Young stars earn their spurs

Foto : Getty Images

Though the group phase at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ has now come to an end, the excitement is set to continue for many of the players in the running for the Hyundai Young Player Award. Three rising stars to make sure of their place in the Round of 16 on Thursday were Nabil Bentaleb, Adnan Januzaj and DeAndre Yedlin, who all had very good reason to celebrate on a day of high excitement.

One of the day’s opening two matches was the meeting between USA and Germany, with no fewer than five contenders for the award featuring in the two squads. Only one of them saw any action, however, with Yedlin once again being sent on as a substitute by Stars and Stripes coach Jurgen Klinsmann. And though his side went down to a 1-0 defeat, the defender once again showed his class as the Americans scraped through.

Algeria midfielder Nabil Bentaleb was the next to excel. Starting his third consecutive match, this time against Russia, Bentaleb played the whole 90 minutes and made a valuable contribution to the 1-1 draw that took Les Fennecs into the knockout phase for the first time in their history.

In the evening’s other game, Adnan Januzaj, one of European football’s hottest properties, made his eagerly awaited debut in the competition. The 19-year-old forward started Belgium’s final group match against Korea Republic and though he failed to get on the scoresheet, he did more than enough to justify his inclusion.

Januzaj’s team-mate Divock Origi, the hero of the Red Devils’ narrow defeat of Russia in their last game, came on once more. Unable to find the back of the net this time, he nevertheless had a big hand in the only goal of the game, firing in the shot that Taeguk Warriors keeper Kim Seunggyu spilled to allow Jan Vertonghen to score.

Coming up
The end of the group phase will be followed by a rest day, giving the young talents on show at Brazil 2014 a chance to put their feet up. The action resumes on Saturday, when Juan Fernando Quintero and Eder Alvarez Balanta of Colombia and Jose Maria Gimenez of Uruguay will hope to continue pressing their claims to the Hyundai Young Player Award.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2014/m=6/news=young-stars-earn-their-spurs-2387602.html

Skenario Indah Jerman

Thomas Mueller

Foto : AP

Oleh : Hendro Santoso

Jerman akhirnya menjuarai Grup G dengan nilai 7 poin setelah dalam pertandingan terakhirnya mengalahkan Amerika Serikat 1 gol tanpa balas. Satu-satunya gol Jerman dicetak oleh Thomas Mueller pada menit ke 55. Walaupun kalah AS tetap lolos ke 16 besar karena Portugal hanya mampu mengalahkan Ghana dengan 2-1 sehingga selisih golnya masih minus 3 kalah baik dari AS.

Gol Mueller tercipta dengan diawali oleh sundulan Per Mertesacker di mulut gawang hasil umpan silang Mesut Ozil. namun bisa ditepis Tim Howard. Bola kemudian memantul ke luar kotak penalti dan di ujung kiri berdiri Mueler lalu dengan tendangan akurat berhasil menjebol gawang Amerika Serikat.

Dalam pertandingan ini Mueller memang hanya mencetak satu gol setelah sebelumnya melesakkan dua kali tembakan ke gawang AS , 37 total umpan dan beberapa kali aksinya mengancam gawang AS. Bomber Bayern Muenchen ini benar-benar menjadi momok bagi barisan belakang AS.

Sudah mencetak sembilan gol di Piala Dunia, Mueller berhasil melampaui dua nama legendaris seperti Diego Maradona dan Rudi Voeller. Selain itu, dengan torehan sembilan golnya, Mueller berhasil menyamai dua legenda Jerman Uwe Seeler dan Karl Heinz Rummenigge

Teringat tulisan saya sebelumnya bahwa Jerman cukup mengalahkan AS hanya dengan selisih 1 gol sudah bisa mengantar AS ke 16 besar. Satu gol ini menjamin kehormatan Jerman tidak ternoda namun sekaligus membawa Jurgen Klinsmann ke babak 16 besar. Sungguh skenario yang indah bagi Jerman dan Klinsmann.

Walaupun sebenarnya mereka bisa bermain draw sudah pasti akan meloloskan kedua Tim ke 16 besar namun hal itu tidak mereka lakukan. Sudah pasti mereka tidak akan melakukan perbuatan konyol tersebut. Ini Piala Dunia Bung. Sangat memalukan andai ada perbuatan tercela dengan bermain mata dalam satu pertandingan Kehormatan lebih diutamakan dari pada hanya sekedar kemenangan. Skenario indah Jerman sangat menyenangkan Amerika Serikat. Selamat untuk kedua Tim. Salam.

Bandung 27 Juni 2014

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