Three and in – not just another football blog

Last night I was one of many neutrals who joined forces to support the final African nation left in the competition: Ghana. The colour and excitement of Bafana-Bafana returned to Johannesburg’s Soccer City in the guise of ‘Baghana-Baghana’.

Sadly, Asamoah Gyan failed to convert a crucial extra-time penalty, and the 90,000-strong crowd were denied the happy ending they craved. Diego Forlan and Uruguay, whose dastardly antics did for South Africa, became undisputed ‘baddies’ of the tournament by triumphing in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

It was still a hell of an occasion. Hopefully the photos below give something of a flavour.

Bit of confusion about how to title this blog.  It’s matchday 20, but day 22 of the World Cup.  I’ve gone, after much deliberation, with the latter.  Whatever you call it, it was surely the most dramatic day of the tournament thus far.

WINNERS

Cheating?
Luis Suarez awakes this morning a villain across Africa but a hero to his native Uruguay.  His handball in the last minute of extra-time denied Ghana a place in the semi-final by virtue of Gyan’s penalty miss, and himself a place in the semi-final by virtue of suspension.  It’s an ethically complicated issue, but as far as Suarez is concerned his gamble worked – and he even had time to see it before disappearing down the tunnel.

Wesley Sneijder
After a remarkable season for Inter Milan, Sneijder is starting to make his mark for Holland too.  Arjen Robben’s return to the side has liberated Sneijder to return to the centre – his goal and assist yesterday came from set pieces, but if he can find his feet in open play too then Holland will have a significant chance of lifting their first World Cup.

Sebastian Abreu
Coolness personified to clip the winning penalty home and put Uruguay in to the semi-final.  They call him ‘El Loco’.  Now we know why.

LOSERS

Asamoah Gyan
The whole of Africa willed him to score the penalty that would grant a continent its first World Cup semi-finalist.  Incredibly, he struck the bar.  Whilst he showed remarkable courage to step up and score a cracker in the shoot-out, that miss will surely haunt him forever.

Felipe Melo
An own-goal and a ridiculous sending off from not so Melo Felipe.

Julio Cesar
The usually-reliable fat-faced keeper made a hash of a free-kick to gift Holland their first goal.  He certainly felt it afterwards.

-

Is Suarez a winner or a loser?  Your thoughts, as ever, welcome.

Let me begin by offering my apologies for my radio silence – I’ve been watching an altogether different kind of game for the past few days in the Kruger national park. Since I last blogged I’ve been to Ghana v USA and, crushingly, England v Germany.

The first of those matches was undoubtedly the more fun experience – below you can see a few pics of the game – before, during, and after.

It’s no exaggeration to say that it feels like the whole of Africa are behind Ghana now. I’ll be at Soccer City tomorrow night cheering them on. It’ll be my third Ghana game of the tournament – I’m an honorary Ghanaian.

Winners

Ghana – anyone who has had to listen to ITV’s consistently patronising commentary about the plucky little Africans will have uncurled their toes at some stage and thought about various ways in which they might kill Peter Drury. Nevertheless, for the tournament itself it’s good that we still have an African represenstative.

It might be different for us watching from afar but for those on the ground it’s clear that it means a lot to the South Africans, and I’m sure many others, that Africa maintain a footballing interest in the tournament.

Asamoah Gyan – he looks like he could kill you with his patented death stare, but the Rennes striker is really making a mark at this World Cup. He showed pace, power and expert finishing to score the winner against the USA last night, and his stock will continue to rise as he gets another chance to show his stuff in the quarter finals. It would be no surprise to see him make a move to a bigger club after the tournament is over.

As well as that he becomes the first African to score four goals in a tournament since Roger Milla in 1990.

Luis Suarez – The Ajax striker scored a remarkable 49 goals in all competitions for his club last season. He has three so far at this World Cup, including a late, great winner against South Korea yesterday. Again he’s one the scouts from all the big clubs in Europe will be looking at, trying to figure out if he’s the real deal or if, when you take him out of Holland, he becomes the bastard child of Kezman and Alfonso Alves.

Losers

Bob Bradley – It’s a bit harsh but the US coach got his team selection wrong yesterday. To be fair to him he recognised it very quickly, hauling off the hapless Richard Clark after just half an hour, but at that stage the USA were already 1-0 down, conceding yet another early goal to Kevin Prince Boateng.

They conceded after 4 minutes to England, 5 to Ghana, 13 to Slovenia and after just a few minutes of extra time last night. There’s a mental weakness there which doesn’t quite add up when you think about the character the Americans have shown to get back into games. Ultimately you have to look at the coach and the way his team are prepared.

Peter Drury – as spoken about above. His verbal pats on the head to the continent of Africa are stomach churning, patronising and frankly unacceptable. Somebody make him stop. Or somebody stop him. I’m good with either.

Sven-Göran Eriksson – he might be a very nice chap, happy to talk to journalists and so forth, but resigning from the Ivory Coast job, and taking with him a €3m payoff does little to change the perception that the Swede is football management’s greatest and most effective mercenary.

—

Agree or disagree with any of those? Got one or two of your own to add? Feel free to comment. We don’t bite.

Out here in Johannesburg, you come across fans from all nations. In the past couple of days we’ve met grumpy Argentinians, dancing Ghanaians, drunk Englishmen and boisterous Germans.

They all have their qualities. Ascribing them a single adjectival epithet doesn’t do them justice. There is variety, colour, and most of all, warmth. Sitting down to write this I’m conscious of not wanting to come across like R-Kelly, singing a song about how football can bring about World Peace. It can’t. Only Bono can do that. But there is a definite harmony among fans that is something to behold.

Thus far, one group of fans have impressed me enormously: the Mexicans. They’re here in droves. They sing, they dance, they challenge Argentines to impromptu kick-up competitions. They happily chat away to you in Spanish whilst you nod blankly and mutter “Si, si”. They dress in outlandish costumes and embrace national stereotypes by sporting sombreros, meaning they have to stand about two feet apart at all times. And their team play some cracking football. What’s not to like?

In about an hour I set off to Rustenburg to watch Ghana face the US. As predicted, all the South African fans have rallied behind the one remaining African side. Bafana Bafana and the Black Stars are, for as long as Ghana’s run continues, one. If they can overcome the USA today, the locals will embrace the opportunity to continue the party. My colours are pinned firmly to a Ghanian mast.

WINNERS

Dennis Rommedahl
Denmark’s wingers, Rommedahl and Jesper Gronkjaer, seem to have been around forever.  In fact, they’re starting to feel like a throw-back, which is funny when you consider that what they really do is run-forward.  Very, very fast.  Rommedahl, 32 next month, provided an assist for Bendtner before scoring one of the goals of the tournament so far.  Time is obviously struggling to keep pace with him.

Nicholas Anelka
Perhaps a controversial choice, but I’d argue that being ejected from this France squad for abusing Domenech is far better than being doomed to failure with it.

LOSERS

Goalkeeping
The number of goalkeeping gaffes continues to rise, with Japan’s Eiji Kawashima and Ghana’s Richard Kingson the latest to fall victim to the Jabulani jinx.  In fact, the best keeper on show yesterday was probably…

Harry Kewell
Whoops. Not a good week for him.

Cameroon
Le Guen brought in Alex Song and moved Samuel Eto’o to the middle, but it was too little too late, and Cameroon became the first team to be ruled out of progression from the groups.  One suspects they won’t be the only African side to fall at this stage.  Let’s hope the tournament’s atmosphere could survive a potential cull.

-

As ever, your thoughts are welcome – was Kewell unlucky to be sent off?  Does Anelka deserve our disapproval?  And just what is going on with those goalkeepers?

WINNERS

Germany’s strikers
The first six games had brought just eight goals – an average of 1.33 p/game.  At Italia 90, the World Cup’s goalscoring nadir, they managed a comparatively whopping 2.21 in each match.  We needed goals from somewhere, and happily Germany obliged.  Podolski and Klose discarded their poor domestic form to resume their impressive international exploits, whilst the supporting cast of Muller and Brazilian-born Cacau also got in on the act.  The flurry will have pleased everyone except Australians.  And if there are any Aussies out there accusing me of bias, I’ll have to plead guilty.  Just like your ancestors.

Mesut Ozil
Those who watch Ozil regularly, such as The Guardian’s Raphael Honigstein, won’t have been surprised by his display last night.  But the Werder Bremen playmaker announced himself to the wider football public last night with a Man of the Match performance against an admittedly feeble Australia.  Quick feet, incisive passing, and dangerous movement.  An old-fashioned number ten and a new name on the big stage.

Africa, apparently
Ghana became the first African side to win at this summer’s tournament, and no sooner had the final whistle blown that pundits were queuing up to call it ‘a victory for all Africa’.  I’m all for their continental brotherhood, but would like to see Ghana recognised as a force in their own right first.  Should Cameroon lose to Japan today, I doubt Ghana’s 1-0 win over Serbia will serve as any consolation.

LOSERS

Goalkeepers
I don’t know whether or not the Goalkeepers Union had decided to make a collective effort to make Robert Green feel better, but they were all over the place yesterday.  The most notable gaffes were by Algeria’s Faouzi Chaouchi (a man who gives a clue towards his slapstick antics by having the word ‘ouch’ buried in his name) and Mark Schwarzer.

Tim Cahill
Picked up the third red card of the day for a clumsy but not-altogether-evil tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

“You can all see how upset I am, I’m sorry to be like this. I don’t usually cry but I’m just hurt. To have my World Cup shattered in that way is one of the worst things I have ever experienced. I have been through a lot of different things in football but nothing this painful and I have to admit it’s hit me really hard. I don’t have a clue what will happen now but what I can say for certain is that it’s the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with as a footballer. Nothing comes close to this. It was my dream to play in my second World Cup and it was something so special for me to represent my country. To have it snatched away from me so quickly is a feeling I never want to experience again.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think he felt particularly good about the whole thing.

Zdravko Kuzmanovic
Playing in a Serbia team which may be the only thing at this World Cup more over-hyped than James Milner, Kuzmanovic took the proverbial cock-up flavoured biscuit with a needless handball to give Ghana the penalty which settled the tie.