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Dazed and confused Holland lucky to escape with a win
Posted: Tuesday June 13, 2000 12:38 PM
Holland was played off the park by the Czech Republic. Jozef Chovanec simply outcoached Frank Rijkaard by sticking the gargantuan Jan Koller on Frank De Boer's butt and letting the big centerforward run into the Dutch backline, wreaking havoc in their passing lanes. Meanwhile, Pavel Nedved was ubiquitous in midfield, winning the ball back and launching the counter with teutonic precision. Nedved & co. won the battle in the middle of the park hands down, keeping Edgar Davids on the back foot and Holland had no clue how to react, especially since the Czech backline showed no signs of being intimidated. So much for Clockwork Orange. The Czechs hit the woodwork twice (Nedved and Koller) and Karel Poborsky squandered a colossal opportunity to put Holland away. The only thing more disturbing than the Oranje's performance were the television closeups of Jaap Stam receiving stitches in his eyebrow (anaesthesia? what anaesthesia?), something we could have all been spared.
The Dutch escaped with their hides intact after Jiri Nemec yanked Ronald De Boer's jersey in the box and referee Pierluigi Collina granted a penalty, which Frank De Boer duly converted. Ronald De Boer was fouled, make no mistake about it, and the penalty decision was correct, but the fact that he felt the need to accentuate it by flopping to the ground like a buckshot riddled Greg Louganis left a very bad taste. In a perfect world, Collina would have granted the penalty, but Ronald De Boer would have been booked for diving, because that's exactly what he did. Alas, the rulebook doesn't allow for this ... yet.
Suicidal tendenciesWe knew before the tournament that Kevin Keegan wasn't exactly the universal depository of tactical savvy. And we suspected that, when it comes to tactics and formations, English teams are about as sophisticated as Fred Flintstone. But, even if he had tried, it¹s difficult to imagine Keegan screwing things up any more than he did against Portugal. Humberto Coelho had few tactical options. His squad is chock full of withdrawn strikers and offensive midfielders, so he lined up with a single targetman ( Nuno Gomes ) and three guys, Joao Pinto, Rui Costa and Luis Figo, floating between midfield and attack. Now, those three also happen to be his best players and the latter two are genuine world class performers, who, if given space, can beat you singlehandedly. So what does Keegan do? He employs a 4-4-2 formation, with a single defensive midfielder, Paul Ince. The four stooges at the back are all busy marking Nuno Gomes, David Beckham is out on the right, marking open air, and the other two midfielders, Paul Scholes and Steve McManaman, are given free roles. The results? Ince, who turns 33 this year and is about as quick as a plate of strawberry Jell-O, has to stop Rui Costa, Joao Pinto and Figo all on his own. Squandering a 2-0 lead against Portugal, a team with a one-legged goalkeeper, Swiss cheese defense and little offensive punch, is a very difficult thing to do, but Keegan somehow succeeded.
Jurassic ParkGheorghe Hagi took on Lothar Matthäus sixteen years after their first meeting. It wasn't exactly Golden Oldies. Hagi still has his bag of tricks and can still conjure something out of nothing, but Matthäus was badly exposed. Playing sweeper is more about positioning than speed, but you need to be able to run a little and Matthäus showed that even he can't turn back the clock. Throw in the fact that offensively he did about as much for the German cause as Andrew Ridgley did for Wham! and you've got a serious problem. Erich Ribbeck's team is ancient and battle-worn to begin with. If Mehmet Scholl and 34 year old pixie Tomas Haessler are your most creative players, you know you're in trouble. Germany was lucky to escape with a point. Romania should have had a penalty for a foul on Adrian Ilie and we'll never know how Viorel Moldovan managed to miss two wide open chances. Ribbeck's men may still qualify for the quarterfinals, heck, they might even win the group. But I sincerely hope we won't see Matthäus on the pitch again, not if he plays like that. He was one of the true all-time greats and I don't think anybody who loves the game wants to remember him as the clunky mannequin we saw struggling against Romania.
Jekyll and HydeWho were those guys dressed in blue who beat Turkey on Sunday? We were told it was Italy, but I'm not so sure. Dino Zoff's boys were supposed to be rock-solid at the back, but ugly, predictable and ultra-defensive going forward. Instead, we saw a team which dominated Turkey's midfield and harassed its backline. Antonio Conte, Stefano Fiore and, occasionally, Francesco Totti, picked apart Mustafa Denizli's team like Homer Simpson attacking an all-you-can-eat buffet. Italy hit the woodwork four times, Pippo Inzaghi should have had a hat-trick, no, make that two hat-tricks, the play was open, creative and airy. But on the other end, Hakan Sukur, despite not having a great game, terrorized veterans Fabio Cannavaro and Paolo Maldini more than a few times and Francesco Toldo made a colossal mistake on Okan's header. It sure didn't look like the Italy we expected. The only thing which looked familiar was Inzaghi's dive in the second half, which allowed the Juventus striker to score the winner from the penalty spot. It was bad decision by the referee, but all told, Italy deserved to win. In fact, the Azzurri could have had five or six.
Men in blackReferees are once again in the firing line. A blatant handball by Emile Mpenza went unpunished in the opening game (the fact that the Belgian forward scored a stunning goal immediately afterwards does little to mitigate the damage). Turkey and Romania had very legitimate penalty appeals turned down, whereas Italy was granted penalty which was ten times as dubious. We are endlessly reminded that referees are human and they make mistakes, it's part of the game and all that. Fine. But perhaps it's worth remembering that tournaments hinge on individual incidents, decisions which often can go either way. When teams win World Cups or continental titles they achieve legendary status and are hailed as all-conquering. Maybe it's worth remembering that more often than not, those same champions were a blown call away from coming up short. I'm not saying this does not make them worthy champions. I'm simply suggesting that perhaps we should spare a thought for the losers, because many times they are one decision away from being winners. London-based Gabriele Marcotti writes a weekly column on international soccer for CNNSI.com. To submit questions or comments to Gabriele Marcotti, click here.
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