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Match Day 8 > Friday 16Jun06

  UNCLE SAM’S MUSINGS:  Another rant after a week of thought .. ..

In the end, when you think of it > Our fate was sealed when ‘Duke’ (Frankie Hejduk) went down and had to be replaced. He is exactly the fanatical, bite-your-ankle nutter that we need as a left full-back .. .. Look at the energy he brought to the 2002 squad and it was infectious .. .. And, remember, the opening goal v. USA came from a cross from the wide open right-flank – Who would have been there is he wasn’t hurt??

Just my view .. ..  

Match 21: ARGENTINA v. SERBIA/MONTENEGRO

Booking: APLAUSA!

Football is a funny game – If you move, your DEF has to move with you – MOVEMENT WINS MATCHES .. .. Kinda like chess .. .. If you don’t move, your opponent doesn’t move and the drone you will be hearing is the audience nodding off .. .. Are you listening, Sven??

ARG grabbed a hold of the match early scoring on their very first shot in the 6^th minute when Sevilla’s SAVIOLA continued his strong WC when he started the attack that led to RODRIGUEZ’s goal .. .. Two more sweet ARG scores killed off the match by halftime .. .. Interesting note on ARG > In their first match v. IVC, they played much more direct as most African sides do .. .. Against SCG, they made mush more use of the wide flanks, as Europeans do .. .. Hmmm .. ..

SCG knew what they wanted to do and tried to go forward but just couldn’t link up neatly .. .. Things began to flow in the second half but the slippery slope was just that .. .. And, needless to say, they couldn’t keep up with ARG’s pace .. ..

ARG MoM: #7 JAVIER SAVIOLA is thus far the Player of the Tournament for me! The 2001 FIFA World Youth Cup MVP cost Barcelona $25 Million but has since moved on to Sevilla .. .. My MoM in their first match, saw all of ARG’s offense flow through him .. .. His sublime right-footed chip from the left flank to RODRIGUEZ set up the first goal .. .. Had a gorgeous thru-ball to CRESPO for his goal waved off for a bad offside’s call .. .. Finished off his glorious first half by stealing the ball near the right corner, came out into the right box, fired a shot that was just barely saved which RODRIGUEZ put back for his second goal .. .. 

SCG  MoM: None

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Match 22: NETHERLANDS v. IVORY COAST

Booking: CLAP!

It must be mind-warping to be a NED fan – You can see all the ‘Oranje’ turning beet-red as the second half wore on .. .. Technically-brilliant but nobody seems to play for each other .. .. Granted, IVC may be the best African side, but the IVC attack always blurs into a scramble in the last third .. ..

An entertaining match for sure, but you would just expect more from NED .. .. IVC always looked like they were going to score the equalizer .. .. ARG is the class of the Group!

IVC deserved a bit better .. .. Gotta be impressed with their heart and hustle .. .. They just need to utilize their flanks better and deliver better .. .. The had a long bomb ring the woodwork and NED had to clear a ball off the line in the 77^th minute to keep the advantage .. ..

NED MoM: #17 ROBIN VAN PERSIE is the Dutch version of ‘enfant terrible’ but his splendid FK opened the scoring early .. .. He was active on both flanks punching in hard crosses but that FK in the 23^rd minute was wizard .. .. He was top-right of the box, next to the ‘D’, and curled his left-footer into the upper-left and left the IVC GK with no chance .. .. VAN PERSIE has been known to argue with teammates on the pitch and then tell the media what crap his teammates are .. .. Lovely .. ..

IVC MoM: #14 BAKARY KONE hit one of the best goals of the Tournament thus far .. .. He took the ball 40+ yards out, set off on a left > right diagonal run and then smacked (on full run) a Right-footer into the Upper-left that left VAN DER SAR aghast .. .. KONE, who plays in France with Nice is used as a super-sub .. .. 

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Match 23: MEXICO v. ANGOLA

Booking: CLAP! (for Angola)

CONCACAF SUCKS - Much better out of ANG and dullness out of the Tri-Colors .. .. A sloppy effort overall but the effect of the first match was startling for both sides .. ..

MEX looked flat and the emotion-charged first match looks to have taken it out of them today .. .. Considering the emotion around the side after the SANCHEZ family tragedy, it can’t be surprising how flat and disjointed they looked .. .. FLAT as a pancake .. ..

ANG was bags better technically than their first match .. .. Manager LUIS OLIVEIRA GONCLAVES was their former U-20 manager and he must have used up every ounce of chalk in Deutschland over the past week .. .. After hitting just 4 crosses all match long last week, they made sure to use the flanks and pumped in 7 crosses in the first half alone which got them 4 CK’s .. .. Played down a man for the last 11 minutes .. .. Only if they had DIDIER DROGBA .. ..

MEX MoM: None

ANG MoM: #1 JOAO RICARDO is not the best GK in the world, but he kept ANG in the match with his positioning and bravery .. .. He came out twice to stop FRANCO in each half, especially his save in the second half when we was alone with FRANCO and he tried chip in his goal .. .. Down a man, he dived-right to just push away a MEX bomb headed for goal .. .. Did okay on MEX crosses and CK’s .. ..