2006 HWCI World Cup Pool "Clap! or Crap?" Newsletter (Sam Nishi)

CLAP! or CRAP? TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT

[ LUIS FIGO (POR) & MAXI RODRIGUEZ (ARG) added 25Jun ]

GK: BORUC (POL)
D: CANNAVARO (ITA) - LAHM (GER)
M: BARNETTA (SUI) - RODRIGUEZ (ARG) - FIGO (POR) -SCHWEINSTEIGER (GER)
F: KLOSE (GER) - SAVIOLA (ARG) - TORRES (ESP) - VILLA (ESP)

recently dropped: CAHILL (AUS) & TOTTI (ITA) 25Jun
ONYEWU (USA) & ROSICKY (CZE) 22Jun
DELGADO (ECU) & SANCHO (TRI) 20Jun
TOTTI (ITA) [re-added 22Jun] & ROBBEN (NED) 19Jun
CANNAVARO (ITA) 19Jun [re-added 22Jun]
VILLA (ESP) 16 Jun [re-added 19Jun]
WANCHOPE (CRC) 15Jun

BY THE NUMBERS .. ..

As the Group round & first four knockout matches have finished, here is what the numbers show .. ..

Of the 41 Group matches that had a winner >

92 winning players played in the Premiership last year .. ..

Second was GER that had 76 play in the Bundesliga .. ..

Third was ESP that had 70 play in La Liga .. ..

ROUND OF 16 WEEKEND

Match 51: ENGLAND v. ECUADOR

Another listless match in the sweltering putrid hell heat and humidity .. .. Neither side created much as hard as they tried .. .. The best chance in the first half came from ECU when TERRY headed a horrific ball and gave TENORIO a free shot at goal that was deflected by a hustling ASHELY COLE who helped send the shot off the crossbar .. ..

ENG looks so average with no creativity in the center of midfield where LAMPARD & GERRARD simply can’t get on together .. .. They are just trying to send in long balls to ROONEY hoping he can run on to them .. .. However, they always have a world-class threat whenever they have a direct FK as BECKHAM showed with goal .. ..

ECU had a hard time linking up but didn’t turn the ball over any more than ENG did .. .. Their only shot in the first half came off the TENORIO gift .. .. When they did get in the box, that last pass was nonexistent .. ..

ENG MoM: #7 DAVID BECKHAM again showed when you have a gift, it often masks a lot of other deficiencies .. .. And, as tempting as it seems, that flash of brilliance can make all the difference which is why SVEN continues to start him .. .. Hits his FK perfectly from top-left of the ‘D’, got on top of the FK giving it a slight heavy, downward pull and it dove it’s way perfectly into the lower-left corner, despite the GK’s read and dive .. ..

Match 51: PORTUGAL v. NETHERLANDS

Putrid hell or not, it was a thrill to see close-control and skilful football today .. .. Although COSTINHA was sent off just before the half, POR did a better job of not giving the ball away and RONALDO & FIGO are now just coming good .. .. POR showed a warrior zeal that was missing in 2002 .. ..

FIGO was the real shock for POR – Who was that guy who showed up in 2002, because this is not the same guy .. .. Even against the Dutch, FIGO looked quick, incisive and full of tricks .. .. Even show-pony RONALDO was efficient with his silky touch before he had to come out with an upper-thigh injury .. .. You have to know we are in the knockout stage as RONALDO was actually in tears knowing his day was over .. ..

NED gave away the ball one too many times under no pressure and couldn’t make that final pass despite being a man up for almost 20 minutes .. .. After NED had a man sent off, it became a scrappy affair with 10 cards (+3 ejections) in the second half alone .. ..

POR MoM: #1 RICARDO had to come up big for POR despite having two guys sent off in front of him .. .. He was sent to the bench early last season at Sporting Lisbon but renewed the unflappable faith SCOLARI has had in him since taking over .. .. He punched away quite a few bombs and held his nerve when it was 9-v-10 .. .. Held NED at bay when KUYT was alone on a breakaway and RICARDO came out, stood tall at the top of the box and forced KUYT to shoot at him and also took a boot to boot .. ..

NED MoM: #17 ROBIN VAN PERSIE was again the main threat as he corkscrewed POR defenders into the ground when in the box .. .. Showed good pace and was able to keep off markers and fire .. .. Showed a tremendous cut-back move that got him quality shots .. ..