El Salvador: http://football-journey.com/
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Without Brazil the semi-finals lost
some of its shine, but there was nothing to be done. Italy and Poland
met for a second time this championship and expectations were quite
different: Italy was rapidly improving from match to match, Poland
seemingly reached its highest possible point. Italy had the edge for
two reasons: the first was having well rounded team, which found its
own chemistry and was classier anyway. The second reason was the
absent players: both teams had to be without key players – Gentile
and Boniek, both missing the match for having two yellow cards. To a
point, no really big deal, for surely Gentile would have been
attached to Boniek and more than likely destroyed his game. But Italy
had strong replacement for Gentile who in any case was not the
organizer of the team play. Boniek was a big loss for Poland, which
did not have another playmaker. True, Boniek was moved ahead in the
previous games and that was a result of another problem: Szarmach was
clearly out of form and Iwan got early injury. Suddenly, Poland had
attacking problems, which Boniek compensated for before, but now
there was nobody left. Lato was moved into his typical position in
the attacking line and Ciolek was replaced Boniek, but he was not the
needed playmaker. Bearzot worried about injuries as well –
Colovatti and Tardelli were under question after the match with
Brazil, but luckily for Bearzot both were fixed quickly and came on
the field. Bergomi, who replaced Gentile, was attached as a personal
marker to Lato – no matter what, Italy followed its iron strategy:
mark closely the opponent's star and only after that pay attention to
the other net. Defense first – and the initial Polish assault was
quickly neutralized. Italy showed teeth after that and it became
clear they were the stronger and much more dangerous team. Scoring
opportunities emerged.
nd
minute. The Italians more or less dominated the game, but Poland was
still dangerous, especially Lato, who had excellent match.
Unfortunately, there was little creativity in midfield and no matter
what Lato tried, it was humanly impossible for him to both organize
and finish attacks. Smolarek was nowhere to be seen, having his worst
match at this championship – he was substituted by Kusto in the
79th minute, perhaps too late.
Paolo Rossi scored in the 22nd minute. The Italians
more or less dominated the game, but Poland was still dangerous,
especially Lato, who had excellent match. Unfortunately, there was
little creativity in midfield and no matter what Lato tried, it was
humanly impossible for him to both organize and finish attacks.
Smolarek was nowhere to be seen, having his worst match at this
championship – he was substituted by Kusto in the 79th
minute, perhaps too late.
In the 74th minute Rossi
scored his second goal and the match was practically over – the
last minutes Italy obviously killed time, which the viewers naturally
disliked. Poland tried to the end, but there was no way to compensate
the absence of Boniek – in the second half the central defender
Zmuda moved ahead to help the midfielders, which was more than
risky, considering the lethal Italian strikers fed by Antognoni. Zoff
also had a fine day, saving dangerous shots, but Poland clearly did
not have smart enough player – traditionally, Zoff was shaky saving
long shots and no Polish player tested his weakness. Italy won and
rightly so 2-0 and reached the final. Perhaps the most important
aspect of this victory was that it came relatively easy and Italy
saved both physical and mental energy for the final.
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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