Spanyol masih memperlihatkan tim terkuat di Eropa saat ini setelah tampil sebagai kampiun Piala Eropa 2012 dengan mengalahkan Italia 4-0 di pertandingan final di Stadion NSK Olimpijs'kyj, Kiev, Senin (2/7) dinihari WIB.
Sukses itu membuat Spanyol mencatatkan sejarah sebagai tim pertama yang mampu tampil sebagai juara di tiga turnamen besar secara berturut-turut. Sebelumnya, Spanyol menjadi kampiun di Piala Eropa 2008 dan Piala Dunia 2010.
Permainan Spanyol dan Italia berlangsung menarik, dan terjadi jual beli serangan, terutama di babak pertama. Spanyol sudah unggul 2-0 di babak pertama lewat gol David Silva dan Jordi Alba.
Italia berusaha mengejar ketertinggalan di babak kedua. Namun tim besutan Cesare Prandelli ini mengalami kesulitan untuk mengejar ketertinggalan mereka setelah hanya bermain dengan sepuluh orang di pertengahan babak kedua. Akibatnya, Spanyol dapat menambah satu gol lagi melalui dua pemain pengganti Fernando Torres dan Juan Mata.
Babak Pertama
Spanyol dan Italia mengawali laga dengan permainan cepat. Italia terlebih dahulu memberikan tekanan ke pertahanan Spanyol, namun dapat dimentahkan barisan belakang lawan.
Sang juara bertahan memberikan respon dengan melakukan tekanan ke pertahanan Italia. Pada menit kesepuluh, Xavi melepaskan tendangan keras yang masih melambung tipis di atas mistar gawang Gianluigi Buffon.
Setelah melakukan tekanan bertubi-tubi ke pertahanan Italia, Spanyol akhirnya unggul lebih dulu di menit ke-14. Menerima umpan dari tengah, Cesc Fabregas menusuk pertahanan Italia dari sisi kanan sebelum memberikan ympan ke depan gawang Buffon. David Silva langsung menyambar bola dengan tandukannya yang membuat Buffon tidak berdaya.
Italia memberikan respon, dan melakukan tekanan ke pertahanan Spanyol. Italia mendapatkan tendangan bebas setelah Mario Balotelli dilanggar pada menit ke-16. Tapi Andrea Pirlo melambung di atas mistar gawang.
Pergantian pemain terpaksa dilakukan Italia dengan menarik keluar Giorgio Chiellini yang mendapat cedera di kaki kanan. Cesare Prandelli lalu memasukkan Federico Balzaretti di menit ke-22.
Peluang diperoleh Italia melalui Balotelli pada menit ke-25, tapi umpan silang dari sisi kiri pertahanan Spanyol dapat ditepis kiper Iker Casillas sebelum disambar kepala ujung tombak Azzurri itu. Selang dua menit kemudian, giliran Antonio Cassano yang menguji Casillas.
Ancaman kembali dihadirkan Italia di pertahanan Spanyol untuk menyamakan kedudukan. Cassano melepaskan tembakan keras dari luar kotak penalti, tapi dapat ditinju Casillas pada menit ke-32.
Keasyikan menyerang, pertahanan Italia lengah. Spanyol sukses menggandakan keunggulannya pada menit ke-42 setelah Jordi Alba yang menerima umpan Xavi selanjutnya memperdayai Buffon. Skor 2-0 bertahan hingga babak pertama usai.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Pride for Africa as Spain strike gold
Only 12 kilometres separate Spain from Africa at their closest point and they were united in celebration at the finish of a 19th FIFA World Cup™ that sent a fault line of happiness stretching all the way from Bloemfontein to Barcelona.
This was Africa's first FIFA World Cup and it will live in the memory as much for the spirit and smiles of the host nation as for the success of a Spain team who achieved their own first when Andres Iniesta's 116th-minute winner against the Netherlands put them into the record books as the eighth country to capture football's most prized crown.
Spain's concluding triumph in the magnificent 'calabash' of Soccer City brought the curtain down on 31 days of football: 64 games at nine venues featuring 599 players from 32 teams who between them scored 145 goals. At the end of it all Vicente del Bosque's men held the trophy but South Africa's success was the other defining story, the Rainbow Nation putting on a show of pride and purpose that gave a message of hope to an entire continent. The fact South Africa's footballers became the first hosts to fall in the first round did nothing to damage the enthusiasm or dim the ubiquitous hum of the vuvuzelas.
South Africa 2010 was a tournament not short on surprises but European title-holders Spainovercame theirs – an opening loss to Switzerland – to win their remaining six matches, the last four all by a 1-0 scoreline. No side has won the FIFA World Cup with fewer goals than Spain's eight but their football still caught the eye – not least the contributions of pass masters Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta, leading scorer David Villa, and Iker Casillas, beaten just twice and whose two one-on-one saves from Arjen Robben in the Final underlined why he fully merited the adidas Golden Glove for best goalkeeper.
For the Netherlands, the memories of South Africa will be mixed after they completed a hat-trick of Final heartbreaks, adding to the defeats in 1974 and '78. Bert van Marwijk's Dutchmen won all six games en route to the Final and if this was a more pragmatic Netherlands than some of their forebears, their attacking players still shone in the 4-2-3-1 formation that was the vogue at these finals, Wesley Sneijder helping himself to five goals along the way.
Individual accolades
Joachim Low's Germany offered another success story, impressing the watching world with some scintillating counterattacking play when putting four goals past both England and Argentina before their charge ended with a repeat of their UEFA EURO 2008 final defeat by Spain. Bronze medallists as in 2006, they finished as the 16-goal top scorers and their forward Thomas Muller took home the Hyundai Best Young Player prize together with the adidas Golden Boot – the latter reward for his five goals and three assists. Villa, Sneijder and Diego Forlan also managed five but failed to match Muller – who scored with every shot on target – for assists.
Joachim Low's Germany offered another success story, impressing the watching world with some scintillating counterattacking play when putting four goals past both England and Argentina before their charge ended with a repeat of their UEFA EURO 2008 final defeat by Spain. Bronze medallists as in 2006, they finished as the 16-goal top scorers and their forward Thomas Muller took home the Hyundai Best Young Player prize together with the adidas Golden Boot – the latter reward for his five goals and three assists. Villa, Sneijder and Diego Forlan also managed five but failed to match Muller – who scored with every shot on target – for assists.
The other big individual honour went to Forlan, who earned the adidas Golden Ball for his outstanding displays for the tournament's biggest surprise package, Uruguay. Oscar Tabarez's team returned to the semi-finals for the first time in 40 years, their traditional obduracy supplemented by the scoring expertise of Forlan, who arguably mastered the Jabulani better than anybody, and fellow striker Luis Suarez.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Messi rallies Barcelona ahead of Clasico
(AFP) Monday 25 February 2013
Lionel Messi admits that Barcelona need to raise their level after two below par performances for Tuesday's Clasico in the Spanish Cup against a Real Madrid side desperate for a morale boost.
Barcelona made an almost faultless start to the season only dropping points in the league before Christmas with a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, while they also lost against Celtic in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
But now signs of tiredness are beginning to set in.
"Against Madrid we will have to produce our best football as we will be against a great rival. We need to be at our best in order to get into the final," said Messi, ahead of the semi-final showdown in the Catalan capital with the scores 1-1 from the first leg at the Bernabeu.
The teams then go head-to-head again in the league at the weekend but with Madrid trailing Barcelona by 16 points in the table there is little more than pride at stake.
While they were expected to roll over AC Milan last week in the Champions League in typical fashion, in the end they were unable to break down a well-organised but not remarkable defence as they lacked the movement and the speed of passing.
Even four-times world player of the year Messi was largely anonymous as they had plenty of possession but were well contained.
At the back their defence was opened up on the rare occasions that Milan attacked and they got two goals to give them a significant advantage ahead of the return leg.
Barcelona were again lacking potency in attack in the first half against Sevilla at the weekend and went behind before turning the game around in the second half with goals from David Villa and Messi.
Barcelona made an almost faultless start to the season only dropping points in the league before Christmas with a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, while they also lost against Celtic in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
But now signs of tiredness are beginning to set in.
"Against Madrid we will have to produce our best football as we will be against a great rival. We need to be at our best in order to get into the final," said Messi, ahead of the semi-final showdown in the Catalan capital with the scores 1-1 from the first leg at the Bernabeu.
The teams then go head-to-head again in the league at the weekend but with Madrid trailing Barcelona by 16 points in the table there is little more than pride at stake.
While they were expected to roll over AC Milan last week in the Champions League in typical fashion, in the end they were unable to break down a well-organised but not remarkable defence as they lacked the movement and the speed of passing.
Even four-times world player of the year Messi was largely anonymous as they had plenty of possession but were well contained.
At the back their defence was opened up on the rare occasions that Milan attacked and they got two goals to give them a significant advantage ahead of the return leg.
Barcelona were again lacking potency in attack in the first half against Sevilla at the weekend and went behind before turning the game around in the second half with goals from David Villa and Messi.
We need to get back to playing how we were doing before and not think about what happened in Milan or the Sevilla game.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Virus Flame
Penemuan virus komputer Flame, yang tersebar tak terdeteksi selama bertahun-tahun di Timur Tengah, menunjukkan dunia telah memasuki era baru spionase dan sabotase global. Para pengamat dunia siber mengatakan, Flame adalah perangkat lunak jahat (malware) yang bisa diadaptasi dan disebarkan ke berbagai infrastruktur vital di seluruh negara di dunia. Para pejabat Iran, negara yang diduga menjadi sasaran utama serangan Flame
, mengatakan, virus itu sempat menyerang sektor industri minyak Iran, pertengahan April. Serangan itu memicu para teknisi Iran memutus seluruh koneksi internet di kantor kementerian perminyakan, anjungan-anjungan pengeboran minyak, dan terminal minyak di Pulau Khark. Terminal minyak Pulau Khark adalah pintu ekspor bagi sekitar 80 persen total produksi minyak Iran sebesar 2,2 juta barrel per hari. ”Virus ini menembus berbagai sektor, salah satunya sektor industri minyak. Untungnya kami berhasil mendeteksi dan mengendalikan satu insiden ini,” kata Gholam Reza Jalali, komandan unit antisabotase militer Iran, Rabu (30/5). Menurut Jalali, sektor industri minyak adalah satu-satunya institusi Pemerintah Iran yang terkena dampak serius serangan Flame, dan saat ini semua data yang hilang telah dipulihkan. Virus itu pertama kali ditemukan dan diberi nama ”Flame” oleh Kaspersky Lab. Perusahaan keamanan komputer asal Rusia itu memburu virus tersebut beberapa bulan terakhir atas permintaan Uni Telekomunikasi Internasional (ITU), badan PBB yang mengatur teknologi informasi dan komunikasi di dunia. Marco Obiso, koordinator bidang keamanan siber ITU, mengatakan, virus baru ini sangat kompleks dan canggih. Ukuran virus tersebut mencapai 20 megabyte, atau sekitar 20-30 kali lipat lebih besar dari ukuran file virus biasa.
, mengatakan, virus itu sempat menyerang sektor industri minyak Iran, pertengahan April. Serangan itu memicu para teknisi Iran memutus seluruh koneksi internet di kantor kementerian perminyakan, anjungan-anjungan pengeboran minyak, dan terminal minyak di Pulau Khark. Terminal minyak Pulau Khark adalah pintu ekspor bagi sekitar 80 persen total produksi minyak Iran sebesar 2,2 juta barrel per hari. ”Virus ini menembus berbagai sektor, salah satunya sektor industri minyak. Untungnya kami berhasil mendeteksi dan mengendalikan satu insiden ini,” kata Gholam Reza Jalali, komandan unit antisabotase militer Iran, Rabu (30/5). Menurut Jalali, sektor industri minyak adalah satu-satunya institusi Pemerintah Iran yang terkena dampak serius serangan Flame, dan saat ini semua data yang hilang telah dipulihkan. Virus itu pertama kali ditemukan dan diberi nama ”Flame” oleh Kaspersky Lab. Perusahaan keamanan komputer asal Rusia itu memburu virus tersebut beberapa bulan terakhir atas permintaan Uni Telekomunikasi Internasional (ITU), badan PBB yang mengatur teknologi informasi dan komunikasi di dunia. Marco Obiso, koordinator bidang keamanan siber ITU, mengatakan, virus baru ini sangat kompleks dan canggih. Ukuran virus tersebut mencapai 20 megabyte, atau sekitar 20-30 kali lipat lebih besar dari ukuran file virus biasa.
Barcelona memetik keunggulan gol tandang berkat hasil imbang 1-1 kontra Real Madrid di leg pertama semi-final Copa del Rey, Rabu (30/1) malam waktu setempat.
Laga berjalan sengit sejak kick-off, namun meski Blaugrana memegang kendali permainan gagal memaksimalkan sejumlah peluang sehingga skor imbang hingga turun minum.
Barulah di menit ke-50 Cesc Fabregas membungkam publik Santiago Bernabeu berkat sepakannya yang gagal dihalau Diego Lopez. Los Blancos yang tak mau begitu saja dipermalukan berhasil menyelamatkan diri melalui bek muda yang tampil cemerlang malam ini, Raphael Varane.
Pertandingan leg kedua di Camp Nou sendiri akan digelar 27 Februari mendatang.
Babak Pertama
Pertandingan langsung sengit begitu wasit meniup peluit kick off. Real Madrid mendapat peluang menjebol gawang Jose Pinto ketika laga baru berjalan satu menit setelah Cristiano Ronaldo diganjal Gerard Pique. Namun, tendangan bebas yang dieksekusi CR7 masih dihalau Pinto dan Karim Benzema gagal memaksimalkan bola muntah.
Pinto kembali jatuh bangun menyelamatkan gawang, kali ini untuk menghalau umpan silang Essien yang nyaris melaju ke gawangnya sendiri.
Blaugrana baru keluar dari tekanan setelah lepas dari 10 menit pertandingan. Jordi Alba! Hampir saja bek internasional Spanyol membuka keunggulan usai menerima bola chip Iniesta dan memiliki ruang gerak, tapi sepakannya melenceng jauh dari sasaran.
Di menit ke-19 pertahanan Barca kembali digempur tuan rumah, tapi umpan silang Benzema gagal dijangkau Ronaldo. Menit 21, Xavi hampir saja membuka keunggulan andai tendangan bebasnya tidak membentur mista.
Gawang Madrid diselematkan Varane yang mampu menghadang bola sepakan Xavi ke arah gawang yang kosong. Tidak lama kemudian, Madrid balik menyerang, tapi Benzema gagal memaksimalkan umpan Callejon. Berdiri bebas di depan gawang Pinto, sepakan striker Prancis masih menyamping.
Calejon berhasil lolos dari jebakan offside, tapi umpan tariknya yang ditujukan kepada Benzema lebih dulu dihalau Dani Alves.
Jual beli serangan terus tercipta, tapi skor kaca mata bertahan hingga turun minum.
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