Pedro Doesn’t Pass to Torres

Update: Pedro said – “To tell the truth, I didn’t see Fernando and only had in my mind the goal. If I had, a goal would have happened for sure, but I was a little further behind the ball than I wanted and the defender reacted and pounced on me. It was a big mistake but that means nothing now because the team won.”

I’m just not sure why Pedro doesn’t pass to Torres at the end of the game versus Germany. Pedro breaks free and is one on one with a defender and Torres is right there, just wide open to slot ball home. Some say ever since this play that Pedro has been cursed. Pedro could have been up there as one of the greats of the game, but he left Barcelona for Chelsea, where he’s had success but not as much as he should have.

Perhaps Pedro thought that the defender was going to read the pass or the keeper was coming out and would break up the play. If you look at the play though, it’s just ridiculous that Pedro doesn’t make the pass. Especially when you think about what type of player Pedro is, always one to make the unselfish pass and move the ball as he does at Barcelona. The number of times Pedro setup Messi while at Barcelona is a high number….

You’d almost say Pedro didn’t want Torres to score. But I seriously doubt this.

In the end it didn’t matter, as Puyol’s header was enough to win the match. But, if Pedro gives the ball to Torres, who surely would have scored, it would have been a big boost for Torres’ confidence and made him much more dangerous in the World Cup final. However, Pedro had a wonderful game versus Germany, despite this play, and will most likely start in the final versus Holland.

More on Pedro and what he had to say after the match and why he didn’t make the pass to Fernando Torres from the Guardian:

“It was a terrible mistake, I got everything badly wrong,” he said.

“I didn’t see Torres alongside me – I was so focused on the goal. When I cut inside, the ball got left behind and I lost the chance. I was overconfident,” Pedro continued, the normal smile, incisor edging its way across his front teeth, gone. Forget celebrating, there was sadness in his eyes, shame. So much so that when Vicente del Bosque came through a few minutes later, the first thing Pedro’s interviewer said was: “Mister, you’re going to have to have a word with Pedro.”

The response spoke volumes about Del Bosque – and about Pedro. “No pasa nada,” the coach said, “the mistake doesn’t matter. He did what he thought was right because he always turns back like that. He had a great game.”