World Cup 2010: Slovakia stand in the way of hopeful Holland

by David Hytner

Dutch optimism remains in check. Holland have brought their inimitable colour to the World Cup finals and progressed to the second round with three wins from three, but one damning statistic serves to keep them grounded. Since Euro 2000, the men in orange have won a single knockout tie at a major tournament – and that was the most unlikely penalty shoot-out triumph over Sweden at Euro 2004, after a 0-0 draw in the last 16.

A question mark has rarely been placed against their talent and once again the squad brims with class players. The manager, Bert Van Marwijk, can call upon his big four – Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart – but the support cast is not bad either, with Dirk Kuyt, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Ibrahim Afellay and Eljero Elia vying for prominence.

"Every game we start," said Van Persie, "there is a really nice belief that we will score. We always think there is a goal or two in us and if we don't score, we have all the players on the bench. It's just fantastic."

Holland's problem has, in recent times, been between the ears and we are not only talking about the psychological tensions that have led to fall-outs between some of the players. When the knockout stages have begun, the Dutch have lost their composure. At the last European Championship, having dismissed Italy, France and Romania in the group phase, the same team failed against Russia in the quarter-finals. They went down 3-1.

At the 2006 World Cup, after similarly encouraging group stage performances, when they beat Serbia & Montenegro and Ivory Coast, and drew with Argentina, they lost the infamous "Battle of Nuremberg" to Portugal in the last 16. The tie featured 16 cards – four of them red – but only one goal. It was also the Portuguese who beat them in the Euro 2004 quarter-final. Holland did not qualify for the World Cup finals in 2002.

Can it be different this time? Van Persie thinks so. The last-16 meeting with Slovakia in Durban will be fraught with anxiety, particularly if the Slovaks show the form with which they saw off Italy. But Van Marwijk's team are not all flicks and technique. They know how to get results.

They qualified for South Africa with a 100% record and in Group E, against Denmark, Japan and Cameroon, it was adjectives like solid, patient and professional which were applied to their performances. The only goal that they conceded was a penalty to Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o. There is a steely resolve about Holland's class of 2010. "I think it's the combination you have to have – the mental toughness and the talent," said Van Persie. "You have to put in the quality but as well as have the mental strength to do it over and over again. After a game, forget about the game and go on to the next one.

"Do we have that mental toughness now? I believe so, yes. We have to show that we have learned from the last couple of years. Most of our players have had two, three or four tournaments and we have to show that we have learned from that. Hopefully, I can give you a positive answer in a couple of weeks."

Happily for Holland, there is the feeling that the early performances have not kept pace with their results; that they have the scope to grow and improve. Unlike at recent tournaments, it is hoped that their best form now lies ahead of them. As ever, there is also the pressure on Holland to win in a certain way. Van Persie says that he thrives on it.

"The Dutch public are very critical, but I don't mind that," he said. "That's the way we are and this is the way we want to be as well. Our target is to play well and I think it's a good target. This is the target that I have with my club as well. At Arsenal, we want to win but we want to do it with quality, to play in the way that we believe.

"Our first three games here were basically not to our standard because we all know we can play much better, but you've seen in patches the kind of football that we love to play. Three games, nine points – that's OK because the group stage is all about survival. But I hope it can be the start of something. Physically and even mentally, there is more to come. It's looking good but now the tournament really starts."

Van Marwijk introduced Robben as a 73rd-minute substitute against Cameroon last Thursday for his first action of the tournament – the winger injured his hamstring in the warm-up game against Hungary on 5 June – but the manager is again likely to start him from the bench against Slovakia.

Robben is not yet fully match fit. Van der Vaart's place on the left is most threatened by Robben's return as Van Marwijk values the balance and work rate that Kuyt offers on the right. He might appear spoilt for choice. His team must now engage bodies and minds.


World Cup 2010: Slovakia stand in the way of hopeful Holland

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Fans will await this game. Will Team Holland win?

Only World Cup final place will satisfy Argentina: Tevez

by ANI

Ace striker Carlos Tevez, who delighted coach Diego Maradona with two goals in the last-16 win over Mexico, has said that only a World Cup final place will satisfy Argentina.

Tevez headed home on 26 minutes and Gonzalo Higuain added the second goal minutes later. Then Tevez’s kick from 25-yards sealed the win before Mexico’s Javier Hernandez pulled one back.

“This was an important step towards getting to the final, which is where we want to be,” The Sun quoted Tevez, as saying.

“We’re now in the quarter-finals and what matters is that we played well. We need to rest and enjoy this victory,” he said.

But Mexico boss Javier Aguirre slammed referee Roberto Rossetti for allowing Tevez’s offside opener.

Aguirre said: “It affected us badly and then we conceded again. I blame the referee’s mistake for the second goal too.”

Argentina now face Germany in Cape Town on Saturday.


Only World Cup final place will satisfy Argentina: Tevez
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Any World Cup team will only be satisfied if they see themselves in the finals. Unfortunately, only two will fight. Who will that be?

World Cup 2010 - Capello Will Not Step Down As England Manager

Fabio Capello will not step down as England manager following the Three Lions' 4-1 defeat against Germany.

The Italian coach was at a loss to explain his side's embarrassing defeat in Bloemfontein, but after the game declared he will not resign from his position, according to Sky Sports News.

Capello is however understood to be seeking a meeting with the FA following England's World Cup exit, which could fuel speculation as to whether he will remain as manager despite the declaration.

World Cup 2010 - Capello Will Not Step Down As England Manager

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Capello may not want to resign, but the management will decide on it. England players' opinions will also matter.

South Africa's FIFA World Cup boss denies helping brother benefit from tournament

Danny Jordaan, chief executive of South Africa's Local Organizing Committee for the FIFA World Cup, on Saturday rejected media reports that he had improperly arranged for his brother to benefit from the tournament.

Jordaan was responding to claims in the Mail & Guardian newspapers in Johannesburg on Friday that his brother was cashing in on the World Cup through a hospitality contract.

The Mail & Guardian also said there are tensions between Jordaan and Irvin Khoza, who is chairman of South Africa's FIFA's Local Organizing Committee for the FIFA, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.

During a media conference held at Johannesburg's Soccer City on Saturday, Jordaan said: "I cannot comment on that. All I know is that we are focused on dealing with the World Cup."

Jordaan also dismissed as "nonsense" South African media's repeated insistence on referring back to last year's South Africa Football Association (SAFA) elections, insinuating that there was tension between himself and Khoza.

Both Jordaan and Khoza stood for the SAFA presidency but withdrew at the last minute, allowing Kirsten Nematanandi to be elected. Nematanandi is seen by the South African media as a supporter of Jordaan.

According to SAPA, on Saturday Jordaan challenged reports by the Mail & Guardian that he had submitted an affidavit to his lawyers in an effort to take legal steps against the newspaper.

"Do you know the lawyers?" he asked.

"I'd be happy if you gave me their names."

Jordaan said he and Khoza were focused on ensuring a smooth tournament for players and fans.

However, he said that the failure of most African teams to qualify for the knock out round of the World Cup was a disappointment.

Of six African participants, only Ghana pulled through to play the United States on Saturday afternoon.

Host nation South Africa, along with Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire, failed to go further in the first FIFA World Cup on the African soil in FIFA's 106-year history.






 South Africa's FIFA World Cup boss denies helping brother benefit from tournament

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I do hope this is not true. Countries would like to host World Cup in order to help boost the economy and tourism of their countries - not for their personal gains. Why can't we just enjoy the games?

Van Bronkhorst: We can win World Cup

Giovanni van Bronckhorst is convinced Holland can go all the way at the World Cup provided they play at full strength in every match.

Feyenoord's veteran midfielder is set to start in Monday's last 16 showdown against Slovakia in Durban.

The Oranje head into the encounter at the Moses Mhabida Stadium on the back of three straight wins in Group E.

"I do believe we will become world champions," said Van Bronckhorst.

"There is a great atmosphere in the group and it's good to hear that so many people are supporting us back home."

Slovakia already sent a warning to the Dutch by eliminating champions Italy on Thursday with a 3-2 triumph to finish second in their group.

"I saw their game against Italy," said Van Bronckhorst.

"They played really well and deserved to win that game.

"Slovakia are very good at defending, very good at counter-attacks and that is what they did against Italy.

"It's going to be a tough match to win but we all want to be world champions so we have to beat them."

Holland start as favourites against the World Cup debutants but Van Bronckhorst knows history has not been kind to his team.

The World Cup runners-up in the 1974 and 1978 finals, Holland lost to Portugal at this stage of the tournament four years ago.

Van Bronkhorst believes if his team shows the same over-confident attitude that they did against Cameroon in the last encounter, they could end up in danger.

Holland beat Cameroon 2-1 on Thursday but it was far from their best performance.

"Our second half against Cameroon wasn't good," said Van Bronckhorst. "If something like that happens again we might have to go home. We have to avoid such a phase from happening again."

Slovakia's Robert Vittek, the two-goal hero against Italy, believes the pressure will be on Holland.

"We are looking forward to the match," he said. "There will be a lot more pressure on Holland because they have to deliver and we have nothing to lose. For us it will be a completely new experience.

"We are not thinking about the result, we only have a chance to win if we manage to play as we played against Italy.

"For us it's just great to play at a World Cup and against an opponent like Holland."

Vittek, who plays his club football in Turkey with Ankaragucu, knows it will be difficult but will be hoping to increase his current tally of three goals in the tournament.

"I am very happy being among the top scorers," he said. "I go into every match wishing to score or at least to help my team win."


 Van Bronkhorst: We can win World Cup
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That's the World Cup spirit - very optimistic.

Errors pave way for Mexico's earlier-than-expected World Cup exit

By Kevin Baxter

It was a team that was supposed to make history. Instead it only repeated it.

It was a group that was going to accomplish something unique. Instead it simply copied what Mexico's last four World Cup teams did.

With its 3-1 loss to Argentina on Sunday at Soccer City Stadium, Mexico once again bowed out of the World Cup in the second round — just as it has every fourth summer since 1994.

Sure, the Argentines got some help from another botched call by the officials. But they got just as much from Mexico, which wilted on an otherwise chilly night.

"Two mistakes dramatically, drastically changed the course of the game," Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre said. "There was a before and an after."

Before, the game was tied. After, it was over — even though there was nearly an hour left to play.

The first mistake came in the 26th minute, at a time when Argentina appeared confused and Mexico confident.

It began with Lionel Messi charging through the Mexican defense before sending the ball ahead to Carlos Tevez. Mexico keeper Oscar Perez charged out to meet Tevez, knocking the ball away as the Argentine forward stumbled by.

Messi collected the loose ball and chipped it forward again, and this time Tevez headed it into the net for his first of two goals.

Problem was, he was clearly offside — something the Mexicans pointed out immediately. But Italian referee Roberto Rosetti, after a long consultation with assistant referee Stefano Ayroldi, let the goal stand.

"In such an important game like this," Mexico forward Adolfo Bautista complained afterward.

The second mistake came seven minutes later, and although it wasn't as controversial, it was just as costly.

With Mexico still reeling from the disputed score, defender Ricardo Osorio, only 20 yards from his own goal, apparently mistook Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain for a teammate and kicked the ball right to him.

Higuain grabbed the gift, rounded the goalkeeper and put the ball in the back of the net. Just like that, Mexico went from being in control to being on its way home.

"You can analyze the lineups, the changes, but it's very clear that with two horrible errors it's difficult to go back to your game," Aguirre said. "We lost our composure, our concentration."

It wasn't supposed to be like this, of course. This was a team with eight holdovers from the last World Cup. A team with veteran leadership from the likes of Rafael Marquez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, each playing in his third World Cup, and precocious youngsters such as 22-year-old Javier Hernandez, who scored Mexico's only goal Sunday after the game had largely been decided.

Justino Compean, president of the Mexican soccer federation, had promised the team would reach the quarterfinals, a place only two other Mexico teams had ever gone. And only 24 hours before Sunday's match Aguirre repeated something he's been saying since February.

"We've been clear since we first got together 13 or 14 months ago," he said. "We want to break with history, change the course of things."

Instead they stayed the course, winning only once in four games here, the same as four of the previous five Mexico World Cup teams.

A team of history? Probably not, said Marquez, the captain, who made his own history Sunday by playing in his 12th World Cup game, most ever by a Mexican.

"It's a good team," he said. "But we didn't get the difference to make history. It wasn't worth anything."

Perez, who like Marquez probably played his last game with the national team Sunday, agreed.

"We did OK. But the circumstances complicated things," he said. "It bothers me. . . . When we came here, we wanted this game. And it didn't work out."

Now Mexico has to wait another four years before it can try again. You can write a lot of history in that much time.

Or you can spend the time reliving it, which is what at least player predicted the team will be doing.

"We're going to be thinking about this one awhile," Andres Guardado said.


Errors pave way for Mexico's earlier-than-expected World Cup exit
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Mistakes are part of the game. But for World Cup, mistakes will forever be remembered if the games are crucial. Anyway, every team in the FIFA World Cup will always pick up the pieces and start again.

Weighty G-20 Agenda Is No Match for World Cup

By Alistair Macdonald and Elizabeth Williamson

TORONTO—For some world leaders here to hash out fiscal policy and banking regulation, one topic seemed to dominate the agenda: where to watch the World Cup and how to squeeze it in without offending fellow leaders.

Ten of the 26 nations represented at the Group of Eight and Group of 20 meetings were still contenders in the Cup hosted by South Africa as talks kicked off. But the meetings were in Canada—a country whose men's team had qualified only once, nearly a quarter of a century ago, and then lost every match and failed to score a single goal.

Whenever they could, officials and leaders—from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. leader David Cameron to President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak—tried to catch matches, scrambling to figure out where to watch the games.

Soccer small talk began before serious discussions did.

On Friday, ahead of the G-8 summit in a resort north of Toronto, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and German Chancellor Merkel congratulated each other on their teams' performances.

Mr. Kan's team, ranked 45th going into the tournament, had just knocked out the higher-ranked Denmark. He said he hoped now Japan and Germany (ranked sixth) would meet in the final, according to an official at their meeting.

A more restrained Ms. Merkel noted that the German team had some tough opponents lined up.

Mr. Cameron commiserated with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over their teams' disappointing showings. With Italy out, Mr. Berlusconi told Mr. Cameron he would switch his allegiance to England, whose manager is Italian Fabio Capello.

Mr. Cameron, at his first major international conference, claimed an early diplomatic success: "I have notched up one supporter," he said.

The Toronto Tourist Board had been taking calls for days from delegations and their press packs, all with the same question: Where is the best place to catch the games?

"Everyone wanted to find where they could hang out," said Michelle Revuelta, a spokeswoman for Tourism Toronto, who had herself taken "several dozen" calls from delegations.

In what is quite likely a presidential first—not that anyone was tracking—the White House on Saturday interrupted G-20 preparations to issue a statement saying that Mr. Obama and Ghana President John Atta Mills were "eagerly anticipating" the match between the two teams later that day.

As the game began, Mr. Obama was in a meeting with Mr. Cameron. Midway through their session, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner entered the room to tell the president that the U.S. was one goal down, a British official said.

"That is not what I wanted to hear," Mr. Obama said, according to the official.

Shortly after the president ended his next bilateral meeting, with Mr. Lee, the White House press corps was sent to a room across the hall, where Mr. Obama was watching the U.S.–Ghana match on a flat-screen TV. The score was 2-1 in the 10th minute of extended time. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel entered and asked Mr. Obama: "How much time is left?"

"Five minutes," the leader of the free world answered. "It's nerve-racking."

Reporters were escorted out before they could record the presidential reaction to the outcome—a 2-1 loss for the U.S.

Meanwhile, leaving a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 on Saturday, Pravin Gordhan, the finance minister of World Cup host South Africa, found a television almost outside the door. He stayed to watch the final 10 minutes of the Ghana–U.S. match before hurrying to a delegation dinner.

Saturday hadn't gone well for South Korea's Mr. Lee, whose country, a G-20 member, had crashed out to nonmember Uruguay. At the conference media center, a group of South Korean reporters had gathered excitedly around TV sets, only to return despondently to their desks after Uruguay's win-clinching second goal.

On Sunday morning, attention turned to the England-Germany game. In four World Cup meetings, England had lost to Germany three times. Sunday,The chatter of keyboards from the deadline-pressed British press corps was interrupted by a large groan as the German team took the lead.

Across town, Mr. Cameron stood up to speak at the leaders' working meeting, knowing England was now down 1-0, a British official said. By the time he sat down, Ms. Merkel told him his team was behind by two goals.

The German leader conceded that a second England goal that had hit the crossbar and appeared to land behind goal line should have counted.

Mr. Cameron and Ms. Merkel left their fellow leaders and joined staffers watching the second half of the match, where Germany scored another two goals against England, winning the game 4-1.

"I'm still shaking," Ms. Merkel told reporters soon after. "More of the same!"

The final match during the G-20 was between members Argentina and Mexico. But how do you excuse yourself from the concluding summit meeting? Instead, Mexican President Felipe Calderón took updates on his BlackBerry, a Mexican official said. It wasn't good news—his side was losing.

 
Weighty G-20 Agenda Is No Match for World Cup
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G-20 Summit participants also can't get enough of the World Cup. I hope reason that they're there will not be affected.