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Saturday, June 21, 2008

How do they concentrate?

The concentration levels of top-level players and officials are hugely impressive. Last night, 51,000 people in the Ernst Happel in Vienna, Croatians and Turks, created a veritable wall of sound that rarely dipped below deafening levels for 2 hours.
This is where you can see how players and officials mentally isolate themselves on the pitch from everything happening around them.
Roberto Rosetti, a favourite to referee the final, was hugely impressive, calm and decisive. For two feisty teams, there were few problems and Croatian manager Slaven Bilic's antics were his main cause of anxiety. The former Hammer was constantly haranguing the fourth official but all was well in the end. A scrappy and dull match finished in dramatic fashion with 2 goals in the last 2 minutes and Turkey winning on penalties.
Television may be convenient for football but there's nothing like actially attending a match.

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