Wednesday, July 11, 2007

1/2 Final

The high octane runners like Tevez can't be running all 90 minutes. They are more effective when opponent defenders are tired. To create real threat with them, they should be either subbed in during second half, which is risky because it takes a substitution, or kept at low gear till a chance opened up.

We attacked the 7 men wall of Peru for 45 minutes without a goal. So in the Semi-Final Tevez was put on hold till 20 minutes in. In fact, the entire team was on hold for the first quarter of the match. This reduced ( but did not eliminate) threats from the Mexican early pushes, and we didn't concede a goal. A lesson hard learned from previous experience. If wasn't for Borgetti's autogoal at 10', we could of lost the quarter final match against Mexico in the 06' World Cup. In Copa America, due to the no OT rule, an early Mexican goal would of been even more dangerous.

Then at about 22nd minute, Basile gave the go ahead to our offense. The game immediately opened up. Tevez created chance after chance. If not for Oswaldo Sanchez's superb saves and Tevez's moment of selfishness, the flood gate would of opened up way before half time. Oswaldo save

Zanetti's pushes were incredible. At one point, the tractor side stepped the ball twice around Mexican defenders and got to 3 yards from the goalie. Too bad the angles were locked down and his shot wasn't very powerful. Never the less, that play must of made Hugo Sanchez shitting bricks.

Our defense in general though, made several dangerous mistakes in the first half. On one occassion, the entire defense was overly concentrated on the left, leaving Guardado and Cacho wide open to the right of our goal. Guardado got the ball, side stepped and found an opening through our recovering defenders, then made his shot. The ball went out after hitting the right post, and I almost had a heart attack... Guardado miss

Heinze was the slowest warming up again. I guess the English weather really got to him. But what a finish he put down when he finally heated up. Roman's freekick from 40 yards out placed the ball perfectly infront of Heinze, and he karate kicked the thing into the goal from just infront of the post with his left foot.
There was like a 50 lb stone hanging from my heart, it finally dropped when Heinze scored, and it was the best feeling in the whole world! Heinze goal

Mexico made 2 substitutions during half time.

Hugo Sanchez must of disliked Cacho's performance (getting shut down by our right midfield/defense for the most part of first half) so he switched on Omar Bravo.

His other tactical change was Briseño Medina for holding midfielder Torrado. Torrado was carrying a yellow, so he was the first choice when Hugo wanted to pull a defender for attacker (an attacking winger in this case). This move reduced the marking on Riquelme, and could be considered a mistake from certain point of view. But it was probably necessary to get around Mascherano's zone. Because Mascherano is such a KILLING MACHINE! All the Mexican chances were created when they got around Mascher's zone, either through the air or by running the ball down the wings. They were completely unsuccessful moving the ball through center midfield on the ground, Mascherano was Hugo Sanchez's biggest nightmare all game long...

First half Highlights

Anyroad, game resumed. And the first real chance came again from Mexico. The uberly hyped Nery Castillo finally got to the ball within striking distance, but was too much off to the left of our goal and got locked down by Pato. He then fired for the top arch, and the ball went out without even gaining a corner.

After that scary moment, Argentina resumed assault. Seeking a equalizer, Mexico pushed both their wingbacks, and their rear became thinner and thinner. Finally, at 60th minute, Heinze crossed a ball all the way to the top of Mexican box. Tevez then send it through to Messi, who tipped the thing over both Magallon and Oswaldo Sanchez...It was just pure class! Messi goal

Albicelestes wan't done! just 2 minutes after Messi's goal, Tevez again puts pressure on Mexican defense and forced Marquez to foul him inside their box. Roman took the PK and taught Palermo (hope he was watching) a lesson. Roman PK

Then it was just time wasting, player resting and strategy testing. Gago for Veron shifted our formation into 4-2-3-1 again. Then Palacio for Tevez and Aimar for Riquelme to protect our starters. Palacio shot

In sum, our entire team played superbly. Even players I wasn't very satisfied with like Veron and Milito. There were still some threats created by Mexico, but our defense started to give the impression that they're indeed reliable, and they can support our offense very effectively.

____________________________________________________________

Rating:

Tevez 8.5
Tevez should of gotten a 9. The 0.5 deduction was for the selfish decision in first half. We could of gone ahead then, and it was his roommate Messi that he didn't pass to. Bah

Messi 9
Messi's performance was 100% satisfying. But he didn't do one thing a star player should of done - he didn't get along with the ref. Mexico was playing dirty, so Messi should of showed his class and make the ref protect him. Instead he kept getting onto the ref's nerve (delaying restart after our first goal, getting a yellow for diving, etc). It's ok to protest, but you gotta get the ref onto your side before giving him orders...

Palacio 6
pffft. He didn't capitalize on such an open chance. I almost didn't want to rate him.

Roman 9
Riquelme was constantly marked by at least 2 defenders/holding midfielders. Even with such restriction he was able to make room and produce plays. He was also a little rough on several passes, but the tight marking should be blamed for those. Perhaps Roman could of played a little better, but he had done enough and deserves nothing less than a 9.

Cambiasso 8
Cuchu played very offensively in this match, which actually yielded room for Veron to play defensive screen with Mascherano. His back pass inside Mexican box was ingenious. Too bad it didn't reach its target or he would of gotten at least another point.

Veron 8
Veron played well. I still don't like him but he played almost flawless today. He got a yellow from a bad tackle, but for how the Mexicans were playing, they deserved it and there's no point reduction from the meaningless yellow. Veron also made some cool lobs and passes today. Basile's patience has paid off. If Veron stays at the level, I don't see why he shouldn't be starting for the final.

Mascherano 10
Mascher made a black hole in the middle. But more impressively, he was also making good passes. I've watched almost all Mascherano's games since he was playing for River, and this was one of his best games in term of distribution. Have a great game against Brazil. IN MASCHER WE TRUST!

Gago 7
Gago actually did a good job after he came on. He even made some runs and produced some chances. I can't wait to see this 4-2-3-1 actually being played. Let's kill Brazil with it, Basile.

Aimar ~
Riquelme needed rest.

Heinze 9
Not 100% reliable on defense. But once he heated up, Heinze looked totally solid. The go ahead goal added to his score. I couldn't forget that moment when Nery got through and almost equalized the game, but Heinze made up again with the cross to Tevez who set Messi up for our 2nd goal. Heinze gets a 9!
Also, I didn't quite understand some the defensive tactics they used. Heinze was man marking at times and went all the way to the right, then he had to run back once that position was filled. Shouldn't Mascher or Veron have taken over in those situations?

Milito 8
The highest score Milito had received during this tournament. His ability within the box is indisputable. I just hope he could of been a little faster, and perhaps a little more efficient in zone coverage.

Ayala 8
Ayala played a little above average. But he organized the defense very well. Only real mistake was when Guardado got that chance. He didn't capitalize so Ayala da Captain got a break. He also messed up on the clear that almost let mexico scored a goal. But I think something was wrong with the pitch, and the ball didn't travel to where he thought it would, so I'm willing to overlook that as well.

Zanetti 8.5
Zanetti shut down that side. He also made several excellent pushes eventhough we didn't score on those. Trattore's condition is at its peak, I have zero doubt on that.

Pato 8
Pato positioned very well. He was tested several times, and him locking down the angles was partially why Mexico couldn't score. Bottom line, Clean sheet.

Mexican American

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHAHA go celebrate your ass off!

i know i am!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA

Rio said...

I should post that cheech n chong video huh

Anonymous said...

rofl

Anonymous said...

i dont know what the hell hugo was thinking when puttin bravo in at halftime.
the guy is freaking joke.

cacho at least would have put some nice passes to nery(even tho cacho was well marked)

Rio said...

Cacho was kinda mediocre in the first half though. When guardado got the ball for example, he was at offside position already and eliminated some options.

but omar bravo played like shit. I guess he wasn't put on at a good time after all. It didn't turn the mexican moral around, instead probably hurt it by breaking up their formation and inserting a new element.

Some people thought taking out torrado was a bad move. But IMO he wasn't getting it done anyway. We were creating chances after chances after 25th minute in first half. It was the mexican defense that prevented the goals, not torrado stopping riquelme from making passes...

Anonymous said...

Love the video highlights ! Congrats on this great blog.

Rio said...

thanks.
enjoy the final.