Football Re-Heated: 1996 First Division Play Off Final - Crystal Palace Vs Leicester City

Football Re-Heated: 1996 First Division Play Off Final, Crystal Palace Vs Leicester City

 

In yet another attempt to distract me from the misery that is my continued existence in this World, I’ve decided to bring Football Re-Heated back from the mothballs. For those that aren’t aware, Football Re-Heated is when I watch an old football match and then review it. I tend to avoid doing the whole “minute by minute” break down on the matches because there’s already people out there who do that. They even wrote a book about it and everything. I quite liked it. Big whoop, want to fight about it?

 

Anyway, to the reviewmobile!

 

Ah, the Play Offs. They really are quite ridiculous aren’t they? I’ll never forget Danny Baker’s consistent rants about them and how unfair they are. To be fair, the gentleman has a point. It’s bizarre that you can spend all season in the top 3, finish third and then end up not getting promoted because a side who were kicking around mid-table all season managed to have a good run in the last 5 games and ended up finishing sixth. So they get to go up while you get to spend another season in purgatory. It’s both harsh and hilarious in equal measure.

 

As a general rule the First and Second Division Play Off Finals of the mid to late 90’s produced some of the most gripping and down right ludicrous matches and outcomes you can think off. There was Leicester coming from 3-0 down against Swindon to make it 3-3, only to lose it 4-3 in the dying minutes. There was Manchester City putting their supporters through the ringer against Gillingham and there was the unbridled madness of Charlton and Sunderland’s 4-4 Draw in 1998.

 

This match is another Play Off Final that takes the viewer, and the poor supporters of both sides, through every range of emotion that you could possibly imagine. These Play Off Finals just don’t make any sense. They are evil, they are sickening and they are simply top quality entertainment. This is one of the lesser talked about ones, so I thought I’d give it some attention.

 

Match Backstory

 

Martin O’Neill, now there’s a name that will get a different reaction depending on who you ask. To some he’s a keen tactician who can make the most of any side he has and achieve things far beyond what people would think them capable of. To others, he’s a tactical dinosaur who is well past his peak and whose achievements are exaggerated. My opinion? I like him. I like him quite a lot actually.

 

I was very much struck by something that O’Neill said in an interview with Dominik Diamond many moons ago. “I like players who can cross the ball and I like players who know what to do with a crossed ball”. That pretty much sums up my attitude back when I used to play Pro Evo back in the day in all honesty. I’m not going to sit here and say O’Neill is one of the all-time greats, but I will say that he did very well at both Leicester and Celtic and he could very well have continued the good work he was doing at Aston Villa, if he’d enjoyed the level of support from the chairman that he had wanted. However, we all know how that ended up. Good luck to him during his tenure as Ireland boss though. I hope it works out for him.

 

Back in 1996, O’Neill had taken the helm of Leicester half way through the season. He wasn’t a universally popular appointment, and he’d even been booed at a home game only a few weeks before the Play Off Final itself, but he’d got Leicester to Wembley after a Semi-Final win over Stoke.

 

Meanwhile, Palace were looking to end their exile to the First Division on the first time of asking. They were managed by Dave Bassett who had already enjoyed promotion with other sides on 7 previous occasions. Palace had finished third in the table where as Leicester had finished fifth. Going in to the match, Palace were probably the slightest of favourites to win.

 

Palace Starting XI                                                                             Leicester Starting XI

1: Nigel Martyn                                                                                1: Kevin Poole

2: Marc Edworthy                                                                            2: Simon Grayson

3: Kenny Brown                                                                                3: Mike Whitlow

4: Andy Roberts                                                                                4: Julian Watts

5: Robert Quinn                                                                                5: Steve Walsh

6: David Hopkin                                                                                6: Muzzy Izzet

7: Darren Pitcher                                                                              7: Neil Lennon

8: Ray Houghton                                                                               8: Scott Taylor

9: Dougie Freedman                                                                         9: Steve Claridge

10: George Ndah                                                                              10: Garry Parker

11: David Tuttle                                                                                11: Emile Heskey

 

Subs                                                                                                      Subs

12: Bruce Dyer                                                                                   12: Mark Robins

13: Carl Veart                                                                                     13: Zeljko Kalac

14: Simon Rodger                                                                             14: Colin Hill

 

 

First Half

 

This is the club released DVD but commentary duties are taken by Alan Parry and Big Ron Atkinson, so it’s the ITV footage with club graphics over all the ITV stuff. I won’t say which club this release is from until the end, as I don’t want to spoil the result for those that don’t know it. At the start a video shows and they use generic stock music for it. The music chosen did raise a smile to my fact though as it's the same music the WWE used as an entrance theme for Jillian Hall. Kind of sad that I know that, but hey ho.

 

Leicester start the half relatively brightly. Izzet makes a nuisance of himself down the right flank and Heskey also lets the defenders know that he’s in the house. It becomes clear quite quickly that O’Neill has decided to load up the midfield so as to try and stifle Palace’s creativity. Lennon, Taylor (Sporting a horrible bleached blond hair cut) and Parker act to shut down any attempts from Palace in the middle of the park while Izzet continues to work on the wing and antagonise the Palace defence.

 

However, the first goal of the match goes completely against the run of play as Palace take a 1-0 lead after just 14 minutes. Roberts gets control of the ball in the middle of the park for the first real time in the match and plays a ball through to Hopkins, who passes to Houghton who then returns it back to Roberts allowing him to shoot from just outside the box. The ball takes a slight bobble on the turf and rolls past Poole in the Leicester goal to give Palace the lead.

 

It is Roberts first ever goal for Palace, and what a time to score it! Poole is incredibly unlucky in some ways there but what does it say about Leicester? They’d had relative control of the game up to this point but they’ve now found themselves a goal down after Palace’s first proper attack.

 

Palace control things in the immediate aftermath of the goal. Ndah went on a lovely run but it ultimately came to nothing as Leicester were able to clear it. Leicester find it hard to get the momentum back on their side. Meanwhile, Palace play some nice possession football and do a decent job keeping Leicester at bay.

 

Lennon around this time decides to take the game by the scruff of the neck and starts running the show in midfield. He sends a long ball into the box but Taylor isn’t able to do anything with it. Ndah powers his way into the Leicester box once more but can’t get a shot off in time and loses possession. Heskey tries a cross up the other end and that goes about as well as you’d expect.

 

It doesn’t help Leicester that whenever they’ve managed to get the ball to the Palace box, Martyn has been able to deal with it. Whether it be a cross or a shot, Martyn has had an answer for everything thus far. Palace around this time decide to close ranks, which hands the initiative to Leicester. At one point Palace have all 11 men behind the ball. This isn’t even near the end of the half either, there’s still a good chunk of time to go before they do this.

 

With more time to work, Leicester find chances easier to come by. After a corner goes awry, Lennon puts a long ball back into the box but Claridge is unable to get his resulting shot on target and it slips past the post. The half peters out at this point, with Palace happy to take their 1-0 lead into the interval. O’Neill remains bullish when interviewed pitch side saying he feels his side have had 90% of the game. Not sure that’s an entirely fair comment, but they certainly had the lion’s share of possession. Still, it’s about taking your chances at the end of the day and Palace have taken theirs thus far.

 

 

Second Half

 

Palace start the second half the stronger of the two sides and almost increase their lead. Ndah has a wicked shot from just outside the box and Poole is forced into a brilliant save. He pushes it onto the cross bar and Palace win a corner. The corner finds its way to Freedman who produces a vicious volley that once again Poole is equal to. Leicester are lucky at this point not to be 2-0 down and they would have had it not been for their keeper.

 

Palace continue to be the aggressors and they look a lot sharper and more confident than they had been in the first half. Leicester struggle to get to grip with things but they do have one chance as Lennon plays another of his long balls into the box. However, Heskey’s resulting header is well wide and it’s back to drawing board.

 

Leicester turn up the heat and have further chances on goal. Parker performs a decent long throw into the box which finds the head of Walsh. Walsh flicks the ball to Claridge but he isn’t able to steer it goal ward and Palace gratefully clear it. The match has now reverted to form as Leicester are the aggressors while Palace find themselves on the back foot and pinned back to their own half. Parker is especially lively and continues to cause the Palace defence problems.

 

It’s at this time that they announce the attendance. There are 33,000 Palace fans in attendance today. Leicester have brought 38,000, and they are making themselves heard at the moment. Parker plays a delightful through ball to Claridge but his follow up cross to Grayson ends up going nowhere. After an empty Palace counter attack, Taylor gets the ball in his own half and runs all the way to the Palace box, but his cross to Izzet doesn’t work out and Palace are let off the hook.

 

Leicester just attack seemingly non-stop now in search of the equaliser. Taylor plays Heskey through but he can only put his shot wide. In his defence, he was being pressurised by Quinn and unable to take the time he needed with the shot. Palace continue losing the ball in the middle of the park, as O’Neill’s tactics look like they might bear fruit.  Still penned it, it is becoming clear that the Palace defenders are starting to get worn down by the constant pressure from The Foxes.  The possession stats back that up as Leicester have enjoyed 65% of the ball. However, they still haven’t been able to turn that possession into goals.

 

Hopkin takes a rough challenge on the side of the pitch by Walsh, but Walsh wins the ball so it is only a throw in. Walsh may have found himself booked if he did the same challenge today. Palace are really hanging on for dear life at this point. Heskey finally gets a headed shot on target following an excellent cross from Taylor, but Martyn is there to stop it with a mighty save.

 

A trademark O’Neill attack if there ever was one.  Leicester’s resulting corner is cleared and Freedman manages to grab hold of the ball in the Leicester half and makes his way towards the goal with only Lennon left to defend. Lennon calmly dispossesses him cool as you like and clears with ease. Truly majestic defending there from the Northern Irishman. To Freedman’s credit, he doesn’t try and make a meal of it to win a penalty. He knows he was seen off by the superior player in that exchange. It’s been a real eye opener watching Lennon in this contest. I’ve always just thought of him as the dour Celtic manager, but he’s showing here that he was quite the player in his day as well.

 

Palace are struggling and it could be a matter of time. Hopkin gets booked and is subbed soon after. It could be that he’s being subbed because of the card or because he’s carrying a knock after the earlier exchange with Walsh.

 

Lennon continues to control the middle of the park but Leicester just can’t find a way to get the ball past Martyn in the Palace goal. The second half has been much more enjoyable to watch than the first half. It’s very much all action so far. With 15 minutes to go, Walsh plays a sublime ball to Izzet who makes a break for it down the wing. He just makes it into the box when he is scythed down by Edworthy and the referee calls for a penalty. Shame for Edworthy, as he’s played well, but it’s pretty much a nailed on pen. Parker slots it underneath Martyn and Leicester are level with 13 minutes left of normal time.

 

It’s at this point where I noticed on the DVD that the in house graphics were being plastered over the ITV ones. It’s quite jarring and really serves no purpose. Why bother? Is there some sort of copyright issue? I mean, they’re using the ITV footage, with the ITV commentators and Parry even makes reference to the Champions League Final the week before. The club graphics are cumbersome and ugly and it lessens the viewing enjoyment. Rant over

 

Now that the scores are level, the Leicester fans decide to have a pop at their ex-manager by chanting “Are you watching Mark McGee?” with undaunted zeal. While the supporters may be smelling blood in the water, it doesn’t seem to have translated to the pitch and there are no more goals in normal time. Walsh does have a headed chance at the end of the half but Veart clears it off the line. Thus, Extra Time is required.

 

 

First Half of Extra Time

 

Extra time starts with the teams as we were. Big Ron questions why Palace haven’t made a sub, and he probably has a point. Leicester start the half the aggressor in their search to kill the game off once and for all. Heskey is essentially playing as a makeshift winger and he has a shot from a tight angle that Martyn saves with relative ease.

 

Palace again hang back allowing Leicester the freedom to attack them. Lennon has a sharp volley from outside the box which Martyn spills at first but manages to recover before an advancing Claridge can do anything with it.

 

Palace go right down the other end with Veart putting a good cross in to Ndah who puts the resulting header wide. Heskey is tackled in the box and shouts for a penalty, but the referee waves play on and the subsequent replay supports his stance. Both teams then bring on subs. Palace bring on Dyer and Rodger for Freedman and Tuttle while Leicester bring on Robins for Taylor.

 

The subs give the match a bit of a shot in the arm as the tempo steps up a notch, but still neither side can fashion a truly worthwhile chance on goal. Things take a bad turn for Rodger though as he gets the worst of a tackle from Izzet and limps off mere seconds after coming on. With Palace using all their subs, there is no one they can replace him with and they are faced with the daunting task of playing on with 10 men.

 

Despite this, they have a decent spell but they aren’t able to force the issue and get a goal. Thusly the half ends as it started, 1-1.

 

 

Second Half of Extra Time

 

Rodger hauls himself back onto the pitch but he’s limping heavily and isn’t up to doing much other than make up the numbers. This is woefully unlucky for Palace who had just started to suggest a slight upturn in momentum during the first half of extra time. As a result, Palace stick to long balls and appear to be holding on for penalties. On one hand, you can’t really blame them. They were under the cosh when the sides were even and now they’re essentially a man down.

 

Leicester throw everything they have left at Palace in an attempt to win it outright without needing penalties. Any attempt by Palace at advancing up the field is quickly quelled by Lennon or Walsh. Both have been superb in this game. Palace do finally manage to get the ball into the opposition half with Dyer being the first man to get the best of Lennon all afternoon. He puts a cross into the box which is swatted away by Poole for a corner. Palace waste the corner though and hand the initiative back to Leicester, with 5 minutes remaining on the clock.

 

Walsh’s afternoon finally ends as he is subbed off for Hill. Walsh has run himself into the ground here and played with gusto. Parry asks Ron who he thinks is Man of the Match and he says that it’s between Lennon and Parker. He eventually chooses Parker. I would have gone with Lennon myself but Parker has certainly had a good game.

 

O’Neill then does a Louis Van Gaal and brings on Kalac to replace Poole in net. Either this is a strategic move to kill time and cut Palace’s momentum or it’s an admission that he doesn’t think Poole is up to the penalties that now loom. If it is indeed the second option, that’s incredibly harsh on Poole who has had a good game.

 

What happens next though, is pure Play Off Final nuttiness. Leicester prep themselves for one more attack up the field. A long free kick is taken and Watts heads it down to Claridge who is standing outside the D. He hits a speculative volley and the ball goes flying into the Palace goal. Leicester have won it! Martyn can only watch as the ball flies past him. Leicester win with essentially the last kick of the game. PLAY OFF MADNESS STRIKES AGAIN!!!

 

 

Final Whistle Thoughts

 

This match was a joy to watch. It’s rare that 120 minutes flies by so quickly. There are very few parts in this match where nothing is happening. Leicester are always looking to win it, even in the depths of Extra Time, so there’s rarely a dull moment.

 

Parry portrays this as a huge tactical victory for O’Neill, and highlights the sub of the keeper as an example. Was it a tactical masterstroke or merely a coincidence? I would have to say that probably no one in Wembley could have predicted that finish from Claridge, even Claridge himself! He’s courteous enough afterwards to say that he shinned it and got lucky. It’s a wonder strike and the fact it comes as the last kick of a Final only makes it all the more spectacular.

 

In the end, I’d have to say the right team won this match. Leicester were the more aggressive, especially in the Second Half of Extra Time and they bossed the midfield throughout. Taylor, Parker, Walsh, Izzet and Lennon all entered excellent performances. Lennon and Walsh in particular were fantastic throughout. If any tactical praise is to be heaped on O’Neill, I would do it for the way he completely nullified any creativity for Palace in the middle of the park. Lennon was seemingly everywhere and putting countless challenges in. Parker went on run after run and Izzet was constantly causing the full backs problems throughout with his forays down the wing.

 

As you have probably guessed, I was watching this on the official LCFC DVD release. Picture quality is fine and all the major points of the match are well covered. Parry and Atkinson provide insightful commentary and the crowd itself is miked well. The LCFC graphics are annoying though and pretty pointless but they don’t ruin the viewing experience too badly. There's a "stats" section on the DVD and it some neat information such as who Leicester's top scorers were that season and who the top 6 in the table were that's season

 

Overall, this is a recommended match. I’ll post the you tube highlights below but if you want to throw Leicester City some moolah, I’ll post the Amazon link as well.

 

I apologise for the length of this piece. I tried to streamline it but it’s ended up being the longest one I’ve ever done. Please feel free to comment and send any feedback about this. Let me know what you liked and what you felt superfluous and I’ll bear it in mind when I do the next one.

 

Until then, Peace Out!

 

 

You Tube highlights of match

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEg5qIlVhXI

 

Amazon Link for the match itself

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1996-Division-One-Play-Final/dp/B002ZCH4IC/ref=sr_1_11?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1405889719&sr=1-11&keywords=leicester+city

 

Turn Out The Lights on Brazil 2014

(originally posted on Grand Old Team 14/07/2014)

The World Cup of 2014 has finally, and lamentably, reached its end. Germany defeated Argentina by a solitary goal in The Maracana Stadium. Despite the low tally of goals, the game had its moments and was probably a better Final than 2010. Alas, it wasn’t a patch on some of The Finals that came before it, most notably the 1986 Final between the same two nations which ended in a 3-2 Argentine victory, but it was still engrossing viewing.

Indeed, it seems like even when the goals have been in short supply this tournament has still been capable of producing exciting and dramatic matches. The match between Costa Rica and Holland may have ended goalless after 120 minutes but there were enough near misses and heart-in-throat moments that the game became an interesting one regardless. The added controversy of Louis Van Gaal to bring on Tim Krul just for the penalties only added to those emotions. So rarely has a 0-0 been so demanding of my attention.

Of course, there were some Duds in this tournament; every tournament has them, the most obvious ones being the Iran Vs Nigeria match and the equally dire Argentina Vs Holland contest. However, those type of contests were thankfully few and far between in this World Cup.

Some people are calling this the Greatest World Cup of all time, where as others are equally as passionate that it is not. In my own personal opinion, this has certainly been the best World Cup that I have watched while still current. The first World Cup I can remember is USA 94 and Brazil 2014 was better than every single World Cup from 94 to now. Again, I stress that this is only my opinion of course. No matter what I day, there will still be someone adamant that Chile 1962 was better, or indeed Argentina 1978 or even France 1998.

Football is a subjective thing, which may surprise those who don’t follow it. What makes a match entertaining to me could ruin it for someone else and vice versa. Vince McMahon described his brand of American Professional Wrestling as “Sports-Entertainment” back in the 80’s but I think the term could just as easily be applied to Football.

Football isn’t just a sport. It’s not there solely to be an athletic contest but it is also there to entertain the people who watch it. And, as with all forms of entertainment, there isn’t a definitive answer to what actually constitutes entertainment. It’s a thoroughly subjective exercise and this is why large groups of people will declare this World Cup to be the best ever but also why just as many will line up to declare that it wasn’t.

For every person that liked Breaking Bad there will be someone who couldn’t get into it. For every person who likes the Transformers Movies there will be another who will bemoan the fact that it’s ruining cinema. There is no right or wrong answer here. You either like something or you don’t and I very much liked this World Cup.
I would honestly go as far to say that this World Cup has been the best since the advent of Television. I feel it is impossible to say which World Cup truly was the best ever because there just isn’t enough footage of the tournaments pre-1954 to make an informed decision. You can look at some footage here or there but we’ve had the benefit of watching over 60 games in this most recent of tournaments. Those matches were shown globally so it’s easy to weigh them all up.

However, as someone who has seen the footage on offer, I feel very confident in saying Brazil 2014 has been the best World Cup since the dawning of the TV age, edging just ahead of Brazil 1970 and Mexico 1986.

Brazil 2014 has by no means been a flawless World Cup, but it has produced some excellent attacking football and has also been relatively low on the snide front as well. People have pointed out that there haven’t been enough upsets but I really don’t see that as viable reason to mark the whole tournament down. A good match is still a good match, regardless of whether the favourite wins or not.

Holland ultimately triumphing against Costa Rica didn’t automatically ruin the match for me. It was still entertaining. Yes, it would have been an incredible moment if Los Tico’s had somehow conspired to advance but they suited the role of “gallant losers“ just as eloquently as “upset kings”.

Iran were so close to shocking Argentina and yet fell just short, but the moments where they nearly took the victory were no less exhilarating. America’s desperate attempts to take the game to penalties against Belgium did not lose any of its drama because the Belgians were just able to hang on.

And let’s face it, if all the underdogs advanced the same people complaining about the favourites winning would be complaining that the quality on offer wasn’t good enough due to the best teams being eliminated.

In the end, the boot of Mario Goetze saw to it that The Germans triumphed. It seems only right that potentially The Best World Cup Ever was won by potentially the Best Team at the tournament.

Germany not only won the World Cup but did so by playing a more direct and attacking style of play than the Spanish side they replaced atop the mountain. Some will see that as a positive, where as some will see it as a negative. Such is the subjective world of Sports-Entertainment.

One thing is for sure, this World Cup and its Champions will be remembered long after this summer has ended. It was a World Cup that I was delighted to watch and I will miss it dearly.

Oh well, roll on the 16th August and let’s get back to business! Come on you Blues!

Thanks for any who have read these over the course of the tournament. Think I'll bring back "Football Re-Heated" between now and the beginning of the season. Need to work on a way to streamline it and make it more accessible. If there's any matches you'd like me to review, send me an Inbox and provided I have the match I'll add it to my "To review" pile

This and That: The Most Talked About Game Ever?

So, that happened. It actually happened. Don’t ask me how, just accept that it did.

Brazil 1, Germany 7

I’ll type that again

Brazil 1, Germany 7

I would hazard a guess that my thoughts mirrored the feelings of pretty much everyone in the World during that first half of madness in Belo Horizonte. Brazil, if I may be so bold as to quote “The Offspring”, What In The World Happened To You?

Brazil’s defeat will no doubt send shockwaves through not just the football world but also most other aspects of society. This morning in work even non-fans were bringing up the madness of it all, shocked as they were by the result. It just doesn’t seem real. It just doesn’t seem that the result is possible. And even if such a score line was possible, surely not in a World Cup Semi Final? Surely not to Brazil in their own country? But yes, it happened, and I don’t think it’ll ever be forgotten.

In some ways this could end up being the most talked about football match of all time for solely football reasons. Events like Hillsborough or The Bradford Fire will always be remembered for what didn’t happen on the pitch, but for what actually happened on just the pitch alone, will any other football contest come remotely close to this one as far as notoriety?

Consider what we saw and the impacts thereof. This was the hosts of the World Cup getting viciously and meticulously taken apart at the Semi Final stage. Civil unrest had already began before the match itself had even finished, with some people burning the Brazilian flag in Sao Paulo. The fans in the stadium brutally turned against their countrymen as The Germans took The Selecao apart with unbridled ease. It was a demolition the likes of which footballs ultimate super-power had never suffered before either at a World Cup or on home soil.

The Brazilian supporters, so stricken with angst and confusion, didn’t even know how to react at half time, so shell shocked were they by what they had witnessed. It honestly seemed like they were going through the stages of grief as the 90 minutes progressed. There was denial, anger and, by the time the 7th German Goal went in, a bizarre and sarcastic version of acceptance as they actually applauded.

At full time, the boo’s rained down once more upon the stricken Brazilian players. David Luiz dropped to his knees in prayer (Most likely praying that the owners of PSG weren’t on the phone to Chelsea to see if they could get their money back) before crying violent salt tears upon the turf. Philip Scolari, the broken Brazilian manager, did his best to try and console the players but it was to no avail. And nor should it, for these wounds were most surely self-inflicted.

Brazil deserved to lose. In fact, had Ozil’s wayward shot at the end been on target, they would have lost by a heftier margin. Germany were better at every aspect of the game. They took the lead in the first half and never looked back. Even at 5-0 up, they remained determined to widen the gyre between themselves and their opponents. Manuel Neuer made a number of excellent saves. It was as if he hadn’t been paying attention in the first half and his team had conspired to tell him that they were really only hanging on to a 1-0 lead. One could forgive Neuer of such a situation were it true, as he could have put his feet up and had a nap in the first half, so little was he required to do.

It’s been interesting to see people’s reactions to this game, with emotions ranging from amusement, to bemusement and to sadness. Emotions really are all over the place. A lot of neutrals are saying that they just couldn’t enjoy the match. I can understand that. After a while I did start to feel incredibly sorry for the Brazilian players and the supporters who remained in their seats for the full 90 minutes. I felt especially bad for Fred, who seems to have been made the scapegoat. Every time he touched the ball or was shown on the big screen, he was met with vicious booing.

I’ll confess to not understanding this at all. Whenever my team get hammered by a large score line, my initial response would be to blame the defence, manager and goalkeeper (In that order) before I even began looking at the midfield and strikers. Fred had about as much to do with Brazil shipping 7 goals as the kit man or the coach driver, so the fact that he would be targeted for such abuse was genuinely harsh and unfair in my honest opinion.

I certainly feel the Brazilian supporters were entitled to be angry at the result, but I cannot disagree with them any stronger in their chosen target of that anger. I can only think that the bitter pain of defeat had caused the crowd to literally lose all sense of reason and sanity. Hey, it happens. If you see your team ship 5 goals in 18 minutes, it’s going to make you a little bit surly to say the least.

So, where do we go from here? Brazil have got The Bends and they’re really shaking. They wish it was the sixties, they wish that they were happy and they wish that something could happen. They used to fly like Peter Pan and the people of Brazil flew when they touched their hands but now their dreams are crippled and cracked and they feel it in their bones.

Will this game be the most talked about of all time? It certainly won't be easy to forget for those that saw it. I'll certainly be talking about it for a long time and I suspect a lot of others will do so as well. Perhaps more than anywhere else in the Favelas of Brazil.

Germany will progress to the Final, against either old foes Argentina or even older foes The Netherlands. You’d have to think that they are now favourites to win it all after that performance. No pressure lads!

Neymar's Tournament ends in despair, but Brazil continue on

Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1 in a pulsating World Cup Quarter Final on the 4th of July, but in doing so their talisman Neymar was taken off the pitch on a stretcher and will now miss the rest of the tournament due to a broken vertebra.

This really couldn’t have come at a worse time for Brazil, especially as their performance against Colombia had been an overall decent one and they will now have to face the calm and clinical Germans in the Semi Finals.

Juan Zuniga drove a Yoshihiro Takayama like knee into young Neymar’s spine in the second half of the contest and the Brazilian starlet was soon rushed off the pitch and to a medical facility. I must confess that at first I thought Neymar might be making a meal of the foul, due in part to his prior histrionics in other matches. However, on this occasion the cries of agony from the young Superstar were all very much on the level.

So what of Brazil’s chances now? I honestly cannot say. Not only will they be missing Neymar but their captain Thiago Silva will also miss the contest due to a suspension for a second yellow card. Missing their x-factor and also their captain may just prove to be too much of an obstacle for them to overcome, especially in light of who their opponents are.

Germany dispatched France with the cool precision of a highly trained sniper. Their solitary winning goal, scored by Matt Hummels, was the result of a sinisterly effective free kick from just outside the box. In general, The Germans never really looked like losing.

France had their chances to equalise but you always felt that even if they did, it would only prolong the battle to lottery of penalties. France just didn’t seem to have the necessary bite to win the contest outright within 90 or 120 minutes. Benzema, after good performances earlier in the tournament, found it much harder going against a superior side than the ones already engaged.

Manuel Neuer once again made some good saves but he wasn’t called upon as much as he was against Algeria. France benefitted in this tournament from a relatively weak Group E and were troubled quite often in their previous match with Nigeria. There are a lot of positives to take from this World Cup for the French though. Finishing second to Spain in qualifying attached no shame to them and to valiantly come back from a 2-0 deficit in a playoff against Ukraine accredited them greatly.

France will host Euro 2016 at home and will also play a full qualifying campaign, thus ensuring they are battle tested when it comes to starting the tournament proper. I think they will do well in that tournament after seeing them in this World Cup. Whether they will win it or not I cannot say, but there are a positives to take from this campaign.

Unless Arsene Wenger should suddenly become available, I feel that Didier Deschamps will still be manager when the tournament in 2016 begins. I can’t see any reason to sack him based on this tournament. France can go home perhaps a little disappointed with their performance on the day but they can take more positives than negatives from this tournament in my own personal opinion.

As for Colombia, they have been an entertaining side and it was a shame that they had to bow out. However, maybe it’s better for the good of the tournament that the hosts advanced? Colombia are probably a more entertaining side to watch, but the end to the circus that has been Brazil’s campaign would have been a bit of shame really.

I don’t really expect Germany Vs Brazil to be a classic contest, but I do expect it to be a tense and intriguing one. The German’s must surely now be thinking that they can get to the Final, but will they have the steel they showed yesterday when they face the host nation?

This World Cup, it just won’t let up will it? What a tournament!

American Dreamers almost give Belgium a Knock Out Nightmare

Wow, the USA ran Belgium close last night didn’t they? Sadly for them, they will not advance to the Quarter Final stage after a 2-1 defeat, but they certainly went down fighting. It took extra time and a superbly taken goal from Romelu Lukaku to finally see them off in a truly excellent Second Round contest.

It was funny that coming into the match, Belgium had been considered to have had a disappointing World Cup, this despite the fact they had won all three of their opening games. Granted, some of the wins were slightly less than convincing, but they were wins all the same.

In contrast, The USA had been considered to have had quite a decent opening round, this despite them only winning one game, drawing another and then losing the final group game to Germany. However, it had taken a last gasp equaliser from Portugal to force the draw and they had lost to the Germans by only one solitary goal.

So the match was set up as the under achieving favourites vs the over achieving underdogs, and pretty much played out as such.

USA were not always the aggressors, but they clung on in the match and had their chances to win. Even in the dying minutes of Extra Time, with the Belgians desperately defending their 2-1 lead, Clint Dempsey forced the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into a desperate block to stop the game going to penalties.

Indeed, both goalkeepers had decent games. Everton’s Tim Howard made a record 15 saves in the contest and was woefully unlucky to find himself on the losing side. In a lot of ways, The USA played a positive game but they just lacked that final bit of “oomph” to get them over the line. The Belgians were eventually able to take two of their thirty seven attempts on goal and get the one goal advantage they needed to progress.

So where does this leave both countries now? It was truly heartening to see that so many American’s were getting behind their team. I am sadly of the opinion that this probably won’t be the explosion in the popularity of football in the country that some others think it will. That would have required The USA to get further in the tournament.

A Quarter Final or Semi Final appearance would have probably “juiced in” football to the mass populous. Exiting at this point will probably mean that “Soccer Fans” in America will have to wait a bit longer before the sport they love is finally taken to the bosom of the masses.

In English society, being a gallant loser can raise you up in people’s estimations almost as much as being a winner. I sometimes think we English prefer a good loser to good winner. There’s just something about it that appeals to our messed up national psyche.

Americans are, in a sweeping generalisation, a lot more interested in winners rather than losers. This sort of performance from an England team would no doubt have gained them plaudits from fans and press alike. To lose to a better team but to push them all a way, there’s nothing we English love more.

Americans though are less moved by such things. They want Michael Jordan scoring free throws with his eyes shut, they want a wide receiver running the length of the field for a touchdown, they want Hulk Hogan Body Slamming Andre The Giant in the Pontiac Silverdome. Sure, they won’t hold it personally against a loser if they’ve given their all, but they won’t take them to heart either. “The Miracle on Ice” would never be talked about if the American team had lost but pushed their opponents all the way.

This of course is all an exaggeration and not all American’s are like this whatsoever, but I think ENOUGH of them are that it will make it really difficult for football to take off the way football fans want it to unless the team are more successful than they already are.

There is plenty of time for the game to take off in The USA, but right now I feel it will fall into the category of “summertime fad” and fade away again until The USA either win something or make a substantial advancement in World Cup competition. However, there will have been some budding young athletes who will have watched this game with Belgium and will have fallen in love with the game. Some people will slip through the cracks and when the NBA, NFL and MLB come calling, they will instead decide to pursue football. One of those young athletes could be the one who leads them a World Cup Semi Final. It’s a promising time to be a supporter of The USMNT.

As for Belgium? This marked the fourth game where they won but didn’t look that convincing in doing so. That being said, isn’t that the mark of a good team? To win when you don’t play that well? Belgium have yet to lose in this World Cup. They have won all four of their games and they play an Argentinian side who have also yet to truly impress.

Argentina have benefitted from some truly incredible moments of skill from Messi. Without him in the side they may not have even advanced from the Group Stage. But he is playing for them and with him providing that intangible X-Factor, they can defeat anyone. All in all, I expect it to be a tentative battle between two tired sides. Both needed extra time to defeat their less fancied opponents. This could end up being one game too far for Belgium, but you never know they might just nudge their way through the Quarter Final to a Semi Final with regional rivals Holland. What a game that would be!