Kaka makes the difference
And so the world champions start off the tournament with a win , though many complain that they didn't pull their victory off in style. Personally I was quite happy with their style of play, cool and calm passing and gradually building the attack up. More importantly playing as a team.Its good to see that these guys still play the South American style of football even though almost all of them play for big European clubs.What a goal that was, came from the left foot of Kaka, that was a sweetly struck shot teasing the goalie.This looks more likely to be the world cup of Kaka.
I was happy with everything except for Ronaldo's form. He has been my favourite player(Striker) for almost 8-9 years now right from his season with Barca. I have been following him play his club football pretty close and from what I saw yesterday he is definitely not a 100% match fit Ronaldo. Though he is not a player who runs at defences, I couldn't see him make his disguised trademark bursts,except for a couple which his team mates didn't honour. His first touch was also pretty poor. I know a lots of critics have come down strongly on the Ronaldo and wanted him to be dropped for Robinho.IMO the coach might not do it.After all Ronaldo has not been playing the primera liga matches for quite sometime due to injury and he might need time to be match-fit. The only way to get there is play as many matches as he can. Its a gamble, which the coach can attempt to try for the next two matches as the opponents are not as strong as Croatians.
If he gets back his form then I would definitely vouch for Brazil's 'Hexa'(bcos I never expected Lucio to be such a good defensive player..the defense yesterday was awesome) and if not they can always go on with lightning Robinho.
The 1998 champions looked pale too,but I think they might reach the knock-out stages if they pushed themselves a bit hard.So Les Blues pick yourselves up, not for your nation,not for your fans, not for the cup - but for the talismanic Zidane. He deserves a better farewell from football not a first round exit from World cup.
PS: I hate to listen to the Pro-European commentary from ESPN. How good it would be if these channels offered the spectators screaming and shouting slogans in one audio channel and the commentary in another audio channel.I could easily neglect the commentary.Oh..no Steve Slater not you,I'm not calling you a Pro-european. You not in the league yet.There is a better name for you - Anti-Ferrari.
I was happy with everything except for Ronaldo's form. He has been my favourite player(Striker) for almost 8-9 years now right from his season with Barca. I have been following him play his club football pretty close and from what I saw yesterday he is definitely not a 100% match fit Ronaldo. Though he is not a player who runs at defences, I couldn't see him make his disguised trademark bursts,except for a couple which his team mates didn't honour. His first touch was also pretty poor. I know a lots of critics have come down strongly on the Ronaldo and wanted him to be dropped for Robinho.IMO the coach might not do it.After all Ronaldo has not been playing the primera liga matches for quite sometime due to injury and he might need time to be match-fit. The only way to get there is play as many matches as he can. Its a gamble, which the coach can attempt to try for the next two matches as the opponents are not as strong as Croatians.
If he gets back his form then I would definitely vouch for Brazil's 'Hexa'(bcos I never expected Lucio to be such a good defensive player..the defense yesterday was awesome) and if not they can always go on with lightning Robinho.
The 1998 champions looked pale too,but I think they might reach the knock-out stages if they pushed themselves a bit hard.So Les Blues pick yourselves up, not for your nation,not for your fans, not for the cup - but for the talismanic Zidane. He deserves a better farewell from football not a first round exit from World cup.
PS: I hate to listen to the Pro-European commentary from ESPN. How good it would be if these channels offered the spectators screaming and shouting slogans in one audio channel and the commentary in another audio channel.I could easily neglect the commentary.Oh..no Steve Slater not you,I'm not calling you a Pro-european. You not in the league yet.There is a better name for you - Anti-Ferrari.
posted by srivat at 10:35 PM
9 Comments:
hi..nice post...but i think we hardly get to hear a proper commentry on ESPN as its mostly in hindi...which really sucks...otherwise watching FB have been gr8...:)
Steve Slater is Pro-Ferrari. That guy Chris Goodwin is a Ferrari hater!
Yes Brazil won, but the way they won was rubbish. I dont agree with most people here that the brazillian defense was solid. It was the croatian attack that just lacked an extra attacker, as there was loads of space in the brazillian half. The croatians were not moving the ball around, like changing flanks. Brazillian marking in the set piece was pathetic to say the least, Igor Tudor was totally unmarked and cud have easily scored a goal. Brazil were also guilty of giving away possession in their own half, but luckily croatia did not have any electric fast strikers to take advantage of such situations. Emerson was really thrash and he was committing fouls too easily. Croatia were even able to make short passes and 1-2's inside the brazillian penalty box. Dida was decent but each time he saved the ball, the ball was lying right in front of the goal, luckily some brazillian defender was around to clear the ball.
In the midfield, even before the goal was scored brazil were not looking to be threatening. Croatia were very hesitant to attack on the counter and were contend to play the ball to the flanks. The worrying part for Brazil is that in the entire 90 minutes they cud not create a decent move for their strikers, who were totally out of sync, with the rest of the players. Adriano cud not even register 1 shot on goal.
The set pieces were again a disappointment. RC and Dinho were not able to cause enough trouble for the croatian defence. I was also not too impressed with the croatian defense, they were leaving too much free space for the likes of Dinho and Kaka very close to the penalty area as it finally proved with the goal from Kaka.
The croatians were pathetic with the set-pieces. There was not even a decent set-piece and when it did come brazil were no where near Tudor.
Brazil crucially were able to get the 3 points and that is wht is most important in the first game of a team.
i was more impressed by the energy levels of cafu and carlos... they were everywhere...
imagine what a goal it would have been, had carlos shot his first attempt into the net...
robinho starred in the little 20 minutes... that he got... a great asset for brazil in the years to come.
Srivat,
I watched the match :-) atleast the first half.. And thanks to you and your blogs, I already knew half the names :) Am not a qualified spectator but the fever was so much, I didn't wanna miss being a part of it...I did like the match and the spirit. and yeah, as Balaji said I was impressed by Carlos :)
Mj,
Thanks and welcome :-).
I beleive ESPN provides commentary in both English and Hindi.So it should be possible to choose between the two.
Ferrari,
Yeah..Steve was and still says he is a pro-ferrari but off late some of his antics made me say this.I can put up with Chris..atleast he reveals some technical details.
Anon,
I do think that Brazil didn't perform to their best. I never expected Brazil to come out with a clean sheet.thats why I was surprised. Some of the balls Lucio won was really good. Blame it on Croats,they should have attacked more.
About midfielders, same again.It was not upto their standard.Croats were interested in not conceding the goal.
Dead ball - I expected Juninho to come in at some point.He is one hell of a dead ball kicker.But CP didn't bring him.I'm not a great admirer of Adriano.He plays more like an european player than like a Brazillian.
Bala,
RC and Cafu as you say were everywhere in the pitch.Thats how they play and thats why Brazil are troubled at times.But its fun to watch :-).
And about Robinho, I feel he should have started the game with Ronaldo/Adriano on bench.When Robinho had energy none of the others had it in them, and dint feel like attacking.Ronaldo could have been brought up in the second half.
Yadhvi,
wow..super.
Keep watching and i'm sure you will have enjoy it.
Impressed with carlos..there is more to come in the days to follow. :-)
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