June 16.
Argentina's sublime performance.
I won't go through the incidents of the match as I am sure they have been showed and discussed enough. I'll just talk about what I thought about this match.
Argentine are good and played excellent. They easily turned in the performance of the World Cup so far. Serbia aren't a bad team and although they didn't play as badly as the scoreline would suggest, they were simply dismantled by a rampant Argentina who took all the chances they created. Serbia weren't abysmal but they were disintinctly sluggish and looked disjointed. They got to balls second, had no shape and were beaten by far superior Argentine movement and positioning.
Continuity and the desire to score goals are central to modern football. This Argentine team has both - 16 of the current squad have played toegether since they were juniors - and all that time their coach was Jose Pekerman, their current national coach. They also have an innate desire to seem to attack and although they are content to sit back and counterattack at times, they will go after a defensive team.
Random observances:
On Argentina's second goal, why were 4 Serb players ball-watching and not closing down Maxi Rodriguez ? 2 should have harried him and the nearby Cambiasso while 2 others should have closed down the space to the front and side of the box the play was on.
On Argetina's fourth goal, how did Stankovic let Crespo, who was on his outside get to the ball and poke it in ? Someone of his experience and stature should know better than to let the attacker on your OUTSIDE get to the ball first. You intercept or you shield. Rubbish.
Is Carlos Tevez, the new Edgar Davids ? I knew he was considered by manh to be theri best striker and one of the best players in the Brazillian domestic league - but he seems incapable of losing the ball. At one point he had the ball and was prompty swarmed by Stankovic, Gavrancic, Krstaljic and Djordevic. He dinked the first two and got tangled up with the latter pair, but out of that tangle emerged Tevez, upright and with the ball.
When he scored Argentina's 5th, he slotted through Gavrancic's legs and then dribbled past Dujlal before curling the ball home around the waiting Jevric - exceptional ball control, exquisite finishing.
For Leo Messi's goal - the 6th one - once again what was the left full back doing ? Dudic was nowhere to be seen.
For about 30 minutes at the start of the second half - the game was even. Serbia attacked, Argentina repelled, then the other way around - very par for the course. The former, through Dan Ljuboja actually showes some attacking promise but once again they were terribly disjointed in the centre of the park - Djordevic and Stankovic having a run out at the park. Then Kezman, easily one of the most redundant players to have worn a soccer jersey, unleashed a tackled that was more sloppy than malicious, and got sent off. His red card was more for his sollective aggression than for that one tackle, but it summed up his night. Generally rubbish, singularly trash. Kezman's international career should end after this tournament. He's incapable of stepping up to the next level.
After that sending off Serbia were once again on the ddefensive, the late introduction of Messi and Tevez further stretched an already wilting team. It's a testament to Argentina's depth that they can bring on such quality of the bench - it will server them well as the tournament proceeds.
On this form Argentina are one of the favourites, ominously for their rivals, they seem to have hit the red zone and are peaking just in time for the group stages. Having secured qualification, the top of the group clash between them and their perennial foes Holland should make for tasty viewing. Holland trail on goal difference and so will have to attack the South Americans, which will suit the latter just fine as they seem to have taken counterattacking football to a new level.
Serbia didn't create anything of substance and were unable to cope with Argentina's attack. Furthermore, Argentina converted anything they could exploit. With such discrepancies, there was only ever going to be one result.
Argentina should go far - Serbia will be back. Form is temporary, class is permanent.
Argentina:
Attack - 10
Midfield - 8
Defence -7
Substitutions - 10
Serbia:
Attack - 4
Midfield - 4
Defence - 2
Sustitutions - 5
Kezman - 0
Brazil, are you watching ?
Argentina 6 - Rodriguez 2, Crespo, Cambiasso, Tevez, Messi
Serbia 0
Argentina's sublime performance.
I won't go through the incidents of the match as I am sure they have been showed and discussed enough. I'll just talk about what I thought about this match.
Argentine are good and played excellent. They easily turned in the performance of the World Cup so far. Serbia aren't a bad team and although they didn't play as badly as the scoreline would suggest, they were simply dismantled by a rampant Argentina who took all the chances they created. Serbia weren't abysmal but they were disintinctly sluggish and looked disjointed. They got to balls second, had no shape and were beaten by far superior Argentine movement and positioning.
Continuity and the desire to score goals are central to modern football. This Argentine team has both - 16 of the current squad have played toegether since they were juniors - and all that time their coach was Jose Pekerman, their current national coach. They also have an innate desire to seem to attack and although they are content to sit back and counterattack at times, they will go after a defensive team.
Random observances:
On Argentina's second goal, why were 4 Serb players ball-watching and not closing down Maxi Rodriguez ? 2 should have harried him and the nearby Cambiasso while 2 others should have closed down the space to the front and side of the box the play was on.
On Argetina's fourth goal, how did Stankovic let Crespo, who was on his outside get to the ball and poke it in ? Someone of his experience and stature should know better than to let the attacker on your OUTSIDE get to the ball first. You intercept or you shield. Rubbish.
Is Carlos Tevez, the new Edgar Davids ? I knew he was considered by manh to be theri best striker and one of the best players in the Brazillian domestic league - but he seems incapable of losing the ball. At one point he had the ball and was prompty swarmed by Stankovic, Gavrancic, Krstaljic and Djordevic. He dinked the first two and got tangled up with the latter pair, but out of that tangle emerged Tevez, upright and with the ball.
When he scored Argentina's 5th, he slotted through Gavrancic's legs and then dribbled past Dujlal before curling the ball home around the waiting Jevric - exceptional ball control, exquisite finishing.
For Leo Messi's goal - the 6th one - once again what was the left full back doing ? Dudic was nowhere to be seen.
For about 30 minutes at the start of the second half - the game was even. Serbia attacked, Argentina repelled, then the other way around - very par for the course. The former, through Dan Ljuboja actually showes some attacking promise but once again they were terribly disjointed in the centre of the park - Djordevic and Stankovic having a run out at the park. Then Kezman, easily one of the most redundant players to have worn a soccer jersey, unleashed a tackled that was more sloppy than malicious, and got sent off. His red card was more for his sollective aggression than for that one tackle, but it summed up his night. Generally rubbish, singularly trash. Kezman's international career should end after this tournament. He's incapable of stepping up to the next level.
After that sending off Serbia were once again on the ddefensive, the late introduction of Messi and Tevez further stretched an already wilting team. It's a testament to Argentina's depth that they can bring on such quality of the bench - it will server them well as the tournament proceeds.
On this form Argentina are one of the favourites, ominously for their rivals, they seem to have hit the red zone and are peaking just in time for the group stages. Having secured qualification, the top of the group clash between them and their perennial foes Holland should make for tasty viewing. Holland trail on goal difference and so will have to attack the South Americans, which will suit the latter just fine as they seem to have taken counterattacking football to a new level.
Serbia didn't create anything of substance and were unable to cope with Argentina's attack. Furthermore, Argentina converted anything they could exploit. With such discrepancies, there was only ever going to be one result.
Argentina should go far - Serbia will be back. Form is temporary, class is permanent.
Argentina:
Attack - 10
Midfield - 8
Defence -7
Substitutions - 10
Serbia:
Attack - 4
Midfield - 4
Defence - 2
Sustitutions - 5
Kezman - 0
Brazil, are you watching ?
Argentina 6 - Rodriguez 2, Crespo, Cambiasso, Tevez, Messi
Serbia 0
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