mentally tough and I wouldn’t overrate the Germans. But the following is a list of the issues that we may have.

1. Neill and Moore don’t seem to be working correctly together at the moment. We need to fix these holes in the middle of our defence.
2. Our midfield needs to be reshaped. Grella is not a central playmaker, a la Pirlo or Xavi. That is what you want there and Grella doesn’t have the vision. The only other option I can see that we have is to play Cullina there. Grella is better slotted into one of the other midfield roles.
3. Our play is too stereotyped with lots of meaningless square passes in the midfield, and we don’t play vertically enough and attack quicker and more incisively.
4. We miss Viduka to hold the ball, dribble and create scoring chances in attack.
5. We need Cahill and Bresciano to be more involved and creative.

Here’s hoping that Australia can start with a win. In soccer, everyone loves to beat Germany!

Some pigs are more equal than others mate

Posted on by
23

Nicholas has   very kindly invited me to contribute to Club Troppo. This is my first post. So it’s virgin territory for me. Please be gentle. And, of course, I hope you will enjoy it”¦

I was driving to the shops last night listening to this PM story about workers in Melbourne not being paid for a week’s work for imposing a “gentle” industrial ban on working overtime.

I awoke this morning to the news that workers at Radio Rentals had been locked out for a month, apparently for having a four hour industrial stoppage last week.

Then I opened the Advertiser to see that headline that super for the Class of 2004 of Federal politicians will be lifted. This deal was done a bipartisan basis.   And per Howard in the paper, it could only be done on that basis. The story was also on PM.

This is what Beazley had to say on PM,

“The system needed to change back in 2004, but I think there is common agreement amongst those of us in political life that those changes went too far. The changes that have been put in place are in line with community standards.”

Really?! The first sentence is incontrovertibly true, although not mooted when Latham was setting the agenda in 2004. The second is false and vacuous, as vague appeals to “community standards” generally are.

Now I know that porcine images of snorkelling snouts are not far away, but let’s eschew those. Do you reckon the Opposition could have, just maybe, exercised some self-restraint and opposed them in order to gain some credibility   for its opposition to the Howard IR changes? In order to demonstrate some solidarity with what could be Labor’s “base”. And to force the government to pass them on its own. Which it wouldn’t have done given the PM’s intimation of the necessity of bipartisanship.

So I feel the next time Kim is waxing and wheezing prolix on the base injustice of Work(no)choice, I think the worker on the “Elizabeth train” will be entitled to raise a sceptical eyebrow.   And the Government will somehow find a way to use this capitulation against him.

Finally, I liked this line from Bob Brown,

“Well you can argue that if you pay more peanuts, you get gorillas.”

Quite.