On a planet of 6.7 billion people, is it really so hard to find one goalkeeper? Three more teams are asking themselves that question tonight after a day of blunders between the posts.
A 10-man Australia kept their hopes alive with a gutsy 1-1 draw against Ghana at Rustenberg, aided by a bad gaffe from Ghana netminder Richard Kingson. Elsewhere, Holland did as little as they had to, eking out an insipid 1-0 win against Japan this morning thanks in part to Japan keeper Eiji Kawashima at Durban. With that result and the late game, the Dutch became the first team to qualify for the knockout round.
And tonight in Pretoria, a bizarre decision by Thomas Sorensen gave Cameroon its first goal against Denmark, but it didn’t cost the Danes: Sorensen recovered and Cameroon became the first team eliminated from the Cup, falling 2-1.
Bert van Marwijk won’t care about the criticism his Dutch side is taking from its fans. Holland became the first team through to the round of 16, and now has a free game against Cameroon in which to rest its stars.
Do the Dutch look convincing? No, but they sure look smart. They have expended the bare minimum energy to get the result they needed, and in so doing, bought nearly two extra weeks for their key winger, Arjen Robben, to recover from injury.
Wesley Sneijder scored the night’s only goal, a well-taken shot that nonetheless should have been stopped by Kawashima. The Japan keeper overcommitted to the ball, expecting it to take a twist to his right. The ball instead flew straight, and Kawashima watched in horror as it blew through his left hand.
The Dutch may not be pretty, but they are coolly efficient. They haven’t tipped their hand and they remain a very dangerous team. They also — perhaps alone among the contenders — have managed their resources to perfection. And they have been helped by their aura; teams fear the Dutch and are doing everything they can to hold them at bay.
Today proved that point. Japan’s tactics were to play a style the French call le anti-jeu, and what we in the States call boring. It was another defense-first, pack the back, play not-to-lose game of the type that has polluted this tournament. Against a Dutch side disinclined to put in the work needed to expose the frailties of such an approach the result was an interminable half of football.
The irony here is that once Japan was forced to go forward, they showed they could, leading one to the question: Why? Why did manager Takeshi Okada neuter his team’s approach when players such as Keisuke Honda, Yasuhito Okubo and Yasuhito Endo showed they could pressure Maarten Stekelenburg? Why did Japan concede so much of the midfield to Sneijder and Mark van Bommel when it became clear that Robin van Persie was off to another sub-par day? No one is going to confuse Japan for Argentina, but where was the willingness to win?
As other teams have shown repeatedly at this Cup, these games can become more open than anyone expects, and the teams that attack are the ones who are rewarded. Today, Japan played into Dutch hands, when they could have done so much more, by simply going forward.
Just ask Australia.
The Socceroos got out of a jam by playing a gallant, attacking match against a Ghana side that unfortunately did not play smart football. Reduced to 10 men after the ejection of Harry Kewell (straight red), the Socceroos turned in what may prove to be a Cup-saving performance.
Ghana, despite sitting top on four points, may ultimately be seen as having thrown away its best shot at qualifying by failing to take advantage with a strangely individualistic second half. Too often the Africans failed to spot overlapping runners or simply elected to take low-percentage, long-range shots when a bit more patience and creativity was a better option.
Australia got its early advantage when Kingston fumbled a hard hit Mark Bresciano free kick and spilled the ball directly to the closing Brett Holman. He gratefully accepted the gift before wheeling away to celebrate along the byeline.
Ghana did not seem particularly unhinged by that strike, staying with its midfield approach to the buildup and creating chances. When their goal came, however, there was more than a hint of controversy about referee Roberto Rosetti’s decision to send off Kewell.
On the one hand, replays showed that Kewell definitely bent to his right to block a drive from Ghana’s John Mensah after the Australian defense failed to get a corner kick away safely. Mensah hit a rocket to the near post where Kewell, standing on the line, kept the ball out with his upper arm.
The debating point is not whether it was a penalty that Asamoah Gyan neatly put away, but whether Rosetti was correct in thinking that Kewell’s handling was deliberate. The Italian boss, regarded as one of the world’s better referees, chose to play it by the book and showed the red, indicating that Kewell had deliberately prevented a goal by his action.
The ejection left Australia facing a dour struggle, and for long periods, the defense anchored by Lucas Neill and Craig Moore was under siege. But those two men left Ghana clawing for scraps and failing to execute the most basic of give-and-go’s. More than once it was a late Neill tackle or deflection that broke a play’s back. Moore, who picked up his second yellow of the tournament tonight, will be sorely missed next game.
Now, Ghana needs a result against the Germans, who in turn, realistically need a win. And Serbia, who looked down and out, is now expected to beat the Aussies to progress.
But take nothing for granted.
Just ask Australia.
Cameroon crashed and burned in a wild late contest that saw two poor defenses struggle to contain quick, countering offenses. In the end, the Africans could not find a way through.
Samuel Eto’o got his side off to a great start in only the 10th minute when Sorensen and Christian Poulsen made a hash of a routine restart to gift Cameroon the opener. Sorensen, with Cameroon players far too close to his net, inexplicably rolled the ball to Poulsen, who then failed to do anything with it. Achille Emana stole the ball, flicked it on to Eto’o, who finished well.
But the Danes found composure and drew level in the 35th thanks to Nicklas Bendtner, who poked home a cross from Dennis Rommedahl after Simon Kjaer sent a 70-yard cross-field pass to the Ajax winger. Rommedahl would get the winner in the 65th after he beat sub Jean Makoun inside and fired a delicious left-footed shot past keeper Hamidou Souleymanou.
Denmark now faces a straight win-and-you’re-in game against Japan next week, while Cameroon must go home and wonder what might have happened.
TOMORROW
Slovakia starts the day off against Paraguay at Bloemfontein (7:30 a.m. EDT), then Italy take on New Zealand at Nelspruit (10:00 a.m. EDT). The marquee game is Brazil vs. Cote d’Ivoire from Johannesburg’s Soccer City at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
MUST-SEE TV
This World Cup has been so unpredictable, I’m almost afraid to make predictions at this point. But I’d be foolish not to recommend Brazil vs. Cote d’Ivoire, a match that on paper, has all the ingredients for high drama. Brazil struggled against a ferocious North Korean side in their first game, in part because they took their opponent too lightly. Don’t expect that mistake against Cote d’Ivoire, a side loaded with talent including a man who can be a game-changer in Didier Drogba. Drogba is still struggling with that fractured elbow, and against Portugal, he was ineffective. He’ll need to be on his game against a team that is arguably the world’s best, but he’ll be helped by the fact that much-derided coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has his side playing an efficient, smart style.
