Offenses in First Quarter of Italy 1 Austalia 0 World Cup Game
054-130 aus offense Culina, Grilla, Wiltshire, Chipperfield, passed ball to each other, all had time and space 40 yds from Italy goal. Grella got ball with nearest Italian 8 yds away. Wiltshire got it right in the middle, ball rolling to him on ground from side, nearest Italian 7 yds away. Chipperfield got ball 30 yds from Italy goal in left middle area. These players all passed the ball away as soon as they got it. This particular drive ended with a weak header by Cahill.
A man gets the ball 35 yds from the Italy goal, with the nearest defender 7 yds away, time and space, ball rolling obediently towards him, and all he can come up with is to pass the ball away like a hot potato immediately? Does not compute. If the nearest defender is 8 yds away and giving you time, this means that if you pass the ball immediately, you are going to be putting team-mates in a tough situation, because since the defender is not right on top of you, he and his team-mates are better able to gang up on your team-mates.
game starts out with both teams exchanging the stereotypical fruitless headers off crosses.
340-400 aus off efforts
345 AUS captain Viduka gets ball left side 25 yds from Italy goal, with his back to the Italy goal, an Italian right behind him, on top of him. As he faced away from the Italy goal, a fellow Australian began running towards a spot to his left, where there was a huge gap in the Italy line. Viduka could have just put the ball in the area of this spot, so as to allow the Australian sprinting towards him to grab the ball then dribble shoot or pass. Instead Viduka attempted to turn with the ball, moving counter-clockwise right shoulder swinging towards the middle of the field. The turn was time consuming, by the time he finished it, a second Italian was there to strip the ball, and 4 Italians were within 5 yds of him, while no Australians were within 5 yds of him. In other words he got buried in Italians, ended up a truly hopeless case.
610-30 aus efforts
606 AUS player gets ball 50 yds from Italy goal, on right nearest Italian 12 yds away, easy rolling ball from middle. He, this Australian player, scooted down the right sideline for approx 20 yds, then retreated the ball all the way to a defender at midfield. The AUS who got it had no Italian near for 15 yds, he passed into the middle to a guy who had an Italian right on top of him, this guy immediately kicked it to a nearby Australian with an Italian right on top of him, who handled a difficult situation excellently by immediately swiveling and passing to the right, threading the needle between two Italians with the pass, there an AUS immediately pushed it out to an AUS on the right wing. The AUS on the right wing burrowed into the corner, under pressure sent in a weak off target cross headed away by an Italian. This combination of passing the ball away immediately to a tightly covered man when you have lots of time and space yourself, combined with a total lack of attack down the middle, combined with obsessively moving the ball to the wing on the sideline, combined with the wing on the sideline getting into trouble burrowing into the corner--it might impress the fat 6th grader, but I don't see how it is going to result in a goal against a defense as strong as Italy's.
650 italy offense effort Gelardino, did nice job of dribbling down cutting back under pressure, but then when he should have sent a short 5 yd pass to a team-mate he attempted to dribble through two AUS got the ball stripped.
825-845 aus offense
833 AUS player in middle of field 50 yds from Italy goal with clear sailing straight ahead, immediately passed to wing on right sideline. The wing on the sideline under pressure sent in a short pass to an AUS who got the ball in an impossible situation with an Italian right on top of him. This kind of play might save you from getting spanked by the stupid teacher but it will not score goals vs Italy.
934 aus offense AUS player Bresciano got ball 30 yds from Italy goal left middle area, as he faced the middle of the field--it came to him on a bounce, bounced off his thigh, he immediately grounded it, and crossed it into Tim Cahill, who had two Italians both bigger and stronger than him right on top of him. The pass was over Cahill's head but even if it had gotten to Cahill it would have merely put Cahill in an impossible situation. Bresciano had a chance to move forward with the ball, in the direction of the Italy goal he had 12 yds of clear sailing, but he came to a stop and sent a well telegraphed pass into an impossible situation. Coaches have to realize part of team-work, is doing a little dribbling so as to free up team-mates.
Nobody has scored a goal against Italy the entire world cup, sez espn announcer.
1145 italian off effort
1254 aus player overled on long pass by 5 yds. USA, England, AUS, they all like to resort to these long passes to streaking forwards, they always overlead on the passes by 5 yds. There could have been a goal here if the pass was not overled. Note of wisdom: if you are going to depend on long passes, then make sure you have the ability to hit these passes accurately.
australia getting plenty of time and space when they have the ball 40-50 yds from the Italy goal.
australia starts out looking like the better team.
1425 italian dribble offensive effort, ended with 4 Italians and 6 Australians around 25 yds from Australia's goal, the Italian dribbler's passing options were cut off by the plethora of Australians, the ball was taken by an AUS defender. In this situation, if the Italian had the ball in the air, Italy would have had a big chance because the Italian would have been able to chip it over the Australians to an open forward. As it was all his possible passes were cut off because the ball was rolling on the ground. These tough defenses are beaten by getting the ball in the air and chipping the passes over the defenders, but the World Cuppers are apparently trained to ground balls instead of getting them up in the air. Note of Wisdom: if the defending team has been stifling ground attacks, resort to getting the ball in the air. If it has been stifling aerial attacks, resort to putting the ball on the ground. The tough Italian and Australian defenses have been stifling ground attacks, yet neither the Australian offense nor the Italian offense has resorted to aerial attacks, maybe they are simply incapable of the kind of aerial attacks I dream of, as a person who can consistently sprint 15 yds keeping the ball off the ground but under control.
Italy plays more like the Latins and AUS plays like USA, I decided Australia was like the USA before I heard the ESPN announcer declare such to be the case.
1700 time space for Chipperfield again, he got the ball with no Italian within 12 yds when he was 50 yds from the goal, sent a telegraphed and well read pass backwards to a man who ended up with an Italian right on top of him, this guy passed it even further back again as the Australian retreat continued, these maneuvers accomplished nothing, maybe Chipperfield was tired.
1715 aus offensive efforts Viduka got the ball left outside corner of penalty box, with back to Italy goal, did his trademark slow successful turnaround which as usual resulted in defenders all over him, then he had to get rid of ball with a short pass, the defender on top of him shifted over to the pass recipient, stripped ball from Australian.
1749 AUS conservative play on air ball-- Then a ball bounced out, slow, easy to handle, in the air, in direction of AUS player who was facing Italy goal 25 yds away from him. He had a chance to move a few yds on the air dribble, set up something surprising and lucky, he just volleyed a weak shot in right away to an Italian defender. I do not see how you can score against Italy without some air dribbling ability, playing so conservatively, not trying to set up situations which a certain amount of the time result in surprising, unusual, positive developments. Look at it this way. The Italian defense has not given up a goal the entire tournament. The usual type of stuff has been thrown at them. Therefore time to do things that result in unusual outcomes.
1800 italian chip-- Italian in middle, facing AUS goal 40 yds away, got ball gently rolling towards him with AUS player 4 yds away. The ball came to the Italian from his right, an AUS defender chased it down from the Italian's left, the Italian could have cut to his left catching the defender moving in the wrong direction, but moved with the ball in the same direction the defender was running. Under pressure this Italian Perrotta chipped into the middle straight ahead, it was the kind of chip pass I would like to get lofted ahead of me, but it was overled.
1900 AUS player in middle with time and space, 45 yds from Italian goal, got easy bounce pass from side, hit it with thigh, trapped it, dribbled a few yds, shot from 30 yds right into other team. He had a chance to initiate an aerial dribble moving forward and to his right. Sure such an aerial dribble would be moving away from the center of the field but the great thing about balls in the air is that you are able to hit them in practically any direction no matter which direction you yourself are going.
Aus not only getting ball time and space close to italy, also AUS has been getting chances to pass to players who would have time and space near the Italy goal, but has been neglecting to make us of these chances. The game AUS played previous to this one, in that game again they were getting the ball time and space fairly close to the other team's goal
1952 Italy has scoring chance italian hesitated on his charge of an air ball shot straight at goalie--as Gilardino jogged towards the AUS goal, in middle of field, 15 yds from AUS goal, luckily a lobbed ball, well headed by another Italian Luca Toni came right at him. The other Italian Toni headed the ball 15 feet in the air and 3 yds backwards, he sort of headed it from a spot 12 yds from the Australian goal to a spot 15 yds from the Australian goal. As Gilardino approached the ball, instead of charging into it and taking it with his foot thigh or head, and then doing something, perhaps air dribbling a couple of yds with it, he slowed down as he approached the ball, allowed it to bounce before he reached it, chested it, and then before it hit the ground lept in the air to volley it Wheaties box photo style right at the AUS goalie. Since he slowed down when he approached the ball, the defender behind him was able to catch up to him and pressure him. If he had run straight into the ball without slowing down, and air dribbled a couple of yds before doing the next thing, he would have been in position to pass it back to Toni, or to shoot in a less pressured more natural fashion compared to shooting with the his body in the air, body parallel to the ground. Getting the ball in the air is not the same thing, young man, as getting the body in the air. I know that I could have in this situation easily charged the ball air dribbled at least a couple of yds and then shot or passed back to Toni who was dangerously open. The AUS man in front of Gilardino had fallen down and was lying on the ground throughout this incident! I have often seen these World Cuppers slow down as they approach such air balls, which surprises me.
2045 italian chance-- Italian, 20 yds from AUS goal, in the middle of the field, with his back to the AUS goal, got a line drive pass from 20 yds away, trapped it with his chest. It bounced in front of him and to his left. After it bounced he could have charged it with his thigh or foot and moved with it in some interesting direction, instead he let it bounce yet again! By this time his body was awkwardly too close to the ball, the AUS defender was encroaching on him, and he kicked it in a pass attempt into a second AUS defender. This Italian could have charged the ball after its first bounce and headed diagonally towards the Australian goal and to his right, towards the right wing corner of the field with the ball on the air dribble. True this would be heading away from the center of the field but amazing things can be done with air balls in terms of directional changes.
ESPN announcer sez Italians one of most glamorous soccer squads in world
2120-30 aus offense chances-- Chipperfield of AUS as usual got the ball with plenty of time and space on the left side of the field 45 yds from Italy goal. He had time and space to mount a ground or air dribble towards the Italy goal. Instead he raced down the left sideline, got the ball stolen, got it back, kicked it to a team-mate, the team-mate hit it in to Australian Captain Viduka, who was to the left of the Italy goal 15 yds from the Italy goal with his back to the Italy goal and a man right on top of him. Viduka as usual turned around with the ball, yet again succeeding in maintaining control of it, he did this by rolling it to his right with his right foot while turning to face the goal so the ball was then on his left foot. But by this time Italians were swarming all over him, three of them were right on top of Captain Viduka and he lost the ball. This passing the ball to some team-mate who has his back to the other team's goal, a defender right on top of him and also does not have the skill to get the ball in the air into the aerial dribble when turning with it, might keep you from getting spanked by the dumb teacher but it does not score goals against Italy.
2150 Italy has scoring chance, good offensive play, good play by goalie also.
The mind boggling thing, is, how can AUS get the ball with time and space close to the opposing goal so often, and yet so rarely even come close to scoring a goal.
The Australians appear to be some kind of imitation of the better teams, they try to finish off their offensive attempts the way the other teams try to finish them off, but they lack the individual finishing skills of the teams they imitate. They have to come to realize, that in skill and ability they differ from the teams they are imitating, and so therefore they need to develop their own unique style of finishing. By finishing I mean, the actual shot on goal and the pass leading to this shot on goal. What AUS looks like, is a bunch of schoolkids whose primary concern is to look good in the eyes of a stupid teacher who wants them to look like the leading emulated teams of the soccer world.
AUS makes mistakes such as passing to the wrong man, shooting when they should be dribbling or passing, passing or shooting when they should mount some kind of individual air dribbling or ground dribbling attack. It is the same old story you see with so many World Cup teams, they are unable to air dribble the ball even a few yards, even though they get plenty of opportunities to initiate such air dribbles. By air dribbling I mean moving with the ball while keeping the ball off the ground yet under control--this could involve the ball bouncing once occasionally also.
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
A man gets the ball 35 yds from the Italy goal, with the nearest defender 7 yds away, time and space, ball rolling obediently towards him, and all he can come up with is to pass the ball away like a hot potato immediately? Does not compute. If the nearest defender is 8 yds away and giving you time, this means that if you pass the ball immediately, you are going to be putting team-mates in a tough situation, because since the defender is not right on top of you, he and his team-mates are better able to gang up on your team-mates.
game starts out with both teams exchanging the stereotypical fruitless headers off crosses.
340-400 aus off efforts
345 AUS captain Viduka gets ball left side 25 yds from Italy goal, with his back to the Italy goal, an Italian right behind him, on top of him. As he faced away from the Italy goal, a fellow Australian began running towards a spot to his left, where there was a huge gap in the Italy line. Viduka could have just put the ball in the area of this spot, so as to allow the Australian sprinting towards him to grab the ball then dribble shoot or pass. Instead Viduka attempted to turn with the ball, moving counter-clockwise right shoulder swinging towards the middle of the field. The turn was time consuming, by the time he finished it, a second Italian was there to strip the ball, and 4 Italians were within 5 yds of him, while no Australians were within 5 yds of him. In other words he got buried in Italians, ended up a truly hopeless case.
610-30 aus efforts
606 AUS player gets ball 50 yds from Italy goal, on right nearest Italian 12 yds away, easy rolling ball from middle. He, this Australian player, scooted down the right sideline for approx 20 yds, then retreated the ball all the way to a defender at midfield. The AUS who got it had no Italian near for 15 yds, he passed into the middle to a guy who had an Italian right on top of him, this guy immediately kicked it to a nearby Australian with an Italian right on top of him, who handled a difficult situation excellently by immediately swiveling and passing to the right, threading the needle between two Italians with the pass, there an AUS immediately pushed it out to an AUS on the right wing. The AUS on the right wing burrowed into the corner, under pressure sent in a weak off target cross headed away by an Italian. This combination of passing the ball away immediately to a tightly covered man when you have lots of time and space yourself, combined with a total lack of attack down the middle, combined with obsessively moving the ball to the wing on the sideline, combined with the wing on the sideline getting into trouble burrowing into the corner--it might impress the fat 6th grader, but I don't see how it is going to result in a goal against a defense as strong as Italy's.
650 italy offense effort Gelardino, did nice job of dribbling down cutting back under pressure, but then when he should have sent a short 5 yd pass to a team-mate he attempted to dribble through two AUS got the ball stripped.
825-845 aus offense
833 AUS player in middle of field 50 yds from Italy goal with clear sailing straight ahead, immediately passed to wing on right sideline. The wing on the sideline under pressure sent in a short pass to an AUS who got the ball in an impossible situation with an Italian right on top of him. This kind of play might save you from getting spanked by the stupid teacher but it will not score goals vs Italy.
934 aus offense AUS player Bresciano got ball 30 yds from Italy goal left middle area, as he faced the middle of the field--it came to him on a bounce, bounced off his thigh, he immediately grounded it, and crossed it into Tim Cahill, who had two Italians both bigger and stronger than him right on top of him. The pass was over Cahill's head but even if it had gotten to Cahill it would have merely put Cahill in an impossible situation. Bresciano had a chance to move forward with the ball, in the direction of the Italy goal he had 12 yds of clear sailing, but he came to a stop and sent a well telegraphed pass into an impossible situation. Coaches have to realize part of team-work, is doing a little dribbling so as to free up team-mates.
Nobody has scored a goal against Italy the entire world cup, sez espn announcer.
1145 italian off effort
1254 aus player overled on long pass by 5 yds. USA, England, AUS, they all like to resort to these long passes to streaking forwards, they always overlead on the passes by 5 yds. There could have been a goal here if the pass was not overled. Note of wisdom: if you are going to depend on long passes, then make sure you have the ability to hit these passes accurately.
australia getting plenty of time and space when they have the ball 40-50 yds from the Italy goal.
australia starts out looking like the better team.
1425 italian dribble offensive effort, ended with 4 Italians and 6 Australians around 25 yds from Australia's goal, the Italian dribbler's passing options were cut off by the plethora of Australians, the ball was taken by an AUS defender. In this situation, if the Italian had the ball in the air, Italy would have had a big chance because the Italian would have been able to chip it over the Australians to an open forward. As it was all his possible passes were cut off because the ball was rolling on the ground. These tough defenses are beaten by getting the ball in the air and chipping the passes over the defenders, but the World Cuppers are apparently trained to ground balls instead of getting them up in the air. Note of Wisdom: if the defending team has been stifling ground attacks, resort to getting the ball in the air. If it has been stifling aerial attacks, resort to putting the ball on the ground. The tough Italian and Australian defenses have been stifling ground attacks, yet neither the Australian offense nor the Italian offense has resorted to aerial attacks, maybe they are simply incapable of the kind of aerial attacks I dream of, as a person who can consistently sprint 15 yds keeping the ball off the ground but under control.
Italy plays more like the Latins and AUS plays like USA, I decided Australia was like the USA before I heard the ESPN announcer declare such to be the case.
1700 time space for Chipperfield again, he got the ball with no Italian within 12 yds when he was 50 yds from the goal, sent a telegraphed and well read pass backwards to a man who ended up with an Italian right on top of him, this guy passed it even further back again as the Australian retreat continued, these maneuvers accomplished nothing, maybe Chipperfield was tired.
1715 aus offensive efforts Viduka got the ball left outside corner of penalty box, with back to Italy goal, did his trademark slow successful turnaround which as usual resulted in defenders all over him, then he had to get rid of ball with a short pass, the defender on top of him shifted over to the pass recipient, stripped ball from Australian.
1749 AUS conservative play on air ball-- Then a ball bounced out, slow, easy to handle, in the air, in direction of AUS player who was facing Italy goal 25 yds away from him. He had a chance to move a few yds on the air dribble, set up something surprising and lucky, he just volleyed a weak shot in right away to an Italian defender. I do not see how you can score against Italy without some air dribbling ability, playing so conservatively, not trying to set up situations which a certain amount of the time result in surprising, unusual, positive developments. Look at it this way. The Italian defense has not given up a goal the entire tournament. The usual type of stuff has been thrown at them. Therefore time to do things that result in unusual outcomes.
1800 italian chip-- Italian in middle, facing AUS goal 40 yds away, got ball gently rolling towards him with AUS player 4 yds away. The ball came to the Italian from his right, an AUS defender chased it down from the Italian's left, the Italian could have cut to his left catching the defender moving in the wrong direction, but moved with the ball in the same direction the defender was running. Under pressure this Italian Perrotta chipped into the middle straight ahead, it was the kind of chip pass I would like to get lofted ahead of me, but it was overled.
1900 AUS player in middle with time and space, 45 yds from Italian goal, got easy bounce pass from side, hit it with thigh, trapped it, dribbled a few yds, shot from 30 yds right into other team. He had a chance to initiate an aerial dribble moving forward and to his right. Sure such an aerial dribble would be moving away from the center of the field but the great thing about balls in the air is that you are able to hit them in practically any direction no matter which direction you yourself are going.
Aus not only getting ball time and space close to italy, also AUS has been getting chances to pass to players who would have time and space near the Italy goal, but has been neglecting to make us of these chances. The game AUS played previous to this one, in that game again they were getting the ball time and space fairly close to the other team's goal
1952 Italy has scoring chance italian hesitated on his charge of an air ball shot straight at goalie--as Gilardino jogged towards the AUS goal, in middle of field, 15 yds from AUS goal, luckily a lobbed ball, well headed by another Italian Luca Toni came right at him. The other Italian Toni headed the ball 15 feet in the air and 3 yds backwards, he sort of headed it from a spot 12 yds from the Australian goal to a spot 15 yds from the Australian goal. As Gilardino approached the ball, instead of charging into it and taking it with his foot thigh or head, and then doing something, perhaps air dribbling a couple of yds with it, he slowed down as he approached the ball, allowed it to bounce before he reached it, chested it, and then before it hit the ground lept in the air to volley it Wheaties box photo style right at the AUS goalie. Since he slowed down when he approached the ball, the defender behind him was able to catch up to him and pressure him. If he had run straight into the ball without slowing down, and air dribbled a couple of yds before doing the next thing, he would have been in position to pass it back to Toni, or to shoot in a less pressured more natural fashion compared to shooting with the his body in the air, body parallel to the ground. Getting the ball in the air is not the same thing, young man, as getting the body in the air. I know that I could have in this situation easily charged the ball air dribbled at least a couple of yds and then shot or passed back to Toni who was dangerously open. The AUS man in front of Gilardino had fallen down and was lying on the ground throughout this incident! I have often seen these World Cuppers slow down as they approach such air balls, which surprises me.
2045 italian chance-- Italian, 20 yds from AUS goal, in the middle of the field, with his back to the AUS goal, got a line drive pass from 20 yds away, trapped it with his chest. It bounced in front of him and to his left. After it bounced he could have charged it with his thigh or foot and moved with it in some interesting direction, instead he let it bounce yet again! By this time his body was awkwardly too close to the ball, the AUS defender was encroaching on him, and he kicked it in a pass attempt into a second AUS defender. This Italian could have charged the ball after its first bounce and headed diagonally towards the Australian goal and to his right, towards the right wing corner of the field with the ball on the air dribble. True this would be heading away from the center of the field but amazing things can be done with air balls in terms of directional changes.
ESPN announcer sez Italians one of most glamorous soccer squads in world
2120-30 aus offense chances-- Chipperfield of AUS as usual got the ball with plenty of time and space on the left side of the field 45 yds from Italy goal. He had time and space to mount a ground or air dribble towards the Italy goal. Instead he raced down the left sideline, got the ball stolen, got it back, kicked it to a team-mate, the team-mate hit it in to Australian Captain Viduka, who was to the left of the Italy goal 15 yds from the Italy goal with his back to the Italy goal and a man right on top of him. Viduka as usual turned around with the ball, yet again succeeding in maintaining control of it, he did this by rolling it to his right with his right foot while turning to face the goal so the ball was then on his left foot. But by this time Italians were swarming all over him, three of them were right on top of Captain Viduka and he lost the ball. This passing the ball to some team-mate who has his back to the other team's goal, a defender right on top of him and also does not have the skill to get the ball in the air into the aerial dribble when turning with it, might keep you from getting spanked by the dumb teacher but it does not score goals against Italy.
2150 Italy has scoring chance, good offensive play, good play by goalie also.
The mind boggling thing, is, how can AUS get the ball with time and space close to the opposing goal so often, and yet so rarely even come close to scoring a goal.
The Australians appear to be some kind of imitation of the better teams, they try to finish off their offensive attempts the way the other teams try to finish them off, but they lack the individual finishing skills of the teams they imitate. They have to come to realize, that in skill and ability they differ from the teams they are imitating, and so therefore they need to develop their own unique style of finishing. By finishing I mean, the actual shot on goal and the pass leading to this shot on goal. What AUS looks like, is a bunch of schoolkids whose primary concern is to look good in the eyes of a stupid teacher who wants them to look like the leading emulated teams of the soccer world.
AUS makes mistakes such as passing to the wrong man, shooting when they should be dribbling or passing, passing or shooting when they should mount some kind of individual air dribbling or ground dribbling attack. It is the same old story you see with so many World Cup teams, they are unable to air dribble the ball even a few yards, even though they get plenty of opportunities to initiate such air dribbles. By air dribbling I mean moving with the ball while keeping the ball off the ground yet under control--this could involve the ball bouncing once occasionally also.
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
posted by David Virgil at 3:43 AM
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