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

CLAP! or CRAP? TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT

[ None added 1Jul ]

GK: LEHMAN (GER)
D: CANNAVARO (ITA) - ZAMBROTTA (ITA)
M: BALLACK (GER) - BARNETTA (SUI) - M. RODRIGUEZ (ARG) - FIGO (POR) - VIEIRA (FRA)
F: HENRY (FRA) - KLOSE (GER) - TONI (ITA)

6th MAN: ODONKOR (GER)

recently dropped: BORUC (POL), LAHM & SCHWEINSTEIGER (GER), SAVIOLA (ARG) 30 Jun
TORRES (ESP) & VILLA (ESP) 27Jun
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 .. ..

Of the 49 World Cup matches that had a winner >

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

Second was GER that had 93 play in the Bundesliga .. ..

Third was ITA that had 89 play in Serie A .. ..

QUARTERFINALS WEEKEND

Match 59: ENGLAND v. PORTUGAL

Much better in the first half out of ENG as the quicker tempo clearly suited them and they needed a better rival to bring out their best .. .. POR came out a bit edgy and turned the ball over w/o pressure five times in the first 15 minutes (11 in the half alone) – They kept hitting the worthless long ball to nobody .. .. ENG pieced a few pieces together deep in the POR end to no avail .. ..

ENG played like lions for almost an hour after ROONEY received a harsh RC and still attacked when they had a chance .. .. Perhaps, POR would have been sharper if both DECO & COSTINHA were available but ENG & HARGREAVES denied the middle of the pitch and wore out FIGO to the point he had to be subbed out before PK’s .. ..

POR was decisive with their PK’s which were hard and wide while all of ENG’s PK’s were not angled and didn’t make RICARDO move very far for his saves .. ..

ENG MoM: #16 OWEN HARGREAVES ran and ran and ran .. .. He solidified the middle of the pitch and perhaps solidified his starting place for ENG for the next decade as a holding MF .. .. He stopped any attack down the middle and made numerous hard stand-up steals .. .. And, he was the only one to convert his PK as he delivered a right-footer into the lower-left .. .. Owen could have played for CAN, WAL or ENG as he was born in Canada to an English father and Welsh mum .. ..

POR MoM: #17 CRISTIANO RONALDO was not as sharp as previous matches but was more than willing to run right at his marker and did create some opportunities .. .. Showed his speed and willingness all match long .. .. Stuck home the winning PK when he had the chance to win it, and did – Did his hesitation move and then struck the right-footer into the upper-right as ROBINSON headed in the other direction .. ..

Match 60: BRAZIL v. FRANCE

After a first half like this, how could either one of these sides deserve to go to the semi-finals? Both sides never came close to scoring and threatened never to do so .. ..

BRA was just horrible – No one on their side ever looked dangerous .. .. CARLOS kept hitting it into the stands, CAFU should have never got off the bus, RONALDINHO couldn’t complete anything and RONALDO was wondering when the buffet started .. ..

And, how do you allow the most dangerous football player on the planet, HENRY, move freely on ZZ’s FK and give him a free chance at goal .. .. RUBBISH & CRAP > And, that was BRA’s good points .. ..

FRA was not much better but looked a bit sharper in the attack and ZZ showed his rejuvenation continues .. ..

FRA MoM: #12 THIERRY HENRY nailed a strikers goal when he put home a ZZ FK .. .. ZZ curled it in from the Left-flank and HENRY made an unmarked run to the far-post and first-timed the curling FK into the roof for the winner .. ..