By Myles Palmer
Yes, but maybe for the wrong reasons.
Voller dived to win a penalty against Argentina in 1990, Italy missed penalties in USA 94, and France beat ten men and a zombie in Paris in 1998.
The night before a big match, I usually get a gut feeling.
It’s not always right(see previous piece) but it’s enough to sleep on.
Tonight I think Brazil will produce flashes of brilliance and win by two goals.
I respect the German discipline and drive, the demands for “order” which Hamman and Voller repeat endlessly.But you can have too much order, too much military precision in your regiment of athletes.
Romantics might believe that Brazil can find a new collective level in Yokohama tomorrow.
Maybe they can raise their game above what we have seen so far. Not for 90 minutes, not for 60 – but maybe for 25.
Reading some of the papers, about who might be marking who, I’m not sure if Hamman or Jeremies will take Rivaldo.
Jeremies has tank-like strength but he cannot be match fit, so he could not man-mark Rivaldo or Ronaldinho.
If I was Rudi Voller I certainly would NOT play Marco Bode on the left wing.
I’d play Ziege and use Bode in Ballack’s position.
BODE is the only player they have who is remotely similar in style to Ballack. And he is a very good finisher, as we saw when he buried that pass from Klose two weeks ago.
CAFU would run Bode ragged, even though both are the same age,31.
ZIEGE is an exceptional crosser, but a sloppy tackler who can be too nonchalant in defence. But I’d gamble on Ziege concentrating if he was picked for a World Cup Final.
Suggestions that Schneider will be the playmaker from central midfield MUST be disinformation.
SCHEIDER can do good work in the middle at times, but he should focus on eluding Roberto Carlos, so he can curl his pacy, flat crosses into the box.
My researches into the Fb22 archive reveal many things I had forgotten about the last World Cup-and about Ronaldo in particular.
RONALDO WAS CANNY in 1994, but we tend to recall his pace. In fact, he has always had a wonderful games-sense, always been a terrific team player.
One Brazilian quality that is hard to define is that games-sense. They play a lot of football year after year, and they play to win, so they get a feel for how a game is developing, how strong an opponent is, a feel for where and when and how a game can be won.
That’s why GILBERTO made the break that broke Turkey. Suddenely he raced down the left wing with one man to beat and exploded past him and gave the ball to Ronaldo, who scored in a way that we did not expect.
We think that the Germans are tougher than the Turks, and better organised, but that may just be lazy stereotyping.
Armchair tacticians may find that the winning goal in this final is just like the winner in the semi.
Somebody goes past somebody and space opens up for a split-second-and a Brazilian scores.
As we all know, only ROBBIE KEANE has scored against Kahn in this World Cup.
And Kahn got a hand to his shot and diverted it onto the inside of the post. He nearly saved a shot from six yards!And that is scary.
But my money is on one Brazilian,at least, to beat Ollie Kahn with a shot he does NOT get a hand to.
That is really bad grammar! But I’ve noticed that grammar deteriorates when there are only 13 hours to kick-off.
And, of course, grammar goes out the window completely when the final starts…..
29th June 2002