Day 4 - Errores

Today there were crucial errors. Many of them. They are a part of football. We must not be scared of them, just willing to learn from them. I know I will.

#error1 - Ecuador vs Switzerland

The game was tied at 1-1, 90th minute. I looked at the clock, and thought,

‘I can sneak away here and bank the injury time into my sleep before the France v Honduras match. I won’t miss much.’

#error2

France vs Honduras

Again my unwise thoughts,

‘Since its cold and already 5am, I can lay down here on the couch, be warm, and not fall asleep. I’m match-fit now, I won’t miss anything’

#error3

Alejandro Sabella’s unwisely thought this time,

‘I can drop Higuain, because I have Messi. This will let me play 5 defenders, which will protect us on the counter-attack, and I’ll even drop Gago for Maxi because he plays for Boca and I don’t like them.’

Lastly #error5, which is in from Day 3 as I somehow forgot to make note of it,

Wayne Rooney thought,

‘I’ll take this corner, show them how its done’ 

Switzerland for me was a bit of a shock. For some reason I again held high hopes for Ecuador. I have done this a few times with either them or Paraguay and have been let down. But this time in South America, I thought they would comfortably win.

Switzerland beat Spain last World Cup, and have Otmar Hitzfeld as their coach. And it shows, they genuinely played some good football. They have some players who are also at big clubs. They have moved from light horse, to dark horse.

In the second match, Honduras proved they are definitely among the lightest horses in the Cup. And France, well, I can never shake the feeling that they are going to implode. Pogba almost did. He lashed out, and whilst it was more a swipe than a kick, Beckham saw red for less.  Much to my delight.

Benzema did look very good though, and he made a strong push for my team of Round 1. Would like to hear your nominations too. 

The story of the day though was always going to be about the strongest horse in the field. And in particular, the jockey of that horse.

I’m going to do a detailed analysis of La Seleccion for those that are interested. But for now, just a snippet. Just don't be the next person to ask why Tevez didn't get picked.

A game of two halves two halves, two Argentinas, two Messi’s. The second half one, fluid, swift, rhythmic and almost breathtaking. Still a couple of shades off what we were in qualifying.

The first half one, one dimensional, boring, safe, unimaginative, restricted. It was 45 minutes of stress and anxiety that took me 4 and half years closer to baldness. It was as if our only way to score was through Messi dribbling it from 30 or 40 metres through 8 players. Yes it's ironic that he did dribble it from that far in the 2nd half, but in my analysis I'll explain why and how he was able to do that in the 2nd half and not the 1st.

Either way, we have to get better. We have to be more of a team. Messi has to give more responsibility away to the team. He can't do it alone. No one ever did.

Not even Diego.

Having said all that, I was reminded by a gaffer of how we take his goals for granted. So true. It was some goal! Honda’s goal was half as special, but we are so accustomed to seeing it with Leo. And the outpour of emotion was special. I don’t think we can even imagine the amount of pressure on him over these last few months. I'm not sure a footballer has ever been under so much pressure coming into a World Cup.

Anyway, I’m so happy for the kid. But we must get better. VAMOS CARAJO!



Note: I've also changed the comments section so you don't need an account to comment below. Or on facebook. Either way, interested to hear others experiences and thoughts so far.