HOLLAND INTO WORLD CUP FINAL

Kawan-kawan mula kutuk-kutuk aku sebab Holland akhirnya secara rasmi layak ke Final, World Cup 2010. Mentang-mentang la Holland kalahkan Brasil hari tu.

Bengang je. Tapi, aku redho..

Cerita lanjut

BERKABUNG

saya masih 'berkabung' huhuhu.. click here

BRASIL OUT OF THE WORLD CUP

(Soccernet.com)

It's really a time to 'berkabung' as Brasil were beaten 1 - 2 by Holland last night (huhuhu..). As I expected in my previous entry (click here), it is Robben who became the Brasil's tormentor. Michel Bastos was unable to contain Robben and almost being shown the 2nd yellow card before, the coach Dunga substituted him mid way through the 2nd half. Not long after that, Felipe Melo's aggression on Robben had left the referee with no other option other than giving him straight red and the marching order. It's a very disappointing night for him after also scored an own goal.

Related news here

Hats off to Holland and good luck in the semifinal (against Uruguay).

Note : By the look of things, Holland had a very good chance to go to the final.. and possibly win the World Cup for the first time..

BRASIL

(Google)

During my schooling days, all I know about Brasil is that they had the best football team in the world and won the World Cup the most number of time. And, one of the city is Rio De Janeiro. That's it. Although I had been supporting Brasil football team since whenever it is (I can't really recalled), I don't even bother to know anything about the country itself except for those footballers coming from there. Pele, Zico, Socrates, Rai, Dunga, Romario, Bebeto, Rivaldo, Ronaldo bla.. bla.. bla.. up until the latest crops of young generation of Brasilian in the shape of Kaka, Robinho and co.

I'd been doing some google on Brasil and here are something, at a glance, about BRASIL (pronounce Bra'zil) :

Capital City : Brasília
Largest city : São PauloOfficial language(s) : Portuguese
Demonym : Brazilian
Independence from Portugal Declared : 7 September 1822
Area : 8,514,877 km2 (5th largest in the world after Russia, Canada, China & USA)
Population (2009 estimate) : 192,272,890[1] (5th largest after China, India, USA, Indonesia)
Currency : Real (R$) (BRL)
Drives : on the right
Internet TLD : .br
Calling code : +55

For more details on Independence, Politics, Geographic, Economy etc click here

Enough about the country.

(Google)

Brasil vs Holland - My preview

Tonight, Brasil will go against Holland for a place in this year World Cup semi final. The Dutch had a good tournament so far where they had won all their games. Personally, I don't find their wins been a convincing one so far. They rely too much on Robben to produce the kind of magic as the one he showed against the Slovakia in the quarterfinal match. Therefore, the Brasillian need to tie Robben movement and ensure that he will had a quiet game the whole of 90 minutes. That would be the job of the fullback, Maicon and Michel Bastos, as Robben normally operated from the flank - most of the time from the left side of the opposition. In this case, the job will be for Michel Bastos - although sometimes during the game Robben might switched side to the right (in this case it's Maicon's job).

Other threat to Brasil will be RVP (Robin Van Persie) who sometime could provide the magic that Robben does. He will be playing as a lone striker upfront. I believed, Lucio & Juan will be able to contain RVP throughout the match.

As for Brasil, I am hoping that Kaka, Robinho and Luis Fabiano could link up together and show the world their super-talented-skill to cut open the Dutch defence. It is a bit unfortunate to see Ramires suspended for accumulating 2 yellow cards. He would provide the lung-bursting-energy from the centre of the field to help the front 3 to cut open opposition defence. His energy will be missed.

Brasil always heavily dependent on their full back, Maicon & Michel Bastos, to push forward. However, in this game I believed the fullbacks need to be careful to not leaving to much gap at the back for the Dutch to exploit especially with the present of Robben. That would be devastating.

With the credential of both team and the superstars across their squad, I am fully expect a very good, fluent and competitive game to be on show tonight. May the better team win and hopefully it would be BRASIL.

V.I.V.A B.R.A.S.I.L


Note : I would love to see Robben in the Liverpool FC rank..

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME - THE LAST 16

(Wikipedia)

THE LAST 16

The World Cup 2010 had move to the last 16 round where the game is a 'kalah mati'. Some tournament big names had already when back home while some surprise team still carrying their flag in the last 16.

As I am typing this entry, the first 2 games had already being played :

Uruguay vs South Korea (full time result : 2-1 in favour of Uruguay)

USA vs Ghana (full time result : 1-2 in favour of Ghana after extra time)

Uruguay will meet Ghana, the sole survivor of the African team, in the quarterfinal.

Tonight, the giants on the European will clashed at Bloemfontein Stadium between Germany & England. May the best team win!

The other fixture that turn out to be mouth watering is the Spain vs Portugal. CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) is yet to shine and this games would be perfect for him. In the Spaniard camp, Torres is yet to show his best and struggled to shine as well. He's been overshadowed by the prolific David Villa who scored 3 goals so far.

Personally, I would expect Brasil to progress well to the final in which the only real obstacle is Holland awaiting in the quarterfinal should both team progress after the round of 16. Brasil had been drawn in the supposedly 'easier' half of the competition. The other half consists of Argentina, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal.. to name a few. Tough one!

The only real threat to Brasil in road to the final would be Holland, as mention above. Should Brasil get pass the Dutch, it would be Brasil's too lose on road to the final.

V.I.V.A B.R.A.S.I.L

Note : I think of another entry of the Vuvuzela..