Aboutaball :: About World Football

Manchester United beat Wolves 3-2 at Old Trafford in the fourth round of the League Cup to secure a place in the quarter finals and move a step closer to defending the trophy they have won for the past two seasons.

The game came alive in the second forty five minutes, following a goalless and uneventful first half. Portuguese striker Bebe opened the scoring in the 56th minute, grabbing his first senior goal for the club somewhat fortuitously as his close range effort was deflected just over the line before Foley belatedly headed clear. However, Wolves were soon back on level terms as left-back George Elokobi crashed a powerful header into the net from a corner four minutes later.

Macheda and Park both missed good opportunities to restore the lead before the South Korean started and finished the move that made it 2-1 to United, shooting past Hennessey following a one-two with the Italian. Wolves again fought back strongly and dominated the next few minutes with another deserved equaliser coming from right-back Kevin Foley, who was neatly set up by Fletcher inside the United box.

Man of the moment Javier Hernandez was introduced to the United attack with ten minutes left on the clock. Sir Alex Ferguson obviously felt that the Mexican sensation could get the goal to win the game within normal time and he did just that, sprinting from the half way line to finish off an incisive move with some neat footwork in the box and a sharp finish leaving both Berra and Hennessey helpless on the ground.

Sir Alex had said that tonight’s team would offer a glimpse into the future of United, with a youthful line-up of reserve and fringe players taking the field. Here’s a quick summary of how they got on:

In goal, 20 year old Ben Amos made only his second appearance and didn’t have much to do in the first half but was kept busy after the interval. Allowed himself to be blocked on his goal-line by Ebanks-Blake as Elokobi headed in Wolves’ first goal, so he’ll need to learn how to command his box a bit better in the future. Probably couldn’t do a lot about the second goal.

In defence, Wes Brown and Johnny Evans are no strangers to the first team but Chris Smalling and Fabio are still finding their way at the club and all four will have benefitted from the opportunity of a run out given their recent paucity of first team football. Fabio managed to avoid making any of the rash challenges that have got him into trouble in the past and generally played well although he was replaced by Gary Neville when Matt Jarvis started to get the better of him in the second half. Neville himself was beaten by Jarvis soon after coming on and still looked short of match fitness. Brown, Evans and Smalling played OK without being exceptional.

In midfield, Carrick and Gibson were fairly anonymous. Each had a couple of long-range efforts that were either off target or never really troubled Hennessey. Both showed occasional glimpses of their passing ability but didn’t really stamp their authority on the centre of the park and Gibson was guilty of giving the ball away cheaply in the lead up to Wolves’ second equaliser. Park, as usual, worked extremely hard and deserved his goal. His experience was crucial in holding the unfamiliar team together and he earned the man of the match award from the broadcasters.

Macheda toiled away up front but didn’t combine particularly well with his fellow forwards and fluffed a few good chances. On his day he can be a useful first team striker, but today most definitely wasn’t his day. Gabriel Obertan again looked fast and skillful in possession but repeatedly chose the wrong option,, shooting or dribbling when he should have passed, or choosing the wrong pass. Defenders can’t cope with his close control and sudden change of direction but he’ll need more of an end product to make it at United. Fortunately for him, that is the sort of thing that Ferguson specialises in coaching. Bebe was impressive on the right side of attack and frequently beat his man to put in some decent crosses. He looked comfortable in possession and the goal will be good for his confidence. It remains to be seen if he will justify his price tag but it’s early days and there is promise.

Hernandez looked a class apart when he came on and there’s little doubt that he’ll be a mainstay of the first team in years to come, if he isn’t already. He has a knack of poaching goals not seen at United since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s retirement and has already notched up six goals for the club, having scored in four different competitions. A final mention goes to 17 year old midfielder Ravel Morrison, who came on in the last minute of injury time. One to watch out for in the future but he didn’t touch the ball tonight.

The new English domestic season kicked off this weekend, with the return of football league action plus the traditional Wembley curtain raiser – the FA Community Shield. This heralded the start of the fifth season of action at the new national stadium since its completion in time for the end-of-season finals in 2006-07, and this will be its busiest season yet, culminating with the UEFA Champions League final in May 2011.

This year’s Community Shield was the 44th competitive club match since the re-opening* and fittingly it featured the two clubs that have made the new stadium their second home: Chelsea (with a record 9 appearances) and Manchester United (with 8 appearances). In fact, Manchester United have played in all four of the Community Shield matches since the event moved to the new Wembley, winning three and losing one of them. In that period, the team that has won the Shield has always gone on to win the league, so Alex Ferguson will take great heart from his side’s 3-1 victory yesterday.

A grand total of 51 club teams have earned the honour of running out onto the new Wembley turf (which finally seems to be a decent playing surface) in the four and a bit years since the stadium opened. The most notable absentees from that list are Liverpool and Manchester City, who will both be hoping they can put that record right sooner rather than later. 18 teams have now played at the stadium on more than one occasion, with debt stricken Portsmouth the third most frequent visitors (5 times) followed by Stevenage, Cardiff and Tottenham (3 times each).

Of the 18 teams who have visited more than once, only two have managed to keep a 100% winning record at English football’s biggest venue and it seems it’s good news if you’re a northern seaside resort – Blackpool and Whitley Bay are the undefeated pair. It’s not such good news for Aston Villa, York, Shrewsbury, Cambridge and West Brom – they are the five teams to have played at the new Wembley more than once and failed to win on either occasion, with Cambridge and West Brom failing to even find the net on any of their visits.**

Comfortably the biggest win at the new Wembley is Whitley Bay’s 6-1 trouncing of Wroxham in the 2009-10 FA Vase final. The next biggest margins of victory are Southampton’s 4-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy thrashing of Carlisle United and Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa, both also in the 2009-10 season. By far the most common scoreline (including after extra time) is 1-0, which has happened on 13 occasions (or 29.5% of the time), followed by 2-1 (on 7 occasions). In total, 113 goals have now been scored in competitive club football at the new Wembley at an average of 2.57 goals per game. Chelsea’s 14 is easily the biggest contribution from a single club.

There have only been five new-Wembley penalty shoot-outs to date and incredibly Manchester United have been involved in them all, winning three and losing two. United have also been a participant in all three 0-0 draws thus far at the new Wembley.

The full record for the teams who have made more than one appearance at the new Wembley Stadium is shown below:

*The full list of competitive club matches played at the stadium is: FA Cup final and semi finals, League Cup Final, Community Shield, Championship, League One, League Two and Conference Play-Off Finals, FA Trophy Final, FA Vase Final and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final.

**In the event of a draw, we took into account the result after extra time and penalties – there are only winners and losers in club football at Wembley.

The World Cup is the only major tournament where national teams from all the continents meet  in meaningful competitive matches and, coming only once every four years, it gives us a rare and interesting insight into the relative footballing strengths of the different continents.

Of the 64 matches at the 2010 World Cup, 53 were contested between teams from different continental federations (there were also 10 all-Europe clashes and one all-South American match), and we have analysed the results of those games to produce a league table of the continents showing which are football powerhouses and which are the also-rans.

South America took the title as the strongest continent, largely thanks to their impressive performances in the group stage where all five of their representatives reached the second round, four of them winning their groups. They ruthlessly dispatched the weaker opposition they encountered in the first round and didn’t seem to need any time to acclimatise to the conditions, but their performances dipped later on in the tournament. Overall they contested 24 matches against teams from other continents and won half of them, earning 1.75 points per game (on a 3 points for a win, one for a draw basis). They also scored the most goals per game at 1.375.

Europe were not far behind, with an average of 1.62 points per game from their 34 matches against teams from other continents. European teams started slowly but the ones who made the second round grew stronger as the tournament progressed and they made up three of the last four teams. Europe and South America’s results put them comfortably ahead of their nearest challengers in our table showing that the traditional football hotbeds are still leading the world.

A distant third came Asia, with 1.07 points per game from their 14 matches showing that the most populous continent is well placed to mount a challenge to the established powerhouses in years to come. Football has been rapidly gaining in popularity in Asia over the past couple of decades and playing standards have been steadily rising, so you can expect them to consolidate their current position and close the gap on the big two in the next decade. Their teams did have the leakiest defences at the tournament, conceding 2 goals per game but that was mainly due to North Korea’s capitulation against Portugal.

Oceania is a surprise fourth in the table and it was the only unbeaten continent at World Cup 2010, with New Zealand’s three draws from as many games earning them an average of one point per game. They also had the meanest defence but the lowest goals scored average at the tournament, scoring and conceding at 0.6′ goals per game.

North America (CONCACAF) will be disappointed at their fifth place finish, although getting two of their three teams to the second round suggests that judging them purely on a points per game basis is unfair. Nevertheless, they would have hoped for at least one quarter final representative and a better average than 0.91 points per game from their 11 fixtures.

Africa’s challenge, or lack thereof, was the most disappointing aspect of the first World Cup on African soil. They managed only 0.9 points per game from 20 matches and five of their six representatives dropped out in the first round. Once again they failed to turn their potential into results and seem not to have made any progress in recent years.

Whether or not these performances will result in changes to the number of places each continental federation gets at the next World Cup remains to be seen. What is for sure is that South America will have an extra place as Brazil will qualify automatically as holders, with four more countries qualifying automatically and once going into a play-off. Europe has done more then enough to hold on to it’s 13 places but there may be a redistribution of the remainder. Africa will drop down to five teams as they lose the hosts spot that went to South Africa, and they may even have to make a further concession as Asia now warrants as many, if not more places than Africa. I would give Asia a full fifth place at the World Cup and make the fifth best African team play off against their fifth placed South American counterparts and have the Oceania representative play off against the fourth placed North American team.

World Cup 2010 - Intercontinental League Table

Our Proposed World Cup Allocations for 2014:

South America (CONMEBOL): 5.5
Europe (UEFA): 13
Asia (AFC): 5
Africa (CAF): 4.5
North America (CONCACAF): 3.5
Oceania (OFC): 0.5

*We’re not counting the Confederations Cup as a major tournament.

Arsene Wenger, only he knows if any signing are close

As the 2010/2011 Premier League season approaches Arsenal fans up and down the Country are feeling a little concerned. Last season it was clear the defence and goalkeeper needed some improving, Arsene Wenger said as much at the end of the season as well as saying he wanted to get any signings in quickly. The Colney creche approach means the new 25 man squad regulations have dealt Wenger a strong hand if he chooses to use it, but will he?

With a couple of weeks to go until the start of the season and most of pre-season behind us Arsenal have lost Campbell, Silverstre and Gallas with only Koscielny coming the other way. I don’t know too much about Koscielny other than the fact he comes from a mid table French club, has no European or International experience and doesn’t look like the beast of a defender Arsenal fans have so longer for. It looks like there still isn’t a solution to the Drogba problem, who will most likely be licking his lips when he sets his sights on Arsenal’s new boy. Those who argue he could hit the ground running like Vermaelen need to consider Vermaelen had played in Europe, played International football and performed week in-week out in a spectacular stadium at Ajax. Aside from Koscielny and Vermaelen the only recognisable centre backs are Johan Djourou and Havard Nordtveit. Djourou spent all last season injured and looks to already have a knock this year, expect Wenger to announce he’s like a new signing shortly, he has all the assets needed to be a great player but needs to stay clear of injuries for a period of time, he can only really be considered a 4th choice centre back this year. The last recognisable centre back who could be considered is Havard Nordtveit who spent last season playing defensive midfield for Nuremberg and has performed well as right back for Arsenal this pre-season, he hardly sounds ready to step up just yet. It leads me to conclude that Arsenal need to sign a strong experience centre back who can hit the ground running, Jagielka, Mertesaker and others have been mentioned but Wenger needs to move soon or he could risk blowing another season.

The other worrying position is between the sticks, after Almunia was shunned at the end of last season and Wenger astonishingly spoke about how he gets nervous before big games it’s amazing that he’s still at the club let alone the chance he could start the season as number 1. The alternatives at the moment are worrying, Fabianski has recieved endless praise and chances from Wenger but lets him down time and time again, Mannone looks fairly solid but rarely gets a chance and then there’s Szczesny who I think is the reason for a lot of our issues. I believe Wenger thinks Szczesny is going to be a star and doesn’t want to bring in a frist choice 28-30 year old keeper because it’ll stall his progress. This is why he seems to be incesantly chasing the aging Mark Schwarzer at Fulham, you’d take him over Almunia but he’s still not great. The worst case would be signing nobody which is looking increasingly likely.

So onto the new Squad regulations and due to the age of the Arsenal squad and number of “home grown” players who to be fair are mostly foreign everyone one of the current 26 players is eligible to play, not only that but Wenger sill has four slots that can be taken by players of any age and any nationality. If Wenger where to use these four slots to sign quality experienced players he’d have one of the biggest squads available in the Premier League. Arsenal fans can only hope Wenger finally patches up the flaws that have plagued Arsenal over the past 3-4 seasons.

Arsenal’s current first-team squad contains 26 players, of which 13 are counted as home grown, and seven are Under-21s.

The breakdown is as follows.

1 Manuel Almunia (May 19, 1977)
2 Abou Diaby (May 11, 1986)
3 Bacary Sagna (February 14, 1983)
4 Cesc Fabregas (May 4, 1987)
5 Thomas Vermaelen (November 14, 1985)
6 Laurent Koscielny
7 Tomas Rosicky (October 4, 1980)
8 Samir Nasri (June 26, 1987)
11 Robin van Persie (August 6, 1983)
12 Carlos Vela (March 1, 1989)*
14 Theo Walcott (March 16, 1989)*
15 Denilson (February 16, 1988)
16 Aaron Ramsey (December 26, 1990)*
17 Alex Song (September 9, 1987)
19 Jack Wilshere (January 1, 1992)*
20 Johan Djourou (January 18, 1987)
21 Lukasz Fabianski (April 18, 1985)
22 Gael Clichy (July 26, 1985)
23 Andrey Arshavin (May 29, 1981)
24 Vito Mannone (March 2, 1988)
27 Emmanuel Eboue (June 4, 1983)
28 Kieran Gibbs (September 26, 1989)*
29 Marouane Chamakh (January 10, 1984)
30 Armand Traore (October 8, 1989)*
52 Nicklas Bendtner (January 16, 1988)
53 Wojciech Szczesny (April 18, 1990)*

Players in BOLD = home grown
* = Under-21 for season 2010/11
(date in brackets is player’s date of birth)

England were by far and away the best team at World Cup 2010, streets ahead of their rivals both technically and tactically, and were strolling serenely towards the title when a scandalous refereeing error cut them down in their prime and kicked them out of the tournament.

OK, so you’ve all seen what happened and only the most ardent and short-sighted England fan would agree with that opening sentence. In fact the performances up to that point had been disjointed, lacklustre and abysmal, with all the evidence suggesting that the team was nothing like good enough to win the competition in South Africa, but we will never know for sure.

Goals change games and, as our research into previous World Cup comebacks from two or more goals down suggests, England would have had an 88% chance of going on to win or at least make it as far as penalties if Frank Lampard’s strike had been allowed. The psychological turmoil caused by losing a two goal lead coupled with the well known effects of conceding a goal just before half time (they dwell on it for 15 minutes in the dressing room you see) could have caused the Germans to crumble and implode. We’re not saying that’s definitely what would have happened, just that it really is time to use video replays or goal-line technology for these ball-across-the-line incidents.

Anyway, that gripe aside, let’s return to the other less controversial aspects of England’s World Cup campaign. The opening 35 minutes of their second round exit against Germany were littered with schoolboy defensive blunders and an alarming lack of cohesion. The defence was effortlessly breached on numerous occasions and Germany could have been four goals to the good before Matthew Upson’s header from a Gerrard cross beat Neuer in the German goal to halve the deficit. Lampard’s disallowed ‘goal’ came moments later.

England did manage to carry their momentum into the second half and started strongly, enjoying a good twenty minutes after the restart during which time Lampard hit the cross bar with a free-kick. Oh it could have been so different! However, England’s spell on top seemed to make them over confident and they committed too many men forward on subsequent attacks, twice having their lack of pace exposed as Germany ruthlessly punished them on the counter attack to complete a 4-1 trouncing.

England had struggled through one of the weakest World Cup groups and their qualification was in doubt right up until the final moments of their third match when Slovenia had a couple of good chances to equalise and put Fabio Capello’s men out. The opening game, against the United States, started brightly when Heskey teed up Gerrard for the England captain to open the scoring in only the fourth minute. However, England failed to capitalise on their early lead and were pegged back when goalkeeper Rob Green let Dempsey’s tame shot slip through his hands shortly before half time. Heskey missed a good chance in the second half and the match fizzled out into a draw, which was a fair result and probably suited both teams.

England were expected to produce an improved performance against the supposedly weaker Algeria in their second fixture, but the less said about that game the better. They lacked invention and there were few chances at either end in an instantly forgettable game. Their final group game against Slovenia became a must win affair and, without playing much better, England did just enough to gain the three points, Jermain Defoe volleying in James Milner’s cross in the 23rd minute for the only goal of the game. They finished second in Group C with five points, behind the USA on goals scored and a point clear of the Slovenians.

Thus it was the same old story for England at international tournaments in recent years – a much hyped campaign failing to live up to expectations with the big name stars under-performing and the players generally unable to gel as a team. Tiredness and players carrying injuries following the long, hard Premier League season was the oft repeated excuse but perhaps they just weren’t good enough to win it.

The English squad submitted to FIFA was as follows:

NUMBER – POSITION – NAME – AGE- CLUB

1 – GK – David JAMES – 39 – Portsmouth
12 – GK – Robert GREEN – 30 – West Ham United
23 – GK – Joe HART – 23 – Birmingham City
2 – DF – Glen JOHNSON – 25 – Liverpool
3 – DF – Ashley COLE – 29 – Chelsea
5 – DF – Rio FERDINAND* – 31 – Manchester United
6 – DF – John TERRY – 29 – Chelsea
13 – DF – Stephen WARNOCK – 28 – Aston Villa
15 – DF – Matt UPSON – 31 – West Ham United
18 – DF – Jamie CARRAGHER – 32 – Liverpool
20 – DF – Ledley KING – 29 – Tottenham Hotspur
4 – MF – Steven GERRARD – 30 – Liverpool
7 – MF – Aaron LENNON – 23 – Tottenham Hotspur
8 – MF – Frank LAMPARD – 31 – Chelsea
11 – MF – Joe COLE – 28 – Chelsea
14 – MF – Gareth BARRY – 29 – Manchester City
16 – MF – James MILNER – 24 – Aston Villa
17 – MF – Shaun WRIGHT-PHILLIPS – 28 – Manchester City
22 – MF – Michael CARRICK – 28 – Manchester United
9 – FW – Peter CROUCH – 29 – Tottenham Hotspur
10 – FW – Wayne ROONEY – 24 – Manchester United
19 – FW – Jermain DEFOE – 27 – Tottenham Hotspur
21 – FW – Emile HESKEY – 32 – Aston Villa

*Rio Ferdinand picked up an injury in the first training session in South Africa and was replaced in the squad by:
DF – Michael DAWSON – 26 – Tottenham Hotspur

With the 2010 World Cup now a slowly fading memory, we continue our series of tournament reviews by looking at the excitement factor. It was a World Cup without a signature ‘classic match’ standing out to be remembered in years to come. Yes, it had it’s fair share of dramatic incidents, memorable moments and some tremendous goals but there was no real thriller of a game to keep us on the edge of our seats throughout the ninety minutes and send us on a roller-coaster of emotions.

This was probably due to the defensive outlook of many teams. It was the norm to approach any game against one of the tournament favourites with a plan to simply defend and frustrate the opposition. Many teams showed little ambition to score themselves. Two defensive midfielders were de rigeur for most coaches and defences were better organised than ever before, with all eleven players usually being well drilled in their defensive duties. These tactics left little scope for beautiful football to flourish and precious little chance of any high scoring games, especially in the opening rounds of the group stage where, more than ever before, teams were simply desperate not to lose.

The winners can usually be relied upon to weigh in with their fair share of goals, but on that front Spain were disappointing. They played neat and tidy passing football, keeping possession effortlessly, but repeatedly failed to find a cutting edge in the final third. Their main goal threat actually came from set pieces, where Puyol and Ramos were dominant in the air, and their tally of 8 goals in 7 games was comfortably the lowest ever for a World Cup winner. Their four knockout phase matches were all won 1-0.

Of the 64 matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, only 28 (43.75%) saw both teams find the net. This was probably because most teams that did manage to take the lead immediately became even more defensively minded once they had something to hang on to. Instead of pushing forward in search of more goals to extend their lead, they typically shut up shop and attempted to kill off the game. There were even fewer games where the lead actually changed hands: Greece 2-1 Nigeria, Denmark 2-1 Cameroon, Holland 2-1 Brazil and Germany 3-2 Uruguay were the only 4 matches in which both teams had the lead at some point. It’s a shame that Germany against Uruguay was the Third Place Play-off match because if was arguably the best game of the tournament and the only one in which the lead changed hands twice. Had it been a semi final, it could have been the classic match the tournament needed.

This brings us on to the subject of comebacks, which are surely one of the most exciting football spectacles. Those four matches could be called comebacks but they only involved a team recovering from one goal down. The biggest comeback, and only recovery from two or more goals down in World Cup 2010, was by the USA in their group game against Slovenia. They came back from 2-0 down at half time to draw level and even had a late winner wrongly disallowed. England also fought back from 2-0 down - or they would have done had the referee spotted the ball crossing the line for Frank Lampard’s ‘equaliser’ – in their knockout match against Germany. The goal was disallowed and we were denied the spectacle of only the 29th fight back from two goals down in World Cup history.

A closer examination of the previous 28 World Cup fightbacks shows what a crucial decision that proved to be, because 75% of the teams who have managed to come back from two or more goals down have gone on to secure a win or draw in the match. Taking only the data from World Cups post-1954 (to discount most of the freak scores from early tournaments), the figure is even higher – 88% of teams who have come back from a two (or more) goal deficit have gone on to win or draw the game. The last time a team lost having cancelled out a two goal deficit was back in 1994 when Holland drew level with Brazil at 2-2 only to concede again and lose 3-2 in their quarter final. Germany had only once previously thrown away a two goal advantage at the World Cup and on that occasion they went on to lose 4-2 to Switzerland. England had come back from two down once before and ended up drawing 2-2 with the USSR.

The consequences of letting a two goal lead slip are plainly there for all to see. Once you’ve lost such a lead, you are very unlikely to get it back. The psychological impact on the players is immense as they see their hard work undone before them and the momentum swinging firmly towards their opponents. On one side heads drop, on the other the adrenaline is rushing and they can almost feel the wind behind their sails. It takes a very mentally strong group of players to recover from the hammer blow of losing a two goal cushion to regain the initiative and score a winner. It has happened only twice in the last 56 years, so perhaps England would have taken Germany to extra time and penalties had Lampard’s goal been allowed.

The full list of World Cup matches during which a team has come back level from a deficit of two (or more) goals is shown below. Credit must go to Portugal (1966), Colombia (1962) and Austria (1954) for the only three-goal comebacks – perhaps the greatest World Cup comebacks of all time. Incredibly, Germany have come back from two or more goals down on six occasions. The next best is Mexico on three and the team to have lost the most two goal leads at the World Cup is Hungary, also three times.

(The team that made the comeback is shown first in bold and in green where they went on to win the game or red where they went on to lose)

World Cup Comebacks

2010 USA 2-2 Slovenia
2006 Ivory Coast 3-2 Serbia
2002 Uruguay 3-3 Senegal
2002 South Africa 2-2 Paraguay
1998 Mexico 2-2 Belgium
1998 Mexico 2-2 Holland
1998 Germany 2-2 Yugoslavia
1994 South Korea 2-2 Spain
1994 Holland 2-3 Brazil
1986 Germany 2-3 Argentina
1982 Germany 3-3 France
1970 Peru 3-2 Bulgaria
1970 Germany 3-2 England
1966 Portugal 5-3 North Korea [3 goal comeback]
1962 Colombia 4-4 USSR [3 goal comeback]
1958 Germany 2-2 Czechoslovakia
1958 England 2-2 USSR
1954 Mexico 2-3 France
1954 Belgium 4-4 England
1954 Austria 7-5 Switzerland [3 goal comeback]
1954 Uruguay 2-4 Hungary
1954 Germany 3-2 Hungary
1950 USA 2-5 Chile
1950 Paraguay 2-2 Sweden
1938 Poland 5-6 Brazil
1938 Switzerland 4-2 Germany
1938 Brazil 4-2 Sweden
1934 Egypt 2-4 Hungary

NB: There were no comebacks from two or more goals behind in the 1930, 1974, 1978 or 1990 World Cups.

All Time Record:
TOTAL: 28 teams have come back from 2 or more goals down at the World Cup
8 went on to win (29%)
13 went on to draw (46%)
7 went on to lose (25%)

Since 1954:
TOTAL: 17 teams have come back from 2 or more goals down at the World Cup
4 went on to win (23.5%)
11 went on to draw (64.7%)
2 went on to lose (11.8%)

More than one 2-goal comeback:
Germany 6
Mexico 3
USA 2
Uruguay 2

Lost a 2-goal lead more than once:
Hungary 3
Serbia/Yugoslavia 2
Brazil 2
France 2
England 2
USSR 2
Sweden 2

It was a mixed World Cup for Bob Bradley’s USA squad, with a largely successful group stage followed by elimination in the second round with a poor performance against Ghana. Pre-tournament they would have been hopeful of making the quarter finals and having won their group they should probably have gone on to do so. That said, it transpired to be a fairly weak group and the United States didn’t exactly take it by storm.

Their opening match, against England in Rustenburg, was an underwhelming affair in which they were fortunate to be gifted an equaliser courtesy of Robert Green’s handling error from Clint Dempsey’s long range effort, having gone behind in only the fourth minute to Steven Gerrard’s goal. The teams cancelled each other out in most areas and created few real chances although by full time the USA had probably done enough to merit the draw on balance of play even though it took the freak goal to secure the point.

The second Group C game, against Slovenia in Johannesburg, was very much a game of two halves. Slovenia dominated the first 45 minutes and were 2-0 up at the interval through Birsa and Ljubijankic. A double substitution from Bradley at half time turned the game back in the USA’s favour, with Edu and Feilhaber replacing Torres and Findley. Goals from Donovan and Michael Bradley brought the USA level with ten minutes to go and Maurice Edu scored what seemed to be a late winner with a volley from a Donovan free kick but it was incomprehensibly ruled out by the officials.

The USA’s third and final group game will be remembered for the drama of the final few minutes when their future in the competition was hanging by a thread. With England beating Slovenia the Americans needed a win against Algeria in Pretoria to avoid an early exit. It as a nerve wracking 90 minutes with both teams striving for a breakthrough and accumulating over 40 shots at goal between them but unable to find the back of the net. Just when all seemed lost, in time added on for stoppages, Landon Donovan popped up in the right place at the right time to finally beat the heroic Algerian goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi from a rebound and win the game at the death, thus moving the USA from third to first in Group C in the blink of an eye. It was no more than the United States deserved over the three games and the joyful celebrations reflected just how much that late winner meant.

Coming top of the group opened up a route to the semi finals uncomplicated by any of world football’s traditional superpowers as Ghana and then the winner of Uruguay versus South Korea was all that stood in the way of a place in the last four for the USA. They knew they may never get a better chance so it was imperative to perform at their best in the second round fixture, back in Rustenburg, against Africa’s last remaining representative in the tournament. However, they were overwhelmed early on by the pace and power of the Ghanaians and went behind in only the fifth minute to a Kevin Price Boateng strike. Easily second best in the first period, the Americans came out a changed team after the interval and were given a route back into the game in the 62nd minute when Clint Dempsey’s trickery took him into the box where Mensah could only trip him and concede a penalty. Donovan coolly converted it to level the scores.

Neither team could force a winner in normal time so the first period of extra time at South Africa 2010 was required to separate them. Again Ghana came out of the blocks quickly and caught the USA defence napping as early as the 93rd minute when a high ball forward found a huge gap for Gyan to run in to. Captain Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit were too far apart and unable to get goal side of the striker, who shrugged off a feeble challenge from Bocanegra and fired his shot past Tim Howard before DeMerit could reach him with a desperate lunge. It was a massive blow and from that moment the Americans looked a tired and beaten team. They weren’t able to fight back for a second time and their World Cup adventure was over for another four years.

The American squad submitted to FIFA was as follows:

NUMBER – POSITION – NAME – AGE- CLUB

1 – GK – Tim HOWARD – 31 – Everton
18 – GK – Brad GUZAN – 25 – Aston Villa
23 – GK – Marcus HAHNEMANN – 37 – Wolverhampton
2 – DF – Jonathan SPECTOR – 24 – West Ham United
3 – DF – Carlos BOCANEGRA – 31 – Rennes
5 – DF – Oguchi ONYEWU – 28 – AC Milan
6 – DF – Steve CHERUNDOLO – 31 – Hannover 96
12 – DF – Jonathan BORNSTEIN – 25 – Chivas USA
15 – DF – Jay DeMERIT – 30 – Watford
21 – DF – Clarence GOODSON – 28 – IK Start
4 – MF – Michael BRADLEY – 22 – Borussia Moenchengladbach
7 – MF – DaMarcus BEASLEY – 28 – Rangers
8 – MF – Clint DEMPSEY – 27 – Fulham
10 – MF – Landon DONOVAN – 28 – Los Angeles Galaxy
11 – MF – Stuart HOLDEN – 24 – Bolton Wanderers
13 – MF – Ricardo CLARK – 27 – Eintracht Frankfurt
16 – MF – Francisco TORRES – 22 – Pachuca
19 – MF – Maurice EDU – 24 – Rangers
22 – MF – Benny FEILHABER – 25 – AGF Aarhus
9 – FW – Herculez GOMEZ – 28 – Puebla
14 – FW – Edson BUDDLE – 29 – Los Angeles Galaxy
17 – FW – Jozy ALTIDORE – 20 – Hull City
20 – FW – Robbie FINDLEY – 24 – Real Salt Lake

South Korea improved on their showing from Germany four years ago and qualified for the knockout phase of the World Cup for the first time ever outside of their home turf. They produced a couple of good performances and looked a well organised team with one or two exceptional individuals but didn’t quite have the quality to progress further than the second round.

They started strongly, with their best result of the tournament, a 2-0 win over Greece. Lee Jung Soo gave them an early lead in only the 7th minute and Manchester United’s Park Ji Sung added a second shortly after the interval. It was a good time the catch the Greeks as they never got out of the starting blocks and Korea could and should have scored several more.

The stroll in the park against Greece did nothing to prepare the Koreans for their next opponents. Argentina had also won their opening game and were approaching top form meaning Huh Jung Moo’s team had a completely different task ahead of them. Containment was the order of the day and, although they were thoroughly outplayed, they did at least manage to keep the score down in the first half. Argentina could have run up a cricket score in the first 45 minutes but it is credit to Moo’s men that they went in only a goal behind thanks to Lee Chung Yong’s goal in added time.

The second half brought more of the same and South Korea were unlucky to come up against an imperious Lionel Messi pulling the strings for Tevez and Higuain. It was Messi’s free kick that had been deflected in off Park Chu Young for the opener and the little maestro went on to serve up a hat-trick for Higuain in what became a 4-1 demolition. Still, there was all to play for in their final group game.

A win against Nigeria would have guaranteed progress and a draw was always likely to be enough and in the event a draw was what Korea got although it was a close run thing. They went behind in the 12th minute and could have fallen further adrift before Lee Jung Soo’s equaliser seven minutes before half time. Park Chu Young put Korea ahead early in the second half when he struck home the first free kick goal of the tournament but they rode their luck for the rest of the game conceding a penalty for the equaliser and surviving a an open goal comically missed by Yakubu before their place in the second round was finally secured by the final whistle.

Their last sixteen encounter pitted them against Group A winners Uruguay and the occasion inspired another fine performance from the South Koreans but they ended up losing out by the odd goal in three. It was a closely contested match that could have gone either way right up until the last ten minutes when Uruguay’s Suarez produced a fine individual strike to win it. The same player had given the South Americans an early lead but Korea fought back through Lee Chung Yong’s header in the 68th minute and had chances for a winner of their own.

Second in their group and a narrow second round defeat was probably par for the course for this squad but they can be relatively happy with their performance and have every chance of building on it over the coming years ahead of their next assault on the World Cup.

The South Korean squad submitted to FIFA was as follows:

NUMBER – POSITION – NAME – AGE- CLUB
1 – GK – LEE Woon Jae – 37 – Suwon Bluewings
18 – GK – JUNG Sung Ryong – 25 – Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
21 – GK – KIM Young Kwang – 26 – Ulsan Hyundai
2 – DF – OH Beom Seok – 25 – Ulsan Hyundai
3 – DF – KIM Hyung Il – 26 – Pohang Steelers
4 – DF – CHO Yong Hyung – 26 – Jeju United
12 – DF – LEE Young Pyo – 33 – Al Hilal
14 – DF – LEE Jung Soo – 30 – Kashima Antlers
15 – DF – KIM Dong Jin – 28 – Ulsan Hyundai
22 – DF – CHA Du Ri – 29 – SC Freiburg
23 – DF – KANG Min Soo – 24 – Suwon Bluewings
5 – MF – KIM Nam Il – 33 – Tom Tomsk
6 – MF – KIM Bo Kyung – 20 – Oita Trinita
7 – MF – PARK Ji Sung – 29 – Manchester United
8 – MF – KIM Jung Woo – 28 – Gwangju Sangmu
13 – MF – KIM Jae Sung – 26 – Pohang Steelers
16 – MF – KI Sung Yueng – 21 – Celtic
17 – MF – LEE Chung Yong – 21 – Bolton Wanderers
19 – MF – YEOM Ki Hun – 27 – Suwon Bluewings
9 – FW – AHN Jung Hwan – 34 – Dalian Shide
10 – FW – PARK Chu Young – 24 – Monaco
11 – FW – LEE Seung Yeoul – 21 – FC Seoul
20 – FW – LEE Dong Gook – 31 – Jeonbuk Motors

The 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League kicked off well before the 2010 World Cup had even ended, with the first match being played on the 30th June as Europe’s smallest champions set out at the very start of the long and arduous road to Wembley. The champions of Andorra, Malta, San Marino and Montenegro contested the opening pair of two-legged ties for a chance to join the slightly less small boys in the Second Qualifying Round.

The opening game of the competition never actually took place as Andorran champions Santa Coloma’s Estadi Comunal pitch was in too poor a condition. The Andorrans were fined €10,000 and awarded a 0-3 defeat, which gave them little chance ahead of the second leg against Birkirkara in Malta. The tie was well and truly wrapped up by the end of an exciting first half with the Maltese leading 4-2 on the night and 7-2 on aggregate. Santa Coloma scored a late consolation in the second half to end up 7-3 losers and become the first team to be knocked out of this season’s Champions League.

The other tie was no more competitive, with Rudar Pljevlja of Montenegro winning their first leg 3-0 away against Tre Fiori at the Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle, San Marino. Rudar followed up with a 4-1 win at home a week later to complete a 7-1 rout.

The Second Qualifying Round First Leg ties were played on the 13th and 14th of July with 13 of the 17 fixtures ending in home wins:

AIK 1-0 Jeunesse Esch
Aktobe 2-0 Olimpi Rustavi
BATE 5-1 FH  Hafnarfjordur
Birkirkara 1-0 Žilina
Bohemians 1-0 TNS
Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 Koper
Ekranas 1-0 HJK 
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 5-0 Zeljeznicar
Inter Bakı 0-1 Lech Poznan
Levadia 1-1 Debrecen
Liepajas Metalurgs 0-3 Sparta Praha
Linfield 0-0 Rosenborg
Litex 1-0 Rudar Pljevlja
Omonia 3-0 Renova 
Partizan 3-1 Pyunik
Salzburg 5-0 HB Torshavn
Sheriff 3-1 Dinamo Tirana

BATE, Dinamo Zagreb, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Salzburg all look well set for qualification following five goal hauls, as do Sparta Praha thanks to a 3-0 away win. The second legs are due to be played on the 20th and 21st of July 2010.

World Cup 2010 Final (Sunday 11th July 2010, K.O. 19:30 BST)
Venue: Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg
Conditions: Cloudy and dry. Temp: 14c, Wind 5.0m/s

Spain: 1 (Iniesta 116)
Holland: 0

TEAMS
Spain: Casillas (C), Capdevila, Ramos, Pique, Puyol, Sergio, Alonso (Fabregas 87), Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro (Navas 60), Villa (Torres 106).
Holland: Stekelenburg, Van Bronckhorst (C) (Braafheid 105), Van Der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bommel, De Jong (Van Der Vaart 99), Sneijder, Kuyt (Elia 71), Robben, Van Persie.

Referee: Howard Webb (Rotherham, England)
Linesmen: Darren Cann & Michael Mullarkey

Spain beat Holland 1-0 in the 2010 World Cup final in Soccer City, Johannesburg to win the tournament for the first time in their history. Both teams had chances to win the game in normal time but an extra half hour was needed to separate them and Andres Iniesta crowned a magnificent performance with the winning goal only four minutes from the end.

There were no surprises in the Dutch line up for their third final appearance. Right-back Gregory Van Der Wiel returned from his one match ban to take the place of Boulahrouz and defensive midfielder Nigel De Jong was back from his suspension to replace De Zeeuw in the engine house of the Holland team meaning that coach Bert Van Marwijk was able to name his strongest eleven. Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque had a selection dilemma in attack, eventually opting for Pedro, who impressed in the semi final, ahead of Fernando Torres, who has struggled since rushing back from injury to be fit for the finals. Therefore, Spain fielded an unchanged team from their win over Germany. On the celebrity front, Nelson Mandela was present in the stadium for Africa’s first final and Michel Platini made it too, having fainted in a restaurant on Friday night. Most importantly of all, Paul the Octopus predicted a Spain win, and he hadn’t been wrong yet this tournament. Unfortunately he couldn’t attend in person. England’s Howard Webb was appointed referee for the big occasion, three days before his 39th birthday.

Holland kicked off and their game plan was clear from the start, with three fouls conceded in the opening minutes. The first real chance came early on too, with Xavi whipping in a free kick from the right following one of those fouls. Ramos met it with his head and Stekelenburg needed to make a fine save to protect his clean sheet. Dirk Kuyt managed Holland’s first shot on target a couple of minutes later but it wasn’t hit hard enough to trouble Casillas. Ramos was having a busy start and he got forward again in the 11th minute, beating Kuyt as be broke into the box and struck a shot towards the far post, which was diverted over the bar by Heitinga. Villa had a shooting chance after the resulting corner and hit the side netting as Spain piled on the pressure. The Dutch were already struggling to keep up with the slick movement of their Spanish counterparts and Van Persie was booked for his second bad tackle on the quater hour mark when he took out Capdevila.

Carles Puyol demonstrated that Spain can mix it in a physical encounter when he brought down Holland’s danger man Arjen Robben a minute later to earn himself a yellow card and Wesley Sneijder was presented with his first chance to aim a free kick at Casillas’ goal. His powerful shot beat the wall but was too close to the Spanish ‘keeper. Mark Van Bommel got his own, much anticipated, booking in the 22nd minute for a terrible challenge from behind on Iniesta, and Ramos was similarly punished a minute later for a foul on Kuyt as the yellow card total began to mount up. De Jong claimed the fifth caution in the 28th minute and he was probably lucky not to be dismissed for a studs-up high foot into Alonso’s chest. The game calmed down a bit towards the end of the half with little more than a few long range efforts to note, the best of which was a snap shot from Robben following a corner but Casillas turned it around his near post to ensure parity at the interval.

Spain had an early chance in the second half with Puyol again dominant in the opposition box from a corner. His downward header across goal went through the legs of the Capdevila when any sort of touch could have found the net. The Spanish seemed to have come out of the dressing rooms with instructions to raise the tempo and accordingly Holland returned to their spoiling tactics with Van Bronckhorst and Heitinga both picking up cards to take the Dutch total to five. Del Bosque replaced Pedro with winger Jesus Navas, perhaps wanting to introduce a player who would run at defenders inducing fouls and potentially red cards.

The best chance of the game thus far came in the 62nd minute when Robben broke through one on one with Casillas and had plenty of time to pick his shot. However, the Spanish ‘keeper narrowed the angle well and saved with his right leg as Robben aimed a low shot towards the bottom left corner. With hindsight the Dutchman will probably wish he had tried to round the ‘keeper. Van Persie was the next player to nearly get in behind the Spanish defence but he was upended by Capdevila and the left back became the eighth man to enter the referee’s book.

Navas made his first major impact on the game in the 69th minute when he beat his man and played the ball low across the Dutch goal mouth where Heitinga could only deflect it into the path of David Villa. Spain’s top scorer was presented with perhaps the easiest chance he will get this tournament but his shot from point blank range was blocked by a desperate lunge from Heitinga. A corner from Xavi with a quarter of an hour to go presented Ramos with his third chance of the game as he rose unchallenged yet again to thump a bullet header just over the bar.

Robben had an almost identical one on one with Casillas in the 83rd minute when he easily outpaced a sluggish Puyol to steal the ball and bear down on goal although he was pulled back by the burly defender and could have gone down for a free kick which might have seen Puyol dismissed. However, he opted to stay on his feet and this time did try to go round Casillas but the ‘keeper was again off his line quickly and dived at Robben’s feet to gather the ball. Robben was then booked for his protests as he tried to convince the referee to bring back play for the foul.

Five minutes into extra time Spain had their own one on one opportunity when a superb through ball from Iniesta picked out substitute Cesc Fabregas but the midfielder couldn’t beat the outcoming Stekelenburg, who saved well with his legs. Fabregas returned the favour for Iniesta three minutes later but Iniesta was too slow to shoot and the ball was whipped away from him by Van Bronckhorst. Navas then had a shot from the corner of the box deflected off Van Bronckhorst and into the side netting with Stekelenburg diving the wrong way and yet another great chance went begging. All that last ditch defending must have taken its toll on Van Bronckhorst’s thirty-five year old legs as the Dutch captain was replaced by Edson Braafheid just before half time in extra time. It was his 106th and last appearance for the national team and the final professional appearance of his long and distinguished career as he retires following this tournament.

Vicente Del Bosque played his last card at the start of the second period of extra time, bringing on Torres for Villa in a bid to freshen up his attack. However it was Iniesta who forced the first mistake in the Dutch defence when he was pulled back by Heitinga chasing a ball over the top and the centre back received his second yellow card of the game to leave Holland with ten men for the final ten minutes. Xavi put the resulting free kick over the bar. Heitinga’s second yellow and one for Van Der Wiel minute later raised the Dutch total to nine.

The breakthrough finally came in the 116th minute when Fabregas found Andres Iniesta free in the box and the midfielder finally managed to put a shot past Stekelenburg. Spanish jubilation in one corner of the field was countered by Dutch protests in another as they argued they should have had a free kick for a foul on Elia but there was no chance of having this goal ruled out and there was hardly any time left for a Holland fight back. Spain held on and deservedly claimed the trophy with their fourth 1-0 win in a row.