Theo Sakyi analyses the classic semi-final from six years ago.
After an impressive performance in a loss to Italy in their first World Cup appearance, Ghana would realistically need a win if they were to keep qualification to the round of 16 in their own hands. The Czechs were coming into this game on a high after a comfortable 3-0 win over the USA where,…
As has been touched upon on this site before, timing is one of the most important factors in football. As an example, imagine the World Cup’s four year cycle was one year earlier: when Luiz Felipe Scolari took over Brazil in June 2001, they were going through their worst ever qualification campaign and, although he…
ESPN were showing this game and I like it. I can write about what I want. Brazil is a strange, spoiled footballing nation where a team of losers are rated higher than the side Carlos Alberto Parreira won the World Cup with in 1994. That 1982 side weren’t half good though, eh? Toninho Cerezo had…
Kurt Cobain; Ernest Hemingway; Lord Byron; Sylvia Plath; Vincent van Gogh; Virginia Woolf. History is full of creative people plagued by forms of self-destruction, and football is no exception: George Best, Antonio Cassano, Diego Maradona and Ariel Ortega have all mixed incredible ability on the pitch with destructive behaviour off it. Although, because of his…
Wales v Finland: WCQ 2010 – 28/03/2009 Wales (4-1-4-1): Hennessey; Gunter; Bale; Nyatanga; Collins; Fletcher (Robinson 65’); Davies; Koumas; Edwards (Ramsey 56’); Ledley (Earnshaw 71’); Bellamy Finland (4-2-3-1): Jaaskelainen; Pasanen; Kallio; Tihinen; Hyypia; Heikkinen; R Eremenko; Johansson; A Eremenko (Sjolund 78’); Litmanen; Forssell (Kuqi 89’) Whenever I’ve been asked what my favourite match is, I’ve…
1998 was a happier time. A time when Michael Owen was a fresh-faced teenager who “could be up there with the all-time greats”; Alan Shearer wasn’t embarrassing himself on Match of the Day; England had a reliable goalkeeper; Sir Bobby Robson was still alive; El Tel wasn’t orange and Glenn Hoddle hadn’t revealed he thought…
For a manager who’s won something everywhere he has been, England must pose a unique challenge for Fabio Capello. Given a squad of players who suffer from the extreme pressure from fans born out of 44 years of failure and a resentment over the money they earn, he’s expected to carve out a team capable…
When I said at the end of my first comparison between the two that “hopefully it should remain an interesting comparison”, this isn’t quite what I had in mind. First, the positives. Mesut Ozil had an outstanding tournament and was correctly nominated for the Golden Ball. Unlike Gourcuff, Ozil was part of a great German…
