2nd quarter of France 1 Portugal 0 2006 World Cup Game
2255-2400 Portugal on offense--they get lots of situations wherein they have the ball time and space 40-45 yds from the France goal.
Portugal wears an old fashioned Christian cross on their shirt. So does their coach Scolari--Scolari's shirt is white, the shirts of the players are a color that is like a mix of brown and crimson.
2406 Zidane of France does skillful job of deflecting roller coming in from 1 O'Clock in fighter pilot lingo, to 4 O'Clock.
2420 Vieira of France, got a one bounce pass from 12 O'Clock, used his left foot to deflect it to 8 O'Clock (12 O'Clock corresponds to straight in front of you). after he deflected it to 8 O'Clock it bounced once in front of him and then a Port defender intercepted it. However if Vieira had not overled himself, he would have had a ball in front of him, at a moderate speed, that bounced once in front of him; I would have loved to have been in Vieira's shoes after he did this to start a forward aerial air dribble I encounter balls such as Vieira set up for himself here all the time when I practice dribbling the ball at a sprint keeping it off the ground under control. Thus though the announcer loudly lamented the fact that although Vieira had some room and that his first touch on the ball failed, I appreciated what Vieira had done in the positive sense-- to me it represented the evolution of the World cuppers from H Erectus to H Sapiens so to speak.
2600 Zidane on ground dribble run up middle, slips by one Port defender by putting the ball to the Port defender's right and his body to the Port defender's left. Then his attempt to pass off was intercepted.
2635-2720 Portugal farts around with the ball at midfield for a long time unmolested, then finally sends in long cross to France goalie. I wonder if there are any rules against just passing the ball around in circles in your own half of the field forever. I've heard Portugal has done well in Penalty kicks used to decide ties, I wonder if such boring farting around midfield is part of their plan.
2730-2750 France gets ball in middle, passes to left inside forward area, there a Frenchman puts on a clinic of dribbling left and right--he faked out the Port defender by faking to his right and then moving left, but after this he had an tough angle for a shot. He did not attempt to dribble by the Port defender towards the Portugal goal.
2810 yet again Port gets ground ball, time space 35 yds from France goal, fails on forward ground dribble.
2830 Frenchman dribbles on forward diagonal from right sideline towards middle, passes back to Zidane, Zidane passes back, France loses ball.
3035 French forward does three touch aerial dribble with feet and thigh moving towards sideline for a couple of yards, grounds ball, retreats, pass intercepted.
3045 Portugal gets time and space on ground ball 35 yds from France goal, moves forward on ground dribble, pass intercepted. The Ports time and again, around 35 yds from the France goal, are getting grounded balls in their possession with the nearest French defender five yards away this is characteristic of this game. Comparatively in other games in this world cup the attacking players have been getting often bouncing or air balls and time and about 8 yds of space 45 yds from the other team's goal.
3115 France scores-- The Frenchman got a ground ball in the middle of the field 40 yds from the Port goal. The nearest Port was 10 yds away. He passed forward to French Captain Zidane who was covered Zidane passed back to him now he was 35 yds from the goal but the nearest Port was 6 yds away. He then passed a short 10 yd roller to his right, the recipient ground dribbled at a forward diagonal from the right middle area of the field to the left middle area, and then sent a 10 yd grounder diagonally forward and to his right to another Frenchman right on the forward edge of the Port penalty box. This Frenchman had his back to the right sideline, stopped the ball, swiveled to face the goal while dribbling the ball with the outside of his right foot. the Port marking him, missed or grazed the ball as he fell, then the Frenchman tripped over the Port's outstretched leg.
Looking at the slow motion replay it was obvious the Port deliberately fell backwards as he stretched out his foot to trip Henry. The ref called this infraction well, without using slow motion or replay video. A deadly penalty inside the penalty box was called by the ref. You can moan and groan about the call by the ref playing such an important part in the game, the fact remains France showed skill and intelligence getting the ball to a forward in the penalty box who was in a situation such that the Port marking him had to risk a penalty in the penalty box to stop him.
Penalties inside the penalty box are severely punished, rules are rules. The rules of the game are already to harshly tilted against offensive players attempting to score. The harshness of the punishments for fouls in the penalty box has an inhibiting effect on defenders.
France chose Zidane to take the kick--it is annoying that in tie breaking penalty kicks the players who take the kicks are chosen at random, but at least in this case France could choose who would take the penalty kick. The goalie guessed correctly that the ball would be shot to his right, dove in that direction, his outstretched hand 3 feet from his right goalpost slightly deflected it as it was 2 feet above the ground and 2 feet fron Portugal's right goalpost, France 1 Portugal 0.
3420 another portugal chance fairly close to goal, with time and space on ground dribble, ends ineffectually.
3443 Zidane raced back to strip a Port who was facing the France goal 40 yds away from him, with the nearest Port defenders in front of him 8 yds away. All day the Ports had been getting these kinds of chances, easy ground roller in their possession less than 40 yds from the goal. All day France had been allowing them to get away with this. But here in this instance, a French attacker, Zidane, had finally had enough, and raced back to strip the Port of the ball. This is the problem with the style of ground dribbling attack in which the attacker takes it easy as he slowly dribbles towards the defender--the defending team's attackers can race back to strip you of the ball. But as it turned out this steal by Zidane was the only time the entire first half that a French attacking player came back to harass a Portuguese attacker who had time and space with the ball.
3525-3537 Ports 40 yds away from the goal again have easy rollers in their possession time and space more than once. Maniche got the ball 40 yds from French goal it rolled to him from his left slowly. He turned to face the French goal. The nearest French defender was 11 yards in front of him. He dribbled forward once wound up and shot from 42 yards, the shot traveled 30 yds low off the ground, bounced once went straight to the goalie who caught it. This is the second time in this first half this Maniche, has had the ball, and plenty of time and space 40 yds from the French goal, and then gone on to wind up and fire this kind of breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot. He has missed a goal both times, although he snaked the shots through the defenders.
The announcer loudly growled about what a dangerous shot it was. But I could see that for the goalie it was an easy shot to handle--the goalie handled it lazily, like an easy ball in a practice drill. The shot angles that would have produced a hard to handle shot, were blocked off by French defenders (the breakfast-cereal-box-photo executives and the simpletons did not notice this).
In the penalty kick, the attacking player takes an unmolested shot with the goalie the only defender, from 12 yds away from the goal in the middle of the field. In the 2006 World Cup so far there have been 16 penalty kick attempts of which 12 were goals. That is not counting the performance of the teams on the overtime penalty kick shootout statistics, which has been even worse.
Portugal reached the semifinals by beating England in an overtime penalty kick shootout in which 9 penalty kicks were attempted by both teams of which only 4 resulted in goals. Germany which plays Portugal for third place on July 8 reached the semifinals where it lost to Italy, by defeating Argentina in a penalty kick shootout in which there were 8 attempts of which 6 succeeded. The Portuguese percentage in its penalty kick shootout against England was 3 for 5 60 percent. Maniche has a strong looking face but he is not built like a powerhouse at 6 feet tall and 159 pounds. But here he is continually blasting shots from 40 yards out.
Maniche here could have air dribbled forwards 3 yds and then chipped the ball either 15 yds ahead to a Port on the front line of the France penalty box who had slipped between two defenders; or to another Port 15 yds ahead of him and slightly to the right of him. Instead he wound up and delivered his "dangerous" shot.
Even without getting the ball in the air Maniche had a Port wide open on the left wing in good position whom he could have led with a pass that the Port on the left wing would be able to make deadly use of were he any good at air dribbling.
3614 Figo of Port got the ball on the right wing near the end line just 25 yards from the France goal. Figo had plenty of time and space the nearest French defender was 12 yards away. Figo crossed the ball in to a Port 10 yds in front of the France goal, Ronaldo, who excitedly waved for the ball, but who ended up with two Frenchmen in white right on top of him. Ronaldo dived forward like a swimmer to make it look good as the ball sailed two feet over his head and the announcer roared, "Portugal looks for the equalizer!". This was followed by all kinds of angry gesticulation led by Portugal coach Scolari from the Portugal bench 60 yards away from the play where they could barely see what happened, they wanted a penalty to be called.
The announcer shouted, "no penalty there and the Portugal players are livid!". Announcers shouting about Portugal looking for a goal, Ronaldo diving towards and completely missing the ball without being fouled, Portugal players angrily calling for a fould to be called, announcers shouting about the Portugal players being angry...such a combination does not constitute in and of itself a quality attempt at a goal, except in the eyes of simpletons.
I felt that Figo who had plenty of time and space 25 yards from the France goal wasted his opportunity. Even before Figo's foot contacted the grounded ball to cross it in, the French defenders and the Port attackers began moving towards where they knew the ball would be going. A Port who was in the open had to run to an area ahead of him covered by a French defender because he could tell as Figo wound up to send in his breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot that Figo would not be able to get the ball to him in the open spot where he was.
If Figo had gotten the ball in the air and then chipped it in, he would have been able to accomplish the angle required to get the ball to the open Port, and the defenders would not have known perhaps until too late, where the crossed ball was going to end up, due to the unpredictable nature of such chips when the chipped ball is not grounded when it is kicked.
3630-3655 French have ball for half a minute close to the Portugal goal. Zidane dribbled around with it for a while right on the front line of the Portugal penalty box, 20 yards from the Portugal goal. He shifted left and right, the Portugal defenders gave him a little space, even gave him a lane to shoot at the Portugal goal. He, the world famous Captain of France Zidane, the player chosen by France to take penalty kick shots, refrained from shooting, though 20 yards from the Portugal goal. Yet we are seeing unknown players such as Maniche of Portugal, regularly and unimaginatively blasting off breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shots when 40 yards away from the opposing team's goal.
One thing I've noticed in soccer and in USA tackle football, teams that act silly before a game, end up losing the game, and teams that act silly during a game, end up losing the game. Figo sending in a useless cross, Ronaldo unmolestedly diving at a ball two feet over his head, followed by the Portugal coach Scolari leading his team protesting that an imaginary foul had occurred, playing as if getting an announcer shouting was worth half a goal, such in my book constitutes silliness.
3756 Figo got a nice slow lazy bouncer coming his way from 12 yards from his left, he was on the right side of the field near the right corner of the Portugal penalty box, 30 yards from the France goal. He wound up and blasted it on the first touch at the French goal, the ball sailed 10 feet over the crossbar. The only path of the ball towards the goal was blocked by a towering Frenchman so of course the shot was way too high as Figo stubbornly and irrationally shot at but over the French defender towering in front of him.
After the ball bounced Figo could have started a short aerial dribble using his head, to move to the middle of the field to his left while all the defenders were drifting over to his right. The head is the easiest part of the body to air dribble with. Figo had an open path like a carpet ten yards wide and twenty yards long towards the middle of the field. Instead Figo wound up and shot with his right foot. As Figo kicked the ball the announcer shouted, "here's Luis Figo!" as if said kick was exciting and important and professional. This is silliness, playing as if a shot was worth a quarter of a goal if an announcer shouts about it.
3830 Ronaldo dribbled down the left side 15 yds forward to a point 10 yds in front of the front edge of the Portugal penalty box 30 yds from the goal. He had three Frenchmen chasing him. At this point he should have crossed the ball to the middle to an empty spot, the player nearest the empty spot in best position to get there first was a Portuguese. instead he chose to dribble another 15 yds where under pressure from a slide tackling big Frenchman 15 yds from the French goal he fired right at the goalie but several feet over the crossbar.
The announcer shouted, "Cristiano Ronaldo" as the ball thudded impressively into the barrier behind the goal, after being deflected by the tackling Frenchman. The announcer was impressed that Portugal got a corner kick out of it. They are always impressed when a team gets a corner kick out of some endeavor, but I have never seen a corner kick result in a goal. Before they enthuse about actions that result in corner kicks, they should check the stats, what percentage of corner kicks actually result in goals?
4030 French get a bunch of chances with time and space and ball 45 yds from Portugal goal.
Strange thing that the only punishment for a foul outside the penalty box that does not result in a yellow card, is a free kick. Free kicks rarely produce any advantage.
4253 25 yds in front of the France goal, Portugal's Pauletta mishandled a ball that sailed towards him and over his head as he faced away from the French goal, and then bounced once a couple of yards in front of him as he turned to face the French goal. He first knocked the ball down with his right foot when he was facing away from the French goal. This would have been a big juicy opportunity for me what with my air dribbling ability, this ball bouncing once right in front of me, 30 yds from the French goal in the middle of the field. Pauletta miskicked the bouncer France retained possession.
4320 French players had time and space 45 yds from Portugal goal. Episode ended as Malouda's short 10 yard pass to Zidane was intercepted. It is always safe in the eyes of the simpletons to pass off to the superstar, but the defense expects such it is not always the best move.
4330 Ronaldo dribbled 40 yds straight towards the French goal as the French defender retreated with him cutting off the middle of the field, for 25 yds. The French defender allowed him to do what he did; he retreated for 25 yds keeping a close eye on Ronaldo. Ronaldo got to a point 25 yards from the French goal and under pressure unleashed a shot that missed the French goal by 20 feet, off to the side of the field he was on that the retreating French defender was leaving open for him while cutting off the middle.
After the shot missed the Portugal fans in the crowd let out a loud "Oh!!!" of disappointment, the announcer crowed, "it certainly was a good run", but by the time Ronaldo shot the ball, he had three Frenchmen right on top of him and was in no position to fire off anything more than an impress the simpletons symbolic excuse for a shot. The announcer and the fans were impressed, the point is that the French defender whose job it is to prevent goals, allowed Ronaldo to dribble 25 yds down the field while cutting off Ronaldo's shot and his approach to the middle. For me this incident emphasizes how foolish it is for teams to fail to move the ball to the middle of the field when they get the chance--the defender was willing to give up 25 yds, but not a move to the middle.
4353 French Captain Zidane near the center circle got an easy ball that bounced at him once as he faced the Portugal goal 45 yds away. the nearest Portugal defenders were one 8 yds in front of him and another 6 yards behind him. He attempted to pass off on the first touch the pass went right into a Portugal player. Zidane here looked tired. I wonder if teams might do better, if they would stop demanding all kinds of defensive efforts and teamwork from players who excel at the individual offensive, and let them rest a little even while they are out playing on the field, so that they can put more of their energy into important stuff.
4425 Ribery of France had ball time and space 20 yds from Portugal goal in middle of field. As he wound up to take his shot, he could have at the last second cut in to his right on the dribble instead of shooting, to an open spot right in front of the Portugal goal. Instead he shot his breakfast cereal photo style shot right into a Portugal defender who clearly saw what was about to happen. A problem with shots that you have to really wind up for, is that it is hard to at the last moment abort the shot and turn the touch of the ball into a dribble instead.
4430 around this time France had a few chances where a player had the ball time and space just 40 yds from the French goal but they made nothing of it. For me it is easy to dribble 15 yds at a sprint keeping the ball off the ground but under control allowing it to bounce just once. Starting 40 yds from the Portugal goal such raids would get Frenchmen to a point just 25 yds from the Portugal goal, with momentum surprise, physical height, and a ball in the air on their side, just three running paces from the penalty box, in a situation defenders are liable to commit fouls in.
4515 typical situation for Portugal they get chances with rolling ground ball, time, 5 yds of space, nothing comes of it.
4545 more of the above for Portugal
END OF SECOND QUARTER AND FIRST HALF
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon
http://davidvirgil.blogspot.com
Portugal wears an old fashioned Christian cross on their shirt. So does their coach Scolari--Scolari's shirt is white, the shirts of the players are a color that is like a mix of brown and crimson.
2406 Zidane of France does skillful job of deflecting roller coming in from 1 O'Clock in fighter pilot lingo, to 4 O'Clock.
2420 Vieira of France, got a one bounce pass from 12 O'Clock, used his left foot to deflect it to 8 O'Clock (12 O'Clock corresponds to straight in front of you). after he deflected it to 8 O'Clock it bounced once in front of him and then a Port defender intercepted it. However if Vieira had not overled himself, he would have had a ball in front of him, at a moderate speed, that bounced once in front of him; I would have loved to have been in Vieira's shoes after he did this to start a forward aerial air dribble I encounter balls such as Vieira set up for himself here all the time when I practice dribbling the ball at a sprint keeping it off the ground under control. Thus though the announcer loudly lamented the fact that although Vieira had some room and that his first touch on the ball failed, I appreciated what Vieira had done in the positive sense-- to me it represented the evolution of the World cuppers from H Erectus to H Sapiens so to speak.
2600 Zidane on ground dribble run up middle, slips by one Port defender by putting the ball to the Port defender's right and his body to the Port defender's left. Then his attempt to pass off was intercepted.
2635-2720 Portugal farts around with the ball at midfield for a long time unmolested, then finally sends in long cross to France goalie. I wonder if there are any rules against just passing the ball around in circles in your own half of the field forever. I've heard Portugal has done well in Penalty kicks used to decide ties, I wonder if such boring farting around midfield is part of their plan.
2730-2750 France gets ball in middle, passes to left inside forward area, there a Frenchman puts on a clinic of dribbling left and right--he faked out the Port defender by faking to his right and then moving left, but after this he had an tough angle for a shot. He did not attempt to dribble by the Port defender towards the Portugal goal.
2810 yet again Port gets ground ball, time space 35 yds from France goal, fails on forward ground dribble.
2830 Frenchman dribbles on forward diagonal from right sideline towards middle, passes back to Zidane, Zidane passes back, France loses ball.
3035 French forward does three touch aerial dribble with feet and thigh moving towards sideline for a couple of yards, grounds ball, retreats, pass intercepted.
3045 Portugal gets time and space on ground ball 35 yds from France goal, moves forward on ground dribble, pass intercepted. The Ports time and again, around 35 yds from the France goal, are getting grounded balls in their possession with the nearest French defender five yards away this is characteristic of this game. Comparatively in other games in this world cup the attacking players have been getting often bouncing or air balls and time and about 8 yds of space 45 yds from the other team's goal.
3115 France scores-- The Frenchman got a ground ball in the middle of the field 40 yds from the Port goal. The nearest Port was 10 yds away. He passed forward to French Captain Zidane who was covered Zidane passed back to him now he was 35 yds from the goal but the nearest Port was 6 yds away. He then passed a short 10 yd roller to his right, the recipient ground dribbled at a forward diagonal from the right middle area of the field to the left middle area, and then sent a 10 yd grounder diagonally forward and to his right to another Frenchman right on the forward edge of the Port penalty box. This Frenchman had his back to the right sideline, stopped the ball, swiveled to face the goal while dribbling the ball with the outside of his right foot. the Port marking him, missed or grazed the ball as he fell, then the Frenchman tripped over the Port's outstretched leg.
Looking at the slow motion replay it was obvious the Port deliberately fell backwards as he stretched out his foot to trip Henry. The ref called this infraction well, without using slow motion or replay video. A deadly penalty inside the penalty box was called by the ref. You can moan and groan about the call by the ref playing such an important part in the game, the fact remains France showed skill and intelligence getting the ball to a forward in the penalty box who was in a situation such that the Port marking him had to risk a penalty in the penalty box to stop him.
Penalties inside the penalty box are severely punished, rules are rules. The rules of the game are already to harshly tilted against offensive players attempting to score. The harshness of the punishments for fouls in the penalty box has an inhibiting effect on defenders.
France chose Zidane to take the kick--it is annoying that in tie breaking penalty kicks the players who take the kicks are chosen at random, but at least in this case France could choose who would take the penalty kick. The goalie guessed correctly that the ball would be shot to his right, dove in that direction, his outstretched hand 3 feet from his right goalpost slightly deflected it as it was 2 feet above the ground and 2 feet fron Portugal's right goalpost, France 1 Portugal 0.
3420 another portugal chance fairly close to goal, with time and space on ground dribble, ends ineffectually.
3443 Zidane raced back to strip a Port who was facing the France goal 40 yds away from him, with the nearest Port defenders in front of him 8 yds away. All day the Ports had been getting these kinds of chances, easy ground roller in their possession less than 40 yds from the goal. All day France had been allowing them to get away with this. But here in this instance, a French attacker, Zidane, had finally had enough, and raced back to strip the Port of the ball. This is the problem with the style of ground dribbling attack in which the attacker takes it easy as he slowly dribbles towards the defender--the defending team's attackers can race back to strip you of the ball. But as it turned out this steal by Zidane was the only time the entire first half that a French attacking player came back to harass a Portuguese attacker who had time and space with the ball.
3525-3537 Ports 40 yds away from the goal again have easy rollers in their possession time and space more than once. Maniche got the ball 40 yds from French goal it rolled to him from his left slowly. He turned to face the French goal. The nearest French defender was 11 yards in front of him. He dribbled forward once wound up and shot from 42 yards, the shot traveled 30 yds low off the ground, bounced once went straight to the goalie who caught it. This is the second time in this first half this Maniche, has had the ball, and plenty of time and space 40 yds from the French goal, and then gone on to wind up and fire this kind of breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot. He has missed a goal both times, although he snaked the shots through the defenders.
The announcer loudly growled about what a dangerous shot it was. But I could see that for the goalie it was an easy shot to handle--the goalie handled it lazily, like an easy ball in a practice drill. The shot angles that would have produced a hard to handle shot, were blocked off by French defenders (the breakfast-cereal-box-photo executives and the simpletons did not notice this).
In the penalty kick, the attacking player takes an unmolested shot with the goalie the only defender, from 12 yds away from the goal in the middle of the field. In the 2006 World Cup so far there have been 16 penalty kick attempts of which 12 were goals. That is not counting the performance of the teams on the overtime penalty kick shootout statistics, which has been even worse.
Portugal reached the semifinals by beating England in an overtime penalty kick shootout in which 9 penalty kicks were attempted by both teams of which only 4 resulted in goals. Germany which plays Portugal for third place on July 8 reached the semifinals where it lost to Italy, by defeating Argentina in a penalty kick shootout in which there were 8 attempts of which 6 succeeded. The Portuguese percentage in its penalty kick shootout against England was 3 for 5 60 percent. Maniche has a strong looking face but he is not built like a powerhouse at 6 feet tall and 159 pounds. But here he is continually blasting shots from 40 yards out.
Maniche here could have air dribbled forwards 3 yds and then chipped the ball either 15 yds ahead to a Port on the front line of the France penalty box who had slipped between two defenders; or to another Port 15 yds ahead of him and slightly to the right of him. Instead he wound up and delivered his "dangerous" shot.
Even without getting the ball in the air Maniche had a Port wide open on the left wing in good position whom he could have led with a pass that the Port on the left wing would be able to make deadly use of were he any good at air dribbling.
3614 Figo of Port got the ball on the right wing near the end line just 25 yards from the France goal. Figo had plenty of time and space the nearest French defender was 12 yards away. Figo crossed the ball in to a Port 10 yds in front of the France goal, Ronaldo, who excitedly waved for the ball, but who ended up with two Frenchmen in white right on top of him. Ronaldo dived forward like a swimmer to make it look good as the ball sailed two feet over his head and the announcer roared, "Portugal looks for the equalizer!". This was followed by all kinds of angry gesticulation led by Portugal coach Scolari from the Portugal bench 60 yards away from the play where they could barely see what happened, they wanted a penalty to be called.
The announcer shouted, "no penalty there and the Portugal players are livid!". Announcers shouting about Portugal looking for a goal, Ronaldo diving towards and completely missing the ball without being fouled, Portugal players angrily calling for a fould to be called, announcers shouting about the Portugal players being angry...such a combination does not constitute in and of itself a quality attempt at a goal, except in the eyes of simpletons.
I felt that Figo who had plenty of time and space 25 yards from the France goal wasted his opportunity. Even before Figo's foot contacted the grounded ball to cross it in, the French defenders and the Port attackers began moving towards where they knew the ball would be going. A Port who was in the open had to run to an area ahead of him covered by a French defender because he could tell as Figo wound up to send in his breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot that Figo would not be able to get the ball to him in the open spot where he was.
If Figo had gotten the ball in the air and then chipped it in, he would have been able to accomplish the angle required to get the ball to the open Port, and the defenders would not have known perhaps until too late, where the crossed ball was going to end up, due to the unpredictable nature of such chips when the chipped ball is not grounded when it is kicked.
3630-3655 French have ball for half a minute close to the Portugal goal. Zidane dribbled around with it for a while right on the front line of the Portugal penalty box, 20 yards from the Portugal goal. He shifted left and right, the Portugal defenders gave him a little space, even gave him a lane to shoot at the Portugal goal. He, the world famous Captain of France Zidane, the player chosen by France to take penalty kick shots, refrained from shooting, though 20 yards from the Portugal goal. Yet we are seeing unknown players such as Maniche of Portugal, regularly and unimaginatively blasting off breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shots when 40 yards away from the opposing team's goal.
One thing I've noticed in soccer and in USA tackle football, teams that act silly before a game, end up losing the game, and teams that act silly during a game, end up losing the game. Figo sending in a useless cross, Ronaldo unmolestedly diving at a ball two feet over his head, followed by the Portugal coach Scolari leading his team protesting that an imaginary foul had occurred, playing as if getting an announcer shouting was worth half a goal, such in my book constitutes silliness.
3756 Figo got a nice slow lazy bouncer coming his way from 12 yards from his left, he was on the right side of the field near the right corner of the Portugal penalty box, 30 yards from the France goal. He wound up and blasted it on the first touch at the French goal, the ball sailed 10 feet over the crossbar. The only path of the ball towards the goal was blocked by a towering Frenchman so of course the shot was way too high as Figo stubbornly and irrationally shot at but over the French defender towering in front of him.
After the ball bounced Figo could have started a short aerial dribble using his head, to move to the middle of the field to his left while all the defenders were drifting over to his right. The head is the easiest part of the body to air dribble with. Figo had an open path like a carpet ten yards wide and twenty yards long towards the middle of the field. Instead Figo wound up and shot with his right foot. As Figo kicked the ball the announcer shouted, "here's Luis Figo!" as if said kick was exciting and important and professional. This is silliness, playing as if a shot was worth a quarter of a goal if an announcer shouts about it.
3830 Ronaldo dribbled down the left side 15 yds forward to a point 10 yds in front of the front edge of the Portugal penalty box 30 yds from the goal. He had three Frenchmen chasing him. At this point he should have crossed the ball to the middle to an empty spot, the player nearest the empty spot in best position to get there first was a Portuguese. instead he chose to dribble another 15 yds where under pressure from a slide tackling big Frenchman 15 yds from the French goal he fired right at the goalie but several feet over the crossbar.
The announcer shouted, "Cristiano Ronaldo" as the ball thudded impressively into the barrier behind the goal, after being deflected by the tackling Frenchman. The announcer was impressed that Portugal got a corner kick out of it. They are always impressed when a team gets a corner kick out of some endeavor, but I have never seen a corner kick result in a goal. Before they enthuse about actions that result in corner kicks, they should check the stats, what percentage of corner kicks actually result in goals?
4030 French get a bunch of chances with time and space and ball 45 yds from Portugal goal.
Strange thing that the only punishment for a foul outside the penalty box that does not result in a yellow card, is a free kick. Free kicks rarely produce any advantage.
4253 25 yds in front of the France goal, Portugal's Pauletta mishandled a ball that sailed towards him and over his head as he faced away from the French goal, and then bounced once a couple of yards in front of him as he turned to face the French goal. He first knocked the ball down with his right foot when he was facing away from the French goal. This would have been a big juicy opportunity for me what with my air dribbling ability, this ball bouncing once right in front of me, 30 yds from the French goal in the middle of the field. Pauletta miskicked the bouncer France retained possession.
4320 French players had time and space 45 yds from Portugal goal. Episode ended as Malouda's short 10 yard pass to Zidane was intercepted. It is always safe in the eyes of the simpletons to pass off to the superstar, but the defense expects such it is not always the best move.
4330 Ronaldo dribbled 40 yds straight towards the French goal as the French defender retreated with him cutting off the middle of the field, for 25 yds. The French defender allowed him to do what he did; he retreated for 25 yds keeping a close eye on Ronaldo. Ronaldo got to a point 25 yards from the French goal and under pressure unleashed a shot that missed the French goal by 20 feet, off to the side of the field he was on that the retreating French defender was leaving open for him while cutting off the middle.
After the shot missed the Portugal fans in the crowd let out a loud "Oh!!!" of disappointment, the announcer crowed, "it certainly was a good run", but by the time Ronaldo shot the ball, he had three Frenchmen right on top of him and was in no position to fire off anything more than an impress the simpletons symbolic excuse for a shot. The announcer and the fans were impressed, the point is that the French defender whose job it is to prevent goals, allowed Ronaldo to dribble 25 yds down the field while cutting off Ronaldo's shot and his approach to the middle. For me this incident emphasizes how foolish it is for teams to fail to move the ball to the middle of the field when they get the chance--the defender was willing to give up 25 yds, but not a move to the middle.
4353 French Captain Zidane near the center circle got an easy ball that bounced at him once as he faced the Portugal goal 45 yds away. the nearest Portugal defenders were one 8 yds in front of him and another 6 yards behind him. He attempted to pass off on the first touch the pass went right into a Portugal player. Zidane here looked tired. I wonder if teams might do better, if they would stop demanding all kinds of defensive efforts and teamwork from players who excel at the individual offensive, and let them rest a little even while they are out playing on the field, so that they can put more of their energy into important stuff.
4425 Ribery of France had ball time and space 20 yds from Portugal goal in middle of field. As he wound up to take his shot, he could have at the last second cut in to his right on the dribble instead of shooting, to an open spot right in front of the Portugal goal. Instead he shot his breakfast cereal photo style shot right into a Portugal defender who clearly saw what was about to happen. A problem with shots that you have to really wind up for, is that it is hard to at the last moment abort the shot and turn the touch of the ball into a dribble instead.
4430 around this time France had a few chances where a player had the ball time and space just 40 yds from the French goal but they made nothing of it. For me it is easy to dribble 15 yds at a sprint keeping the ball off the ground but under control allowing it to bounce just once. Starting 40 yds from the Portugal goal such raids would get Frenchmen to a point just 25 yds from the Portugal goal, with momentum surprise, physical height, and a ball in the air on their side, just three running paces from the penalty box, in a situation defenders are liable to commit fouls in.
4515 typical situation for Portugal they get chances with rolling ground ball, time, 5 yds of space, nothing comes of it.
4545 more of the above for Portugal
END OF SECOND QUARTER AND FIRST HALF
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon
http://davidvirgil.blogspot.com
posted by David Virgil at 5:09 AM
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