WORLD CUP 2014: GERMANY DESERVEDLY BASKS IN CHAMPIONS GLORY, AGAIN

Germany won the world cup in football (or soccer, if you prefer the American English terminology) again, after having taken the twenty-four year sabbatical from the duties of reigning world champion. I still remember Euro 2000, at which Germany was unable to win even one single match in the group stage. But the Germans are not about falling into despair or counting just for heavens' help while dealing with any crisis. The German Football Association immediately came up with a program of reform, which consequently was followed and brought consecutive semifinals (or more) at major football tournaments (world cups and European Championships) starting with World Cup 2006 (2002 World Cup final was rather an accident than a product of the reform). And now, after fourteen years of hard and methodical work, they reached the pinnacle, thanks to creative thinking of people responsible for coming up with the visionary program of developing young players, stemming from various ethnic groups of nowadays Germany. It is no longer the Die Mannschaft of old, as built by Sepp Herberger and Helmut Schoen, with boring and methodical football allowing to grind the wins out thanks to the Teutonic "never die" attitude. It is no longer the brilliant technically and tactically new Germany of early years under Jogi Loew (and Jurgen Klinsmann in 2006), going eventually soft, and being beaten by Italy (like in semifinals of World Cup 2006 and Euro 2012) or by Spain (final of Euro 2008 and semifinal of World Cup 2010). This Germany, at World Cup 2014, was able to finally bridge the quick passing game (called here and there "quickie-taka"), characterized by high level of technical and tactical skills, with the old "never die" attitude, recovered in the matches against Ghana, USA, Algeria and France. And then, they put it all together against the weak Brazil, and we had to witness the "Mineirazo" (from the name of the stadium in Bello Horizonte which will be known as the place of the biggest collapse in the history of football) pushing away the Maracanazo into the ancient history annals, and itself entering the folklore of the modern world football. Argentina played very smart football in the final, attempting to liquidate all pockets of space between the lines of midfield and defense, yet eventually they were worn out in the overtime, and unable to hold tight spaces any longer, having in addition one day less for recovery than the Germans. Without having Di Maria, who could accelerate and create holes in German defense, it was only up to Messi to try to make the runs at German defense. And Messi did try to do so on his tired legs, and scared Hummels immensely on occasions by decelerating and accelerating, yet it was not to be. Germany had too many assets at their disposal, their bench was full of players who were not only equal to those who started the match, but even better in certain aspects (like Andre Schurrle or Mario Goetze). Argentina, did not have such riches at their disposal, and their coach Alejandro Sabella brought on not fully fit Aguero for tiring Lavezzi - otherwise having a good game - and colorless Palacios, for unlucky Higuain, the man who let Argentina down with his infamous miss. It seems, Messi has not surpassed Maradona yet in the pantheon of the greats, and the time is running out for him. But Messi, if he plays economically, might have another two world cups in him, although, Argentina (responsible for providing Messi's supporting cast) seems to have entered now the barren years, after the five world titles they collected in under 20 tournaments (from 1995 to 2007), thanks to program instituted in the 1990-s by Jose Pekerman. But Pekerman is gone, now coaching the brilliant Colombia, and Argentina stopped producing the great players they were known for between 1995 and 2008 (when they won under 23 Olympic final in Beijing). This Argentina was the oldest team in World Cup 2014, and unless there is a new wave of players coming in, they might have to wait for another generation to lead them to a world cup final.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other community important subjects. You may reach him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: FOOTBALL ROLLERCOASTER IN ENGLISH MEDIAS

The English media, as well as English football fans, had a rollercoaster kind of a summer this year. Prior to each of the last several World Cups, to which they qualified (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010), English media and fans loudly and widely claimed there was nobody in the world their golden boys could not beat, so they were proclaiming themselves the world champions (in waiting) and waited impatiently for the start of each of the upcoming tournaments. In 1998 their was no "hand of God" around but the English were "cheated out" again by those canny Argentinians who dared to dismiss their golden boy of the pitch, in 2002 it was that "lucky goal" by Ronaldinho and Seaman taking a momentary nap, in 2006, that winking man from Canary Islands "they taught how to play" got their "great" Rooney off , and title was gone, and in 2010 lack of goal line technology in the 1:4 loss to Germany (I wonder how loudly they complained about the lack of same technology in 1966, when, at the score standing at 1:1, Soviet referee decided to give the proud and fair sons of Albion a helping hand, and created a goal which wasn't, as the ball never crossed the goal line).
Having learned from their previous humiliations, this time around during the 2013/2014 Premier League season nobody dared to repeat any of the "glorious predictions" of the recent world cups. But, as soon as the season was wrapped up, the hope for glory was back. Why not, Liverpool had such young, bright and already "accomplished" players as Sturridge, Sterling, Henderson, Southampton showed off Lallana and Luke Shaw, Manchester United Jones, Smalling, Cleverly, Arsenal Ox-Chameberlain and perennial great hope, Theo Walcott. Just add to this "galaxy of interstellar talent" the "best goalkeeper" in the world in form of young and tall Joe Hart, and "all-time great" Wayne Rooney, known in various places of a certain island as "White Pele". The camp and friendlies started and English "pundits" started to ponder aloud "Sturridge" great chances for sneaking the World Cup 2014 golden boot. Soon, the multiple voices were heard supporting the unheralded young starlets to spring a nice surprise, then, after Sturridge came up with a decent goal in a friendly, the concept of "bright young talent commandeered from the back by the old master Steven Gerrard, taking the world by surprise", was circulated quickly in the headlines. Then, the show took another turn, and everybody pondered Rooney and the position on the pitch he should be gracing the world around with. Eventually, it was the time to play ball, and the English team performances we can cover with silence, accept to note the following: Italy v. England, the first fall down, but soon the train was on the way up, as Urugway was to play the unfit Luis Suarez, who happens to be the most hated man in England, for daring to be the best player in the Premier League, in addition to several cultural and anthropological deficiencies. But, oh my God, Suarez scored twice, and it was a major down - not only he humiliated his detractors, but also kicked out England from the World Cup and finished their glory dreams, the football coming home mantra, etc. Came the third round of group stage matches and very good things for England started to occur, England drew with Costa Rica, a real accomplishment, but the best news came from the Urugway v. Italy match: Luis Suarez has struck again! No, strike it from the record, he has BITTEN again! O thank you God, thank you God, thank you Almighty! The old Eng(er)land was merry again! Oh, how joyous can life be? English media, pundits, fans and population at large was together again (forget the bleak Scots and their independence murmurs). Punish him! Ban Him! Eject him! Remove him from football! Guilty of all accusations, including of the fall (or demise) of British Empire! Be done with the savage! Hospitalize him! Institutionalize him! So much venom coming from quite a merry England. At this juncture nobody remembered about another humiliation of English football. Nobody was willing to finally admit that the English were in the league of Montenegrans, Swedes, the Poles, Norwegians, Hungarians rather than Germans, Dutch, Spaniards, French, or Belgians. So, the World Cup 2014 went on and the English spirits were much higher now, but soon somber moods prevailed, the black clouds were seen again over the horizon, the great armada of harbingers of oncoming evil were brought by the mixed winds from south-west, across the ocean: Germany and Argentina were still around... Oh, why do we have to be punished so heavily? The two most hated in Eng(er)land teams with a chance for glory? But there were still traces of hope left in the pundits voice...Perhaps Brazil would improve, perhaps Van Gaal - in couple of weeks to be OUR MAGICIAN - will vanquish the Argentines and their claims to glory? Glory to Argentina? But it might enhance their claims to Malvinas (what? what did you call it?). Unfortunately, it was time for another turn down on the rollercoaster as Brazil collapsed in front of methodical Germany, and Van Gaal misplaced somewhere his magic wand, and despite help received from the brothers behind the Canal La Manche (again, what did you call it?) he couldn't find it back. Ah well, so we have to watch in the World Cup final the two most hated teams? But, there is good news in it, at least one of them will lose! And let's pray for Messi disappearing from the match, so we wouldn't have to swallow and digest another great from Argentina, not after the Maradona's miracles, hands of God, etc. After all, we do not want to raise on pedestal short footballers... In merry ol' England we prefer the big lads, like Cristiano. That he has no vision and cannot dribble? Who cares, he is big, and he is ours, we schooled him properly in the solid ways of English football. He can jump to all our high and long balls. That he "winked" us out of the glory at the World Cup 2006? We are a forgiving and civilized nation. Bygone is bygone. Messi can't jump to our high balls... Besides, we refuse to put the dwarfs on the pedestal of our sport! Never! That we are politically incorrect? No, not true, we always are! Except, when it pertains to our football. After all, we have invented it, we made the rules and we decide who can be great or not. Yes, Brazilians stole the football from us, but look at them, they were punished severely just recently. It's a lesson to the whole world, hands away of our football. And this World Cup was a success -  we did not have to be humiliated by Germany again, we can come back to our island with the heads held high this time. In several weeks we will be best in the world again, thank you Almighty for the Premier League! And we don't have to suffer Luis Suarez's skills again... We will press FIFA and UEFA to ban him from all matches to be played by Barcelona on English pitches. After all, we invented football and deserve some lenience.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other important community topics. You may contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: BRAZIL V. ARGENTINA POSSIBLE, BUT GERMANY V. HOLLAND - REPEAT OF 1974 FINAL - MORE PROBABLE

The Argentinians will surely treat the Argentina v. Holland semifinal as an opportunity to take revenge for the 1998 quarterfinal loss (remembered for the Bergkamp's exquisite ball control, exhibited on his famous goal scored from Frank de Boer's long pass). After all, they are blessed with the great Messi's presence in their team, and the Dutch team this time around does not abound with great talent, except for the unpredictable Robben, and good scorer Van Persie, who isn't so mobile any longer. Wesley Sneijder is still blessed with good shot on his free kicks, yet he also is a bit under par. After all, he has been diagnosed to have anemia not so long ago. Who else? Perhaps Jan Klaas Huntelar, a great shooter, but nothing more than that. Indeed, this Dutch team, except for Robben, appears to be so short on creativity. So short, that the Dutch were unable to get the ball into Costa Rica's goal, defended by inspired but nothing more than solid Costa Rican defense and Navas, second string goalkeeper. And the Dutch have to meet now Argentina of no one else but Leo Messi on a mission to mark the Rimet Cup with his fingertips. What a task! As I already have written here, I really want Leo Messi to win his World Cup, but I am afraid that this Dutch team might be a very inconvenient obstacle. It seems as the most logical solution for Luis Van Gaal to play again seven defensive players (as against Spain) and two forwards (Robben and Van Persie) roaming in counterattacks, linked to the rest of the team by perpendicular passes of Wesley Sneijder. The defense probably would consist of 3 central defenders (Vlaar, De Vrij, Martins Indi), whereas midfield would be composed of two holding players (Wijnaldum and De Jong, if the latter one is back to full fitness) and of two full-backs (Janmat or Kuyt and Blind). Argentina would play Zabaleta, Garay, De Michelis (or Fernandez) and Rojo in their defense, whereas Biglia will probably again take Gago's spot, as the second holding player at Mascherano's side. I believe, that with Di Maria's absent, on the flanks, beside Lawezzi, it would be the turn of Aguero, if he fully recovered from injury. If not, then the veteran, Maxi Rodriguez, seems to be the best choice. Messi will play in the hole, right behind Higuain. As much as I would love Messi to get to the final, and consequently as much as I want Argentina to win, for reasons explained in one of my first articles on the subject of World Cup 2014, I believe that this defensive Dutch team, so detested for their play by their own experts of total football, will get to the final. The repeat of the World Cup 1974 final between Germany and Holland is much more probable than South American final of dreams: Brazil v. Argentina. That is unless Leo Messi show that he is the greatest of them all. And that he is, I strongly believe.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City attorney writing on legal as well as other community important topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or  by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: AS USUALLY, THE SEMIFINALS ARE FOR THE TEAMS WITH PEDIGREE

Football is a game played by 22 players, and the Germans always win in the end. I am using again this old Gary Lineker phrase to summarize the quarterfinals of World Cup 2014.  Out of my four favorites, three made it to the semifinals, except for Colombia, which was abused and brutalized by the aggressive Brazilian team (which had to pay the price - injured Neymar - for its own brutality, when Colombians started to retort, after noticing that referee was unwilling to penalize the Brazilian perpetrators with red or yellow cards).  I have written about Brazil v. Colombia match in my previous article. There is not much to say about the France-Germany quarterfinal match, played at the famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday and won by the Germans, thanks to early headed goal of Mats Hummels. The Germans, although unspectacular this time, except for Hummels' headed goal, controlled the game to the end, notwithstanding enterprising counterattacks by the French and glorious opportunities of Valbuena and Benzema. Unfortunately for the French, German goalkeeper Neuer is indeed the best goalkeeper in the world. In the first quarterfinal played on Saturday in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, Argentina edged Belgium 1:0, also thanks to an early goal. That goal, spectacularly struck by Higuain, was made by Leo Messi, who did not allow swarming around him Belgian players to take the ball away from his feet, then dribbled through couple of them and passed the ball to Di Maria, who immediately passed it further to Higuain, and he, with his back to Belgian goal when receiving the ball, turned and beautifully volleyed home, leaving the hugely talented Courtois frozen on the goal line. Till the end of the match, Argentina showed that they can defend after all, no matter what the English funny pundits say. The Argentina's midfield, directed by Leo Messi, and supported well by Mascherano and Biglia (who was preferred this time over Gago) as the holding players, controlled the match wisely till its end. The Belgians were threatening at times, mostly thanks to De Bruyne, Mertens and Verthongen, but Eden Hazard was ineffective, and then he disappeared until Marc Wilmots, his coach, finally substituted him with Chadli. Well done, Argentina. Unfortunately, they lost Di Maria to injury and will miss him sorely in the match against Holland in the semifinals. Holland v. Costa Rica, the last of the quarterfinals, played in the hot Salvador, had to be decided on penalties, even though the Dutch enjoyed overwhelming superiority in the match, having 75% of ball possession and outshooting the modest Costa Ricans 18 to 3, with 12 Dutch shots on target comparing with only 1 by Costa Rica! Notwithstanding the advantage of the enterprising Dutch, the Costa Ricans defended wisely by playing high defense and causing the Dutch to be caught 16 times  offside. It is obvious to anyone seeing the game, that this Dutch team is not that great when they have to attack. Except for Robben, the Dutch do not have any player who could unlock teams defending with a "parked bus". Sneijder was a bit unlucky with his free kicks and shots from outside the penalty area, twice hitting the woodwork, whereas Van Persie obviously cannot play against tight defenses. However, in the semifinal against Argentina, the Dutch would not have to play offense - they will park the bus themselves and will look with hope to swift counterattacks on the break.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal as well as other community important topics. You can reach him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: WILL LEO MESSI BE ENOUGH TO DEFEAT CREATIVE AND WELL-BALANCED BELGIUM?

Argentina is my sentimental favorite in this tournament. Not because of the football (soccer) they play, but because I am of the opinion that Leo Messi like no other player deserves to win his World Cup. Belgium, before the start of World Cup 2014, were and are my dark horse. If they beat Argentina, I believe they would make it to the final as they have more depth than Holland this year (Holland have one of the weakest squads in their recent history, yet their coach, Luis Van Gaal wisely gave up the offensive football the Dutch are known for and stuck to tight defense with rapid counterattacking bursts) and they have Eden Hazard who can unlock all defenses, that is if he does not disappear from the game. For Argentina to win, Leo Messi has to get more support from Gago in centre of midfield, and from Di Maria on the left flank, to open spaces for the little genius. Up to now, Messi had to both create and score, and he can't do it all single-handedly, even though until now he did, except for some Di Maria's help offered in the match against Switzerland.
Belgium have a better keeper in Thibaut Courtois, who despite being only 22 year old, is right now no. 2 keeper in the world, right behind Neuer of Germany, whereas Argentian keeper, Sergio Romero, currently on loan to Monaco from Sampdoria Genoa, has been erratic in his performances despite the fact that while playing earlier for AZ Alkmaar he posted many clean sheets. Defensive four of Belgium appear to be stronger than Argentina's. Yet, both teams have week links in defense, Belgium in Van Buyten, who isn't very mobile, and Argentina in De Michelis who although a good passer, has been prone to mistakes while aggressively pushed by powerful forwards in English Premier League. Apparently Argentina will field in defense Zabaleta, Garay, De Michelis (instead of Fernandez) and Rojo, whereas Belgium will stick with Alderweireld, Kompany, Van Buyten and Verthongen.
Argentina will play probably in 4-3-3 system whereas Belgians will continue with 4-5-1. In midfield Argentina will have Mascherano, Gago and Di Maria roaming the flanks, whereas Messi, Lavezzi and Higuain should form the attack, with a possibility that Higuain might lose his spot to Aguero if he is fit. Belgians in midfield should have Witsel and Fellaini as two holding players, with Mertens and Hazard on the flanks, and Kevin de Bruyne playing behind the lone striker. This lone striker should be Origi, yet one cannot exclude that Mark Wilmots would not start Lukaku as Belgium coach has a penchant for starting substitutes who did well in a preceding match. In conclusion, Belgium has a better team yet Argentina has Leo Messi. If the latter would get some support from Gago and DiMaria, and I believe this time around the support will come, I would have put my money on Argentina.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other important community topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 and through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: LEO MESSI AND THE LAST MISSING TROPHY

In yesterday's matches at World Cup 2014 Argentina and Nigeria qualified to next round from group F, and France and Switzerland from group E. Already eliminated Bosnia prevented Iran from qualification by beating them by the score of 3:1 whereas in the other match of this group Argentina edged Nigeria 3:2. This match has been a showcase for Leo Messi who gave Argentina early lead by pouncing on a rebound and directing his fierce shot under the roof of Nigerian goal. Argentina did not enjoy the lead for too long as young Nigerian Musa has scored from left side of the penalty area even a more beautiful goal then Leo Messi. Eventually, Leo Messi responded in second half with a beautiful free kick which found Nigerian goalkeeper Enyama frozen on the goal line. Young Musa once again equalized the score with another well taken goal, to which Argentina responded with the winning goal headed from a corner by left-back Rojo. After that goal Messi has been taken off the pitch and Argentina comfortably preserved their lead to the end. As I have been saying all along since January of this year, Leo Messi has sacrificed the Barcelona club season in La Liga and UEFA Champions League just to be ready for the World Cup. He already has won everything with FC Barcelona and was voted four times the best player in the world, yet he had to deal with accusations of not giving it all to the home country, Argentina. When at the end of last year he was sided by injuries, I have predicted that the break in the season will serve him well during the upcoming World Cup. Even though Messi came back from injury in January, 2014, he was playing until the end of the season for Barcelona not like Leo Messi we knew from the past. I voiced an opinion on various forums at football blogs in England (newspaper Guardian, etc.) that Messi sacrificed everything to win the World Cup, or at least to get to the final. Even though he is the greatest footballer in the history of the sport, various detractors did not want to recognize his greatness and were bringing in discussions Diego Maradona casus, claiming that he was able single-handedly to win one World Cup in 1986 with a weak Argentina team, and then to get back to the final in 1990 with even a weaker team. I repeated at football discussing forums on many occasions my theory that Leo Messi sacrificed everything with Barcelona this season just to lead Argentina to the final at the World Cup, yet my opponents in discussions were claiming that Messi is finished, that perhaps he wasn't that good, that Ronaldo is better, what of course made me respond with laughter for Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be put on the same level with Messi. Whereas Ronaldo is a an athletic type of footballer, runner and powerful shooter, though limited dribbler with a lot of unnecessary step overs, who achieved everything with hard-work, Leo Messi is a brilliant technical player who can dribble with ease and lightning speed, with a ball glued to his feet, through whole defenses and shoot unexpectedly or supply other players with brilliant passes or assists. Whereas Ronaldo is petulant and has big ego, and makes his teams weaker (look at Portugal national team or Real Madrid studded with best players for many seasons yet without success except for this season's Champions League) Leo Messi is a player with a vision, who constantly creates for the team and makes it better. When Ronaldo disappears in big games like Champions League final or major international tournaments (except for Portugal v. Sweden playoffs, however, because of his big ego Portugal didn't qualify directly and had to go through back door to the World Cup) Leo Messi scores huge goals for either Barcelona (all Champions League and La Liga successes) or Argentina (qualification to World Cup 2014 and the World Cup 2014 itself, where his goals decided each of the matches played by Argentina so far). When Ronaldo is a child who showcases his muscles and sulks when his teammates score big goals, Leo Messi is still a humble man who doesn't stop the world around when kicked or otherwise fouled (like Ronaldo does) but calmly walks away. Argentina is a long shot for the World Cup which is blessed with teams huge on talent like Germany, Netherlands, Colombia, France, or even Brazil (even if so far it did play poorly), but with Messi everything is possible. In next round Argentina will meet Switzerland, who beat yesterday Honduras 3:0 with the hat-trick hero Shaqiri from Bayern Munchen playing like on fire, whereas France, who drew Equador yesterday 0:0 and topped group E, will meet Nigeria, team playing better and better with each next game. Notwithstanding the valiant opponents, Argentina and France should advance.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney writing on various legal and community important topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com