It turns out as a very comfortable win for Brazil. The early goal for Ronaldo settled it down and Adriano’s goal just on half time was killer blow especially after Mensah’s header.
ESPN seems certain it was offside but I thought it was so tight that you had to give the benefit to the attacker – especially when the decision is based on when Cafu crossed the ball not when it rebounded from the defender.
Ghana showed great spirit in the second half but lacked that edge that Essien might have provided. So Brazil move on – they’ve scored 10 goals, conceded 1 and have yet to be fully convincing.
Ronaldinho has yet to show up, Kaka is carrying the midfield load at the moment.
One final note – has Gyan accumulated the most petty hat trick of stupid yellow cards at a World Cup or what. After a yellow card for a lunge against Italy he received another three for; taking a penalty to early; kicking the ball away; diving.
Bobby, unlike many people, I am sad about African football after the Ghanean display...
Africa is hosting the WC in 2010, and yet, African players aren't demonstrating maturity up to this point. Africa should get beyong pleasing the crowd and learn to win matches and keeping displine. Africa needs to win the world cup. and on the base of the match that I saw today, Africa isn't there yet. May be Cameroon and Nigeria are at that level, but Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast arent there...
1. Lapse in defensive concetration. The Ghana defender missed the offside line at the 5th min.
2. Gyan, a forward getting sent off twice in 4 matches. Inacceptable.
3. Essien, the team leader, suspended for the biggest match of his country.
4. Ivory Coast, not picking up Crespo in set plays when playing Argentina.
When are African teams going to get coaches to teach them displine and concentration? This needs to be done in the next 4 years if an african team is to lift the cup.
On one positive note, Ghana is a young team and they will probably mature.
Bobby, check your glasses as Adriano was offsides twice on that so called goal! Its disgusting that the so called 'best' team in Brazil has to revert to theatics and cherry picking to win. I'll ask you this, if that was Ghana scoring on Brazil just as Adriano did, 99 out of 100 refs are calling it offsides! If Ghana had a scorer like T. Henry, Ghana scores 3-4 goals and Brazil loses.
Henry - I noticed that too but, it was an unusual year in African qualifying. Cameroon and Nigeria, 2 of the countries with the most WC experience were upset in qualifying. I have to think that either of those 2 teams would have had a better showing.
I think what we are seeing is that other countries are getting better but so are the traditional powers so it makes it look as if no progress is being made. Ghana had a very good defensive record in African qualifying.
As nice as it is to watch African countries will never consitently win at the WC by playing only attacking football. They need to be able to win games 1-0 from time to time.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on June 27th at 10:24 AM.
Rio - I know what ya meant. I was just teasin you a little because that comment was funny to me. Given the right circumstances, any team would take a dive.
Personally, I wouldnt recommend it for Adriano, though. He such a powerful presence that, if he collides with a defenseman, the ref can't help but feel sorry for the opponant. :)
Hypothetical question to anyone:
Who would give Brazil a better match in the Quarters? France or Spain?
Well taken Mr Blue, from my perspective Spain would give Brasil a bigger challenge, theyve looked awsome this WC. As an Arsenal fan I love TH and Viera but they have not played up to form, seems like somhting is amiss in thier camp. They always seem to beat Spain so maybe it can happen again coming up.
Rio - actually, I was thinking it was France. France looked bad attacking but, solid defending (except for the S. Korean goal). I think France's experience might be able to frustrate Brazil the way Croatia did.
That being said, I think a Brazil-Spain match would be much more enjoyable to watch.
Wasn't Balboa bashing the offside calls all tournament for not giving the benefit to the attacker? This time the benefit was given to the attacker and Balboa goes on and on about it being a bad call.
On the adriano goal, he was passively offside (ie not in the play) in the build up since he broke off his run and the ball was played to the opposet side. So technically he wasnt offside. once the backs and the ball in possession passed him, he was onside again. on the pass he was so close to even that any doubt is supposed to go to the attacking team. I thought it was a good decision by the AR not calling it.
About Gahna, they ARE traditionally one of Africa's powerhouses. In fact they have won the African Nations Cup more than any other country.
Nice game from Ghana considering the pressure from playing this Brazilian team. Not a good performance from Brazil, but yet a good measure on how they gonna fair in the next game. Overall point note consideration, the refs. on this world cup refs have been performing so bad. soccer been a beautiful game with the biggest followers in the world, its high time someone came up with the idea of borrowing some rules from American Football. We need to introduce the video system in soccer. So many cards, 304 yellow cards, almost 50% of the players in this world cup have been yellow carded. Good teams have been eliminated not through goals but through the refs. The Fifa fair play thing has been buried by the refs.And yet if you go by how many refs came from Europe, you understand why its only three teams outside Europe still in this competition. WE NEED VIDEO CAMERAS, decision by one man should be readily challenged and reversed, that way we can understand the reason of participating in this great event.
I often wonder if the egg came before teh chicken. Adriano's goal was offsides. Despite constant pressure and plent of shots Ghan had not scored. IF the forward trips over his own two feet, gets up without asking for a foul, why in the world is he carded for a dive. A few minutes later Brazil scores another offside goal to kill the game. It seems to me another game with shaky referring leads to an ok result, but you never now what might have happened if the referee and linesmen were wearing their glasses.
Kjair - thats a great point. I think that refs sometimes forget that players are allowed to fall down. I never really thought of it that way but, if the forward just gets up and doesn't complain about a foul than who is hurt by it? Good point
I still don't think Gyan dived - I believe he simply fell, maybe over his own feet. The pitches have been wet & slippy as shown by the number of players slipping or falling, even as a result of the simplist of challenges. When a player is in full flight, even the slightist of bumps will unbalance the player and send him down. Unfortunately some refs are giving cards for those - both as challenges or dives - and then some are not giving cards for the more servious & dangerous tackles. Even some legal challengers - shoulder to shoulder are being called.
Having said that, Brazil deserves to win, but my money's on Spain - they're looking very good
Last edited by Barry_Orlando on June 27th at 10:58 AM.
rio, I remember talking to a Zillian taxi driver in NYC about the 3-0 final loss to France. He said many folks back home thought that Nike bought the cup final for France.
Watching that game it seemed that Brazil just decided not to play at all.
rio, I remember talking to a Zillian taxi driver in NYC about the 3-0 final loss to France. He said many folks back home thought that Nike bought the cup final for France.
Watching that game it seemed that Brazil just decided not to play at all.
Playing without Essien is just like a vehicle without shocks and against Brasil is certainly like driving it on an unpaved road. Let's forget about Gyan's stupidity, the debutant deserves kudos.
Please stop criticizing the Africans for their unimpressive performance, many developed countries with adequate sporting facilities, amenities, and basic necessessities were equally unable live up to par. Where are the following: Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United States, etc..
I'm sorry, Bobby. I've reviewed the goals and not just 2nd, but the 3rd goal were both offsides. On the 2nd goal they actually could have called Adriano offside twice. First on when the pass went to Cafu and then on Cafu's pass to him.
It's sad for Ghana that the calls again went the way of the established power, but at the same they did not manage to score even though they had plenty of chances. For whatever reason their strikers did not have their shooting boots on today.
Ghana outplayed Brazil overall, I thought, and the score is more than flattering towards the Brazilians. All three of their goals were scored on breakaways and all 3 were very close calls (like I said I believe that 2 were offsides). Even Ronaldo's first goal (which he took beautifully, btw) could have been called back. I've seen tons of offside calls in similar circumstances at this WC.
Like you said, Brazil is yet to play well and are still winning by lopsided scores. Bad news for other teams. One of these days Ronaldinho will actually have a good game. I pity the team that is playing Brazil that day.
Henry – I would totally disagree with your assessment of Ivory Coast. Like I said before they played great football and were not so unlucky to end up in such a tough group they would have advanced. There’s no shame in losing very close games to Argentina and Holland in your first outing at the WC. A tiny bit more luck and they could have won either of those two matches.
Also, it is not Essien’s fault really that he missed today’s match. All the credit goes to Markus Merk who had a nightmare in the USA – Ghana match. Essien’s yellow card at the beginning of that game was a joke, just like the PK he gave Ghana at the end of the first half.
TarheelJTK – I’m all for giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player. I’m very frustrated when it isn’t. I just wish they were consistent and did not always seem to give the benefit of the doubt to an attacking player of an established power playing an underdog. It’s hard enough to play Brazil for Ghana without their best player. Brazil does not need the help from the officials.
No team is perfect. Brazil's flaw is defense.
France is back in business and is the perfect anti-Brazil team. They know how to beat them and, for my money, they'll do it again. I am actually taking bets. Spain? What have they ever won? Get real. When the chips fall, the men play, and the boys watch.
The only way to beat Brasil is to attack them, but with that said, the only way to defend Brasil is to mark them man for man. To play a high line and hope the assistant gets it right is not a very sound defensive philosophy. Ghana played entertaining futbol, whether Adriano is offsides or not ( and he was), the outcome remains the same. The way African countries are selected for the World Cup( inexplicable at best), who knows if we'll ever see this team again.
Have to make a few corrections to my earlier post.
I reviewed the goals in the Brazil vs. Ghana match again and while I still think the 2nd goal was offsides twice the 3rd one was legit.
I also no longer believe there was any bias. On the 2nd goal the poor linesman just couldn't keep up with a lightning quick Brazilian counter attack and was not in a good position to judge whether Adriano was offside or not.
Their was no shock since Brazil had the referees in their pockets from the start of the game when playing against Ghana. If the offsides had been called (which were definite offsides) the game would have turned out much differently.Some of the comments made in this blog are totally unjust concerning African football. I am not African, I have never been there but to me fair is fair. The referees at The World Cup have basically won the games for most of the teams. It seems if you are not one of the so called top teams you don't get a fair deal. Let's hope the next World Cup will treat all teams equally.
Brazil was never at the start of this cup. Yes they've won games and a have a bunch of talented individuals but this time around, the world is catching up slowly. A lot of the traditional powerhouses have struggled aside from Italy which is still very defensive minded. Iguess Germany has fed of their crowds, the US and England were never as good as the media made us believe. England, like Brazil has some very talented individual but have struggled together as a team. As for the US, I don't know what all the hype was about in the beginning. African teams, as usual have all crashed out. Ghana exposed Brazil as not the great team we once knew. Ghana just couldn't finish and the slovakian refree didn't help much either. Brazil should have been disposed off a round earlier. Maybe African teams would mature and cause a stare at the next mundial.
There's a rush to judgement here. First off Ghana has the youngest team at the WOrld Cup. One of the youngest ever so it is a little innacurate to qualify african soccer as immature.
The high defensive line was a coaching decision. Djukovic didn't believe the Ghanaian players could handle the Brazilian midfield so he brought the defensive line up to "squeeze out" and condense the freedom of movement of the players in midfield. Ghana breeds midfielders and I can tell you all of Ghana knows that it's team can handle the best midfield from any team in the world. It was definitely not the best tactic to minimize the teams strongest attribute. Even without Essien, Ghana would have held the Brazilian midfield.
The forwards missed open chances for a variety of reasons. One was that they ended playing out of position because of the high defensive line. Another, the main reason, is that they were playing angry. This happens when you feel the officiating is going against you. That's football and that's differnce between the young and the old. Also,it didn't help help that the coach went ballistic and got sent off.
Ghana played well and could have played a lot better. If the coached had opted to allow his midfielders to play this would have left the strikers room to move upfront without crowding each other out whilst giving the midfielders more options for distribution and control.
The Fifa rankings and seeding for the World Cup are messed up. The top two African teams were in groups most European teams would not have advanced from. Compare groups C&E to
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