JOSE PEKERMAN blew it, I’m afraid.
I was gobsmacked when he changed his team, dropped Cambiasso and Saviola, and switched his system to mirror Germany’s 4-4-2.
So 4-4-2 versus 4-4-2 was ten duels and nothing happened in the first half and it was 0-0 at half-time when Ally McCoist said he would take off Riquelme and replace him with Messi.
IDIOT !!! Messi is a striker and Riquelme is a midfield player !
McCoist once told us that Dennis Bergkamp had not intended to score that dazzling goal against Newcastle in the way we all clearly saw.
In 49, Riquelme delivered a perfect corner from the right and Ayala headed down and into the net for 1-0.
The German machine then started to roll forward, Cambiasso and Messi got ready to come on as subs, but then keeper Abbondanzieri went off on a stretcher after being damaged by a Klose knee in the rib cage. Franco came on.
Then Ballack crossed from the left and Borowski flicked on and Klose equalised with a header down into the corner.
After 80, it was 1-1
After that there was only going to be one winner.
Argentina became unrecognisable : no crosses, no dynamism, nothing to surprise or test the German defence.
JULIO CRUZ, the lanky Inter striker, came on for Crespo and was comically inept, while Cambiasso, on for Riquelme, played well enough through extra time to suggest he should have started.
PENALTY SHOOT-OUT : Neuville scored. Cruz made it 1-1, Ballack put Germany ahead at 2-1, Ayala’s feeble pen was saved by Lehmann, Podolski cranked it up to an unassailable 3-1, Maxi Rodriguez pulled it back to 3-2, and then Borowski hit a fantastic penalty for 4-2 and now the doomed Cambiasso had to score or Argentina had lost…and Lehmann went to the right and held Cambiasso’s shot.
AN UGLY MELEE followed, with Gabriel Heinze complaining bitterly about something.
VERDICT : Argentina are afraid of the big occasion and Pekerman disembowelled the best-balanced team in the tournament.Then he waved the white flag. Argentina lacked belief, even after scoring that vital first goal in 49 minutes.
IF GERMANY are one of the best four teams in world football, then world football is in poor shape.
The tactical chess match never materialised because Pekerman saw the strengths of Klinsmann’s team and switched his side around to nullify them. But doing that he sabotaged the balance, the flair, the uniqueness of his own team.
I backed Argentina on the Asian Line Handicap to win in 90 minutes. If it was a draw after 90 I got my money back.I would rather have seen an entertaining game and lost the bet.
DINNER a deux on the patio now. A very mild June evening in northwest London.
Will I feel like watching Italy-Ukraine after that Argentina shambles ?