SEMI-FINALS OF WORLD CUP 18.

Victory to England against Sweden was deservingly gained and loss of home Country  Russia against Croatia is a big blow to them.  But none can do anything about it to undo this loss to Russia.  It was very sad view to see the thousands of vociferous Russian spectators supporting their home team to win this match.   The decider acquired thru the Penalties looked to be very unfortunate even though both the teams fought well to gain the supremacy of this clash.

The first clash between the two European teams  Sweden and England though not so rich in terms of display of the play yet England had an upper hand throughout where skipper Kane played in a heroic role the “captan’s inning” extremely well. He also as  on now is the leading goal scorer  with the tally reaching to 6 goals. Will he succeed in creating a new record by scoring more goals in one tournament than all his predecessors?  Or he will go for “Match Fixing” phenomenon which is very much common in Cricket?

In their first time ever participation in the World Cup tournament held in England in 1966, Portugal was one of the most powerful teams among all the 16 participating teams since this was the maximum number of contestants permitted then.  The increase came later on by 8 teams first and finally by another 8 reaching to the current 32. Portugal had a very powerful team comprising the world best front liner, a Mocambiqan  born Eusebio along with his compatriot and the captain of their team Coluna who like a Wall of Gibraltar stood firm to guard his team’s citadel. Among the others who were of world class standard were the forwards Torres and Jose Augusto.  With this powerful team in the qualifying round itself, Portugal defeated Pele’s Brazil and sent Brazil back home.

Pele was astonished to see in another Portuguese speaking country, Portugal, there appeared in the Constellation of most shining Star in Eusebio whose  goals made Brazil as cockroach in front of Portuguese Lions. After the match Pele came to Eusebio hugged him tightly and gifted his Jersey to Eusebio by saying “ Take my Jersey for you because now YOU ARE PELE”.  The real Pele is no more the king of foot-ball, now you are the King of Foot-ball”.  Then the world Press and commentators flashed this  news to all over the globe.  Immediately then Eusebio scripted his Autobiography titled “MY NAME IS EUSEBIO” which was an English translation, original being in Portuguese the language Eusebio spoke.  Additonally this book was translated into 3 – 4 more languages. In this Autobiography, Eusebio by paying rich tributes to Pele says “Pele is really a great player and do not compare me to him, he has his own uniqueness and greatness as I have mine too. Hence, do not call me Pele but call me Eusebio because MY NAME IS EUSEBIO”.  Before his departure back to Lisboa from England after Portugal lost in the semi-final against the home country England, Eusebio was invited by the then British Premier Wilson and when the British premier got up to welcome Eusebio, in the words of Eusebio himself, “Purely in a Portuguese style I shook hand with the British premier’.

In that book, Eusebio says that when Portugal was qualified to participate in that World Cup tournament in England he was sure to win the award for highest number of individual goals in a particular tournament.  Yet still he decided to have a pact between him and Jose Augusto whose job will be to supply more and more Balls  to Eusebio so that Eusebio scores more goals.  And precisely because Jose Augusto did his job well, Eusebio implemented his plan successfully, finally Eusebio became the highest individual scorer of that tournament.  Portugal that time was so sure to win the Cup but in the semi-final in a last minute change in the venue, the encounter was shifted to Wembley Stadium which was more advantageous to England. Then for the Third Place spot, Portugal clashed with the Soviet Russia whose goal posts were manned by the mighty Keeper Lev Yaschin who was considered as the greatest Goalkeeper this planet has ever produced.  In the second goal Eusebio scored from the Penalty, Eusebio pointed his finger to Yaschin indicating his intention to Yachin that he is shooting the ball to his right corner and he did it but yet Yaschin failed to dive to the direction Eusebio indicated.

After that encounter, a mediaman asked Eusebio why you hit the Penalty so hard?  Replied Eusebio “Penalty means 100% goal and to ensure that it becomes a goal, if by chance the opponent’s goalkeeper puts his hand to the ball to prevent it from going into the net, the power of the shot should break the hand of the goal-keeper and the ball must enter into the net.

Will we ever get to see another Eusebio?

A.Veronica Fernandes.

                                                                                                          

WORLD CUP 18 - THE LAST GIANT FINALLY COLLAPSED..

Belgium played well yesterday and deservingly they merit the victory. It is not an  easy task for any team leave aside Brazil, to recover from such a lead especially when Belgium is not a minnow. No doubt it may not have the fabulous grandeur and rich tradition as a foot-balling nation in Europe and in the World but from what soccer they dished out yesterday, it really makes them the deserving winners. Brazil basking on its past glories though their team was very good yet they failed themselves and also to their supporters miserably. 

The team that concedes two goals one after the other in the first session itself especially the mighty foot-balling powerhouse like Brazil has got no right to move further.  The first goal was a self goal, I agree, but instead of bringing an equalizer, Brazil conceded yet one more goal which was so beautiful. It was one of the best goals scored so far in this tourney.  It all happened because yesterday Brazil defense was in total disarray leaving big space empty especially from their left side.

   

Another main reason behind their defeat was that when they entered the field in the first session they look as if they are come to play a friendly game for the Carnival without indicating much of the seriousness normally they indicate.  Marcelo was the main culprit in holding the ball in his possession for the longer period thereby alerting his opponents to fortify their citadel even though he played a leading role yesterday.

Neymar is also another culprit who failed miserably by conceding the ball to his opponents after unnecessarily trying to dribble past number of opponents when he could easily pass the ball to his colleague.  Once he loses the ball to his opponents he is incapable to regain it whence he totally surrenders.  He now looks to me immature to rise up to the occasion. Though Brazil lost to a better side yet with their exit much of the interest and charm existed in this tournament is gone. After all Brazil is Brazil with the fabulous tradition of rich soccer.  

  

The second match between Uruguay and France was very  nice where France to my astonishment played extremely well and rightly carried the day by demolishing not only the game plan of Uruguay but also their traditional roughness which is ingrained in the blood of South Americans.  Earlier we saw how Columbia behaved on the field using rough tactics even using their heads to hit their opponents.

When I saw France yesterday it reminded me of their earlier foot-ballers like Platini, Guiress, Tigana and others  who belonged to that golden era of French soccer.  They will do very well in the next encounter because every time they take up the field they come up with improved performance and now they are already in that groove just like Italy was in 1982.  That time the Italians came up like slaves when they started their campaign but while going home back they went like masters taking the World Cup along with them where Paolo Rossi was the hero not only of their team but of the entire tournament though just before the beginning of their journey he was discarded. Their national President Sandro Pertini  gave them the Presidential welcome in his special Plane back to Italy.  I think something similar will happen to France this time.  They have a well balanced team in all the segments but not a single hero to turn into a zero ultimately.  Their finishers mainly the trio of Rafael, Criezmann and youngster Mbappe are in devastating form that will make them unstoppable.

All the best for the above semi-finalists.

A.Veronica Fernandes.  

  

                                                  

WORLD CUP 18 KNOCK-OUT STAGE.

After completing the second phase of the World Cup tournament in Russia, from today the third phase of second knock-out stage is going to start where 8 teams will be vying for the penultimate spot in the cluster of 4 teams.  In the first phase  where all the 32 qualified teams participated, who  ever thought that the giants of foot-balling nations like Argentina, Germany and Spain  will collapse like a pack of cards in the first round itself while Portugal in the second round? Other than Portugal the remaining teams are previous World Cup winners not only once but more than once like Germany and Argentina.

That in this tournament organized by Russia, giants will collapse came to be known when another giant Italy was thrown out in the qualifying stage only thereby giving an impression that some “Surprise Teams” will unexpectedly come to the fore and rule the world.  In fact,  almost in every World Cup  tournament there is bound to be a Surprise Team which may reach to the penultimate  stage or not but these teams create surprises especially for the giants as North Korea created in 1966 World Cup, good that the Mozambican born Black Panther, Eusebio  D’Silva of Portugal produced a class of a hat-trick when they were down by 3 goals and went on giving a magnificent victory of 5-3 to our former masters. Earlier North Korea ousted  Italian giants from that tournament.

The 2 of the giants knocked out of this tournament in the first stage Argentina and in the second stage Portugal were under the impression that their 2 World best heroes namely Messi and Ronaldo respectively will win them the Championship for their countries.  But I pity their soccer wisdom because foot-ball is not an individual sport where one relies on individual but foot-ball is a TEAM Sport where every individual is as important as the other, where every team member plays his individual role in co-operation with the other.  What Messi and  Ronaldo with all their individual brilliance can do without the excellent support of their other colleagues?  In 1986 W.Cup, Maradona though excellent as an individual player yet he attained the success only because of the presence of his other colleagues like Valdano in his team. Even during Pele’s time from 1958 when he first time played for Brazil in the World Cup at the baby age of 16, Pele was not the only player responsible for Brazil to win them the World Cup though he was highly skillful and important member of the Brazilian squads in both the winning World Cups in 1958 and 1962. 

In fact along with Pele there were other giants in their squad namely Garrincha, Zagallo, Vava and others who could change the outlook of their game at the spur of the moment  and put their opponents into total disarray.  In fact according to some soccer experts during that period, it was commented that Garrincha could be much better than Pele if he was not after Drinks.  With his bended legs he was scoring goals directly from the corner kicks.  Poor guy at the time of his death he died a very miserable death as unsung and forgotten hero deserted by his wife and others, even Pele did not attend to his funeral where his Funeral Cortege was brought to the Maracana Stadium in order to respect him for his excellent display of artistic soccer he played at the Maracana Stadium where thousands of his fans and spectators and well wishers too thronged to have his final glimpses. He played his last World Cup in 1966 in England where he even scored one of his trademark magnificent goals. HE spoiled his life at the early age itself by going after excessive women and Drinks. 

From 1978 I am watching the live coverage of every World Cup, thanks to Kuwait that afforded me so many opportunities to see and to enjoy so many things, of course without missing a single match. Only this time I missed a few encounters in the first round because of my hospitalization.  Besides, to supplement my thirst for more information on these World Cup tournaments I was regularly reading some of the World renowned soccer Magazines either as a subscriber or as a member of British Council Library.  In fact when I got myself registered as a subscriber of World Best  Soccer  Magazine “WORLD SOCCER” from England in 1975 the year I landed in Kuwait, I was told that I was the only subscriber of this magazine in whole of Kuwait. From my first meager salary in Kuwait I purchased the most expensive and the MOST Best book on soccer written by Pele, the title of that Book was “PLAY FOOT-BALL WITH PELE” where Pele gives 11 different lessons to the 11 different players on 11 different positions. 

When I saw this Book in one of the Showcases in the topmost Book Shop in Kuwait, I asked the price of that Book with the Palestinian Counter Salesman there who not only in his traditional prideful discipline downgraded my capacity and willingness to purchase it but more than that he scorned at me by posing a counter question,” you will buy such world renown books?  And what is your foot-ball quality to buy such books? You are an Indian who does not know to play the game of soccer" and concluded by saying insultingly of course, “please get lost from here and don’t waste my time”.  I remained cool and removed my purse from my pocket”.  Surprised he became told me in a defeated tone that this is the only book we received for Sales Promotion and it is still lying in our Showcase for over a year. But you being an Indian you surprised me, said he, but I did not utter a single word because I wanted that book to come in my hand first before somebody a crazy person like me, after foot-ball, could purchase it.

After watching so many World Cup Tournaments, I feel this is so far one of the best tournaments where in every aspect of the game all the teams rose up and displayed the same type of soccer standard as displayed by the best in the World though some of them may be losers.  The attacks were initiated from both the flanks keeping the space in the middle for both the outers and inners to  mount pressure on their opponents near the goalmouth of their opponents thus creating goal scoring opportunites.

The other most  important aspect I noticed in this tournament was the accurate passing,  pushing the ball even thru the small gaps and openings and these passes were very hard hitting. Erratic long distance shooting was avoided and most important improvement was the physical fitness where every player runs like a sprinter and exchanges his position without anybody’s notice.

The other major improvement was the skill of goalkeeping where the goalkeepers use not only their hands but their entire bodies from heads to the toes for stopping the ball from entering into the nets.

Regarding the one and the only remaining super footballer in this tournament, the Brazilian Neymar, I feel it is our luck that we got an opportunity to see more of his excellence which is really fantastic especially running with the ball even thru the wall made by the defenders and feeding his colleagues who are really exceptional and whom I can rate much higher than those of magnificent Brazilan squad of 1982. Especial mention must be made for the rocky defense Brazilian are creating with sure footed goal line clearances.  It is going to be a thriller to watch the Brazilians entertaining the spectators and viewers all around the globe. 

Meantime, watch out Uruguay and Croatia for producing Surprises in this tournament.

Good Luck to all the Quarter finalists.

       

A.Veronica Fernandes.