World Cup...I'm sooo bummed out.
polycounter lvl 17
This article sums it up well.
Argentina blow it with crazy substitutions
Jose Pekerman sabotaged his own side, and that's why they lost to Germany
Paul Doyle
June 30, 2006 07:11 PM
If ever there was a case of a manager sabotaging his own side, it occurred during the Argentina-Germany quarter-final in Berlin this afternoon.
Argentina were manifestly the superior team, yet after they finally edged ahead thanks to a fine Roberto Ajala header in the 49th minute, manager Jose Pekerman pressed the self-destruct button, making two absurd substitutions to surrender the initiative to the hosts, who, being Germany, went on to win on penalties.
Having been forced to use his first substitution to bring on reserve goalkeeper Leonardo Franco for the injured Roberto Abbondanzieri, Pekerman elected to use the second to haul off playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme in the 72nd minute. Riquelme hadn't been his dominant self so taking him off was
by no means nonsensical - but replacing him with efficient enforcer Esteban Cambiasso rather than the infinitely more inventive and assertive Lionel Messi or Pablo Aimar was negative to the point of being suicidal. A second goal would have killed Germany: instead, Argentina began to cower in fear of a comeback, an attitude that acted as a kiss of life to the Germans.
That blunder was compounded by the Pekerman's third and final substitution, which came in the 79th minute. Quite why Pekerman felt the need to replace ace goleador Hernan Crespo is a mystery, but nowhere near as incomprehensible as his decision to throw on the lumbering Julio Cruz rather than Messi or Javier Saviola.
Cruz doesn't make the nifty runs that Crespo or Saviola do, can't dribble past players, isn't an especially proficient finisher and, basically, was the worst of the options available to the manager and possibly the most misguided substitution since England's 2-1 defeat by France in Euro 2004, during which Sven Goran Eriksson replaced Wayne Rooney with Emile Heskey.
It was obvious that Germany were going to pile forward in search of an equaliser and though they're not particularly incisive, a goal from a free-kick or a long shot was always possible. As it turned out, in the 80th minute Germany managed to prise Argentina open in a different way, Ballack clipping in a neat ball from the left, which Lukas Podolski flicked towards the far post, where Miroslav Klose headed it expertly into the bottom corner.
Suddenly extra-time looked likely: but how were Argentina to score a winner without Crespo, Riquelme, Messi, Saviola and Aimar? In the end, Argentina went out in the most ridiculous way possible: with all their best players watching helplessly from the bench.
If he would have kept Riquelme or replaced him Aimar and replaced Crespo with either Messi or Saviola Argentina would have scored before the penalties. No doubt about it. but he didnt...
4 years down the drain because of the coach's mind boggling stupid calls.
Right after the game Pekerman, prick coach, quit his position and its likely that Maradona will become Argentina's coach... which is obviously great
Argentina blow it with crazy substitutions
Jose Pekerman sabotaged his own side, and that's why they lost to Germany
Paul Doyle
June 30, 2006 07:11 PM
If ever there was a case of a manager sabotaging his own side, it occurred during the Argentina-Germany quarter-final in Berlin this afternoon.
Argentina were manifestly the superior team, yet after they finally edged ahead thanks to a fine Roberto Ajala header in the 49th minute, manager Jose Pekerman pressed the self-destruct button, making two absurd substitutions to surrender the initiative to the hosts, who, being Germany, went on to win on penalties.
Having been forced to use his first substitution to bring on reserve goalkeeper Leonardo Franco for the injured Roberto Abbondanzieri, Pekerman elected to use the second to haul off playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme in the 72nd minute. Riquelme hadn't been his dominant self so taking him off was
by no means nonsensical - but replacing him with efficient enforcer Esteban Cambiasso rather than the infinitely more inventive and assertive Lionel Messi or Pablo Aimar was negative to the point of being suicidal. A second goal would have killed Germany: instead, Argentina began to cower in fear of a comeback, an attitude that acted as a kiss of life to the Germans.
That blunder was compounded by the Pekerman's third and final substitution, which came in the 79th minute. Quite why Pekerman felt the need to replace ace goleador Hernan Crespo is a mystery, but nowhere near as incomprehensible as his decision to throw on the lumbering Julio Cruz rather than Messi or Javier Saviola.
Cruz doesn't make the nifty runs that Crespo or Saviola do, can't dribble past players, isn't an especially proficient finisher and, basically, was the worst of the options available to the manager and possibly the most misguided substitution since England's 2-1 defeat by France in Euro 2004, during which Sven Goran Eriksson replaced Wayne Rooney with Emile Heskey.
It was obvious that Germany were going to pile forward in search of an equaliser and though they're not particularly incisive, a goal from a free-kick or a long shot was always possible. As it turned out, in the 80th minute Germany managed to prise Argentina open in a different way, Ballack clipping in a neat ball from the left, which Lukas Podolski flicked towards the far post, where Miroslav Klose headed it expertly into the bottom corner.
Suddenly extra-time looked likely: but how were Argentina to score a winner without Crespo, Riquelme, Messi, Saviola and Aimar? In the end, Argentina went out in the most ridiculous way possible: with all their best players watching helplessly from the bench.
If he would have kept Riquelme or replaced him Aimar and replaced Crespo with either Messi or Saviola Argentina would have scored before the penalties. No doubt about it. but he didnt...
4 years down the drain because of the coach's mind boggling stupid calls.Right after the game Pekerman, prick coach, quit his position and its likely that Maradona will become Argentina's coach... which is obviously great
Replies
to be fair, portugal played much better throughout the tournament while england played quite weak ...
*sigh*
just a little more than a stones throw from Birmingham
robinson on the other hand... well, cute. you could tell before the penalties that he was not up to it. oh and rooney? squeezing some nuts in front of the referee, haha owned. who let this madman play anyway? totally dissapointing and too hot tempered in every match i've seen. becks seems to get too old to run for 90 mins, too. ah well, i would have preferred to see england win, on the other hand those female portugese fans are welcome to stay around longer. really
Hasn't that always been their weakness?
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Self-assuredness was the biggest strength of the germans in this game, the rest somewhat lacked in my opinion. When it comes to keeping the ball and winning 1on1 duels Argentinia was superior and it really hurt to see the 120 minutes pass without an additional goal from Argentinia.
Pretty much the same with England today. At least France deserved their victory, Zidane and Henry were awesome.
argentina lost to germany in a battle of mental strength, i'd say. hasn't that always been their weakness? plus having lehmann as the goalkeeper seems to help a bit.
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I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. Argentina and Germany were very evenly matched with Argentina edging out Germany but 1) our starter goalie being replaced by a n00b 2) taking out an awesome playmaker like Riquelme 3) choosing to replace Crespo with a turd instead of Messi or Saviola, certainly gave Germany the upper hand.
oh well, atleast Brazil is out
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/bracket.html
I'd place my money on Germany taking away this cup.
(so derailed)
Viva Portugal!
(I don't even like football but my gf is obsessed :S)
hheheh brilliant
Viva Portugal!
My wife is.., and her family has been going crazy for weeks...
Now.. Total depression..
They should have won that game easily...
Portugal will now take it all since Brazil is out.
Viva Portugal!
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Did you see France play? I doubt Portugal can beat them, even with Deco.
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Dtrip.. I take it you're Argentinian ??
My wife is.., and her family has been going crazy for weeks...
Now.. Total depression..
They should have won that game easily...
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Yes I am, living in NYC though. Argentina could have won it... if Pekerman didnt make retarded sub decisions, which makes the loss worse imo(i wouldnt be as frustrated if Germany had straight up outclassed Argentina, but they didnt).
I see the final between Germany / France
Prediction: either way I won't really care.
Living in the UK (not England. Enlgish media often mistake the two (like the fucked up Mars Bar 'Beleive' advert bing shown in Scotland)) and not being a fan of football, the media coverage for every international football tournament is as follows:
"England are great, england are great, they are going to win, oh yes, their time has come!"
They struggle forwards a few rounds...
"WE LOST! How did that happen? We were supposed to win! But everyone knew we were supposed to win! How did we lose"
They still havent stopped talking about the last time they won, and that was FORTY YEARS ago.
Actually I was kind of hoping Argentinia would win since then I wouldn't miss any important game with us involved
(but I do think we deserved to win as we had a slight edge over Argentinia in the second half
Oh and thank god France won against Brazil
hheheh brilliant
[/ QUOTE ]Amen to that. I did honestly try to care about the world cup, what with the Australian Socceroos getting through a few rounds but once Italy cheated their way through their game against us I went back to actively not caring. Honestly, isn't it about time someone did something about this fucked up penalty system? Its so open to abuse, the game goes to the biggest cry baby.
Germany - France, would be my hopes as well. however from the teams left I see us as least skilled technically, but the heimspiel bonus hopefully works for getting into the finals, or at least 3rd place. It was also surprising how we won against argentina, indeed with more offensive movements by them, they should have won, but anyway I am quite happy we are still in for 2 more games
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You totally changed my image of a german fan to the better! The ones they show here (including the players) usualy stress how much they deserved everything and how they pity their opposers for the obligation of playing against germany.
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hheheh brilliant
[/ QUOTE ]Amen to that. I did honestly try to care about the world cup, what with the Australian Socceroos getting through a few rounds but once Italy cheated their way through their game against us I went back to actively not caring. Honestly, isn't it about time someone did something about this fucked up penalty system? Its so open to abuse, the game goes to the biggest cry baby.
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It was quite clearly a dive but as a defender, you can not go down early and not expect anything to happen. That's anywhere on the pitch, not just the box. It looked like he just wanted a lay down. As defender you're told to hold your ground until the time is right, he didn't do that. I'm not saying it deserved to be a penalty but had it been a well timed tackle, it would never have happened.