Robert Uvanović reporting from South Africa
It’s been an up and down week for me here in Pretoria as the USA were dumped out of the tournament by a young, but talented Ghana team, only a few days after their stunning, last-gasp defeat of Algeria which put them into the Round of 16. The scenes at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium after Landon Donovan had struck in injury-time to secure a famous victory against Algeria were of absolute jubilation and pure ecstasy. Since USA were expected to get out of the group, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off the team’s shoulders after progressing, in first place none the less. I’ve never seen so many Americans going absolutely crazy for soccer before.
The loss against Ghana was disappointing for myself and the other American fans in the stadium, all the more since we had looked very much in control after having equalized the match at 1-1. But that is life and just as certain as the Earth goes around the sun, every four years there will a day of sadness as the boys crash out of the World Cup.
I think at this point it’s very relevant for Croatian fans to step back and reflect upon the performances of two countries during the World Cup: England and Greece. I had been rooting for Slovenia to progress rather than England for a few reasons; the major reason obviously being that a Slovenia win/draw would have meant the path through to the Round of 16 would have been easier for the US. However, even if the US had been out of this group, I would have rooted for the Slovenes to progress simply since the majority of the English supporters that I came across were so very arrogant and had such inflated perceptions of their squad, which as we all saw crashed out spectacularly against a very impressive German side.
Though as Croatians, I feel as though we must ask ourselves the question, in reflecting upon our qualifying campaign, were we really just that bad against the English or was it a different English side that we played against as opposed to the one that showed up in South Africa? The way that I look at it is that our 4-1 defeat in Zagreb was a flattering scoreline for the English as we fell apart after the Kovač red card and had looked to be in good form prior to Walcott’s first goal. However, this showed for the world to see that we could not handle someone with Walcott’s pace on the wings. I mean this kid didn’t even make England’s World Cup squad. Surely this should have been something we took into consideration in our formation against England the next match.
However, our 5-1 defeat in London was easily the worst I have ever seen Croatia play. Once again, just interchange Walcott with Lennon this time and we had no answer for their superior pace along the wings. It certainly didn’t help that we had Mandžukić and Pokrivač playing out of position on the wings, where they were consistently torched, or that Luka was out injured.
Considering that the English looked poor in both matches against the Ukraine and were again only mediocre in their other friendlies in the past year, the major victories that analysts tended to point out as proving that England were candidates to lift the Cup were the victories against us. Now seeing how poor England looked during the World Cup, it certainly does not reflect well upon our showing in qualification.
I’m curious as to what the CSR community thinks about this. Were we really that poor against England or was England just a different side in the World Cup from the side that we faced? I think it’s a mixture of both as it’s clear that England’s backline is in tatters with Rio Ferdinand out injured and John Terry failing to find his top form, while it’s obvious that the side that we faced was full of confidence as opposed to the side we saw in the World Cup.
Changing gears, we were able to get a glimpse of our future qualifying rivals Greece in the 3 games they played this World Cup. With their coach Otto Rehhagel stepping down after the tournament, it seems as though this may be a Greek team in transition. It will certainly be interesting to see whether the next coach will adopt the ultra-defensive tactics that Rehhagel employed.
The Greek side during the World Cup was pretty much what you would expect – devoid of any creativity, but full of energy, heart and discipline. They were simply outpaced against a fast and athletic Korea, but were lucky against Nigeria. If Nigeria had not gotten a silly and childish red card in their match against the Greeks, I think that the Greece would have exited the tournament without a goal or point.
The only match that showed why Greece could be a dangerous team was their strong defensive performance against Argentina. They frustrated the Argentines for almost 80 minutes, almost sneaking a goal against the run of play on the counter-attack, and you would have to think that when we play them in Zagreb in September, they will adopt the same approach and play for 0-0.
From what I saw of Greece this tournament, there is simply no excuse not to qualify for Euro 2012 if our key players can stay healthy, but it will be by no means an easy task as we saw from Argentina-Greece.
One thing to keep in mind is that Greece will be playing their first qualifier against Georgia, where Croatia is unlikely to get a grasp of the new coach’s tactics prior to the match in Zagreb, which may give Slaven Bilić somewhat of a headache in designing his tactics.
From my perspective here in Pretoria, South Africa, here are the best and worst so far from the Group Stage of the 2010 World Cup:
Best Goal: Honda’s Free Kick for Japan v. Denmark
Best Fans: Chile/Argentina
Best Match: Italy-Slovakia or USA-Slovenia
Best Young Player:Alexis Sanchez, Chile or Mesut Ozul, Germany
Biggest Upset: Switzerland over Spain
Biggest Surprise:New Zealand not losing a match
Not surprising at all: Italy crashing out
Most Disappointing: France. Enough Said.
Most Disappointing Match: Take your pick, either the bore 0-0 draw between Portugal and Ivory Coast or Portugal and Brazil.
Biggest Disappointment : Africa’s failure to produce this tournament outside of Ghana
My final prediction: Brazil v Argentina
No reason at all to be worried about Hajduk. However i do not believe ANY croatian team should have Euro aspirations this season as both Hajduk and Dinamo seem to be financially restructuring which in the long term is for the best so fans must be patient. Neither are bringing players. I believe Dinamo may sneak in Europa liga depending on the form of Mandzo, Morales, Badelj, Ademi and Biscan. But our team is the same as last year ie. Sivonjic, Slepi, Barbaric, Cufre so there is no reason to believe we can do better.
The fun this season will be in the fight for the title which i believe will be very close. Slaven Belupo, Osijek have already made improvements to the squad nice and early and have got themselves set. I also like what's happening at RNK Split. They've made some nice signings that should definitely keep them up.
Its a shame Rijeka, Cibalia and Sibenik got their squad's ripped and have had to start from the beginning with player recruitment.
Hajduk could still do with a striker. I think Ibricic will still go and Vukusic, Cop and Ahmad are still not good enough. They are fine for support roles or bench players. I do not know who Hajduk could get in attack to improve them though.
Bjelanovic has gone to Cluj, Cesarec to Aris Salonika, Budimir seems set to stay at Ergotelis, same for Keric at Liberec. Budan apparently staying at Palermo. If Mandzo left Dinamo i'd still like us to bid on Keric.
After that there is not too many around. Zdavko Popovic at Atromotis and Leon Benko at Kortrijk would improve Hajduk's strikeforce, but apart from that they'd have to go foriegn if they are to find a striker. This is possibly a long shot, but for a season Davor Vugrinec prob could do a good job. Wouldn't be the worst gamble in the world.
@Boris,
I agree Colin Cowherd doesnt know shit about soccer. He mentions this himself. He's not a soccer guy. However, the guy is not an idiot.
"US. they only have 3 top class players (howard, dempsey, donovan), so no one was expecting a quarterfinal or better finish."
No one on this site. However…
In an ESPN poll, 90% of Americans voted for the USA finishing at least in the semifinals before the world cup started. Colin is not one of those Americans. This was his point #1..
Obviously, no one likes commercials besides the TV networks. Cowherd brought up a point that the only way TV makes $$$ is commercials.. so 90 minutes of coverage with no commercials = no $$$
Americans can not focus on soccer. Not enough stops in the game for 1) restroom breaks, 2) food, 3) get a beer from the fridge, etc etc..
The Brits have added commercials during the world cup.. 2-10 second commercials while a player goes down or another stop in play.
I would love to see Klinsmann coach the US.. However, I dont think that he will have the same passion coaching the Yanks as he did for his native Germany. Sometimes foreign coaches dont work… i.e. England… Erikson, Capelo… Serbia with the Spaniard…
I thought Bradley did a hell of a job with what he had to work with. I wouldnt mind seeing him return. Lets see if Bradley follows the mexican and quits.
In my honest opinion, the USA has to figure out how to circulate the ball through all three positions. The Defense to Forwards boom ball is pretty embarrassing. They need a play maker in the middle(Donovan is playing on the outside for anyone that should try to argue that point) Until they do that, they won't be able to compete consistently.
I can't tell you how many times I've tried to bring this up to my American friends. And they constantly bring up the wins in that joke of a tournament where they reached the finals. A lot of luck in the past year for the Americans in my opinion. They still need a lot of work. I was disappointed and not surprised by Jose Altidore. I think Gomez would have been the better option.
Anyways, thats in the past. Big game FRIIIIDAY. GOO NETHERLANDS. I know a lot of people don't like Robben, but I love the guy. And I love the fact he is sticking it to Real Madrid for letting him go.
@ ziva
i hope the US fire bradley and hire klinsmann. i don't know bradley's background completely, but i'm pretty sure he learned his soccer and coaching in the US, not in a time-tested and proven soccer nation like germany the way klinsmann did.
this might sound funny, but i'd even rather have mourinho and all that comes with his 'specialness', or any successful european manager rather than another US born-raised-groomed coach for the NT.
@ denis
i listened to the cowherd podcast, and i agree that the US did fine, could've done better, and finished in proportion to their fifa ranking. but cowherd in general is pretty much a dickhead. let's set aside his bias in favor of 'big market' cities and their sports franchises and his homo love affair with USC…he doesn't know shit about soccer. at one point he criticizes soccer games because there are no commercials, as if that's a bad thing. i get it..you need commercials to pay for the broadcast, but who doesn't think the NFL has too many damn commercials per game? here's how it works for the NFL on tv:
touchdown…break to commercial
extra point…break to commercial
kickoff…break to commercial
a total of 10 seconds ticks off the clock from touchdown to 1st down for the other team, and the NFL crams 10 minutes of commercials in there.
the best part about watching soccer on tv is no commercials during play.
all in all, it was a good WC for the US. they only have 3 top class players (howard, dempsey, donovan), so no one was expecting a quarterfinal or better finish. they have no dangerous strikers, and they are weak in the back (aside from howard). i think bradley will be gone as coach, which is the right thing to do. not sure why holden didn't get any PT. from what i hear, he has impressed at bolton. cherundulo and bornstein can barely trap the ball…possibly the worst first touch i've seen in the WC. cowherd is right to say that the US finished about where expected. you can't expect a team that only has maybe 3 players in the top 50% of WC players at their positions to get farther than the US did.
i'm a fan of US soccer because i support my home country's national teams, not because i think they are a great team. obviously, they are pretty average, and would likely fail to qualify for world cups if they were in euro qualifying or south american qualifying. but it seems like they get a little better with each passing year, so i'm hopeful for better results in upcoming competitions.
everyone talks about Greece as our main threat in upcoming qualifying. the team that scares me is Israel who dont even belong in Europe. I just hope we dont overlook them…they have a great record at ramat gan, and gave us a handfull in zagreb for euro08.
DOMŽALE – HAJDUK 3:1
Poor result for Hajduk today. Is it premature to be concerned or is this pretty much what we can expect from Hajduk this season?
All of the players they appear to counting on played…
HAJDUK: Subašić, M. Buljat (Pandža 62), J. Buljat, Vejić (Maloča 62), Strinić, Tomasov (Oremuš 57), M. Ljubičić (Brkljača 81), Andrić, Anas, Ibričić, Ahmad (Čop 54)
i See the current team and ideas and the WC qualifying campaign differently. There is a possible change of system happening now which involves Srna to right back, Corluka to centre and protection of the back line with defensive mids and Modric in a free role which could allow him to govern the midfield. I believe Bilic did not work hard in the last campaign and was slow to change anything. But now i want to see where his ideas go. He has changed Pranjic to midfield too and he brought in Strinic. Also we now know that Kovac's and Juric would never have made the final tournament and that there presence in qualifying was a little bizarre considering they are now retired. Defensive mid was a key position in that 4-4-2 system however Croatia relied on a soon to be retired Niko Kovac, Ivan Juric (who actual knew himself he was not the answer due to his lack of longievity), Pokrivac (who was out of form) and Vukojevic who does not play as a solitary defensive mid for his club. Bilic had all the wrong answers for defensive mid and its no surprise England had freedom to play. England struggle to pass, but nobody is disputing that Gerard, Lampard, Rooney can shoot so if you give those guys space to play they will score. Croatia simply did not work hard enough to find the answers to its problems and put out a shambolic squad. Now things are different and you can only look to the future.
As for England we all know that England paper over the cracks. They are scared to be embarrased in Europe so they made their league full of foriegn players. Just imagine what the Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool, United would be like without the foriegn players. Even Dinamo could potentially take them to task. The crop of quality players England have is not all that good. It should qualify them, but they will be exposed in tournament and their is no reason for feelings of superiority.
The difficult answer for England would be to weaken the EPL and to work on their own players, but they do not want to put in the work. They just want to entertain the public and public just want to sit eating junk food in front of TV and in stadiums and getting drunk and do not want to aspire to sport themselves. England would rather paper over the cracks and pretend everything is alright and not have to put up with any difficulties. That is why Capello gets 6m a year. They thing throwing lots of money at one man can save everything. The guys not a miracle working. He spends most his time in Switzerland. throwing money at a coach does not solve the issues in their game and the lack of Englishmen in the EPL.
I am also not sure about Capello and his reasoning for taking the England post. He's underdoubtedly a very successful coach over his career. But the fact he cannot do the job for less than 6m suggests he's just there for the money and for an easy lifestyle. Also he's 64 and you wander whether he has lost his ambition. Maybe winning the title again at Real was the pinacle for him. If Capello really wanted to be an ultimate legend he had 2 jobs waiting for him. One of was to win the world cup with Italy and the other was the win the Serie A title with Inter as he'd have completed a set with all top Serie A clubs. England requires more attention to the whole structure of their game than just what Capello's giving to it.
Great article and responses. With how well Deutschland played against the limeys, I would actually put some money on them against Argentina. Actually, Germany all the way!
For me the biggest mystery was Bilic playing Pranjic at left back which he is horrible at
Louis VanGaal tried it at Bayern but he came to his senses very soon because Pranjic has not played at that position for Bayern Muenchen since the beginning of the first half half of the season….Walcott destroyed him in that game
Bottom line Bilic better get his s*** together
For me the biggest mystery was Bilic playing Pranjic at left back which he is horrible at
Louis VanGaal tried it at Bayern but he came to his senses very soon because Pranjic has not played at that position for Bayern Muenchen since the beginning of the first half half of the season….Walcott destroyed him in that game
Bottom line Bilic better get his s*** together
It's simple, for the first match it came down to;1) Pranjic is not a LB. 2)red card on Kovac, 3)revenge on Englands mind, and 4)Croatia being favourites (not underdogs).
Second match; 1)major, major injuries and suspensions, 2) no bench, and 3)Bilic' tactics.
Bilic needs to 1) play 4-2-3-1 not outdated 4-4-2 so we can control the midfield and not leave huge gaps in front of the backline, 2)pray that Strinic comes good at LB, 3)get Pletikosa back in goal to organize/calm the defense. I'll leave the rest of the squad selection debate for later.
If we do those things, and play with the hunger that was totally lacking last campaign, we'll qualify….
Blame Bilic all you want for the tactics (justified to bash him for it), but I could care less if he was talking smack, which he was slightly before the first game but not before the second. Plus, when is being open and honest considered talking smack. Bilic always praises England anyway.
I don't want to get in another debate about what took place against England. We lost the 2nd match because of our key players missing which forced Bilic to get creative (a mistake) and played people out of position. He took a gamble and lost big time.
Back to WC…..running into the Engalnd fans down here after the loss to Germany was great. They just refuse to accept the idea they are just not as good as the elite teams. While Ronney disapointed at the WC, I still think he and Gerrard are the only top level talents in Engalnd. Lampard, Cole, Terry, etc, all benefit at the club level due to the foreigners that are around them.
I and a few friends ran into Jurgen Klinsmann two days ago. This man needs to coach the US one day. We asked him why he did not take the job after the 06 WC and he just said it was not the time for him to take it. He says he loves life in California, but did not rule out coaching the US one day (which is not news to anyone who follows US soccer).
Bilic's last interview suggests he is trying to say England were in tip top form during the WC qualifiers..
My Answer to all this is, England were very ordinary in the WC qualifiers,As they were not convincing in any of there performances besides the 2 Thrashings of our national team..
Bilic Was talking alot of SMACK before our opening game against England,which did not help the cause as they were allready fired up,..I believe we started well in the opening 20 or so minutes & seemed to be controlling the game,Until a little sucker named Walcott snuck a goal in that should have been easily saved by Pletikosa,at 1-0,they played with more intent,& the red card destroyed any chances of a revival..Walcott continued to sneak savable shots past pletikosa,making it a night to forget..
for the 2nd game,Bilic was talking smack once again before the lead up,claiming England were not respected at international level,& all they were known for is exciting club football..We all know they wanted to humilate us & they were determined,but what made them look in form & dangerous was our horrible form & wrong tactics,was 1 of the worst matches ive ever witnessed,was a very dark day for our nation,the biggest defeat weve ever recieved & given to us by the hands of England..
Im so glad there WC ended like this..
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella vs Slovakia, Carlos Tevez vs Mexico, David Villa vs Honduras
Best Fans: Can't really hear lol
Best Match: Italy-Slovakia or USA-Slovenia
Best Young Player: Javier Hernandez (Mexico), Luis Suarez (Uruguay),
Biggest Upset: North Korea scoring a goal vs Brasil, New Zealand's draw with Italy
Biggest Surprise: Cameroon being invisible, 0pts 2GF 5GA
Not surprising at all: France
Most Disappointing: France, Italy
Most Disappointing Match: France/Uruguay
Biggest Disappointment : The horrible officiating
My final prediction: Brazil v Argentina.
Best Man of Match Player: Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria)
@Rob,
Great write up.
To answer your question, I dont think that this was the same England team at the world cup that faced Croatia in the qualifiers.
Take a look at what Colin Cowherd had to say about the USA…
http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=theherd
June 28th, click on the podcast..
I agree with him 100%…
Americans root for American soccer because its America, not because its soccer… only a select few watch other games..
New York post: America beats England 1:1…
"Americans consider a tie a victory against the Brazils, Argentinas, Germanys"…
Americans ranked 15th… finish in top 16… can't complain if you ask me. Did they have an easy route to the semis? yes. However, just not good enough to challenge the big boys. US is like a Mexico. They make the second round… the end.