Croatiaai??i??s Midfield Limitations, Memphis Depay Set To Shine ai??i?? 5 Talking Points From June 18

June 18th saw Australia go toe-to-toe with Holland in an exciting game that ended 3-2 in the Dutch sideai??i??s favor, while a teetering Spain were pushed out of the competition in a 2-0 defeat by Chileai??i??s high intensity game. The Matchday also saw Cameroon conceded 4 unanswered goals to Croatia, in a game that say Alex Song red carded for an idiotic moment of madness.

Chile Beat Spain As a Team & Individually

Chile are a daunting team to face. Call them ai???underdogsai??i??, call them ai???dark horsesai??i??, call them whatever you like, but they are an immensely threatening side. Spain found out the hard way that Chile have what it takes to out-run, out-tackle and out-score most teams on their day. Spain were simply not prepared for the level of intensity that Chile bring to the table. Not to mention the fact that manager Jorge Sampaoli is proving to be a more than worthy successor to Marcelo Bielsa.

Each Chile player was effectively facing off one Spanish counterpart for most of the match. Amongst others, Gary Medel battled Diego Costa, Arturo Vidal faced off against Sergio Busquets and Charles Aranguiz was constantly in Xabi Alonsoai??i??s face. And the efficiency with which the Chileans won these battles was frighteningly majestic. Costa rarely go to touch the ball, Busquets contributed absolutely nothing, and Xabi Alonso looked like a random spectator whoai??i??d accidentally walked onto the pitch.

Both Chilean goals resulted from errors: the first one drawn from Alonso who cracked under Chileai??i??s intense pressing, the second from Iker Casillas who seems hell bent on using this tournament to tarnish his reputation in Spain. Chile effectively pressed their opposition to death, and simply capitalized on the openings that came as a result. And it doesn’t seem like Spain are going to be their last victims.

Memphis Depay Is Hollandai??i??s ai???Next Big Thingai??i??

PSV should brace for a bidding war for Memphis Depay after the World Cup

It is absolutely clear who the big stars of the Dutch team are: Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie. After cutting Spain to shreds in their opening game, they were again pivotal in the game against Australia, as both now have 3 goals to their names in the World Cup group stages. But the surprise package of the game was PSV Eindhovenai??i??s 20 year old winger Memphis Depay. His selection in Louis van Gaalai??i??s 23-man squad barely met with any media attention, and he might not have even featured in this game had defender Martins Indi not gotten injured at the end of the first half. But van Gaal took the brave call of replacing a defender with a very attack minded midfielder, effectively shifting from a 5-3-2 to a 4-3-3, with Depay on the left flank, Robben on the right and van Persie central.

Memphis Depay rewarded van Gaal for his selection by putting in a 5-star performance. After Holland conceded a penalty and went 2-1 down, Depay set up van Persieai??i??s equalizer in the 58th minute. 10 minutes later, he let loose a low, swerving shot that keeper Matthew Ryan failed to keep out. The goalkeeper deserves some flak for not stopping the shot despite getting his fingers to it, but so do the Australian defence who underestimated Depay and gave him far too much space.

If given a few more chances, Memphis Depay could well turn out to be THE break out young star of the tournament. PSV should start preparing for a bidding war for his services once the Dutch return home from Brazil.

Croatiaai??i??s Midfield Is Their Strength, But Has Limitations

Amidst all this, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic were excellent as the two deep lying central midfielders. Their task was clear: retain the ball at all costs, and distribute the ball without taking too many risks. Think of it like having two Andrea Pirlo replicas in a side, except with more mobility and less beard. The Cameroon game was a great example of how well this pairing can work when things go right. Whatai??i??s interesting is the stark contrast to the second half of the Brazil game, where things went quite badly wrong. After going 2-1 down due to a very soft penalty, one which was vehemently protested by the Croatians, Croatia were forced to attack. Unleashing Luka Modric would have been the best way to scale up their threat.

But Croatia donai??i??t have a reliable midfield destroyer in the side. Someone who can be brought on to sit in front of the back line, and can allow the likes of Modric and Rakitic to join in the attack. In the absence of such an option, Modric and Rakitic have to be vary of wandering too far forward. Because when they go too far up the pitch, they leave their defence completely exposed, as was the case for Brazilai??i??s 3rd goal of the night.

Tiki-Taka Isnai??i??t Dead, But This Spanish Side Is

Those declaring Spainai??i??s exit from the world cup as the ai???end of tiki-takaai??i?? are mistaken. This isnai??i??t the death of tiki-taka, but it is the end of this Spanish side. World Cups are great at bringing out hyperbolic opinions, but for once talks of overhaul might have an edge of truth in them.

The ai???tiki-takaai??i?? isnai??i??t a magical pass to the domain of footballing glory, no more than so-called ai???counter-attacking footballai??i??, or ai???high-pressing footballai??i?? are; theyai??i??re just differing approaches to the game. Tiki-taka worked for Spain for 6 years because they had a manager who had a clear vision of how employ it, and a set of footballers who were excellent at executing these plans on the pitch.

Vicente del Bosque got it wrong this time around

This time around Vicente del Bosque got it wrong: the players lacked the legs of yesteryear, and with no David Villa or Jesus Navas in the side, there was also no injection of pace and directness (barring Pedro, to a degree). The few good chances this side did manage to create were fluffed in an almost comical manner, with Sergio Busquets already in the running for the My-Grandmother-Could-Have-Scored-That Award (see his miss here). It is time for Spain to introspect, and think very carefully about where they go from here. It is very likely that aging players like Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas would not have a role to play in the La Roja future.

Cameroon & Australia Paint Contrasting Pictures

There’s more than one way to make an exit.

Cameroonai??i??s match against Croatia started well, with Cameroon looking threatening for the first 10 minutes, until Croatia went ahead (against the run of play) through an Ivica Olic goal. It was all downhill from there for Cameroon. Around the 40th minute mark, Alex Song pressed the self-destruct button that was clearly flashing in his brain and inexplicably punched Mario Manzukic in the back. He was rightly sent packing by the referee.

Barcelona might find it even harder to find takers for Alex Song after these antics

After that the Indomitable Lions just stood back and did their best to prevent an embarrassing scoreline, something they failed to do in this match that ended 4-0. And believe it or not, Benoit Assou-Ekotto actually head-butted his own teammate Benjamin Moukandjo in the dying minutes of the game. Exiting a group with the likes of Brazil, Croatia and Mexico in it is hardly shocking, but the Cameroonians have done it in the worst way possible.

In very sharp contrast are Australia. Again, no one expected their World Cup run to amount to much after being drawn in Group B alongside Netherlands, Spain and Chile. And they are already eliminated with no points to show for their performances. But what incredible performances they have been nonetheless. Especially against Holland, they showed amazing attacking intent throughout the 90 minutes. In the process, Tim Cahill scored a stunning volley, a sure-fire Goal of the Tournament contender. Theyai??i??ll walk out of the tournament with their heads held high, knowing theyai??i??ve made their nation proud. After all, who would have thought that Netherlands, a team that beat champions Spain 5 goals to 1, would have such a tough time beating underdogs Australia?

FIFA World Cup – Croatiaai??i??s Midfield Limitations, Memphis Depay Set To Shine

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