MY BIGGEST FEAR in this World Cup is that Klose will score an early goal and then Germany will hang on and scrap and win 1-0.
Much as I love the energy and dedicatation and shape of Klinsmann’s brand new 4-4-2 machine, I would rather see the more stylish Argentina go through.
MAXI RODRIGUEZ has another stunning shot in him. Will Jens Lehmann save it ?
HOW RONALDINHO must envy Riquelme !
He knows that Riquelme didn’t make it at Barcelona and neither did Saviola, but Saviola makes runs for his playmaker, Crespo makes runs for his playmaker, and Maxi Rodriguez does too.
It’s intriguing that Arsene Wenger is interested in Saviola, a tiny link-poacher.
He steals into scoring positions and works across the line to link the play. He’s a forward metronome, and there have never been many of those.Only Bebeto, Romario’s leg man.
In the Brazil team, Cafu makes runs for himself and shoots when he could give Ronaldinho a tap-in, Roberto Carlos is a glory-hunter, Adriano trundles like goods train pulling 250 cement wagons, and, of course, Ronaldo doesn’t think legends should make runs for other people.Ronnie thinks the whole team should make runs for him, so he stays in the middle and waits for his pass.
Ronaldinho is already carrying crazy expectations. We all think : Go on then, show us your tricks, be as good as Pele and Zico and Maradona, score a goal we have never seen before.
Riquelme is playing in an attacking team, Ronaldinho is playing in a counter-attacking team.
The man who could make Brazil an exciting team is not in the side : Robinho.
CAN ENGLAND beat Portugal on Saturday?
Well, Portugal have much more skill and superior movement.They have a much better coach.But England have, collectively a better temperament, more discipline, and Rooney is due a goal.
I will come back to this one on Friday.
Stuart Pearce’s Psycho is a goldmine of little anecdotes that add up to a candid and informative autobiography.
The thing that really surprised me was that Pearce reckons that Venables’s Euro ’96 team was better than Bobby Robson’s Italia ’90 side.Maybe that was because he missed a penalty against the Germans in 1990 and redeemed himself by scoring one against Spain in 1996.
Pearce came back from 1990 and had his best-ever season for Nottingham Forest after that World Cup, scoring 16 goals from left back. And none was a penalty.
That is what every good football team needs : a player with bottle.
Interestingly, Stuart Pearce is a massive fan of Michael Carrick and reckons his style would have made him perfect for Forest.
As a manager or coach I would have Carrick in my side. Brian Clough would have loved him, especially for his level of consistency, and that he still tried to do the right things when the chips are down.He wants the ball, he wants to play, he has a good range of passing, he will do what he can with regard to tackling and heading.