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Old 27-07-2010, 01:36 PM   #21
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Default Re: Memories of World Cup 2010

catatan lain yg tertinggal dari Afsel ...
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10 takeaways from the World Cup
ESPN.com, David Hirshey - July 9, 2010



OK, so it isn't over yet, but before the final vuvuzela blows Sunday, here's what we can take away from this tournament in which favorites went home early (and in bulletproof cars), superstars discovered love children, and an octopus was hailed as a genius.


1. Spain showed us how to counter the counterattack

Jogi Low's lucky periwinkle sweater didn't stand a chance. In a game of "now you see it, now you don't," Spain whistled the ball around the park at a hypnotic pace -- forward, sideways, backward, forward, sideways, backward, you are getting sleepy -- and waited for the inevitable opening to come. The players would still be out there pinging it about in their "passing carousel," as Sir Alex Ferguson refers to Barcelona's one-touch triangles, if Carles Puyol hadn't grown impatient and catapulted himself into the air to spear a ferocious header into the net. (By the way, Carles, Gene Simmons called. He wants his hair back.)

Then, after all that metronomic passing, the goal comes from the most elemental of soccer plays: a set piece. It's this kind of dual threat that will give the Dutch nightmares. Spain not only dismantled the confident, high-octane Germans but it did so in a style that could be best described as "possessed." The Spaniards held on to the ball as if it were the Rimet trophy itself, with Xavi and Andres Iniesta finding spaces that are not readily apparent to the human eye. And they did it while using their third or fourth different formation of the tournament.

Spain could even afford to leave struggling starlet Fernando Torres on the bench, using sprightly Barca forward Pedro on the right side of midfield. La Furia Roja's versatility and industry took awhile to emerge from their chrysalides after that shocking opening defeat to the Swiss (the Swiss!). Now the Spanish are playing at their highest gear and Low is right to call them "the best team in the world." Although the Netherlands might have a thing or two to say about that.


2. The Dutch don't need to play Total Football to total you

The Netherlands has, so far, looked like a prosaic shadow of its former swashbuckling self, yet it's one very important win from changing the national psyche. With two lost finals ('74 and '78) and one flameout ('98 semis), the label of "Big Game Choke Artists" could finally be laid to rest. The Total Football glory days of Cruyff-inspired magic are as far removed from this Dutch side as is the requisite pregame frolicking in hot tubs with female fans.

The Oranje don't even have the panache of the Euro-winning Van Basten/Gullit/Rijkaard juggernaut of 1988 or the kind of Dennis Bergkamp genius that lit up their '98 World Cup run. But maybe the soccer gods have decided to reward the Netherlands for its life-affirming body of work because how else do you explain Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, a couple of talented munchkins by modern-day standards, scoring goals with their gleaming heads and why 35-year-old goal-shy defender Giovanni Van Bronckhorst is launching surface-to-air missiles from somewhere near the Cape of Good Hope.

Even with the Netherlands' affinity for theatrics, hissy fits and the flying leg whips of Mark Van Bommel and Nigel De Jong, there's a feeling of destiny with this team. It's as if the Dutch realize that it's their responsibility to finally shuck off the weight of being the Best Team Never to Win the Cup and are prepared to do what it takes -- even if that means abandoning their legacy.


3. If you want to win the World Cup, don't play in the EPL

Heading into the semifinals, there were just seven card-carrying English Premier League players left from the staggering total of 117 that began the World Cup. I don't buy the excuse that the brutal EPL/Champions League/Europa League schedule left the players too jaded. Just look at the Bundesliga, where the entire electrifying German squad plies its trade. The German season is just as long as England's and Bayern Munich went all the way to the Champions League final with four of its stars -- Robben, Van Bommel, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger -- displaying no apparent signs of fatigue in the World Cup.

Inter Milan, the team that beat Bayern in the Champions League final, sent almost its entire starting lineup to the World Cup, including Dutch firebrand Sneijder, who has led the Netherlands into the final for the first time since 1978. And is there a better World Cup feeder club than Barcelona, with seven of its players making up the core of the Spanish side? Arguably the biggest flops of the Cup have been Wayne Rooney and Nicolas Anelka. Remind me: Where do they play their club ball?

If anything, the EPL is just a tougher, more physical league, but hurly-burly doesn't necessarily translate into quality -- or World Cup success.


4. The U.S. isn't a superpower -- yet

Once again, the World Cup proved that Americans are catching up to the rest of the world when it comes to maniacal fans, near-homicidal outrage over blown calls and creating "remote offices" in local pubs around the nation.

That said, the U.S. won only one game. Against Algeria. In the 94th minute. It lost to a Ghana team ranked about 20 places lower in the world rankings. That might have been enough for a lovefest from David Letterman and Jon Stewart, but perhaps the U.S. can aim a little higher next time and lure Oprah out of retirement in four years -- or at least Larry King.

Making the knockout rounds no longer should be cause for celebration in the U.S. but rather should be an opportunity to explore why the team didn't get further. After all, if the Germans could rebuild a program that won three World Cups from the ground up, maybe it's time for Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, to pull on his lederhosen and find a new mountain for the U.S. to climb. We need a national team structure that fosters technical development (rather than trophy accumulation) at the youth level, coherent scouting (i.e., integrating Hispanic talent into the pool), and a well-organized feeder system that allows for top U.S. players to hone their games overseas.

Until the U.S. does what every soccer-playing nation does at some point -- import coaching talent with World Cup pedigree -- it's forever destined to play in the margins, and we'll have to be content with the occasional shocking result, such as beating Spain in the Confederations Cup or taking a point from England in the group stage. The U.S. should be capable of ratchetting up the level in 2014 and beyond. But it's not going to happen by just going on late-night talk shows.


5. The Jabulani is just a soccer ball with dimples

As much as Robert Green and Julio Cesar would like to blame adidas' scientists for their career implosions, it's not the ball but shoddy technique that turned them into flailing jokes. Just another case of poor workmen blaming their tools; anyone who claimed that the reason there were so few long-range goals in this World Cup was thanks to the dipsy-doodle swerves of the Jabu should be sentenced to a lifetime of watching the YouTube video of van Bronckhorst's 41-yard unmanned drone that screamed on a straight line into the intersection of the post and upper 90. Or Japan's free-kick wizardry against Denmark. And if the ball is so difficult to strike accurately from distance, how did Diego Forlan, who curled in a trifecta of free kicks, become the first player in 20 years to score three goals from outside the box?
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Old 27-07-2010, 01:39 PM   #22
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6. "Goal-line technology" needs to be more than an annoying catchphrase

Referees blew all sorts of calls this summer, their screwups more irritating than anything involving Heidi and Spencer. These flashpoints serve as an ode to the broken-hearted: Argentina's egregious opening goal against Mexico, Spanish players encroaching the penalty area on Paraguay's spot kick, Frank Lampard's not-so-phantom "goal" against Germany, and, of course, Maurice Edu's "offside."

Sepp Blatter, FIFA president and king of looking the other way, softened his hard-line stance on computer-aided refereeing in the sport, though you get the feeling he's only pandering to the media. The U.S. will win back-to-back World Cups before FIFA acknowledges a flaw in its grand design.


7. However, we don't need instant replay

Call me a sadist, but on a personal level, the drama and emotion of Edu's disallowed goal against Slovenia proved why the game should stand as it is currently laid out. Camera angles don't necessarily tell the whole story -- Seen the Zapruder footage recently? -- although the technology would surely get abused by fear-struck refs who would second-guess their decision-making thanks to the eye in the sky.

In the modern, tactics-dominated game where, thanks to massed defenses, goals are so precious -- there's been an average of only 2.24 per game in this tournament -- it's important that we count all the legitimate ones. But although it's one thing to have technology to determine whether the ball crossed the plane, that's where we have to draw the line, so to speak. In other words, no instant replay for offside calls, thank you very much.

The outrage I felt at the end of the Slovenia game reminded me why I love soccer so much over the stutter-start NFL or America's pastime, which takes longer to watch than the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Getting every decision correct is boring (just ask Congress). I'd much rather feel burning anger or righteous indignation during a World Cup than nothing at all.


8. You can't be both a cheat and a hero

Luis Suarez had a reputation-enhancing World Cup until he stuck out his hand and became the spawn of Satan for denying Ghana, the darling of the tournament, its rightful place in the semifinals. Even though Suarez did what just about any soccer player in his position would have, he made the mistake of not showing any remorse when Asamoah Gyan's penalty kick clanged off the crossbar and Uruguay went on to win the game. Instead, he acted as if he had just scored the winning goal of the World Cup final, allowing his teammates to parade him around the field on their shoulders. Although karma caught up to Los Charruas in their defeat by the Netherlands, Suarez's postgame bravado turned a simple act of gamesmanship into a morality play. He now gets a starting spot on the All-Hands Team lineup, joining Diego Maradona, Thierry Henry and Paul the oracle octopus.


9. Well, you can be if you're Diego Maradona

The Argentina manager's transformation from porcine, drug-addled cheat to lovable, dapper guardian of Joga Bonito has been nothing short of remarkable. We remember the qualifying campaign, full of trademark Diego volatility: running over a photographer's foot with his car, vile tirades at journalists and the pretournament whimsy of demanding state-of-the-art bidets in his hotel suite. Those of us expecting men chasing after him with a big butterfly net in South Africa were dead wrong. Maradona was all sweetness and light, coaching the Albicestes in his own freewheeling, attack-happy image until it all unraveled against Germany and he went back to looking like a man whose tactical acumen seemed to consist of wearing the same suit and grasping the same rosary beads.

Sure, his game plans were naive, but his passion for the job was infectious. Every player got a hug and a kiss postgame regardless of the result, and the media embraced him in a similar way, forgiving his career transgressions and scraggly facial hair. Perhaps it's because Maradona had been usurped in the shame department by Suarez, or maybe he's no longer the same maniac we once knew and secretly loved. Now, the Argentine players, including Lionel Messi, with whom he has endured a difficult relationship, want him to stay. No one expects to see Maradona coaching in 2014, but we can surely hope.


10. Countries should hold national inquiries into their soccer teams before the World Cup

Although France and Nigeria provided plenty of entertainment off the field, they'd have been better served on it by leaving their farcical talents at baggage check. Newly elected Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan went so far as to withdraw the Super Eagles from international competition for two years after the team flamed out -- only to have the bad luck of receiving a FIFA threat to wipe them off the face of the soccer map. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded that outgoing clownish manager Raymond Domenech testify before a closed-door meeting of the National Congress to explain why Les Bleus brought dishonor to their country. He even rescheduled policy meetings to rendezvous with Thierry Henry, one of the leaders behind the team mutiny. After a long and mostly glorious career in Europe, Henry is expected to retire -- sorry, I mean play -- for the Red Bulls, and Sarkozy's last words to him were reportedly, "Here's your chapeau, what's your hurry?"



David Hirshey is the co-author (with Roger Bennett) of "The ESPN World Cup Companion: Everything You Need to Know About the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event."
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Old 27-07-2010, 02:11 PM   #23
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6 big questions for upcoming season
ESPN.com, Zach Benabid - July 12, 2010


With the World Cup done and dusted, it's time to start thinking about the upcoming club seasons in Europe. Official kickoffs for the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A are about a month and change away. In the meantime, the transfer market will fuel more than a few rumors (they don't call this the "silly season" for nothing) and players will switch allegiances. Here, then, are five big questions for the new season.


1. Which youngsters will take the next step toward superstardom with a move to a big club?

One of my favorite parts of World Cup summers is watching young players come into their own on the world's biggest sporting stage. This summer was particularly bountiful with standout youngsters, my favorites being Germany's Mesut Ozil and Uruguay's Luis Suarez. The success experienced by these youngsters is bad news for their club teams (Ozil's Werder Bremen and Suarez's Ajax), which will have to fend off (or welcome) big offers from Europe's elite clubs. Ozil, for the time being, has pledged his loyalty to Werder Bremen, but Suarez seems destined for a move to England.

Other standout youngsters from South Africa 2010 who likely will be enticed to bigger clubs include Japan's Keisuke Honda and Mexico's Giovani Dos Santos.

If a few of the names mentioned above move to some of Europe's elite clubs this summer, it will be interesting to follow how each handles the brighter spotlight. After all, impressive World Cup performances from young stars don't always yield great club stints. Let's not forget Lukas Podolski's struggles after the 2006 tournament.


2. Will Wesley Sneijder leave Inter?

After performing brilliantly at Inter this past season, leading the club to a historic treble, the Dutch No. 10 used the World Cup stage to reassert, in case anyone had forgotten, his incredible quality and value. Sneijder's value and visibility will never be higher than it is right now, so if he were to have any desire for a move away from Inter, now would be the time to do it.

Rumors of a potential Sneijder departure already have begun to swirl. One rather absurd one actually had him returning to the Bernabeu and the club that unceremoniously scrapped him just a year ago. Manchester United also reportedly made a bid for Sneijder's services, but he turned the Red Devils down.

But the best move for Sneijder is to remain in Serie A. Despite his tremendous footballing ability, he is neither lightning-fast nor very strong, and he seems like the type of player who would be eaten alive in the English game. The Italian style of play suits him and provides a pace in which he can thrive.

Nevertheless, Serie A has lost much of its cachet over the last five years and is no longer a destination for big stars, which Sneijder has become. He might have dedicated himself to Inter and the team's president may have put up a "not for sale" sign over his Dutch treasure, but if the offers roll in, it's not hard to imagine that under the right set of circumstances we could see Sneijder playing elsewhere next season.


3. Does Jose Mourinho have the pieces to create an all-conquering Madrid?

At Inter, the Special One enacted a quick two-year plan to success. He came in, continued to dominate Serie A in his first year and then restocked for the treble triumph after shopping for the players he wanted. And while some of the success can be attributed to the free spending of owner Massimo Moratti, there is something to be said about the ability to manage large sums of money to bring in the right players. We've seen Real Madrid try to spend its way to titles in the past and fail on multiple occasions.

It will probably take Mourinho a couple of years to get it right at Madrid, too. Madrid's defense is not overly impressive, and at the moment the team lacks a true midfield No. 10, a conductor such as Mourinho had in Wesley Sneijder last season.

Sure, Xabi Alonso and Lass Diarra are players he likely will get a lot out of, but you get the feeling the manager needs to make some major changes to the squad and make this team his own before we see any real results.


4. Can anyone stop Barcelona?

Barcelona was the most talented team in Europe even before the arrival of David Villa, who signed with the club right before the World Cup. With Villa, the best just got better. And even with the Zlatan Ibrahimovic question still unanswered -- will he stay or will he go? -- it seems as though Barca once again will be an unstoppable force in Spain and Europe. (Then again, I thought the same thing of Chelsea when it brought in Andriy Shevchenko four years ago.)


5. Which superstars will bounce back from an underwhelming World Cup?

I expect the majority of the world's superstars, who were so utterly underwhelming at this year's world cup, to bounce back once they return to the familiarity of the club season. Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba and Lionel Messi (yes, even the great Messi disappointed in South Africa) are sure to come roaring back from anemic international campaigns and rule the world of soccer once more. But one superstar who might have a hard time bouncing back is Kaka.

Kaka has not had a great season since he carried Milan to the 2007 Champions League title. Gone are the gliding runs through the midfield and the strength on the ball that defined his playing style. And while most superstars will be returning to clubs where they are the center of attention, Kaka will return to a Real Madrid team where he must defer to Ronaldo. Not exactly an ideal situation for a bounce-back season.


6. Why in the world did Rafa Benitez leave Liverpool to take the Inter job?

After Mourinho's departure, Inter became the least attractive big job in the world. This has nothing to do with the quality of the squad, mind you. What makes it so unattractive is the fact that nothing Benitez could do (or will do, for that matter) will match what Jose the Great did.

Go ahead, Rafa, win the Serie A title and Champions League titles. Don't forget to capture the Coppa Italia, too. Clearly, he has the toughest act to follow, perhaps in the history of soccer. While Benitiez had his issues with Liverpool's management, the fact is he has only one place to go at Inter -- and that's down.


Zach Benabid is an assistant editor for SportsNation and ESPN.com who covers Serie A and European leagues for ESPNsoccernet.
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