Netherlands v Argentina: their previous World Cup meetings

With the Albiceleste set to take on the Oranje in Qatar, we relive the best (and worst) from their previous showdowns The first World Cup meeting between the sides is not one Argentina will remember with fondness. They are ruthlessly torn apart in Gelsenkirchen by the brilliant Johan Cruyff-inspired Oranje, whose collective vision, movement and passing patterns are complemented by steely tackling and defensive discipline. Cruyff dances around the goalkeeper, Daniel Carnevali, to roll in the first after latching on to Johan Neeskens’s chipped pass; it is the defender Wim Rijsbergen’s crunching challenge that sets the platform for the attack. Ruud Krol soon rockets in the second from the edge of the area after a corner. In the second half, Cruyff whips an immaculate cross to the far post where Johnny Rep’s bullet header makes it 3-0. On the sidelines, the Netherlands manager, Rinus Michels, laughs, claps and rubs his hands with glee. In the last minute, after yet another fluent passing move, Wim van Hanegem’s close-range shot is beaten out by Carnevali, only for Cruyff to audaciously volley in from an angle. For a proud footballing nation such as Argentina it is particularly painful to be taught a lesson in such emphatic fashion. Total football; total domination. Continue reading...

Komentar

Posting Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

Wiegman’s Lionesses rekindle lost energy to fire spectacular comeback | Jonathan Liew

Gambar
Nations League victory against the Dutch arrives at the last despite a lack of clarity and brittleness creeping into the team They’ll always have Paris. Throughout this Nations League campaign this has been an England team fighting its own sense of entropy, still giving everything, still trying the same plans and processes in the hope that eventually something would click. And at 9.34pm on a briskly cold Wembley night, it finally did. Ella Toone’s injury-time goal earned England three points and kept their faintly glowing Olympic dream alive. But somehow it also did so much more. It breathed life into a team and a cycle, and a moment that for so much of the evening had felt like it was drawing to its natural conclusion provided a rousing encore to a cast preparing for its final curtain. There will be new challenges and new frontiers to conquer soon enough, a fresh set of European Championship qualifiers in the spring, but for now this iteration of the Lionesses still has tricks up
Baca selengkapnya

US owners understand profit but do they appreciate clubs’ tradition and values?

Gambar
Half of the Premier teams are part- or fully-owned by Americans or US companies. Fans’ suspicions are understandable * Sign up to Jonathan’s weekly newsletter here It’s just over a year since Gary Neville declared US owners of English soccer clubs “a clear and present danger to the pyramid and fabric of the game”. The comment provoked a furore but the former England full-back turned high-profile pundit was unrepentant, insisting that if profit is the priority, there are vital aspects of the roles of soccer clubs that risk being lost. The issue, clearly, is not restricted to US owners. It’s unlikely that anybody who is not a fan who takes over a club is going to be acting primarily in the best interests of the community it represents. But given half the 20 Premier League clubs (and seven of the 24 Championship clubs) are part- or fully-owned by Americans or US companies, and given the prevalence of private equity companies whose sole interest is short-term profit, it’s perhaps
Baca selengkapnya

‘Emotional’ Leah Williamson to make first England start in almost a year

Gambar
* Euro 2022-winning captain missed World Cup with ACL injury * Defender brings ‘flexibility in defence’, says Sarina Wiegman Sarina Wiegman has confirmed Leah Williamson will start for England against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday night in their second Euro 2025 qualifying group game. Williamson, the Euro 2022-winning captain, said she would be emotional at the Aviva Stadium when she steps out with England for the first time in almost a year, after she was sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament injury last April. Continue reading...
Baca selengkapnya