Ivory Coast coach Henri Michel put it mildly when he said, “We have players who come from the top European clubs but we are inexperienced as a team on this level. We were close, so close, but we did not have that ruthless streak. Perhaps that is something we will learn from this tournament.”

Four days into the World Cup, many countries are taking lessons in the difference between having several players of quality and a team that can excel at this level. The most striking example of this was the Argentina v Ivory Coast match but it’s been illustrated everyday.

During their first half against Argentina, the Ivory Coast looked like a team that could win the World Cup. They worked together, were pacy and aggressive and had the confidence that world beaters need. Their problem was that the Argentinians possessed the same qualities but always looked to have a little more. Where Ivorian midfielder Didier Zakora made strong runs into the heart of the Argentine defense, South American midfielder Juan Riquelme made the same runs, but knew when and where to lay the ball off. Unfortunately for the Africans, in the 38th minute, the ball went to the resurgent Javier Saviola, who delivered the deciding goal.

The United States came into this tournament with loads of confidence built on their performance in 2002. But 36 minutes into their opening match with the Czech Republic, a Tomas Rosicky strike increased the European lead to 2-0 and the US fans’ chants of “2010″, looking ahead to the next World Cup were totally appropriate. For 90 minutes the Czechs, especially Pavel Nedved, were of a completely different class and talent level. Whenever the Americans, who had a majority of the possession, attempted to put anything together, they were stifled by the Europeans defense and counterattack. The Czech Republic was always a step ahead.

Sometimes it?s a player that steps up and provide the class that can carry a team. Holland’s Arjen Robben was not only superior to Serbia & Montenegro, but he was head and shoulders above the quality of his teammates. While fellow Dutch players Robin Van Persie and Ruud Van Nistelrooy struggled somewhat to find their feet, Robben and his blistering pace were all over the park and was a constant threat. If his teammates can find a way to catch up, the Netherlands will go deep into this tournament.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 12:12 pm and is filed under World Cup 2006. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.