Big-name reputations have stood for little so far at this World Cup as coaches have had no qualms about ringing the changes if things are not going their way.
BERLIN: Big-name reputations have stood for little so far at this World Cup as coaches have had no qualms about ringing the changes if things are not going their way.
Sunday's matches were an ideal example as first Dutch star striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was replaced during the second-half while the younger spirited Arjen Robben ran the show and scored the only goal against Serbia and Montenegro.
Coach Marco van Basten was blunt about why the Manchester
United star had been replaced.
"Ruud did not play well and that's why he was taken off," van Basten said, although he said he would keep faith with the Manchester United striker for tomorrow's clash with Ivory Coast in Stuttgart.
However, van Nistelrooy shouldn't feel too downhearted as later that day Mexico's leading striker Jared Borgetti's forgettable last 12 months culminated in him being substituted early in the second-half of their match with Iran.
He then had to watch from the bench while Omar Bravo completed a double and one of the substitutes Zinha scored in the 3-1 win.
Coach Ricardo Lavolpe patted himself on the back.
"I think the subsitutions were perfect and the team was better, more ordered on the field and better organised," he said.
"It wasn't necessarily that players were playing badly, it was just the way the match was going but the changes we introduced were certainly positive."
Another coach took a huge amount of self satisfied pride in his substitutions as South Korea's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat brought on as a second half substitute Ahn Jung-Hwan to repeat his heroics from the 2002 World Cup.
He scored the winner against Togo upstaging Advocaat's preferred first choice Cho Jae-Jin.
"When Ahn went on we pressurised them (Togo) and they did not know what to do with him," said Advocaat, twice a Dutch national coach. "It was good to bring him on - he scored a brilliant goal."
Thus it has gone on as the established stars and number one choices for their national sides have discovered that reputation alone and past services do not mean a thing when it comes to trying to win football's biggest prize.
Perhaps the major casualty was Spanish icon Raul, whose poor form not just last season but for the past three saw him dropped to the bench for the first match with Ukraine.
He must have had mixed feelings as the player picked ahead of him, David Villa, scored two in the 4-0 romp - Fernando Torres getting another.
"I'm not hurt by being on the substitutes bench," said Raul. "All 23 of us want to play but the coach has chosen 11 players for the first game and there will be further opportunities for us."
Whether there are after the resounding victory over the team considered their most dangerous rival is open very much to doubt and the sight of the Real Madrid legend warming the bench will certainly give pause for thought to the other star strikers, whose talents are not twinkling as brightly as they once were.
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