Whipping boys

Time to balance out my ITV bashing a bit tonight, and to help me out, I can call on the ever reliable Lee Dixon. During the analysis post-Mexico v Iran today, Lee gave his thoughts looking ahead to the Portugal-Angola clash: "I'm sure Angola are going to be one of the whipping boys of the World Cup". A very easy opinion to give, seeing how it's the one virtually everyone else gives, but it does beg the question: On what, precisely, was it based? Are we to believe that since his umpteen years of passing the ball 6 yards sideways to Tony Adams came to an end, Lee has spent his time as the British football ambassador in south-west Africa? Or has he, in fact, read the Angola page in the (actually rather excellent) Match Of The Day World Cup 2006 guide? In short, he knows nowt. To be fair to Lee, he's probably no more guilty of this than most of his colleagues, but I'll pick on him anyway because, well, it's fun. And no one likes Lee Dixon do they? Thought not.

Seriously though, when are pundits and journalists going to learn? The days of the World Cup whipping boy would seem to be all but over. There are far more decent coaches in the established football nations than there are established nations with coaching vacancies. These people need jobs, and they find them in developing football nations. We have already seen a few completely written off teams, Costa Rica, T&T, Iran, and Angola, and whilst none of them actually beat their more illustrious opponents, try asking the coaches of Germany, Sweden, Mexico and Portugal whether or not they enjoyed their supposed 90 minute walkovers.

Predictions in this World Cup already appear to be idiots' territiory. Every match has been close enough to have gone either way. Portugal must have breathed a sigh of relief big enough to blow Cologne's Volksparkstadion to Hamburg when the final whistle went tonight. Angola terrified them, make no mistake. If Angola's game had had just a little more sophistication, say as much as Ivory Coast's, Portugal would have been in big trouble. Despite Figo's excellence, and a gift early goal that should have opened the floodgates, the Portuguese huffed and puffed, suffering from shite cross syndrome for the rest of the match. As the clock ticked away, and the nerves set in, they got deeper, and deeper and deeper, and it was clear to all the Portuguese fans in the stadium, who went from derisory whistling to actually chanting support for their opponents, that their team was hanging on. To anyone who enjoys an underdog, Angola were heaven and hell to watch. Time and time again they comfortably broke up Portuguese attacks, made their way neatly into their opponents half... and then panicked. One attack after another ended with the wrong option chosen, a rushed and overhit pass, or a row ZZZ bound shot. A damn shame, because Portugal deserved to be embarrassed.

Mexico were much more respectful of the opponents they were meant to give a pasting to, and were rewarded with a better result and performance. Iran looked every bit their equal in the first half, they attacked speedily, and used the ball intelligently. They could have taken the lead before unluckily falling behind to the wonderfully named Bravo. The equaliser certainly came as no surprise, and they deserved to end the first half level. Mexico's response should be seen as a lesson to the 'bigger' teams; rather than arrogantly assuming their opponents game would deteriorate, they made two substitutions at half-time, and changed their tactics, putting the emphasis on keeping possession, and showing patience. The result was that Iran never got a sniff of the ball in the second half, and when the keeper and centre half each made their only mistakes of the match, they were ruthlessly punished. With confidence boosted, Mexico's Brazilian then added a lovely third.

Iran's boys were not whipped, but effectively beaten by a better side who showed intelligence in working out their opponents. I don't think Mexico would have been any happier if they had won the game 5-0, because they never made the assumption that they would do so in the first place. I'm guessing they probably weren't listening to the advice of ex-England full-backs commenting on teams they've never seen.