Habitual pessimism

The Germans win the Confederations Cup amid a barrage of criticism

The first semi-finalists have been determined at the Confederations Cup. As expected, the first two places in Group A were taken by the national teams of Argentina and Germany. The teams will find out which of them will be first and who will be second in a head-to-head match. This meeting will be of a principled nature - the loser in the semi-finals will most likely go to Brazil.

Germany in their second match met with the Tunisian national team. Despite the big score (3:0), the victory was not easy for Jurgen Klinsmann's team. The German players scored the first goal only 15 minutes before the final whistle, and before that moment the African champions could have scored. Even in the first half, the ball, fired by the Tunisian Clayton directly from the corner, almost flew into the near corner of the goal - Lehmann saved. Once again, Oliver Kahn's replacement scored midway through the second half, parrying Adel Hadley's dangerous shot.

The hosts of the Confederations Cup also had several good chances, but they were able to open the scoring only in the 74th minute - Ballack took a superb free kick. Then the upset Tunisians were finished off by the new generation of the German team - Schweinsteiger and Hanke. But even after the big victory, Klinsmann's team was criticized by German journalists. To which the Bundestrainer remarked: “I myself played in six international tournaments, and each time the German media spread pessimism from the very beginning. They prefer to create a negative atmosphere around the team so that if it loses, they can say: “We said from the very beginning that nothing would come of this.”

A little later, the Argentina team also made it to the semifinals, beating Australia 4:2. The Argentines, having started the first half quite calmly, quickly opened the scoring, and then, after a violation against Saviola, doubled the score from the penalty spot. In the second half, having increased their advantage to three goals, the South Americans relaxed and gave the Australian team the opportunity to show themselves. They took advantage of this and quickly reduced the gap in the score to a minimum, but the Argentines still had the last word.

In addition to sporting goals, the Confederations Cup also pursues others. For example, some judicial innovations were tested here for the first time. Now the referees must carefully ensure that when the ball is thrown in from the sideline, the opposing player is at least two meters away. The judges are also concerned about the appearance of the football players - from now on it is forbidden to enter the field with chains, rings and other jewelry, even covered with a plaster. In addition, from now on, a football player who scores a goal and immediately takes the ball out of the goal is punished with a yellow card. But some concessions have been made for those who decide to celebrate scoring a goal: if a player exposes his torso without taking off his T-shirt, this is not punishable by a warning.

But the biggest controversy was caused by a small change in the rules in recording offsides. Now the referee blows his whistle only when the ball hits a player who is in an offside position at the time of the pass, and not while the ball is in flight. “I thought that FIFA really thought about how to eliminate everyone’s annoying passive offside. Unfortunately, the opposite happened,” said Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. “I don’t understand why the rules were made even more complex.”

Andrey VDOVIN