Football - World Cup 2010

[Majsju]

Bloody hell, 10 minutes into the first game, and I am already starting to go batty from those cursed vuvuzuelas.

[Graendals favourite]

Ah, will France do another triple zero-zero here?

[Graendals favourite]

Ok, my definive wager is that Argentine will win the championship!

 

Argentine, Argentine, Argentine!

[Majsju]

And we are off!

 

South Africa - Mexico, 1-1.

Decent start for the tournament. Not the best teams, but both played an attackminded football. Tshabalala showed that he does not only have the coolest name in the tournament, he also has a wicked shot. Mexico slightly better, but a draw was a fair result.

 

France - Uruguay, 0-0.

Uruguay was happy with a draw from the start, and rarely threatened the French goal. France wanted to win, but failed miserably to work as a team. Govou was invisible, Anelka walked around like a zombie, Ribery was not friend with the ball...But what we will remember from this game is poor Lodeiro. Booked after two minutes in his World Cup debut. A little later, he got sent off. I feel sorry for the lad.

[Thorum]

It's telling both of us put the world champion of 98 (and vice-champion last time) as being ousted in the first round.

[Majsju]

In 98, they were a team. In 06, they had a magical Zidane. This year? They have Domenech...

[SBoydW]

Argentina 1:0 Nigeria

 

I watched this game and it seemed to me that Argentina controlled this game the entire way.  Nigeria had a few good shots which they blew.  Though props to Nigeria for shutting down Messi.

 

 

South Korea 2:0 Greece

 

Korea out shot Greece 18-6, though Greece had 5 more corner kicks.  Unfortunately Greece couldn't capitalize on any of their opportunities and got blanked.

 

[Krakalakachkn]

USA! USA! USA! USA!

[SBoydW]

The USA Gives a big THANK YOU to the English Goal Keeper Green!

[Majsju]

South Korea - Greece 2-0.

Big mistake from greece gave SK an early lead. Great individual performance from park sealed the deal.

 

Argentina - Nigeria 1-0. Only a very inspird game from Enyeama in Nigerias goal saved them from a more embarassing result. Big question about Argentinas organisation though, a tougher opponent would have taken advantage of a quite confused defence.

 

England - US 1-1.

An early goal by Gerrard put England in the drivers seat. Then Green reminded the world that England has not had a good keeper since Shilton, with one of the worst mistakes from a keeper the World Cup has ever seen. And while England was by far better than the US, they failed to function as a team, resulting in loads of wasted opportunities. Capello has a lot of thinking to do.

[Haxorsist]

I wonder what Maradona was snorting when he decided he didn't want Zanetti in his squad and decided to use Jonas Gutierrez on the right back. ^^

[Majsju]

I think it is a matter of hierarchy, zanetti is too much of an Alpha male for Maradonas thinking. Maradona seems to have picked a team where the ability to fit with the group is more important than the skill as a footballer. Look at Cambiasso, Maradona axed him just because he does not like him as a person.

[Majsju]

Algeria - Slovenia 0-1

By far the most boring match so far. The teams cancelled eachother out completely, and nothing really happened until (sub)Ghezzal decided that playing handball was a good idea. With Algeria down to 10 men, Slovenia managed to create a few chances, but it took a mistake from the keeper almost as bad as Green yesterday to give Slovenia the win.

 

Serbia - Ghana 0-1

Serbia started in a crazy tempo, Ghana stood up well, though Serbia should have scored at least one goal from two brilliant chances. Everything pointed at Serbia winning, if they could just get a goal. Unfortunatly for them, Ludovic forgot that he was already booked, and all of a sudden Serbia was reduced to 10 men. And a bit later, Kuzmanović followed Ghezzals example, and played a bit of handball. In the own box, giving Ghana the penalty they needed to penetrate the Serbian defence.

 

Germany - Australia 4-0.

Bloody hell...Germany has always had a mentality that gets them far in any tournament, no matter how the players individual form is. But now they also have a team that knows how to play brilliantly.

Australian fans might blame the big score on the insane red card for Cahill (It might have been a booking, but a red? No fraking way), but even before that their defence showed that they did not have a clue how to handle the Germans.

That boy Özil...

[Graendals favourite]

Well, here is how I decided it should go. In compensation for the slightly cheating aspect of the first round of games almost gone, I rely on the combination of Finnish football tradition and not having a clue on most of the teams or players :). Anyway

 

A. Mexico, France, SA, Uruguay

 

B. Argentine, Nigeria, SK, Greece

 

C. England, US, Slovenia, Algeria

 

D. Germany, Ghana, Serbia, Australia

 

E. Netherlands, Cameroon, Japan, Denmark

 

F. Italy, Paraguay, Slovakia, NK

 

G. Brazil, Portugal, CI, NZ

 

H. Spain, Chile, SL, Honduras

 

=>

 

Mexico-Nigeria

England- Ghana

Germany- US

Argentine-France

 

Netherlands-Paraguay

Brazil- Chile

Italy- Cameroon

Spain- Portugal

 

=>

 

Netherlands-Chile

Nigeria-Ghana

Argentine-Germany

Italy- Portugal

 

Semifinals

Netherlands-Ghana

Argentine-Portugal

 

Bronze Netherlands-Portugal

Gold Argentine-Ghana

 

That looks reasonable.

 

[Majsju]

Netherlands - Denmark 2-0

More or less cruise-control for Netherlands, who seeemed set on not doing one bit more than absolutely necessary. Denmark defended well, and tried to push forward. Unfortunatly, with a Bendtner only 75% fit as only striker, scoring goals is not easy. First goal was bad luck for poor imonmsen, who headed it into his own goal. Second goal was class, Elia ran through the Danish defence, and was unlucky to see his shot hit the post. Fortunatly for Oranje, Kuyt was there for the rebound.

 

Japan - Cameroon 1-0

Cameroon was an embarassment. Strange choice of starting players, whith Song ans emana starting on the bench. And extremely poor performance, hardly nyone was willing to run, and Eto'O who was supposed to be the great leader mostly kept to himself on the wing. Japan on the other hand showed that they are here to fight. They worked their socks off, and showed some nice play as well.

 

Italy - Paraguay 1-1.

I feel sorry for Paraguay. Threy came into the match as majo underdogs, but played smart and with loads of courage. For a while it almost looked like they could get the win, as they were quite successful at keeping Italy out of their box. But, Italy is Italy, and dug out the equalizer from a half-chance. After that, Paraguay had nothing to reply with, I think they got into the Italian half twice in the last 20 minutes.

The question that worries Italy now is, what happened to Buffon? If a keeper is subbed in halftime, it is usually more than just a niggle. And if he is out for the rest of the tournament, Italy is all of a sudden very weakened.

[Majsju]

Slovakia - New Zeeland 1-1.

Just looking at the quality, it was a quite poor match. Neither team showed any great skills. But it still managed to be fairly exciting. Slovakia controlled the game, especially after they took the lead. But NZ refused to give, and kept fighting until they were rewarded with a goal.

A goal that maybe should have given all three points to  NZ, as Slovakias goal was half a meter offside.

 

Cõte d'Ivoire - Portugal 0-0.

Mos people had high expectations before this match, and most people were disappointed afterwards. Most of the action happened in the middle, and there were few good attempts to go forward. Too bad Ronaldos wicked shot from 30 meter did not result in a goal, that would have opened up the game a bit.

Sven-Göran Eriksson has managed the difficult task of getting the Ivorians to act as a team, with a decent level of organisation. But he desperatly needs Drogba, he alone created more in the 20ish minutes he played than the entire team had done before that. Portugal desperatly needs Ronaldo to start smashing in a couple of freekicks, as he is very alone when they go for the attack.

 

Brazil - North korea 2-1.

The mysterious North korea introduced themselves, and charmed an entire world. With their 5-3-2 formation, many believed we would see a brutally defence minded team, with 10 players behind the ball. Not so. Sure, they had their focus on the defence, but it was controlled and organised, and they always tried to set up a counterattack whenever they won the ball.

Brazil had a hard time figuring them out, and it did not help poor movement in the 1st half. It took a moment of individual brilliance to get that first goal, this time the honour went to Maicon, who put the ball in the net from an almost impossible angle.

When they later scored their second, many teams would have curled up, just waiting for the match to end. Not North Korea, they continued to look for ways to counterattack, mostly through "the peoples Rooney" Jong Tae-se (Yes, he is actually called that in North Korea and Japan).

 

Brazil did as usual, won the premiere without playing very well. North Korea showed that they are a team that might actually get a result against the other teams in the group.

[Majsju]

Oh, and a fun banner I spotted in the crowd...Kim Jeong Il thinks I´m at work. Brilliant ;D Or, a little bit sad if you consider the truth behind the "Korean supporters". Of course North Korea did not dare letting any fans run off to watch football in South Africa, at least half of them would never have returned home. So, what to do? Buy 1000 tickets, give them, planetickets, hotelrooms and some North Korean jerseys and flags to Chinese volunteers, and all of a sudden you have your fans. Heh.

[Krakalakachkn]

Oh, and a fun banner I spotted in the crowd...Kim Jeong Il thinks I´m at work. Brilliant ;D Or, a little bit sad if you consider the truth behind the "Korean supporters". Of course North Korea did not dare letting any fans run off to watch football in South Africa, at least half of them would never have returned home. So, what to do? Buy 1000 tickets, give them, planetickets, hotelrooms and some North Korean jerseys and flags to Chinese volunteers, and all of a sudden you have your fans. Heh.

 

Yeah, it's pretty stinking sad.

 

Also, though, crazy goal by Switzerland!

[she who sees beyond]

we ... well ... owned the Spanish.

 

Which is actually unfortunate because i based all my tips (Cupwinner, most goals, etc) on The seleccion.

 

But still

 

HOOORAY

[Majsju]

Chile - Honduras 1-0.

Quite entertaining match, with a Chile that played a fast, attacking football. Granted, Honduras did not put too much of a fight, but Chile certainly has a chance of causing some trouble for the other teams in the group. If they work on their finishing, that is. Way too many wasted chances.

 

Spain - Suisse 0-1.

Well, that was quite a shocker for the Spaniards. They walked into the game as huge favourites, and dominated from the start. It could easily have been 2, 3-0 in the first half. But, other than Xavis shot that almost broke the bar, they lacked sharpness in their finishing. And whle passing the ball around the midfield can look pretty, it does not win any games.

Suisse came with a simple plan, defend the own box, and try to find the counterattack. They knew they would get 2-3 chances, and when a chance came, they had to find the net. Which they did. Funny, they were thoroughly outplayed by Spain. Yet, they do not need to feel ashamed for grabbing all three points.

 

South Africa - Uruguay 0-3.

Just as against France, Uruguay showed a strong defence. But they were braver going forward, and Forlán/Suarez had loads of opportunities to score, before Forlán opened the match with a beautiful diving shot.

But what people will talk about is South Africas keeper Khune getting sent off after bringing Suarez down in the box. One of the harshest red cards I have seen in a long time, as Khune barely touches Suarez, and certainly had no intention of doing it.

South Africa needs a miracle now to advance.

[WWWwombat]

It was Xabi Alonso who hit the bar iirc.  I don't remember Xavi doing much.  Iniesta, Pique, Sergio Ramos and Jesus Navas impressed me, as did the Swiss keeper and defense.  I would go further than saying the Swiss shouldn't feel ashamed.  They should be proud of their tactical win.

[Kimarja]

No wonder Switzerland won! Have you seen their vuvuzelas? Go Switzerland!

http://twitpic.com/1xaz1s

 

But Uruguay has been the real surprise. Diego Forlán is so going to be in my dream team! Poor South-Africa, to be the first World Cup host to drop in the first round.

 

[Majsju]

Xavi, Xabi...like trying to keep track of all the Kims and Lees in South Korea ;D

 

I do not see Uruguay as a surprise. It was well known that they had a strong and organised defence, as well as an absolutely lethal attack. The big question were; Can they link the two?

[Majsju]

Argentina - South Korea 4-1

Oh la la, the Messi Show. Little guy was just magnificent. And thanks to him, Higuain scored the first World Cup hat trick in a long time.

 

Nigeria - Greece 1-2

After a shaky start, it looked like Nigeria was going to control the game, especially after getting the first goal. But an idiotic kick from kaita changed everything. Reduced to 10 men, Nigeria had little to put up against an increasingly attacking Greece. Only an amaxing Enyeama in Nigerias goal kept the score down.

 

France - Mexico 0-2

France has the players to go all the way. unfortunatly, they also have a Domenech, whose bizarre tactics and complete failure to make the players play as a team once again sees France close to being eliminated already in the group stage.

Mexico is the very opposite. They have few great players, but they act as a team, all over the pitch. And, they have Javier Hernandez. I am so glad United bought that little guy, he can be quite an unpleasant surprise for many defenders in next seasons PL.

[Krakalakachkn]

I was glad to see Mexico win