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Another favorite falters
Argentina joins France in danger zone after England loss
Posted: Friday June 07, 2002 11:40 AM
CNNSI.com's World Cup analyst Gabriele Marcotti is covering every kick of the tournament, with a "91st Minute" column filed each matchday. Click here to submit a comment or question to Marcotti's mailbag.
Don't look now, but by Wednesday night this World Cup might have lost its two pre-tournament favorites.
If France fails to beat Denmark (in fact, depending on the result, even if it does beat the Danes) and if Argentina does not win against Sweden, both nations will say farewell to Korea-Japan.
This is because, in the latest chapter of the neverending rivalry between Argentina and England, it was Sven-Goran Eriksson's men who grabbed all three points on Friday. Marcelo Bielsa's troops looked up for it, none more so than Gabriel Batistuta, who charged out like a bull on amphetamines in the opening minutes, first getting himself booked for a late tackle on Ashley Cole and then nearly decapitating David Beckham.
England defended stoutly against an opponent longer on skill but shorter on organization. Juan Sebastian Veron, Bielsa's putative playmaker, was shut down effectively (before being substituted at halftime) and most of Argentina's threats came on the left, where the Juan Pablo Sorin-Kily Gonzalez tandem routinely roasted Danny Mills.
And yet England hung on, denying space, beating opponents to the ball and keeping possession when it counted (basically doing everything it failed to do in the second half against Sweden).
The game was always going to turn on an X-factor, something that could not be accounted for. And that something was Michael Owen. The boy wonder hit the post before winning the penalty (duly converted by David Beckham) that won the game.
In the other Group F match, the World Cup said farewell to its first big-name casualty, as Nigeria went crashing out of the tournament following a 2-1 defeat to Sweden. In some ways, the Super Eagles were unlucky: Julius Aghahowa scored a stunning goal, and Nigeria created plenty of chances (we can only wonder what might have happened if Joseph Yobo's late strike had been a few inches inside, rather than outside, the upright). However, at this level, if you don't convert you chances, you don't survive.
As for Sweden, it was supposed to be the cellar dweller in the so-called Group of Death. So much for that. The Swedes gave as good as they got in an exciting and wide-open game, and Henrik Larsson once again proved his doubters wrong, leading the comeback with two crucial goals.
Spain became the first team to qualify for the second round, sinking Paraguay 3-1. Once again, this was a comeback victory as Iker Casillas' goofy mishandling early on put the South Americans ahead. But in the second half it was the unloved and unappreciated substitute Fernando Morientes who swung the game back into Spain's favor, before a Fernando Hierro penalty put the match out of reach.
For the second straight game, Paraguay threw away the lead, a fact that certainly won't please coach Cesare Maldini, a man who obsesses over defensive tactics. Indeed, Maldini's harsh criticism of his players after the South Africa match (when the Jomo Sono's men came back from 0-2 to 2-2) was rather controversial as he questioned their "tactical intelligence." If it was meant to motivate them, it backfired completely. Paraguay failed to contain the ebullient Spaniards, who notched the win they deserved.
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Michael Owen (England).
The individual matchup between Owen and uber-defender Walter Samuel was a joy to watch. The Argentine centerback is one of the few players in the world who can keep up with the Liverpool striker, at least some of the time. Following his disappointing performance in the opener, Owen was magnificent against Argentina. The way he turned and struck the post in the first half was vintage stuff, as was the lightning quick footwork that enabled him to draw the foul for the penalty against Mauricio Pochettino.
Owen needs the right kind of service, and he is not always as consistent as England fans would want him to be. But when he plays the way he did against Argentina, he is about as good as a striker can be.
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Jose Luis Chilavert (Paraguay).
Before the match he was bragging that he would score two goals against Spain. He would have been better advised to focus on his main job, keeping balls out of his own goal. He was out of position on Fernando Morientes' first goal, but on the second, he managed to do even worse, missing the ball entirely and letting it run through to the Real Madrid striker. Chilavert's mistake was unforgivable, especially for a goalkeeper of his quality.
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Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria).
His glancing header showed alertness, touch and intelligence. It's a shame that he'll be going home next week, because this kid is one for the future. If you weren't familiar with him before the World Cup, remember the name. This is one 19-year-old with a brilliant future ahead of him.
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"We've been playing such terrible football that we can't justify it through the absence of Zidane. If he's not available, we need to change things around, whether it's the players or the formation."
-- David Trezeguet, France striker
Trezeguet's not-so-veiled attack on Roger Lemerre is spot on. Even without Zinedine Zidane, France had more than enough talent to win both its matches, but it managed just one point. Lemerre must bear responsibility. Rather than forcing the likes of Youri Djorkaeff and Johan Micoud (who are fine players but whose skills are totally different from Zidane's) to fill the Real Madrid man's job, it might have been smarter to implement a more orthodox 4-4-2. Thus far, Lemerre, frankly, has looked in way over his head.
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For a guy who is the starting centerforward for arguably the world's biggest and best team in Real Madrid, Fernando Morientes is remarkably low profile. Even Real fans don't seem to appreciate him, much less his teammates, which is why on more than one occasion last season he went off to celebrate by himself after scoring.
Yet Morientes proved to be decisive against Paraguay after coming on at halftime for Diego Tristan (or rather the mannequin impersonating the Deportivo forward). Morientes scored two goals to cue Spain's comeback, vindicating coach Jose Camacho's controversial decision.
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Italy and Brazil can virtually book passage to the second round if they overcome Croatia and China repectively.
In Group G, Croatian boss Mirko Jozic will be without veterans Robert Prosinecki (who looked way out of shape in the opening loss against Mexico) and Davor Suker. The Croats' best bet is an early goal, perhaps off a set piece, as Italy has trouble getting back into games when it's down.
Against China in Group C, Ronaldinho may be dropped by Brazil in favor of Denilson. It's hard to see what Bora Milutinovic's game plan might be against the South Americans, but he would be well advised to take a page from the Turkey vs. Brazil game. The only hope for China is to fill the passing lanes the way Turkey did, keeping the tempo high and engaging the Brazilian back three, keeping them under pressure whenever possible.
Slovenia, which faces South Africa in Group B, is in deep turmoil following a bust-up between star playmaker Zlatko Zahovic and coach Srecko Katanec. Zahovic was annoyed at being substituted against Spain and made his feelings known.
"I can buy you, I can buy your house, your family and I can buy that mountain we were running on in Slovenia during our preparations!" Zahovic helpfully said to Katanec. "You were a [expletive] player and you're the same as a coach now."
Not surprisingly, Zahovic was quickly sent home. The spotlight now falls on Milenko Acimovic, who'll have to take over Zahovic's duties. Slovenia will hope it's a case of addition by subtraction at this point.
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Giovanni Trapattoni (Italy).
Despite the convincing 2-0 win over Ecuador in the opening game, the Azzurri boss has already announced he will change things around against Croatia, ditching the 4-4-2 formation for a 4-3-1-2 set-up, which means Francesco Totti will retreat into the hole, Cristiano Doni will be dropped, and another striker (most likely Pippo Inzaghi) will join Christian Vieri up front.
In a sense, Italy is simply reverting to system it has played for most of the past two years (two strikers with Totti behind), but it is nevertheless a courageous decision, as it's unusual for coaches to change teams that play well. Furthermore, picking Inzaghi, who is coming off an injury-riddled season, ahead of the likes of Vincenzo Montella and Alex Del Piero (Italy's other striking options) is also likely to generate controversy.
He had better get it right.
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Gabriele, With the results of Thursday's matches, specifically the Germany-Ireland tie, then how does the tiebreaker work?
For example if Ireland beats Saudi Arabia 1-0 and Germany and Cameroon tie 1-1 according to my calculations (and a nifty spreadsheet I was given that calculates everything all the way through the final) the Germans take the group (with 5 points and goal differential) and Ireland advances as runner-up. Both Ireland and Cameroon have 5 points, 3 goals for, 2 goals against, and a +1 goal differential. Why does Ireland go over Cameroon?
Thanks, I appreciate your insight on this, as I haven't found how the tiebreakers work after the goal differential and then apparently goals for.
-- Mark Berry, Thermopolis, WY
Marcotti: Actually, I think your spreadsheet is flawed. In that scenario (which is not unthinkable), Ireland and Cameroon would be even in all tiebreaking categories. At that point, FIFA would draw lots to determine who stays in the tournament and who goes home. I'm not sure what the exact procedure is -- whether it's a coin toss or what. This sort of thing hasn't happened in a long, long time. I know, it seems crazy that with so much at stake, mere chance should decide who goes through to the second round. But those are the rules.
For the benefit of the others who wrote in, here are the tiebreakers (in order of priority) to determine who advances if two or more teams are level:
1. Number of points
2. Best overall goal difference
3. Number of goals scored
4. Points in head-to-head encounters
5. Goal difference in head-to-head encounters
6. Goals scored in head-to-head encounters
7. Random draw to be conducted by FIFA
Click here to read Marcotti's most recent mailbag, and here to submit a comment or question.
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