2012 has passed… this is a way to remind me to always be grateful..
Latest
Radja Nainggolan, Belgium’s rough diamond
If you know how many Belgium players who played in European top leagues, you’ll be amazed.. Not just Eden Hazard, who recently bought by Chelsea, Belgium has Thibault Courtois (Atletico Madrid’s keeper who won Europa League 2012), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City’s Captain), Jan Vertonghen (just moved to Tottenham Hotspurs), Marouane Fellaini (Everton), Steven Defour (Porto), Axel Witsel (Benfica), until young prospective talent like Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos) and Dries Mertens (PSV Eindhoven).
One of the players that caught my mind is Radja Nainggolan. I must admit one of the reason is he has Indonesian descent, his father is from Indonesia (Batak) while his mother is a Belgian. Radja starts to attract Indonesian Media’s as an Indonesian descent player who played in Serie A Italia. Previously, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto has played for Sampdoria. But Radja shows something more, he established himself as one of the key player for Cagliari. This video shows some of Radja’s actions.
Radja was born in Antwerp 4th May 1988 and by the age of 12 years old he joined local team, Germinal Beerschot. He spend 5 season in Beerschot before moving to Piacenza by the age of 17! I think it was a bold move, decide to move in very early stage of your career, but in the end it was the right decision for him. Radja spent 2 season in beretti team before played in Piacenza senior team.
Radja’s debut in Italy was in season 2007 -2008 with he ended up gave 10 performance for the whole season. In the next season, 2008-2009, he played in 38 match for Piacenza with 3 goals and 4 assists, proving that he could become a regular player by the age of 20 years old. 2009-2010 season could be an important remarks for Radja, as he moved to Cagliari on the second half of the season (winter transfer). Whether it is coincidence or not, by end of 2010-2011 without Radja, Piacenza was relegated from Serie B.
Radja’s debut in Serie A was during Inter vs Cagliari in 7th February 2010 and it was Massimiliano Allegri who allowed Radja to played (and now Allegri is the Milan’s coach). During 2010-present, Cagliari might be end up as mid table club, however Radja’s performance keeps on improving every season.
Radja’s statistic summary 2010-2011 according to http://www.whoscored.com. He ranked in 105th with average rating 6.82, 2 goals and 1 assist.
now let’s see the last season (2011-2012)
Radja appeared in 37 match (only miss 1 match), he scored 1 goals and provided 2 assists (not far difference with 2010-2011 season) but his average rating improved to 7.01, and he jumped to rank 45th! So in which areas Radja has improved?
Defense
Radja improved a lot in tackles per game, jumped from 3.3 to 3.9 tackles per game, a very crucial attribute for defensive midfielders (he even became top 5 players in Serie A for most tackle per game during last season). To add up, his interception increased from 2.3 to 2.5 per game while his fouls decreased from 2.2 to 1.9 per game (Radja’s becoming smarter in deciding when to tackle and avoiding fouls).
Offensive
In offensive, Radja improved almost in all areas. He shot more (1.2 to 1.7 shots per game), passed more (1.2 to 1.7 key passes per game) and dribbled more (0.9 to 1.3 dribble per game). A quite impressing improvement for a defensive midfielder, which not just improved in defensive qualities but also in offensive qualities.
Passing
Radja gave more pass (43.7 to 44.8 pass per game) with increase accuracy (81.5 to 85.6% pass accuracy). Radja has become more complete player, able to defense and offense with good passing. This next table sums it all
Radja is third best player in Cagliari! He has transformed becoming one of the key player of his team. And he is still 24 years old and got room for improvement. These short statistics probably explains why Radja is one of the target for top clubs (e.g. Juventus). Rumour has it that his price tag is around 18-20 million euros.
As who scored explains, Radja’s strenghts are concentration, tackling and ball interception. He usually played as box to box midfielder, but personally I think he is capable to become a regista (depends on his coach’s decision though). For me, I think Radja is an upgraded version of Edgar Davids and he still could improved more!
The choice is now in Cagliari and Radja, to move to bigger clubs will give Radja’s opportunity to play in European league and exposure to play with top players. But if he stays in Cagliari, Radja could shine more in the future and Cagliari will have the benefits of an prospective defensive midfielder.
(thanks to http://www.whoscored.com for the statistics)
Menikmati salah satu festival musik terbesar di Eropa
Ketika tersiar kabar bahwa Java Rocking Land tahun ini dibatalkan dan salah satu alasannya adalah tentang persaingan dengan summer festival di Eropa, saya hanya tersenyum kecil. Alasan yang sangat logis bagi saya mengingat banyaknya summer festival di Eropa. Waktu summer yang cukup panjang (Juni – Agustus) ditambah panjangnya waktu siang di Eropa (matahari terbenam biasanya pukul 10 malam waktu setempat), sudah menjadi alasan untuk promotor Eropa untuk menjaring penonton potensial mereka. Hal ini bisa terlihat dengan banyaknya summer festival musik yang cukup besar setiap minggunya. Diawali dengan Rock in Rio Lisboa akhir Mei, lalu Rock Im Park di Jerman awal Juni, sampai Sziget festival di Hungaria awal Agustus. Di Belgia sendiri, selain Rock Werchter yang konon menjadi festival terbesar, juga ada Pukkelpop (Foo Fighters, Bjork dan Stone Roses), Lokerse Festival (Beach Boys, Suede, Black Box Revelation), Les Ardentes (Marilyn Manson, Morrissey, 50 Cent), Graspop Metal (Ozzy & Friends, Limp Bizkit, Guns N’Roses) dan masih banyak lagi.
Diselenggarakan pada 28 Juni – 1 Juli, Rock Werchter sendiri diklaim sebagai salah satu festival musik terbesar di Eropa. Terlihat dari habisnya tiket untuk hari Minggu dalam satu hari (walaupun penjualan pre-sale tiket sudah dibuka dari 4 bulan sebelumnya), pihak promotor sendiri melalui website resmi menyatakan bahwa total untuk tahun ini, Rock Werchter telah mendatangkan 340 ribu orang selama 4 hari festival. Saya sendiri sudah commit untuk hadir dalam 4 hari tersebut, berhubung lokasi juga dekat dengan Leuven, tempat tinggal saya selama setahun ini.
Rock Werchter sudah berlangsung mulai dari tahun 1974, dan diadakan di sebuah pedesaan yang memang bernama Werchter, dimana lokasinya sendiri mungkin sekitar satu jam dari Brussels. Sebagai warga Indonesia, tentu saja secara tidak langsung saya membandingkan Rock Werchter dengan beberapa festival yang pernah saya tonton, seperti Java Rocking Land dan Soundrenaline. Rock Werchter sendiri menurut saya lebih dekat ke Soundrenaline, dimana line up nya cukup variatif dan berusaha menjaring seluruh genre musik (mulai dari Regina Spektor, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers sampai Skrillex dan Steve Aoki).
Hari 1
Stasiun bus Leuven tampak dipenuhi berbagai orang, mulai dari remaja tanggung, anak-anak muda memanggul carrier, sampai bapak-bapak yang mungkin bisa seumur dengan ayah saya. Panitia sendiri menyediakan bus dari Werchter – Leuven – Werchter mulai dari siang sampai jam 3 pagi! Perjalanan bus sendiri memakan waktu sekitar 30 menit. Turun dari bus, ternyata lokasi festival sendiri berjarak 1.5 KM dari lokasi bus, dengan cuaca yang saat itu bersuhu 39 derajat celsius, saya serasa kembali ke Jakarta, berjalan menuju lokasi festival di Ancol.
Suasana antrian masuk pun terlihat ramai, mungkin karena hari pertama dibukanya festival, dimana penjagaan dilakukan secara 2 lapisan. Lapisan pertama mengecek barang bawaan dan keamanan, sementara lapisan kedua mengecek keabsahan tiket dan pemberian gelang pengenal bagi tiap penonton.
Setelah gerbang masuk, maka terlihat lah main stage dari Rock Werchter yang dibangun di sebuah ladang pertanian yang cukup besar.
Panggung Rock Werchter sendiri terdiri dari 3 stage, main stage, pyramid marquee (atas) dan the barn (bawah). Selain main stage, dua panggung lainnya dibangun dari tenda besar sehingga terkesan semi indoor.
Dengan area yang begitu luas, pihak promotor Rock Werchter sendiri cukup menyediakan fasilitas pendukung yang cukup bagus, dimulai dari stand makanan-minuman yang tersebar di 6 titik berbeda, toilet umum yang tersebar dimana-mana, areal untuk duduk-duduk di ladang yang begitu luas, sampai tempat pengunjung untuk mencharge handphone dan locker penyimpanan barang berharga. Yang menarik, pengunjung di dorong untuk mengumpulkan sampah plastik mereka sendiri, dimana 20 botol plastik dapat ditukarkan dengan 1 kupon minuman ringan. Hal menarik lainnya adalah tissue resmi festival yang menggambarkan logo dari seluruh performer di Rock Werchter.
Hari pertama, line up terdiri dari The All American Rejects, Bombay Bicycle Club, Garbage, The Kooks, Blink-182, The Cure, Justice sampai Skrillex. Berhubung banyak jadwal penampilan yang bersinggungan, saya memilih untuk menyaksikan Blink-182 dan The Cure.
Blink-182 dijadwalkan mulai perform jam 19.30, namun karena sedang musim panas, maka cuaca sendiri masih terang dan cukup panas. Setelah kembali reuni di 2009 dan menelurkan album Neighbourhood, saya sendiri cukup menantikan penampilan dari mereka.
Dibuka dengan Feeling This, Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus dan Travis Barker langsung menggebrak main stage dari Rock Werchter. Secara fisik, Tom terlihat sedikit chubby dan sempat kedodoran di beberapa lagu, sebaliknya Travis terlihat kurus di balik set drum nya. Justru Mark Hoppus yang terlihat atraktif di panggung, berlarian kesana kemari dan menyapa penonton dengan ramah. Total 18 lagu mereka mainkan, dengan hits What’s my age again, Man Overboard, The Rock Show, dan All The Small Things tak lupa mereka bawakan. Yang menarik tampak seorang gadis kecil yang dengan santai duduk di pinggir panggung dan menonton mereka main. Ternyata gadis tersebut adalah Alabama, anak dari Travis Barker.
The Cure menjadi salah satu band yang saya tunggu, terlebih mengingat mereka sebagai salah satu pelopor Brit Music. Mark Hoppus tampak cukup bangga sepanggung dengan The Cure, terlihat dari tweet yang ia tulis sebelumnya. The Cure dijadikan headline utama di hari pertama, perform di main stage mulai jam 11 malam. Yang menarik ketika saya menoleh ke sekitar saya, banyak sekali pria dan wanita yang mungkin sudah seumur orang tua saya. Sembari tersenyum kecil, saya melanjutkan melihat Robert Smith dkk membawakan 23 lagu hits mereka, seperti Lovesong, Just Like Heaven, Picture of You, Lullaby dan tak lupa anthem mereka Friday I’m in Love dan Boys don’t cry saat encore. Walaupun sudah berumur, vokal Robert Smith masih sangat terjaga dan bassist Simon Gallup yang terlihat lebih atraktif dibanding personel lainnya.
Hari 2
Line up hari kedua terdiri dari Temper Trap, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, Mastodon, Pearl Jam sampai Deadmau5. Suhu udara di venue sendiri turun drastis, dari 39 derajat celsius hari sebelumnya menjadi 25 derajat celsius. Tampaknya cuaca sudah kembali ke normal, pikir saya. Memang cukup normal di Belgia, ketika matahari tampak berlindung di balik awan pada saat musim panas.
Saya cukup antusias untuk menonton Temper Trap, terlebih mereka baru saja merilis album kedua mereka di akhir Mei. Dibuka dengan London’s burning, lalu dilanjutkan dengan Need Your Love, dan Love Lost, para penonton pun cukup antusias menyambut mereka, terlihat dari mereka bergoyang dan bernyanyi bersama. Saya sendiri cukup terpukau dengan kualitas vokal Dougy Mandagi, yang sekilas secara fisik mirip B’jah, yang cukup terjaga dan mampu menjangkau nada-nada tinggi tanpa terpeleset sedikit pun. Dougy sendiri cukup atraktif, khususnya di Drum Song, dimana ia juga memainkan Drum set yang terpisah. Penampilan Temper Trap sendiri ditutup dengan hits mereka Sweet Disposition, dimana stage the Barn sendiri hampir bergetar karena lompatan dan suara penonton yang bernyanyi bersama.
Di sela-sela menunggu penampilan Pearl Jam, saya menyempatkan menonton dEUS. dEUS merupakan band lokal Belgia yang sudah didirikan tahun 1991, sudah cukup lama apalagi setelah melihat penonton yang bergoyang dan bernyanyi bersama rata-rata lebih tua dibanding saya.
Pearl Jam menjadi headline di panggung utama hari kedua ini. Lebih dari 90 menit penampilan mereka dengan total 23 lagu mereka bawakan. Eddie Vedder, walaupun tampak beruban, namun tetap prima kualitas vokalnya. Sementara Stone Gossard dan Mike McCready membuktikan bahwa merekalah nyawa dari musik Pearl Jam melalui riff-riff gitar mereka. Dibuka dengan Do the evolution dari album Yield, Pearl Jam membawakan hits-hits mereka seperti Given to fly, World Wide Suicide, Daughter, Jeremy, Better Man. Yang menarik di encore mereka membawakan Rockin in the free world, cover lagu dari Neil Young sebelum ditutup dengan Yellow Ledbetter sebagai pamungkas konser mereka.
Hari 3
Line up hari ketiga diisi oleh Black Box Revelation, Wolfmother, Kasabian, Mumford and Sons, Incubus, M83, Regina Spektor, dan Editors. Sekilas sempat menonton Wolfmother, tampaknya animo penonton sedikit lebih baik pada waktu di Java Rocking Land dibanding yang saya tonton di sini.
Kasabian menjadi tujuan saya berikutnya, band rock alternatif asal Inggris ini membuka penampilan mereka dengan Days are forgotten dan Velociraptor yang diambil dari album terbaru mereka Velociraptor. Tom Meighan sebagai vokalis cukup interaktif dengan penonton, bahkan ia sempat meminta penonton duduk sementara ia bernyanyi sembari terlentang di panggung. Kasabian menutup penampilan mereka dengan hits Fire, yang menjadi theme song dari Barclay’s Premier League (liga sepakbola inggris)
Setelah itu saya menyempatkan untuk menonton band shoegazing M83. Penampilan mereka dibuka ketika vokalis/gitaris Anthony Gonzalez mengenakan topeng dan berjalan menuju panggung. Setelah itu mereka menggebrak dengan hits Midnight City yang cukup familiar di antara penonton. Penampilan M83 cukup menghibur malam itu, terlebih ketika beberapa personilnya Yann Gonzales dan Morgan Kibby sempat bertukar instrumen pada beberapa lagu. Sebagai satu-satunya personil perempuan di band tersebut, penampilan vokalis/keyboardist Morgan Kibby cukup menarik perhatian. Ditambah dengan lighting panggung yang cukup menarik, penampilan M83 pada malam itu cukup menghibur penonton.
Malam itu saya tutup dengan menonton penampilan Incubus di indoor panggung the Barn. Panggung sendiri sudah cukup penuh setengah jam sebelum penampilan mereka. Tepat pukul 23.30, Brandon Boyd dan kawan-kawan membuka penampilan mereka dengan lagu cover dari Black Sabbath War Pigs. Brandon Boyd mungkin salah satu dari sedikit vokalis yang berprinsip jangan pernah menyelesaikan pertunjukan dengan baju lengkap. Memasuki lagu ketiga, Megalomaniac, ia pun membuka kaosnya dan para penonton wanita pun semakin bergemuruh. Megalomaniac sukses membuat panggung bergetar. Total 14 lagu mereka bawakan dalam kurun waktu sejam, termasuk di antaranya Pardon Me, Anna Molly, Drive, dan Love Hurts. Saya sendiri sedikit terkejut karena Incubus hanya memainkan 2 lagu dari album terbaru mereka (if not now, when) yaitu Switchblade dan Adolescents.
Hari 4
Hari terakhir merupakan puncak dari Rock Werchter, terbukti dengan tiket harian yang paling cepat habis. Rock Werchter sendiri tampaknya cukup all out dengan mengusung line up Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Florence + The Machine, Ed Sheeran, James Morrison, Snow Patrol, Steve Aoki dan Red Hot Chili Peppers. Semua major line up sendiri berpusat di panggung utama sehingga memudahkan saya untuk tidak berpindah-pindah panggung.
18.00 waktu setempat, matahari masih bersinar terang, penonton yang sedang menunggu penampilan Noel Gallagher dikejutkan dengan munculnya Vincent Kompany di atas panggung. Kapten klub sepakbola Manchester City ini pun memperkenalkan Noel Gallagher sebagai salah satu fans terbaik Manchester City. Ternyata ini hanyalah balas budi dari Noel yang membantu Vincent Kompany pada saat peluncuran jersey terbaru Manchester City.
Backdrop Noel Gallagher cukup simpel, hanya kain hitam bertuliskan inisial NGHFB. Impian saya untuk menonton Oasis pun cukup terpuaskan dengan melihat Noel Gallagher membawakan 7 lagu Oasis (dari total 16 lagu yang ia bawakan), (It’s good) To Be Free, Mucky Fingers, Talk Tonight, Half The World Away, Whatever, Little by Little, dan Don’t Look Back in Anger. Noel tampaknya memang masih memegang prinsip untuk menyanyikan lagu Oasis minimal 30% dari total seluruh konsernya. Koor massal pun terjadi ketika Noel Gallagher mengajak penonton bernyanyi di Don’t Look Back in Anger.
Florence + The Machine menjadi performer berikutnya di panggung utama. Florence Welch sebagai vokalis tampaknya benar-benar menyadari bahwa ialah fokus utama dari band tersebut. Mengenakan dress hitam dengan jubah yang dikaitkan di jari tangannya, Florence Welch, dengan kecantikan wanita khas Inggris, cukup lincah mengitari panggung, berlarian sampai FOH untuk mengajak penonton bernyanyi. Puncaknya adalah ketika mereka membawakan Shake It Out dimana penonton tampak bernyanyi dan bergoyang bersama, bahkan tiba-tiba kamera menyorot seorang penonton topless untuk beberapa detik. Total mereka membawakan 9 lagu selama sejam dan ditutup dengan hits lainnya, No Light No Light.
Snow Patrol menjadi band “pembuka” terakhir sebelum Red Hot Chili Peppers. Dengan senja yang mulai datang, maka setting backlight dan backdrop panggung pun mulai dinyalakan. Ditambah durasi yang lebih panjang 15 menit dari performer sebelum-sebelumnya (60 menit), Snow Patrol tampak berhasil memaksimalkan durasi penampilan mereka. Bahkan mereka sempat mengundang 2 bintang tamu untuk tampil bersama mereka, Eva de Roovere (penyanyi lokal belgia) di lagu Set Fire to the third bar dan Ed Sheeran di lagu New York. Total 15 lagu mereka bawakan dengan sebagian besar adalah materi album terbaru mereka, Fallen Empire. Snow Patrol pun menutup penampilan mereka dengan lagu Just Say Yes, yang sempat menjadi soundtrack film Killers.
45 menit adalah waktu yang dibutuhkan bagi teknisi untuk men setting panggung dan penonton habiskan untuk menunggu penampilan Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tepat pukul 12.30, RHCP membuka penampilan mereka dengan hits dari album terbaru mereka, Monarchy of Roses. Dengan total puluhan katalog lagu yang mereka miliki, tampaknya memang susah untuk memilih lagu yang akan ditampilkan dalam durasi 90 menit. RHCP sendiri tampaknya cukup adil terhadap penggemar ‘lawas’ mereka, dengan hanya menampilkan 4 lagu dari album I’m with you (dari total 22 lagu). Anthony Kiedis dan Flea membuktikan bahwa mereka adalah motor utama band ini dengan bersikap komunikatif dengan penonton, Flea bahkan sempat melontarkan jokes-jokes nya. Chad Smith harus diancungi jempol dengan stamina primanya, bermain 90 menit full dengan jeda yang cukup sedikit. Josh Klinghoffer juga cukup atraktif di atas panggung, walau tampak memakai outfit yang berbeda dibanding personil lainnya (Flea dan Chad memakai jumpsuit, Anthony memakai kaos dengan celana panjang yang dipotong sebelah, sementara Josh hanya mengenakan kaos dan jeans biasa). Total 22 lagu dibawakan RHCP mulai dari album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication, By The Way, Stadium Arcadium sampai I’m with you. Penonton tampak bernyanyi Monarchy of Roses, Scar Tissue, Dani California, Californication, By The Way, sampai hits terbesar mereka Under The Bridge. RHCP menutup penampilan mereka dengan Give it away dan tampak setelah itu terlihat kembang api di angkasa. Dan 4 hari saya di salah satu festival musik terbesar di Eropa berakhir sudah dengan senyum puas karena berhasil menonton penampilan beberapa band yang mungkin agak mustahil untuk mampir di Jakarta.
Italy’s cinderella story didn’t have a good ending – Few notes from Euro 2012
(all statistics provided by who scored)
It’s been more than 2 weeks that Euro 2012 has passed, Spain has become the champion again.
First of all, I commit my prediction for Euro 2012, Germany, one of many favorites has failed to stop Spain’s domination in last 4 years. And some of my group qualification prediction has missed too..
That’s the interesting part of football, when some predictions and expectations didn’t came to reality…
Who ever thought that Russia would failed in Group A and replaced by Greece! Who ever thought Netherland only showed lots of individual actions but failed to win, even just for a single match! Who ever thought Roy Hodgson two banks of four’s strategy has run well and made them Group D’s winner!
So at least my prediction that every single game would be a tough match proved well.. unless for the irish..
Highlight of the tournament would be the Italian! Italy qualified from the group qualifying round as winner of Group C. But papa Cesare loss his two main strikers, Giuseppe Rossi (for the long term injury) and Antonio Cassano (the heart attack problem, though managed to recover just in time for the tournament), got smashed 3 goals by Russia just before the Euro 2012 starts, Calcio Scommesse scandals, and no natural trequartista (bear in mind Montolivo’s natural position is regista). Italy came not as a strong contender, unlike Germany or Spain.
The group stage match between Italy vs Spain is one hell of tactician match.. Spain suffers the only goal in the tournament, Italy’s emergency 3-5-2 tactic seemed runs well to hold the strongest contender in the tournament. Qualified as runner up in group stage means that Italy got 1 rest day less than Spain, and the impact is crucial during the final match. Being forced to played 120 minutes by the England, Italy manages to recover back their performance when they beat the Germans by 2-1.
Andrea Pirlo surely the most highly rated in Italy, and he proved that his presence is crucial for Italy. Positioned as Regista or Deep Lying Playmaker made Pirlo hard to be marked. Tactical wise, you need to sacrifice one of your strikers/attacking midfielder just to mark Pirlo. Spain’s only conceded happened when Pirlo was unmarked, able to deliver a brilliant through pass ball to Toto Di Natale. His brillian free kick against Croatia, tons of great through passes, his ball keeping ability, that’s only some quality shown by the Regista. Italy failed to score a goals during open match against England, but that’s because Hodgson’s passive tactic. The opponents understand the importance of Pirlo in Italy but failed to marked him tightly. Wayne Rooney, Toni Kroos are some players who were assigned to man marked Pirlo but failed to do so and they got punished by Pirlo’s passing ability.
This photo described enough how Italy’s fitness coach try to recover Pirlo’s stamina. They realized that 33 years old body need special treatment to maintain their physical ability.
In the end, Italy’s cinderella story has no good ending after all…
Drained by the stamina, the Italian players (not just Pirlo) seemed to reach their peak in the semi finals. Combined with the tactical mistake, they were unable to compete with Spain in their passing game.
In the group stage, Italy’s formation was 3-5-2 vs Spain’s 4-3-3. Danielle De Rossi managed to stay solid in the back three, gave a security for the midfielders to battle against spain’s midfield, three against three and no tight man marked for Pirlo. After the group stage’s match with Spain, Cesare Prandelli changed his tactic to 4-1-2-1-2 style, diamond style on the midfield, relying to DDR and Marchisio to give protection to Pirlo. This strategy has run well, able to made them qualify from the group stage and defeat the Germans.
However in the final, with same strategy for Italy 4-1-2-1-2, Vicente Del Bosque made a small change in his formation from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1, pushing Xavi forward to press Pirlo. Though Xavi is not a great defensive midfielder, but surely his defensive ability is much better than Toni Kroos or Wayne Rooney. To worsened the situation for Italy, Del Bosque told Iniesta and Silva to move through the middle, giving Pirlo’s passing area more compact. This situation, along with the stamina’s problem, has made Pirlo unable to show his best quality, good long pass and through pass. Montolivo was unable to show his contribution, and the defense became thinner when DDR positioned as midfielder, not a sweeper.
Spain, as one of the strong contender, shows that Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry along with their tight fixtures are no problem for them. Xavi may not performed his best performance during the tournament, but still manage to lift up Spain’s performance (total 595 passes with 99.2 passes per game). Iniesta showed that he’s ready to carry the team’s burden. This photo illustrate how Iniesta need more than 2 players to mark him (even they compared it with Captain Tsubasa’s character) 🙂
Enough with the tournament review, here is some underrated players (before the tournament) and able to caught my eyes during the tournament.
Jordi Alba – manages to convince Barcelona to bring him back to Camp Nou. As a left back he managed to become third highest average rating position in Spanish Squad, had 91.5% of passing accuracy, his combination with Iniesta proved to be Spain’s strongest advantage
Alan Dzagoev – despite of Russia’s fail to qualify for the group stage, Dzagoev (as I wrote before the match) manage to struck many football pundits. Dzagoev got the highest rating from Who Score (8.03) though it will be unfair to compare as he only played for 3 matches. Dzagoev scored 60% of his team goals (3 out of 5) proved that he’s a player to watch in the future (he’s only 22 years old). Interesting to see how Fabio Capello will use him in the squad.
Theodor Gebre Selassie – easy to recognize from the czech squad, by his run from right full back. 81.7% passing accuracy is not bad for right full back. Werder Bremen will be his next club after being transferred from Slovan Liberec. A good caught from Bremen for me..
Dimitris Salpingidis – 2 goals, 1 assist, his versatility to being placed as striker and right winger. He proved to be one of the key player for the Greece squad.
Michael Krohn Dell – though Denmark didn’t qualify from the group stage, Krohn Dell manage to have 2 goals, 1 assist and 88.9% of passing accuracy. A great tournament for this Danish.
And I manage to note some unique statistics:
- This tournament resulted in the lowest top scorer, only 3 goals by 5 players. Fernando Torres has better achievement, adding 1 assist from his goals.
- Even though Netherland was crushed in the tournament, Wesley Sneijder still managed to gave 19 key passes of the tournament and 2.3 success through ball per game, one the highest in the tournament. It seemed that only Wesley who struggle to bring his teams win.
- Eugen Polanski (Poland), Marcin Wasilewski (Poland) and Daniel Agger (Denmark) are one of the busiest defender in the tournament. Polanski has 5.3 tackle per game, Wasilewski has 10.3 clearance per game while Agger has 7 interceptions per game.
- The highest foul per game were awarded to Milan Baros (Czech; 4.3 per game) and Mario Mandzukic (Croatia; 3.3 per game), and they are strikers! It proved that defense started from the strikers.
- As some already expected, Cristiano Ronaldo has the highest shots per game, 7.4 per game.
- Franck Ribery has 4 success dribbles per games, was fouled 3.7 times per games and interestingly was dispossesed 6 times per game + made 3.3 turnover per game, a contradictive player.
- If only count from the group stage, Damien Perquis (Poland) has better passing accuracy than Xavi. Perquis has 93.4% accuracy from 3 games, while Xavi has 93.1% accuracy from 6 games.
So what’s next?
Euro 2016 will have 8 more teams, expect more goals as more less quality teams will compete in the tournament.
Spain will still become a strong contender in every major tournament. Seems no one will able to compete their tiki-taka style, and need Mourinho-esque to defeat them..
Will Fabio Capello bring consistency in Russia? We will see further..
Italy’s performance will depends on their key players (read: Pirlo) and the quality of their replacements. 2006 proved that Italy need Pirlo along with Totti and Del Piero, a great combination of Regista and Fantasista.
Go get some holidays before the regular season starts on…
The story of Playmakers: “Fantasista”
Before continue to read this post, I recommend you to read my previous blog – https://sibintangbatu.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/the-story-of-playmakers-regista/ – because it’s going to be closely related.
What is fantasista?
if according to google translate, then it could be translated as playmaker – the literally playmaker that wikipedia also defined. Another translation would be an artist, so if regista is the producer and director, fantasista is the artist, a fantasy star, leading role of a film.
How do you define a fantasista?
That will be one of the tricky part. Fantasista could be someone who dribble and pass the defender nicely and beautifully. Or someone who could provide the killer pass in front of the goal. Or someone who involves a lot in the attacking side. Or someone who amazed us during the game play. Fantasista could provide one of those or even do all the things we’ve just mention, a player who could set the difference between 2 teams on the pitch.
In Italy, fantasista is often a trequartista. Trequartista (direct translation could be 3/4) could be interpreted as a player who operates only in the attacking side/final one third of the field. Fantasista is usually or mostly a trequartista, but trequartista is not always a fantasista. Simone Perrotta, Thiago Motta, are one of the players who have been put as a trequartista but not fantasista. They interpret trequartista as hard working attacking midfielder who spread the pass and shoot at the goal when the opportunity knocks out.
In Italy, fantasista is being described as the one who wears no 10, in which every little italian kids dream to wear no 10, just like Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, and Francesco Totti.
Who are the fantasista?
I could mention many players, which I believe many football lovers know them. Everyone has their own subjective opinion about who is the best fantasista, just like discussing who is the best between maradona vs pele, you will have an unfinished debate about it. These are some players who could be considered as fantasista: Zico, Socrates, Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Paul Gascoigne, Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Mesut Ozil, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, etc.
I will not put Pele as well as Cristiano Ronaldo as a fantasista as I believe Pele is a true striker and CR is a worldclass winger. Argentina, Brazil, and Italy are some of the countries who produce many fantasista. Nowadays, Spain and Germany also follow them to give space for fantasista in the field. While for England, their football culture seems not to acknowledge a fantasista, I remember Matt Le Tissier was not given a chance in England national squad.
Most fantasista, such as Zidane, Maradona, and Messi, grew from street football. With space limitation, street football taught them how to pass creatively as well as pass the opponent with dribbles.
The evolution of fantasista
Starting from Pele’s era until Mesut Ozil’s era, the fantasista’s role has been redefined and changed simultaneously. It evolves following the natural evolution of football tactic.
In the era of Diego Maradona, I believe the pressure is not as high compared with now. Starting in the 90’s, tactics made defenders to stay up high close to midfielder in order to put the offside trap. As a result the playing area became shorter, compact and congested, which made fantasista’s job become much more difficult. In order to avoid pressure from defenders and defensive midfielders, tactics made fantasista to move from the wing, on the side of the pitch and the moves to the center. Rivaldo and Ronaldinho are some of the players who started this movement. They often started to receive the ball on the left side and then move to center.
Since 90’s, more fantasista start their movement from the wings, rarely from the center of the field. Lionel Messi (before he became a false 9), Mesut Ozil, Andres Iniesta are some of the fantasistas who did that in the pitch.
The False Nine: new tactic revolution for fantasista?
During the last 3 years, Pep Guardiola has introduced a new role for his fantasista, Lionel Messi, the false nine. Apparently false nine is not a new tactic in football. Hungarian team was the one who invented it by using Nandor Hidegkuti as a false nine.
What is a false nine? In classic football tactic, no 9 could be translated as a striker, target man in front of the goal. A false nine could be interpreted as a false striker, fantasista who act like a striker and target man. A false nine in pitch will be the one who leads the attack, the closest man to the opponent’s goal (during off the ball or defense). When his team got the ball possesion, unlike a normal striker, a false nine won’t run into forward, he waits on the midfield for the ball, drops deeper and lead the attack. A false nine is very hard to be man-marked as this person always run to the midfield when his team is on possession. A centre back who followed him all the time, will leave a space in the defense, that could be used for other players to run into. Hidegkuti succeed to lead Hungary defeated Brazil 4-2 with his role.
What’s now?
Either to create tactics that accomodates fantasista or fantasista who adapted to the tactic, that would be a choice that a team must make. As I mention in my regista post, fantasista is not necessary needed to win the game, but surely fantasista’s presence in the field will make the football game more interesting.
So after Lionel Messi, who will be the next fantasista who could make the spectators hold their breath during the game? I will be anxiously waiting for these players and their ‘fantastic’ games.
Euro 2012: the importance of cohesion in football
Cohesion, according to wikipedia, means the action or property of like molecules sticking together, being mutually attractive. So what it has to do with football? The simplified word to describe its connection with football would be ‘teamwork’
The failure of Netherland to get any point in group stage Euro 2012 seems to confirm the need of cohesion in football. With squad like Robin van Persie (Top Scorer in BPL), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Top Scorer in Bundesliga), Arjen Robben (runner up with Bayern Muenchen), Nigel de Jong (won BPL with Manchester City), Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, and many others, they seems to become favorite to qualify from group stage. But what happens? 3 games are enough to say that these great individuals didn’t played as one cohesive team! Their defence doesn’t linked up with attackers, it seems everyone wants to play on his own style, unable to sacrifice their ego for the team! Bert van Marwijk also seems confused, he tried 3 different centre back combination in 3 games! What happened to the Dutch? the former finalist of World Cup 2010! If we looked back at 2 years ago, the only difference in the line up would only be Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Dirk Kuyt. Gio is the captain, while Dirk is one of the most non individualistic players I’ve ever seen. 2 years after the finals, everyone is going back to their own club, develop themselves, but apparently includes their ego’s. Bert van Marwijk seems unable to connect them as a full team again. Even I read a rumour that Sneijder has resistance to pass on RvP due to their home grown club is different (Sneijder is coming from Ajax, RvP is from Feyenoord). The Dutch seems to pay a lot of cost by not working together as a team.
With the pressures to perform well in a tournament and shorter period to build teamwork amongst each other (national coach only have less than a month to build the teamwork prior to the tournament), the only possible way to increase teamwork is to inject more players who played together in a team.
Greece rely their defense on 3 Olympiakos players (Maniatis – Torossidis – Holebas) with 3 Panathinaikos players in the midfield (Karagounis – Ninis – Katsouranis).
Dick Advocaat puts away Igor Akinfeev (the former starting GK in the team; 26 years with 52 caps for his country) to give Malafeev a place in the squad. Along with his other 4 team mate in Zenit, Malafeev forms a club-connection-to-country. Advocaat may explains that Zenit has just become the champions of Russian league, but I’m pretty sure that he wants to bring the club’s cohesion to the national team.
Poland is pretty sure relying on the Dortmund link (Lewandowski-Blaszczykowski-Piszczek). Lewandowski’s first goal is coming from Kuba Blaszczykowski’s assist, while on the second match, Kuba was able to score due to Piszczek’s assist.
Jogi Low relied most on his Bayern Munich’s team. He smiled ear to ear hearing that his Bayern’s players has joining the national camp after defeating Netherland in a friendly game. After losing from Spain in WC 2010 semi finals, Jogi Low keeps the cohesion of his team, still maintain the same squad. With 7 Bayern Munich players in the squad and the Jogi’s ability to keep the teamwork in his team, Germany seems don’t have cohesion issue and still main contender for the tournament.
Germany with 7 Bayern’s player (Neuer-Badstuber-Boateng-Lahm-Schweinsteiger-Muller-Gomez)
Since 2008, Luis Aragones depends on Barcelona link to strengthen Spain’s squad. The old grandpa was able to create harmonization between Barcelona-Madrid players (even if he has to sacrifice Raul, the leading goalscorer for Spain at that time). Vicente del Bosque was following his predecessor’s formula, to bring Barca’s play and link to the national squad. He understand that team’s harmonization and cohesion are one of the most important thing to build a great team. Even he includes Pepe Reina, despite of his not-so-good season, knowing that Pepe Reina is a person who could creates jokes in the team.
Spain with 5 Barcelona’s player (Pique-Busquet-Xavi-Cesc-Iniesta), not to mention that Jordi Alba was raised under Barcelona’s youth team
Cesare Prandelli changes his formation from 4-3-1-2 to 3-5-2 in his first 2 games after realize that most of his defense and midfield players (especially Juventus’s players) were used to play this formation in their club. Papa Cesare relied his team with 5 Juventus’s players. He probably think that the link Bonucci-Buffon-Chiellini was proven to guard Juventus’s defense and Pirlo was more accustomed to play with Marchisio in the midfield.
Italy with Juventus’s link (Buffon-Bonucci-Chiellini-Giaccherini-Pirlo-Marchisio)
Roy Hodgson was harshly criticized after calling 6 Liverpool’s player in the squad. He ignored Rio Ferdinand for Martin Kelly, Michael Carrick for Jordan Henderson (Carrick was one of the United’s most consistent player last season). Even though in the starting line up, there were only Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard, Hodgson probably think if he needs a quick replacement who were able to work in the team, Liverpool’s players were able to provide that.
Oleg Blokhin still relies on Dynamo Kyiv to build Ukraine’s team. Kacheridi-Mikhalik in the defense, Gusev-Yarmolenko in the midfield, and Shevchenko complete the 5 Dynamo Kyiv’s player in Ukraine’s starting line up.
What can we learn from this?
To build a great national team, you need the cohesion and the quickest way to have this is to transfer club’s cohesion into the national team.
How to survive living in Leuven
As most probably haven’t known, Belgium has one of the cheapest tuition fee across European countries. If Netherland offers around 8.000 – 10.000 euro per year for tuition fee, in Belgium, you could get an international master programme starting from 600 euro per year. And amongst universities in Belgium, KU Leuven is still considered one of the best universities in the country. Leuven is well known for as student city where almost 35.000 students pursue their degree in here.
As tuition fee could be considered low, the other problems that raised question is about the living cost. I didn’t know much about scholarship programme, so what I can give you is a glance overview about how to survive living in Leuven. The assumption used will be a single person living for a year in Leuven.
If you are self-supporting student and coming from non EU countries, KU Leuven enquire you to transfer 7.900 euro as financial guarantee prior to your arrival. This amount (minus 100 euro for administration) will be transferred back to your account 600 euro per month (with an exception for the first month which you will get 1.200 euro). KU Leuven probably has estimated that 600 euro per month is enough for living cost. And the truth is, it all depends on your life style. I’m going to give you a glance overview about several biggest spending in a month and how to overcome it. A full review about how to live in Leuven could be found in the university website (http://www.kuleuven.be/english/living.html – at the bottom right you could find living in Leuven file). I strongly recommend you to read this thoroughly before coming to Leuven
Residence
No matter you live in shared room/apartment/university residence, this will cost you at least 50% of your monthly spending. A simple room with shared bathroom and kitchen will cost around 250-300 euro per month, while a studio with private bathroom and kitchen could cost around 400-500 euro. This cost is mostly excluding utility cost (gas, electrical, internet, etc) which could be charged monthly or yearly, you could budget around 50 euros per month.
As the supply remaining flat while demand keeps on increasing, finding a residence in Leuven could become a major problem. Most students who start studying in September already browsing for residence starting from July! If you have spare money for living cost, I recommend you to come to Leuven as soon as you can be to finding residence for the whole year.
One thing that you need to consider is that you need to put deposit money to your landlord, the amount is quite varied from 100 euro in university residence until 600 euro for a studio. This amount will be given back to you after you leave the residence (minus the maintenance and cleaning cost of course). I suggest that you budget this amount outside the 7.900 euros.
Either you choose shared room or apartment that would be your personal preference. Hence in order to save your money, you need to cook your own meals which in the end depend on your kitchen preference. See my next point for details.
Meals
Meals will be your second biggest spending in a month. Yes there is university restaurant called ALMA, which you could find pasta from 3 euros, but in the end to survive with 600 euro a month you need to cook your own meals. My estimation is that you could survive by 20-25 euro per week for buying the raw ingredients and cook them.
There are several supermarkets in Leuven, and most of the big ones are just outside the ring. If you’re too lazy comparing price and not a brand conscious, Aldi could be your option. While if you’re looking for the branded product with good price, Colruyt will be your option. There are other supermarkets, like Carrefour, Delhaize, Liedl, and Match, and if you’re willing to explore the price and alternatives you could browse to those stores. If you’re not too brand conscious, each supermarkets have their own private label, Carrefour Discount, Colruyt’s Everyday, Delhaize 365 which offers the cheapest price for an item. For asian supermarket, I think the cheapest one is in Brusselsestraat, near bus stop.
Transportation
With 2 KM diameter, Leuven is reachable by feet. As a student, university also gives you a free bus card to use in Leuven. Bike is one of the option, you could rent a bike in VELO with cost around 50 euro for deposit + 40 euro for the yearly fee. If you arrive early in Leuven, you could browse around or find in facebook page (i.e. pangaea or iexchange group page) for buying a cheap bike (starting 30 euros).
With the university bus card, you could also go to Brussels by adding 2 euros (on the driver) or 1.4 euros (by text message). It’s the cheapest option but took around 1 hour to get there. If you have the OMNIO status from your insurance company, you could also buy the subscription card, 32 euros a year for all Delijn bus routes. However you could only apply this OMNIO starting January in each calendar year. I will explain about OMNIO status in the insurance part.
Communication
Browse BASE, Proximus and Mobistar website before deciding which provider is the best for you. I personally use BASE because it offers blackberry service on prepaid basis (cost around 15 euros per month). My advice is to top up your account by using the internet. In BASE, they gave 10% more value if you’re topping up from the website. Another option is Viking mobile, but I never use it so I couldn’t give any comment.
Insurance
As recommended by the university, you need to have insurance (unless you’re coming from other EU countries and already have it). I personally use Christelijke Mutualiteit (CM). They will cover up to 75% of your medical expense. The fee is around 15 euros per 3 month or 60 euros a year.
If you are self-supporting student and have no income (or your income is below certain level), you could apply OMNIO status. Just come to your insurance company, ask for OMNIO status, they will ask several questions and grant the status within a month. There won’t be any additional fee for this. The benefit is your medical coverage will increase up to 90%, you could buy Delijn bus pass (32 euros a year) and reduction fee from NMBS (50% discount for train ticket in Mon – Thu; in the weekend, weekend ticket is at the same price as the discount price).
Entertainment
They said that Leuven has the longest bar crowd in Oude Markt. Beer is offered from 2 euros. For movie goers, the choice is between Kinepolis and STUK. Kinepolis’s movies is more mainstream (read: Hollywood movies) than STUK’s movies. Apply for kinepolis student card, you could get 7 euro ticket per movie (normal price is 9 euro), even 6 euro in every Friday.
Laundry Services
If your residence don’t provide washing machine, then you need to find laundry services. This will cost you around 4 euro for washing and 20 cent for 3 minutes drying. So far the cheapest one is in Parijsstraat, 4 euro for washing, 1 euro for 27 minutes drying.
Other things
For kitchen utensils, try to find in second hand shop, SPIT. You could find any usable plates, spoon, glass, fork, etc.
If you’re a guy and only need a crew cut style, the cheapest salon is in Fonteinstraat, at the crossroad of Brusselsestraat. It only cost you 10 euros for a haircut.
What can we expect from Euro 2012..
By the time I wrote this, it will be hours away from the first match in Euro 2012, Poland vs Greece.
People gets anxious, Football Writers and Pundits have their own prediction, Bets have been put.. All seems ready for Euro 2012.
If you’re following my blog, then you know what will be my contender is..
Now, I’m not gonna write about them again, instead about what will be the competition would like…
First, expect tough game. As the gap between European nations getting narrower, I predict there won’t be many goals as we used to saw in previous years, maximum will be 3 goals difference.
Second, expect pragmatic tactics. As we all know which team won the Champions League this year, we knew what tactic Chelsea used to conquer Bayern Muenchen and Barcelona. You will see this kind of tactics in Euro.. and don’t get surprised if they could win by using this tactics. Spain’s tiki taka has reigned over the last 4 years, and it won’t be their domination again.
Third, I got a hunch that the one who will become top scorer will be a less famous player. Robert Lewandowski will be my main bet. We’ll see if he could transform his good performance in Dortmund to Poland national team.
Lastly, here is my short analysis on group stage..
Group A, if most people puts group B as the “hell” group, I would consider group A as one too.. It’s going to be tough each game. Russia and Czech Rep are still the main favorites, however Poland and Greece shouldn’t be underestimated. Poland will be the underdog, as host they have many supporters, and will rely on Dortmund Trio (Lewandowski, manage to establish as Dortmund main goal getter; Piszczek, one of the best right back in Bundesliga; and Blaszczykowskl, an energetic winger). I’m anxiously waiting for Russia’s Alan Dzagoev, one of the rising star in Russia. Russia will qualify along with Czech Rep/Poland.
Group B, the toughest group, especially when you have 2 main contender in there (Germany and Holland). I won’t discuss much for this group. You could see my analysis about Germany in my previous post. Jogi Low main focus now is about who will be play in the wingbacks, as Lahm is good in left and right. Mertesacker need to confirm Jogi Low that he could become the main starting line up, while Hummels need to transform his good form in Dortmund to national team. Holland’s main problem is left back as they don’t have a good one since van bronckhorst retired. The 2 pivotal DM could be problems with the aging of van bommel and non regular play at club de jong. I put my money on Germany and Holland to qualify on this group, whoever become the group winner will avoiding spain in Semifinal.
Group C, Spain is still favorite, but who will accompany Spain? For me other 3 teams have the equal chance to qualify from the group. Italy and Croatia are not so convincing recently. While Ireland has a good result in qualifying, and as we saw Chelsea could win CL, why can’t Ireland qualify? they have Giovanni Trappatoni and Marco Tardelli, the catenaccio guru’s. Don’t exclude Ireland yet, if they manage to qualify, their chance in winning the Euro is as big as others.
Group D, France is still favorite, England and Sweden will battle to qualify this group. Laurent Blanc’s team seems so good recently and will be looking for revelation after bad memories in World Cup 2010. Hodgson surprised many people with his squad choice, and many people will shoot him down if he fails to bring England qualify. Sweden still rely on Ibrahimovic. England vs Sweden will be crucial to determine who will accompany France.
Germany to take over Spain’s reign in Euro 2012?
Before I continue, please bear in mind that my inspiration for writing this was coming from http://footballspeak.com/post/2012/03/05/Why-Germany-can-win-Euro-2012.aspx. So before accusing me of plagiarism, most of this article will come from the previous link.
Watching Spanish’s giant Real Madrid loss against the Bavarian FCB made me convince that Germany will rise in Euro 2012. Despite of 2 major tactical mistake by Jose Mourinho (play the same tactic like against Barca in El Classico and putting Sergio Ramos on the penalty shootout list), I’m pretty sure that Germany will be the strong contender in Euro 2012, no matter the result of Champions League final in Muenchen next 2 weeks. Here is why:
1. A Complete and Experience Squad
Thanks to DFB (after seeing their World Cup squad in 2002), now Germany has solid team, with many interesting youngster! read this: http://static.bundesliga.de/media/native/autosync/dfl_leistungszentren2011_gb.pdf, and you will understand how good Germany football academy is. They proved in World Cup 2010 that underestimating their young squad would mean disaster for the opponents.
Germany won U21 Euro championship in 2009, and no longer after that half of the squad was promoted to the Senior team (Marcel Schmeltzer, Benedikt Howedes, Mats Hummels, Denis Agogo, Jerome Boateng, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil). Now most of the squad have grown up, all of them are in 22 years old but already have enough caps in the senior level. Result: Germany played 10 times in Euro 2012 qualifying and got 100% record (all win!).
Depth of their squad is very good (excellent if I could comment). With most of their senior squad still filled with these 22 years old U21 euro champions, lots of promising youngster will seek the opportunity to take their place in the senior level. Andre Schurrle (a 21 years old striker with 5 goals in 11 international caps), Bender twins (Sven and Lars, the industrious combative midfielder), Marco Reus (winger/forward who already commit to play in Dortmund next season), Moritz Leitner (a 19 years old versatile central midfielder who already threatening Sven Bender’s place in Dortmund; http://thefalse9.blogspot.in/2012/03/rough-diamonds-8-moritz-leitner.html), even a 17 years old Wonderkid goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen (http://thefalse9.blogspot.in/2012/04/rough-diamonds-10-marc-andre-ter-stegen.html). On top of them all, who else deserve to lead them all rather than Mario Gotze! Tuttosport Golden Boy ahead of Hazard, Neymar, Wilshere, Thiago Alcantara and Christian Eriksen! Even when we haven’t had enough of Mesut Ozil, imagining both of them running on the field for Germany together would be marvelous. Germany is well known as the producer of high quality product (Mercedez for instance), so we could trust they have good system in producing good players. Believe me, you haven’t seen all of their treasure yet!
Combined with these senior players, Phillip Lahm (age 28, 85 caps), Per Mertesacker (age 27, 79 caps), Lukas Podolski (age 26 and 95 caps & 43 goals), Bastian Schweinsteiger (age 27, 90 caps & 23 goals) and Miroslav Klose (age 33, 114 caps & 63 goals), their squad is perfectly balanced. C’mon 27-28 years old with more than 50 caps? They had experiences and will definitely could run together with these kids.
2. The Diminishing Impact of Tiki-Taka
Spanish team is Barcelona, no doubt about it, they adopt the same system (with some adjustment of course), putting Barca’s key player in the squad and played like them. With the downfall of Barcelona (https://sibintangbatu.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/the-downfall-of-barcelona/), and now Real Madrid’s loss to FCB in Champions Semifinal, I believe Vicente del Bosque will have a major headache. My suggestion for Spain, start injecting players from other those 2 Spanish giant, like Bilbao, Valencia, and Atletico, in the senior squad.
3. Fitness
Bundesliga only played 34 games, unlike Premiership, Seri A, La Liga and many other major European league who played 38 games this season. This will be a strong point, because all Bundesliga players will have more rest before the major competition begins in June. Joachim Loew might only concern Ozil and Khedira as those two play more than other compatriots in Senior Squad
4. Joachim Loew and his tactics
Ever heard about micro tactic? that Joachim Loew guy is the inventor! Believe me, this guy is a genius in tactics. Statistics proved it all, 77 games led by Jogi Loew, 55 win which means 71%. Even though Jogi Loew apply an attacking tactic, they still have more balanced compared with other teams. Tempted to handle big clubs, I think it’s time for Jogi Loew to prove that he’s a good tactician and managers.
5. Surpassing the group of death
Germany is in the same group with Portugal, Netherland, and Denmark. Netherland will be their major threat, but Germany thrashed them 3-0 in the latest friendly match. Portugal has many good individuals but has problem in combining all of them in a good squad. Denmark could be the dark horse, but Germany will be able to overcome them.
If I have to make an early bet for Euro 2012, my money will goes to Germany… Let’s see whether my prediction is right or not in June 2012..
The Downfall of Barcelona
Messi on Champions League Semifinal
I write this after saw Barca’s second defeat in Camp Nou in less than a week. After Madrid knocked them out in el classico, Chelsea bravely held them draw 2-2 with 10 man thrilling drama..
What happened to Barcelona? If we flash back in August 2011, they seemed will win everything again; won Spanish and European Supercup by beating Madrid and Porto; Fabregas just arrived and seems fit in.. Going forward 8 months, now the only possible trophy that they could get is only (minor) Copa del Rey..
1. Third Year problem
Yes, it does exist! Jose Mourinho never managed a club more than 3 years (just wiki his history). I read in some articles that Pep also admitted that third year is the hardest year. Why? Barca have won everything, 6 trophies in a year, dominating La Liga and Europe in last 3 seasons. Motivation is the main issue, after having all of the trophies, the players seems less hunger for success. Pep realized it and worked very hard to motivate his squad by injecting new players (like Ibrahimovic last season, Alexis and Fab this season). He tried to motivate them by increasing internal competition. But still it doesn’t feel the same again. When winning the first champions league in 2009, Pep motivate his squad by playing Coldplay’s Viva la Vida in the dressing room. That song has proven to burn the squad’s spirit. Now? It just a normal song I think
2. The Aging of Xavi and Puyol
Yes it matters.. Xavi and Puyol seems to be fatigue, having played in top level for more than 3 years (not to mention Spain’s match). Pep realize it, he tried to rotate them regularly, understand that their 31 years old feet won’t capable to run and last for lots of match. Pep brought Fabregas, however he still trust Xavi more in the deep playmaker’s role. While Puyol? still irreplaceable in central defence.
3. Defence.. Defence.. Defence..
Yes, it’s still the same problem, worsened by the aging of Puyol. Pique lost his touch and making more errors in this season (don’t know whether related with Shakira though). Pep bought many players (remember Chygrynskiy?), promote Marc Muniesa and Andreu Fontas from youth team, but seems that he choose Mascherano as centre back.. His decision seems fail and some of the opponent were able to exploit Masche’s awkwardness in playing in central defense (not to mention his physical and aerial ability is not as good for centre back).
4. Messi – dependencia
Yes, it’s proven. Prior to el classico match on 21st April, he wasn’t be able to score on Casillas’s goal in last 4 el classico match. 25th April, Champions semifinal 2nd leg, he is yet proven unable to score against Chelsea (even from the penalty spot). He broke all time Barca’s leading goalscorer, but now it comes clearly that it could be backfire to depends all to Messi.
5. Tactical
Yes, now the opponents adapt. In last 3 seasons, it seems become impossible to beat Barca, but Jose seems to unlocked it. Full pressure, fight against ball, stretch Barca’s defense through wings and launch speedy counter attack. Opponents could advantage from Dani Alves aggressiveness in right wing by exploiting the space behind him. Pep was tactically innovative too, shifting Messi from wings to false nine, playing three and a half back (by pushing Alves forward), playing Masche and Busquets in central defense, but again it seems now the opponents could adapt with their tactics.
That’s my note, hope that I don’t miss something. Again, it will be interesting to see how Barca and Pep (if he still in Barca’s next year) recover from this season…
sibintangbatu 