Argentina versus Ivory Coast should have been a semi-final.
It was a pulsating, dramatic game and one I needed to dispel Saturday’s feelings of rage and disgust after England’s performance against Paraguay.
Didier Zakora had a phenomenal first half in midfield. Fast, super-strong, capable of thrilling interceptions, breaking from centrefield, the St Etienne powerhouse showed why he is such a hot property.
This is a vulgar over-simplification but I’m gonna say it anyway : It was the raw power of the Africans against the know-how of the Argentinians.
The Ivory Coast has plenty of skill and ideas, but their shooting was wild and they were mugged by the goal that made it 2-0.
RIQUELME was the difference. His free-kick was Beckhamish, swung with a low arc and high velocity, and the rebound broke for Crespo to stab home
Then Riquelme played a pass he plays all the time for Villareal. Left side of the field, a right foot ball forward into the striker’s diagonal run. Ivory Coast had six men back and in position but there was no pressure on the ball.
If you stand off Riquelme, this happens : his pass will bisect your two defending midfielders AND your two centrebacks, and the nimble Saviola will skip through. For a nanosecond I thought he was going to take the ball round the keeper, but Saviola just flicked it home with a gentle jab of his right foot.
YAYA TOURE proved that he IS good enough to play for Arsenal. Watching him for Olympiakos, I was never quite sure. He is a fabulous player – authoritative, skilful, composed, constructive.
DIDIER DROGBA was elemental, reaching down deep into his guts for another sprint, another collision, another jump, another header, another lung-bursting effort.
And he got his reward with a fine goal, smacked home left footed to provide a throbbing climax to a game that stirred the blood.
Centreback Roberto Ayala was awesome, reminding me of 1978 skipper Daniel Passarella, and also recalling a line I wrote in The Professor about an Arsenal defender’s battle with Leeds United : we were stunned, we didn’t know Tony Adams could still play like that.
I didn’t know that Ayala, five years on from that slick volley at Highbury, could still play like this.
Ayala was very unlucky when the best header of the tournament was parried by keeper Tizie and clearly went over the line as the keeper juggled with the ball. It didn’t matter, didn’t affect the result. The better team won anyway.
And great to see Gabriel Heinze fit and playing again What a player he is !
WITH DECO injured, Luis Figo inspired Portugal to a 1-0 win over Angola, creating the goal for Pauleta in 4 minutes.
Cristiano Ronaldo was annoying, not getting his passes in, missing a header from seven yards. He must have been infuriating manager Big Phil Scolari, who took him off so he could watch Figo and see how football should be played
Figo retired in 2002, as planned. Then he came back, on a different basis, to help his country in one last World Cup. Without Figo, Portugal might not have won, since CR and Simao were disappointing.
Playmakers like Figo and Riquelme, who can slow a game down as well as speed it up, are still needed, as football becomes ever faster, more intense, more organised, more robotic.
ZIDANE will have watched his friend Figo with great interest. France play Switzerland in Stuttgart at 5pm on Tuesday.
Zizou will be on the right flank, or on the halfway line, or in the centre circle, looking to curl a ball round the defence, releasing Henry from Senderos.
France and Italy have strikers, England don’t.
France have Henry, Trezeguet, Govou, Saha and Wiltord,
Italy’s coach Marcello Lippi can call on Del Piero, Luca Toni, Gilardino, Iaquinta, Pippo Inzaghi – and a half-striker, Totti.
So France have five strikers, and Italy six, while England have three and an embryo.
MEXICO, compact and busy, thumped Iran 3-1, which surprised me a little bit.
BRUCE ARENA has coached the USA for seven years and knows what he is doing.
They might give the ageing Czechs a run for their money today and the speedy Landon Donovan might just stick one past Petr Cech
It’s a marvellous and entertaining country, the USA, famous for giving us Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Cagney, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, J.D. Salinger, Joe Heller, Paul Newman, Tom Wolfe, Hunter S.Thompson, Little Feat, Richard Pryor, Eminem, napalm, helicopter gunships, My Lai, Desert Storm, Shock & Awe, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, “extraordinary rendition”, the Texas Air National Guard ( where Dubya allegedly flew), and many psychotic politicians who literally don’t know the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie.
I hope the USA beat the Czech Republic 1-0.
At this time in its history, the United States needs to be making more friends.
The motto of this World Cup is : “A Time to Make Friends.”