++ [ originally posted by mikhail ] ++
Kenny Cunningham, Andy O'Brien and Kavanagh neatly neutralised Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka, with the latter two in particular kept very quiet, while Kevin 'Zinidine' Kilbane spent 80 minutes dribbling past two and three midfielders at a time. We weren't sure whether we should cheer of jeer - he's usually a donkey. Andy Reid did well down the left, and kept Cafu back, while Mattie Holland and Steve Carr worked together to keep the damage Roberto Carlos could inflict to a minimum. Up front, Morrison held the ball up brilliantly and really stretched them when he had the ball at his feet - but didn't get the service to really do damage. Robbie Keane was a real danger, and only some fantastic defending from Lucio kept him at bay.
I must say, last night was the first time I've seen Robbie out-tricked. At one point he had his back to a defender pressing him, and flicked the ball over their heads, spinning onto it. The defender flicked it back over their heads!