The Goal Keeper Will Determine The Winner

Petr Cech the Czech Republic goalkeeper has been mixed up for the past few weeks. He has claimed a third championship medal in the Premier League with Chelsea in May as they beat Manchester United to the English crown, but a few weeks later, he just watched as a lot of his team-mates packed their bags and went to South Africa.

With Slovenia and Slovakia getting the two FIFA World Cup berths available in the qualifying group of the Czech Republic’s, Cech now have the luxury of an unwanted summer before returning to the English game. He is in South Africa for an event and had an exclusive interview about the key men in England’s FIFA World Cup fight. Why he became a goalkeeper and how hard it is to watch from the sideline, the greatest football tournament of the planet.

Are the other team mates from Chelsea, Terry and Lampard also crucial to the hopes of England? Cech said that having both of them on the team will always be a big boost, and big help. He knows them both from club football and he knows that they are both important on the pitch. If you have those players playing and feeling well then it will help the players around them to be confident. England had a scare before the Slovenia game knowing they had to win, but they got through and that will boost their morale for the game versus Germany.

Asked about not playing and just watching on the sideline, he answered that it is very hard that you don’t get to the World Cup. First of all you are disappointed right after the qualification stages since you know that you will not be part of the big event but then you have to watch it. This is the worst part since when you get thru the bitterness saying, we didn’t qualify but that is okay. Then you still get to see the tournament and the atmosphere. I took part in many European Championships and World Cups, these events are great, so it very sad not being involved.

Can you watch the World Cup games or does it hurt much? He watches selected games only. Last season he played about 70 games and when you are not concerned you take a little rest without football. So I don’t watch a lot of games. I just look at the internet for the highlights and check the results. And I could say that I am pretty happy with the results.

Kahn Should Use Psychological Warfare

Oliver Kahn a former Germany keeper had a lot of penalty shoot-out experience. He made a crucial save during the 2001 Champions League in Bayern Munich’s final win over Valencia. He said that it is time to initiate psychological warfare over penalties. England will face Germany in the first round of the knockout phase.

Since the introduction in 1982 of shoot-outs, that totaled 20 World Cup matches, and included two finals, games were decided by penalty spot and only Germany holds a record of 100% winning in all events. Kahn is not a member of the World Cup statistic after giving it to Jens Lehmann four years ago during the shoot-out against Argentina. But the former Germany captain has knowledge of such circumstances and game some explanations about the penalty shoot-out situation.

Before taking the penalties the coach gave instructions of who would take each kick and the corner to expect the taker to put the ball in and more useful data. Once the penalties start, the information is forgotten. You find your self in too much concentration that you don’t even see the crowd around except the taker. Not remembering the instruction of the coach and not even knowing how many penalties had been taken. Only the team mate’s reaction telling me the match was over. I was not sure if I will face another kick or not.

Petr Cech of Chelsea was speaking beside Kahn in an interview in Sandton, said it is important for a goalkeeper to do his homework specially while facing a normal penalty, the keeper should know when a taker preferred power or placement or if wait for the goalkeeper to take the first move, even if the repetitive nature and intensity of a shoot-out would demand more instinctive reactions. It is much of a psychological game between the taker and goalkeeper added Kahn.

The body language of the taker and specially the eye contact can tell you a lot of things. The eyes can say if a player is hesitating or nervous. The goalkeeper should not be nervous since it is the taker who can lose. It is important that the taker see the goalkeeper calm, this created more pressure on his side.

Cech agreed that too early move will never save the kick. The keeper must be stronger and calmer than the taker then you stand a chance. Germany will face England with Manuel Neuer, 24-year-old in goal. The English equivalent is Joe Hart, although Kahn believes that Germany has more goalkeepers than England. Neuer is young but has a lot of positive experiences and still learning, but has a lot of passion and sees himself as a winner.

Stress Knocked Out Switzerland

Ottmar Hitzfeld Switzerland’s coach said the reason they were eliminated on the World Cup was due to the pressure that got to the players. Hitzfeld’s team knew they needed only two-goal victory against Honduras at the Free State Stadium would have given them a pass port to get a place in the last 16. But for some reason, they had to be contented for a point they got from a 0-0 draw and as a consequence, both Spain and Chile now go through.

Hitzfeld said that everyone was very much of a let down as we had a great objective. The team knew what we were required to do and I felt that it was too much of a weigh down from the players. Nervousness grew more as the game went on and the players were not adequately precise with their passes. Some adjustments were done at the course of the game but the players were not at par as they moved forward. The promises we made were not deliver after we won a sensational game over Spain. The team had a great disadvantage in the match against Chile due to the sending off of Valon Behrami. If only we had produced a single point from that match, things would have been different and we would have gone through.

Honduras is also on its way home but at in the process they have the comfort of bringing home a point from the tournament. They almost clinched the victory in the 71st minute when Edgar Alvarez was able to go on the end of a cross from David Suazo but Diego Benaglio the goalkeeper was able to react superbly to push his shot over the top.

Reinaldo Rueda the Colombian coach was very much pleased with his team’s way of behaving after getting two loses. He said that the players have appreciation for the significance of the game and let everybody see their courage and determination. It was an embarrassment that we were not able to show our skills earlier at the tournament. It was as tense as any match could get and Switzerland had a lot to play for. When the game did open up we showed a lack of maturity in our game.” Goalkeeper Noel Valladares added: “I think we can have peace of mind as we gave everything. I thought we looked more self-assured in this match than the other two.”

Argentina vs Germany Poll

Argentina vs Germany Poll

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Brazil 3 – 0 Chile

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Netherlands vs Slovakia Live Stream Online

Netherlands vs Slovakia Live Stream Online

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