Sao Paulo 1 Liverpool 0 - World Club Championship (Dec 18 2005)

[TLW]

Sao Paulo 1 LIVERPOOL 0

Report by Stu Montagu in Yokohama

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama Date - Sun 18 Dec 2005 Star Man - Steven Gerrard

 

 

 

 

This game, one designed to be a showpiece event for World football and its governing body, will be remembered by many for entirely the wrong reasons; as glamour turned into farce and the European Champions walked away without the trophy, but certainly not without credit.

Liverpool had come into the final on the back of a resounding and comfortable victory against Deportivo Saprissa from Costa Rica whilst their opponents had struggled to overcome Asian representatives Al Ittihad in their semi-final. The South Americans seemed to have a fragile defence and their goalkeeper seemed far more at home dispatching penalties than claiming crosses which saw many Liverpool fans sensing that it could be third time lucky in attempts at claiming this re-shaped version of an old title.

These predictions turned out to be nothing more than that as Sao Paulo were added to the names of Flamengo and Independiente as sides to have defeated Liverpool in this tournament.

As the players made their way to the field, amid the music and choreographed children that we have come to accept being subjected to on occasions such as these, the temperature was nothing if not typically English and the conditions definitely seemed to be something that would effect you more if you were from the banks Amazon that those of the Mersey.

The game got underway and within seconds Gerrard had carved himself just enough space on the right to deliver a superb cross onto Morientes’ head; only to see the effort slide wide of the far post. A good start all the same and something to build on.

Thoughts of building on anything though were halted by the appearance of the infamous Jimmy Jump who proceeded to throw himself into the goal and cling onto the net for what seemed an eternity. The Japanese were a polite and apologetic people and better hosts you couldn’t have asked for but I can’t have been alone in wanting them to be less than polite with him in sorting the incident out. Kicking him until he stopped moving then throwing him in the moat surrounding the pitch, which he had somehow navigated, would have been a decent course of action.

After sorting the netting out the game was re-started and a relatively even few minutes led into a period of sustained Sao Paolo dominance which would continue until they would eventually take the lead. They retained possession well and seemed to be outmanoeuvring the Liverpool midfield with far too much ease. With Gerrard, Garcia and Kewell all roaming forward when Liverpool were in possession the burden placed on Sissoko and Alonso was telling. Lack of numbers in midfield often meant that during counter attacks the two central players were pulled out of position and couldn’t provide any cover to the now exposed centre-backs.

This, added to the fact that the defence seemed to be half asleep to the danger that was around them, meant that you felt it was only a matter of time before the record for clean sheets was about to end. Mineiro was the man who broke it. We had been given a warning a few minutes previously when the defence had been breached but it was not heeded. On 27 minutes the former Brazilian international ghosted in off a dozing Stephen Warnock and behind an equally unresponsive Sami Hyypia to latch on to a clever through ball and calmly put Sao Paulo ahead.

This was to signal an end to Sao Paulo as a team of any attacking intent and from this point onward only one team were to play football of any note. Liverpool had been creating rare chances but not converting them prior to the goal and were unfortunate not to level immediately after it when Garcia had a header from an Alonso corner flicked onto the crossbar by Rogerio Ceni. This was shortly followed by a further Garcia header and a volleyed effort by Gerrard that were gold plated opportunities that were allowed to slip away.

Towards the end of the first half the Liverpool side were starting to find a rhythm and with Alonso conducting and Sissoko working hard it was looking far more positive that the first half an hour where possession was squandered far too cheaply. Chief culprit on the night was Stephen Warnock. This was probably the poorest display I have seen from him with over half of his passes going astray throughout the game. A slight improvement could be seen in the second half but I was surprised that he survived half-time let alone 79 minutes.

The second half got underway and the reds continued to force the play in the way they had signalled to do at the end of the first period. Gerrard and Kewell were getting in behind their backline and the corners were starting to come thick and fast. Kewell has got a long way to go before most sane people will start believing he is good enough for this club but putting in performances like he did here will go a long way towards earning some respect. Not only did he supply good crosses and regularly beat his man, future Real Madrid right-back Cicinho, but he also diligently blocked any supply to him in the first half; a valuable contribution and a vast improvement on what we usually get from him.

Garcia had a close range snap shot saved smartly by Ceni, who proved to have a very effective game, as the pressure built on Sao Paulo; by now virtually camped in their own half. Garcia then had a goal disallowed for offside by a linesman who had previously been caught daydreaming 20 yards behind play for a decision and was regularly changing the direction he flagged to agree with the referee. From the stand behind the goal it is always hard to judge offside calls, never mind we thought, it will come.

When Hyypia then had a goal scratched off for the ball going out of play on a corner the sense that it will come was weakened a little and although the section where most of the Liverpool fans were sitting offered a poor view of the decision, the referee’s assistant was definitely not popular.

By the time that Florent Sinama-Pongolle’s goal had been ruled out for what seemed an unexplainable offside flag the realisation had started to dawn that this was not to be. Whether it be gross incompetence or some darker hidden agenda the level of officiating was not good enough if the tournament is to be taken seriously. In the previous match we had seen Al-ttihad punished with a penalty for the best challenge of the week, we were laughing then at the absurdity of it, we weren’t now.

A Garcia volley, a wonderful Morientes chance late on and a superbly saved, top corner bound, free-kick from Gerrard were all created in a closing period that was to typify the most one side professional game you are ever likely to witness. Even when things weren’t going right for Sao Paulo, such as a Kewell cross Ceni made a hash of which landed on the bar, they still escaped.

As the announcement for the added time was made the ball was slipped across the area to the waiting Steven Gerrard; flashbacks of Olympiakos…it wasn’t to be as the shot skidded wide. A good ten minutes that were wasted by various Brazilians during the game through feigned injury, Ceni take a bow, were replaced with two at the end and as the final whilst went we knew that we had been robbed of the victory we deserved.

I was surprised that Riise wasn’t brought on earlier as a more attacking option against a team hell bent on defending and that Crouch, who caused havoc when introduced, wasn’t introduced for Morientes earlier but when all is said and done the players selected dominated the whole game. Morientes seems to moving off the ball well to create chances but didn’t have the killer edge needed he will need to show more in the next six months if he is to retain his place in the squad one feels.

For all the analysis and recriminations at the end of the game one fact remains: Liverpool wiped the floor with Sao Paulo. It is not going too far to say that I would rather have lost the way we did than won the way they did. Their manger laughably claimed after the game that they kept us quiet; I’d hate to see the mauling they’d have got if we were noisy. The boos that rang around the stadium for the match officials during the awards ceremony made it clear to all present what the opinion of the result was.

For the star man I have gone for Gerrard. Kewell ran him very close but for the drive and quality that he supplied in the second half Gerrard just shaded it from the Australian. We may not be able to say we are the World Champions due to this result but you can bet that when Sao Paulo try to tell anyone they are the best side in the World the best reaction they can hope for is a stifled laugh.


Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Warnock (Riise); Gerrard, Sissoko (Sinama-Pongolle), Alonso, Kewell; Garcia, Morientes (Crouch):