“ITALY” Defenders of the World

Undeniably, this World Cup has been one of defenses. Here is what tips you off—it was the second lowest scoring cup on record, second to 1990; moreover, Germany 2006 now has the record for the most cards ever shown in a World Cup.

This means that the team that sports the best defense would come out on top. In this instance, Italy gave up only two goals in Germany. Irrespective of how many they scored, which was upwards of twelve, success came their way.

There is no argument to deny that Italy is equipped to win this type of Cup. My question is, “Why would teams like France and Brazil, who are more equipped to win cups, geared toward offensive movement, allow them to get suckered into playing defensive soccer?”

A few of the great coaches of the world were hypnotized into thinking that this was the way to go—horrible miscalculations to think that you can walk into a spider’s web and fight the spider.

I rarely agree with Tommy Smyth, ESPN pundit, and all around old geezer, but when he made the inflammatory statement, “The Greeks killed football,” I can see that success for the Cinderella Greeks in Euro 2004, reeling off 1-0 defensive wins one after the other, all the way to the finals, would make any coach reconsider his game plan. 

So, we are left with the best defensive team in the world and everyone else trying to match their goal strangling prowess. Normally you would drink champagne from this Cup, but this year they should fill it with gruel. 

Class work for the Italians, for the other teams of the Cup leave the web spinning to spiders, and if you are a cheetah take your fights to the open plains.

All Smiles on the Field,

Kamal de Gregory
Soccer Luminary
4skills.com