Rolling report: Join us for the buildup to Sunday's games, with the
US taking on Portugal
and Belgium facing Russia
Not only is Marcus Christenson one of the nicest people on the sports desk but he also knows more about football than Jonathan Wilson and Michael Cox combined. (There! You happy? Now can you let go of my arm already? It really hurts) Here is his latest effort on the subject of why in modern football, amid all the money and greed, there is something wonderfully appealing about Ivica Olic old’s old-fashioned attitude and style of play. Enjoy.
In many ways, it was Ivica Olic who set the tone for this wonderfully rumbustious World Cup. Sure, Oscar was doing his fancy stuff at the other end of the pitch, as was Neymar, but it was the 34-year-old Croat and his galloping runs down the left who made the biggest impression at the start of the opening game just over a week ago.
There was no messing around, just straightforward, glorious wing play. It was as if he had been flung in from a different era – an era before Arsène Wenger decided that all attacking players (bar one perhaps) should be short, nimble-footed midfielders who pass the ball around beautifully – and parachuted in behind the space left behind by the Brazilian right-back Dani Alves.
Olic tormented the Brazilians in those opening 20 minutes and provided the cross from which Nikica Jelavic’s scuffed shot was turned into his own net by Thiago Silva. In their second game, against Cameroon, Olic scored his team’s first goal, coming in on the far post to sidefoot Ivan Perisic’s beautifully weighted pass home after 11 minutes. It was his second goal in seven World Cup matches, coming 12 years after making his debut and scoring at the tournament as a sprightly 22-year-old against Italy in Ibaraki. That’s 4,393 days – and a lot of hard work – between those two goals.
Get down! Get down! Get down! (with the rest of this article)
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