Why this World Cup is good for Bob, Tuujiye and Norf

[Abtigiis]

No doubt few people match these gentlemen for football fervor. What they lack in football know-how, they more than make up with enthusiasm and interst. And it is my belief that this world cup would be an eye-opener to them. Bob is an old man who may have other problems but Norf and Tuujiye certainly are victims of watching too much Premier League and reading too much English Press.

 

When a World Cup starts, it is very wrong to put too much into the hype before it. In 1982, a fantastically gifted Brazillian team went to Spain to do the 'formality' of going to the field but everyone knew they were champions in the making. In 1994, Colombia demolished Argentina 5-0 in Beuons Aires during the last days of the qualification. They were tipped as favourites to go far, as far as winning the cup. In 1974 the best footballing nation was Holland with the new found 'total football'. We know what happened in each instance. In 1954, Hungary with the impressive Puskas put 8 past West Germany in the group stages but falted when they faced the same team in few week time at the final.

 

The world cup is also full of stories of players added to the squad at the last minute who shined, players tipped for glory who failed. No one thought Saeed Oweiran of Saudi Arabia would score one of the best goals of the entire world cup history in 1994. No one thought a team composed of Crespo, Oretga, Zenetti, Cambiasso, coached by one of the most positive coachs in the world Marcello Bielsa will go out the group stages in 2002!!

 

So, what is the relevance of this to the three gentlemen? The relevance is that nothing can be taken for granted in a World cup, and it is very very wrong to look into which teams have the most players from bigger leagues, which teams have the most expensive squad, which player shined in a club in which global superstars played by his side.

 

That is why it is immaterial if the entire Ivory Coast team play for Barcelona, Marseille, Liverpool and Bayern Munchen. It is immaterial if Melo and Gilberto Silva are not individually as capable as Toure and Zikora. It is immaterial if Robinho could not fit in Manchester city, and Drogba glows in the blue-wearing Chelsea. What matters is team cohesion, attitude, discipline, and motivation. What matters is football pedigree in the World Cup. And that is why only few countries have won the world cup so far.

 

That is why Spain's failure to achieve anything in the World Cup so far will not change unless they change their methods and take one that displeases the fans but helps them. That is to understand that attacking for 60 minutes with high speed (without any thought given to saving some energy later) is only going to result in deadly 30 minutes later on when the foot refuses to oblige orders out of tiredness.

 

I hope Tuujiye and Norf have taken useful lessons from this world cup. I don't have much hopes for Bob, for he is someone who thinks Cape Verde might show up in the next World Cup because 10 Cape Verdeans play for Maratimo and other Portugese teams! Bob's illness is serious. He needs to be put under Quran and be liberated from the evil spiritis of Elephantasis in his heart which makes him believe in people who think with their muscles like Toure and Eboue.

[Abtigiis]

This, from Sandra, may be relevant as well.

 

Ok, I've only scanned thru Duvel's blog and the comments. I'll read them with greater attention later. What follows is a bit of a long rant, so apologies before hand.

 

Every time a world cup comes around, those of us who KNOW the sport of football, who follow it year round and have done so for many yrs, have to endure a particular species of gloryhunting know-nothing ***** who NEVER watches the sport throughout the year, knows absolutely nothing about the sport, and only watches the world cup. What these morons know about the sport are media cliches and stereotypes only. They make snap judgments based solely on ONE game, superficial media cliches and FIFA rankings. That's it, that's all they know. They really do think that FIFA rankings are incredibly significant markers of a team's quality.

 

In other words, their opinions are utterly UTTERLY worthless.

 

Mind you, some of these people are smart enuf to understand certain basics. My aunt, for example, only watches the world cup and not even all of it. She's been watching them for decades. She doesn't understand much about the sport at all. But because she's watched them for so many yrs that she knows that you certainly can't judge with any solid authority how a team will progress after its first game - that teams take time to gel, to improve, settle in these tournaments. This is incredibly BASIC stuff, you don't need to be an expert to know this but unfortunately there are a lot of morons out there who don't get it.

 

In 2006, many were enamored with Argentina and predicted they'd win the tournament - only to see them crash out in the qfs. No one were particularly impressed with Italy or France until the later stages.

 

I hated the pre-match talking points and predictions about this game. So many were just blithely assuming NK would be a cakewalk. And yet time and time again, esp. in big tournaments like this, we've seen teams like NK prove that they're not easy to beat. Remember yrs ago NK beat Italy, ffs!

 

Plus, Brazil went into this game knowing very little about NK. Who did know a lot about this NK team? The only thing we could assume is that they would be very defensive and would try to frustrate us. The other things we should've assumed is that, esp. given the culture of their country, they'd be highly disciplined and focused. We also knew they're a very young team which meant high levels of energy and enthusiasm.

 

We've just seen the world champions manage only a draw against a highly defensive Paraguay. A super-attacking Argentina (with a poor defense) struggled to get just a 1-0 against Nigeria. And the great Holland? The team I enjoy watching so much, who I thought would finally break this deadlock of low scores and dreary defensive display? The team that have been scoring goals for fun, with 4, 5, 6 goals per game? Holland struggled mightily against a tough Danish defense and only managed 2 goals, 1 of which was an og. Holland were not in the least convincing in that game.

 

The only team that's really impressed has been Germany -- and they were up against a truly woeful aging Australian side with an awful coach. The Australian team in that game was far more inferior to NK yesterday. But who knows which Australia and which NK will come out in their next game?

 

As for Germany, it's great to come out of the blocks with such a performance but why assume they can keep that up when wc history shows that's a very rare thing to do? I've just seen a brilliant attacking Chile team creating all sorts of chances against a dogged Honduran defense and manage only 1 goal.

 

Anyone who thinks that teams like Spain, Italy, Holland, Germany wouldn't struggle against a NK team with 9 men behind the ball doesn't understand football--end of.

 

I really don't understand why anyone should panic. This is in fact a healthy result for us. Psychologically, what would've been a bad result would've been a thrashing scoreline v. NK because it would mask the team's weaknesses, it would make us all complacent.

 

Firstly, it's a win. Secondly, a win against a dogged defensive team is good practice for a Brazil side that has a record of struggling against such teams. Third, the best time to get your questionable performances out of the way is in the group stages, where the coach can make changes for the rest of the tournament. Dunga learned a great deal from this game, positive and negative. He will do what he needs to do to improve our performance.

 

The biggest thing that concerned me yesterday was the persistently and incredibly SLOW build-up in the first half -- even after it was clear that this was a pacey, strong, disciplined, focused NK team. I couldn't understand why Brazil didn't increase the tempo.

[N.O.R.F]

Haye!

 

Waa markii selective imnesia kugu dhici jirey

 

The most hyped team on SOL (and cosidered one of the favourites) is no other than Brazil and guess who has been hyping them

 

After the first games ayaad durba leedahay Brazil will win because they struggled vs NK in the first round

 

You're more guilty of believing the hype than any of us

[Abtigiis]

Brother Norf, read this for a a better understanding of why Brazil's struggle against NK was not a surprise to many, and to me.

 

Brazil 2-1 North Korea: Exactly what we expected

June 16, 2010

A good game in both tactical and entertainment terms – North Korea defended resolutely and their front two showed their technical quality, but Brazil’s patience was rewarded in the second half.

Firstly, it’s never nice when websites blow their own trumpets, but you can be assured that this is actually a vuvuzela ZM is blowing on:

 

“With Brazil playing mainly on the counter-attack, and Portugal and Ivory Coast playing systems that rely on pace, North Korea’s ultra-defensive style could frustrate teams early in games – you can imagine one of their opponents struggling to break them down early on, and going in 0-0 at half-time – whether North Korea will be able to defend resolutely for 90 minutes against a top-quality side is doubtful, however.” (here)

 

“Don’t be surprised if Brazil quietly fight their way to World Cup victory. They’ll keep the ball, tire the opposition but not look particularly dangerous. Then, late in the game, they’ll break at speed, rely on the skill of Kaka and Robinho, and win games comfortably without thrashing the opposition”. (here)

 

That essentially tells the story of how the game developed, hopefully demonstrating that studying the tactical characteristics of individual sides is a worthwhile exercise. British television broadcasters acted like the scoreline was a shock to the world, when in fact the pattern of the game was logical when considering the philosophy and strategy of Brazil and North Korea.

 

The line-ups

 

Brazil set out as expected, with Elano getting the nod over Ramires for the right-sided midfield position. Indeed, the Brazil team was actually set out with the numbers 1-11 on their backs, nice to see in the age of squad numbers.

 

North Korea’s side featured one change from the predicted side, with Nam Song-Chol making way for Pak Chon Jin on the right-hand side of defence. This was a crucial role, as the freest defender. They maintained their usual formation, a five-man defence with a defensive midfielder just ahead, and the wing-backs got forward increasingly as the game went on.

 

The general pattern

 

Brazil struggled to break down the North Korean defence because their system and strategy is based around playing on the counter-attack. They keep possession brilliantly, but can look slightly out of ideas when they get to the final third against teams playing ultra-defensively. It’s in situations like this when you can understand the Brazilian public’s frustration about the use of too many functional players and not enough creators – Melo and Gilberto were possibly doing too much of the same thing tonight.

 

That said, credit must go for Dunga for persisting with the system, and to Brazil for having the patience to keep on playing short, neat passes across the pitch until they eventually found a way through. A less talented (or less confident) side would have started to hit longer passes into the penalty area, especially with Luis Fabiano a decent target man and towering over the North Korean defenders.

 

Brazil were outnumbered whenever they attack, because of North Korea’s five-man defence that became a six-man defence when Yong Hak-An followed Kaka deep. Fabiano found it difficult because he was up against three defenders by himself, whilst Robinho and Elano both found wing-backs tracking them when they moved into attacking areas, and the Korean defenders were happy for Gilberto and Melo to have the ball in the centre.

 

 

North Korea's shape took on a 5-3-2 shape when not in possession, making it difficult for Brazil to break them down

That didn’t mean that those two players were encouraged the ball by the Koreans. Their two front players, Hong-Yong Jo and Jong Tae-Se, looked to drop in front of the Brazilian holding midfielders, making it slightly more difficult for the centre-backs to play the ball forward towards them.

 

Full-backs key

 

As one would expect against a 5-3-1-1, the Brazilian full-backs were completely free, and the breakthrough was always likely to come from one of them. The surprising thing about Dunga’s instructions tonight was that he didn’t push Maicon and Michel Bastos further forward – they were constantly free, and creating an overload on the flanks looked the best way to make the breakthrough.

 

Amongst their few goalscoring efforts in the first half were long-range shots that went close from both full-backs. This showed that they were the free players, so why not move them higher up the pitch, closer to the goal? They wouldn’t have had quite as much space, of course, but they still would have caused confusion in the Korean defence. Maicon’s goal towards the beginning of the second half demonstrated this well.

 

Elano’s goal came from a very similar position, and it’s interesting that both the Brazilian goals came from the right-hand side, because that is the side of the pitch they work less often. There is no permanent right-winger – instead Elano and Maicon both look to exploit that space – never at the same time, because they have a good understanding when Brazil have the ball. One goes long, one comes short. One stays wide, one moves central. Robinho stays on the left and Kaka attacks towards the left – those are the two biggest threats, but can often dominate the opposition’s thoughts to the point where they’re oblivious to the threat on the right.

 

North Korea were impressive on the way they doubled-up on Brazil’s creative players when they got the ball, but it was frantic chasing, closing down and blocking rather than a more intelligent, structured system. We should certainly admire their ability to keep a clean sheet for so long, but there’s probably only a certain amount of time they can keep that up. With the defenders constantly looking to double-up and get in line to block shots, they were prone to the ball being switched across the pitch, and both goals came from left-right balls that exposed North Korea’s ‘weak side’.

 

Conclusion

 

The game largely panned out as expected, with Brazil patiently passing the ball and eventually finding a way past North Korea with technical quality in the final third. Brazil’s full-backs were given too much time on the ball, and this is a good example of why 5-3-2 systems died out. North Korea traded ‘pressure on the full-backs’ for spare men at the back – probably a good strategy considering the nature of their defending, but with the talent of Bastos and Maicon, the goal was more inevitable than the half-time scoreline suggested.

 

This was a rather good introduction to Brazil for those who have yet to see them under Dunga. They’re not the wonderful, free-flowing side they have been in previous years, but they are solid, well-organised, keep possession excellently and generally pick up wins. Whilst the specifics of the North Korean approach should not be copied because their defenders tended to be dragged around, the general defensive strategy worked well (even if it was their natural game rather than a deliberate attempt to stifle Brazil) because Brazil like to exploit space both in front and behind the opposition defence. Deny them space, and you might succeed.

 

It’s a few times we’ve said that in this tournament. The popularity of counter-attacking football amongst the best sides has bred a fear of attacking among the weaker sides, because they leave gaps at the back. Those hoping for more goals might be disappointed – there’s little to suggest that attacking football is the best way to cause the favourites problems.

And please see the link for the pictures

 

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/16/brazil-2-1-north-korea-tactics/#more-3544

[N.O.R.F]

I don't need to read it saxib. It was a surprise to those who thought Brazil had not lost their flair and could dismantle teams with a bunch of water carriers

 

Worst is, now waxaabaad inoo xayasiinaysa Baptista

 

You should also know the first games of any WC don't tell us much about how the tournament will pan out.

[Abtigiis]

Agree on the last sentence, but Brazil will only get better in the coming two group games.

 

Your sentence about Baptista is what worries me about you. Why do you think Baptista is not good in Brazil? Because he is on the bench for Roma, I know. That is your problem. If you have been watching the qualifiers and friendlies, Baptista played extremely well and the team played with a better rhythm each time he came on.

 

Again, I am asking you to stop looking at Player's club form to judge how they will fare at the national team. Surely you must have watched Torres last night!

 

By the way, the Spanish's problem was lack of width in their game. Once Navas come on and started to go wide, the Swiss started to run out of ideas. I am confident the coach will start with him in the next game.

[N.O.R.F]

^Agreed on the last sentence. Spain should never have played with Alonso AND Busquets. This limited their play and now they know.

 

As for Baptista, I didn't see any qualifiers (including England). I'm purely going by the man's club form. He has been around for what 10 years? and he has never been a regular in any team.

 

So I should expect him to light up a world cup?

[Abtigiis]

You don't have to expect him to light up now!

He has already done that in the Copa America, in the Qualifiers and in the Confederations cup as well as all friendlies he played for Brazil. He was one player who was never in doubt of missing out from the squad. And I don't think Dunga inuu laaluushay.

 

The guy has talent,but maybe it clicks with plays who play like the brazil national team.

 

Also Dunga was asked why he picked him when he is a sub at Roma. Dunga's answer was that he is being kept at the bench only because there is " a player named Totti who Roma who Roma worships". Something to that line. Markaa dee if you haven't watched, waa u maleeynayaa inaga daa.

[NGONGE]

I advice most of you to read Zonal Marking.com..it's a very educational site and would help with the basics.

 

Iska wada...

[N.O.R.F]

So he didn't spark at Real, Arsenal and Roma but because A&T thinks he is a very good player because he did well in a weak Copa America, he will light up the WC

 

Ngonge, ninkan naga qabo.

[Abtigiis]

Not because A&T thinks, but because Dunga thinks.

I reckon he will play better than Kaka if he comes in.

 

Also I remember he played very well in all of the teams I saw him playing for. He is a good player. That is why he was bought by Real, Arsenal and Roma (all great teams) not Wigan, Esbanyol etc adeer.

 

Ngone, I have only seen ZonalMarking today and was amazed. I read Brazil team blog and someone posted a link of it. I now know that all that you have been saying was not from your own observation.

 

Let us not bring the analysis of ZM here adeer. Otherwise, we will get disappointed because we will miss the 'waxay-ila-tahay' analysis of Nuune, Tuujiye and Norf.

[NGONGE]

^^ War daa..he's the only one who seems to care about the team he's supporting in this world cup (though he's wrong about 'the beast').

[nuune]

War bahasha barta nimanyahow,

 

 

AT&T soo ma ahan kii yiri Hondurus baa 3 ku badin

 

Norf soo ma ahan kii yirr Spain will win by 4 goals

 

Tuujiye soo ma ahan kii yiri Brazil shan bey ku badin

 

Ngonge soo ma ahan kii yiri South Africa guul bey la soo hoyan

 

 

bahasha barta

[N.O.R.F]

Show Ngonge was merely repeating what that website was saying. Kubada show meeshaas aad ka baratay

 

Are there any Somali websites for footy analysis in af Somali. Would be interesting

[NGONGE]

^^ I read that site but I don't always agree with their analysis, saaxib. Besides, on that Ivory Coast thing, I told you how the game was taking place DURING the game, not after I read some tidbits from a website. Kubbada baro.

 

nuune, I said South Africa were rubbish. Wax fahan.