ATWC : GROUP G

The group, the schedule, the stadiums, the squads, the games (please click on the pictures for a better view).

THE GAMES

DAY 1 :

CZECHOSLOVAKIA - TURKEY at Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland (capacity 64.400)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA - TURKEY : 1 - 1

A tactical game, a ferocious match... actually pleasant to watch, between two well-organized and combative teams with also some talent in it. The Celtic Park's crowd appreciated, although they experienced far better football with their 1967 team !

GOALS (Nihat, Panenka pk)

30' : Nihat escapes the tight marking of Dobias and beats Planicka.

60' : Alpay tackles down Nehoda in the penalty area (yellow card). Panenka takes it and scores with the help of the post.

Yellow Cards : Dobias (18'), Ondrus (26'), Alpay (60'), Pluskal (68'), Emre (77').

Man of the Match : difficult to see one player who stayed out from the crowd amongst three or four of them. In the end, Ondrus, who's been a solid captain of defense in this match, was presented with the trophy.

RATINGS :

Czechoslovakia :

Planicka 6 - Dobias 4,5 - Ondrus 6 - Popluhar 5,5 - Novak 5 - Pluskal 5 - Nedved 5 - Panenka 5,5 (Pesek) - Masopust 5 - Bican 4,5 (Puc) - Nehoda 5,5 (Koller). Tot. : 58.

Turkey : 

Rüçtü 5 - Alpay 4 - Terim 5 - Bülent 5 - Altintop 5 - Tugay 5,5 - Calhanoglu 5 - Abdullah 5 (Aurélio) - Güler 4,5 (Emre) - Sükür 4,5 - Nihat 6 (Oktay). Tot. : 54,5.

BELGIUM - ALGERIA at Trafford, Manchester, England (capacity 74.000)

BELGIUM - ALGERIA 2 - 2

At Old Trafford Stadium (which was repaired in-extremis for the World Cup), we really were at the theater of dreams.

GOALS (Zitouni o.g., Madjer, Madjer, Fellaïni)

10' : Van Himst crosses the ball in direction of Lukaku... Zitouni scores an own goal. Belgium 1, Algeria 0.

25' : Madjer ! A volley-goal with the... knee. Ghoulam crossed the ball.

77' : Madjer ! With a... backheel goal ! Assad crossed the ball. The Belgian defenders are on their knees.

89' : Fellaïni with the head, from a cross by Vercauteren. It was not over and the Belgians shown great reaction.

Yellow cards : Gerets (43'), Ghoulam (55'), Albert (68').

Man of the Match : undoubtly the Algerian star himself, Rabah Madjer !

RATINGS :

Belgium :

Preud'homme 4 - Gerets 3,5 - Albert 4 - Kompany 5 - Vertonghen 5 - Witsel 6 - De Bruyne 5,5 - Scifo 5,5 (Fellaïni) - Hazard 5,5 (Vercauteren) - Lukaku 5 - Van Himst 5 (Ceulemans). Tot. : 54.

Algeria :

M'Bohli 4 - Merzekane 5 - Zitouni 3,5 - Bougherra 5 - Ghoulam 6 (Guendouz) - Fergani 5,5 - Saïb 5 - Mahrez 4,5 (Feghouli) - Mekhloufi 5,5 - Belloumi 5,5 (Assad) - Madjer 7,5. Tot. : 57.

Rabah Madjer of Algeria was the big man of Group G matchday 1

DAY 2

CZECHOSLOVAKIA – BELGIUM  at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England (capacity 61.200)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA – BELGIUM  at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England (capacity 61.200)

Thunderclap in the Belgian team ! Courtois was preffered to Preud'homme to keep the goals in this match. Surely for he offers more guarantees in the aerial duels with his height, against those Czechoslovakians.

Also, the Belgian staff, who could not chose between Van Himst and Hazard for the first match (hopefully, they did not loose because of that and still earned one point) made their decision this time : none of the two !

As for he former-Czechoslovakia team, it was a classic eleven (minus Bican but with Koller instead), as they don't have so many options as Belgium and did not need to change much things, presumably). So, it is a blessing or a curse for Belgium? Judging on the result, assuringly a good thing. Belgium proposed much more football and it was a deserved win, here at Anfield, a stadium where the Czech Republic had beaten Italy, that was at the Euro '96. As for the former-Czechoslovakian staff in this All-Time World Cup match, they came up short of ideas.

GOALS (Vertonghen, Pluskal o.g., Puc)

61' : corner-kick Scifo... Vertonghen with a header !

69' : Scifo at the free-kick... Pluskal scores an own goal...

84' : Novak intercepts the ball and serves Puc whose the shot ends in the back of the nets. The central European team did not show much until then but it's not over and thye could get an equalizer.

90+6 : it's over. The ex-Czechoslovakia only has 1 point so far, with one game remaining against Algeria who have one point as well before the game of tonight.

Yellow cards : Pluskal 40', Novak 55', Lukaku 60', Nedved 80'.

Man of the Match : we feared for him against this type of opposition but Scifo was in all the good moves !

RATINGS

Belgium :

Courtois 5 - Gerets 5 - Albert 6 - Kompany 6,5 - Vertonghen 7 - Fellaïni 5 - Witsel 5,5 - De Bruyne 5 (Nainggolan 80') - Scifo 7 (Vercauteren 75') - Ceulemans 5 (Hazard 80') - Lukaku 5. Tot. : 62.

Czechoslovakia :

Planicka 3,5 - Dobias 5 - Ondrus 5,5 - Popluhar 5 - Novak 6 - Pluskal 3,5 - Nedved 6 - Panenka 4 (Puc 70') - Masopust 5 - Koller 5 - Nehoda 5. Tot. : 53,5.

Planicka hurt himself in a duel with Lukaku but he stood on the pitch until the end.

Enzo Scifo taking the corner-kick.

TURKEY – ALGERIA  at Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland (capacity 64.400)

TURKEY – ALGERIA : 0 - 1

Another tactical-physical game in this group F with much tension. The Algerian coaching decision made the difference with the incoming of Bennacer (first appearance) and Assad (second appearance from the bench and once again decisive).

From a technical standpoint, the second half has been way better than the first half, thanks to the players from both teams, by the way (the first half was horrendous). The young Güler of Tukey entered the pitch at a right winger position, from the bench this time, as the keys were given to Bastürk who brang more balance to his team. Arda Turan also made his first appearance from the bench. As for Sükür, he was kept upfront until the end of the match but could not make any goal.

GOALS (Assad)

83' : Bennacer kicks a magnificient diagonal lobbed pass to the left where Assad arises, controls the ball eliminating Alpay on the first touch before beating Rüçtü. Alpay had been impeccable until then but surely he feared to cause a penalty. Great coaching Algeria ! And once again, what a magnificient goal !

Yellow cards : Bülent 36', Tugay 44', Mahrez 56', Calhanoglu 72'.

Man of the Match : it should have been the coaching or a ticket Bennacer-Assad, but Bougherra won the trophy at the end of the match.

RATINGS

Turkey :

Rüçtü 5 - Alpay 5 - Terim 5 - Bülent 5 - Altintop 5 - Tugay 5 - Calhanoglu 5 - Abdullah 5 (Güler 75') - Bastürk 5,5 - Sükür 4 - Nihat 5 (Turan 75'). Tot. : 54,5.

Algeria :

M'Bohli 6 - Merzekane 5 - Zitouni 5 - Bougherra 6 - Ghoulam 5 (Guendouz 73') - Fergani 5 - Saïb 5 - Mahrez 5,5 - Mekhloufi 5 (Bennacer 65') - Belloumi 5 (Assad 70') - Madjer 5. Tot. : 57,5.

     

Bennacer-Assad : winning ticket.