isn't it amazing? it's kind of beautiful, how an entire nation can share a belief. a belief that they can win. you can feel it. it is too strong. and i really think it is wonderful.
and when that cambiasso penalty was blocked by lehmann, i just jumped up. germany was through. faith, wk told me to have in them. they justified it. one goal down, they came back.
i wondered why peckerman took off riquelme for cambiasso. it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. he thot germany would be relentlessly attacking, so he wanted to shore things up. germjany kept attacking. a cross from ballack, flicked on by borowski, klose headed in. very very nice. and in the dying minutes, argentina had a few forays. imagine if riquelme were there. things could have been different. there could have been that real penetration they lacked wifout him.
if i really insisted on defending, iw ould have brought off tevez or rodrigues for cambiasso. no doubt tevez was always running. but that was about it. running wifout penetration. nothing comes out of it. of course peckerman probably wanted to keep tevez for his speed and rodrigues for his canny ability to strike wicked shots. so mebbe that was why riquelme was taken off. but i would never ever take off riquelme.
and cruz on for crespo was a little weird. i mean, crespo din really saw much of the ball, so he din have a good game. but he is still better than cruz. and mebbe he shuld have been kept on for that opportunistic ball.
the result is that when germany scored the equaliser, you don't believe argentina would score again, because they can't bring on messi, and crespo and riquelme are already out of the game.
on the other hand, klinnsmann played every card right. he brought on odonkor for schneider. and though odonkor couldnt get past sorin at first, towards the end, he just bulldozed his way tru. it wasnt pretty, but it was effective. argentina was tired, and couldnt cope well wif someone who runs 100m in 10.9s. as long as he can drill the ball across the face of goal, he is effective. and he was.
then he brought borowski in for schweinsteiger. borowski added stability to the midfield, and he flicked on that ball for klose.
then, neuville came on for klose. wj was stunned. but i guessed klose was eitehr tired, or klinnsmann was hoping for neuville to score a late goal again. in any case, neuville added some mobility and held the ball for the team well.
and full time came. first period of extra time ended. and i was thinking, germany had only 15 minutes to win the game, because the technical superiority of argentina might just win the shootout.
den i counted the no of german players who could take penalties. podolski, ballack, borowski, neuville. 4. they needed just 4 penalties to win, if lehmann kept his part of the bargain.
neuville scored. ballack scored. there was some concern that he would miss, cos he was injured. but he scored. den podolski struck such a sweet penalty into the bottom right corner. and borowski matched it. den lehmann saved. and germany were in the semis.
that kind of feeling was undescribable. and it wasnt even holland!
but one thing struck me abt podolski. he did not have any fear. before the shootout, klinnsmann was talking to him and another player. he looked ready to take the penalty any time. he was wifout fear. u jsut feel it. that's what struck me most.
and also, i felt sympathy for leo franco, who came on for the arg keeper. trusted into the game. he was quite poor thing. i hope he wasnt blamed too much. but wif 2 excellent penalties, he couldnt have done anything abt them.
and did u notice that lehmann guessed correctly all 4 argentine penalties???
and my choice of m-o-m was frings. he was everywhere. there was a period of time in the first half when germany was being overrun by argentina. except frings, who held his own. i was impressed. and ballack won back some respect, especially when he continued tru the pain barrier. but he was still frustratiing, wif his jekyll and hyde performance, brilliant one moment, sloppy the next.
and when that cambiasso penalty was blocked by lehmann, i just jumped up. germany was through. faith, wk told me to have in them. they justified it. one goal down, they came back.
i wondered why peckerman took off riquelme for cambiasso. it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. he thot germany would be relentlessly attacking, so he wanted to shore things up. germjany kept attacking. a cross from ballack, flicked on by borowski, klose headed in. very very nice. and in the dying minutes, argentina had a few forays. imagine if riquelme were there. things could have been different. there could have been that real penetration they lacked wifout him.
if i really insisted on defending, iw ould have brought off tevez or rodrigues for cambiasso. no doubt tevez was always running. but that was about it. running wifout penetration. nothing comes out of it. of course peckerman probably wanted to keep tevez for his speed and rodrigues for his canny ability to strike wicked shots. so mebbe that was why riquelme was taken off. but i would never ever take off riquelme.
and cruz on for crespo was a little weird. i mean, crespo din really saw much of the ball, so he din have a good game. but he is still better than cruz. and mebbe he shuld have been kept on for that opportunistic ball.
the result is that when germany scored the equaliser, you don't believe argentina would score again, because they can't bring on messi, and crespo and riquelme are already out of the game.
on the other hand, klinnsmann played every card right. he brought on odonkor for schneider. and though odonkor couldnt get past sorin at first, towards the end, he just bulldozed his way tru. it wasnt pretty, but it was effective. argentina was tired, and couldnt cope well wif someone who runs 100m in 10.9s. as long as he can drill the ball across the face of goal, he is effective. and he was.
then he brought borowski in for schweinsteiger. borowski added stability to the midfield, and he flicked on that ball for klose.
then, neuville came on for klose. wj was stunned. but i guessed klose was eitehr tired, or klinnsmann was hoping for neuville to score a late goal again. in any case, neuville added some mobility and held the ball for the team well.
and full time came. first period of extra time ended. and i was thinking, germany had only 15 minutes to win the game, because the technical superiority of argentina might just win the shootout.
den i counted the no of german players who could take penalties. podolski, ballack, borowski, neuville. 4. they needed just 4 penalties to win, if lehmann kept his part of the bargain.
neuville scored. ballack scored. there was some concern that he would miss, cos he was injured. but he scored. den podolski struck such a sweet penalty into the bottom right corner. and borowski matched it. den lehmann saved. and germany were in the semis.
that kind of feeling was undescribable. and it wasnt even holland!
but one thing struck me abt podolski. he did not have any fear. before the shootout, klinnsmann was talking to him and another player. he looked ready to take the penalty any time. he was wifout fear. u jsut feel it. that's what struck me most.
and also, i felt sympathy for leo franco, who came on for the arg keeper. trusted into the game. he was quite poor thing. i hope he wasnt blamed too much. but wif 2 excellent penalties, he couldnt have done anything abt them.
and did u notice that lehmann guessed correctly all 4 argentine penalties???
and my choice of m-o-m was frings. he was everywhere. there was a period of time in the first half when germany was being overrun by argentina. except frings, who held his own. i was impressed. and ballack won back some respect, especially when he continued tru the pain barrier. but he was still frustratiing, wif his jekyll and hyde performance, brilliant one moment, sloppy the next.
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