Incidents in 1st Quarter, Germany 2 Italy 0, 2006 World Cup
Noteworthy Incidents in 1st Quarter of Germany's 2-0 World Cup loss to Italy
100 italian had time space 45 yds from German goal; he buried his team-mate in the right corner overled him.
250 italian on dribble run down from behind
445 german on the drive-- Ballack allegedly fouled in the middle
Italians are swarming back there are tons of them dropped back to take part in the defense against Germany, when Germany has the ball in the Italian half.
635 german possession in middle german hurt
735 nice german attempt finished inadequately--here the German Ballack, had a slow ball rolling in Germany's direction in the middle of the field, 33 yards from the Italy goal-line. The nearest Italian was 5 yards in front of him, he wound and up fired a hard Wheaties Box Photo shot that sailed high and wide off about 10 feet from the corner of the goal. The Italian nearest Ballack was not charging at him, he was sort of taking little girlish baby steps in his direction. Ballack had space and time. Although the Italians in the immediate area outnumbered the Germans including him by 3-2, if he had unleashed a forward aerial dribble after flipping the ball rolling his way up in the air, he might have transformed this into a two on one, featuring him and a team-mate against a suddenly isolated defender.
915 italy overleads on pass-- a long Italian 35 yd pass up the middle, overled the recipient it was about 5 yds off target but a good idea.
1140-1210 german offensive effort
1152 impressive chest trap of long cross by German on right wing. He set the German behind him up with a ball rolling towards him as he faced the Italian goal, on the right side, just 45 yards away from the Italian goal. The Italian nearest this German was 6 yds away moving slowly BACKWARDS. The German indulged in a wall pass with the man nearest him and when he got the ball back his field position was worse, he was nearer the sideline, and the Italian in the area was closer to him. The German sent the ball back to his wall pass partner again. This fellow German guy got a nice roller as he was 50 yds from the goal, the nearest Italian was 8 yards in front of him. He dribbled forwards approx 10 yds towards the middle of the field, and passed in to a German in the middle 15 yds in front of him, who was 18 yds from the German goal-line, who had his back to the Italian goal.
The recipient of the pass got the ball on a bounce knee high, skillfully kicked it to his right, stepped to his right with his right foot, and then with his left foot and then with his right again for three paces, and then kicked the ball after it had bounced once. He should be commended for showing a level of skill daring and ingenuity with bouncing balls that many World Cuppers have failed to display. However the Italian defender behind knew exactly what was going on and was right there to block the shot; the ball bounced away from the Italian goal a long way towards the German side, Italy retained possession.
By the time the German in this incident had finished his turn with the ball, he was right on top of a German who had been standing about five yards away from him, who like him was on the forward line of the Italian penalty box. As a result the Italian who rushed over to block the shot was able to kill two birds with one stone, get himself on top of two Germans at once, and the fellow German ended up being just another obstacle in the way of the shot.
At the end of his swivel move the German had a chance as he now faced the Italian goal to instead of shooting flip the ball forward and to his right thereby catching the Italian rushing over from his right moving in the wrong direction,he would then to his advantage put a little space between him and the German next to him who he might then be able to pass to. But he fired off his breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot immediately instead. He would have been in a better position if when the ball first bounced to him as he faced away from the Italy goal, he had kicked it to his left as he swiveled to face the goal. His team-mate who was right on him when he completed his swivel should have moved away from him as he started the swivel when he swiveled to his right as he faced away from the Italy goal. He would have then been in a great position to get a pass from the guy who swiveled inwards with the ball. But at least this German who swiveled with the ball, was not a goodie goodie two shoes, who immediately grounded the ball.
Italy looks like some ethnic italian team from the USA, Germany looks like some American upper class university blue blood team that is as good at academics as it is at sports, very good at both. The Germans look like those elite university players in the USA that are envied because they have been well coached in soccer from the time they were in first grade. You have to realize, the perspective from which I speak is that almost all of my first-hand experience watching in person and playing soccer, is with teams from the USA in the USA. Still I get the distinct impression of the Germans playing llike well bred, well educated, well coached schoolboys, blue-bloods, while the Italians play like those teams from the ethnic neighborhoods in the USA cities, featuring a dozen guys who never went to college. Maybe part of this is the German uniforms, white and black with the long white socks, compared to the Italiam uniforms, nothing but blue all over. A uniform that is all one color, is a convenient uniform when the team is on a shoe-string budget, or when you never know from game to game which playerswill be on your team's roster.
1440 Germany effort Nice pass off a long cross on first touch, by German forward.
1502 Germany effort German on right of field, took approx 10 yd throw in from fellow German on right sideline, 20 yds from the right corner where endline and sideline intersect. He hit it back to the guy who made the throw in before it hit the ground, a distance of about 10 yds. The guy who had thrown in the ball hit it back to him, before he touched it, leading him with a chipped pass. The German who got the pass seemingly allowed it to bounce in front of him on the right side approx 20 yds from the Italian goal as he turned to face the goal. As the pass sailed in front of him, it seemed from my perspective that the pass recipient wanted to catch the ball on a bounce, instead of contacting it before it bounced, a syndrome I have seen before with the 2006 World Cuppers. The Italian near him was able to pressure him into making a bad pass after he got the ball, heading the ball after it bounced.
I felt that the German involved could have perhaps done better if he had caught the ball after it bounced with his chest, thigh, or foot. When you are leaning forward to head a ball it is difficult to change direction with the ball.
The Germans such as the the Germans involved in this incident impress me with the their ability to handle balls that fly at them in the air as they face these balls, in this aspect they are more advanced than I am; but in their ability to deal with balls in the air that are moving in the same direction as they are they do not seem to me (I realize I am a prejudiced observer) to be superior to me. This has to do with the fact that they have much better opportunities to practice with balls flying in their direction than I do, as a result of which I work on balls that are flying in the same direction as I am running.
1527 Italy effort, Italian got a ball that bounced in front of him as he ran towards the German goal, 18 yds away from the German goal. A fellow Italian 25 yards behind him had sent a superb chip pass in in front of him. The Italian first touched it 18 yds from the Germany goal-line, with a German two yards behind him. He knocked it to the ground rolling it in front of him and by the time he caught up to it again, it had rolled 12 yds in front of him where the German goalie, sprawled on the ground, kicked away this Italian's attempt to cross the ball into the middle where there were no Italians anyway but three Germans anyway.
In this incident I see how important balls that are in the air that have or have not bounced, that are moving in the same direction as the offensive player involved are. I deal with balls like this all the time when in practice I sprint 15 yds keeping the ball off the ground but under control. In such situations I find it easy to catch such balls and continue forwards on the sprint, touching the ball every three or every four yards, keeping the ball off the ground but under control. But this Italian who grounded the ball, was not able to catch up to it again until it had rolled twelve yds in front of him! They always talk as if the ball becomes better controlled when you ground it, but there you have it.
If the ball was in the air or bouncing when the Italian caught up to it he could have chipped it over the goalie into the goal, had he the skill he could have even passed it BACKWARDS to an Italian behind him, but since the ball was rolling the sliding goalie, who would have preferred to use his arms, was able to kick it away with his feet, while it rolled on the ground!!!
1557 Italian offense--Italian got the ball in the middle 20 yds from the German goal, the ball rolled towards him, from the right sideline. As he faced the goal and fired the shot there was a German a couple of yds behind him and Germans four yds in front of him. He wound up and took a breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot that was easily blocked by the German in front of him. I thought if he had flipped the ball into the air when it rolled towards him he might have had a better chance. He could then have caught the German defenders moving in the direction the ball was moving before he touched it, offstride.
1935 German efforts--German forward in the right corner, with time and space and a couple of guys open in the middle crossed the ball burying a team-mate in the left corner, Germany got a throw in out of it, I wonder did the German who crossed the ball make a wise move?
2040-50 german effort
2050 Lukas Podolski, dribbled towards the sideline, then displayed great skill and power, suddenly swiveling to seemingly effortlessly cross the ball in a direction opposite to the direction the ball was moving, to a team-mate 30 yards away in the middle of the field. The team-mate however had two Germans right on top of him, and one about five yds closer to the Italian goal than he was, the attempt to volley in the ball that rocketed at him waist high on a kick was way off target.
The German who first passed to Podolski had time and space, I wonder if he made the correct decision passing to Podolski. Tell us truly, when a forward 15 yards from the goal in the middle of the field stands with two defenders right on top of him, and gets a long line drive pass rocketed right at him, spectacular as the resulting volley kick might be, what percentage of the time does such actually result in a goal?
2125 Italian effort Italian overleads team-mate near goal with short pass.
2220-2240 german chance-- the German, I think but am not sure it was #5 Kehl, got the ball coming his way as he faced the Italian goal 40 yds away from him, on one bounce, chest high, an easy slow pass, the ball moved towards him from 12 yds in front of him. The nearest Italian was 11 yds away. He immediately grounded the ball and passed backwards and to his right across the field. The recipient sent the ball to a man on the sideline who sent the ball back in to Kehl. Kehl now had the ball rolling towards him now from the sideline he was in the right middle of the field, now only 30 yds from the goal, the nearest Italian was 8 yds away. He stopped the ball turned towards the goal and immediately tried to chip it to a spot 15 yds in front of him, which two Germans were both running at. The pass was intercepted by an Italian.
Seems the Germans are not quite as good as Italians at chip passes, or the air dribbling of the ball what little I've seen of it. However, it would make sense to try the Italian style of offense against an Italian team; the Italian offenses have developed in reaction to Italian defenses.
After the game I read someone's commentary, he declared that the German strategy of chipping the ball over the heads of the Italian defenders did not work. This does not mean the strategy in and of itself was wrong. It could be that the Germans had not practiced up enough on the skills relevant to such a style of play.
Then again wealthy superstars do not like to admit that they are deficient in any aspect of skill, and persons such as coaches do not like to admit that such stars suffer from any such deficiencies.
Had I been in Kehl's place here I would twice, once when Kehl was 40 yds from the goal and then also and especially when Kehl was 30 yds from the goal, been tempted to get the ball in the air on a forward air dribble ball off the ground but under control as I ran towards the Italians. After all, the entire World Cup the only goal against the Italians was scored accidentally by an Italian. Then again I must admit Kehl improved his position on the field by passing it away and then getting it back again.
CONCLUSION:
Looking at the first quarter action in the 2006 Germany vs Italy World Cup game, it seems to me that: German forwards should be more careful about avoiding the situation wherein two of them both end up in the exact same position on the field; German players should like their English counterparts be more aware of how to catch defenders chasing the ball off balance moving in the wrong direction, by moving with the ball in the direction it came from when it reached them. Italy showed in this game how aside from skills involving the legs the feet and the ball, one can accomplish so much simply by being in the right place at the right time, the movement of the body. Players who are lower than World Cuppers in terms of skill and speed compensate for their lack of skill and speed through clever movement of the body, and clever responses to the movements of the bodies of the defenders. Thus it could be foolish for top flight players to try to differ too much from su h lower ranked players.
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
100 italian had time space 45 yds from German goal; he buried his team-mate in the right corner overled him.
250 italian on dribble run down from behind
445 german on the drive-- Ballack allegedly fouled in the middle
Italians are swarming back there are tons of them dropped back to take part in the defense against Germany, when Germany has the ball in the Italian half.
635 german possession in middle german hurt
735 nice german attempt finished inadequately--here the German Ballack, had a slow ball rolling in Germany's direction in the middle of the field, 33 yards from the Italy goal-line. The nearest Italian was 5 yards in front of him, he wound and up fired a hard Wheaties Box Photo shot that sailed high and wide off about 10 feet from the corner of the goal. The Italian nearest Ballack was not charging at him, he was sort of taking little girlish baby steps in his direction. Ballack had space and time. Although the Italians in the immediate area outnumbered the Germans including him by 3-2, if he had unleashed a forward aerial dribble after flipping the ball rolling his way up in the air, he might have transformed this into a two on one, featuring him and a team-mate against a suddenly isolated defender.
915 italy overleads on pass-- a long Italian 35 yd pass up the middle, overled the recipient it was about 5 yds off target but a good idea.
1140-1210 german offensive effort
1152 impressive chest trap of long cross by German on right wing. He set the German behind him up with a ball rolling towards him as he faced the Italian goal, on the right side, just 45 yards away from the Italian goal. The Italian nearest this German was 6 yds away moving slowly BACKWARDS. The German indulged in a wall pass with the man nearest him and when he got the ball back his field position was worse, he was nearer the sideline, and the Italian in the area was closer to him. The German sent the ball back to his wall pass partner again. This fellow German guy got a nice roller as he was 50 yds from the goal, the nearest Italian was 8 yards in front of him. He dribbled forwards approx 10 yds towards the middle of the field, and passed in to a German in the middle 15 yds in front of him, who was 18 yds from the German goal-line, who had his back to the Italian goal.
The recipient of the pass got the ball on a bounce knee high, skillfully kicked it to his right, stepped to his right with his right foot, and then with his left foot and then with his right again for three paces, and then kicked the ball after it had bounced once. He should be commended for showing a level of skill daring and ingenuity with bouncing balls that many World Cuppers have failed to display. However the Italian defender behind knew exactly what was going on and was right there to block the shot; the ball bounced away from the Italian goal a long way towards the German side, Italy retained possession.
By the time the German in this incident had finished his turn with the ball, he was right on top of a German who had been standing about five yards away from him, who like him was on the forward line of the Italian penalty box. As a result the Italian who rushed over to block the shot was able to kill two birds with one stone, get himself on top of two Germans at once, and the fellow German ended up being just another obstacle in the way of the shot.
At the end of his swivel move the German had a chance as he now faced the Italian goal to instead of shooting flip the ball forward and to his right thereby catching the Italian rushing over from his right moving in the wrong direction,he would then to his advantage put a little space between him and the German next to him who he might then be able to pass to. But he fired off his breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot immediately instead. He would have been in a better position if when the ball first bounced to him as he faced away from the Italy goal, he had kicked it to his left as he swiveled to face the goal. His team-mate who was right on him when he completed his swivel should have moved away from him as he started the swivel when he swiveled to his right as he faced away from the Italy goal. He would have then been in a great position to get a pass from the guy who swiveled inwards with the ball. But at least this German who swiveled with the ball, was not a goodie goodie two shoes, who immediately grounded the ball.
Italy looks like some ethnic italian team from the USA, Germany looks like some American upper class university blue blood team that is as good at academics as it is at sports, very good at both. The Germans look like those elite university players in the USA that are envied because they have been well coached in soccer from the time they were in first grade. You have to realize, the perspective from which I speak is that almost all of my first-hand experience watching in person and playing soccer, is with teams from the USA in the USA. Still I get the distinct impression of the Germans playing llike well bred, well educated, well coached schoolboys, blue-bloods, while the Italians play like those teams from the ethnic neighborhoods in the USA cities, featuring a dozen guys who never went to college. Maybe part of this is the German uniforms, white and black with the long white socks, compared to the Italiam uniforms, nothing but blue all over. A uniform that is all one color, is a convenient uniform when the team is on a shoe-string budget, or when you never know from game to game which playerswill be on your team's roster.
1440 Germany effort Nice pass off a long cross on first touch, by German forward.
1502 Germany effort German on right of field, took approx 10 yd throw in from fellow German on right sideline, 20 yds from the right corner where endline and sideline intersect. He hit it back to the guy who made the throw in before it hit the ground, a distance of about 10 yds. The guy who had thrown in the ball hit it back to him, before he touched it, leading him with a chipped pass. The German who got the pass seemingly allowed it to bounce in front of him on the right side approx 20 yds from the Italian goal as he turned to face the goal. As the pass sailed in front of him, it seemed from my perspective that the pass recipient wanted to catch the ball on a bounce, instead of contacting it before it bounced, a syndrome I have seen before with the 2006 World Cuppers. The Italian near him was able to pressure him into making a bad pass after he got the ball, heading the ball after it bounced.
I felt that the German involved could have perhaps done better if he had caught the ball after it bounced with his chest, thigh, or foot. When you are leaning forward to head a ball it is difficult to change direction with the ball.
The Germans such as the the Germans involved in this incident impress me with the their ability to handle balls that fly at them in the air as they face these balls, in this aspect they are more advanced than I am; but in their ability to deal with balls in the air that are moving in the same direction as they are they do not seem to me (I realize I am a prejudiced observer) to be superior to me. This has to do with the fact that they have much better opportunities to practice with balls flying in their direction than I do, as a result of which I work on balls that are flying in the same direction as I am running.
1527 Italy effort, Italian got a ball that bounced in front of him as he ran towards the German goal, 18 yds away from the German goal. A fellow Italian 25 yards behind him had sent a superb chip pass in in front of him. The Italian first touched it 18 yds from the Germany goal-line, with a German two yards behind him. He knocked it to the ground rolling it in front of him and by the time he caught up to it again, it had rolled 12 yds in front of him where the German goalie, sprawled on the ground, kicked away this Italian's attempt to cross the ball into the middle where there were no Italians anyway but three Germans anyway.
In this incident I see how important balls that are in the air that have or have not bounced, that are moving in the same direction as the offensive player involved are. I deal with balls like this all the time when in practice I sprint 15 yds keeping the ball off the ground but under control. In such situations I find it easy to catch such balls and continue forwards on the sprint, touching the ball every three or every four yards, keeping the ball off the ground but under control. But this Italian who grounded the ball, was not able to catch up to it again until it had rolled twelve yds in front of him! They always talk as if the ball becomes better controlled when you ground it, but there you have it.
If the ball was in the air or bouncing when the Italian caught up to it he could have chipped it over the goalie into the goal, had he the skill he could have even passed it BACKWARDS to an Italian behind him, but since the ball was rolling the sliding goalie, who would have preferred to use his arms, was able to kick it away with his feet, while it rolled on the ground!!!
1557 Italian offense--Italian got the ball in the middle 20 yds from the German goal, the ball rolled towards him, from the right sideline. As he faced the goal and fired the shot there was a German a couple of yds behind him and Germans four yds in front of him. He wound up and took a breakfast-cereal-box-photo style shot that was easily blocked by the German in front of him. I thought if he had flipped the ball into the air when it rolled towards him he might have had a better chance. He could then have caught the German defenders moving in the direction the ball was moving before he touched it, offstride.
1935 German efforts--German forward in the right corner, with time and space and a couple of guys open in the middle crossed the ball burying a team-mate in the left corner, Germany got a throw in out of it, I wonder did the German who crossed the ball make a wise move?
2040-50 german effort
2050 Lukas Podolski, dribbled towards the sideline, then displayed great skill and power, suddenly swiveling to seemingly effortlessly cross the ball in a direction opposite to the direction the ball was moving, to a team-mate 30 yards away in the middle of the field. The team-mate however had two Germans right on top of him, and one about five yds closer to the Italian goal than he was, the attempt to volley in the ball that rocketed at him waist high on a kick was way off target.
The German who first passed to Podolski had time and space, I wonder if he made the correct decision passing to Podolski. Tell us truly, when a forward 15 yards from the goal in the middle of the field stands with two defenders right on top of him, and gets a long line drive pass rocketed right at him, spectacular as the resulting volley kick might be, what percentage of the time does such actually result in a goal?
2125 Italian effort Italian overleads team-mate near goal with short pass.
2220-2240 german chance-- the German, I think but am not sure it was #5 Kehl, got the ball coming his way as he faced the Italian goal 40 yds away from him, on one bounce, chest high, an easy slow pass, the ball moved towards him from 12 yds in front of him. The nearest Italian was 11 yds away. He immediately grounded the ball and passed backwards and to his right across the field. The recipient sent the ball to a man on the sideline who sent the ball back in to Kehl. Kehl now had the ball rolling towards him now from the sideline he was in the right middle of the field, now only 30 yds from the goal, the nearest Italian was 8 yds away. He stopped the ball turned towards the goal and immediately tried to chip it to a spot 15 yds in front of him, which two Germans were both running at. The pass was intercepted by an Italian.
Seems the Germans are not quite as good as Italians at chip passes, or the air dribbling of the ball what little I've seen of it. However, it would make sense to try the Italian style of offense against an Italian team; the Italian offenses have developed in reaction to Italian defenses.
After the game I read someone's commentary, he declared that the German strategy of chipping the ball over the heads of the Italian defenders did not work. This does not mean the strategy in and of itself was wrong. It could be that the Germans had not practiced up enough on the skills relevant to such a style of play.
Then again wealthy superstars do not like to admit that they are deficient in any aspect of skill, and persons such as coaches do not like to admit that such stars suffer from any such deficiencies.
Had I been in Kehl's place here I would twice, once when Kehl was 40 yds from the goal and then also and especially when Kehl was 30 yds from the goal, been tempted to get the ball in the air on a forward air dribble ball off the ground but under control as I ran towards the Italians. After all, the entire World Cup the only goal against the Italians was scored accidentally by an Italian. Then again I must admit Kehl improved his position on the field by passing it away and then getting it back again.
CONCLUSION:
Looking at the first quarter action in the 2006 Germany vs Italy World Cup game, it seems to me that: German forwards should be more careful about avoiding the situation wherein two of them both end up in the exact same position on the field; German players should like their English counterparts be more aware of how to catch defenders chasing the ball off balance moving in the wrong direction, by moving with the ball in the direction it came from when it reached them. Italy showed in this game how aside from skills involving the legs the feet and the ball, one can accomplish so much simply by being in the right place at the right time, the movement of the body. Players who are lower than World Cuppers in terms of skill and speed compensate for their lack of skill and speed through clever movement of the body, and clever responses to the movements of the bodies of the defenders. Thus it could be foolish for top flight players to try to differ too much from su h lower ranked players.
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
posted by David Virgil at 5:25 AM
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