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No more room for slip-ups
U.S.-Korea draw provides edge-of-seat excitement
Posted: Monday June 10, 2002 10:58 AM
Updated: Tuesday June 11, 2002 12:34 PM
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.
The U.S. and South Korea served up quite a spectacle in their 1-1 draw in Group D on Monday, as the last of the World Cup's 32 teams played their second matches -- and only two berths in the last 16 decided.
Guus Hiddink's men play the game at a thousand miles an hour (or, at least, it feels that way), but the United States matched them blow-for-blow for much of the match. Buoyed by the return of Clint Mathis and Claudio Reyna, Bruce Arena went for the jugular by fielding a front four of Landon Donovan, Clint Mathis, Brian McBride and DaMarcus Beasley. It was the right decision as the U.S. managed to counterattack quickly and, with South Korea equally aggressive going forward, it was exciting, edge-of-seat stuff.
Mathis took his opener well, but, in the final minutes, Korea (who missed a penalty with Lee Eul Yong) deservedly equalized through Ahn Jung Hwan. His goal celebration -- a reference to the speedskating controversy at the Olympic games -- was rather interesting (if a bit dubious) to say the least.
Portugal came back with a vengeance, beating Poland 4-0 to stay alive in Group D. Coach Antonio Oliveira reshuffled his pack, dropping Rui Costa and inserting Paulo Bento, a ball-winner, in his place. This was important as it allowed the likes of Joao Pinto, Luis Figo and Sergio Conceicao to push forward more, providing better support to the lone striker Pauleta.
Poland showed better spirit, but was still largely devoid of ideas, beyond looking for Emanuel Olisadebe. A disappointing campaign for Jerzy Engel's troops.
In Group H, Tunisia kept its meager hopes of advancing alive by snatching a 1-1 draw with Belgium, which again looked disappointing. The Tunisians were overmatched physically (every Belgian starter was at least 6-feet tall), but battled gamely and fully deserved to equalize. Belgium is now in trouble, not so much in terms of results, but because of its lackluster displays. Then again, it wouldn't be Belgium if it dazzled us with is fine attacking performances, right?
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Pauleta (Portugal).
Unlike the opener against the U.S., he got some genuine support from midfield and was able to show what he could do, responding with a wonderful hat trick to send Poland crashing out of the World Cup. What's more, he showed his unselfish side as well. Late in the game, Pauleta had a clear chance to score his fourth, but left it for Manuel Rui Costa, a player in clear need of a boost. Rui Costa missed on that occasion (he had scored earlier), but no doubt appreciated his teammate's looking out for him. A class act.
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Lee Eul Yong (South Korea).
An old soccer adage says that "goalkeepers don't save penalties, strikers miss them." No matter how well Brad Friedel did in stopping Yong's shot (and Friedel did very well), the Korean should have done much better. Depending on results Friday, it could cost the co-hosts their place in the competition. For his sake, let's hope it does not.
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Riadh Bouazizi (Tunisia).
A stunning, magnificently executed freekick that helped Tunisia share the spoils and keep the World Cup dream alive. Bouazizi's goal ranks with the all-time great World Cup free kicks.
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After more goofy performances in the Tunisa vs. Belgium game (which featured linesmen from India and New Zealand) and Portugal vs. Poland (Tomas Hajto stomps on Joao Pinto, the Egyptian linesman misses it entirely -- this much was obvious from his reaction when referee Hugh Dallas asked him if he had seen anything), I'm left with the following stat.
Italy, Spain, Holland, England, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic are the only countries to have reached the final of the World Cup. Those 11 nations are contributing a total of eight linesmen to the World Cup.
New Zealand, Vanuatu Levu, Zimbabwe, Canada, Trinidad, El Salvador, Antigua, India, Singapore, the Maldives and Lebanon (combined) have never reached the final of the World Cup, indeed, between them, they've managed to even qualify for the World Cup three times. And yet, these 11 nations are contributing 11 linesmen to the competition.
What's wrong with this picture?
How much longer do we need to endure inexperienced and out-of-depth officials?
According to the FIFA Web site, Mark Shield, the Australian who took charge of Belgium vs. Tunisia, is 28 years old (!) and has been a FIFA referee since January 1, 1999. Are these really the types of people who we want at the greatest soccer competition in the world?
Being from Europe or South America or other traditional soccer powers of course is no guarantee of competent refereeing (witness Jens Larsen's performance in the Croatia vs. Italy game). Anybody can make mistakes. But surely you'd want to ensure the presence of referees who are both competent and experienced at the World Cup? Is that too much to ask?
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No more room for slip-ups from here on out.
In Group A, world champion France needs to win by a two-goal margin against Denmark -- otherwise, it's curtains. Under-fire boss Roger Lemerre will likely risk Zinedine Zidane, but Thierry Henry and Emanuel Petit are both suspended. The Danes have looked lively so far, especially coming forward, but against France it will be all about how well they can defend.
Playing simultaneously, Uruguay's mandate is pretty clear: beat Senegal. The Africans, on the other hand, can settle for a draw. Attacking in numbers isn't really Uruguay's game (whereas counterattcking suits Senegal just fine), but at this stage, Victor Pua's men don't really have a choice.
In Group E, Germany is in the driver's seat. A win or a draw against Cameroon will see Rudi Voeller's men through to the next round. Ireland is expected to get the win it needs against Saudi Arabia (though the Saudis are far from pushovers as they showed against Cameroon), but much will depend on the final scoreline. A two-goal win by Ireland will knock Cameroon out of the tournament (unless the Africans beat Germany, in which case they and Ireland both advance). Beyond that, we get into goal difference, where Ireland has a slight edge over Cameroon.
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David Trezeguet (Frence).
He talked the talk, criticizing coach Roger Lemerre, now he needs to walk the walk, delivering the goals to lift France into the next round. With Henry suspended and Djibril Cisse still too inexperienced to be relied upon, it's up to the Serie A top scorer to deliver the goods against Denmark.
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Since Vieri's goal was clear -- on the replay -- and with countless gamewatchers, to say the least -- will the score be changed by the officials as was in the case during the recent Olympics in regards to the skaters?
--Kim Constantine, Fountain Valley, California
Answer: No, soccer doesn't do that. To my knowledge, the only times scorelines have been changed is when teams used ineligible players or when there has been crowd trouble.
In my opinion, this is the right way to go. What happened at the Olympics was ludicrous. Yes, referees make mistakes, but I think the best we can do is ensure the best refs handle the biggest games.
I'm against video replay as well. Or rather, I can see it being used to determine whether a ball has crossed the goalline and to punish players after matches (for events not seen by referees, as is commonly already done). Beyond that, instant replay would only slow down the game and, unless it could be equally enforced at all levels of the game, I'm against it.
Click here to read Marcotti's most recent mailbag, and here to submit a comment or question.
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