Asia PR News

BERLIN, 29 June /AP/ –

There’s been no shortage of drama at the World Cup despite a low
goal-scoring average, FIFA technical analysts said today.

With eight games remaining, this year’s World Cup has produced 132 goals in
56 matches - an average of 2.36 a game. Of the 17 previous tournaments, only
the 1990 tournament in Italy averaged fewer goals per game at 2.21.

Overall the tournament average is 2.93.

Sophisticated defences, good coaching and the heat of the German summer
have all played their part in the tournament to date.

"The game is not as open as it was. But I don’t necessarily think that it
makes it any less dramatic," said Andy Roxburgh, UEFA technical director and a
member of FIFA’s technical and development committee.

"You can get a game that’s won 5-0 and it’s a terrible game because one
team wins easily and the other’s hopeless.

"What you really want to have is a drama in the match," Roxburgh said.

"It’s not just about the goals count. The goals count can be an indicator,
but it’s not just about that. You can have a wonderfully exciting match that
ends up as it did with Argentina-Mexico 2-1 into extra time."

Some of the drama has come from the flurry of yellow and red cards at the
tournament.

Roxburgh and Holger Osieck, head of FIFA’s technical department, did not
address refereeing or cheating by players in the form of diving in their
analysis today of the first 56 matches of the tournament.

FIFA has deferred that to a news conference tomorrow with the chairman of
its referees’ committee.

But Roxburgh rejected a suggestion that FIFA’s clampdown at the tournament
had unsettled players.

"I think if you tell people in advance what to expect, you’ve got a better
chance of getting it," he said.

"And FIFA were quite clear at the beginning about the things that they were
going to emphasize in the World Cup. So nobody was in any kind of doubt about
the way this World Cup was going to be approached."

The technical committee saved special praise for Argentina’s goal against
Serbia-Montenegro, with Esteban Cambiasso capping an attack that covered about
25 passes and lasted a minute.

In other tournament trends, the FIFA committee noted:

- Scoring first is key. Only eight matches have seen the team that didn’t
score first recover to win.

- The power of the set piece, which has accounted for some 20 goals already.

- The danger of an in-swinging ball by a right-footed player from the left
flank. The ball spins toward the goal, forcing defenders and attackers to
crowd the goalkeeper. Osieck said about 15 goals have come this route.

- Fast breaks. Teams are using these to penetrate defences playing deeper,
especially on the counterattack. The committee counted almost 20
defence-splitting balls to date.

- A new kind of a holding midfielder. Rather than a mere ball-winner
protecting the back four, players like Ghana’s Michael Essien and Italy’s
Andrea Pirlo also initiate attacks.

- Young stars. The committee pointed to Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Spain’s
Cesc Fabregas, Switzerland’s Philippe Senderos, England’s Wayne Rooney and
Germany’s Lukas Podolski.

- Coaching savvy. Examples included Australia coach Guus Hiddink getting
goals from substitutes Tim Cahill and John Aloisi in a 3-1 comeback win
over Japan. Trinidad and Tobago’s Lee Beenhakker putting on an extra
striker despite going a man down in the 0-0 draw with Sweden. And Italy’s
Marcello Lippi introducing Francesco Totti against Australia, not knowing
he would need someone with the composure to convert a last-second penalty
for a 1-0 win.

By Neil Davidson