Sweden - Argentina: Expert analysis

June 12, 2002

Argentina's elimination is a shame for football. Being one of the favourites does not mean that success can be taken for granted. Having good players is no guarantee either. Stars are grist to the journalists' mill - they make for good copy, but unless you live with a team day in, day out, you don't know how a team is shaping up.

It does not matter how many good players a team has, only eleven can play at any one time, and that means the other 12 are dissatisfied. That might have been the problem - Argentina wasted valuable time trying to find the best combination for each of their three games, and ended up going out.

Against England, they came really close, as they did today, but they had no luck at all, and everyone needs at least a little luck.

I fear for football, as tactics are gaining the upper hand over technique. Although a number of sides have made enormous technical progress, less technically talented teams can beat more talented sides if their tactics are superior.

They can sit back and narrow the play, and they can use the rules to their advantage. If a team sees that a technically superior opponent is getting the better of them, there is a means that is often used to counter this - the professional foul.

Players committing professional fouls are not really punished, as they merely pick up a yellow card, and then play goes on. To create a good opening, a team needs time and class, and a professional foul reduces that to nothing. This is a problem, and one that often bothers me.

On the other hand, Sweden played as well and as fairly as they could. They did not just defend and play for a draw.

Argentina put themselves under enormous pressure. In the first half, they could have taken advantage of the fact that the Swedes were showing them too much respect, but unfortunately, they did not manage to score.

When Sweden opened the scoring, it obviously became very difficult for Argentina. They knew tthey had to score at least one goal, but when that became two, it was maybe a bridge too far for Argentina. They tried everything towards the end but their play got scrappy, which did not help their cause.

It is a shame for the FIFA World Cup™ that two of the big favourites are no longer in the competition. The question now is how can teams like these be protected? I don't think fans want to see games based purely on tactics. After all, this is football, not chess. Fans want to see games full of risks and players who can really turn it on. If sides just play destructively, which from a coach's point of view I can fully understand, that goes against the spirit of the game.

How this should be changed is not up to me, however. Everybody needs to contribute.

FIFAworldcup.com