Costa Rica beat Italy 1-0 in 2014 Fifa World Cup

England should be wondering how on earth they got beat by Italy. So shambolic was their performance that their entry into the final can be counted in one hand against the minnows. They looked set to control the match as they dictated play in the early first half. Pirlo dominated the midfield and set up Mario Balottelli a few times. Balottelli had hoped for a kiss on the cheek from the Queen of England, but he kicked that chance away twice in the first half.

Italy became nervous and jittery as they failed to deal with Joe Campbell’s runs. Costa Rica remained composed and never gave much away. They penetrated systematically without giving the former Fifa World Cup champions any respect. They won the midfield bouts and played the ball through the middle to Campbell who beat three Italians and was felled in the penalty area, but the referee ignored the incident.

Justice was done minutes later as they did not need that call. They played the ball in midfield and pushed it left. There was no Italian pressure to press the ball in the middle of the park. The winger had ample time to control and cross without anyone closing down on the ball. Bryan Ruiz timed his perfect run being monitored by two defenders and met the cross at the far post to head past Buffon.

Italy came from the break showing further signs of decay in midfield. They lacked compactness and exposed their defence, which became stretched and played too far apart. That crack in defence became more exposed as Costa Rica played the long ball consistently at the same point, almost ripping it open with each launch.

Pirlo played too defensively without affecting much of the attack. This made the Europeans too slow in attack and fail to deliver any final pass for the isolated Balottelli. The midfield carried the ball too much and could not penetrate the South Americans defence. They were too careless, lost possession easily, and gave away easy free kicks in a very amateurish manner.

To the credit of Costa Rica, they did not make special arrangements for Pirlo who played very far away from the dance floor, and Balottelli. They had their game plan that boarded around their own strengths and stuck to it. They counter-attacked very well playing directly with the long ball through the centre. They remained compact at the back and stayed composed without diving into tackles or unnecessarily rushing their attacks.

It became one deserved win for Costa Rica as they put a perfect all-round show. For Italy, they did not come to the party and everything that could go wrong went wrong. England should have been watching with awe, how they lost to the Italians. The result sadly sends England home early while Italy and Uruguay will decide who stays between them.

Italy beat England 2-1 in the 2014 Brazil Fifa 2014

England started like a house on fire, taking the game to the Italians as they sought to take control of the game in the opening minutes. Attempts by the Three Lions to take shooting opportunities early on was enough message about the intentions of the English. Italy did well to cool things down. Raheem Sterling, Henderson and Daniel Sturridge could have scored in the opening few minutes with chances that worked well for their confidence.

After that strong opening spell, the English became too slow in attack and very casual in their midfield play. They managed to keep many bodies behind the ball. Pirlo began to enjoy too much respect as he was afforded plenty of room to spray passes which increased the confidence of the Azzuri attacks.

A well-worked short corner-kick routine caught England without a man on the outside of the 18 area, giving an option to Italy to play two versus one. That short corner was rather played onwards to a rushing Pirlo who sold a dummy to Sturridge. Marchissio was not closed down as he thumped a first-time grass mower past Joe Hart who was obstructed by a forest of feet in front of him.

The response was rapid as the English midfield won the ball and quickly set up Sterling who spotted Wayne Rooney’s run on the left. Rooney complimented the perfect pass by a perfect cross which Sturridge half-volleyed home. The timing of the run of Liverpool’s striker was amazing, as was the composure to finish that excellent move with a first time shot while running at that pace.

The second half started well for England but quickly gave away the initiative to Italians who took that with both hands. The ‘offline’ mode in midfield saw Candrieva exploit the space on the right wing and then turn his man inside out and crossing a pinpoint ball for Mario Bolatelli who rose majestically to head down past the diving Hart.

England should have suffocated paly in midfield and have a man stop that run on the wing. The need to stop the cross cannot be over-emphasised. Super Mario also needed a tight leash all the time. He rose with little challenge and Joe Hart could have plucked that ball off the air or communicated with his defenders to watch for Mario as the cross was being manufactured.  

Roy Hodgson’s troops raised their game once more, Rooney fluffing the best of that renaissance after a neat move that ended with him hurriedly dragging his shot past the near post from 10 yards out. To raise their game, Italy employed a very strong passing game, imposing their authority in all departments. In response, England did not let the sleeping dogs lay as they probed more, sometimes too desperately.

England had five players in the box for each corner-kick, all attacking the near post and the balls fell behind everybody on each occasion. It was the same with crosses as they fell to the blind-side without any attention from the wide men. There was enough reason for them to be hopeful in the next fixture against Uruguay who seemed disintegrated and demotivated by the loss to Costa Rica. There was however, too much respect to Pirlo who was left to belt out his thing in midfield.  

AFCON 2013; How scoring a goal is criminal

At the conclusion of the first round matches, there is not much we have not seen or said. The game level remains a huge concern and the cutting edge is missing. I eagerly awaited the Arab-African football hoping for a surprise treat. It was more of the same.

This gives me the opportunity of writing less on more important issues. Cote D’voire and Togo produced more than 2 goals in a match that featured the best of African stars. Yaya Toure opened the scoring and Gevinho scored one of the best goals of the tournament to beat Emanuel Adebayor’s Togo 2-1.

It was from Yaya’s lofted curling free-kick that was volleyed by the outside of the right foot on the left side to the roof of the net by the Arsenal man. It was until the injury time of the Algeria versus Tunisia that Gevinho’s gem had a rival contender of the best goal.

Tunisia were subdued and arm twisted in the later match. A moment of brilliance saw the ball being rifled from 40 yards out into the right top corner in a stunner that will be hard to emulate. It was a goal of class worth winning any match.

This brings me to a point I once made about the game of football. Fifa always insisted on the human element of the game in refusing goal-line video technology. The same human element of the game is the emotions that go with the success of the ultimate aim; to score goals.

Even sexual orgasm is known to have less effect on a man than scoring a goal. Fifa expects the players to then sit down and decide whether to pull off the short or not. They want all concerned to think of their actions after that feat.

The important goals scored in the tense matches count for everything to the individuals and the teams. The spontaneity of the reflex is one element Fifa must understand and redress. While the argument has been about the messages on the under shirts with varying and offensive messages, it does not hold water.

Many thought it was an issue with visual sexual assault on women. Others argue that if allowed to go on unpunished, other players will remove their shorts and underwear. All are valid arguments, but there are many women attracted to the game by the prospect of ‘body viewing’, the same reason men get attracted to women tennis.

As for the messages on undershirts, remember Mario Balotelli’s ‘Why always me’. The shirt does not have to come out, but we read the messages. If the officials and indeed Fifa, think that it is unsporting behaviour or ungentle-manly conduct, it is absurd and crazy to be polite.

The game is about goals and most of them, the explosiveness of the emotion and release of adrenalin cannot be measured or controlled. If Fifa do not know that, they do not what they are running.      

The DRC goalkeeper, Kidiaba’s celebrations are the talk of the town. The bum-bump dance of the eccentric figure has been entertainment, thanks to the DRC’s two goals. We’ve seen that before but then, Fifa medical/sports medicine department could ban the move as being detrimental to the health of his seating cushions.

You cannot control the emotions at all times, though is Kid’s case, it’s a little bit of a show, as one can see from the beard and the hair. He is a masterpiece, as a creature.

The point is that the scorers of the best goals find themselves booked and miss the opportunity to dish out more stuff after the cautions. There are moments when the yellow card does not matter as the players are overcame by everything. The problem is that it counts against one as a discipline issue, rated along dangerous play.

 

Euro 2012; Enter Mario, Exit Torres.

It's official. Enter Italy and exit Spain. Spain can beat Italy in the final if they want, but they are said to be boring by mainstream international media. This information is actually 18 months in arrears. They should have realised Barcelona were faded when we said it. Barcelona is Spain. What we did not see coming was Andreas Pirlo. By the same window, exit Xavi Hernandez.

The Euro 2012 finals get to fold on Sunday after England surpassed many people's expectations and drew criticism from within of Roy Hodgson's tactics, as if Harry Redknapp could have done better. The English were undone by the ever overrated pair of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. They could have done better without the duo.

It must be said that the Spain versus Portugal semi-final resembled a Barca against Real Madrid El Classico clash given the predictable tension and void tactics. The embarrasing amateur mistake by the Portuguese coach of leaving the best for last stole the show.

How noble it would have been for Cristiano Ronaldo to score the final and winning penalty. As he never lived to see the moment, all were reminded of always putting one's best foot forward. The least he could have done, was to let the showman take the 3^rd one.

Generally, the tourney put paid my fears I wrote about in one of my last articles; that international football is becoming extinct. Save for the few matches of smaller football nations and the Italy versus Germany semi-final, the Euro 2012 was a cold siesta.

For starters, how does any teams in the universe, boasting of Wesley Sneider, Robin van Pierse, Rafael van der Vaart, van Bommel and Nigel de Jong, to name but a few, fail to win or draw a single match?

National team football needs young and upcoming players of great ambitions. The overpaid experienced professional will keep wasting a lot of our time and money. One can only hope that Spain have seen their last victory in the tournament. As much I am not an Italian fan, it is a choice between a right-handed and left-handed devil.