All of my previous posts during this World Cup have had a theme to them, but for this final post I am choosing to focus solely on the football and specifically tonight's final in Rio between Germany and Argentina, the third time that the two have faced in this fixture. It will be a huge event after all, and I for one can't wait for it to start!
Before the tournament started, my prediction was that Argentina would win the whole thing so I'll be supporting them tonight. They haven't played quite as I expected them to if I'm honest, but they just keep winning and that's all that you need to do. They have the potential to be extremely dangerous going forward with their superstar attackers, and hopefully they will show that against Germany.
Argentina's route to the final has seen them top their group ahead of Bosnia, Nigeria and Iran, before beating Switzerland 1-0 after extra time, Belgium 1-0 and then winning on penalties against Holland in the semi-final after a 0-0 draw. They certainly haven't been tearing teams apart, but with 3 clean sheets in a row it seems others are struggling to break them down. When you don't concede often and have Lionel Messi and co attacking for you, there is no limit on how far you can go.
How will they line-up? Argentina usually play a 4-2-3-1 formation, as was mentioned in a previous post, so keep an eye out for that. They have changed their personnel throughout but for tonight I expect them to start with the following: Romero; Zabaleta, Garay, Demichelis, Rojo; Mascherano, Biglia; Di Maria, Messi, Lavezzi; Higuain.
The star for them you would expect will be Messi, arguably the best player in the world currently, and for him to lift the trophy as captain would be a fantastic moment. I think that if it did happen, it would be widely suggested that Messi is the greatest ever. The other man that I think will have a big impact on the result is Angel Di Maria, a player I rate very highly and who has had a phenomenal 12 months.
On to Germany, the team who have impressed me the most throughout. The development of the German team has been a lengthy process that is finally providing rewards. Their team look very strong all over and everyone seems to contribute rather than relying on 1 or 2 like other teams seem to. Just look at their semi final result winning 7-1 against a much fancied Brazil, and 4-0 win over Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal side to see how good they are!
Their route to the final has seen them qualify from their group with 7 points (Portugal, USA and Ghana the other teams), before defeating Algeria 2-1 after extra time, France 1-0 and then their magnificent 7-1 win against Brazil to get them into the final. They have scored a quite incredible 17 goals already which shows their attacking ability with goals coming from all over their team, with Miroslav Klose getting the headlines after breaking the record for goals scored in World Cup history with 16 now.
Germany tend to pack their midfield, and with the quality they have you can see why. I think they will play with the same team that started against Brazil in the last match, which would be a 4-5-1as follows: Neuer; Lahm, Hummels, Boateng, Howedes; Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Kroos; Muller, Klose, Ozil.
It is hard to say that Germany have a stand out player really. Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller have been very impressive in this tournament but I think that midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is going to be very influential tonight if he plays. I will say that I think Argentina can attack the left back area as I feel Germany's left back Howedes (who I'm sure isn't actually a left back) is the weakest part of their team.
I'm predicting 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes, with Argentina going on to win it in extra time. Whatever happens the scenes tonight in Rio are going to be fantastic viewing and will live long in the memory of all.
Sunday, 13 July 2014
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
New Introductions: Goal-Line Technology and Vanishing Spray
This year's tournament has seen the introduction of two new ideas into the International game; goal-line technology and a favourite of mine, vanishing spray. the idea behind them is to obviously assist the match referees deal with debatable issues and to prevent players from encroaching when defending free-kicks or moving the ball after the referee measures out 10 yards.
Goal-line technology has been a topic that has been discussed for years now as something that needs to be brought into the game somehow. In fact had it been in use during the last World Cup in South Africa, England would have rightfully been helped by it with Frank Lampard's 'goal', and who knows how the defeat to Germany would have panned out as a result. It has actually been used in England briefly in recent times, but not in a major tournament before now.
The system that is being used in Brazil is called GoalControl, a collection of 7 high-speed cameras per goal. These cameras track the flight of the ball and ultimately detect whether or not the the ball has crossed the line, before sending a message to the referee's watch, almost like a notification on your phone. It is a simple enough process in my eyes and has shown in this World Cup to be effective. In the group match between France and Honduras, a goal was given correctly to France via the use of GoalControl. The on screen video showed that the ball hadn't originally crossed the line after the shot hit the post, but after hitting the Honduras goalkeeper it did in fact go over the line.
in terms of being the future of football, I'm all for it personally. It doesn't take any time to make the decision (it takes less than a second to notify the referee) and helps to get the correct result. Other sports have successfully introduced technology; rugby, tennis and cricket for example, so why not gradually introduce it into professional standards of football on a greater scale than just major competitions?
The vanishing spray is a brilliant idea in my opinion. As someone who takes free-kicks for my teams when I play, I personally get frustrated when you can see opposition players coming closer than they should be and ultimately making it harder for you. So for me the idea is fantastic as it enables the free-kick to be as advantageous to you as it is meant to be.
The spray itself is made up mainly of water and butane gas in an aerosol can, with the butane gas expanding when the pressure is changed during the spraying action. The substance we see on the pitch is butane 'droplets' that are covered in water, with the butane eventually evaporating.
Future of football? Definitely. The idea is so simple that it is surprising that it hasn't been used in major tournaments before. It also is easy enough for the referee to have a can strapped to their waist for the game, and shouldn't be an expensive process. Reportedly the vanishing spray is going to be used in the Champions League next season, and is being considered by the Premier League, which just shows the impact that it has had.
I have been very impressed by these new introductions, they are certainly beneficial to matches and I think that many seem to have the same opinion. The next step that is needed is to integrate them into more competitions, not just the World Cup.
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| Vanishing spray, bring it to English football? |
Goal-line technology has been a topic that has been discussed for years now as something that needs to be brought into the game somehow. In fact had it been in use during the last World Cup in South Africa, England would have rightfully been helped by it with Frank Lampard's 'goal', and who knows how the defeat to Germany would have panned out as a result. It has actually been used in England briefly in recent times, but not in a major tournament before now.
The system that is being used in Brazil is called GoalControl, a collection of 7 high-speed cameras per goal. These cameras track the flight of the ball and ultimately detect whether or not the the ball has crossed the line, before sending a message to the referee's watch, almost like a notification on your phone. It is a simple enough process in my eyes and has shown in this World Cup to be effective. In the group match between France and Honduras, a goal was given correctly to France via the use of GoalControl. The on screen video showed that the ball hadn't originally crossed the line after the shot hit the post, but after hitting the Honduras goalkeeper it did in fact go over the line.
in terms of being the future of football, I'm all for it personally. It doesn't take any time to make the decision (it takes less than a second to notify the referee) and helps to get the correct result. Other sports have successfully introduced technology; rugby, tennis and cricket for example, so why not gradually introduce it into professional standards of football on a greater scale than just major competitions?
The vanishing spray is a brilliant idea in my opinion. As someone who takes free-kicks for my teams when I play, I personally get frustrated when you can see opposition players coming closer than they should be and ultimately making it harder for you. So for me the idea is fantastic as it enables the free-kick to be as advantageous to you as it is meant to be.
The spray itself is made up mainly of water and butane gas in an aerosol can, with the butane gas expanding when the pressure is changed during the spraying action. The substance we see on the pitch is butane 'droplets' that are covered in water, with the butane eventually evaporating.
Future of football? Definitely. The idea is so simple that it is surprising that it hasn't been used in major tournaments before. It also is easy enough for the referee to have a can strapped to their waist for the game, and shouldn't be an expensive process. Reportedly the vanishing spray is going to be used in the Champions League next season, and is being considered by the Premier League, which just shows the impact that it has had.
I have been very impressed by these new introductions, they are certainly beneficial to matches and I think that many seem to have the same opinion. The next step that is needed is to integrate them into more competitions, not just the World Cup.
Friday, 4 July 2014
Tactics: Out With The Old, In With The New?
As time has moved on, so has the footballing world, and tactics that teams employ change with it. Gone are the days where near on every team will play a bog-standard 4-4-2 formation, with the likes of Gary Neville and David Beckham playing down one side. Instead there is now the growing use of formations such as a 4-2-3-1, almost as if they are the fashion.
As things stand, the teams remaining in the World Cup are Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Holland, Costa Rica, Belgium and Argentina. Of what I have seen, none of these teams use a standard 4-4-2, instead favouring approaches that allow for more fluid attacking moves or the ability to be strong defensively. The 4-2-3-1 for example, is based on the idea that it is harder for defences to mark an attacking midfielder who operates in the gap between defenders and midfielders, and therefore they should be able to find more space to be a playmaker for their team. It is a formation that has been used fantastically by the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea in recent times at club level, and is one that looks to be working well Internationally too. Brazil and Argentina, two of the pre-tournament favourites, are big advocates of it, and maybe they are right to be?
Another tactic that is being adopted by some teams in this tournament is the use of 3-5-2, with the emphasis on counter attacking football. Holland produced a shock result when they won 5-1 against holders Spain in their first game using this system, and have had more success since. Mexico are another who enjoyed some success with it, progressing out of their group ahead of a strong Croatia, and then the surprise package of Costa Rica have used an adaptation of it extremely well. Be honest, who thought they would get this far?!
What about England? Like I mentioned, back in the David Beckham era it was always a given that we would play 4-4-2, with the famous question of 'who will play in our problem position of left midfield?' In recent times though we have tried to make use of this 4-2-3-1 but just haven't been able to gain much success with it, as our performances in the World Cup showed (although we looked fairly good in qualifying). I feel that this is the right way for England to go, and would personally love to see a front four include Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Raheem Sterling regularly in upcoming England games.
So although you obviously want your team to play an attractive brand of football, maybe going with a solid back line and playing a more reserved style of football is the way to go? Move the ball quickly when you have the chance and be hard to break down sounds easy enough but the ability to actually succeed with this approach is admirable. I guess we will have to wait and see what approach managers will take in the later stages if the tournament and the new domestic seasons.
As things stand, the teams remaining in the World Cup are Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Holland, Costa Rica, Belgium and Argentina. Of what I have seen, none of these teams use a standard 4-4-2, instead favouring approaches that allow for more fluid attacking moves or the ability to be strong defensively. The 4-2-3-1 for example, is based on the idea that it is harder for defences to mark an attacking midfielder who operates in the gap between defenders and midfielders, and therefore they should be able to find more space to be a playmaker for their team. It is a formation that has been used fantastically by the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea in recent times at club level, and is one that looks to be working well Internationally too. Brazil and Argentina, two of the pre-tournament favourites, are big advocates of it, and maybe they are right to be?
 |
| A simple image of the popular 4-2-3-1 formation |
Another tactic that is being adopted by some teams in this tournament is the use of 3-5-2, with the emphasis on counter attacking football. Holland produced a shock result when they won 5-1 against holders Spain in their first game using this system, and have had more success since. Mexico are another who enjoyed some success with it, progressing out of their group ahead of a strong Croatia, and then the surprise package of Costa Rica have used an adaptation of it extremely well. Be honest, who thought they would get this far?!
What about England? Like I mentioned, back in the David Beckham era it was always a given that we would play 4-4-2, with the famous question of 'who will play in our problem position of left midfield?' In recent times though we have tried to make use of this 4-2-3-1 but just haven't been able to gain much success with it, as our performances in the World Cup showed (although we looked fairly good in qualifying). I feel that this is the right way for England to go, and would personally love to see a front four include Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Raheem Sterling regularly in upcoming England games.
So although you obviously want your team to play an attractive brand of football, maybe going with a solid back line and playing a more reserved style of football is the way to go? Move the ball quickly when you have the chance and be hard to break down sounds easy enough but the ability to actually succeed with this approach is admirable. I guess we will have to wait and see what approach managers will take in the later stages if the tournament and the new domestic seasons.
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