In sport as in war, victory and defeat is delivered on the field much later than it occurs in the mind. Last night's quarterfinals between Argentina and Germany was lost in the South Americans' mind much before the penalties. They never seemed to recover from Klose's header in the 80th minute when they were already beginning to imagine their victory celebrations. I cringed at Klose's header. Reminded me of the FA Cup Final this year when West Ham thought they had won it only to be hit by a sucker punch by Gerrard. Here the characters were different but the denouement pretty much the same.
The turning point of the match for me took place in Pekerman's head. It came in the 72nd minute when Pekerman decided that he had won the match and he just had to protect his lead. He made a defensive move by bringing on Cambiasso for Riquelme. A midfield lock in front of his defense vs. a creative fountain behind his attack. Not satisfied by this, he inexplicably brought on Julio Cruz for Crespo instead of unleashing Messi on the Germans. The latter would have been a menace and would have distracted the Germans from the imminent task of equalizing - thus closing the game for Argentina in normal time. This, however, was not to be and the world was robbed of a true talent's performance and of a great team in the final.
Once Germany equalised, Argentina had no way of coming back. Short of their creative spark and lacking ideas upfront (in Messi's absence) they looked lost in extra time. Penalties were a formality - anyone who could read their body language could make out that they had lost the match in their mind.
It comes down to one man's decision. Last night, Pekerman gave in to his defensive instincts and the whole nation will pay the price for the next 4 years.
It comes down to the mind. Seeing their visions of victory evaporate with Klose's header and missing their creative catalyst, Argentina lost the match much before Cambiasso hit the ball in Lehmann's grateful arms.
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