Tony Becca
AFTER A first round of 48 matches and 115 goals, a second round of eight matches and 15 goals, and a quarter-final round of four matches and six goals, the World Cup has reached its semi-final stage, and that means that of the 32 teams that started the hunt for football's biggest prize, it's now down to only four.
Surprisingly, however, the top four does not include favourites Brazil and Argentina, and it also does not include England. The top four are Germany, Italy, Portugal and France with the showdown for a place in the final pitting Germany against Italy, and Portugal against France.
BRAZIL SURPRISE
While the eclipse of Brazil must be a surprise to a host of football fans around the world and certainly here in Jamaica, they did not play well yesterday, and for me the big surprise is the absence of Argentina one of the favourites to win the Cup at the start of the tournament, and my pick for title number three up until Friday's exit.
Based on the match-ups for the quarter-finals, it should have been, in my opinion, Argentina over Germany, Italy over Ukraine, England over Portugal, and Brazil over France, and while England and Brazil were disappointing and had only themselves to blame, but for coach Jose Pekerman, despite a good performance by a solid Germany with their home-town advantage, it probably would have been Argentina instead of Germany.
COACH'S LOSS
It is said in football circles that whenever a team wins a match it is the players who win, whenever a team loses a match it is the coach who loses, and in this case, it really does seem that Argentina's loss was due to their coach and not to their players.
In defeating the Ivory Coast
2-1 in one of the best games of the tournament, in demolishing Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in the most dazzling display of the tournament, in dominating a 0-0 draw with the Netherlands, and in defeating Mexico 2-1 in another good performance, Argentina were indebted to Javier Saviola and Hernan Crespo, then to the entire team including captain Juan Sorin, Roberto Ayala, Juan Riquelme, Saviola, Crespo, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi, and then to Riquelme and Crespo again, and to Maxi Rodriquez who, against Mexico in the round of 16, scored arguably the greatest goal to date in the tournament.
On Friday, in the quarter-finals, however, Argentina went down to Germany 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the end of normal time and extra-time, and the fault seems to lie, and must lie, fairly and squarely at the feet of Pekerman the coach who picked the starting 11, who made the changes, and who dictated the tactics on the field.
PEKERMAN SHOULD EXPLAIN
For a start, Pekerman should explain to all the people of Argentina and their fans around the world why Saviola was left out of the starting line-up after playing so well up to then, while combining with Riquelme and Crespo in opening up the opposing defence time and time again; and although he suffered the loss of goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri and had to use up one of his substitutions to replace him, he should explain why, in replacing Riquelme and Crespo, he brought on Estaban Cambiasso and Julio Cruz and not his young, talented prodigy, Messi.
In fact, having decided to omit Saviola from the starting 11, it seems that it should have been Messi in and Tevez out, and Pekerman should also explain why, in that situation, Messi was not in the team from the first whistle.
WHY GO DEFENSIVE?
Most importantly, however, Pekerman should tell the people why, with the score only 1-0, with 18 minutes to go, and with Argentina controlling play, he went defensive by taking off captain Riquelme his attacking midfielder, and Crespo his experienced striker, and replaced them not with one like Messi but with a defensive midfield player in Cambiasso and an ordinary striker like Cruz.
It is ironic that with Argentina scoring in the 49th minute, Germany equalised in the 80th minute eight minutes after Argentina had decided to lock up shop and Riquelme had left the field, one minute after Crespo had left the field, and with only 10 minutes to go to extra-time, with their captain and creative midfielder and their main striker off the field and out of action.
CONGRATS, SEMI-FINALISTS
Congratulations to Germany, Italy, Portugal and France, but although Brazil were the people's favourites, up to when they went out, Argentina appeared the best team in the competition, and it is, certainly for me, a pity that they are not still in it and that they went out the way they did.
One thing is sure, however, Argentina should not have lost with Riquelme and Crespo cooling their heels on the bench and with Saviola and Messi not even getting up off the bench, and because of that, they lost a chance of making it number three, not because of gifted players like Abbondanieri, Ayala, Sorin, Fabricio Coloccini, Gabriel Heinze, Leandro Cufre, Javier Mascharano, Luis Gonzales, Cambiasso, Riquelme, Saviola, Crespo, Tevez and Messi, but more so because of coach Pekerman.
