gobbledigook.
[ a morbid fascination that borders on obsession. ]
Thursday, June 29, 2006
for the skeptics
Watch carefully as Grosso moves over the sliding Neill. 1.Firstly, Grosso is attempting to cut into his right, balancing on his left to propell him. Just as he is about to burst, Neill comes sliding in, his torso upwards blocking right in the middle of Grosso's path. Look at Grosso right ankle. It was originally pointing inwards, in an attempt to stabilize himself right after 1. 2.But it quickly darted outwards as Neill blocks his path, indicating an attempt to avoid the impending obstacle. This shows that he did not dive, and Neill was obstructing. 3.As his right leg gets past the body, Neill's head was preventing him from going through smoothly, so he had to bend foward to prevent Neill's head from slamming into his you-know-whats. 4. But, as Grosso tries to lift his left leg over Neill, Neill's left arm impedes Grosso's left leg, compounded by the inertia and momentum, trips and falls. Penalty.
Though how ugly it was won, i have to admit it was an insipid performance by Italy. The finishing was not there and i was surprised by the inclusion of Alessandro Del Piero in the starting eleven. His did not disappoint, but his lack of pace was evident and he couldn't pull a rabbit out of the hat after every move. Toni's lace of pace was exposed too, reacting slowly to a through ball and getting hacked down in the process. They weren't using the flanks to full use, instead relying on long ball from the defence which ended up as Aussie possession.
It was clear that the Aussies took to the sword, fighting for every ball and well, agressive to a point that it irks me. I don't see the justification for Materazzi's red card when: 1.he wasn't the last man, 2.he hadn't been booked before in the game and 3.had not contact with the opponent. THe guy who got tackled, Bresciano, one of the over zealous and tackle happy Aussies, banged into Zambrotta, not Materazzi and his expression after the collision was dramatic. He is one who when with the ball is capable of bulldozing through the whole defence with a high threshold for pain.
I don't see what the hoo-haa is about the Italians being cheats, when the Aussies were the ones playing dirty. And they only received 3 yellow card, astonishing isn't it? The penalty was an impending disaster waiting to happen, and it did, right at the crucial moment. It was the Aussies tactics to play physical and when it backfired, they cry foul, the ref is against them, Grosso dived...
So Materazzi is suspended. Nesta ruled himself out. Left with Barzagli and Cannavaro as centrebacks, while Zambrotta and Grosso should retain their respective positions. Zaccardo's unlikely to feature after his fluff of a clearance while Oddo's a full back too. That leaves the defence in a mini crisis which the Azzurris should be able to overcome against the Ukrainians. Just off the world cup for a moment. Former Italian-Juventus full-back Gianluca Pessotto is in critical condition after an apparent botched suicide attempt by jumping from his second floor(???) office. I was about to mention the need for a new right back and his name sprang to mind after his impressive display at Euro 2000. Zambrotta is fine, except he is more comfortable as left back during the US encounter. A right back is clearly missing in the Italian line-up for the past recent years, none gaining a firm foothole in that position. Well, this is just a thought out loud.
Later.
But I'm not a soldier
Adeel
Ahmad
Aisyah
Amin
Cikgu K
Dinie
Eisha
Emel
Evon
Fadilah
Innova Soccer
Juice
Khairiana
Khairul
Maisarah
Michelle
PeiYi
Philmon
Ramizah
Shahira
Sufie
Syafiq
Tracy
Venetia
Yamin
Zaliza
Zawiyah
