WORLD CUP 2014: THE TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT - PRIOR TO SEMIFINALS

I might still make corrections to the selected eleven after the semifinals and final are concluded. Also, since James Rodriguez and Leo Messi until now appear to be the best two players of this world cup, and they both are playmakers, I took a liberty of moving Rodriguez to centre-forward position, particularly that in nowadays football teams often play without nominal centre-forward. It is not a big stretch as Rodriguez, until now, has scored the highest amount of goals in the tournament. This way, I did not have to put Rodriguez as a reserve player in his natural position of a playmaker.  For now, here they are:


                                         Neuer - Ger. (reserve: Howard - USA)

Zabaleta - Arg.               Gonzalez - Costa R.     Hummels - Ger        Blind - Hol
(res. Gamboa-Costa R.) (res. Kompany-Bel.) (res. T. Silva-Bra) (res. Verthongen-Bel.)


                                      Lahm - Ger.         Schweinsteiger - Ger.
                                     (res. Fernandinho-Bra) (res. Mascherano-Arg.)

                                                           Messi - Arg.
                                                    (res. de Bruyne-Bel.)

Robben - Hol.                              J. Rodriguez (Col.)                            Neymar (Bra)                             
(Valbuena-Fra.)                          (res. T. Muller-Ger.)                          (res. Bolanos - Costa R.)
                                            

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: BRAZIL EMBRACED AGGRESSION AND REAPED THE REWARD, BUT NOT WITHOUT PAYING THE PRICE

I favored Colombia to beat Brazil, yet they have been eliminated in quarterfinals of World Cup 2014 by the hosts, who came out on to the pitch to make war. The match in Fortaleza was marked by humongous doses of energy, adrenaline and aggression boiling out from the Brazilians, subjected to so much criticism for their poor displays in the prior matches. Their intent was clear: destroy physically Colombia's poster boy, playmaker and executor in one person, James Rodriguez. It appeared that Rodriguez would not finish the match without broken leg or arm, such was the physical abuse he had to suffer from Fernandinho and Co. At one occasion Colombians had to swarm in around Rodriguez, to protect the youngster from Brazilian players, who isolated him during one of plays in the middle of the pitch and manhandled him, almost grotesquely. Thanks to this accumulation of Brazilian aggression and Spanish referee Carlos Carballo's leniency, by allowing the hosts to commit foul after foul, without penalizing them with yellow cards (incidentally, the referee has shown first yellow card only in 64th minute), the Brazilians, at the end, had to pay the price themselves. Thanks to the aggressive posture, Brazilians took the lead early, when after a corner kick Thiago Silva bundled the ball into Colombian goal. After, Brazilians continued with their brutal play, attempting to eliminate Rodriguez. Bewildered by the referee's appeasement of Brazilian aggression, Colombians lost their patience eventually and decided to retort. As a result, Neymar, who himself should have been shown at least a yellow card for almost breaking a leg of a Colombian player, was attacked by Armero who pushed his knee against Neymar's back, causing the young Brazilian to suffer a fractured vertebrae, and to end on a sad not his involvement in World Cup 2014. That Neymar's colleague, Fernandinho, was not expelled from the pitch, or moreover, wasn't even shown a yellow card, for his brutal and constant abuse of James Rodriguez, is mind boggling. The referee whistled 31 Brazilian and 22 Colombian fouls, the highest amount in this World Cup, yet in addition to four yellow cards, he should have shown at least several more yellow and possibly two red cards. Perhaps, if he did so, Brazil still would have fit Neymar to play in this world cup. When Colombia shook off Brazilian aggression and started to get more of the ball's possession and create, suddenly, against run of play, Brazilians were granted a foul 30 yards from Colombia's goal and David Luiz, with his great and emphatic free kick, struck by the inside of his right foot, increased the hosts' lead to 2:0. Colombians threw what they had at the Brazilians but except for the Rodriguez's goal, his six in the tournament, scored from penalty, they were unable to equalize, despite the fact that they scored another goal, ruled out by the referee's assistant who spotted an offside, which wasn't that obvious as too many players were involved in the melee and it was not clear who touched the ball first. Colombia out of this World Cup, but watch out for their youngsters in four years from now. Brazil will play the Germans, without Neymar and Thiago Silva. I do think, that they should be better as a team without Neymar, and we might see more use being made of Fred. Up to now, neither Neymar nor Hulk were interested in creating opportunities for Fred, their no. 9, as they were taking their chances themselves. Perhaps now Brazil will acquire some cohesion and team spirit in their play?

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 through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: COLOMBIA ON A MISSION, BRAZIL ITS VICTIM?

The second quarterfinal to be played on Friday, between hosts Brazil and Colombia, is equally intriguing as the one between France and Germany, even though it does not have the same mystic aura and pedigree. It is intriguing because Colombia will take on the hosts, the five-time world champions, known for their "jogo bonito" or beautiful game. I mean, in the past, that is the sad and whole truth. This Brazilian team play as poorly as I can remember Brazil ever played in the past, perhaps in 1990 World Cup in Italy. It is disjointed, it lacks in creativity, even though it boasts having Neymar, Brazilian answer to Leo Messi. Up to now, he was quite good, but answer to Messi he is not, not yet at least. No surprise he shed the boyish tears of relief after the match against Chile. He gets no help whatsoever from other Brazilian offensive minded players. Unless Brazil switches to a higher gear, the match against Colombia will be one bridge too far. I knew about the way Colombia play, and had them prior to the World Cup as one of my favorites to get to the quarterfinals, as I was familiar with exploits of Falcao, and I had watched Cuadrado in Fiorentina, Rodriguez in Monaco, and in Porto before, as well as Jackson Martinez in Porto, Bacca in Sevilla, Zapata and Yepes in AC Milan, before he left for Atalanta. Also, in the second phase of South America's qualification Colombia played even better than Argentina Now, that I have seen how poorly and disjointed the Brazilian team plays, I have to stick with Colombia. Particularly after having seen how deadly the Colombians are in their counterattacks. Brazil will certainly play 4-5-1 system. They have the advantage in defense. Their goalkeeper is more experienced and centre-halfs Thiago Silva and David Luiz, the latter underappreciated in English Premier League, are at their peak. The offensive minded full backs Dani Alves and Marcelo are huge threat offensively but they can be a liability in defensive assignments. In midfield Scolari will play, I reckon, two holding players: Luiz Gustavo and Ramires, or, instead of Ramires, Paulinho, if he is fit and managed to recover the trust of the coach. Hulk and Neymar will play both on the flanks, from which they will cut in to the middle. Fred will play again as the only forward, whereas Oscar will by positioned behind Fred, as a false no. 9. Colombia's goalkeeper Ospina is solid enough, even though he cannot measure up to his Brazilian counterpart, Julio Cesar. Colombian defensive four is composed of experienced defenders playing in Italian Serie A: Zuniga, 38-year-old Yepes, Zapata and Armero, all bursting with experience and cunning acquired in teams such as AC Milan (Zapata, Yepes - tha latter now at Atlanta) or Napoli (Zuniga, Armero). The midfield usually starts with Aguilar, Sanchez, physically strong yet a brilliant dribbler Cuadrado and the playmaker and the biggest star of Colombia at this World Cup, James Rodriguez. However, now when the world suddenly noticed James Rodriguez as the next best player in the world, everybody seem to forget about certain 21-year player of FC Porto, Juan Fernando Quintero, possibly the biggest Colombian talent, having penchant for back heels, nutmegs and defense splitting passes as well as effective free kicks. Another very good midfielder available to coach Jose Pekerman is Freddy Guarin. I believe this midfield will dominate Brazil not only with technical skills but also with power and speed, and will give Colombia the victory. In front, with the biggest until now star, Radamel Falcao being absent with injury, Colombia relies on unheralded Gutierrez and Martinez, while they have also on the bench Adrian Ramos, now of Borussia Dortmund, and returning to fitness Carlos Bacca of FC Sevilla. Riches, riches, riches...I predict Colombia knocking off Brazil from their own World Cup. Brazil, the way they play now, can advance only with another bit of help from the referee and his assistants, as in their first match against Croatia.

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