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23 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Needing to win by at least two goals to ensure progress to the second round, and without a win in the world cup since the final in Paris in 1998, France had been struggling to get a single goal against Togo. They were too nervous to provide a finish to the great build up play with chances galore spurned. However once Vieira had opened the scoring, the French relaxed to provide a goal which was a perfect example of how a player can make a goal without touching the ball. Silvestre picks the ball up on the left just inside the Togo half, and shifts the ball to the right to Vieira who then shifts it further to the right to Makelele. The quintessential defensive midfielder weighs up his options and passes back to Vieira who then spreads the ball to the right wing to Sagnol. The patient holding pattern hasn't advanced the ball forward but it has given the forwards time to plan their runs. Ribery on the right wing comes short and collects a pass forward from Sagnol. As he collects the ball, tightly marked, his team mate Trezeguet makes the signature move of the goal, and starts to drift towards the midfield drawing his marker Nimombe with him. Ribery returns the ball to Sagnol which is the signal for Trezeguet and his partner in the dance Nimombe to drop even deeper, leaving a large hole at the centre of the Togolese defence. Patrick Vieira spots this and rushes to fill it with relish. Sagnol sees his captain and chips a right footed pass over Trezeguet into the recently departed space where Vieira climbs to beat Abalo and backheads the ball to Theirry Henry who is side on to Tchangai on the penalty spot. Henry controls the ball brilliantly out of his feet taking him away from his marker and slides a right footed shot into the bottom left corner, sending the keeper the wrong way. Golazo and it's time to open a bottle of Châteauneuf du Pape 1989. Hero of the Day After a very inconsistent season for his new club Juventus, and outshone by a 19 year old Fabregas in the Champions League quarter finals, many assumed Patrick Vieira best days were long gone. But a great champion doesn't forget the battles he's fought and the wars he's won. On his 30th birthday and taking over the captaincy from the suspended Zidane, Vieira was immense against Togo when all about him his colleagues suffered. Ribery, Trezeguet and Henry all missed glorious chances many brought about by Vieira's unstinting work in midfield, his calmness on the ball and his driving runs forward. It took the old man to show them all how it was done with the first French goal. Malouda picks up the ball in midfield after Trezeguet is tackled, and drifts to the right drawing two Togolese midfielders before cutting back to the left and sliding a pass to Ribery who is unmarked centrally 35 metres out. Ribery runs with the ball at his feet towards the goal but is overtaken by the voracious Vieira who runs past him straight into the box. As Ribery approaches the penalty area he draws out Tchangai and beats him with a shimmy to the left get into the box. The young Marseille winger slides the ball inside to Vieira who is marked closely by Abalo 10 metres out level with the lefthand post. Vieria controls the ball to with his right instep, running it behind him through his legs, allowing him to spin away from his marker and curl a right footed shot into the right corner on the net. A great goal the icing on a great performance. Villain of the Day Tunisia's Adel Chedli enters the Hall of Infamy today. With Anatoliy Tymoschuk prone on the ground after making a tackle, Chedli stamped on the inside of the right knee. Fortunately Tymoschuk was ok to continue, unfortunately the referee the assault. 22 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Finding a handy phonebox pitchside against Japan, Ronaldo removed the fat suit and donned that of his alter ego SuperStriker, to score his 14th goal in World Cup Finals, drawing him level with the record of der Bomber, Gerd Müller. Brazilian defender Juan intercepts a pass just inside the Japan half and advances forward with pace. He takes a touch and spots Ronaldo outside the box and hits a swift low pass into him. Ronaldo returns the ball right footed to Juan who is still running. Juan returns the ball left footed to Ronaldo with his first touch, and continues with purpose into the box. Ronaldo collects the ball left-footed and spins on the edge of the D, slightly right of centre, and curls a right-footed shot into the right corner of the net past Kawaguchi's despairing dive. Golazo and "Mais Que Nada" rings out at airports worldwide. Hero of the Day It has to be Harry Kewell for his 80th minute equaliser which eventually took Australia through to the group stage for the first time and gave the world's greatest sporting nation something else to boast about. Kewell's clearly been struggling with injury but didn't hide at any stage of the game, proving to be a willing outlet for the Aussie defence, running at Croatia and creating opportunities and space for others. Marco Bresciano chipped a left footed cross from the right wing into the packed penalty box. Among the mass of bodies jumping for the ball, John Aloisi just gets his head on the ball to flick it on to the back post. Kewell controls the ball left-footed and then slots it in right-footed. He was probably just offside, but it doesn't make him any less of a hero today. Villain of the Day I could give it to the laughable Graham Poll who performed a three card trick on Josip Simunic in the pulsating Australia-Croatia game. He also missed two penalties for the Aussies and should have sent off Srna for pushing him. I could give it to the incompetent Markus Merk who called a phantom penalty on the USA's Oguchi Onyewu who did absolutely nothing wrong when backheading clear a poor clearence out of the box, only to find Razak Pimpong had collapsed at his feet. If anything it was a foul the other way. I will give it to the Czech's Jan Polak who poleaxed his teams chances of qualifying for the knockout stages with a stupid sending off against Italy, receiving two yellow cards for fouls on Camoranesi and Totti within twelve minute sat the end of the first half. You're on a yellow in the world cup and Totti's playing poorly and receives the ball in a non-threatening position - the last thing you do is clatter into the Italian from behind. Exile him to Slovakia. 21 June 2006 Golazo of the Day We return to Portugal for today's choice from a match in which Figo sailed around the various ports of midfield like a serene cruise ship, full of grace, power and with a still surprising turn of pace. Mexico hit a pass from midfield deep into the Portugal half and Caneira heads it clear from the left back position. Simao coming into his own half and with a defender at his back contols the ball, and lays it off second touch just behind and to the side to Maniche. As Maniche touches the ball forward, Simao turns and starts sprinting down the leftwing. Maniche advances into the Mexico half and spotting Simao releases the ball into his path before continuing his run. Simao collects without breaking stride, and advances down the wing and on the penalty area, drawing three Mexico players towards him. Postiga is marked and there's no one else in the box for Simao until the Lisbon Cavalry arrives. Simao passes the ball laterally with perfect pace and Maniche opens up his body and side foots the ball high into the top right corner from near the penalty spot. Golazo and it's a celebratory ginjinha in the Bairro Alto. Hero of the Day Conceding just two goals in three group games, the award goes to the Angola goalkeeper Joao Ricardo. Or to give you his full name, Joao Ricardo Pereira Batalha Santos Ferreira, though don't ask for it on the back of your shirt as you might need to take out a loan. The 36 year old goalkeeper has been without a club for over 12 months since his contract with Moreirense ended. However showing incredible self-motivation, he's trained continually during that period and rewarded the coach of Angola, Luis Oliveira Goncalves, with a series oof strong displays, organising his defence well and making many reflex saves. Villain of the Day Albert Nadj was monumentally stupid to get sent off for Serbia and Montenegro against the Côte d'Ivoire in the wooden spoon battle in Group C. Coming on in the 16th minute with his side 1-0 up, he was booked within a minute for complaining to the referee about a challenge made by a team mate. In the last minute of the half with his side now 2-1 ahead and trigger happy referee Marco Rodriguez having awarded 6 yellow cards in the previous 13 minutes, Nadj slid into Didier Zokora from behind, and the referee with parade ground precision reached for his pocket and showed him the red card. Idiota. 20 June 2006 Golazo of the Day We have a beauty today from the Sweden-England game. The ball is headed cleared by Alexandersson from a corner and with one bounce arrives at Joe Cole in the inside left channel 35 metres from goal. The diminutive England midfielder, who all match was as slippery as the eels which have been his staple fare since a young child, chests the ball up in the air and as it drops hits a right-footed volley. The ball defines a high parabola through the moist Cologne air, dipping viciously over 1.99m Andreas Isaksson, who only manages to get the faintest of touches to the ball as it nestles into the far right corner of the net. Golazo and it's raining beer and chips in the pub. Hero of the Day Miroslav Klose scored the opening two goals as Germany eased past Ecuador to face Sweden in the next round. The early first goal followed a deep cross from the left by Per Mertesacker which was cut back from beyond the back post by Bastian Schweinsteiger towards Klose who spun and buried it with clinical relish with a low shot to the bottom left corner of the net. His second (and fourth of the tournament) as halftime approached saw him waiting and waiting with the anticipation of a 100m sprinter between the two centrebacks as Michael Ballack advanced with the ball. Ballack fired the starting pistol by flicking a beautiful chipped pass between the defenders which Klose got to first, using his strength to hold off Giovanny Espinoza before controlling the bouncing ball with his left leg past the keeper Mora and steering it right-footed into the empty net. With Klose's predatory instinct and a passionate crowd in the knockout stages Germany have a good chance to win their home world cup. Villain of the Day The Polish keeper Artur Borac, who had been having an excellent world cup, made a monumental error during the game against Costa Rica. Ronald Gomez lined up a freekick just outside the penalty area and slightly right of central. Gomez hit a low left-footed shot which curled around the wall and straight down the centre of the goal. Borac in an attempt to clear the ball mistimes his right-footed kick and the ball goes straight between his legs and into the net to give Costa Rica the lead. 19 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Seemingly unloved and unwanted, Serhiy Rebrov had to endure 5 years as the embarrasing uncle at the footballing outposts of Spurs, Fenerbahce and West Ham. Now back at Dynamo Kyiv where his star shone so brightly prior to his move west, Rebrov has rediscovered much of his form in a deeper midfield role. Collecting the ball from Anatoliy Tymoschuk in the inside right position, he turned towards goal and thought "this is my day". From over 30 metres out he sent a powerful swerving, dipping shot flying past the Saudi keeper Mabrouk Zaid into the top left corner. Zaid was so shocked by the impudence of Rebrov he slipped on the wet surface as the ball flew past him. Golazo, and blue and yellow replaces orange in Independence Square. Hero of the Day The Spain-Tunisia game gave a fascinating insight into why the Spanish could win this world cup. Trailing 1-0 at halftime, Aragones looked to his incredibly strong bench and made three substitutions in the first 7 minutes of the second half. Fabregas, Raul and Joaquin were brought on to bring depth, intelligence and width to the play respectively, with obvious success. However the basis for this comeback was Spain's refusal to panic, instead trusting their inate belief in the value of possession. At the heart of this was Xabi Alonso. I think it was the 68th minute before he hit a misplaced pass, and even then it was a long raking ball which Raul only just failed to collect on the greasy surface. Alonso switched play left and right with metronomic precision, always found the strikers in the channels, was ever available to provide the link between defence and attack and hit crossfield passes with nonchalant ease. The Basque midfielder truly deserves the epithet "Pass Master". Villain of the Day I think the overall standard of refereeing has been excellent in this World Cup, however the sparrow hawks of Togo had their wings clipped by the incompetence of Carlos Amarilla. The Paraguayan deprived them of two clear penalties in the first half of their vital game against Switzerland. Early in the first half Patrick Mueller ignored the ball completely, turned his back on the play on the right wing, and concentrated on manhandling Emmanuel Adebayor, preventing him getting a clear header on goal from the resulting cross. The referee gave a goal kick. Later in the half Adebayor picked the ball up on the left wing, and attacked Mueller at pace. The Swiss defender backpedalled faster than a 25 stone man trying to cycle up Alpe d'Huez. Reaching the apex of the box Adebayor cut inside his unbalanced foe, only for Mueller to quite clearly trip him with a flick of his back leg. Penalty? Again no. Someone show Amarilla the way to Amarillo as he won't be in Germany for long. 18 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Not the greatest selection today so I've had to plump for Adriano. The only dazzling brilliance on show for much of the game was the low sun reflecting off the yellow/gold shirts in the stands. In the 49th minute Ronaldinho picking the ball up near the halfway line, spotted Ronaldo making a run into the inside left channel, and rolled a precise pass forward to him. Ronaldo took a couple of touches, stepped over the ball twice and double-marked by Neill and Emerton, rolled it with his left-foot across the face of the area to Adriano. The chunky Inter forward trapped the ball with his left foot, touched it again with his left to slightly improve his angle, and then hit a low left-footed shot through the legs of Scott Chipperfield into the bottom right corner of the net past Schwarzer. Golazo and cue 23 nursery nurses rocking the baby asleep. Hero of the Day The South Korean fans. Absolutely and utterly outstanding from start to finish. Drums, songs, chants, vibrant colour, bouncing up and down in unison. And that was throughout the first 80 minutes when they had to watch their heroes play dreadfully against a France team so utterly disdainful of the Korean efforts, that they couldn't be bothered to score a second. An example to all in how to support your country, they fully deserved that equaliser. Villain of the Day I was very tempted to give it to Carlos Alberto Parreira, the Brazil manager, for having the temerity to play Ronaldo, and then for keeping him on for 72 minutes. However the award goes to Atsushi Yanagisawa. After playing a precise 1-2 Akira Kaji burst into the Croatian penalty box on the right. Pletikosa expecting a shot has come to the near post only for Kaji to slide the ball across the goal to Yanagisawa, 4 metres out on the back post. It's an open goal, he only needs to tap it in with his left foot. Bizarrely, strangely, unexplicably, Yanagisawa decides to prod his right foot at the ball and it skews off the outside of his boot through the legs of Pletikosa, who is still positioned at the front post, and goes out for a goalkick. You could see Zico lose the will to live on the touchline. 17 June 2006 Golazo of the Day The wonderful playmaker Deco returned to the Portugal team after injury and scored a cracker in the 63rd minute against Iran. Picking the ball up in midfield Deco spreads it wide to Figo with a raking pass. Figo is hugging the touchline and comes inside allowing Valente to overlap. Using this diversion, Figo injects pace and cuts inside the fullback and running across the defence rolls a pass across the D. Deco runs onto the ball and strikes a right-footed shot into the top left corner of the net leaving Mirzapour flat footed. Golazo and there's no need to sing the fado tonight. Hero of the Day Asamoah Gyan who ran the Czechs into the ground. He scored the opener, and had a pivotal part in Ghana's second. The striker had pace and stamina to spare and used the ball intelligently all game. Villain of the Day Daniele De Rossi for his cynical elbow into the face of Brian McBride which left the American bleeding from a cut on his face. De Rossi could have left McBride needing facial surgery and deserves a lengthy ban. 16 June 2006 Golazo of the Day My cup runneth over. Does Cambiasso's goal really need describing? The entire Argentine performance was blessed with touch, imagination, vision, change of pace, hard work, awareness of space and sheer brilliance. The Serbia and Montenegro team stood shivering on the pitch for 90 minutes, like virgins waiting to be ritually sacrificed. The drums of the barras bravas beat incessantly, hearts synchronising with the rhythmic chants from these fervent followers as Riquelme, the Tucumán high priest, performed his savage rites with cruel efficiency. The goal. THE goal. 24 passes, and only the goalkeeper and rightback not involved in the symphony. It starts with Maxi Rodriguez tackling Kezman and Gabriel Heinze picking up the ball just outside the Argentine penalty area. Trying to describe in words what happens next is like a blindman on a train going through a tunnel describing an Escher painting over a bad mobile phone line to a profoundly deaf road engineer using a pneumatic drill. The sequence should suffice for the large part. Heinze to Riquelme to Maxi Rodriguez to Sorin to Maxi Rodriguez to Sorin to Mascherano to Riquelme to Ayala to Cambiasso to Mascherano to Maxi Rodriguez to Sorin to Maxi Rodriguez to Cambiasso to Riquelme to Mascherano to Sorin to Saviola on the wing. Saviola drags the ball in field and plays the ball into Riquelme, who with the outside of his right foot clips it back to Saviola a couple of metres outside the area. Saviola controls the ball with his left foot and plays an immediate pass with his right to Cambiasso who, with one touch, passes to Crespo and breaks into the box. Crespo collects the ball with his left foot, and tightly marked backheels it with his right into the path of Cambiasso who smashes it in past Jevric from near the penalty spot. Golazo and "El que no salta es un Inglés". Hero of the Day The Buenos Aires Cricket Club for organising the first game of football in Argentina on June 20th, 1867. Villain of the Day Roberto Rosetti, the referee of the Argentina-Serbia and Montenegro match, for not adding on an extra ten minutes so we could continue enjoying ourselves. 15 June 2006 Golazo of the Day The award today goes to Ecuador's Ivan Kaviedes. Dropping as deep as the halfway line, Augustin Delgado draws his limpet marker Douglas Sequeira well out of central defence. As he receives the ball with his back to Sequeira, Delgado performs a sombrero by flicking it with the outside of his right foot over his marker and spins around him to collect the ball, controlling it on his thigh as he advances into acres of space. Spotting Edison Mendez galloping down the right wing, Delgado spreads the ball wide. Mendez controls it with one touch and looking up sees Ivan Kaviedes advancing into the box, so hits a deep cross to the far post where Kaviedes leaps in the air and guides the ball on the volley into the net with the outside of his right foot. Golazo and a great tribute by Kaviedes who donned a yellow Spiderman mask in tribute to Ecaudor's Otilino Tenorio who died in a car crash last year. Hero of the Day Runner-up is Chris Burchill of Trinidad and Tobago who came very close to the top prize for his unstinting efforts in midfield keeping first Sweden and then England at bay for a combined total of 173 minutes. The winner's laurels go to the Ecuador coach Luis Suarez. Cutting an impressive figure on the touchline in his sharp suit, he has brought a side with a superbly organised defence and a possession orientated game. Ecaudor have found the happy medium between attack and defence which make them a dangerous opponent for any of the "favourites". Winning both games with something to spare and qualifying before having to face Germany on their home patch, Suarez will be attracting the attention of many of Europe's clubs. He's also killed the tedious "Ecuador only ever win in Quito" cliche, Hamburg being all of 6 feet above sea level. Villain of the Day FIFA and their Rights Protection Programme. In their wisdom FIFA have decided to ban all spectator flags and banners on the lower tier opposite the TV cameras. These are of course the same fans who have spent an absolute fortune getting to Germany, many paying well over the odds for tickets due to FIFA's appalling ticket distribution policy that has seen hundreds of thousands of tickets end up with touts or with corporate customers uninterested in the game. In place of the banners they have pastel-coloured ident sheeting providing a backdrop behind the advertising boards (does anyone know who Avaya are?). Each city has its own colour - if it's sky blue you're in Munich, orange in Nürnberg, mellow yellow in Leipzig. Through this pastel FIFA heaven runs a wave pattern in complementary shades taken straight from a Dulux catalogue - in some matches when the action has been end-to-end I've felt sea sick as these waves pass left and right before my eyes. FIFA has airbrushed out the fans, and the authentic colour they bring, in favour of a design idea from marketing professionals. For the good of the game? Yeah, right. 14 June 2006 Golazo of the Day It just has to be Spain's fourth goal against Ukraine during the Leipzig Corrida. Spain's matador Puyol, pressing high up the pitch, wins a tackle just inside the Ukraine half. The ball breaks forward and Puyol performs a Zidanesque toque on a desperate Ukranian midfielder, waltzing forward with the ball. Drawing Shelayev he flicks the ball inside to Torres who has come short, Puyol continuing his run down the left channel drawing the attention of the rightback Rusol. With strength of body and purpose Torres spins off the central defender Yezerskyi passing the ball to the waiting Fabregas. The young Cesc spots Puyol's run and immediately chips the ball to him at the left apex of the penalty area. Puyol removes his hat, salutes the crowd, and plunges his estoca into the Ukranian defence by performing a perfectly weighted headed pass into the space vacated by Yezerskyi and Rusol. The effervescent Torres in full stride allows the ball to run across his body before smashing a right footed shot from the edge of the area into the bottom left corner of the net. Golazo and as all aficianados will confirm, it's unlucky to wear yellow into the arena. Hero of the Day Saving Roger Lemerre's blushes, the award goes to Radhi Jaidi. In control for much of the game Tunisia threw away their initial advantage, mainly through poor substitutions, as Saudi Arabia took a 2-1 lead deep into injury time. Centre-half Jaidi decided to take matters into his own hands and the man mountain lumbered up front to join his strikers. With the ball looping high into the air on the edge of the area from a deflection, Jaidi climbed off the floor and headed the ball to Jaziri to the right of goal. Spurning the chance to hit a right footed cross back, Jaziri cut inside and crossed with his left to the six-yard box where Jaidi powered a header into the net, prompting manic Tunisian celebrations. With time still left Saudi Arabia attacked with vim and, with the celebrations seemingly scrambling the concentration of the Tunisian defence, the ball broke free on the edge of the area. For a moment it seemed one last testing shot would be rifling in on goal as Tunisians en masse stood around watching until Super Jaidi arrived throwing himself, his family, his pets, his house and his kitchen sink at the shot to block the ball far downfield and secure the point. Villain of the Day For me it has to be Polish coach Pawel Janas. Down to ten men as the game entered injury time, Janas made a cardinal error in deciding to replace Jelen Ireneusz with Pawel Brozek. The time-wasting substitution is a fool's gambit often used by managers in the false belief that the referee will "forget" to add on those extra seconds used up in the players trudging on and off the pitch, allowing the team to escape to their desired result. It's far more likely to shatter concentration and defensive organisation as proven with the winning German goal, shattering the cleansheet the terrific Polish keeper Artur Boruc had worked so hard to keep. 13 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Only two candidates today and Kaka wins out over Togo's Kader. Brazil pass the ball out of defence until it ends up with Cafu on the touchline halfway into the Croatian half. The venerable rightback stands over the ball, slowing the game down, before pinging an overhit pass laterally at Kaka. With two opposition midfielders in attendance Kaka controls the knee high-ball with a delicate touch with his left leg and immediately takes it past and forward of his nemeses with a delicate touch with his right foot. Now in space the Brazilian looked up, assessed the angles and obstacles, and passed the ball left-footed with pace, precision and curl into the top left corner of the net from 22 metres, giving Pletikosa no chance. Golazo and thanks to Euclid for popularising geometry. Hero of the Day I'm going to give it to Otto Pfister, coach of the Togo team. Togo are this Mundial's African country in chaos: players refusing to train for four days during the World Cup over financial arguments, their previous coach, and current African Coach of the Year, Steve Keshi sacked 4 months ago for having the temerity to disagree with the star striker Adebayo, a player all the rest of the squad now hate. Otto himself walked out over the weekend with the player strike being the last straw. On Monday he offered to come back but was initially told by the Togolese FA that he's not wanted yet he turns up on the bench today. You immediately notice the difference in this man from all the other coaches in Germany. No suit and tie for Otto. No adidas/Reebok/Nike/Puma branded leisure wear as issued to all the coaching staff. Instead he turns up as an extra from a 1970s B-movie. This spectacled white haired, balding 68 year old is wearing a black pin-striped shirt with the top four buttons undone revealing a gold medallion. He combines this with blue cotton trousers and brown brogues. It's a slightly sinister look redolent of someone who'd organise a gold smuggling operation to pay for the overthrow of the dictator of a small African country. The movie would also star Richard Harris, Omar Sharif and Michael Caine, with Joss Ackland taking Otto's part if filming clashed with the football season. Despite all the chaos and poor fashion sense, Otto fashioned his much derided Togo side into a good unit who were deservedly leading 2002 semi-finalists South Korea at half-time. It wasn't until Jean-Paul Abalo was unluckily sent off (his first yellow being a phantom foul) that Korea came back into the game; without that Togo would have claimed at least a draw. Villain of the Day Ronaldo. You're a fat, lazy, disinterested waste of space. You shamed the Brazilian shirt tonight with the worst individual performance of the World Cup so far. You could have been the winner of a McDonald's "play with the stars" competition you were so far off the pace. Dado Prso put in more effort in each minute of his performance than you did in your entire 69 minutes on the pitch. In fact you were so out of place that you reminded me of a drunk, sunburnt, beer-gutted Englishman turning up on the Copacabana beach trying to get a game with the locals. And Adriano, you weren't much better. 12 June 2006 Golazo of the Day I think the players are ganging up on me to try and give me high blood pressure. Four goals are worthy candidates today: both of Rosicky's goals, Cahill for Australia's second and Aloisi for their third in the same game. I'll be controversial and will choose Tim Cahill's second goal in the Australia-Japan game as of the four, it won the game. 84 minutes gone and the Aussies still trailing following a goalkeeping error by Schwarzer and Cahill stabs in an equaliser following long throw-induced chaos in the Japan box. Just three minutes later and the Aussies are flooding the centre of the pitch with every tall male between the ages of 20 and 35 who doesn't play Aussie Rules. The ball is knocked forward to Aloisi, back to goal, on the edge of the penalty area. He shields the ball and then lays it off to Cahill who is central, 2-3 metres deeper. Trapping the ball with his studs, Cahill seems to have slowed down time around him as he decides what to do. He rolls it out from under his right foot, and touches it once more with his right to achieve the perfect position from which to unleash a coruscating right foot shot which crashes off the left hand post with enough power to nestle in the opposite side of the net. Golazo and Matilda starts waltzing. Hero of the Day After being robbed of the golazo of the day by Cahill, my choice has to be Tomas Rosicky. He played superbly alongside Nedved, Galasek's holding play allowing both to break forward and attack the USA defence at will and link up with the behometh Koller. Rosicky though undoubtedly skillful, has often appeared to be a slightly wan figure at the international level. You wish his mother would take him home and start feeding him steaks regularly. Forget that. Here he baked the cake, iced it and put the decorations on top, before climbing inside and jumping out to do a song and dance number. His first goal was a wonderful shot from over 30 metres, controlling a weak defensive header from Onyewu with one touch, and hitting a dipping shot from the left-central part of the pitch into the right hand side netting, halfway up the goal which no goalkeeper could have saved. Soon after he tried to repeat the fete from similar distance but left the crossbar shaking in fear from the encounter. His second goal started in his own half, collecting a pass from his defence, shifting the ball forward to Koller's replacement Lokvenc on the halfway line who laid it off to Nedved. The grand old man of Czech football waited for his partner in crime Rosicky, who had immediately started a run forward on passing to Lokvenc. Nedved released the ball with perfect timing and Rosicky with his first touch burst through the USA defence, and kept control with three or four more subtle touches as he headed for goal before flicking the ball over the advancing Keller with great skill. Villain of the Day It was going to be the referee of the Australia-Japan game, Essam Abd El Fatah, who missed a certain penalty at 1-1 for Japan when Tim Cahill hacked down Yuichi Komano after a fine dribble deep into the box. That was until Sami Kuffour's violent assault on Vincenzo Iaquinta. Sent metres clear of the Ghana defence with Italy one goal ahead, Iaquinta was homing in on the penalty area ready to shoot and possibly wrap up the game when Kuffour professionally hacked him down from behind by performing a sliding foul and stamping on the back of Iaquinta's calf. It could have broken his leg, it could have ruptured an achilles tendon. Kuffour had the choice of hooking Iaquinta leg to trip him yet chose to assault him. A straight red card? No, the linesman had raised his flag for offside so the referee took no action. In my eyes, it was no different to a player punching another in the area while waiting for a corner to be taken - a red card would always be shown in these circumstances so why not with Kuffour, both being violent assault? I hope FIFA take retrospective action. 11 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Was close to giving it to Zinha for his header where he hung like Pele to get on the end of the Mendes' cross after his own great build up work. But the award goes to Arjen Robben for the only goal in the game against Serbia and Montenegro. The Dutch were clad in the world's most orange retro-style shirts by Nike (who are winning the kit wars). Chatting to my sister later I tried to describe them: "Imagine the most orange thing you've ever seen, the shirts are an orangey version of that". Orange shorts and socks completed the kit. Arjen Robben went one step further and wore orange boots but he should have added a touch of yellow and red as he was on fire on the pitch. Incredible pace, an instinct to find space, dribbles galore, fierce shots, he was splendid. The goal itself started deep in the Dutch half with Van Bommel picking the ball up near the right hand touchline. Closely marked he perfomed a neat turn and immediately clipped a measured pass forward to Van Persie on the halfway line. For once in the game the S+M defence had pushed high up the field and the Arsenal forward spotting an Orange Mercury ready to speed forward, hooked a first time pass left footed over the defence. Robben was off, grass scorching in his wake and onto the ball in a flash, pushing it forward with perfect weight as Gavrancic tried and failed to pull him back. As he reached the area Robben hit a crisp left footed short under the advancing Jevric. Golazo. And they say the Germans are known for their efficiency. Hero of the Day Runners up today are two coaches - Mexico's Ricardo La Volpe and Serbia and Montenegro's Ilija Petkovic. Both were prepared to make very early tactical substitutions in order to change their games. Too often coaches in major tournaments have been prepared to let games drift by, being out fought and out thought, in the hope that a goal would somehow miraculously happen. Of course it rarely does and then they panic and throw on subs with ten minutes to go. It was great to see such a refreshing attitude from both coaches even if Petkovic was unlucky not to see his side get an equaliser. The winner though isn't Arjen Robben (I've decided you can't win two awards) but the truly majestic Rafael Marquez. He was outstanding for Mexico against Iran, nominally playing as part of a back three but popping up all over the pitch, a reincarnation of Beckenbauer at his peak. Leadership, poise, passing, heading, tackling, organisation. 10/10. Villain of the Day It would have been Ognjen Koroman for his incessant waving of an imaginary card every time he was fouled, however Markus Merk beat me to it and cautioned him. Some kids pretend to be pop stars when they're young, miming in front of the mirror using a hairbrush as a microphone. Koroman had a "My Little Referee" kit, practicing his card flourish using cards cut out from the back of cornflake box and coloured yellow and red with poster paint. Grow up. The award goes to Iran's Vahid Hashemian. 11 minutes into the game and with the score at 0-0, Hashemian made a sharp run to the near post to meet a perfect cross from out on the right. All he has to do is to connect with the ball and Iran would have taken the lead. But no, he decides now is the time to try something fancy and allows the ball to run between his legs and tries to flick it in with a back heel. And fails. Save those finishes for domestic matches Vahid when you're 5-0 up. This is the World Cup. It matters. 10 June 2006 Golazo of the Day Only one choice for me today and it comes from the sumptious Argentina-Cote D'Ivoire match. Easily the best game of the tournament, a clash of passing excellence v pace and power. I was sitting admiring the Argentine players pass the ball as carefully as if it were their own new-born baby, when the ball arrived at the feet of the exquisite Juan Roman Riquelme. He stood there in front of a wall of Ivorian players, poised like a cobra waiting to strike. The obvious pass was to Crespo in the inside left channel but the Chelsea man had strayed offside. No matter, Riquelme would use this faux pas to great effect. Spotting the livewire Saviola making a run on the inside of the left fullback and on blindside of the centrebacks Riquelme shaped to pass to Crespo but instead changed the angle of his foot and slid a disguised pass between the two holding midfielders and the two centrebacks. Four players removed from the defensive equation. The pace of the pass was perfect, offering enough hope to draw the keeper Tizie out of goal yet allow Saviola to reach the ball first, which he duly did, choosing to prod the ball into the net with a first time finish from near the penalty spot. Golazo and ticker tape all over the living room. Hero of the Day On a day when young, fit world "superstars" put their poor performances down to the heat, I've come in praise of The Old Player. Proving that age does not wither but wizens, three players from the Sweden v Trinidad and Tobago match stood out. The 34 year old Dwight Yorke, known as a quick forward in his European Cup winning days at Manchester United, found himself in a holding midfield role where he used the ball with calm intelligence and covered superbly, helping to slow down and break up attacks. The 37 year old Shaka Hislop was called in as a last minute replacement for Kelvin Jack and proved an immovable object in the Trinny net making sharp saves throughout the match. And finally 34 year old Henrik Larsson, his class still there for all to see for Barcelona against Arsenal in Paris, brought his intelligence, movement and skill to the world stage once more and was unlucky not to find himself on the winning side. All three olden, all three golden. Villain of the Day Two candidates worth mentioning in passing. Juan Sorin for his dive to try and get Emmanuel Eboue sent off and Carlos Paredes for going down clutching his foot after being beaten to the ball by Gerrard, before getting back up when the play went on and then collapsing back to the floor when his team mate's shot went wide. The award instead goes jointly to the Big Bang, the designer of the Waldstadion in Frankfurt and the German TV director of the Paraguay-England match. Watching on TV for the first twenty five minutes was like watching a mutant alien spider through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars with a 1000 watt halogen lamp shone directly atyou. The TV director struggled with the concept that though panoramic shots have their place in the game, you'd like to see the individual skill of the players and at least know who is on the ball. The stadium designer had deposited a large cube bearing video screens above the pitch suspended from the roof by cables which, when the Big Bang created-sun shone brightly, threw a disturbing Alien shadow all over the pitch. The combined effect was to make the game nearly unwatchable. Oh, and the unnecessary floating cube was also hit by a Robinson clearence. Chop it down. 9 June 2006 Golazo of the Day It could have been Paulo Wanchope's second goal for the Ticos where he waited, waited and waited to beat the German offside trap before latching onto Walter Centeno's delicately chipped pass between two defenders and dispatching the ball with the outside of his right foot into the bottom corner. It could have been Torsten Fring allowing a lateral pass from a free kick to his left to cross his body before unleashing a swerving howitzer of a shot from 35 metres with his right foot, high into the right side of the net. But no. Today's Golazo belongs to Germany's Philipp Lahm. There's something infinitely noble about a fullback scoring from open play. It conveys a sense of adventure. It marks a statement that his team are congregating around the Cavalier rather than the Roundhead banner. And a fullback opening a World Cup with such a fine goal after so few minutes of play brings hope to everyone who loves the beautiful game. The ball pin-balled around in front of the Costa Rican penalty box before being half cleared to their right hand touchline around 30 metres out. Lahm picked up the ball and, with nothing but attacking intent, looked at the nominal fullback and said "I'm attacking you and I'm attacking you now". The Costa Rican defender backpedalled furiously showing Lahm the outside. A fatal mistake. The right-footed Lahm immediately cut inside with such pace that a further defender who had just ambled over to cover his mate fell over in shock. Lahm reached the apex of the box and unleashed a powerful right-footed laser guided shot into the top right corner past Porras, going in off the post and a couple of centimetres below the bar. Golazo. Hero of the Day Wanchope? Klose? The Ecuadorian coach Luis Suarez? All fine candidates but I have instead chosen the Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo. This short, clipped man with his day-glo yellow shirt reflecting off his cheek bones kept the game moving, was decisive in his excellent decision making, was more than fit enough to always be in a good position to make those decisions and had no truck with divers, a firm wave of the hand beckoning on play. Let's hope all referees are of this standard. Villain of the Day Ebi Smolarek. Your father was a mainstay of the Polish team which finished third in the 1982 World Cup. You're a skillful player who has a chance to get Poland off to a flying start and maybe emulate your father's success. Instead you let Maciej Kurawski run himself into the ground against the excellently organised Ecuadorian defence, giving him little support, whinging non-stop and then perform a pathetic dive in an attempt to get a penalty. |