Posts tagged football

After a surprise Danish win in the first leg, Villarreal knew that defeat at home was not an option. A single Hans Henrik Andreasen goal from a shocking Cristian Zapata defensive blunder in the 84th minute gifted the Danes with a win that shocked the footballing world, giving them the perfect advantage heading into tonight’s second leg contest at Camp El Madrigal. But the question was could they hold on to it for long enough to produce a truly incredible footballing upset?

Straight from the kick off, the full force of Villarreal’s attacking power was on show, both Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi seeing their attempts from outside the box blocked just minutes into the game. Cani was brought down on the edge of the box only moments later, Senna’s subsequent free kick attempting to find the top of the goal, only to find the palm of Stefan Wessels’ hand.

The home side’s desperation was apparent throughout the half, the sheer speed of their play impressive in itself, the ball barely ever leaving Odense’s half of the pitch. The Danes’ defensive tactics to suppress the Spanish onslaught seemed at first to rely purely on harsh, take-no-prisoners tackles, Kalilou Traoré finding himself picking up the first yellow card of the game after only fifteen minutes, Bashkim Kadrii adding to that list just two minutes later. But upon further investigation as the half drew on, Odense’s defence were actually incredibly well-organised and strong, and no matter how hard they tried the Villarreal attack just couldn’t find the back of the net, Norwegian Espen Ruud keeping his side in the game almost singlehandedly, superbly tracking Villarreal midfielder Cani down the left hand side of the box on countless occasions.

Villarreal’s main problem seemed to be pushing men forward, very few of the midfielders seeming willing to commit forward despite the Spaniards only playing three at the back, seemingly so that the midfield could do exactly that.

The best chance of the half came after 37 minutes, Wessels saving well from a low Camuñas strike, Rossi picking the ball up from the rebound, skipping around a falling Christensen and attempting to chip it over the German keeper only to find his shot being brilliantly parried away for a corner. If he had decided to bury it beneath Wessels instead of trying to be clever, he easily would have made it 1-0…

The first half ended goalless, and despite the constant Villarreal attack the praise certainly belonged to their Danish visitors, a vast amount of incredibly strong defending on display, not to mention an already man of the match winning performance from Stefan Wessels between the posts.

The second half saw a similar start to the first, Wessels immediately having to deal with two attempts from outside of the box in only half a minute, Camuñas skimming the top of the bar from the edge of the box three minutes later. And just a minute later, Villarreal finally found what they were looking for; a fantastic Nilmar cross finding Rossi in the centre of the six-yard box, the Italian volleying the ball towards Wessels who at first looked like he had managed to make an incredible save, but the German was seemingly unable to deal with the near-distance strike, the ball finding its way out of his arms and into the bottom right hand corner of the Odense goal.

An already impressive Odense side sprung into full life after the goal, the Danes pushing harder in attack and holding stronger in defence, Andreasen and Kadrii in particular finding themselves penetrating the Villarreal defence down the wings.

But, it wasn’t to last long, Rossi grabbing his second of the night after 66 minutes, a world-class lofted pass that David Beckham himself would be proud of coming from Cani near to the halfway line and finding its way over the heads of the Odense defence to connect beautifully with the Italian striker inside the box, the Odense keeper standing no chance of saving such a fantastically timed and placed effort. 

Odense’s frustration from conceding a second goal showed straight from the restart, Bashkim Kadrii picking up his second yellow of the night after a clumsy challenge on Zapata, reducing Odense to ten men at a time when all was still to play for. The challenge was risky and unnecessary, the Dane clearly letting his anger get the better of him and as a result letting his team down considerably. But only four minutes later, Villarreal too were reduced to ten men, Borja Valero getting a straight red for a bizarre retaliation against Johansson which saw a Zinedine Zidane-esque headbutt from the Spaniard against his Swedish opponent. A replay showed that Johansson had accidentally clipped the top of Valero’s head with the tip of his boot after a tackle near the touchline, the Villarreal midfielder clearly seeing the accident as anything but and deciding to repay the Swede with a diving header into the chest.

The win was wrapped up by substitute Marchena after 82 minutes, a low strike from outside the box being fumbled by an otherwise brilliant Wessels into the right hand corner of the net. It was not the fairest way to end Wessels’ game, the young German performing brilliantly throughout only to let himself down at the last minute when top concentration was an absolute must.

Villarreal go into the group stage of the Champions League with an overall comfortable play-off win against a hard-working Odense side under their belts. The Spaniards will be confident of their chances of progressing further through the tournament, but their defence requires some serious work if they are going to do so. Against a weaker side like Odense they just about managed to deal with the minimal attacking force thrown their way, but against stronger and harder pushing sides they will certainly feel the pressure and will have to step up their game if they want any hope of competing seriously against the big boys. But, judging from their desperation and drive throughout, Juan Garrido and his men certainly aren’t going to let this opportunity go to waste and I have a strong suspicion that we will be seeing a lot of Villarreal throughout the course of this tournament.

This piece was featured on The Elastico.

A team that is ridden with injuries, surrounded by vocally unhappy fans, and has just lost their captain is not a team that will fill many with confidence, but despite all of this, Arsenal’s prospects of advancing from their Champions League qualifier against Italy’s Udinese looked quite promising. It was always going to be close, but just how close would it prove to be?

After only four minutes of play, Theo Walcott put Arsenal fans’ minds at ease when he neatly connected with a fantastic Aaron Ramsey cross to put the hosts ahead. But despite countless Gervinho runs and a great attacking partnership between the Ivorian and Walcott, the Gunners just couldn’t seem to convert their chances and go further ahead. As the first half wore on, Arsenal’s initial fire and speed seemed to die down, replaced with a sort of unsure tiredness that their visitors took advantage of, Armero forcing his way through the weak Arsenal defence on countless occasions, last minute tackles and forced Szczęsny stops being the only thing to keep the Colombian from making it level once again. Star striker, and Serie A’s top goalscorer for the last two seasons, Di Natale also looked incredibly dangerous when given the chance to attack. If anyone was going to score, it was certainly going to be this guy.

But, Arsenal managed to hold on and went into the break with their 1-0 lead intact, only to find themselves emerging the other side with another injured player for Wenger to add to his ever-increasing list, this time Gibbs being forced to retire due to a hamstring problem, Johan Djourou replacing the youngster with Vermaelen moving to left-back to fill the gap. And if things weren’t already worrying enough for Wenger, Djourou only managed to last nine minutes of play before a hamstring injury also saw him being forced off for newcomer and former Charlton Atheletic youngster Carl Jenkinson. At a time when Arsenal’s defence desperately needed to be strong, the gods seemed to be against them.

The entire second half was dominated by Udinese, a clearly tired and disorientated Arsenal side trying their hardest to keep them at bay, hoping that they could run the clock down before the Italians had the opportunity to grab and equaliser, or worse. Di Natale looked hungry, firing shots in from all angles, forcing the vulnerable Arsenal defence into overdrive and at one point, from a free-kick, causing Szczęsny to stretch to turn behind a well-placed free-kick.

It was an evening of pure endurance and patience, and it paid off as the match entered stoppage time, Gervinho embarking on a fantastic run through the heart of the Udinese defence to set up Walcott to seal the victory for the home side, only to be denied by a top-class save by Handanovič. The Slovenian had been kept so quiet during the second half but managed to rise to the challenge perfectly when most needed. Moments later Armero replied with a majestic shot from outside the box that flew just wide of the right post, but it was just too late for the visitors.

Wenger will be pleased that his men managed to keep an obviously strong Udinese side at bay despite their injuries and losses, and they will go into the second leg next Wednesday evening with a very important one goal lead. But their main worry will be the two injuries sustained tonight, adding to their previous pile of casualties. The Gunners face an important test at Liverpool on Saturday in the Premiership, but the possible addition of both Gibbs and Djourou to their list of  unusable players for that tie and the missing of a strong and suitable left-back will cause alarm bells to ring throughout the Arsenal camp. After a poor start to the season with a lacklustre 0-0 draw against Newcastle, the need for a win at Liverpool is massive, but with the team looking as shaky and vulnerable as they do at the moment, is there any chance of them pulling it off?

This piece was featured on The Elastico.