Pierre Boisrond has followed soccer and the World Cup
closely for many years and also writes for other websites. We at PWC are proud to have him as
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Germany and Argentina through after referee controversy
The battle between the European Contenders, Germany and England took place at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa. It was a game that the whole world was looking forward to. It was not a disappointed game but Germany had completely destroy England 4-1 with the Uruguayan referee, Jorge Clarinda, disallowed a valid goal for England which would have put the score 2-2 at half-time.
In the first fifteen minutes of the first half, the English players dominated the German Internationals. However a lack of concentration in England’s defense permitted Miroslav Klose to get a long ball from the German goalie and Klose stretched his boot to touch the ball and put it passed David James who had enough time to come out to prevent Klose from putting Germany up 1-0. The English Internationals have found themselves down 1-0 and they had to go for the equalizer. However, It was Klose who almost buried the English with a second goal in the 30th minute. England quickly reacted and Cole hit the crossbar and that could have gotten England back in the game, but it was not meant to be, and that would have ruled offside as well. Losing their concentration in defense, the English defense let Podolski unmarked who put the ball between the legs of David James and it only took thirty minutes for Germany to take a 2-0 lead and put England in a deep hole.
The English Internationals would not give up. They kept pushing forward and with a long ball from Steven Gerrard, and Upson scored with a great header to reduce the score 2-1 in the 37th minute. The English players continued to push forward and found the equalizer, but the referee and his assistants did not give the goal for England because it seems none of the linesmen saw the ball crossed the goal line. This in an injustice to England; an injustice to Football and a total disgrace. It seems we were reliving 1966 all over again but this time it was in favor of Germany. FIFA must do something about those bad calls. The game should have been 2-2 but remained 2-1. The first half ended 2-1 in favor of Germany.
In the second half, Both teams kept attacking but England looked very vulnerable in the back because the Germans counter attack can be very deadly. In the 52nd minute, Lampard hit the crossbar. The English players had no choice but to go for the equalizer. Unfortunately in a counter attack by the Germans, Thomas Muller made England pay dearly by scoring the 3rd goal for Germany in the 67th minute. Suddenly, the English Internationals found themselves in a 1-3 hole. Despite being down 1-3, England kept pushing forward and again Muller made them pay by giving them the coup de grace in the 70th minute to put Germany up 4-1. The game ended 4-1 and Germany booked their ticket for the quarterfinals.
In Summary, Germany was a better team on the pitch. But England had no choice but to go for the equalizer. However, the English defense were very shaky and therefore caused this colossal collapse in front of the Germans. On the other hand, the Uruguayan referee affected the outcome of the game by not giving the equalizing goal that would have made the game 2-2. It is unfortunate for England and I hope FIFA will rectify this situation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Germany will face in the quarter final the winner of Mexico vs Argentina.
The location of the game between Mexico vs Argentina was at Soccer City Stadium, in Johannesburg, South Africa. This game also was marred by a controversial call in favor of Argentina by the Italian referee, Roberto Rosetti. The game started very well for the Mexican Internationals who decided to attack Argentina and early on Argentina could have found themselves 2-0 with a ball that hit the Argentine crossbar and another shot that could have been a goal but the ball changed direction.
It was a warning for the Argetines to get themselves organized otherwise, Mexico would spoil the Albiceleste party. Mexican played a good 15 minutes in the first half. After that, Argentina decided to take over game. First it was a pass by Messi who found Tevez and he headed into the goal to put Argentina 1-0 in the 16th minute. Despite being offside, the referee and the linesmen did not see Carlos Tevez who was clearly offside. Again, a referee has interfered with the game and FIFA must rectify those situation. There’s too much at stake and it is not good for a referee to interfere with the outcome of the game. The Mexicans protested, but the goal was allowed.
Down 0-1, the Mexican International defender, Ricardo Osorio, made a lousy pass and presented Gonzalo Higuain who dribbled the Mexican goalie, Oscar to put Argentina up 2-0 in the 33rd minute. The games ended up 2-0 in the first half.
In the second half, Argentina decided to conserve their advantage and played a defensive type game. Despite playing a defensive game, It was Carlos Tevez who ended any come back hope for Mexico by rocketing a spectacular shot in the upper right angle to beat Oscar Perez in the 52nd minute. With a 3-0 lead, the men conducted by Diego “Dieguito” Armando Maradona decided to play defense and to manage the game. Mexico had lot of possessions but they found it hard to pierce the Argentine defense. Finally in the 71st minute, Javier Hernandez scored a fantastic goal and put Mexico scoring on the scoring sheet 1-3. At the end of the game, Messi could have scored a fouth one but Oscar Perez prevented the world’s best footballer to score his 1st goal in the tournament.
Argentina earned their ticket through the quarterfinals with some help from the referee . However, they were a better team and they deserved to win the game. However, FIFA, must find ways to keep the games clean. That offside goal really destroyed the confidence of the Mexicans as they looked erratic after the goal and made careless defensive mistake. The next rendez-vous for Argentina will be Germany in one of the next quarter final on the 3rd of July. This will be a rematch of the 2006 World Cup, Ironically both the talented Riquelme (Argentina) and Ballack ( Germany) would not be in this game. Argentina vs Germany or Germany vs . Argentina will fight for a spot in the semi-final.
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