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Boring or beautiful? You be the judge
Posted: Friday June 19, 1998 11:30 PM
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Goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert kept Spain off the scoreboard (AP) |
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- Those who don't like soccer might have renamed
Group D "The group of Dull" after Friday's contests. But for those in the
know, a scoreless draw and a 1-0 win for Nigeria were
both things of beauty. Spain came into the day desperate for a win
and Paraguay knew
it. With an offense that has been fairly punchless, Paraguay knew its
chances to score were not high. So it made the decision early in the
contest to play for one point with a draw, and take its chances in the
final match of the first round. The Spaniards came at Paraguay's
defense time and again, but goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert was more than up
to the task. The man who is so eager to score a goal in this World Cup may
move his country into the second round because of his play with his
hands. Chilavert kept Spain off the
scoreboard, and Paraguay picked up another point, giving it two after 180
minutes of scoreless soccer. Amazingly, no goals has added up to the
second-most points in Group D behind Nigeria, which clinched the top spot
in the group with a 1-0 win over Bulgaria.
Bulgaria is no longer the team it was in '94, that is for sure after
watching Friday's contest. Four years ago, the score would have been 4-1
Bulgaria, but the squad is no longer capable of finishing the chances it
has. Hristo Stoichkov has always bickered with the referees, but
it is clearly not helping his team now, and he's visibly frustrated on the
field with his inability to play as he once did. Nigeria gave Bulgaria
multiple opportunites to score because of its porous defense, but the
Bulgarians just did not convert - period. Their inability to score
certainly did not make the game dull, though. Nigeria plays an open
end-to-end style that both creates outstanding chances and yields them too.
Bora Milutinovic's squad plays with fire on a daily basis and eventually it
will get burned. That's what makes the group so interesting now.
Nigeria has all but admitted it sandbagged in contests preceding the
tournament, getting outscored 12-1 in its final three friendly matches. So
what does one make of the final two matches in Group D? Will
Nigeria lay down and die to Paraguay, giving Chilavert and company the
three points needed to move on? Or will the Super Eagles risk injury to
their top players and go all out in the contest for a win? No matter what
Bora may say in the next few days, what he will do is totally unknown until
Nigeria takes the field. That has to be all the more maddening for
Spain which must win and pray. It must beat Bulgaria and pray Nigeria does
the same or draws with Paraguay. Now you understand why the draw Friday
between Paraguay and Spain left one team ecstatic and another quite
nervous. Spain was a chic choice to make the finals before the
tournament began. Now it is the hip choice as the big name most likely to
have its dance card remain unpunched for the second round.
Player of the Day: Jose Luis Chilavert. He didn't even get to
take a free kick shot at Spain's goal, but the charismatic Chilavert will
certainly go to sleep Friday night a happy man. In two games he has
hold Paraguay's opposition scoreless, and the other action in Group D has
unfolded in such a way that the team regarded as the weakest of the four
controls its own destiny heading into the final games of the round.
Chilavert was at his best Friday both with his play and with his mouth.
He stopped everything Spain threw at him, and he was just as quick to let
the Spanish attackers know it. The trash-talking goalkeeper is the
one legitimate star on his team, and Friday he showed it. If he does it
against Nigeria, they'll likely name a holiday for him in Paraguay.
The Goal of the Day: Viktor Ikpeba. Not much choice here, seeing
as only one ball found the back of the net Friday. That's not to say it was
not an impressive one, though. With Nigeria moving the ball around
and through the Bulgarian defense with impressive precision, Ikpeba
collected the ball at the top of the box and made a move that left his
defender trying to figure out where he should go to pick up his
undergarments, seeing as he'd just gotten disrobed in front of 40,000 fans
and a worldwide television audience. Freed of his defender, Ikpeba
ripped a shot just to the left of the goalkeeper giving Nigeria a 1-0 lead
that held up the remaining 60 minutes of the game. Outlook for
Saturday: Mexican fans were ready to play Belgium 20
minutes after their country's squad knocked off South Korea
3-1. Six days later, they are still just as set to go, realizing that a
victory in this game would clinch a second-round berth, a draw would not be
horrible, and a loss would put the team back at square one with one match
to play. But playing a full-strength Belgian squad is not the same
as playing a 10-man South Korean team. Belgium plays whatever style is
necessary for its goal, reaching the second round. Against the Netherlands
in its first contest, Belgium was content to pack its defense in and play
for a draw against the top team in the group, even when the Dutch lost
striker Patrick Kluivert to a red card with 10 minutes to play.
Saturday against Mexico, the
Belgians will play more offensively, but not much. For a draw sets them up
perfectly to take the second spot in Group E. They finish with South Korea,
the worst of the group's four squads, while Mexico must play top power the
Netherlands. A draw against Mexico and a win over South Korea would
leave Belgium with five points, while Mexico would have only four points if
it draws with Belgium and loses to the Dutch. It's playing by the
percentages, yes, but Belgium did it in its first game, and there's no
reason to think it won't do so Saturday. Certainly Belgium will be more
offensive, but Mexico is not likely to find a Belgian team that pushes
forward and exposes itself to the counterattack.
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