Semi-Final speculation

Reports of the demise of European football have been somewhat previous. We heard so much about the dominance of South American football, and yet there are three European teams in the quarter-finals. Sure; the superstars have fallen by the wayside – Anelka; Cannavaro; Rooney; Ronaldo etc. – but the team-play rather than silky skills are rising to the top, and that is exactly what I like to see.

First up – Brazil v The Netherlands; the one everyone expected the world champions to win, including the world champions themselves. Expectation is a terrible thing – ask England – and the Netherlands quietly went about the business of puncturing Brazil’s illusions. Having scored a goal from an error (Felipe Melo was credited with the own goal), the Netherlands defended well and even managed to score again.

I heard the expression ‘Kuyt to the rescue’ and mention of his impressive work rate on several occasions. Just as Ferdinand might as well be christened ‘Given-away-by’, I seriously began to think that Kuyt’s sobriquet is ‘Unselfish-play-by’. Is there a prize for the most assists? If so, he should definitely be awarded it – perhaps it could be called the golden sock.

Melo’s game went from bad to worse when he was sent off for a dirty foul, stamping on the hamstring of Arjen Robben that could have ended his career. Actually, everyone in a blue shirt had a pop at Robben who spent most of the match flying through the air or rolling on the ground. The match became increasingly ill-tempered towards the end as Brazil were no longer the impressive exponents of the beautiful game and cards flew for deliberate hand-balls and simulation – forty fouls were given in all and Brazil showed more Gallic than Latin temperament problems; I can’t see Germany doing that.

The commentator quipped, “If Brazil are going out of the World Cup they are going out with a fight – quite literally.” He also referred to the Dutch defence as resembling “an orange jelly, just wobbling there – no wonder they’re nervous.” He must have so much fun thinking these things up...

I watched the Ghana v Uruguay game propped up in bed with a couple of female friends in a hotel room; there was honestly nothing dodgy about this (although the discussion about how nice the Ghanaians looked in their red and yellow strip against the bright green turf was a little iffy).

There was everything dodgy about Luis Suarez hand-balling Dominic Adiyiah’s definitely goal-bound extra-time shot off the line. He was given a red card and sent off. Ghana were awarded a penalty as the last action of the game – Asamoah Gyan should have scored and Ghana should have been in the semi-finals. He hit the cross-bar and they’re not.

The match went to penalties, the first of which Gyan took and scored with commendable coolness. Mensah and Adiyiah couldn’t convert their penalties – only one Uruguayan missed, and it’s all over for Africa. Penalty shoot-outs are a lottery: exciting when your team isn’t involved; sickening when they are. One of my friends was demanding, “Why can’t the ref just give a goal?” It’s a fair enough question, and I’m sure she’s not the only one asking, but them’s the rules and although there will a call for them to be changed in future, for now Uruguay are justifiably into the final four.

Asamoah Gyan was understandably distraught. So, slightly less understandably, were my tender-hearted maternal friends. “He’s not your son” I pointed out. “Yes, but he’s some poor mother’s son” one of them snuffled, somewhat illogically. I have seen this happen to England before and wasn’t going to waste my tears on other countries’ sons.

Speaking of cheating hand-of-God South American nations, I thought I might have split loyalties when it came to Argentina v Germany; who do I dislike least? After all; we’ve fought wars against both these countries (okay, so it might be hard to find a country that Britain hasn’t found itself in conflict with over the centuries). As it happened, all it took was one look at the puffed-up pigeon-chested Maradona to make up my mind and have me screaming at the TV, “Come on Germany!”

And they are a good young side with decisive passes and innovative play – of course, the word ‘clinical’ is never far from any description of the Fatherland, and it was a definitive demonstration of what to do with that unpredictable beach ball – split the defence and put it in the back of the net – but it was sublime to watch.

I like Lionel Messi and I like Javier Mascherano; in them I think Argentina has the best striker and defensive midfielder in the world, but as we have seen; this isn’t a tournament for individuals; it is a exhibition of cooperation and the Germans worked together as a tight unit, yes, alright, even an efficient one. There was added satisfaction in the fact that we put two goals past them and Argentina couldn’t even manage one. England don’t look quite so woeful in that light.

And then there’s Spain... People have been calling them under-performers, but they are through to the semi-final after grinding out a 1- 0 victory against Paraguay. The game had end-to-end missed penalties, disallowed goals, retaken penalties, unawarded penalties, squandered free kicks and one of the tightest mid-field contests seen so far in this tournament. Spain may not have set the footballing world alight, but you don’t have to play pretty football to win.

The only bet I have that is still vaguely alive is for Torres to pick up the golden boot. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, but he could always prove me wrong by bagging a swag of goals against Germany and progressing through to trounce the Dutch (assuming, as I do, that they beat Uruguay) with yet more bulging of the old onion bag. Like I said, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

Mood altering phenomena

There are two things which can radically change the way I feel and over which I have no control whatsoever. One is the sunshine (it makes me happy) and the other is the performance of my football team.

Liverpool have lost four games in a row - they haven't won the title for 20 years and they are not looking likely to progress past the group stage of the Champions League. Is this the sign of a club in crisis?

It certainly didn't do my heart good to see Stevie G being consoled off the pitch against Lyon with a recurring injury. We 'entertain' the red shite at Anfield this weekend. Without him or Torres and with Benitez tinkering with the team like a mad puppeteer (why on this earth would you replace Benayoun with Voronin for no apparent reason?), we could be in serious need of a paddle. And maybe a bucket and spade. After all, we've already got the beach ball.

I just hope I don't entirely succumb and sink into total despondancy. There's plenty of time for that yet. We have a bank holiday coming up this weekend (they call them statutory days here). It will probably rain.

G&T - Perfect combination

Four - nil against Real Madrid! That's five-nil on aggregate. We thrashed them! It doesn't get much better than that - unless we were to do the same thing to Man Utd. at the weekend, ('I would love it' etc.). I can't see that happening and it's pretty much all over bar the shouting in the Premiership, but let's not allow that cloud to darken our sky, for today in my football-land all is sunny and bright.

Did you see that first goal? Fantastico! 'Fernando Torres, Liverpool number nine' indeed. Pass and move - it's the Liverpool groove, and the cut backs worked excellently throughout. It was like shooting fish in a barrel and it could have been more, were it not for their keeper, who pulled out some of those what I believe are known in the business as top drawer saves.

Admittedly if I were a Real Madrid supporter (and thank God I'm not) I would have felt aggrieved at that penalty decision. I don't think that was hand ball and it was a bit unfair for their player to get booked for it. Nothing dodgy about the execution though. That was a sweetly taken spot kick (will ESPN please stop calling them PKs? I thought that was a type of chewing gum).

And then the third goal was just Liverpool gold. That's why we love them. I've always though G&T to be a great combination - and now we have a new contender - Gerrard and Torres - simply sublime. When they had both been substituted to rest up for the next big game, even Babel and Mascherano played nicely together - but B&M doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

And what about Jay Spearing who came on in the 74th minute and made a few incisive runs up the pitch. Brought through the youth academy, having captained the Under-18s to the second of their successive FA Youth Cup victories in 2007, this lad had the Kop chanting his name - 'There's only one Jay Spearing'. How great would it feel? Pretty damn good. We love you, Liverpool, we do...

Up Where We Belong

Capitan Fantastico does it again as Stevie G leads his side to another glorious victory - 5-1 against Newcastle at St James' Park. Though I felt slightly sorry for Shay Given (it would have been at least ten if it weren't for his excellent goal-keeping) and didn't like to see little Michael (Owen) with blood pouring from his knee, that's not enough to wipe the smile from my face. The boys done good.

Even Lucas and Benayoun played well - and I'm not usually forthcoming in my praise for them. Mascherano's return is welcome - he adds the needle to the midfield and his challenges are of the 'uncompromising' variety, shall we say. I would have liked to see Robbie Keane come on and so, by the look on his face as he smarted on the bench, would he.

Of course I miss Torres, but they managed admirably without him. Babel is becoming a tower of strength (sorry) and it's always nice to see Hyypia head one into the back of the net. I still rate Kuyt for his hard work, positional play and tactical awareness, even if he does lack a certain finesse and you could probably make an entire DVD of shots of him tripping over the ball - I'm sure someone already has.

Benitez managed a smile, which may be a first, and didn't even look too annoyed to be bothered by a mobile-phone-wielding fan as he sat in the stands supposedly recovering from surgery while chattering away and passing directions through to Sammy Lee.

Watching Liverpool must be one of the worst ways to relax - I certainly bite off all my fingernails and feel my heartbeat rise each time they step on the pitch - but at least this time he was rewarded with three points and a chink of daylight at the top of the league.

So Liverpool will now head into the New Year at the top of the table where they belong. I'm sure someone knows when was the last time they did this. I don't. What I do know is that I believe they can go all the way this season. Bring it on! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

No Sleep til May

Now that the Olympics is over, it's back to the Premier League - one door closes; another one opens or something like that.

So all eyes (or mine, anyway) will be glued to the television over the weekends to watch the pinnacle performances of the beautiful game. Last weekend was the start of the season and the teams kicked off their campaigns with varying degrees of success.

Liverpool looked, as usual, fairly nerve-wracking. If Torres and Keane stop getting in each other's way they may well prove to be an excellent partnership - but they need to communicate. New signing Andrea Dossena also looks pretty handy.

The back four looks more flighty than mighty, which is ominous for the nails this season. Whenever a Liverpool clearance or a decisive tackle was made back there, you just knew it was Stevie G. And he continues to score in stoppage time (as proved against Middlesborough) - also not good for the nails, but we'll let him off that one.

What is somewhat dubious is the dull grey away strip, which is probably called silver or platinum or some such marketing talk to make it sound more exciting. It is strongly reminiscent of the away strip Liverpool wore in the 1988-89 season, which is the last time we won the league. Coincidence? Let's hope not!

Euro 2008: final

Yes, I'm pleased that Spain won Euro 2008. If I were a betting person, I'd have put money on them from the start. They played with enough flair up front combined with a solid enough defence to keep out the other big names.

And of course there's Torres. Liverpool need to hang on to him and I sincerely hope they do. As long as they are in contention to play in the European Champons League, they have a good chance.

The final was a great game. People (especially those who don't 'get' football) will say that a 1-0 scoreline is a bit dull, but then, as I said, they don't really 'get' football. Lehmann played a blinder and (with the help of Frings' knee) is the reason the score wasn't higher.

Apparently Lehmann has since complained about the 'biased referee'. This rather tarnishes his excellence, as ref-baiting is usually the last refuge of the sore loser or the New Zealand rugby fan - or is that the same thing? Roberto Rosetti is Italian with a Croatian mother, isn't he? Why on earth would he be on Spain's side?

I loved the entire spectacle despite wishing ardently that we were there. If it took Spain 44 yearts since their last win at a major football tournament, maybe we can repeat the feat. I'm looking forward to the World Cup qualifiers now!

Euro 2008: Who to support?

I am still smarting from England's absence, but I have been enjoying the football played at Euro 2008. It really is the beautiful game, and I don't have to bite off all my nails when my team step onto the pitch, because they're not there.

I don't have to shout rampant biased things at the referee and the opposition, but can instead appreciate each pass, save, volley, free kick, defensive header, crunching tackle, tactical run and, of course, the goals.

But I find sport more interesting if I'm supporting one side or the another. For the record, I'm backing Spain to win the tournament. True, their wordless national anthem is a little underwhelming, but they have the most Liverpool players, including the outstanding Fernando Torres.

It felt strange, this morning, watching the football and wanting Germany to beat Portugal. Football brings out tried and tested stereotypes, and long lost prejudices, largely based on cinematic portrayls and a couple of World Wars fought long before I was born.

So in the end it came down to a question of whom do I dislike more; Michael Ballack or Cristiano Ronaldo? No contest. Ballack may be a fouling, diving, aggressive, dirty player, but Ronaldo is a petulant, whining, cheating, arrogant, selfish, vain, indulgent, tantrum-throing, spoilt, self-obsessed, pouting prima donna.

Sure, he can be a stylish player, but the whinger (and no, that's not a typo) believes he is more than the team, whether that be Portugal or Man Utd. He may be a talented footballer but he is a disgrace to football, and for that reason alone I cheered on Germany.