Bad Ref stories from the 70s (2 of 2)

If you watch or read any documentary on 1974 WC Final, you will see so much praise for Jack Taylor the referee of the game. He gave Netherlands a penalty in the 2nd minute before the ball touching any German player, and the game was at Munich. It was one of toughest decisions ever for a referee.

...... and by the way, it was the first penalty kick ever to be awarded in a WC Final.

Yet, he was not free of mistakes. When I got the game on video, and from what I read on the orange side, I was waiting to watch Johan Cruyff magic and Netherlands great team. I thought Netherlands dominated the game and was very unlucky to lose.

Well, never trust journalists : )
Netherlands and Cruyff were great as said, no doubt. However, German side deserved the victory 100%, and Beckenbauer was more than amazing. For me, he was the man of the match. Add to that, that the real score should not be 2-1, but 4-1 to Germany.

Jack denied a very clear goal. When you watch it, you think it was an offside. Even players didn't object much.



But, if you see replays, and pause the clip, you can see it was 100% correct goal that was disallowed.

Later, Dieter Muller was fouled inside the penalty box, I seen it again and again, and it was a penalty no doubt. Unfortunately, I could not find the video on YouTube.

What is different, however, for this German side, and in many great teams, is to keep focus, stay in control and play strong football, irregardless of bad decisions. This what made Germany World Cup hero in 1974.

You can name many other incidents, in such situations, when players started to lose nerves and focus, and start to do the silly stuff and cry after that.

Mr. bicycle kicks: KLAUS FISCHER

Mention bicycle kicks and you will hear the usual names: Hugo Sanchez, then, Marco Van Basten, Gianluca Vialli, Karl Heinz Rummenigge, Pele, then there are many regional players who master this especiality.

However, one of best ever players in bicycle kicks in the history of the game, is not very well known with that outside his country, Germany.

This photo talks about one of the most important moment in the 1982 World Cup, and the history of the game in general. It was the equalizer for Germany in 82 semi-final, when Germany came back from 1-3 to 3-3 before winning the penalties. It was called the "Battle of Seville".

The goal was wonderful to watch as a team work, though it was not the best bicycle kick that impress you. However, for sure it was the most important goal ever for Klaus.

Klaus starred in the 1970s and 1980s, he retired at 1988 after playing for Shalke, Koln and Bochum. He played for the national team from 1977 to 1982 scoring 32 international goals in just 45 games. He took important role in Germany 1978, 80 and 82 golden teams.

I watched few documentaries about German football in the 1970s, and every time, I come accross one of his wonderful bicycle kicks. Here are some:




This one is at age of 41 after his retirement


And what's crazy is this one, can you imagine at age of 60, what he can still do?

Super goals of the day

Both from midfield, one was a kick, and the other was a dribble

Chris Maguire from Iceland vs. Scotland in European Championship U-21


And Podolski vs. Kazakhstan

Why did Spain prevail?

Very deserved victory for Spain, without a single doubt.

There were one change in the lines-up for each team.
Loew had to play with Trochowski ahead instead of Thomas Mueller. It seems that Germany missed Mueller a lot. May be if he played, Spain still would outplay Germany, but he might be able to create a difference, which enables his team to steal a goal.

For Spain, Del Bosque finally dropped Fernando Torres and started with Pedro instead. That was a great decision, which refreshed the Spain forward a lot, and gave spaces and more spaces to his team. He is very good in taking positions.

What was very impressive for Spain is their midfield. They had great pressing against the German, closing any gap between players. Klose and Podolski were isolated from Oezil and Schweinsteiger. It was very different from what they faced vs. Argentina and England.

In addition Spain did their best game in keeping the ball, not losing it, and slowly and surely moving towards German field. It was clear that things will go well for Spain. Spanish midfielders and defenders played with great focus and experience, they were reading German players minds in anticipating every pass.

While I was watching the game today, I almost relived the 2006 Germany semi-final vs. Italy or 2008 semi-final vs. Turkey.
Geramny usually face a lot of trouble when they play against a team that moves slowly, but surely, with short passes mixed with individual skills and pressing on them.

Today, Spain did it with excellence.

The first half may be ended without many chances created for Spain. However, the navigation around German goal had a lot of threats, and at any moment, you would expect the goal is coming.

Spain dominating the midfield was not a surprise, but Germany not having lethal counter attacks, was the shocking one. They lost the integration between themselves, thanks to full concentration and pressing of Spanish players.

Xavi did a great game, and got player of the game. I was not sure who played best today, him or Puyol?
Puyol seemed always available at any German attack. Then, the way he scored his goal was fascinating. It was one of the best goals of the mondial.

Xavi was the star man – completing more passes than any other player, running a greater distance than any other player, dictating the game from the centre of midfield, and providing the assist for the goal.

Congratulations to Spain! A deserved win.
I think if Spain played with this style in the final, the whole of Spain will live in parties next Sunday.

This analysis is partially my own opinion, and partially summary of www.zonalmarking.com analysis.

Paul the octopus, the crazy soccer fan!

You read that right! Paul the OCTOPUS!

Paul is a British-born octopus who lives at the Oberhausen’s Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany. It was said that he had great ability to predict the winner for each game Germany is involved. Paul selects the winner of a match by picking a mussel treat from one of two glass boxes decorated with a country’s flag. He got it right for the five games Germany played so far.

And now, he predicted Spain! Which created big joy among Spain fans around the world.

but again, it turned out to be faked picture for the Spain pick lol

German Young Team

We all hear about the young German team. How young they are?
here you go:

Manuel Neuer ........................24
Philipp Lahm..........................26
Per Mertesacker .....................25
Arne Friedrich ........................31
Jerome Boateng ......................21
Sami Khedira ..........................23
Bastian Schweinsteiger ............25
Thomas Muller .......................20
Mesut Ozil .............................21
Mesut Podolski ......................25
Miroslav Klose .......................32
Subs: Marcell Jansen ..............24
Toni Kroos ............................20
Piotr Trochowski ...................26

i think it is a team to admire a lot. the question is, will tomorrow the young ages create issues against Spain, who got much more experience in handling big games?

Let's see, I think tomorrow will be a very tough game, for both sides.

The irony of Germany group

This group had one of biggest surprises in this World Cup, Serbia beating Germany with a deserved 1-0 victory. Yet, today we say that Germany became the first of its group and Serbia ended up the last.

Germany had a very good game with a great goal. Ghana is a wonderful team in 80 meters of the field. Problems start in getting the net in in the last 10 meters, and get the ball out in the first 10 meters. They keep making small stupid defence mistakes.



I was speaking to someone today telling him, that prediction game is very very difficult. It does not only depend on the power of each team. It depends on so many factors: the coach, the physical and psychological readiness of the teams, the seriousness of the team and the game. It also depends on the conditions of the game, was it the last or first game, and what happened in the previous games, in other words, in the importance of the game.

This is very old in the world of football, since 1950 WC, when USA beat England 1-0, but the intensity of the games, and the tactics made these differences much less, which means it is much more difficult to predict the games.

Yet, here is a surprise:
We are done with four groups, and I got the qualified teams 100% correct, perfect record so far.

Here are my previous prediction in a post dated 14 June

Teams in small videos

With the last night before the World Cup, here are little videos for some of the teams, each summarizes what's going on in that team

Argentina, the most mysterious team, craziness mixed with genius lol


Brasil, where individual skills mold into amazing team work


Spain, where short passes team work can penetrate any defence


Germany, where Germany seems to recharged its known power again


South Africa, even the poor performance might surprise you with WC fever


Paraguay, I expect surprises from them

Sorry Ballack, you won't play against us.

Ghanian federation apoligized to Michael Ballack after the bad tackly from the Ghanian player Kevin-Prince Boateng in a game between Chelsea and Portsmouth which will cause Ballack to miss the next world cup games.



"We are sorry that Michael Ballack cannot take part in the World Cup. He is well knowin in Ghana. We wish him all the best and hope that he can play again as soon as possible"

Few days earlier Boateng provided an apology
"All I can do is apologise, I was just too late and I hit him straight on. It looked stupid. I apologised to him twice on the field and now for a third time. I am sorry. It was not intentional."

Ballack seemed reluctant to accept the apology
"Of course I am angry and it is disappointing. I don't want to comment on it yet,When you get such a diagnosis just two or three weeks before a World Cup then it is bitter."

The irony that Germany and Ghana will face each others in the world cup in Group D. Kevin-Prince Boateng might be in Ghana team in world cup.

If he made it in the short-list of 23 players, he will face his brother Jerome Boateng who got the German nationality and plays for the German national team.