retired_manragh

The second round game versus Argentina was to be played at Ellis Park , if luck goes our way then I think we can progress, but I'm under no illusions about the toughness of the match. Hours are spent with the coaching staff going over various tactics to employ, they will be like the Uruguayan’s just a lot better skilled.

In the end we go with the same formation, Shane Cansdell-Sheriff will return to centreback instead of McKain and after his good game in the dying stages against Denmark, Patrick Kisnorbo will start in the defensive midfield role and will push back to a 5 man back line, another long debate sees van Strattan remain in goals instead of Brad Jones, even though Brad is superior in positioning himself around the goals.

We decide to concentrate more on the flanks in attack aswell, as Walter Samuel is having an excellent World Cup to date and if we can bypass him we might be in with a chance so the final line up is:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> McDonaldBurnieKewell CahillBrescianoKisnorboWilkshire Sheriff NeillEmertonvan Strattan</pre>


An exhausting day of interviews with multiple people sees me get a good night sleep, a few comments are going around that Argentina will have their way with us, and there’s a few that they will have to be on their guard.


The Match

The game is underway as we kickoff, the crowd in good spirits cheering, and we seem to be getting a good amount of support as the underdogs.

I assume my postiton leaning against one of the supports of the dugout where I can scan the field nervously, and in the first 10 minutes there is plenty to be nervous about, Argentina’s passing is already causing us a few problems, but some good covering play sees Kewell and Bresciano help out and we avoid going 1 down early.

Quarter hour down and we see our first two good chances, Kewell the instigator in the first finds Cahill after a good interception, Tim puts through Zak but Zaks shot is well parried by their keeper and Samuel mops up, the second sees Emerton hit Cahill with a great cross, Tim heads it down to Harry who one times it on his right foot, he cant get enough power on the shot and Barbosa makes a comfortable save.

A great 5 or so minutes from us sees more chances, and we look the more dominant team, a great flick on from Zak sees Tim crack a 20 yarder, Barbosa once again makes a great save, his deflection is enough to make the shot hit the outside of the post and go out for a corner. Our next attacking move is even better Wilkshire sets up Tim in the middle with a long ball, which Tim controls excellently, Cahill runs at the defence a nice bit of skill sees him past Milito and then he drives another shot at goal this time its hard and low and destined for the left corner, Barbosa dives….but cant get there and we take the lead on in the 21st minute.

Argentina’s midfielder Lucho Gonzalez equalised 5 minutes later a shot from Saviola was blocked by Neill, with Jess moving to get to the shot he was out of position, when the rebound fell Gonzalez had the easiest of shots and he made no mistake.

Half time comes and the score remains 1-1 we had played well but towards the end of the half Argentina had gotten on top, our defence was solid and Kisnorbo was doing a good job which left long range shots, none of which troubled van Strattan all the much.

The second half seen Argentina continue on, they were by far the more attacking but our defence was holding strong and only letting them have half chances in the form of long shots, on our few counter attacks Walter Samuel was there and nullified any chance we had.

Macca had been struggling to cope with Samuels influence so in the around 70 we put in Minniecon in his stead.

It took till the 78th minute for the deadlock to be broken and it was Gonzalez again, this time getting on the end of header from a corner and now we had our backs against the wall, we had nothing to loose so Kisnorbo was brought off and another attacker was brought on Josh Kennedy, the signal was given to attack at all costs, we needed an equaliser.

The equaliser came in the 83rd, Emerton made a great interception just inside our half, a quick pass found Minniecon and he had the pace to get past Milito, with just the keeper to beat he pulled his shot across the keeper from the right and it went in Tahj had his first world cup goal which seen the whole team dive upon him.

I told them to persist with the attacking for a few minutes, but Argentina started to find the gaps so we quickly reverted to a more defensive minded game and at then end of 90 it remained 2-2.

Extra time and the team still looked reasonably good, we had the two forwards now so we would have to be careful and work a bit harder in the defence but I had confidence in the players, if you see an opening go for it was my message, one more goal and we could in the next round, don’t over commit though, if we did hold out we had as much chance as them in a shootout.

Extra time seen Argentina push for the winner, and Gonzalez almost had his hattrick from a corner, we looked vulnerable from the set pieces. The first half of extra time went by and we were still 2-2, Argentina had the run of play and we were defending for all our worth, the second half seen us wrest back some possession and we even had a chance or two although not good ones, but in the 116th minute a set piece was our down fall, Walter Samuel got forward and from a freekick out on the right he headed in the winner. The inclusion of John Aloisi for the remaining 4 minutes didn’t produce any magic and we had another heart breaking loss in the dying stages of the game. We tried valiantly but Argentina did deserve the win.

retired_manragh

The rest of the World Cup

The following day was followed with a few Interviews, Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill were getting the most attention, There was a few headlines in some papers praising my efforts as a manager which was nice to read aswell, but in the end it was a good effort by the team who got us to the second round and over the next few nights we shared more than a few beverages over the bar.

A few of the players decided to go home, but a couple stayed on in South Africa, SBS offered me a job as a special comments commentator which I accepted after some consultation with Dave Pace the chairman of my club side Droylsden. A quick talk with my assistant Ian Griffith and I discovered that we were going on two tours for our friendly’s one to Wales and the other to Scotland. We had failed to secure a keeper, but had picked up a decent striker and another midfielder to join the team.

The second round seen Argentina progress with a 3-2 win over us, England had a convincing 4-0 win over the Ivory Coast with Stuart Downing grabbing a goal and the man of the match honours, Germany beat Portugal 3-2, Nigeria beat Spain 2-1, Croatia 1-0 over Belgium, Cameroon lost by the same amount to France, Paraguay lost to lack luster Brazil 1-2, and the hosts South Africa were beaten by a good performance from Turkey.

Quarter Finals came around and Argentina once again needed extra time this to defeat Nigeria 3-2, England scored a narrow win over Germany Darren Bent with the goal, Steve Gerrard the best player on the pitch, Croatia lost to an in form Turkey, and France ended the favourites Brazil’s Participation in World cup 2010.

The Semi’s were entertaining games Argentina and France couldn’t be separated after extra time at 1-1 with Saviola and Tevez scoring for their teams, it was the South Americans who prevailed in the penalty shoot out though 5-4.

The other semi was Turkey against England, England looked the far more superior team, with a lot more good chances but fate can be cruel, an early injury to Downing seen him replaced in the just before half time, Owen was replaced on the hour, and when Ashley Cole was replaced by Barry in the 67th minute they had used all the subs, this was when fate stepped in and dealt England a cruel blow Paul Robinson came down heavily in the 72 minute on his shoulder and England had lost their keeper with no more subs allowed, Newcastles Steven Taylor took up position between the sticks in truth did a fair job getting his team into extra time with the scores still at nil all. They were coping ok with the 10 men but when Joe Cole limped off the ground they were reduced to 9 and Turkey pounced, relentless pressure seen them grab a late goal in 116th minute and they were through to the final against Argentina, England would have to settle for a third place play off against France.

The 3rd place playoff game was won by England in Extra time, Philip Mexes was sent off just before the end of regulation time and England had enough skill to take advantage of the one extra player Luke Moore grabbed a goal in the first minute, but Viera equalised in the second half, Luke Moore was the hero as he regained the lead for England and they won the game 2-1 securing 3rd in the World Cup.

The Final was a tight affair with Argentina just edging out Turkey thanks to young Barcelona player Lionel Messi’s goal. It wasn’t the most intresting of games but both teams will be happy with their performances. Argentina just a shade more.

With the world cup over I returned to my club Droylsden, hopefully I would get back before the Scotland tour got underway, our first year in League 2 wasn’t going to be easy and we needed to recruit some players, and my late start wasn’t going to help in this area.