PORTUGUESE FOOTBALLER PEPE IS A “BURRO”.

Much of the beauty of Portuguese soccer and glitter of the prestigious World Cup 2014 was destroyed by the “BURRO” defender of the otherwise renowned Portuguese soccer team yesterday when he head butted one of the forwards of Germany.  It was unnecessary and unwanted yet the frequent performer of such dirty tactics Pepe made the great blunder of his soccer career and thus destroyed the beautiful image of Portugal from whom spectators and TV viewers were expecting a lot.  In the bargain the great Ronaldo also suffered in the sense he was totally demoralized when Pepe was red carded, of course rightly.   

Even though he was demoralized and shaken as a skipper yet he displayed his skill of dribbling the ball with cross legs and feeding his colleagues with accurate passes.  Pepe had no business to lose his temper.  By doing so he destroyed himself first and secondly he destroyed the chances of his team of smooth sailing. Like Cricketters he too should be fined heavily as a deterrent for others too.

Germany deserved to be the winners because their soccer was more disciplined and organized while Portuguese were more erratic and aimless. Thomas Mueller’s hat-trick which is the first one of this tournament was excellent but the best goal of the match was the one scored thru a piercing header by their forward Hummels.

Once again I condemn Pepe who let his team down because of his hot temper.  Such hot tempered players should not be fielded by their coaches.  It is an undeniable fact that Pepe is a great defender but his lack of discipline on the field clouded his plus points as a foot-balller. In his absence and one man down Portuguese could not do much and that they received only 4 goals withut any reply was a big consolation. But in the history of Portuguese soccer Pepe will be remembered as a ‘BURRO”.

 

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Goa.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

WELL PLAYED THE NETHERLANDS.

Never in the history of FIFA World Cup the defending champions received such a humiliating defeat as Spain did today and as shown live in TV at 12.30 in Goa.  It was not an ordinary defeat but a real massacre where the normal might of Spain as seen during the last 8 years was totally liquidated by the excellence of the Netherlands. 

 

 

During the first half especially after scoring their goal thru penalty kick by their defender Alonso it looked Spain will easily carry the day and in fact the way they were playing it was proving that they were underestimating their opponents. Their moves and actions on the field showing that they were sure to defeat the Netherlands as they did 4 years back in the last World Cup final.   But since last final and now there is lot of change in the Netherlands and that it is so they proved it in this encounter by defeating the reigning champions with a margin of 5-1 goals.

The penalty awarded to Spain by the Italian referee was absolutely right and  Alonso was also right in hitting it so hard otherwise Dutch keeper would save it easily since he dived in the same corner as the ball entered the net. But the equaliser scored by Persee thru the well measured header was extremely beautiful beating the world best keeper Cassilas under Spanish bar.  In fact Cassilas such an experienced and expert keeper was totally at a loss standing still like a monument watching the ball going into his net over him.  Such a mighty keeper otherwise it was a pity to see him thus turning himself into a monument.

The other 4 goals scored by Robben 2, Persee 1 again and by Stephan Vrij were all exceptionally great.  The second goal of Persee by snatching the ball from Cassilas due to silly mistake of Cassilas to clear the ball in time was fantastic one and the other one scored by Robben by dribbling past two defenders and Cassilas as well was an extra ordinary feat of his sprinting prowess. He, Persee and Schneider in the midfield have totally changed the game in the second half with their intelligent moves and with short passing. Finally it was a pity to see Spain surrendering  so easily their normal might to the clever play makers of the Netherlands.

The first match between Cameroun and Mexico did not create much excitement as the second one but the winners Mexico were the deserving winners and winnining goal scored by their forward Peralta was worth admiring.  Rogoer Millal’s Cameroun was expected to create an upset but they lacked Roger Milla's skill in their rank and for this reason they lost.

I did not watch the third match.

 

A.    Veronica Fernandes,

Candolim, Goa.

Tel: 7507394349.  

WELL DONE BRAZIL.

Well done Brazil.  It was deserving victory against Croatia in the inaugural match of the World Cup tournament at Sao Paolo in Brazil.  It was shown on TV in Goa at 1.30 AM today 13^th of this month.

Full marks for Neymar’s performance of which type I have not seen when he plays for Barelona.  In this match his ball control was superb, dribbling was fantastic and passing the ball was accurate. Though his first goal was not very powerful left footer yet it was very accurate from outside the box that totally fooled the Croatian goalie.  In the second goal he teaches a very good lesson for the penalty takers how to shoot it, that means very hard giving no chance for the keeper to save it even though goalie may put his hand for the ball as it was done by Croatian keeper. It was a right decision by the Japanese Referee to give the penalty as Croatian defender clearly pulled the Brazilian forward in the Box. The third goal scored by their youngster Oscar was just a class by itself. He did just the right thing by hitting the ball with his toe without wasting any more time otherwise it would have been difficult. The self goal scored by the Brazilian defender was his real unavoidable mistake though such mistakes are not acceptable from world class defenders.

As a whole both the teams played aggressive soccer in which Brazil dominated the proceedings and even missed more scoring chances. Brazilian keeper Julio Ceasar played well.  Brazilian counter attacks were very piercing. With this victory Brazil will go on improving their performance match by match. Their accuracy in short passing even near their goalmouth was pleasure to watch.

Being a new country born from the split of Yugoslavia when Yugoslavia was balkanized in the aftermath of the collapse of Communism in Europe in early Nineties, Croatia has been doing lot of development in soccer. They have innumerable foot-ball Academies to coach young boys from the very early age and this programme helps Croatia to develop its soccer on scientific basis.

Capt. Paul D’Souza from Candolim, Pintos Vaddo, in early Nineties when his Ship docked in one of the Ports in Croatia, visited one of his friends there who while wishing him bi-bi said that “he wants to take his son now for training to the foot-ball Academy”.  When Capt. Paul D’Souza asked his friend how old is your son? Came the reply saying “Three and Half”. From here one can know why these countries in Europe are doing extremely well in foot-ball. It is the scientific  training methods from the very early age. Can’t we in Goa emulate their example to produce Peles, Maradonas, Ronaldos and Messis by establishing soccer Academies in every locality?

 

A.    Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
7507394349.