Holland vs Spain Preview




         It is very good to see both of them in the final. This means we are going to have a new World Cup champion, although, they didn’t play well since the first match. Holland’s best game was against Brazil; whilst Spain’s best game was against Germany in semi-final.

          Holland

          Holland uses 4-2-3-1 system with two defensive midfields ahead of their back four, Mark Van Bommel and Niigel De Jong. Van Bommel has had a good tournament so far. He is the heart of this Holland team. He is more important than Wesley Schneijder.

          In this tournament, Holland leaves their style and play more defensively. They use two defensive midfields which was rarely seen in the past. No “Total Football” any more, but we cannot blame them. Total Football was good to watch but cannot win the World Cup.

          Defence

They use attacking mind right back, Gregory Van Der Wiel, with defensive mind player on the opposite side, Giovani Van Bronckhorst. Gregory has had a good tournament this year. His pace and attacking skills are very impressing. Many people thought that this Holland team’s defence are not strong enough to win the title. Bert Van Marwijk shows the solution by put two strong defensive midfields ahead of them. It really works so far.

           Attacking
    
          This is the strongest point of this team. They use only four players to attack,Wesley Schneijder, Dirk Kuyt, Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie. They use the inverted wing system (put the right foot player on the left and left foot player on the right). This is the favourite system for Robben. Everyone knows how Robben plays but no one can stop him. Wesley Schneijder might be in the all-star team for many people and might be in the top three for the “Golden Ball” award after the tournament. He is good but not that good. He got some lucky goals in this tournament. The weak point of their attacking is there is not enough variety. Their Striker cannot score. RVP score only once in this tournament which was in the match that they already qualified to the second round.

            Spain

           They need to thank Holland because their system comes from the “Total Football”. They use the Barcelona model Which Barcelona has been coached by three Dutch managers before Josep Guardiola.(Johan Cruijff, Louis Van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard. The system that Spain uses is called Tiki-Taka. It easily explained as a quick short passing game. The Spain’s players always stand as a small triangle and pass to the free player that why they always control the game.

           Midfield

           Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta are really world-class players. They are very intelligent and got sense of football. Sergio Busquets is the underrated player. He plays well, good passing and very disciplined. That is why nobody (especially in Thailand where I live) likes him. David Villa works better when he plays on the left wing. He gets more ball and can create chances by himself. In the match against Germany he was disappeared and not involved enough to the game.

           Lacking of Width

Spain is not interested in playing out wide along this tournament. Most of the midfields are in the center of the pitch. Only Villa hugs the touchline. This is the reason why Torres cannot play well in this tournament. He needs to move out wide to find the space because it is very crowded in the center. On the other hand, this system is very fit for Sergio Ramos. He can go forward as much as he wants to. He involve in the attacking more than any other players.

          Conclusion

          Very interesting match. Neither of them win the World Cup. That means, we are going to have a new face winner. Sorry for Holland, this time Spain really deserves to be the winner. They have the best squad in the world now. Holland not. Holland should have won in 1974 and 1978 not this year.

No hope for France this time

            France is the most disappointing side in this World Cup. Since the first match, they haven’t shown anything near their standard. They were a finalist in last World Cup but this time they played like the team who never been in World Cup. They played with no ambition, teamwork or idea. Their problems have been discovered since the qualification round. They almost didn’t qualify.

            Last night, Domenech made one change from the first game which I think nobody would agree with him. Malouda in for Gourcuff. They changed a system from 4-3-2-1 to 4-2-3-1. Diaby and Toulalan are ahead of their defenders. Ribery played as a playmaker while Govou and Malouda were on his right and left. Anelka was still a lone striker which is not his best position.

            Mexico also changed their tactic. They played 4-3-3 instead of 3-4-3. They used Moreno and drop Aguilar out. They moved Osorio to the right back because they needed more defensive mind right back here. It was a good choice and absolutely better than S. Korea did earlier (use OH Beom Seok instead of CHA Du Ri). They used three defensive midfield and drop deep. Up front, they still used the same three forward and they pushed very high up pitch.

            Patient and Torrado is the key

            From the many previous matches, it seemed that this world cup is for the teams who play with defensive mind and patient such as Ivory Coast, Switzerland and Mexcio. Mexico packed their defensive very well and very good organized. They always have 7 men in front of their goal and very difficult to break.

            Torrado is a man of the match for me, although Javier Hernandez is the official one. Torrado’s role was to link between defender and attacker. His statistic was excellent. He got the most time on ball in the game and got 80% pass completion.

            Desperate France

            France played like they didn’t have any ambition at all. When you looked at their faces, you felt that they didn’t have fun or someone has forced them to play. Their connection was awful. Neither teamwork nor leadership were shown by them.

            The defence was slow but push very high up

            Gallas and Abidal were very slow last night Giovanni, Vela and Barrera caused them problem all whole game. You can see from the Mexican’s first goal. France’s centre backs were very high and gave Hernandez the chance to beat the offside trap.

            Bad organized midfield.

            Their three attacking midfield were too far from each other while their defensive midfield Toulalan and Diaby were too close. Govou was left alone at the right side as the statistic show France never used the right side to attack. Ribery could not make any impressive performance when he was at centre of the pitch. Malouda was the man who he played with the most.

           

            Conclusion

            France deserved what they got. Lack of ambition and team work could be the main reason of their failure. They still have a chance to go to second round but with this team, I prefer to see Mexico and Uruguay.

           

2nd Match Uruguay – France

               Uruguay will use 4-4-2 in this match, although it seems that they prefer to play as 3-5-2 in their most recent matches. Their two solid defenders will be lugano and Godin.  They might not be super star but they are good enough to play in top-level. They will be the key for their team in this tournament. Their full backs are Mauricio Victorino, surprisingly replace Andres Scotti, and Maximiliano Pereira.

                In the midfield, it is very surprising that Walter Gargano will not involve in this match. He will be replaced by Edgidio Arevalo. They use Ignacio Gonzalez as a playmaker behind their two excellent upfront. Their wings are also dangerous with Diego Perez and Alvaro Pereira.  

                The main threat of this team is their two strikers. Forlan and Suarez are really in their best form. They also have another good striker, Edinson Cavani. These Three strikers help them stronger and give them confidence in this World Cup.

                The only one disadvantage is they have only two friendly matches which they both win against Switzerland and Israel. This might also see as a good thing because they will have full condition players before the tournament.

                France is the team that people are most disappointed with. They won only one in their last five matches. Therefore, in this World Cup, Nobody think they are going to go as far as last time.

                Raymond Domenech prefers using 4-3-2-1. Hugo Lloris is a good young goalkeeper but he is still young and may not have enough experience.  His favourite 4 defenders are Sagna, Gallas, Abidal and Evra.  They are very strong and full of experiences.

                With the midfield, He put Toulalan, Malouda and Gourcuff together. For Malouda, I rate him the best as a Winger not central midfield. He has good technique and skill. I would like to put Diaby instead of him.

                At Forward, He uses Govou and Ribery on the side and set Anelka as a target man. They are good on the paper but in reality, they are not good connected. The whole team work is very bad

                Prediction: Although, France’ forms is not impressing and there is a rumour that they have a conflict in their camp, they are still one of the contender for me. They have much more experiences than Uruguay who rarely play in the final stage. Tonight France won’t lose. France 1-0 Uruguay   

               

1st match South Africa – Uruguay

          South Africa –Since Carlos Alberto Perreira took control the side, they have a good record with 12 matches unbeaten run including several top side as Japan, Paraguay and Denmark. They will start with 4-4-1-1.

         Their defenders are led by Aaron Mokoena who now plays for Portsmouth. His strength is his tackling but some might say he is too slow now. Anyway, he is still the best defender for his country. He will pair up Khumalo.

            In the midfield, Pienaar, the best player in the country, will control the tempo of the game He might play in the hole behind the striker instead of side midfield which he played at the Everton his current club.

           They use lone striker system, Katlego Mphela his significant skill is the movement. He knows where he needs to run into. His record for national side is also great. He scored 15 goals for 31 appearances.

           Mexico, they are the dark horse for me in this tournament. So don’t be surprised if they are the winner of this group while France is now underachieving.

           Mexico has the good prospect goal keeper, Guillermo Ochoa; He might not as tall as other world-class goal keeper. In my opinion, he will move to European club after the World Cup.

           The Mexican’s defensive line is very flexible; their basic formation is 4-4-2 with Osorio and Rodriguez are the centre defenders but they rarely play this system during the game. When they have the ball their full back are going over the half-line, then their centre back will be wider and left marquez who is defensive midfield is the centre player at the back. We can’t say that he is a centre defender because he pushes up to the half-line.

            On the other hand when they are not process the ball, Marquez will be drop deeper to be one of the defenders and that make them turn the system into 5-4-1

            In the midfield, Gerardo Torrado always comes deep to get the ball from the defender. Mexico prefers to play the ball on ground. They use the combination of two young winger, Giovanni dos Santos and Carlos Vela to attack.

             Guillermo Franco is not a guaranteed first choice striker. The other strikers are Cuauhtémoc Blanco, the Mexican legend, and Javier Hernandez, Manchester United new striker. All of them will drop deep when they get a chance to play

             Prediction: Both of them are solid sides but without the international experiences South Africa will not able to compete with Mexico which have a lot better tactic and more players to use to adapt their strategies. Mexico 2-0 South Africa.