Brazil didn’t start the sixth World Cup in Sweden very well: on their first two matches they had defeated Austria 3-0 and tied 0-0 against England (this was the first goalless draw in a World Cup), and it came down to their last first round match where they were facing a strong USSR side that still had a chance at the quarterfinals.
Since the Brazilians had looked too convincing in the first two matches, the Brazilian coach put two new players that had not played the first matches on the team: the Botafogo striker Garrincha, who was already known for his incredible dribbling abilities, as well as a 17-year old striker from Santos, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, or rather, Pelé.
Although neither of the players scored, they were instrumental in giving Brazil a 2-0 victory against a stunned USSR team, where the captain, Igor Netto, later said that he was stunned at the Brazilians beautiful game.
And this match set the stage for what became a Brazilian theater of beautiful football, where players such as Garrincha, Vavá and most of all Pelé quickly became idols in Sweden. In the quarterfinals Brazil defeated Wales 1-0 on a lone goal by Pelé, and in the semi-final they trashed one of the best French sides in history (with thelegendary Just Fonaine, who became the most scoring player of the tournament, and until 2002 was still the most scoring player in history) 5-2, and again the 17-year old Pelé scored three goals.
Brazil was ready for the final where the entire world was eager to see this marvelous team!
In the meantime, the hosting Swedes had played well in solid victories against Mexico and Hungary and a tie against Wales in the first round. In the quarterfinal they defeated the USSR 2-0.
Not only benefitting from the home-advantage, Sweden also had a team of outstanding players, revolving around the AC Milan captain Nils Liedholm, the Roma striker Gunnar Nordahl (who had played in AC Milan for seven years, scoring 221 goals, and is still the second most scoring player in the history of AC Milan), as well as the ageing but legendary Gunnar Gren, who had played many years in Italy.
In spite of this, Sweden had during the tournament had some problems mobilizing its fans, who seemed to be rather indifferent to the home side’s results.
In the semi-final the Swedes played the defending world champions of West Germany. Finally the Swedish fans managed to get excited about their team, which played one of the most legendary matches in Sweden’s football history. Leading 2-1 Kurt Hamrin cemented the victory by scoring an extraordinary last goal in the 3-1 victory that took Sweden to the final (Kurt Hamrin, who the same year had changed from Padova to Fiorentina, and became one of the most scoring players in the history of the Serie A).
Sweden was excited to be playing the entertaining and popular Brazilians in the final!
It was the first World Cup final to be transmitted live on television, so millions were watching the match which started on a pitch that was wet from an entire day of rain, something that seemed to favour the home team. And when Nils Liedholm passsed through two weak Brazilian defenders after only four minutes, he seemed to confirm this as he brought Sweden ahead 1-0.
This was the first time that Brazil was losing during the entire tournament, and some people were wondering whether this would cause the South Americans to crash. But this didn’t prove the case, as the Brazilians were overly confident of their abilities. Garrincha seemed unstoppable on the Swedish left-hand defence: within half an hour Brazil went ahead 2-1 on two almost identical goals by Vavá, where he only had to push the ball in after flat crossing from Garrincha on the right.
Brazil was ahead by half-time, and second half was the moment of glory for the young wonder Pelé. Ten minutes into the second half he scored one of the most beautiful goals in a world cup final, when he received a high ball in the Swedish area, stopped it with his chest, and while rounding the Swedish defender, tipped the ball over the defender and smashing the ball into the net with a perfect volley.
Only thirteen minutes later, as the Brazilians were showing off their marvelous footballing skills, the legendary Mario Zagallo took advantage of a Swedish defensive mistake to make it 4-1 (Zagallo was in 1970 the first man ever to win the World Cup both as a player and a manager).
Sweden had been defeated, and it made no difference that Agne Simonsson scored for Sweden ten minutes before the end.
Only one minute from time, Pelé sealed his great performance to become a legend of football, by scoring the last goal of the final.
Brazil had won their first World Cup, in Europe, and to this day it is the only time a non-European side has won in Europe.
The World Cup in Sweden was surely the friendliest world cup, and the one that has been played with the best sportmanship. This was amply symbolized by the Swedish fans celebrating the Brazilian victory, and the Brazilian players thanking them by running a victory round with a giant Swedish flag.

Match Stats:
Brazil-Sweden 5-2
Goals: 0-1 Liedholm (4), 1-1 Vavá (9), 2-1 Vavá (30), 3-1 Pelé (55), 4-1 Zagallo (68), 4-2 Simonsson (80), 5-2 Pelé (89)

Brazil: Gilmar, D. Santos, N. Santos, Zito, Bellini, Orlando, Garrincha, Didí, Vavá, Pelé, Zagallo
Sweden: Svensson, Begmark, Axbom, Börjesson, Gustavsson, Parling, Hamrin, Gren, Simonson, Liedholm, Skoglund
Posted by El Erik at 15:54 8 comments: Links to this post Labels: 1958, Garrincha, Kurt Hamrin, Mario Zagallo, Pelé, Sweden, Sweden 1958, Sweden-Brazil, Vavá, world championship, World cup 1958, World cup final 1958, World cup history

The beach ball goal

I was in a pub in Århus, casually, and started watching the Premier League match between Sunderland and Liverpool. Not long into the match, saw one of the strangest goals I have seen: Glen Johnson shot on goal for Sunderland, and a beach ball that had been thrown onto the pitch got in the way of the ball, changing its trajectory into Liverpool's goal.
Considering that Liverpool lost 1-0, this goal is of great importance (and forget that Liverpool was quite bad - nobody will remember that - only the goal!) for a Liverpool team that is probably not going to win the Premier League this season. The referee has been critiziced for allowing the goal, but the rules are not clear.
What a strange goal!
Posted by El Erik at 11:35 No comments: Links to this post Labels: beach ball, best goals, football debate, Glen Johnson, Liverpool, Premier League, rules, Sunderland

Ghana World Champions 2009! I lived in Ghana for many years, and it is with happy nostalgia that I have seen that the Ghana U20 team has won the 2009 U20 World Cup in Egypt, by defeating Brazil in the final, 4-3 after penalty kicks! This is the first time ever an African team wins this tournament, and breaks eight years of South American dominance in the tournament, although Ghana was also in the final in 1993, losing to Brazil, and in 2001 (in fact defeating Brazil in the quarterfinals), losing 3-0 to an outstanding Argetninean side in the final.
But Ghana are now World Champions!!!!!
In most of Europe the Cup has had very limited interest, which just shows that Europe has little interest in the stars of the future, beyond the ones they can pay millions to get outside Europe.
And this is a pity, as the U20 World Cup in Egypt has been excellent, and I do not believe the significance of Ghana's victory should be underestimated: after an outstanding 2006 World Cup (when I happily lived in Ghana), Ghana has now qualified for the 2010 World Cup as well. With players in the best European league, a strong domestic league, outstanding youth-talent, and what is arguably the best and most professional football organisation in all of Africa, Ghana has really become the only serious contender for being Africa's first World Champion.
It will be a long road to travel, but Ghana has taken a first step, and I am celebrating with all wonderful people of Ghana! Posted by El Erik at 05:19 2 comments: Links to this post Labels: Africa, Brazil, Egypt 2009, FIFA youth world cup, Ghana, Ghanaian football, U-20 World Cup, world championship, World Cup

Greatest World Cup matches: West Germany-Hungary (1954)

A very confident Hungarian side ran on the pitch in Berne for the 1954 World Cup final in Berne, Switzerland: they had not lost a match in four years, and in the four previous matches to reach the final had scored a staggering 25 goals, among them, an 8-3 victory against the other finalists, West Germany, in the first round of the tournament.
In that match the Germans, under the legendary coach Sepp Herberger, had nevertheless lined almost only substitute, not wanting to face Brazil in the quarterfinals, and also played a harsh match to injure the biggest Hungarians stars, notably Ferenc Puskas, who was unable to play until the final.
The Uruguayans in the semifinal had also shown that the mighty Hungarians could be shaken by strong fight and a solid defense, so the Germans went into the final as confident underdogs, willing to play their chance, after defeating Yugoslavia 2-0 in the quarterfinals, and destroying their Austrian brethren 6-1 in the semifinal. Among the German stars were the captain Fritz Walter, the legendary Nüremberg striker Max Morlock, and the striker Helmuth Rahn, who was only called up by Sepp Herberger after the tournament had started.
The Hungarians decided to line up a not wholly recovered Ferenc Puskas for the final, which demanded some changes in a team that until then had been quite solid, but may have proven fatal seen in hindsight against a very solid German team.
However, none of this seemed to matter as the match (which was the first World Cup final that was transmitted live on TV) started: within eight minutes Hungary was up 2-0 on goals by Ference Puskas and Zoltán Czibor, the second goal being a huge mistake by the German goalkeeper Toni Turek.
The Hungarian goals just seemed to make the Germans better though. Within ten minutes Max Morlock and Helmuth Rahn had brought balance to the match, and the Germans dominated the rest of the first half, and things were looking good for the Germans, although nobody really thought that the Hungarians could lose!
Hungary did attack feverishly in the second half, but the Germans defended heroically, and in particular Toni Turek seemed impenetrable on the goal.
Only six minutes before the end of the match Helmuth Rahn received a return ball at the edge of the German area, made one quick move around a Hungarian defender and shot hard and flat towards the lower right goal-corner.
The German commentators screams of “TOOOOOR!” are legendary among commentators.
This remains one of the most legendary goals in German history, as it gave the West Germans the impossible victory against Hungary.
The victory meant a lot for Germans, who had been stigmatised after WWII (they had not even been allowed to participate in the 1950 World Cup), but this gave them something to be proud of, and came to symbolize the recovery of a nation. It was recreated in a 2003 German movie with huge success, “Das Wunder von Bern” (“The Miracle of Bern”).
Germany has since remained one of the mightiest football nations in the world.
The situation was completely different for the Hungarians. The Hungary team of 1954 is arguably one of the best teams in the history of football, and surely the best team never to become world champion. Many of the players from the team had many excuses after the match, from a bad referee (who had disallowed a Puskas-goal for off-side in the dying second of the match), to drugs and black magic.
But truth is that on the day, the German fighting spirit was the best, something that is surely more important to win a World Championship.
The Hungarian “Dream Team” was soon to be dissolved because of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, when most of the players went into exile, such as Kocsis, Puskas, Czibor. Hungarian football, that gave the world such a team, never really recovered from these events.

West Germany-Hungary 3-2Goals: 0-1 Puskas (6), 0-2 Czibor (8), 1-2 Morlock (10), 2-2 Rahn (18), 3-2 Rahn (84)

West Germany: Turek, Posipal, Kohlmyer, Eckel, Liebrich, Mai, Rahn, Morlock, O. Walter, F. Walter, Scäfer
Hungary: Grosics, Buzanszky, Lantos, Boszik, Lorant, Zakarias, Puskas, Kocsis, Hidegkuti, Czibor, J. Toth
Posted by El Erik at 15:52 5 comments: Links to this post Labels: Ferec Puskas, Fritz Walter, Germany, Hungary, Hungary-West Germany, Sepp Herberger, Switzerland 1954, Uwe Rahn, West Germany, World Cup 1954, World cup history

Denmark to South Africa: wrap up group 1 Denmark's last match against Hungary was a quite pathetic 0-1 loss (in fact, the first world cup qualifying defeat in Copenhagen since 1981....), but didn't mean anything because of Denmark's 1-0 victory against Sweden last Saturday, that had already given the Danes their ticket to South Africa next year.Denmark was an unfancied team before the qualfiers, and I think everyone, including Danes, would have put their bets on Portugal and Sweden, who have nevertheless trailed the Danes: Sweden was defeated twice, and Portugal only managed one tie with the well-organised Danes.
Because that is what can be said about the Danish team: they fight with spirit, are well-organised, and cold-blooded in the important situations - they follow their luck, and thus are deserved winners of the group.
That said, the Danish team still lacks stars, and when they play bad (like they did tonight, or recently against Albania), they play awfully, something that they can ill-afford in South Africa. However, one of the main reasons they have qualified is that they have been favoured by hugely disappointing opponents in the qualifiers: Portugal is surely a better team than Denmark, but have as usual been arrogant and lacked a fighting spirit that can still cost them their qualification in their coming play-off match.
I am sorry for Sweden, but they have simply been awful, and I really think that this must be the worse team in Swedish history; the players are not that bad, but they play primitively and predictable football, with high balls up to Ibrahimovic, who in spite of his stardom in his clubs, seems to be no particular asset when the tactics are so predictable. Sweden will not be missed in South Africa.
Anyway, Denmark will not be world champions. Depending on the draw, they may struggle to progress from the first round, but on the other hand, the comforting thought for a Danish fan is that the Danes seem to perform best when faced against outstanding opponents, but disappoint against smaller teams. I certainly hope it is the former that they will take with them to South Africa!
Posted by El Erik at 05:55 4 comments: Links to this post Labels: Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, South Africa 2010, Sweden, World Cup 2010, World cup qualifiers

Uruguay versus Argentina

This evening Uruguay and Argentina are facing each other in Montevideo, Uruguay for the final qualifying match of the South American World Cup qualifying group. Uruguay is currently on fifth place, one point behind Argentina on the fourth place, which qualifies directly to South Africa. Therefore, Uruguay needs a victory, while Argentina is not necessarily sure of keeping its fourth place with a tie, as Ecuador could theoretically pass them with a victory against Chile. Still, considering the Chile-Ecuador match, Uruguay is still in danger of being completely eliminated; a fifth place (for Argentina, Uruguay or Ecuador) will give a play-off match against either Honduras or Costa Rica.
Everything is neverthless at play for Argentina and Uruguay, two giants of world football, who are also the two countries that have faced one another the most times in history. This will be their 198th official encounter since their first one in 1902, and Argentina has won 87 times, 51 have been ties, and Uruguay has won 59 times.
Many of their encounters have been important matches, such as Copa America finals, Olympic matches (the most notable being the one in 1928, when Uruguay won gold in the final against Argentina), and World Cup matches - most notably the final of the 1930 World Cup that Uruguay won at home in the very same stadium where the match will be played this evening.
Be sure that it will be another drama!
Vamos Argentina!!!!
Posted by El Erik at 17:30 1 comment: Links to this post Labels: Argentina, Ecuador, football history, history, South Africa 2010, statistics, Uruguay, Uruguay-Argentina, World Cup 2010, World cup qualifiers

Happy like a Christmas Chicken

I am happy like a Christmas Chicken that Denmark qualified for the World Cup in South Africa after a deserved 1-0 victory against a very poor Swedish side in Copenhagen. Cheers!
Posted by El Erik at 23:33 2 comments: Links to this post Labels: "no life", Denmark, Denmark-Sweden, football fanatic, South Africa 2010, Sweden, World Cup 2010, World cup qualifiers

Greatest World Cup matches: Hungary-Uruguay (1954) On Saturday the two viking nations of Denmark and Sweden are facing one another in an all-important World Cup qualifier in the European qualifier group 1. Denmark is leading the group with 18 points, three more than Sweden on second place (and with Portugal and Hungary on third and fourth place respectively, with 13 points each).
Two points in the last two matches against Sweden and Hungary are thus enough for Denmarj to qualify for South Africa: If Denmark defeats Sweden the last match against Hungary. A tie will also be good for Denmark, although they will then have to avoid losing to Hungary.
Sweden needs a victory, but that may not prove enough in case Denmark defeats Hungary, as Denmark has a better goal difference than the Swedes, who are therefore called to attack.

Earlier in the qualifiers, Denmark defeated Sweden 1-0 in Stockholm, in a match where the Swedes were pathetically bad, more than the Danes being good. Both teams are similar in the sense that they rely on solid organisation, tactical discipline and strong physique to level their lack of footballing skills. The only superstar of either team is FC Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic who on the national team has not really been any good, without quality players to play behind him. However, be sure that with their back against the wall the Swedes will fight for their victory, while the Danes have to perform much better than their pathetic performance against Albania in their last qualifiers.

Added to the importance of the match, there is the traditional between the neighboring countries. This match will in fact be the match number 101 between the two nations since their first encounter in 1913 (which Denmark won 8-0!). The encounter number 100 was the one Denmark won in Stockholm, but the teams have also had some excellent encounter lately, notably a Euro 2008 qualifier in Copenhagen in June 2007, which at the score 3-3 was stopped when a drunken Danish "roligan" attacked the referee, and Sweden was subsequently awarded a 3-0 victory by UEFA.
All in all the record is of 37 victories for Denmark, 45 victories for Sweden, and 18 ties, with a score of 182-165 in Sweden's favour, but I certainly hope that the record will improve in Denmark's favour on Saturday!
Go Denmark!!!!!!!
Posted by El Erik at 05:41 No comments: Links to this post Labels: Denmark, football history, South Africa 2010, statistics, Sweden, Sweden-Denmark, World Cup 2010, World cup qualifiers

Pelé versus Obama

Last week Rio de Janeiro was awarded the hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games in a close contest with Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago. All countries had brought leaders and celebrities to Copenhagen to promote their bids. The US President Barack Obama even came to promote Chicago, that nevertheless, to many people's surprise, were the first to be eliminated.
Prior to the decision, Pelé had said about the presence of the US president: "If they have Obama, we have Pelé."
Of course!!!! I would much rather meet Pelé (although I would probably not vote for him): Pelé is a King, a Legend, a living Star!!! In comparison to that, Obama is just another mediocre salesman.
I am personally delighted Pelé and Rio de Janeiro won.
Posted by El Erik at 17:33 2 comments: Links to this post Labels: "football reflections", "no life", Barack Obama, football fanatic, Olympic games, Olympics, Pelé, Rio de Janeiro

Monday, October 05, 2009

Viva Sevilla

Real Madrid had started the Spanish season with five consecutive victories before yesterday's match against Sevilla, just as the defending champions of FC Barcelona, and I think that most outside observers of Spanish football considered that the Spanish league will be a question of FC Barcelona versus Real Madrid, and all other teams are just to be observers. However, this clearly ignores that FC Barcelona has been as awesome as last season (they have still won all their matches after defeating Almería this weekend), and that Real Madrid, in spite of its victories, has not really gotten its game flowing, while other teams are strong too.
One of the teams that is to try to bid for the title, Sevilla, played Real Madrid last night. Before today's match Sevilla had only lost one match (on opening day to Valencia), but had since won everything. And last night they continued on their winning streak while stopping Real Madrid's, when winning 2-1, on goals by and outstanding Jesús Navas and Renato, taking the second spot in the league behind Barcelona.
Real Madrid reminds of the "Galacticos"-team: Full of stars who don't really play together, and thus entirely dependent on one star doing something spectacular. One of these stars, Cristiano Ronaldo, was not playing last night, and a continuosuly shaky defense was only saved by the world class goalkeeper Iker Casillas, without whom Real Madrid could have suffered a huge defeat.
There is only one team in Spain, FC Barcelona, and they are the team to beat - not Real Madrid.
Posted by El Erik at 10:12 No comments: Links to this post Labels: FC Barcelona, Iker Casillas, Jesus Navas, la liga, Real Madrid, Renato, Sevilla, Spanish football, Spanish league

Good Brøndby victory

The last seasons have been quite disappointing for any fan of Brøndby. Living abroad much of the time I have only followed indirectly, but have been disappointed to see Brøndby defeated and far away from the Danish title, but entered this season full of perhaps vain hope. Until now, Brøndby has been wavering, much as many of the other teams in the Danish league, where the top seven teams are within five points of each other within the first ten rounds.
Last weekend Brøndby was destroyed 4-1 by one of the positive surprises of the Danish league this season, Silkeborg IF, who nevertheless should never be so much better than Brøndby.
Today Brøndby played FC Nordsjælland - not a top team but nevertheless with some very good players. I had a careful optimism and hope of a narrow victory, but was delighted to see an enterntaining match where Brøndby's strikers, who have been rather disappointing, finally struck: Morten Duncan Rasmussen scored four goals, and Brøndby carried away a victory of 6-3, giving hope again that the team may be strong enough to compete for the title.
Brøndby are now on third place, two points behind Esbjerg of first spot, and equal to FC Copenhagen.
[null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://footballfanaticos.blogspot.com/2009/10/", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hsGi4jKpNHM/Stsl6qwzL2I/AAAAAAAAAEU/Sn-W40ha9jY/s200/IMG_1025.JPG", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hsGi4jKpNHM/Stsl6qwzL2I/AAAAAAAAAEU/Sn-W40ha9jY/s200/IMG_1025.JPG", "formatted_filename": "IMG"}, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://footballfanaticos.blogspot.com/2009/10/", "unformatted_src": "http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2505/3716626315_de3b10644b_b.jpg", "src": "http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2505/3716626315_de3b10644b_b.jpg", "formatted_filename": "de b b b"}, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://footballfanaticos.blogspot.com/2009/10/", "unformatted_src": "http://soccerblogs.net/images/soccer_blogs_120x30.png", "src": "http://soccerblogs.net/images/soccer_blogs_120x30.png", "formatted_filename": "soccer blogs", "alt_text": "Listed on Soccer Blogs", "rendered_width": 120, "rendered_height": 30}]