BobBev

Super Eagles In Shock Defeat

Having come through their qualifying group with a 100% record and without conceding a goal Nigeria suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at the hands of Croatia in the 1st knockout round. The Super Eagles took the lead after quarter of an hour through youngster Osaze Odemwingie but were pegged back in the 26th minute through Jurica Vranjes. Striker Mate Bilic put Croatia ahead just after the restart and despite making several changes in personnel manager Beveridge was unable to inspire his team to recover the deficit.

Peacemaker7

Lennin et al

The Ruskis were next on our hitlist. A match we totally dominated and every single Spanish player got an 8 rating except Xavi. We had more possesion, created more chance, and were by far the superior team.

We lost 1-0.

We killed Miles.

WLKRAS

The impressive team of Belarus awaited in the second round and it would certainly prove to be a difficult fixture for Oranje. But with the hope of the nation on the shoulders of the team, they simply could not fail. Only the World Cup would suffice.

For the first time this tournament, we were put under pressure, but the ever present Patrick Kluivert got the show on the road, heading home Arjen Robben’s inch perfect cross to give the Dutch the lead. And the left winger turned from provider to scorer for the next goal when Ruud van Nistelrooij set him up for his first in a Holland shirt.

The Belarussians (is that right?) hit back though, making it 2-1 halfway through the first half. Slowly but surely though, the Netherlands began to stamp their authority onto the game and the visitors were quickly undone by some excellent play. It wasn’t until the 60th minute that the result was sealed though. It was again Kluivert who headed the ball into the net, this time from a Van der Meyde cross. It was his 50th goal in the Orange shirt and he was well pleased with it.

A very difficult tie awaits in the Quarter Finals. OMDave’s France. May the best team win…

Bagpuss

Italy Vs Brazil World Cup 2006 Quarter Final

Well we did as well as expected in making the quarter finals but came up agiasnt a Brazilain side far better on the day.

We lost it 5-2 but it was actually closer than that. The only difffernce was theyt scored their chances whilst we didn't.

Still i reckon Brazil should go on to winit with Daz at the helm

Daz the Imp

Whilst the last round draw may have 'been kind', everyone, Fowler included, was in agreement that the quarter-final draw had been harsh. Brazil had been drawn out with the Italians, who had yet to be defeated in this years tournament. Fowler made a difficult decision in regards to the starting line-up and dropped Group Stage and Second Round hero Léo Macaé for Franca. Little did he know it, but it would prove to be a masterstroke. Rivaldo rolled back the years to open the scoring with a wonderful individual goal but Italy pegged back through Totti in the second half. Adriano restored Brazil's lead moments later with only their second shot but Italy again levelled through Marchionni. With ten minutes left the scores were still level before Franca, making his first World Cup 2006 appearance, fired home to give Brazil another lead. This time Italy couldn't find a reply as they piled forwards and another Rivaldo goal was followed by a Ronaldinho strike to add a bit of gloss to the scoreline. Finally, a convincing performance from the Brazilians. One that saw them advance to the semi-finals

Italy 2-5 Brazil(QF) - Rivaldo (2), Franca, Ronaldinho, Adriano

WLKRAS

A packed house at the Westfalenstadion saw what was to be an epic match between the Netherlands and France. Despite a card happy referee early on, both sides set out to play positive football, although it was a bit surprising that France had their stars Zidane and Pires amongst the benched players. Both sides had good chances in the first half and both had scored once at half time. Kluivert had against scored to put the Dutch in front, but a headed goal by Derby’s Saha had put France level again.

In the second half, France became stronger, playing well. Merien especially dominated the middle of the park and it seemed only a matter of time before France would score. But an excellent Man of the Match performance by Edwin van der Sar kept them at bay. And then the goal fell at the other end. France failed to clear a corner and it fell to Edgar Davids. He tried to take it round Frey and all the French goalie could do was bring him down. Frey was sent off for a professional foul, Arjen Robben converted the spot kick and the Dutch sealed their spot in the Semi Finals.

Daz the Imp

Now in the Semis, Brazil had their sights set on the final and another World Cup title. Croatia were the latest hurdle that Fowler had to negotiate his team around and he named an unchanged side from the superb quarter-final defeat of Italy. Similar to the matches against USA in the group stage and Senegal in the Second Round, this game was about Brazil only. They dominated from the first whistle and Croatia seemed content to take the game as far as they. As Croatia managed to muster no shots in normal time, Brazil hit the woodwork twice before extra-time came. And went. Just the one attempt on goal from either side in the additional periods (included Croatia's first of the game) meant that the match went to penalties. Croatia took it due to some spectactularly poor spot-kick techniques used by the Brazlians. Ronaldinho, Zé Maria and Léo Macaé were the guilty parties as Brazil went down 3-1 on penalties.

Brazil 0-0p Croatia(SF) - Croatia win 3-1 on pens

Daz the Imp

After that defeat then, Brazil and Fowler would have to settle for third. Assuming they could defeat the Russian side that narrowly lost to Holland in their semi-final, albeit not as narrow as Brazi's margin of defeat. Fowler decided not to give his unused squad players a run-out and to try and end the tournament on a high. Rivaldo put the Brazilians ahead and from then on they never looked back. Franca added a second before half-time, and there was time still for Russia to pull a fluke goal back. Rivaldo scored his 40th international goal in the second half and Marcelinho Carioca netted as well to give the Brazilians a four-one win and 3rd place in World Cup 2006. Many fans will have been happy, as it could have been a lot worse after the Japan debacle, but others will see this tournament as a missed title opportunity.

Russia 1-4 Brazil(3/4 po) - Rivaldo (2), Marcelinho Carioca, Franca

Daz the Imp

RECAP

When you hear Brazil mentioned in footballing terms, there are probably a lot of things that spring to your mind. You probably think of all the wonderful talent that the nation has produced in bygone eras such as Pele and Zico. Maybe you think of all the time Brazil have lifted the World Cup - '58, '62, '70, '94 and '02. Perhaps you think off all the current talent that Brazil showcase in Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and co. I am, however, willing to bet that you don't think of an Englishman called Darren Fowler. Not once. Infact, I'd even go as far as to say that you never think about Darren Fowler, no matter what you are doing.

With Germany 2006 coming up, that would all change. An Englishman called Darren Fowler was appointed the new manager of Brazil and he was charged with the task of bringing home the World Cup. The time between his appointment and the announcment of his first squad, the World Cup squad, flew by and all of a sudden he and his players were in Germany itself.

The squad he picked raised a few eyebrows, but not a massive amount. Yes, there was no Ronaldo, but any football fan worth his salt would already have known that Ronaldo was injured and would have been unable to compete anyway. Fowler chose to replace him with Léo Macaé, who only had experience at U-21 level. Macaé wasn't the only one without a cap however as Araújo, Bruno and Carlos Henrique were all called up to the squad for the first time as well. The would be joined by some highly experienced heads though, with Brazilian-cap centurion Roberto Carlos and Rivaldo (one cap short of a century) named amongst the 23.

With the first game against Scotland, who had also appointed a new manager just prior to the World Cup, nearing, Fowler had little time to decide upon a tactic and the players he thought could help him achieve the title of World Cup winners...

The Scotland game went well, and was just the performance that Fowler will have been looking for. The first few minutes were evenly matched before Brazil took a stranglehold on the game. Rivaldo marked his 100th appearance for Brazil with a goal just before the half-hour mark and then Brazil were unfortunate not to have the chance to double their lead when they were denied a stonewall penalty. Just before half-time, Scotland ahve Kevin McNaughton dismissed and that signalled the end of the game as a contest. In the second half, Lúcio (man of the match) and Adriano added further goals to stamp a superb impression on Scotland, the group and the tournament as a whole.

Scotland 0-3 Brazil - Rivaldo, Lúcio, Adriano

With the way other results in the group had gone, Brazil went into their second game against Japan knowing a win would almost guarantee them progression to the knockout phase. Most believed that anything but a win was out of the question and whilst Fowler played down these notions, he did take the decision to drop Ronaldinho to the bench for the game. A game with a harsher contrast to the Scotland you would be hard-pressed to find. Japan took a shock lead after Marcos was dismissed and Nakata coverted the resultant penalty, but after that Brazil offered nothing and Japan's dominance came as no shock to the onlooking crowd. What was a shock was perhaps the ineptitude of the remaining Brazilians. Ono doubled the lead before half-time and another for Nakata and a fourth from Toda in the second half gave Japan a four goal victory.

Brazil 0-4 Japan - Marcos sent off

This left every team on three points with one game left. Brazil v USA and Japan v Scotland...

Ronaldinho, unsurprisingly, was recalled to the first team as Fowler realised that a mistake and a decision like that couldn't be made again. With all four teams still able to qualify, it was all to play for in Group D. Fowler opted to change tactic, and this appeared as though it was going to work. However, unforunately for Brazil, they ran into Brad Friedel. He stopped everything at half-time he had kept out nine Brazilian efforts. USA were no threat upfront and it was basically about when Brazil were going to score. At the end of the match, the stats showed that Brazil had had fourteen shots on target. Friedel managed to keep out nearly all of them. Fortunately for Brazil, America conceded a penalty with just over ten minutes left. Léo Macaé kept a cool head to convert the penatly and score his first goal for his country and this was enough for Brazil to qualify to the knockout phase.

USA 0-1 Brazil - Léo Macaé (pen)

Scotland would join them from Group D...

Fowler echoed most people's opinions when he stated in a pre-match press conference that 'the draw has definitely been kind'. Brazil had been paired with Senegal in the Secound Round of the World Cup after winning their group. Senegal would be no pushovers, having defeated Germany in their last group game to guarantee their own passage to this stage, and Brazil had to be on the ball to make sure they defeated the African nation. Léo Macaé had clearly enjoyed scoring his first goal in the last match, it took him just four minutes to open the scoring and give the Brazilians the lead. After this, Senegal goalkeeper Khalidou Cissokho, who went on to recieve the man of the match award, did his best impression of Brad Friedel from the last game and kept everything else Brazil threw at him out. Fortunately, similar to Friedel's American team-mates, Senegal offered little upfront and Brazil negotiated their way to the World Cup Quarter Finals.

Brazil 1-0 Senegal(R2) - Léo Macaé

Whilst the last round draw may have 'been kind', everyone, Fowler included, was in agreement that the quarter-final draw had been harsh. Brazil had been drawn out with the Italians, who had yet to be defeated in this years tournament. Fowler made a difficult decision in regards to the starting line-up and dropped Group Stage and Second Round hero Léo Macaé for Franca. Little did he know it, but it would prove to be a masterstroke. Rivaldo rolled back the years to open the scoring with a wonderful individual goal but Italy pegged back through Totti in the second half. Adriano restored Brazil's lead moments later with only their second shot but Italy again levelled through Marchionni. With ten minutes left the scores were still level before Franca, making his first World Cup 2006 appearance, fired home to give Brazil another lead. This time Italy couldn't find a reply as they piled forwards and another Rivaldo goal was followed by a Ronaldinho strike to add a bit of gloss to the scoreline. Finally, a convincing performance from the Brazilians. One that saw them advance to the semi-finals

Italy 2-5 Brazil(QF) - Rivaldo (2), Franca, Ronaldinho, Adriano

Now in the Semis, Brazil had their sights set on the final and another World Cup title. Croatia were the latest hurdle that Fowler had to negotiate his team around and he named an unchanged side from the superb quarter-final defeat of Italy. Similar to the matches against USA in the group stage and Senegal in the Second Round, this game was about Brazil only. They dominated from the first whistle and Croatia seemed content to take the game as far as they. As Croatia managed to muster no shots in normal time, Brazil hit the woodwork twice before extra-time came. And went. Just the one attempt on goal from either side in the additional periods (included Croatia's first of the game) meant that the match went to penalties. Croatia took it due to some spectactularly poor spot-kick techniques used by the Brazlians. Ronaldinho, Zé Maria and Léo Macaé were the guilty parties as Brazil went down 3-1 on penalties.

Brazil 0-0p Croatia(SF) - Croatia win 3-1 on pens

After that defeat then, Brazil and Fowler would have to settle for third. Assuming they could defeat the Russian side that narrowly lost to Holland in their semi-final, albeit not as narrow as Brazi's margin of defeat. Fowler decided not to give his unused squad players a run-out and to try and end the tournament on a high. Rivaldo put the Brazilians ahead and from then on they never looked back. Franca added a second before half-time, and there was time still for Russia to pull a fluke goal back. Rivaldo scored his 40th international goal in the second half and Marcelinho Carioca netted as well to give the Brazilians a four-one win and 3rd place in World Cup 2006. Many fans will have been happy, as it could have been a lot worse after the Japan debacle, but others will see this tournament as a missed title opportunity.

Russia 1-4 Brazil(3/4 po) - Rivaldo (2), Marcelinho Carioca, Franca

WLKRAS

The draw for the semi final was tough on us. Although we managed to avoid a rampant Brazil side, we would still be up against a very solid Russia side, with an excellent keeper who has frustrated many a FMS’er so far this tournament.

Russia started out well, immediately going onto the attack, but both sides had good keepers in this game and Van der Sar pulled off some good early saves to keep a clean sheet. And as the game progressed, the Dutch started to push back, Kluivert and van Nistelrooij both going close, but being denied by Russia’s star Nigmatullin.

The second half was more of the same, both sides playing attacking football, but both defences and keepers being equal to it. Van der Meyde was carded halfway through the second half, meaning he would miss the final if the Dutch would get there. With ten minutes left, Kluivert hit a long range effort against the post and it seemed if Nigmatullin wasn’t going to deny us, the woodwork would.

But in the 87th minute, a Clarence Seedorf cross found Kluivert and the Dutch star striker headed home to set up a final against Croatia.