The final Match Report by C.A.P.

A very balanced, though disappointed account of the Argentina – Germany clash, read it here.

The general mood here has been lightened considerably by the news that both Brazil and England are also out of the competition. The media have moved on already to the local league and pre-season news but it seems a little petty and boring in the shadow of the last few weeks.

In other news, this blog is considering a future away from football by changing its name again and writing about other stuff that could reasonably be expected to be found under the url: argentina2006.wordpress.com

More on that when the world cup is over.

 

mission not accomplished

This blog is about to bow out – it was supposed to document the build up to an Argentina – England final, but instead it’s about the last world cup before technology is brought in to verify refereeing decisions.

But no matter how referees (Argentinian or not) can alter the match, neither Argentina nor England (though both were denied valid penalties) had enough real shots on goal to claim they deserved the victory.

This blog can’t work out the reaction to the Rooney sending off – Argentine paper Clarin says it was a good decision, but Reuters say Fifa officials don’t know what it was for… (in an article by Mike Collett for those that know someone of that name).

Here’s the video, which is inconclusive but looks a little more painful than Carvalho’s prompt return would suggest. It also shows the ‘Ronaldo wink’ but you might have to press pause to catch it as the footage is a bit jumpy.

This blog is, however, prepared to entertain the idea that Heinze’s reaction to the penalty loss has its merits. The Argentinian press seemed not to make any mention of the post-penalty fight, and the English team were more keen on crying, but at least that’s one feeling the two would-have-been finalists can share.

Now this blog really doesn’t have much more business to do, but will try to put up the last match report – and do a tying up the knots type exercise to put this to bed, for another four years.

Cheers.

 

Silence

It’s all gone quiet here.

Pekerman was very dignified in the post match press conference.

There would be space to say that Maxi Rodriguez got booked for diving for what was in fact a penalty, but the subject of Argentinian penalty-taking is a sore one at the moment.

So, it’s up to England to beat Germany in the final. Don’t know how much interest remains on the view from Argentina of an England – Germany final, but this blog will limp along on its one remaining leg for as long as it can.

There’s been nothing but football for the last few weeks. Now, slowly, sadly, life in Argentina can begin again.

 

getting tense

Under an hour to go, the match is at 12 o’clock midday, local time – it’s cold and a wintry outside and people are walking briskly.

All the Argentinian tv channels are talking about one thing – except for a dubbed tele-evangelist show. The commentator on channel 13 relates the warming up and the empty stadium as if it’s the last few minutes of a particularly tense game. All the previous world cup winners are being interviewed, but after the last few tournaments, the public aren’t going to let their hopes get too high before the game gets underway.

The first few minutes look like they might be decisive. Gordon Strachan goes for Argentina in this article. This blog agrees.

 

12 hours to go

Whatever happens tomorrow, it’s a great clash. Talked up a bit in Germany, talked down a bit here in Argentina – there’s a lot of tension and nervousness and tomorrow it will either be popped or wound up further.

At midnight the night before, Clarin’s leading with a managerial story about Klinsmann having a lot of respect for Pekerman. La Nacion is squaring up the two influential midfielders with similar styles, Ballack and Riquelme, and quotes Pekerman as saying both that Argentina are favourites, and that he’s not naming the team until the last moment.
Come back for some reaction after the match.

 

more traffic and a soccerball

As we reach the quarter finals and this blog is about to come into its own or meet its end. If both Germany and Portugal roll over, these pages will begin to come into their own.

But until then, the volume of traffic is steadily rising, with thanks to the wordpress tags, La Nacion’s football blogs, and a couple of links.

For the reactions of others in Argentina to the world cup, by the way, here’s a bunch of blogs in English.

The ’soccerball’ tag got added to this blog under the mistaken assumption it was an Americanism for football, much like basketball, baseball but more cute. A bit of thought revealed it actually refers to the ball itself, but to make it up to all those who visited specially, (and because there’ve been no pictures for a while) here’s a soccerball, signed by Messi, no less:

 

Argentina – Germany – advance concerns

Getting back to what this blog should be about, the big topics now in Argentina are:

Riquelme is too slow – Roman Riquelme has divided the public, who love him or hate him. He’s played well so far, but the growing concern is that his style of play is too slow to work against the Germans.

The Germans are too confident – Argentina never even considered picking a route to the finals to avoid Germany. Asked after the Mexico match what he thought of playing Germany, Crespo defined the mood: “It’s a tough draw for us, but I bet Germany aren’t so happy they’ve drawn us either.”
The home advantage – it’s a factor.

 

a terrible stretch

Halfway through the Brazil – Ghana match and the ref’s just given Brazil their obligatory 45th minute goal, despite clear, CLEAR offside twice in the counter-attack. And Ghana outplaying them magnificently.

After the disgraces of Portugal – Holland and Italy – Australia and the two-hour penalty warm-up of Ukraine – Switzerland, the competition has been having a bad spell. Now with this match – a blinding display by the Ghana team – you feel they should split it into two competitions, one for moral victories, the other for fooling the ref.
But this is just filler before Argentina and England are back in action on Friday and Saturday – more on that soon. (And it should be noted here that both Ecuador and Mexico claimed bad decisions were responisble for their defeats too.)

Go Ghana.

 

dirty play

What can you say about Italy? Strangely, British reports of the game think diving in the box in the 93rd minute to earn a penalty an unremarkable feature of the game while Argentinians are completely horrified. This blog sends commiserations to Australia.

 

(Off topic)

Go Australia