2006 HWCI World Cup Pool "Clap! or Crap?" Newsletter (Sam Nishi)

Match 24: PORTUGAL v. IRAN

POR proves again she is a malicious flirt > The good-looking girl who puts her hand on your knee with a wry smile, and then later asks you not to stare at her – Hmm, why do I know this??

Anyhow, POR again was pretty in possession but petty in finishing, outside of DECO’s splendid score and FIGO drawing the PK .. .. They did create their chances but really didn’t press the IRN goalkeeper until late .. .. They had more shots in the box than from outside .. ..

IRN again just kicked and prayed .. .. Effort was there but not the ability .. ..

POR MoM: #20 DECO again proved why the Barcelona playmaker is so revered .. .. Brazilian-born midfielder took a perfect ball at the top of the box and then fired it home right-footed into the left corner of the net .. .. Kind of ironic that FIGO set up his goal with a perfect square-ball at the top of the box – FIGO was one of DECO’s outspoken opponents to him receiving POR citizenship .. . .I guess he’s okay with it now .. ..

Match 26: CZECH REPUBLIC v. GHANA

This is exactly what should have happened last week – GHA ran right at CZE from the whistle and sliced through them all match long and grabbed an early goal .. .. GHA just had too much pace for them and was beating them to every 50-50 ball .. ..

CZE did fairly well coming forward but GHA’s defense bent, but didn’t break and hustled all over the pitch .. ..

GHA had tons of chances once they broke the match open, a missed PK, 3-v-1’s, etc. Amazing the score wasn’t at least 3-0 .. ..

GHA MoM: #3 ASAMOAH GYAN could easily have had a hat-trick today, but missed a PK and numerous chances in the box .. .. But his early goal was all that counted .. .. Was camped out on the top of the box when the CZE went for a suicide-steal and missed, he then calmly left-footed his shot into the lower-left .. .. He was due to be GHA’s main threat in the African Nations Cup earlier this year but was hurt .. ..

Match 25: UNITED STATES v. ITALY

This was the ITA we expected and finally, the USA we expected a week ago .. .. Our back-six crated havoc with the physical play and kept all the ITA offense from creating .. .. All in all, the result was fair but the refereeing was patchy .. ..

OK – About the referee calls > All were fair, maybe just wee bit harsh, but warranted .. ..

ITA’s ejection of DE ROSSI was fair when he tried to decapitate BRIAN .. .. The linesman kept calling offsides all match and missed the call when ITA scored even though the back-line stepped up properly .. .. PABLO’s ejection was hard - He was late in his tackle but wasn’t from behind and really should have been just a foul .. .. And, EDDIE’s second YC was harsh .. .. Again, a foul yes, but deserving of a second YC? The supposed DA MARCUS goal was rightfully waved off as BRIAN was in an ‘impassive’ offside position and may have interfered with the flight of the shot .. ..

USA created their quality chances, which figured to be few, but just didn’t get enough support .. .. DA MARCUS, again, was shit – He was afraid to run at people and when he did, he ran right into people – Hope he never dresses for the USA again .. .. OGUCHI just overwhelmed and ITA forward he went up against and is just too strong for any forward – WORLD CLASS!!

USA MoM: #3 CARLOS BOCANEGRA gets the MoM because of his surprising good effort .. .. He did not get a lot of minutes toward the end of the Fulham season and there was a worry he was rusty .. .. He was tough and made some serious slide-tackles deep in ITA’s offensive third .. .. He was also USA’s main offensive threat as he got to a few headers and almost got them on goal .. ..