Archive for September, 2007

Women’s WC – And so Germany wins again

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

Women’s World Cup 2007 in China4 years after their golden goal victory against Sweden in 2003, the German female national team has conquered yet another Women’s World Cup by beating Brazil 2-0 in the Shanghai final, and denying the Sambagirls the hopes of a first ever trophy.

The European team managed by Silvia Neid put out a very solid display on the field today, which kept the technical and offensive verve of the Brazilians in check. As expected, the match turned rapidly into a duel between the stars of the two teams, Birgit Prinz and Marta. While the former managed to put her team in the lead an the 52′ minute mark, the latter had a golden chance to tie the game 8 minutes later, but saw her Germany - Women’s World Cup 2007 Championspenalty shot denied by the German keeper Nadine Angerer. Germany doubled their lead in the final minutes through Simone Laudehr, for a final score of 2-0.

The German coach declared after the match: “After the saved penalty shot I knew we could make it. We’ve worked very hard, and it was a great performance from the entire team. We knew it was essential to neutralize Marta out of the game, and I’m glad that we succeeded”. Germany’s record in the 2007 Women’s World Cup is quite impressive: they have played the entire tournament without conceding a goal!

Marta - Best player and Top goalscorer of the competitionIn the consolation final, USA beat Norway 4-1 and grabbed 3rd spot in the competition. Also, despite missing the penalty in the final, Marta’s outstanding efforts in the tournament were rewarded with the adidas Golden Ball and adidas Golden Shoe awards for best player and top goalscorer. If there’s a female player worth keeping an eye on in the future, it’s certainly the 21-year old Brazilian. In case you missed her goal vs. USA in the semis, here it is.

Serie A matchday 6 – Roma sees red against Inter

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

Serie AAs a kid playing soccer in your youth, I’m sure you eventually wondered about the following hypothetical situation: an opposing striker is through on goal, and you’re the last man trailing behind him. Should you take him down and stop the danger, knowing full well you’re going to get sent off, or should you hope that your keeper is going to save the goal? Here’s another: your keeper is down, you’re the last defender on the line, and the ball’s about to enter the net. Should you try and go for the handball (hoping that no one will see it) with the risk of a red card for your team (but then with the chance your keeper will stop the penalty)? This Saturday my friends, we had a perfect example of why you should never ever go for that handball. Indeed, after the 28th-minute “save” of Ludovic Giuly (who apparently played professional volleyball in a former life), Roma-Inter was effectively over.

Roma-Inter 1-4

The starting line-up for Roma had few surprises in store: the usual 4-2-3-1 line-up with David Pizarro and Ludovic Giuly on for injured Alberto Aquilani and Rodrigo Taddei. Roberto Mancini on the other hand completely revolutionized his team: Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the lone striker and a massive 5-man midfield (with Figo and Cesar on the wings). An obvious indication that Inter’s manager main goal was to shut down the fast 1-touch passing game of the Giallorossi. On a funny note: by taking a look at Inter’s bench today (Crespo, Cruz, Pelè, Solari, Adriano, Suazo), with the exclusion of Toldo the Nerazzurri were starting this match with SIX (6!) offensive substitutes! In the event of a defender injury for Inter, manager Roberto Mancini would be in very deep waters…

Zlatan and Dacourt can celebrate, Inter is up 1-0 and Roma are down 1 playerOnly 1 minute had passed on the clock and Roma obtained their first chance: on a push forward by the Giallorossi Mançini got fouled on the edge of the box, setting up Francesco Totti for a perfect free-kick opportunity. As is often the case with Roma set-pieces lately, the Giallorossi captain asked one of his teammates for a two-time kick  and then went for power. Inter Keeper Julio Cesar got down well to parry, but then really had to summon a supersave to prevent Mançini’s tap-in on the ensuing rebound.

Onto the other end, Inter’s reaction was almost immediate: a hard volleyed attempt by Esteban Cambiasso, too central to give the Roma keeper any problems. The match at this point was very much in balance: Roma tried to activate their trademarked up-tempo playing style, but the Inter defense (Walter Samuel above all) kept the Gialorossi’s offensive verve in check. That is until Mançini obtained some free space on the edge of the box again, and went for a low shot towards the first post in the 27th. Julio Cesar parried away into corner.

The ensuing set-piece kick was the beginning of the end for Roma. Wow really? This early into the match? Yes. Totti’s choice to play a short corner turned out to be a grave mistake because the pass was intercepted, and Inter could immediately start the counter-attack. An inch-perfect through ball by Maxwell for Cesar set up the Brazilian midfielder all alone in front of Doni. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instep PKThe Roma keeper pulled out a miracle save to parry the shot (which wasn’t all too great to begin with), but the rebound went straight to Ibrahimovic ready to power the header in. However, as he was running back toward the goal line, Roma’s Ludovic Giuly executed a perfect lay-up pass for Mexès, who then went for the spik… erm no wait, wrong sport. Penalty shot for Inter, red card for Giuly, and 1-0 for Zlatan.

Roma manager Luciano Spalletti was now left with a big problem: a goal to catch up and a man down to replace. Repositioning Simone Perrotta on the right provided a temporary solution, but as for that goal to catch up, Roma would have to pull some real magic out of their hats. Fortunately, the maneuvers of the Inter players (who could now breathe easier, with the man advantage) slowed down a bit, and the half ended with the 1-0 Inter scoreline.

Simone Perrotta had the momentary 1-1 equalizer for Roma…After the break, finally some good news for Roma: Olivier Dacourt (pulled muscle) and Zlatan (stubbed toe) were forced to come off injured. Then some even better news: a reckless dribble by Maxwell on the edge of Inter’s box allowed Pizarro to poke the ball towards Perrotta. Controling the ball in the center, the Italian international blasted a low ball into the bottom-left corner of the net to tie the game. 1-1.

Remember the ‘good’ news I mentioned before though? The injuries forcing Hernan Crespo and Julio Cruz to come off the bench? Turned out they were not so good after all. Following a great 1-2 exchange, Cambiasso penetrated the Roma defense and blasted a hard shot at Doni. The ensuing rebound reached Crespo (who had started the play) with an open net, and there’s very few the Argentine striker will miss in those circumstances: half-volleyed bicycle kick for the finish. 2-1 Inter. 3 minutes later, it was Cruz‘s turn to strike: edge of the box, powerful but accurate shot low on the ground, inside of the post (Doni not completely innocent on this one). 3-1.

Julio Cruz has just made it 3 for Inter… the match is pretty much overAt this point, the Giallorossi had given up. Inter were exploiting the leaks of the Roma defense from all parts, delivering the final blow with an Iván Córdoba header in the 68th. 4-1 the final score.

Red card aside, the Nerazzurri victory bears a big mark from their manager Roberto Mancini, who in terms of tactics hit all his choices dead-on: the starting line-up at the beginning, but more importantly the substitutions (Crespo and Cruz, authors of 1 goal each). Inter may have begun the season on a slow note, but when called into action in a potential morale-breaking moment (conceding the equalizer with a 1-man advantage) hit back with all the might their offensive arsenal provides. Spalletti on the other hand, must reflect deeply on the 8 goals the Roma defense conceded in their last 3 games.

The win over Roma in the 2006-07 season last year was the beginning of Inter’s lone run towards the Champions title. It’s still early to make that kind of prediction now, but the final 4-1 scoreline sends a clear signal to all the Inter adversaries out there: the Nerazzurri are still the main favorites for the Scudetto this season. .

 A.S. Roma
ROMA-INTER 1-4
 F.C. Internazionale Milano
GOALSCORERS: 29’ Ibrahimovic (I), 53’ Perrotta (R), 57’ Crespo (I), 60’ Cruz (I), 68’ Córdoba (I)
ROMA (4-2-3-1): Doni – Panucci (69′ Cicinho), Mexès, Juan, Tonetto – De Rossi, D.Pizarro – Giuly, Perrotta, Mançini (69′ Vucinic) – Totti (76′ Esposito). (bench: Curci, Ferrari, Brighi, Barusso). Coach: Spalletti.
INTER (4-5-1): Júlio César – J.Zanetti, Córdoba, Samuel, Maxwell – Stankovic, Dacourt (51′ Crespo), Cambiasso, Cesar, Figo (77′ Pelè) – Ibrahimovic (50′ Cruz). (bench: Toldo, Solari, Adriano, Suazo) Coach: Mancini.

The Summer’s 20 Most Expensive Transfers – Their Performance So Far

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

Some might think it would be hasty to make such as an assessment so early into the season (after all, European leagues have only begun for a month or two) but it is interesting nonetheless to have a preliminary look at how some of this Summer’s signings are performing. Indeed, some managers (such as Sir Alex Ferguson, who isn’t entirely happy about how Anderson has coped with the club’s expectations at Man Utd) are bound to get restless if their new players don’t start delivering soon.

So from Gazzetta dello Sport, here’s a list of the 20 most expensive transfers of the Summer break, along with a letter grade for their performance so far.

1
Fernando Torres
Atl. Madrid ð Liverpool
€39.0m
Fernando Torres, age 23El Niño‘s first encounter with the English Premiership so far has been excellent: 3 goals in the EPL, and a hat–trick in the Carling Cup. Benitez has a lot to be smiling about.A
2
Arjen Robben
Chelsea ð Real Madrid
€36.0m
Arjen Robben, age 23He made his debut with the Blancos only a few days ago, the Dutchman now needs to find his place in a Real Madrid team that already seems to be up and running. No grade
3
Pepe
FC Porto ð Real Madrid
€30.0m
Pepe, age 24He didn’t do too badly in the pre–season matches, but his performance in the Spanish Super Cup game vs. Sevilla was a disaster. He’s been sitting on the bench ever since. C–
4
Wesley Sneijder
Ajax ð Real Madrid
€27.0m
Wesley Sneijder, age 23The Dutch midfielder isn’t exactly a revelation, but no one thought he’d be scoring in almost every game and that he could take free–kicks better than Beckham. A+
5
Anderson
FC Porto ð Man Utd
€25.0m
Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, age 19Still a mystery. After his work permit problems, he hasn’t gotten much playing time with the Red Devils but when he did, played very poorly. F
5
Franck Ribéry
Marseille ð Bayern
€25.0m
Franck Ribéry, age 24The Bundesliga hasn’t had a player this good in years: he’s become the indispensible dynamo of the Bayern team, forming an absolutely lethal trio with Klose and Toni. A+
5
Owen Hargreaves
Bayern ð Man Utd
€25.0m
Owen Hargreaves, age 26The England international is still struggling with a few injury problems, but has done good in the few matches he’s played so far. Ferguson trusts him, so we’ll have the chance to see more of him in the future. No grade
5
Simão Sabrosa
Benfica ð Atl. Madrid
€25.0m
Simão Sabrosa, age 27So and so. He’s been outstanding in some matches, disappointing in others. But inconsistency is a problem the whole Atletico Madrid team seems to be having at the moment. B–
9
Darren Bent
Charlton ð Tottenham
€24.7m
Darren Bent, age 23He’s been struggling with injury problems since the end of last season. However, considering that the club already has Berbatov, Keane and Defoe, the Spurs may have spent a little too much to buy the English striker. No grade
10
Thierry Henry
Arsenal ð Barcelona
€24.0m
Thierry Henry, age 30Eto’o's injury promoted the Frenchman to a fixed starter spot, but while Henry showed bits of what made him a great player at Arsenal, he still needs to fit into his new team. For a player of his standards, his debut has been fairly poor. B–
11
Alexandre Pato
Inter. P.Alegre ð Milan
€22.0m
Alexandre Pato, age 18We really won’t know how good he is until January, when he’ll be eligible to play with his new team. So far, a friendly match against Kiev and a nice goal. No grade
12
Nani
Sport. Lisbon ð Man Utd
€21.0m
Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha “Nani”, age 20He’s got the same vices as Cristiano Ronaldo: excessive feinting and too much love for spectacle. But the kid’s got one hell of a personality, and when his stuff works everyone’s on their feet. A
12
Diego Forlán
Villareal ð Atl. Madrid
€21.0m
Diego Forlán, age 28Two goals in the Spanish Liga sor far. His partnership with Sergio Aguëro needs improvement, but it’s a good start. B+
14
Florent Malouda
Lyon ð Chelsea
€21.0m
Florent Malouda, age 27Having just lost José Mourinho, things are very delicate at Chelsea at the moment. However, the Frenchman has played very well with the Blues so far. A
15
Gabriel Milito
Zaragoza ð Barcelona
€20.0m
Gabriel Milito, age 27Barça bought him for a transfer fee that Juventus couldn’t afford. So far, despite a few occasional fu**–ups, the Argentine’s been doing fairly well. B+
16
Carlos Tévez
West Ham ð Man Utd
€18.0m
Carlos Tévez, age 23The exact transfer fee is still unknown (unfinished business), but so far the Argentine has shown a lot of heart. His first tally for Red Devils was the all important match–winning goal vs. Chelsea. B+
16
Manuel Fernandes
Benfica ð Valencia
€18.0m
Manuel Henriques Tavares Fernandes, age 21He hasn’t had the chance to show his full potential yet, because the competition at Los Che is fierce. But the talent’s there, only time will tell. No grade
18
Ryan Babel
Ajax ð Liverpool
€17.2m
Ryan Babel, age 20In the few games that Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has given him, the Dutch youngster has alredy shown bits of pure class. Ambitious, he can bring the Reds undeniable quality in the offensive zone. A
19
Aiyegbeni Yakubu
M’boro ð Everton
€16.5m
Aiyegbeni Yakubu, age 24He still needs to work out his teamwork with Andy Johnson, but in the meantime he opened up his goalcount in the Premiership and in the Cup. B
20
Kader Keita
Lille ð Lyon
€16.0m
Abdul Kader Keïta, age 26His was the most expensive ingoing transfer in Lyon’s history, and so far the Ivorian striker still has to repay the confidence put in him. He’s on the right track though. B

Brazil-USA – Marta scores a wondergoal

Friday, September 28th, 2007

Women’s World Cup 2007 in ChinaYou know when it comes to Women’s Soccer, people have many different opinions. “It’s a men’s game”, “girls don’t have what it takes”, “they lack the fighting spirit”, “they’re not bad, but they’ll never be as good as the men”. Or the extreme ”women should stay at home and do the cooking”… I mean I could go on, but it gets worse. I should point out that while I don’t share them, these are just some of the views I’ve heard when the topic came into a conversation.

Marta Vieira da Silva, age 21Nevertheless whatever your opinion may be, there’s only one thing you can do after you watch the rambunctious Brazilian striker Marta do what she did in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007 Semi-finals against USA: that is, to stand up on your feet and applaud. A long applause.

For the record, the match ended 4-0 for the Sambagirls

Inter-Roma: A brief look at History

Friday, September 28th, 2007

Inter and Roma captains Javier Zanetti and Francesco Totti at the last Italian Super CupWith another Serie A ’clash of the titans’ coming up this week-end, Luca Manes of Goal.com wrote a nice little article on past encounters between Scudetto contenders Inter and Roma. Here it is, with a few edits and pictures added.

Roma and Inter have played each other 13 times in the last 3 seasons. In fact we should really say 14 times, as the two teams also faced-off in August for the Italian Super-Cup.  

Roma and Inter have produced some incredible games in recent years. The UEFA Cup Final in 1991 is one such example. At that time the trophy was decided over two legs and Inter won the cup thanks to a 2-0 victory at San Siro in the first game, Lothar Matthäus and Nicola Berti scoring the goals. The Giallorossi were unlucky in the second leg in Rome, where a late Ruggiero Rizzitelli goal was not enough to deny the win to German trio Brehme, Matthäus and Klinsmann and legendary coach Giovanni Trapattoni.  

Another astonishing clash was the 5-4 goal-fest won by Inter in 1999. The Nerazzurri profited from the ultra-attacking 4-3-3 formation employed by Roma’s Czech Coach Zdenek Zeman. A young Ronaldo netted two of Inter’s goals that day.  

Fabio Capello took over from Zeman in 1999 and also struggled to overcome the San Siro curse, even losing to Inter and a very rare Hakan Şükür goal in 2000-01, when Roma won their 3rd Scudetto. The game in the Eternal City was a different affair and a late goal by the ‘Little Airplane’ Montella gave Roma an entertaining 3-2 victory.      

Zlatan-WilhelmssonIn 2002 a sparkling Álvaro Recoba performance sealed a 3-1 win in Milan in what appeared to be the decisive step towards the title – however the ‘tragedy’ of May 5 proved otherwise as Inter capitulated to Lazio on the final day of the season and allowed Marcello Lippi’s Juventus to ‘steal’ the title from them.. Two years later Roma demolished Inter 4-1 in a match most remembered for an extraordinary performance by Antonio Cassano.  

But let’s go back to the 14 games I mentioned at the beginning of the article. It has to be said that they include a lot of Italian Cup finals. Going through all the recent scores you start to realize just how much Roma have improved recently. In 2004-05 the Romanisti struggled to a 3-3 draw, having trailed 3-1. In that game Francesco Totti scored his 99th goal in the Italian top division, failing to reach the 100 mark a few seconds from time.  

In Milan, Roma were beaten 2-0 and lost both legs of the Italian Cup final. At the Stadio Olimpico Adriano scored a brace, demonstrating what a phenomenon he was at the time.  

Luciano Spalletti finally broke the San Siro curse when he took over in 2005, as Roma recorded their first win in Milan for 11 years. Not since 1994, when former Giallorossi defender Gianluca Festa got a bit confused and scored a fantastic own goal with a 20-yard lob had Roma won at the Giuseppe Meazza. Festa obviously didn’t realize that he was now playing for the Nerazzurri and not Roma.  

However the 2005-06 campaign had some nice moments for Inter as well. The 1-1 draw at the Olimpico halted Roma’s impressive streak of 11 wins in a row. Marco Materazzi was the hero of that game, equalizing a few minutes from time.  

Mariano Gonzalez tries to get by Christian Chivu. Since then the Romanian defender has switched to the other side, it’ll be interesting to see how he performs against his former club.In May, Inter lifted their second Italian Cup in a row, as a much depleted Roma succumbed to a 3-1 defeat in Milan. The tables turned in the following year’s Coppa Italia Final as Roma demolished Inter 6-2 at the Olimpico. Several weeks earlier the Giallorossi had postponed Inter’s 15th Scudetto celebrations after beating them 3-1 at San Siro.  

The recent trend of results definitely seems to favour Roma. Last August in the Super Cup, a great performance by the Giallorossi led to their second triumph in the competition. Daniele De Rossi’s penalty wiped away the bad memories of the last Super-Cup encounter, in 2006, when Roma managed to lose a game they were winning 3-0 after just half an hour.  

On Saturday it will be Francesco Totti versus Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Roberto Mancini versus Luciano Spalletti once again. So let the show begin!