Marching to the Quarterfinals

FRANKFURT, Germany – Railway stations are always restive centers of fan activity during World Cups, but those of Germany will be a little quieter, a little less colorful from now on.The Mexicans are on their way home, and we shan’t be seeing those ubiquitous groups of green-shirted fans with their good-natured staccato voices and their huge sombreros again. More’s the pity, for their soccer deserved a longer run in this tournament.The first seeded team to be eliminated, Mexico played a second-round game of crackling intensity with Argentina on Saturday. This was the Argentina that for many had made itself a favorite to take the title with its victories over Ivory Coast and Serbia – but that news had evidently not been relayed to the Mexicans.Mexico was the better team on the night, no doubt about it, attacking relentlessly and with skill and variation, to the point where we saw very little of the impressive Argentine fluency from the previous games.It has been a sad tradition that the Mexican team, however good, always ends up beating itself by committing some egregious act of soccer suicide. Not this time. It won’t make things any easier for the Mexicans, of course, but this year a moment of superlative soccer brilliance was required for the Argentines to come out on top.Maxi Rodriguez provided that moment with a goal for the all-time records. An unheralded player, really on the Argentine team as a runner and fetcher, a workhorse, Rodriguez took a 40-yard cross-field aerial pass from Juan Sorin on his chest, swerving inside his defender as he did so, and then, as the ball dropped, cracked a 25-yard dipping and swerving left-foot volley that rocketed into the far side of the Mexican goal.Maybe it took all of three seconds, but we don’t measure genius like that – it took the breath away, a moment of soaring beauty, but the cruelest of moments for the victimized Mexicans, who, once again, saw a game they could have, maybe should have, won wrenched from their grasp.The Mexicans will be missed, but the same cannot be said for most of the 16 teams that departed as the first round ended. The quality of their soccer was depressingly mediocre. The Americans were typical of most of these countries – their soccer too physical, too tactical, too darn ordinary. Not worth watching. But at least most countries had the good grace to go home without whining about the referees. America’s behavior in that respect left a very bad impression.I am of course, keyboarding this with crossed fingers, but the refereeing so far has been excellent. Yes, some obviously wrong decisions, but nothing scandalous, nothing to compare with the mistakes that cost Spain and Italy so dearly four years ago in Korea/Japan.The one glaring miscue has been almost comic, committed by the highly respected English referee Graham Poll, when, during the Australia vs. Croatia game, he managed to give Croatian defender Josep Simunic no fewer than three yellow cards before ejecting him from the game. The amazing thing here is that Poll, like all referees, is one of a crew of four: how come neither of his two assistants nor the fourth official noticed that things had gone off the rails when Simunic stayed on the field after getting his second yellow?FIFA president Sepp Blatter, using words not often heard from his lips, commented; “I don’t understand it.”The Russian referee Valentin Ivanov had his hands full in last night’s game between Portugal and the Netherlands. Only five minutes had gone when Khalid Boulahrouz – a big, bruising, modestly skilled Dutch defender – brutally fouled Portugal’s star forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Ivanov produced a yellow card – probably it should have been a red; Ronaldo soldiered on for another 25 minutes, but then had to be replaced. A tone of spiteful physicality now pervaded the game. When it was over, Portugal had seen two of its players, Costinha and Deco, red-carded, along with two Dutch players – the instigator Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.Portugal held on for a 1-0 win, but it will have to do without Costinha and Deco (and possibly Ronaldo) in its quarterfinal match. Good news for England, the opponents. England’s soccer continues to be poor, but it has scraped out four wins so far, the latest a dull 1-0 victory over Ecuador on a trademark David Beckham free kick.“It was ugly at times,” said Beckham. One is hard put to recall the times when it wasn’t ugly.Ugly was certainly the word to apply to the Dutch who – certainly on this form – will not be missed. Since the 1970s Dutch players have been admired for their slick technical skills and their exciting attacking rhythm. But Dutch soccer has always featured a hefty dose of power and strength, and it was those two elements – which translate as physical intimidation – that marred the Dutch game against the Portuguese. Which is not to excuse the Portuguese for responding in kind.The Germans, meantime, get stronger with each game. Or do they? One is forced into the realization that they have yet to play a strong team. That will change on Friday when they face Argentina, but the four rather easy wins so far have allowed a huge leap forward in German confidence, and there is certainly much to admire in the all-out attacking style imposed by Jurgen Klinsmann; the German goal-scoring rate stands at 2.5 per game; only Argentina can match that.Tomorrow, the Brazilians play their fourth game – against Ghana – and we are still waiting for the South Americans to turn on the style, to produce the rolling, purring, irresistible soccer that has made them famous and installed them as the tournament favorite. Italy will probably make hard work of beating Australia today, but that’s the Italian way, and living and playing in an atmosphere of crisis and drama has already brought them three world titles.I almost hesitate to mention Spain, so often has it flopped in the past. But its soccer was seen at its best in the 4-0 wipe-out of Ukraine, and then in a form that has often eluded Spain in the past: a fighting come-from-behind win over Tunisia.The promise of good soccer continues to come from the Latin teams, and from them only. Beyond them only England and Germany are candidates for the title. But England’s chances will remain dim as long as its soccer is virtually non-existent. Germany is another story: a straightforward, goal-scoring style – the movement is never complicated, it has the almost mechanical efficiency of the World Cup-winning German squad of 1974 – plus the magic ingredient, the huge and growing support of the German people. All of them, it seems … a formidable ally.pgardner@nysun.com

Marching to the Quarterfinals

Marching to the Quarterfinals

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