The AnswersThatWork Blog

We kicked off

First, get our World Cup wallchart here!

So we kicked off after a brilliant opening ceremony, different from all World Cups before.

Let's first get one thing out of the way :  the vuvuzelas.  I absolutely love them.  Anyone who has a problem with them needs to have a serious look at themselves and their prejudices.  Why is it OK for Italian matches to have a similar noise through entire Champions League matches, and with massive fireworks, yet it is not OK to have the vuvuzelas ?!!  This is South Africa's World Cup to host in their country with their traditions whilst complying, of course, with international standards of security, communications, etc...  This is not a 2006 World Cup in Germany, or a 1998 World Cup in France, this is the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with their own traditions, so shut up all you Patrice Evra's out there and instead enjoy the diversity of our planet, just like Liverpool's Jamie Carragher who bought some for his kids, or like the thousands of European travelling fans who we can see on TV having a great time also using the vuvuzelas !

Team profiles, and match reports on all games of this World Cup follow :
 

SEMI FINALS PREDICTIONS

So, Semi-Finals week. Time to predict our World Cup 2010 Final, and for me to get a few more predictions right !

Holland v Ghana
Holland v Ghana is a mouth watering prospect.  It pits the best of Africa v the best team never to have won a World Cup.  Oooops, errata.  Just been reminded that this match is actually Uruguay v Holland.  Damn, forgot !  Ahhh, that's a much easier match to write about.  Uruguay should not be in this match thanks to a terrible FIFA law.  There should have been a penalty goal for Ghana, period :  the goal should have been given with Luis Suarez getting a yellow or red card, not this nonsense where Ghana has scored a 100% certain goal and that 100% goal is replaced by an 80% probability penalty with Uruguay eventually getting the prize of this semi-final.  Read this blog for more details.  Once the national anthems are over, I hope Uruguay are booed from start to finish to send a message to FIFA.  I don't have anything against Uruguay, but they should not be in this semi-final and FIFA should hear a [booing] message loud and clear for the entirety of this semi final.  To have a final that gives us justice I want Holland to win this tie.

Germany v Spain
The match that could have been a final.  The re-match of the Euro 2008 Final.  Spain's game has not changed since Euro 2008 — possession, patience, possession, patience, ....... David Villa !!!  Spain play a game that requires 100% precision, the Barcelona game, and when one or two people are off their peak the team's entire game suffers.  Spain's football is great to watch when it clicks into gear perfectly.  Germany's game, however, has completely changed since Euro 2008 — they play Total Football, the type of football where players will regularly swap positions, not just swapping sides of the pitch, the type of football where everyone defends in numbers and then attacks in numbers, the type of football where players think and try to pull defenders out of position, read "John Terry", the type of football where scoring goals is the only aim of the game, the type of football where 4-0 is de rigueur.  I love Germany 2010 !  Germany all the way, by two, three, or four clear goals !
 

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS

Paraguay 0-1 Spain
Amazing.  I described Paraguay as the Portugal of South America, and they were.  I said Spain showed the patience of champions against Portugal, and that that patience would be needed against Paraguay, and, just like against Portugal, Spain definitely needed patience, lots of it, together with a sprinkling of luck.  With one of the best defences in the tournament Paraguay nullified everything that Spain could throw at them in the first half, and, with Nelson Valdez coming back into the side from injury, they nearly took the lead in the first half, not once, not twice, but three times.  In the second half, around the hour mark, the match lit up thanks to some amazing behaviour from both defences and bizarre refereeing.  It started with Gerard Pique, the Barcelona defender and, for me, the best defender in the World, deciding he didn't like Oscar Cardozo in the upright position and proceding to use everything he could to bring him down to the horizontal position on a corner.  It was amazing :  tripping, pulling, and eventually wrestling Cardozo to the ground in a perfect judo move.  It was so deliberate, and went on for so long, even a referee with 5/20 vision could not have missed that.  If ever you want to illustrate pure defensive madness on a football field, then go no further than the video of this moment, it will have you cracking up till dawn !  It was so hilarious I was still laughing when Oscar Cardozo shot straight at Casillas.  Opportunity missed for Paraguay who, at that point, actually deserved to be in front — although Spain had dominated the play and possession, up to that point Paraguay had manufactured the best chances.  So, Casillas saved the Paraguyan penalty, threw the ball forward, and within seconds David Villa was cut down in the Paraguayan penalty area, clear on goal.  It was a clear penalty, and it should have been a sending-off too.  Xabi Alonso scored the penalty only for the referee to ask him to re-take it because players had supposedly encroached (that's OK, we will forget that the same thing happened at the other end but was not picked up!).  On the retake Villar, the Paraguayan goalkeeper, saved.  0-0.  Two penalties saved within 60 seconds.  This has to be a World Cup first !  A few minutes later Paraguayan made the substitution which, I believe, changed the game, substituting the tired but nevertheless still dangerous Valdez for Roque Santa Cruz.  This was a mistake :  Nelson Valdez is Paraguay's own Carloz Tevez, Paraguay's own Duracell Man, and even though he had only just come back from injury, he single-handedly kept the entire Spanish defence occupied and unable to join the midfield into attacking Paraguay.  As soon as Valdez went the game changed and, suddenly, Paraguay were no longer seeing anything of the ball and, sure enough, the Spanish goal came courtesy of the World's deadliest striker :  David Villa.  And that was it !  Paraguay go home as a result of not having realised who their best player really was, Valdez, and Spain showed yet again that incredible patience to win the game in its dying moments.  My neighbours are happy — the Spanish flag was flying high out of their window this morning ....


Argentina 0-4 Germany
In my predictions on Friday I said Germany all the way and, Man, it WAS Germany all the way.  In my write-up about Germany just before the World Cup started, at the bottom of this page, I said this :  "But there is something very ominous with this year's German team :  the average age of the squad is 25, and if you take out the one 36-year old and the one 31-year old, Miroslav Klose, it drops to 24 !  That has to be the youngest squad at this World Cup after Ghana. German teams usually have stamina — count on this team to have super-stamina !!  It gets better :  this young squad is also an experienced squad; most of the squad went to the final of the last European Championships, in 2008, where they lost to Spain, and over 50% of this squad also played in the last World Cup, in 2006, where they lost in the semis.  The youngest and most experienced squad all in one package.  Staggering.  It gets better still :  this team scores goals, and plays attractive football.  Prediction :  semi-final at the very least, if not final".  So, in writing up this match, do I need to repeat anything I have not already said in my pre-World Cup write-up, or in my write up of all of Germany's matches in this World Cup ?  Ohhhhh Yes !!!  I thought Germany's match against Australia was brilliant.  I thought Germany's match against Ghana showed patience, composure, skill, and experience, because they were playing, in my opinion, the second strongest side of this World Cup, and yet eked out a deserved 1-0 win.  I thought Germany's demolition of England was ..... youthful !  There was so much historical and media pressure on this match, plus Fabio Capello's aura, and yet this team blitzed through England, admittedly a weaker side than Ghana, as if they had never read History nor the Media.  Germany's first 20 minutes against England was unbelievable then.  So we came to this match.  Before this match I had written in various reports that Argentina's defence was incredible, but I had also said that a team which had failed to enable the best player in the World, Lionel Messi, to shine, could not possible trouble this German team.  I was right, but I certainly never expected to watch an even better first 20 minutes than Germany's first 20 minutes against England.  Just as with their match against England, they should have been 2-0 up.  Germany ran Argentina silly in these first 20 minutes, and, frankly, I am sure some of the Argentinian players were already praying for half-time.  But, thankfully for Argentina, they have one player who will always get them out of a hole, and his name is not Lionel Messi; his name is Carlos Tevez, also called the Duracell Man !  That guy is unbelievable, as all watchers of the English Premier League will know.  Carlos Tevez single-handedly brought Argentina back into this game after Klose had missed what should have been 2-0.  As only Carlos Tevez can, there were 4 Carlos Tevez's on the pitch, hounding every German player around the pitch, and then, once one of the four Carlos Tevez's had won the ball, he would distribute it in masterly fashion to other Argentinian.  If this Germany had Carlos Tevez on their side they would be the best football team the World has ever ever seen !  So, for the rest of the first half the contest was a lot more even, with Argentina even edging it, all thanks to Carlos Tevez.  Same story in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and, then, Germany, having withstood the Carlos Tevez onslaught, took charge of the match again and simply tore Argentina apart for the remainder of the match.  You simply cannot afford to fall behind in a match against this German team as they will tear you apart on the counter.  In the end it could have been 5-0, it could have been 6-0.  And that's not because Argentina were bad, it's because Germany are that good !  Sumptuous, Sumptuous stuff.  I love it !


Ghana 1-1 Uruguay
Man, this World Cup is leaving a bitter taste in the mouth !  I was really looking forward to this World Cup but every round of matches seems to highlight how much some of the rules of football must change.  We have had Germany losing to Serbia because of a sending off that was not, then the USA did not win against Slovenia because of a valid goal that was disallowed, then the unbelievable England goal against Germany that was not given, then the terrible off-side goal of Argentina against Mexico which effectively won that game, and now, Uruguay !  A law has to change here.  Yes, Sepp Blatter has finally agreed that the introduction of technology now has to happen, so we, football lovers, are all winning on that one.  But there is another law that needs changing :  If a certain goal is prevented by a handball in the penalty area, the goal should be given in addition to the red card !  Period.  Can anyone argue it is justice that, when a handball prevents a 100% certain goal, you then have to take a penalty which, by all statistical accounts, must be no better than 80% of a goal being scored ?  100% v 80% !!!  Who invented this crazy equivalence, this unbelievably stupid law.  No, it is totally unarguable !  In the last minute of extra time, Ghana had the ball in the Uruguayan net.  It was a goal.  The referee knew it was a goal.  All 22 players knew it was a goal.  Except that Luis Suarez saved the goal with both his hands.  Suarez got his deserved red card.  However, what justice is there in giving a red card and asking Ghana to take a penalty with all the pressure that this means.  None whatsoever.  None whatsoever.  This is one law that needs changing and you must all play your part in getting it changed.  If there is to be a legacy from this World Cup it is that it should be seen in History as having been a watershed of good changes to the game of football.  Just like with the Mexico v Argentina match, and to a lesser extent the England v Germany match, a major refereeing problem overshadows the whole match and it is pointless talking about anything else in a match that would have otherwise been wonderful had it got its rightful conclusion.  No-one should have any illusions about this :  Uruguay are in the semi-finals having cheated their way into the semi-finals thanks to a totally inadequate law !  We're in different times nowadays, where you, the reader, can influence world events.  Uruguay should be booed for their entire semi-final to ensure that all the chiefs of UEFA who will be watching the game, know that a terrible injustice was played out today and that they must make sure no other football club, and no other football nation ever suffers this 100% v 80% injustice ever again (please respect the Uruguayan national anthem, that is important, you would not want your own national anthem booed — RESPECT IT!).  This is a very different situation to Mexico and England — in those matches the referees didn't see events which technology would have helped them to see, in this match a player cheated an 100% goal and as a result of a terrible law his team got the unbelievably coveted prize of a World Cup semi-final.  Shocking.  This World Cup is leaving a very sour taste.  Make sure you visit www.PlayYourPartInChangingHistory.com  and email FIFA with your views.  Let's change history again for the second time in this World Cup.


Holland 2-1 Brazil
When the World's best goalkeeper makes a howler of a mistake in the Quarter Final of the World Cup, you know your prediction is about to go out of the window.  When you see him leap to catch a cross, miss it, and you see the ball brush his arm then hit one of his own defender's head and end up in the net, you know all your wishes are about to be crushed.  Unless you're Dutch !  So, there I was, having complimented Brazil's unbelievable defence, only to see Brazil beat their ownselves through a goalkeeping howler, poor defending on another corner, and getting sent off for trampling an opponent.  Absolutely amazing.  At least Brazil did one thing right :  they scored a luminous goal in the exact fashion that I had written up in my prediction :  one pass out of defence, bang, beautiful curved goal by Robinho.  Brazil 1-0 up.  And Brazil really were dominating this match — it could have been 2-0, 3-0.  Occasionally the Dutch would threaten a little but, really, until that second-half howler in the 53rd minute, there really was nothing any Brazilian supporter should have been worried about, but then came madness and the match was turned on its head.  At 1-1, after Melo's own goal, the Brazilians were rattled and started losing their composure, the ball, their discipline, their heads, and, sure enough, 15 minutes later they were 2-1 down after very poor defending on a corner.  Five minutes later Brazil were down to 10 men and that was then effectively the end of the match.  Make no mistake about it, this was an unbelievable result which, in the first half, was as remote as Jupiter.  So, Holland have proven me wrong at every single turn, and yet I am still not convinced about them — strange, strange.  My feeling :  if Uruguay beat Ghana then I fancy Holland to go through; if Ghana beat Uruguay then I fancy Ghana to beat Holland.  After this match, trust me — I know nothing about football !
 

QUARTER FINALS PREDICTIONS
 

Sorry guys and gals :  didn't have time to have a blog on the other second-round matches, but I will review all the Quarter Finals.

First, it's time to win a few dollars off your best friend with a World Cup wager, so let's have some fun at predicting the outcome of the matches.

Holland v Brazil :  Brazil all the way for me.  I just have not be excited in any way whatsoever by anything Holland have done or that I have seen.  I believe Holland is too functional, much like England, Serbia, and Algeria were, except with better quality of front.  Brazil, on the other hand, have amazed me, just like Argentina.  Their defence is just unbelievable.  Imagine Tall, Full of Muscle, Immovable, Quick, Ultra-Quick, Skilful, Very Skilful, and Intelligent.  That's the 4 guys at the back for Brazil.  They hound you to every corner of the pitch, then, when they sense danger, the others pitch in and you sometimes have the amazing sight of 4 Brazilians trying to get the ball away from the opposition's attacker.  Then, as soon as they have the ball, 3 precision passes later the ball is in your net !  Simple, Efficient, Deadly !  Brazil all the way.

Uruguay v Ghana :  I am going to go against the grain here, I'm going for Ghana.  My reasons :  right after the first round of group matches I believed that the winner of this World Cup would come from one of the two teams that came out of Group D :  Germany or Ghana, the two youngest squads of this World Cup.  Ghana are getting better as the tournament progresses and have been lucky to find themselves in this part of the draw as it gives them one extra match to get added rythm, added confidence, added togetherness to their play before they have to face one of top boys !  Uruguay are deadly up front and pretty strong at the back, as all the South American teams have been (irrespective of Chile's 3-0 defeat to Brazil).  My problem with Uruguay is that, much like the departed Italy, they do not control the play — they just let you play and then get you when you don't expect it — so I believe that they will come unstuck against Ghana who, so far, have tended to control anything from 60% to 80% of the play, including when they lost to Germany, and when Ghana control the game they do not lose goals.  I also sense something like "Destiny" with Ghana, the first African nation to gain independence, now in the home of Nelson Mandela.  Ghana.

Argentina v Germany :  Well, well. I predicted Argentina to make the Quarter Finals, no better, and I predicted Germany to make the final.  I am not going to change now !!!  The way Argentina defend is impressive — it's just like Brazil, defending like tigers.  I think the key point of this match is that, after 4 games, Argentina still have not been able to make Messi shine.  Imagine that — it's like the Argentina of 1986 playing without making the most of Maradona, or past Brazil sides not making the most of Pele or Ronaldo.  So, despite 4 wins in this tournament, I believe that that single failure to get the best out of the best player in the World, Messi, will hit Argentina badly because in the Quarter Finals you are already playing against the best in the World, and there is not much better than Germany in this World Cup.  As for Germany — I've written about them in complimentary terms throughout the tournament and I have nothing to add.  Germany all the way.

Paraguay v Spain :  Paraguay are the South American version of Portugal, in my view.  In their last match Spain easily showed that they can cope with a team that plays defensive football because Spain has one important ingredient that all top teams have :  patience.  Paraguay will defend like tigers, like the rest of the South American teams, Paraguay will show some invention in attack, some enterprise even.  And then Spain will win !

That's it for my tips. I predict I will get ............................ 4 out of 4 right !!! JJ

Enjoy !

— TUT SpaceMan
 

SECOND ROUND RESULTS

Argentina 3-1 Mexico
By the time this second round match kicked off there had already been, in the three previous second-round matches, two major match-defining refereing mistakes which directly affected the outcome of the match.  South Korea were robbed of a penalty against Uruguay, and England were robbed of a scored goal against Germany.  This match became the third match in four second-round matches where a refereeing mistake directly affected the outcome of the match.  3 in 4 — isn't this unbelievable ??!!  Mexico were bossing this match, make no mistake about it.  Then, in the 26th minute, Lionel Messi tried to pass a rebound off the goalkeeper into the Mexico net 20m away.  It would not have gone in as a direct goal from Messi as one of the defenders would have been able to clear it on the line.  Instead, Carlos Tevez, in an offside position, made sure of the goal by heading it into the net.  The referee, unsure, turned to his linesman, and the linesman gave the goal.  Then, in the clearest indictment so far of the non-use of technology at World Cups, the absurd occurred :  the screen in the stadium replayed the goal, the assistant referee saw it, and was mortified by his mistake.  The Mexican players also saw the replay.  To his immense credit the linesman instantly told the referee he'd made a mistake, the Mexican players were all pointing at the screen telling the referee there had been a terrible mistake, and the referee who could only rely on his assistant was struck by indecision, his face pale in front of the enormity of the situation :  by the rules the assistant referee was only allowed to use his judgement of the moment the goal went in, and, yet, on the screen in the stadium the entire stadium, and the entire World, and his assistant had just seen than the goal should not be given.  Roberto Rosetti had to follow the rules and give the goal.  It was a terrible moment for World football, it was a terrible moment for the referee who knew it was wrong, it was a terrible moment for the linesman, it was a terrible moment for Mexico.  And to emphasize how wrong the non-introduction of technology is :  from that moment on the match was spoilt, every non-Argentinian supporter wanted one thing only and that was for Mexico to come back into the game, knowing full well that that is almost impossible agaisnt this Argentinian side; the referee did not give a yellow card to Mexico for the rest of the game despite many frustrated Mexican tackles well well well deserving of a booking; in the second half there was another contentious moment where Mexico probably scored a goal, just like England's not-given goal in the earlier match against Germany, but the South African TV cameras refused to replay the incident to the rest of the World on instructions from FIFA (unbelievable, are we the TV viewers now never going to be able to see replays of contentious moments!!!!); there was a fight at half-time where the Mexican players wanted to attack Carlos Tevez; in an attempt to protect the linesman's identity the FIFA website which usually has full match reports with names of referees and linesmen, has removed all traces of who that linesman was and all traces, from the match report, of there being a contentious decision; and, last but not least, it is pointless talking about this match when such a gross injustice, an even bigger one than the already massive one against England in their earlier match against Germany, had just been played out with all 22 players on the pitch, all the officials, all of FIFA, knowing it was all wrong and directly affected the match.  This match left the sourest taste possible in the mouth.  The UK can actually play a major role in changing the rules about technology for fuJture World Cups — after all, as the mother nation inventor of football, the UK has 5 seats on the FIFA board (Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, plus a fifth permanent position with right of veto), so do not believe all this talk in the UK press that all this is the fault of Sepp Blatter; if anything the UK FIFA representatives are more at fault for this nonsense given the voting power they have.  You, the reader, can play your part too — go to www.PlayYourPartInChangingHistory.com, read the article, and then click on the links at the bottom or send your emails to FIFA.  Play your part, do NOT sit idle !


Germany 4-1 England
My, My, My.  There is only one way to start this match report and that is with the goal that was never given :  Frank Lampard's goal, a minute after England came back to 2-1 and which neither the referee nor the linesman saw cross the line.  Clarification :  the ball crossed the line by a metre.  I won't go over how it can be possible that neither the linesman nor the referee saw the goal, these things happen (I personally didn't realise it had crossed the line until the TV replay), this is why this blog says that the non-introduction of technology is a 28-year injustice.  That moment in the 38th minute was a definining moment, it was the turning point.  If the goal had been given, the dynamics of the match at 2-2 would have been very different going into the second half.  As it was, the goal proved a turning point because, knowing they had been lucky not to go in at half-time at 2-2, Germany, the second youngest team in this tournament, came out determined not to let England back into the match.  So, back to the start of the match :  the second youngest team in this World Cup v the oldest England team of any World Cup.  And, as with Ghana v USA, the younger team won.  Are we seeing a trend ?  I disagree with every single pundit on British TV or in the British press.  England were not appalling, they were not lamentable, they were not awful, they were not any of those things — saying so is disrespectful of Germany.  England played a good game in my view.  The problem is, Germany are an excellent team.  Germany were the victim of appalling refereeing against Serbia and that is the only reason why they lost that game.  The points of reference for Germany before this match should have been their victories against Australia and against an excellent Ghana team.  Khedira, Schweinsteiger, and Oezil is a wonderfully inventive, patient, and intelligent midfield and, so far in this World Cup, I haven't seen a better midfield.  Add to that the most potent European strike force up front, equal to the best of South America, Mueller, Klose, Podolski, and youth, and you have, as I've mentioned before, possibly the most potent team in this World Cup.  And that's how it proved — Germany mesmerised the England defence, went 2-0 up and could have been 3-0 up, if not 4-0 up.  They had clearly worked out how the England defence played and were constantly engineering moves where one player would pull John Terry out of position and the other players would run in behind him.  It was luminously brilliant.  Germany were so dominant that they went to sleep on a corner and Matthew Upson scored a brave header to bring England back.  Then, a minute later, came that goal that will be replayed a million times around the world, except in FIFA's boardrooms — because the referee and the linesman did not see it !  Half time came and that was effectively the end of the match.  Germany were rarely troubled in the second half (some half-time talk Joachim Low must have given them!) and, on every England attack, it looked like the Germans would score on the counter.  And they did just that.  Two brilliant counters and the match was won — 4-1, with each of the 3 strikers scoring.  This German team will take some beating, and I cannot believe that we will not have video technology at the next World Cup.


Ghana 2-1 USA
The youngest team of this World Cup continues to amaze.  Watching this Ghana team is fascinating :  it is just like watching an Under-21 game.  Of the starting 11, five are 20 or younger, and another three are 24 or younger.  And they play like an under-21 team — with no fear.  Until half-time that is !  I've watched all Ghana games and every single time they come back after the half-time talk playing full of fear, and the other team dominates the game and usually scores.  That's a classic Under-21 syndrome :  no fear in the first half and domination of the play in all areas of the pitch, then comes half-time and the realisation of what they've achieved against ...... grown men !!!!  So fear sets in, the awe of what they're doing sets in, and they lose composure, they lose their daringness, they start retreating to protect what they have rather than go and get more.  So, hopefully, today's brilliant victory against the USA will mature them, will liberate them.  Ghana totally outclassed the USA in the first half :  the patience of their play, the skill, the interplay, the combativeness, the running, the getting-the-ball-back, was all wonderful to watch, and, for the first time in this World Cup, they were clinical when they got their first opportunity after 5 minutes.  The USA lost the ball in midfield, Kevin-Prince Boateng picked it up, ran 20m, bang, Ghana 1-0.  In the second half, Bob Bradley the USA coach, showed what a good coach he has become since 2006, and moved Donovan, Altidore, and Dempsey around.  This, combined with Ghana's classic post-half-time timidity, contributed to a second-half that belonged totally to the USA, and they deservedly drew level thanks to a penalty in the 62nd minute.  The USA could have gone on to win the match as this team of kids were still in their post half-time playing-with-fear phase — the USA manufactured at least another 3 clear chances. However, from the 80th minute on The Kids finally managed to snap out of their fear and started bossing the game again, just like they had done in the whole of the first half.  The 90 minutes finished at 1-1.  Within 3 minutes of the restart, Asamoah Gyan ran onto a hoofed-up clearance, withstood an illegal challenge from Steve Cherundolo (which would have got him a second yellow card had Gyan gone down), and thumped a glorious goal past Tim Howard, the USA goalkeeper.  Fantastic stuff.  This was, once again, Ghana being clinical, something they had failed to be in the group matches.  That, effectively, was the end of the match as, for the next 27 minutes, Ghana controlled the game again and the USA looked tired.  So, The Kids march on, and they've discovered a new Under-21 star amongst them :  Iam Clinical !  What a star !


Uruguay 2-1 South Korea
Everyone knows the top strikers who play in Europe :  Fernando Torres, David Villa, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Diego Milito, a certain Portuguese midfielder called Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain.  Right ?  There is one missing in this list, he's outscored all the others this season, he plays in the Dutch league for Ajax Amsterdam, his name is Luis Suarez, he scored 49 goals this season, and he is Uruguayan.  Luis Suarez won this game for Uruguay with two brilliant goals.  The second goal will be talked about for a long long time, a right foot curler round the goalkeeper's into the top right corner from the edge of the penalty area.  However, for me both goals showed brilliance — if you look at all 3 goals that Luis Suarez has scored so far in this World Cup, the common factor is how he loses his markers; he was not in the picture before the first goal, and what was he doing on the edge of the penalty area on the second goal ?  Well, Well, Well — that is how Suarez scores most of his goals :  he is almost never in the picture until it's too late.  What a player !  So, Uruguay won this game thanks to Suarez.  He scored the first goal slightly against the run of play, but after his goal Uruguay went on to dominate the play.  In the second half, Uruguay sat back, confident their defence would hold out, and it did not !  South Korea deservedly levelled up through a messy but valuable goal, and would have won the game had they had a Suarez in their team. But they do not, and scared by the possibility of defeat Uruguay came out of their defensive shell to once again dominate the match, culminating in Luis Suarez's wonderful curler 10 minutes from the end.  South Korea had one more clear cut chance to come back into the game for the second time, but, again, the striker's name was not ..... Suarez.  Still wonder who this "Suarez" guy is ?  Check the video below .....


 

GROUP STAGE RESULTS

Chile 1-2 Spain
What a match !  Chile, as with every single match in their World Cup so far, totally dominated the first 20 minutes of the game.  If you'd come into the pub to watch the match you would have thought Chile were Spain, particularly since, having won the toss, they were wearing their own colours which are almost identical to the Spanish normal kit.  Then, Claudio Bravo, the Chilean goalkeeper, had his brain fried for 30 seconds and made a crazy excursion outside of his penalty area near the touch line, the ball ran out to David Villa, 40m from goal, and he fired an instant left-foot curler over everyone and into the goal.  A brilliant goal from a brilliant player.  This turned the game on its head and the second goal, 13 minutes later, was another beautiful finish, this time from Iniesta, after an excellent move.  Chile then regrouped and bossed the game again and, straight after the restart, deservedly came back into the game with a deflected goal from outside the area.  Both teams tried to win the game for a little while but, 20 minutes from the end, when news filtered through that Switzerland were being held 0-0 by Honduras and that it did not look like they would be able to win that game by the two clear goals that they needed, then both Spain and Chile played a mesmerising game of keep-ball-we-have-no-intention-to-hurt-you-or-score-more-can-you-do-the-same-please-and-we-will-both-go-through-OK? !  This was footballers exercising their democratic right of agreeing a status quo. :-)


Switzerland 0-0 Honduras
There is something very interesting happening at this World Cup.  Unlike in previous World Cups, eliminated teams, like Honduras prior to this match, no longer turn up to lose in their last match.  Nowadays they seem to all come to the last match wanting to win it for their supporters, for their country, and to hold their head high.  So it was today, and poor Switzerland, who needed a win to qualify for the second round found themselves facing Honduras's best performance of this World Cup and, in the end, Switzerland were grateful not to have lost this game.  So, Switzerland who, after the first round of matches, were in pole position to qualify, find themselves out of the World Cup after this match.  Weird.


Portugal 0-0 Brazil
This was a dreadful match.  Brazil rested their best player, Robinho, and were also with Kaka suspended, and it showed.  Portugal, on their side, were absolutely determined not to lose this match.  The match stats were amazing :  endless long distance shots from Brazil, virtually nothing from Portugal.  Brazil never really tried hard, they just tried hard enough not to be accidentally beaten by Portugal into second place.  The result :  a 0-0 draw which suited both teams.  Job done, roll on the second round.


North Korea 0-3 Ivory Coast
The Ivory Coast came into this match needing to beat Portugal's 7-0 win against North Korea and hoping that Brazil would beat Portugal.  They started the match at breakneck speed and were 2-0 up within 20 minutes, and within sight of their aim.  After all, Portugal had taken 30 minutes to score their first goal.  But that is where it stayed, and this was more down to North Korea than lack of ability on the part of Ivory Coast.  Against Portugal, North Korea tried to win the match and got undone.  Having learnt from that painful 7-0 defeat, as soon as they found themselves 2-0 down against the Ivory Coast, North Korea stopped trying to win the match and instead shut up shop and tried their best not to be beaten by another basketball score.  It worked — Ivory Coast scored only one more goal.  Both teams go out of the tournament.  North Korea can go home with their head high, and the Ivory Coast will look on their drawn match with Portugal as a big missed opportunity.  They had the beating of Portugal but not the belief, unfortunately.


Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand
Forget about Paraguay for this match.  The story of this match is that, thanks to their third draw in as many matches, New Zealand go home having finished unbeaten and above Italy.  Everybody got this wrong, even the New Zealand press.  No-one predicted New Zealand finishing unbeaten and, just like every single match they played, they could actually have won this game.  Brilliant stuff.  Well done to New Zealand who goes home with a growing world-wide reputation.  On their side, thanks to this draw Paraguay finish top of the group.


Slovakia 3-2 Italy
Slovakia had to win to go through.  Italy had to win to be guaranteed to go through.  The Italians are the current World Champions.  Slovaaaaaakiaaaaa won, and please note the correct spelling for that country !  What a turn-up, what a surprise — where did Slovakia get this performance from ?  Oh, Yes, I know :  FIFA allowed Slovakia to bring in, direct from Slovakia, their best ever player.  It's a world first, FIFA, does not normally make exceptions, but this time they did, and so Slovakia fielded their best ever player for this match, Ambition Adventure, otherwise known by his nickname, AA.  And AA was all over this match, stamping his class all over Italy, scoring one goal, then a second goal, and then a superb third goal just when Italy thought they were back in the game.  AA had a fantastic match, he was all over the pitch, in every tackle, in every attack, he was unbelievable, and thanks to him alone, Slovakia scored the upset of this World Cup, and the most famous victory in the history of Slovakian football.  Unbelievable !


Cameroon 1-2 Holland
This was a dead match.  Holland had already qualified as top team and Cameroon were already eliminated.  The most notable point of this match was the return of Arjen Robben from injury and he nearly scored, his shot rebounding off the goalkeeper's left post for Klaas Jan Huntelaar to strike home.  Holland now have all their superstars fit for the second round :  it's ominous !


Denmark 1-3 Japan
Mark this name :  Keisuke Honda.  Keisuke Honda illuminated this match by a performance that is guaranteed to have a European club take him out of the J-League into a top European league.  And talking of the J-League, Japan today advertised the J-League as one of the major football leagues in the world.  Japan's destruction of Denmark was athletic, skilfull, and clinical.  It's official :  the J-League is no longer a minor league of World Soccer.  This Japan team is good, very good, and you know what, I bet they make it to the Quarter Finals.  Japan started the match slowly, allowing Denmark to dominate the first 15 minutes, but then struck twice in a few minutes.  First, a brilliant 35m free-kick by Keisuke Honda in the 17th minute, and then a brilliant 30m free-kick by Yasuhito Endo in the 30th minute.  Denmark was stunned, KO'd on their feet.  And that was it !  From then on it was Japan all the way and the only surprise is that it took them till 3 minutes from the end of the match to score another goal, and what a goal it was.  Engineered by Keisuke Honda with a brilliant piece of skill in the penalty area, followed by the ultimate unselfishness, and scored by Shinji Okazaki.  Japan were deserved winners and they are my tip to beat Paraguay.


Australia 2-1 Serbia
Australia won the match, but didn't qualify for the next round and instantly the Australian government replaced its Prime Minister with a new Prime Minister.  I knew they liked soccer, but this is extreme !!!!!  No wonder our President, Sarkozy, is meeting Thierry Henry this week to discuss what happened to our French squad in South Africa 2010.  Football is serious business !  Just joking, just joking.  Congratulations to Julia Gillard who becomes Australia's first woman Prime Minister today.  Australia and Serbia were in a weird position in this match :  either of them could go through, both of them could be eliminated, none of them had total control over their destiny — they were dependent on the result of the Ghana v Germany match.  In a flowing match of football with shots against the post, and a wrongly disallowed goal for Serbia, Australia eventually showed that they really did not turn up in their first match against Germany and, eventually, that first match is where they lost their qualification.  Australia won this match 2-1 and will go home with their head high.  Same with Serbia despite the loss — they can look back on a win against mighty Germany !


Ghana 0-1 Germany
The two youngest teams of the tournament went to battle today and produced a wonderful match of chess.  Ghana should have won the match in the first half, Germany deserved to win it after their second half.  Just as with Chile, Ghana need to learn to ..... shoot without delay rather than take the extra touch or have an extra feint or dribble. If they can learn this they will go far.  This was actually the best match Ghana played in the group and what they will learn from this defeat is to shoot without delay and, also, that a 5-minute loss of concentration can cost you dear.  This was also the best match Germany played in this group phase.  The 4-0 win against Australia in their first match was easy because Australia were poor on the day and they went down to 10 men, but, today, Germany were playing a very good Ghana team who nearly beat them and, yet, as the second youngest team of this tournament, they showed incredible resolve and graft to get the win they needed to go through.  Their concentration was 100% and eventually that is what won them the match as, when they got the second of their only two clear opportunities, they scored.  Both Germany and Ghana now go through — what an exciting prospect !!


USA 1-0 Algeria
What drama !  For the 99.99% of this match the USA were eliminated from this World Cup.  For 99.99% of the match. England and Slovenia were going through instead, and the USA, and the incredibly hard-to-beat Algeria, were on their way home.  Then, for 0.01% of the match, right at the death, Landon Donovan pounced on a loose ball and sent American fans vuvuzela'ing themselves drunk !  It was pandemonium.  At the end of a match where the USA did everything but score, hitting the woodwork three times, hitting the goalkeeper when it was simpler to score, having another goal wrongly disallowed in this World Cup, eventually, eventually, eventually they scored in the 92nd minute — the American fans did not know who to hug, their friends, the supporter next to them, the security people, the players, the referee, or a vuvuzela !  Brilliant stuff.  The joys of football !


Slovenia 0-1 England
So he did it.  Finally !  Finally Capello managed to get the English players to play as if they were playing Brazil rather than Slovenia, ie. respecting the opposition, not taking it for granted, and not assuming it should be a rollover.  Finally Capello got that into England.  And Capello did one other thing too, he got rid of Emile Heskey — I am not waging a personal vendetta against Heskey, as may appear, I just do not think he is world-class and for me he slows down England's game.  So, finally, England, who I had predicted to go to the semi-finals, started to play like they can.  We still had the BBC commentator say, at the start of the match, that Slovenia were a 3rd division country !!!  Unbelievable lack of respect — if I'd been the director of the BBC I would have sacked that commentator.  England played well, really really well, inventive, sharp, quick, skilfully (Gerrard, Milner, and Defoe were immense), and totally respecting the opposition.  I'm glad I am not an England supporter because they did a Chile on their supporters :  it was absolutely incredible, they should have been 3-0 up at half time; strike that, 4-0 up !  Just like Chile, England were creating chance after chance after chance after chance.  They should have scored a second within moments of the restart, and really should have finished the match 5-0 or 7-0 up, but Rooney just could not put the ball in the net, nor could Defoe add a second goal.  So when it came to the last 15 minutes of the game we had the crazy situation of England effectively hanging on, with Slovenia missing two open goals — Slovenia were now taking their cue from England !  England are through and Slovenia will have learnt a painful lesson today :  when you are 2-0 up at half-time against the USA you keep your foot on the accelerator; instead they drew 2-2 with the USA who, in the other match of this afternoon, scored a dramatic winner in the very last minute of the match thereby eliminating Slovenia as they were trotting off the pitch.  The ups and downs of football !  I can't finish without taking the credit for my analysis of England's problems prior to this match — David James, the England goalkeeper, tellingly said in an interview after the game :  "There were no problems in the camp, just an underestimation of the strength of the opposition in our group....".  Hopefully Capello will now firmly prevent any repeat of this lack of respect of the opposition and make England continue playing like they can.


Greece 0-2 Argentina
I didn't watch this one (was watching the South Korea match) but by all accounts Greece played for a draw from the first second of the match, while, to their credit, Argentina went for the win even thought they did not need to.  Argentina march on to the next round to meet Mexico, and Greece, unfortunately, go home.


Nigeria 2-2 South Korea
Nigeria got what they deserved, nothing.  Changing your manager 3 weeks before the World Cup is simply not respecting the quality of the other teams attending the World Cup.  As with every World Cup they have participated in, Nigeria have the players for a world-class team à la Brazil but just as with every World Cup they have participated in, they've messed it up at top level.  South Korea got what they deserved, a qualification for the second round.  They have energy, skill, movement, and ..... extreme resilience.  Just as with their game against Greece they have a knack for pouncing, literally, on mistakes, and when they do, they're deadly.  They pounced on 5 mistakes from Nigeria and scored two goals.  On the other side Nigeria had to work hard to create their goals because, unlike South Korea, they're not so good at "pouncing".  South Korea now meet Uruguay in what should be an interesting match given how similar in their play the two teams are.


Mexico 0-1 Uruguay
Sorry, no report on this match as I was watching the France match.  Still, as expected, Uruguay won thanks to one of their multiple world-class strikers.  Both teams go through, however, and it is justice as both teams played the best football in this group.  You know what :  despite them finishing second I have a feeling Mexico will score more than once against Argentina.  Will I be right ?


France 1-2 South Africa
We ended our World Cup in the way we started it.  And we started it 4 years ago !  The craziness of "Raymond" continued today in the most disgraceful behaviour by our coach.  Yoann Gourcuff was incorrectly sent off in the 25th minute.  Granted.  But that's the fault of only one person, the referee.  At the end of this match won by South Africa 2-1, what does Raymond Domenech do? — he refuses to shake the hand of the South Africa coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, because of that sending off.  Carlos Alberto Parreira asks him why, and Domenech, in an incredibly childish manner, explains his annoyance at the sending off and still refuses to shake Carlos Alberto Parreira's hand, and then, after Carlos has walked away in utter disbelief, Raymonds makes a point of shaking everyone else's hand that he can lay his hands on.  Unbelievable.  Absolutely unbelievable.  However, as I've said many times on this page, I don't blame Raymond Domenech — for the last 4 years we've all known in France that he was not the right man to take us to South Africa by any criteria you might want to judge him on.  It's not his fault, he simply should not have been there.  Our French Football Federation needs to take the can for this — the Director's head has already rolled, it's now the turn for our FFF to also have a different president.  I thought I'd seen it all in the last two weeks — this has topped it !  Unbelievable.  As for South Africa, I am sorry to see them go despite this win and I only hope that their fans, and their vuvuzelas, continue to attend all other matches of this World Cup as they have done so far in a way never seen at any previous World Cup I've watched.  Congratulations to all South Africans.


Spain 2-0 Honduras
What a strange match to watch.  It was in Spain's interest to score lots of goals today but they must like the way Chile play as they, too, did everything possible not to score when it was a lot easier to score.  You know, that Chilean drill :  pass, pass, move, pass, pass, then dead certain goal ............... PASS !  This was a relatively boring match, actually, as Spain were totally dominant desplite playing at walking pace for a large part of the match.  There wasn't even a hint that Honduras might trouble them.  In fact there was such an absence of pressure on Spain during that match that David Villa's missed penalty was almost a non-event :  "Ahh well, we're 2-0 up anyway, maybe we'll score another 5, maybe we'll score zero more.  Ahh well ...".  So, a routine win for Spain, and an OK Corral shoot-out of a match with Chile on Friday — don't miss THAT ONE !!!


Chile 1-0 Switzerland
I said in my write-up on Honduras v Chile "I am glad I am not a Chile supporter".  I am even more convinced after this match.  Chile can go a long way in this World Cup, they are that good.  I have not seen in this World Cup a team that attacks in so many numbers, passes the ball around so well in the last third off the pitch, and gets the right player in the right position for a ............. missed goal !!!!  Give the exact same opportunities, movement for movement, to Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Holland, and even France and Italy, and they will score !  But Chile don't.  It really is fascinating watching this Chile team, and as a non-Chilean mere football lover, I love their football, but I am so glad I am not Chilean as I wouldn't survive watching them.  OK, Yes, Switzerland had a man sent off early on, but that's only 10% of the story.  Even before the sending off I reckon Chile should have been 2-0 up.  By the end of the match Chile should have been 5-0 up.  Instead they were lucky that Switzerland did not equalise in the last minute of the match in what was a dead certain opportunity.  Unfortunately, an exhausted Eren Derdiyok shot wide instead of into the goal.  This is what happens when a team does not score any of the hundred chances they had in a game. Switzerland should go through if, as expected, they beat Honduras by more than one goal, but Chile could be in for a terrible surprise if after having shown such great attacking football they find themselves losing to Spain by any score in their last match.  Chile should have scored at least 6 goals and qualified by now, instead they now go into their last match knowing that, after playing such great football and winning their first two matches, they could lose to Spain and be out of this World Cup.  I am glad I am not a Chile supporter !!!


Portugal 7-0 North Korea
So, the North Koreans only had space for one World Cup match in their legs after all.  That was sad.  I was really looking forward to North Korea giving Portugal a fright but in the end North Korea discovered today how fit you need to be when you qualify for the World Cup.  After barely 20 minutes you could see they were shattered.  The wonderful match they had played against Brazil left them with barely any fuel in the tank, and once the tank became empty, the match became fun for Portugal.  There is no point getting too excited by this Portugal team as this 7-0 thrashing was more to do with North Korea no longer being able to run for their lives as they had done in their first match against Brazil.  North Korea are now eliminated and Portugal will hope for a point against Brazil to qualify for the next round; failing that, they will be hoping that the Ivory Coast does not outscore them against North Korea.


Brazil 3-1 Ivory Coast
Refereeing mistakes are proving crucial at this World Cup; they engineer a German defeat, prevent a USA win, and give Brazil a two-goal cushion in what was otherwise an initially difficult match for Brazil.  As mentioned a few months ago in this blog I do hope that the World Cup Final is not won courtesy of a refereeing mistake.  This match started with the two teams cancelling each other out in the middle of the pitch with Brazil fouling the Ivorians all over the pitch.  Nothing was happening when, suddenly, after 25 minutes, an absolutely explosive interplay between Robinho, Kaka, and Fabiano resulted in Fabiano scoring an unstoppable rocket of a shot into the roof of the net over the goalkeeper from a tight angle.  Brilliant goal.  The Ivory Coast were rocked by the goal and they were now the ones committing fouls all over the pitch.  Still, they regrouped.  Within 5 minutes of the restart, however, came the killer goal.  Juggling the ball over two defenders Luis Fabiano handled the ball not just once, but twice, both times in full view of both the referee and the linesman, before eventually firing the ball in.  This was then followed by the totally surreal image of the French referee, Stéphane Lannoy, smilingly asking Fabiano whether he'd handled the ball or whether it had hit his chest !!  What on earth did this referee think he was refereeing, a match in the local park or Brazil vs Ivory Coast in the WORLD CUP !  Stéphane Lannoy is another referee who should not be allowed to referee again in this World Cup — we really are not covering ourselves with glory in France at the moment, first everything that is going on around Raymond Domenech and the French squad, and now the unbelievable pictures of one of our referees asking the goalscorer if he handled or not — which planet is he on ???!!  "Oh, Yes, Mr Lannoy, I handled twice before thumping in this sweet shot — I think you should send me off and reduce the score to 1-0 ...".  C'est du délire !  Anyhow, this second goal enabled Brazil to relax and suddenly we had exhibition football, samba football.  Brazil 2010 have an unbelievable defence, with monster athletes like Lucio and Maicon, and that infinitely Brazilian quality of sudden explosivity with ultimate skill.  This Brazilian team is good, not only very good, but it is also lucky, and, as we all know, all World Cup winners have some luck on the way — with this team it's called Maicon and Lannoy ... Brazil have now qualified for the second round and the Ivory Coast will now try to outscore Portugal against North Korea, assuming, that is, that Brazil also beats Portugal.


Italy 1-1 New Zealand
It's official.  The vuvuzela is king in London too.  When Italy equalised you should have heard the Italians in the house next door :  Italian flags out of the top floor windows, windows wide-open, and a thousand Italians crammed into that appartment yelling at the top of their voice, followed by the Italian anthem, then followed by vuvuzelas and Italian music.  Brilliant, Fantastic — the World Cup is alive, with vuvuzelas, in every corner of the planet.  New Zealand were fantastic, unbelievable — the vuvuzelas must be blaring from Wellington to Christchurch.  I have nothing to do with New Zealand but I just loved when they scored :  the lowest ranked country at this World Cup (I'd given them a terrible write-up) out-gunning the World Champions.  Fairy tale stuff — it was wonderful.  Imagine  :  after two games, New Zealand, a mixture of pros and part-time footballers, are level with Italy, have drawn with Italy, and have scored as many goals as Italy !  And 10 minutes from the end New Zealand nearly went 2-1 up!  Surreal.  This is the stuff dreams are made of, and for them the dream now continues all the way to the last group match.  First France, then England, now Italy.  Wooooohoooo !


Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay
Slovakia came to this match with a negative attitude, trying more to get a draw than win a match before their last match against Italy.  Any neutral watching that first half would have wanted nothing other than Paraguay to score and go on to win the match.  Paraguay, the only team which was trying to win the game at this point, duly obliged with a sublime finish from the outside of the foot by Enrique Vera.  The second half was a rather drab affair with Slovakia labouring to get back into the game and Paraguay content with just containing them.  Then, in the 85th minute, Paraguay collected the ball from a rebound off the Slovakian wall, passed it around and eventually Cristian Riveros smashed the ball in for Paraguay's second goal.  This Paraguayan team is interesting :  they won more matches than Brazil in the South America qualifying section and in this World Cup they have shown why in their two matches — they have a knack for putting away any chance they get.  That's what happens when you have 4 world-class strikers in your side :  chance, goal !  As for Slovakia, they remind me of Algeria.  They've come to this World Cup and have played ambition-less football.  Have they forgotten how they qualified ?  What a shame.


Cameroon 1-2 Denmark
What a match this was.  Both teams wanted to win.  Both teams needed to win.  Both teams HAD TO WIN !  The result was end to end football, defensive mistakes, chances every two minutes, excitement every second, brilliant goals, brilliant attacking moves, the result was the best match of this tournament so far with a fantastic background of blaring vuvuzelas and a group of Danish supporters drumming their way around the periphery of the pitch !  Ahhhhh, this was good football watching.  We want more !  Cameroon had one of the World's best strikers on show, and he did score the first goal of the match, but it is Denmark who demonstrated the art of finishing in style.  There was so much going on in this match, at all times, it is impossible to describe it — you'd have to watch a video of it.  Ahhhhhh.  Cameroon are now eliminated from the World Cup thanks to this second defeat while Denmark now have a shoot-out with Japan on the 24th to decide who goes through with Holland.


Ghana 1-1 Australia
What a strange match this was.  Ghana started this match without their first choice defence and with a 20-year old and a 19-year old in their defence with only 5 previous caps.  I always said I was worried about strange team selections after the win against Serbia, and seeing this Ghana team field in their defence the only player who plays his football in Ghana, a 19-year old with only 5 caps, was, hmmmm, very worrying about the integrity of this World Cup.  Ghana had available a 33-year old, 30 caps, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen, and a 20-year old with 16 caps who plays for FC Basel, and a 21-year old, 15 caps, who plays for Hoffenheim in Germany.  Hmmmm.  Australia, on their side, started the match under pressure from the Australian media after their thrashing by Germany in the first game.  In the first 10 minutes that 19-year old made a foul on Kewell that should have been a penalty, got a yellow card, and failed to respond to the spill by the Ghana goalkeeper.  Australia 1-0 in front.  Ghana were rattled and seemed to play like England in their match against the USA :  not confident that their defence would hold out.  Ghana got back into the game thanks to a fantastic piece of individual skill by Andre Ayew inside the penalty area with a pass to a teammate that was thumped on target only for Harry Kewell to handle the ball on the goal line.  Kewell was sent off, Gyan scored the penalty.  1-1.  For the rest of the match Australia played a great game with just 10-men, and Ghana played without a defence doing its job or starting the forward movements.  Result :  Australia gained a deserved draw.  On the Ghana side :  how a slight change of personnel in a crucial area of the pitch can change the dynamism of a team.  Ghana started everything from the back against Serbia — in this match they were strangled, uncertain about their defence ..... Hmmmm.


Holland 1-0 Japan
After their match against Denmark this is what I wrote about Holland :  "This was a strange experience for me.  I never thought I would ever write about a Holland team saying :  I was seriously underwhelmed.".  Well, after their 1-0 win against Japan my opinion ........ hasn't changed !  If anything it's been reinforced.  I think Holland desperately need Arjen Robben in their team, and I believe they also need Elia to start all matches, just like England need Peter Crouch to start all matches.  As a result I still can't make up my mind about Holland.  At the moment they're functional and won the match thanks to, yet again, the goalkeeper being fooled by the flight of that Jabulani ball.  It was a good shot by Sneijder but nothing exceptional — the ball changed course after the goalkeeper had started his dive and that was it.  Thanks to this victory Holland have qualified for the next round courtesy of Cameroon's loss to Denmark — they will have to play better than this to go further.  As for Japan, they're incredibly hard to beat, are fantastically well organised, and fight for every ball.  Their match with Denmark will be very interesting.


England 0-0 Algeria
This was a match between a team that cannot score and one that plays with fear.  It was a match of very poor football (giving the ball away was the major feature of this match, from both sides) and only the first half of the Italy vs Paraguay match beats this match for dreariness; then again, to be fair, the first half of Italy vs Paraguay was in a league of its own.  Algeria will not score a goal in this World Cup.  They are too slow and they also simply do not have quality that is good enough at this level across their entire front line.  They are difficult to beat, so the USA should be wary of taking them for granted in their last match, but they just do not have the quality to be able to score.  England, on the other hand, came to this World Cup as one of the tournament favourites behind Brazil and Spain.  They were one of my favourites too, but I did qualify them in my write-up :  I said that two players were critical for them to fulfill their potential, Peter Crouch and Joe Cole.  Neither of these players have played a significant part in England's first two matches and in my view that is where one of the problems is. I agree with Franz Beckenbauer's assessment of England — they have gone back to the bad old days of lumping the ball forward to a tall man, Emile Heskey, and then trying to pick up the scraps from that.  It's terrible football.  This sort of fifty-fifty football no longer works at World level where possession is key.  However, even without Crouch and Cole playing I come back to my observation of the England vs USA match :  I was surprised then how easily England capitulated after the USA equalised in the first half, as if fear, lack of courage, was gripping their game.  Well, it was the same thing all over again in this entire match against Algeria.  Fear, Fear, Fear.  I am convinced that a major part of the problem is the English press.  Living in England I can say that the English press is almost always ignorant of anything that happens outside of England and the established football powers, which is why Ghana and Switzerland's results in this World Cup were seen as shocks in England, and even now the majority of the English press sees Australia thumping Ghana on Saturday when it will be quite the contrary (I see Australia facing another beating), and that's ignorance, if not arrogance.  Result :  the English press were totally dismissive of Algeria, and, just as importantly, totally ignorant of how Slovenia qualified for this World Cup, with all English media emphasizing that England should win by a comfortable score, completely blind to the fact that Slovenia are a very good team and that very good team struggled very badly against Algeria until Algeria had a man sent off.  English players read the English press, and they would have gone into this match full of dismissive reports about Algeria.  Then, after 10 minutes of the game they would have all realised how difficult it was to play against Algeria.  And this is where the pressure of all those dismissive press reports starts killing the England team :  "we should be beating this team comfortably, without breaking sweat and being bothered, and ... damn this is frustrating".  Ignorance, and therefore arrogance / lack of respect, brings this sort of performance. Can Capello turn it around for the next game, by first changing some players, and then making those players change their mindset and realise that Slovenia are a world-class team and that they will have to play the game of their lives to get a a sniff at victory in that game ?  Time will tell ....


Slovenia 2-2 USA
For the second match in succession a referee directly affected the result of a game at this World Cup.  Slovenia should have walked away with this match, but in a never-say-die second half performance the USA blew them away and were 9,000% robbed of a match winner from Maurice Edu.  In this blog I argue why TV replay technology should have been brought up a long time ago in World football.  With TV replay technology the USA would have won this match.  The decision of Koman Coulibaly, the referee, to disallow Maurice Edu's goal could have, just as with the terrible performance of Alberto Undiato in the earlier Germany vs Serbia match, immense consequences for the USA.  Had they won this game they would have looked to get just a draw in their last match to qualify for the next round, and they would have deserved it for their stirring second-half come-back from 2-0 down.  Shocking shocking refereeing.  I cannot close this match report, however, without talking about Slovenia.  Regardless of the fact that the USA should have won this match, Slovenia are intrinsically a better team than the USA.  However, in a mirror image of their match against Algeria, once they go in front they stop playing, they freeze.  This is just like the old Yugoslavia.  Blast your opponents off the pitch, then fear comes in and they are left hanging by their nerves.  As with Chile I wouldn't want to be a Slovenian fan — I value my health too much and supporting Slovenia is not in my list of pleasurable activities.  Slovenia were superb in the first half, they were cruising at 2-0 up, and should have finished the first half probably at 3-0 up.  Then, in the second half, the old demons came back and they should have lost the game but for the referee.  If Slovenia learn from this match, then they will either draw with England or win, and go through.  But, Man, am I glad I am not a Slovenian supporter — that's way too tough a way of Life for me !


Germany 0-1 Serbia
It's official :  we have now seen the first match of this World Cup directly affected by bad refereeing.  Alberto Undiano of Spain refereed this match almost as if he had a grudge against Germany.  His two bookings against Miroslav Klose would want to make you investigate his financial affairs — they were that incomprehensible.  A minute after his second booking of Klose, and therefore Klose's sending off, Serbia scored an easy goal against a stunned and temporarily disorganised Germany.  So the referee had done his ..... strange deed.  Germany still had time to come back into the game, even with 10 men, because they were so vastly superior to Serbia.  And come back they did — they dominated the game and eventually got the penalty they deserved only for Lukas Podolski to hit a terrible penalty almost straight at the keeper.  Joachim Low, the German coach, needs to learn from the last 20 minutes of the match following that missed penalty if he wants his Germany to progress through because in that last 20 minutes Germany continued to create chance after chance except that Lukas Podolski became shockingly greedy, continually shooting when a good pass would have created an almost certain goal.  Time after time after time.  In that last 20 minutes Lukas Podolski did more damage to Germany's chances than with his missed penalty — Joachim Low needs to learn from this quirk of Podolski's temperament.  Germany's problem :  they face Ghana in their last match and I can't see them beating Ghana !  As for Serbia — I did not see anything special from Serbia.  As I've said before, Serbia topped our group, France, in the qualifiers and we, France, along with the other teams, were very poor.  I would be surprised if Serbia beats Australia. Alberto Undiano is definitely another referee that should not be allowed to referee again in this World Cup.


France 0-2 Mexico
Remember what I said after the France vs Uruguay match :  "As I explained in my write-up on France, France, a team of world-class players, has a terrible coach, the only bad coach of this World Cup, Raymond Domenech !  I will watch every France match, I have to, being from France, but I can tell you we will not win a single match nor score a single goal.".  And do you remember what I also wrote in the write-up on my country :  "Because our coach, Raymond Domenech, is rubbish. I'll repeat everything I said in the last World Cup :  he hasn't got a clue, he has never won a major trophy, he doesn't know how to win a World Cup, he alienates everyone, the players included.  The only way we might be able to make the Final is if Raymond Domenech is replaced next week (!!), or if the players impose on the coach how they want to play because then we have enough winners in the team to take us a long way.".  So what do you think happened today :  our French coach reached the bottom and then went on digging deeper !  What I saw today was shocking, shocking, and I am not talking about the football.  Football was irrelevant today, what happened with the coach was unbelievable.  For the entire match Raymond Domenech just leant casually against the dugout, not once directing his players (isn't that one of the requirements of a coach?) even when France went 1-0 down.  Even Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager and part of Europe's Technical Committee of managers, and who always makes sure never to criticise fellow managers, was moved to commenting about how crazy Domenech's attitude was.  Domenech made 2 substitutions after we went 1-0 down and then the most damning event of any World Cup happened :  our entire substitutes bench left the dugout and went to watch the match behind one of the goals, so even if Domenech had wanted to make a third substitution he would not have been able to — his dugout was empty, they had all deserted him.  This was surreal !  I do not believe this has happened ever at any international match — it has to be a first :  a total mutiny, the team publicly telling the coach, "you're rubbish, we don't like you, we can't stand you !".  And it gets worse : when Mexico scored their penalty, the camera panned to Domenech, and, the surreal got surrealer — Domenech was smiling, almost like a mad man, still leaning casually against the dugout, with an empty dugout behind him.  After the match I had to rewind and rewind and rewind to truly believe what I'd just seen.  At the final whistle, to complete the madness of the day, Domenech left immediately, on his own.  Do I hear Capello, Wenger, Ferguson, Mourinho, van Gaal, Hitzfeld telling me that it is in defeat that the manager should stay on the field to pep up the team ?  Now, to be fair, I said the very same things about Domenech 4 years ago in the 2006 World Cup.  We got lucky then because Zinedine Zidane ran the team, so we got to the final, but the same mad behaviour from Domenech was in evidence then already and so the entire blame for this has to go on our French Football Federation.  Repeatedly over the last 4 years the players have complained about Domenech, and the entire country and media has continually told the French Football Federation that he should be replaced, and they sat there continually telling us that he was the right man to lead France.  Now, what does that say about the intelligence of our Football Federation ?  Absolutely unbelievable.  By the way, I love Mexico's football.


Greece 2-1 Nigeria
I found it difficult to work out how to approach this match report as the overall impression was that of watching two teams who will be eliminated from this group.  This was a match of 3 flukey goals, Nigerian indiscipline, and criminaly wasted open goal opportunities.  First let's talk about Maicon's goal for Brazil against North Korea.  That Maicon goal was a fluke !  Maicon meant to cross, 100% certain.  As many commentators will have remarked, before he shoots Maicon looks across to see who he can cross to.  However, what no-one seems to have picked out is what you can see on the slow motion from the camera which looks directly at Maicon's eyes.  From that angle, which you need to watch very slowly, you can clearly see that after he has hit the ball Maicon looks across to see which one of his teammates managed to get it, then he realises he himself has just scored.  Watch the video below !  Back to Greece 2-1 Nigeria.  The first goal from Nigeria was a fluke; there is no way the taker of the free-kick, nor the supposed scorer, can tell me they meant it.  Then at 1-0 up a Nigerian player gets annoyed for no reason whatsoever and kicks a Greek player at a throw-in and gets himself sent off.  Then Greece's equaliser was the most unbelievable deflection I've ever seen :  the Greek striker sends a rocket that is going to miss the right-hand post by a mile, the ball hits a Nigerian defender and rockets over the goalkeeper into the top left corner, and the Greek striker runs and celebrates as if he's scored the World Cup Final winning goal — very bizarre !  Then, in a crazy 30 seconds both Greece and Nigeria miss goals I would have scored in my sleep, and, last but not least, this jabulani World Cup ball fools a third goalkeeper in this World Cup.  After the England and Algerian goalkeepers it was the turn of Nigeria's goalkeeper to be deceived by a shot bouncing on the ground.  As with the other two keepers, the ball changed trajectory at the last moment, so he spilled it and, this time, the Greek striker did not miss.  The result is that all 4 teams in this Group can still go through, with Nigeria the slight favourites if they beat South Korea and Argentina beat Greece as expected.  That said, I just can't help thinking I just watched the two teams who will finish bottom of this group.




Argentina 4-1 South Korea
Ah Ah.  Diego decided to put him in the team this time round and instantly this Argentinian team started to look more of a team than a collection of individuals.  So the Messiah is in the team and Argentina are now a force to reckon with.  His name :  not Lionel Messi, he is Carlos Tevez.  Carlos Tevez's 9,000% energy (and skill) was the missing piece of the Argentinian jigsaw puzzle.  I can tell you a secret :  Diego Maradona watched the South Africa vs Uruguay the night before, guaranteed !  And after watching that game Diego thought, just like the rest of us :  "What a master stroke to play Diego Forlan as an advanced midfielder".  So come the game against South Korea today and he did the same with Carlos Tevez, he played him as an advanced midfielder and suddenly Argentina were gelling.  Messi still hasn't scored a goal but in this match he had two assists and, thanks to Tevez, Messi is starting to shine.  The result was never in doubt in what is turning out to be an easy group for Argentina but, interestingly, I now fancy South Korea to make it through to the next round instead of Nigeria.


South Africa 0-3 Uruguay
Ohhhh Bafana Bafana.  The World wanted you to win but this was one match too far.  South Africa looked tired today, very tired, especially in the second half.  It was as if all that nervous energy before the first match against Mexico, and during that first match, and then an entire nation's expectations for this second match, in fact probably the entire World's expectations for South Africa for this second match, it is as if all this expectation of a good result completely drained them of all valuable energy.  It was sad.  Congratulations to Uruguay, however, for absolutely brilliant tactics, keeping two strikers up-front regardless of whether Uruguay were attacking or defending, even when defending corners — South Africa never learnt to cope with this tactic.  And then, withdrawing striker Diego Forlan into an advanced midfield was another stroke of genius.  Forlan produced the performance of the tournament so far.  He was everywhere — Forlan vs South Africa this was.  You have to say, as much as one may have been supporting South Africa, and I was, this was a stupendous performance by Diego Forlan, and Luis Suarez, the 49-goals-this-season Ajax Amsterdam striker, in the face of world opposition to them winning.  Well done, and this is one of my tips right on target.


Spain 0-1 Switzerland
Remember my write-up on Switzerland :  "....The Swiss are no minnows, particularly when you consider that their coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld is one of the Word's most respected coaches.  He is one of only two coaches to have won the Champions League with two different clubs, the other one being Jose Mourinho, and he is also one of only a handful of coaches to have won major honours (championships, Cups) with more than 3 clubs, including 5 championships with Bayern Munich, 2 with Borussia Dortmund, and 2 Swiss championships with Grasshopers Zurich.".  And my write-up on Spain :  "One slight element of doubt :  I believe that under Del Bosque Spain play more attractively and score more goals, but they also appear slightly less solid than they were 2 years ago".  We had the shock of the tournament today.  Spain tried, Switzerland tried, Switzerland scored, Spain didn't score, the Swisss won.  That's it. Now, over to the media to over-analyze this result !  Just stick to my country write-ups to understand this, and the next four results in this group !


Honduras 0-1 Chile
Marcelo Bielsa, the Chile coach, must be a fan of Arsène Wenger's Arsenal.  Pass, move, pass, move, take opponent on, pass, then, when in sight of a shooting chance on goal, attempt to walk the ball into the net !  This was an entertaining match, end to end, and Honduras played their part in making this match a pleasing match to watch, but, boy oh boy, the Chilean supporters must have gone home without a single fingernail left.  When will this Chile team learn to just ........... shoooooooooooooooooot !  I am glad I am not a supporter of Chile; as a mere independent football lover I had heart attacks watching Chile squander chance after chance after chance.  These guys wanted to walk the ball into the net.  Their habit of wanting to take the extra one, two, or three touches or passes, instead of shooting, was mesmerising.  I've never seen anything like it in international football.  There was even one instance where a Chilean forward was 3m from the goal line, THREE METRES (!!), with the goal open, and .......... HE TOOK AN EXTRA TOUCH, and of course lost the opportunity !  Unbelieeeeeevable.  When writing up Chile I said I knew nothing of Chile but that I would still take Switzerland to go through.  After having watched Chile I remain of the same opinion because, if there is one cast-iron certainty in international football, it is that you simply cannot squander so many chances against top-class opposition, and Spain and Switzerland are top-class opposition.  I cannot close this report without a mention about the referee, Eddy Maillet from the Seychelles.  He was terrible and, amongst his many failings, copped out of giving Honduras a penalty right at the start of the second-half.  He should not be allowed to referee another match at this World Cup.


Brazil 2-1 North Korea
Wooooooohhooooo !  What a match !  Forget about Brazil, this match was all about North Korea.  On a day when two of my three predictions went South, I take everything back which I said about North Korea.  North Korea were brilliant :  organized, clever, skilful, full of running, and everyone loved them.  Anyone telling you Brazil was poor is wearing blinkers.  Brazil got an almighty scare today and it took a totally flukey goal to send them on their way to a 2-0 lead, but even 2-0 down North Korea still believed and deservedly scored a goal back.  North Korea's biggest problem in this match was half-time.  The Brazilian half-time talk was clearly better than North Korea's, and Brazil came back after half-time playing the game at a faster pace and giving the North Koreans a dose of their own medicine.


Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal
The result of this match is intriguing as the likelihood is that one of these two teams will miss out on going to the next round.  Portugal were no worse and no better than I expected.  They have Ronaldo, world-class of course, and then 10 other players.  The Ivory Coast were good, very good, but they missed a fit Didier Drogba.  Had Drogba been on the field the Ivory Coast would have won this match by two goals at least.  The Ivory Coast need to learn to convert their chances, with or without Drogba.  Luckily for them, the next seven days will allow Drogba to recover further but will also allow the Ivory Coast to gel a little more as a team under the stewardship of Sven-Goran Eriksson who only got to know his team six weeks ago.  Having just watched North Korea give Brazil an almighty scare, I predict that Portugal will lose to North Korea and the Ivory Coast will either draw with Brazil or beat them.  And another prediction :  this Portugal will score 1 goal or less in this World Cup — they had 2 shots on target in the entire match !


New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia
Slovakia did a Cameroon on me today.  They were most of the time clueless and ponderous, so I'll concentrate on New Zealand.  What a performance from the New Zealanders.  Make no mistake about it, they bossed 70% of this game, looked inventive, and they were trying to win this game.  I got this one completely wrong, so apologies to all New Zealanders out there, this was a fantastic performance which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It is a real pity that New Zealand went to sleep at the start of the second-half and allowed Slovakia to score through that header, because they would have otherwise won this game :  New Zealand's last minute equaliser was deserved and celebrated by both independent observers and New Zealanders.  Bring on Italy !


Italy 1-1 Paraguay
How strange football is sometimes.  This was a game between the current World Champions, Italy, and the team which had won the most games in the South America qualifying group, Paraguay.  And what did we get :  the most dreadful first half of international football seen anywhere in recent times, and all of it because of Italy's way of playing the game.  Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager, came up with a fantastic expression when describing the way Italy were playing in that first half :  parasite football !  Ha Ha Ha, brilliant expression Mick !  Parasite football — Football that does nothing but wait for the other side to make a mistake.  Thank goodness Paraguay scored first as, otherwise, I can't imagine what "worse than parasite football might have been.  As it was, Paraguay scoring first forced Italy to come out of their shell in the second-half and we instantly had much better football on display.  Italy then ran the show with quick, long but accurate passing and running at the opposition defence.  The equalising goal was courtesy of another goalkeeping mistake, the third at this World Cup already, but Italy at least deserved it.  This second-half Italy was reminiscent of Italy 2006 minus one crucial element, Andrea Pirlo.  Pirlo is injured and is unlikely to play till the last match of the group. For those who don't know, Andrea Pirlo is one of the best inventive midfielders I've ever seen in an Italian shirt, if not the best.  In my view Italy 2006 won the World cup four years ago thanks to Pirlo, just like we managed to reach the final, and lose it, thanks to Zidane — Itally will need Pirlo to stand any chance of winning this World Cup as, without him, they are only haf the team they can be.  Paraguay :  most of their midfielders were defensive midfielders on the night, and the coach did not change that in the second half, so it is difficult to judge how good they can be on this performance.  They're still my tip to go through with Italy though.


Japan 1-0 Cameroon
Japan surprised and Cameroon ..... surprised !  Cameroon were awful.  I got this prediction all wrong.  This was not so much about Japan but about Cameroon's total lack of imagination, skill, togetherness, and pattern.  They were all over the place, players playing out of position, no composure in defence, and no imagination in midfield.  The only positive they can take is that they absolutely cannot play worse than this in this World Cup.  I think I can remember only one shot on target from Cameroon.  As for Japan, on the other hand, they stuck to their plan to perfection.  They pressed Cameroon all over the pitch, not allowing them to settle on the ball and eventually capitalised on the one lapse of concentration from Cameroon, and then they defended like tigers.  Job done, job very well done. Japan could well qualify second behind Holland in this group.  Who would have thought that !


Holland 2-0 Denmark
This was a strange experience for me.  I never thought I would ever write about a Holland team saying :  I was seriously underwhelmed.  Edgar Davids said in the studio before the match that he didn't want Holland to shine in their first match because he believed the Dutch always self-destruct later on in a World Cup if they play scintillating football from Day 1.  Well, they certainly didn't disappoint Edgar, but they disappointed me.  There was nothing fluent about this Dutch performance.  Marco van Basten's Dutch team of two years ago in the European Championships was a country mile better than this side.  Same players, but the manager is different.  Time will tell but if they continue to play like this this Holland side will simply huff and puff their way out of the World Cup.  I think Elia should play from the start and the play should revolve around Sneijder.  As for Denmark, they unfortunately fulfilled my predictions :  totally toothless and a team whose future is behind them.  They may get something against disappointing Cameroon, but certainly not against Japan.


Serbia 0-1 Ghana
A star is borne, the Black Stars of Ghana.  The youngest team in the tournament produced a wonderful exhibition of pass and move football.  This Ghana team is so young it was like watching an Under-20 side and, in fact, that is exactly what we were watching :  last year's World Under-20 World Champions.  Pass, Pass back, Pass again, Feint, Leave two opposition players behind in a feint control and turn in one movement.  The only thing lacking was goals.  These kids were so excited they would blast the ball into the heavens when presented with clear opportunities.  I hope they learn to be efficient like the Germans in their next game as that is all they need to set this tournament alight in the same manner as the next youngest team in the tournament, Germany.  In the end Ghana won courtesy of a penalty after a crazy handball by one of the Serbian defenders, but don't let that fool you :  it was a thoroughly deserved win.  I only have one word of caution about Ghana :  this match was a personal tragedy for the Ghana coach, Milovan Rajevac, a Serb.  When Rajevac's Ghanaian assistant wanted to dance the victory away at the end of the match, Rajevac pushed him away, because this was a bitter sweet result for him — he had mastered a great victory but at the expense of his own country.  In the post-match press conference Rajevac said that he was satisfied with the victory but hoped that Serbia would go and get 6 points in their next two games !!!  I am fearful.  However, I hope positiveness and the good of the human race will prevail, and that the Serbs in Serbia play fair and do not put criminal pressure on Milovan Rajevac and his family at home in Serbia so as to force him to sabotage Ghana so that Serbia goes through.  I hope the good side of the human race prevails.


Germany 4-0 Australia
The best match of this World Cup so far.  Whatever the Australian media may have said after the match, this result was not because Australia was poor, it was because Germany were so good.  Did you mark down what I wrote the other day :  "The youngest and most experienced squad all in one.  Staggering.  It gets better still :  this team scores goals, and plays attractive football." ?  I said I was looking forward to watching Germany and I was not disappointed :  it was exhilarating.  Power, Skill, Speed, Flair, Invention, Shots on goal, Movement, Intelligence, Goals.  This Germany side is brilliant. Australia could have gone ahead inside 5 minutes, but I believe that even if they had it would have simply delayed the inevitable.  4 strikers on show for the Germans, 4 goals.  I tell you, the German fans will be playing vuvuzela for the rest of this tournament because they ARE going to enjoy themselves a lot in South Africa 2010, and I'm going to enjoy that team too.  As for Australia, they had some good moments, and with a better coach, fit players (too many half-fit players on the bench), and in another group than this Germany and Ghana group, they might have progressed further, but as I'd predicted I can't see them getting out the group at this World Cup, especially after having now lost their best player through a straight red card, Tim Cahill.


Algeria 0-1 Slovenia
This was as poor a match as I predicted it would be.  On their own continent, African soil, Algeria dared playing a negative game of containment instead of going all out for a win given that, on paper (but not in my books), Slovenia were the weaker of the other three teams.  And they paid for it.  As fellow Africans the majority of the South Africans in attendance were supporting Algeria, and instead of using this support as a springboard for an attacking display, Algeria instead packed their midfield playing a game of fear rather than risk and courage.  In my write-up on Algeria I highlighted indiscipline and negativity as Algeria's main problems, and so it proved.  While they managed three quarters of the match without a caution, the last quarter of the match proved Algeria's undoing.  They collected numerous yellow cards during that last 25 minutes and a red card in the 73rd minute.  Six minutes later they were 1-0 down thanks to a goalkeeping error identical to that of England's Robert Green the day before.  And then what happened ?  Down to 10 men, and 1-0 down, Algeria finally opened up and nearly scored twice.  Frustrating, Frustrating, Frustrating.  Slovenia ?  Well, I had them down as going to the next round, so they're on target at the moment.


England 1-1 USA
This was for me the strangest of the group phase opening matches.  England started the match on fire.  They were irresistible, first to the ball, fantastic interplay, invention, fluidity, imagination, chances, and after 4 minutes, a brilliant team goal.  Then the USA came back into the game but it was still England creating most of the chances.  Midway through the first half, however, the USA started to dominate the midfield and in the 40th minute they equalised in the strangest of fashion when Clint Dempsey tried his luck from 25m out.  There was no venom in the shot and it was the goalkeeper's ball all the way.  Except that Robert Green, the England goalkeeper, somehow took his eye off the ball and the shot bounced off him and into the net.  It was a goalkeeping howler of the highest order.  What happened next is what baffled me :  England completely lost their composure and confidence, something I would never ever expect from a team managed by Fabio Capello, and so the rest of the match ended up being an even tussle between the two teams with both teams getting chances to win the match.  Very very strange.  But I cannot finish this report without highlighting a point I had made in my report on England :  Peter Crouch is crucial to England's success, and if he doesn't play from the start England will come home early.  One of the givens that comes with the position of striker is that, at some point in the game, the striker will get a clear chance on goal and what you want when that one chance comes along, is a world-class striker, a Peter Crouch who will put the chance away.  Instead, Fabio Capello continues to put his faith in Emile Heskey who, while he created the assist for Steven Gerrard's goal, was at the same time unable to convert a 1-on-1 face-off with the goalkeeper, something which Peter Crouch would have done.  Will Capello learn from this ?  As for the USA — they surprised me.  They are better than they were last year when they nearly won the Confederations Cup.  As per my original write-up on them, I love their interplay, and they create chances.  I predicted Slovenia to come out of this group at the expense of the USA, I am most definitely no longer so sure — I just wish Altidore would convert his chances more often.  But, Hey, he's only 20 after all !


South Korea 2-0 Greece
All I can say about this match is that South Korea confirmed my prediction that they would beat Greece.  There was absolutely nothing to glean from this match other than Greece are as bad as predicted.  South Korea really should have won this match with a basketball score, they were so vastly superior to Greece.  It is impossible to judge from this game how good South Korea are, as Greece were unfortunately so poor, so all I can say is let's see how South Korea fare against Argentina in their next match.  As for Greece there are no positives to take away from this game — it's going to be a tough no-points World Cup for them !


Argentina 1-0 Nigeria
At the end of this match the commentators here on the BBC kept talking about how good this Argentinian side was and that they would probably make the Final.  Was I watching the same game as these guys ???  I was bored throughout this game.  I have always loved World Cup Argentinian football.  For me it's synonymous with fast accurate passing, patient passing, quick mesmerising interchanges, wonderful skills, power, beautiful goals. I saw none of that today.  This Argentinian team was, for me, a collection of individuals, many of them totally brilliant as we all know, but this Argentina was not a "team" as far as I could see.  The goal was more to do with slack defending on a corner than Argentinian brilliance.  Argentina confirmed in this game what I said in my write-up — I can't see them going past the Quarter-Finals despite having the best squad of players at this World Cup.  As for Nigeria, I can't make my mind up yet.  Watching them was frustrating whilst at the same time hopeful.  They clearly looked like a team which had not played together for long, and no wonder given that the coach was only appointed 3 weeks ago.  However, as the game progressed they started stringing a number of moves and shots on goals which showed potential.  Has the World Cup come too soon for them ?  Or, worded another way, will they pay for the foolishness of sacking the last coach so close to the opening of the World Cup ?  I'll pass judgement after the next game.


Uruguay 0-0 France
France didn't disappoint and Uruguay disappointed.  As I explained in my write-up on France, France, a team of world-class players, has a terrible coach, the only bad coach of this World Cup, Raymond Domenech !  I will watch every France match, I have to, being from France, but I can tell you we will not win a single match nor score a single goal.  Today's performance was shocking.  The players did well what they were told to do, it is the "what they were told to do" which is the problem.  Why oh why was Ribéry confined to the attacking left side instead of being allowed to dictate the play and distribute ?  Why was Abou Diaby deployed as a defensive midlfielder, a very specialised job, when he has never played in that position for his club, Arsenal ?  I like Govou, but why is he in the starting line-up when he's only ever performed well for France as a second-half substitute ?  I could go on and on and on.  Such a waste.  Today's match even reached the ridiculous when Malouda, who had had a massive bust-up with Raymond Domenech the day before, was asked to come on as substitute. He and Raymond Domenech are not on talking terms, so we had the absurd situation where the assistant coach was giving Malouda his directions, before he was about to come on as substitute, with Raymond Domenech a few metres away ignoring the two of them. U.n.b.e.l.i.e.v.a.b.l.e !!!  This was sooooo embarrassing !  As for Uruguay their fans will be disappointed because, quite frankly, we were there for the taking but a combination of our excellent defence (the only good thing about our team) and Uruguay's lack of risk-taking contributed to this frustratingly boring 0-0 draw.  I still have Uruguay to progress to the next round !


South Africa 1-1 Mexico
You have to give it to Carlos Alberto Parreira.  Exactly as I wrote in my intro of South Africa, this man works wonders and in the space of 6 weeks he has transformed South Africa, which normally does not register on the World Football Richter Scales, into a team with a genuine chance of qualifying out of the groups and go further.  Mexico dominated the first 20-30 minutes and should have scored within 10 minutes.  However, they didn't and South Africa which had frozen, in this the opening match of the World Cup 2010, suddenly freed themselves from fear and started playing wonderful passing football, creating chance after chance, culminating eventually with the goal of the World Cup so far, a five-touches move across the length of the pitch ending with a rasping left-foot shot from the edge of the area into the top corner.  All South Africa had to do was hold on, but the enormity of the occasion got to them and instead of pressing back Mexico as they had been doing, they started to sit back and in one lapse of concentration allowed one of 3 unmarked Mexican players to score from close range.  Still, South Africa had the last chance of the match with the ball bouncing back off the left post.  A draw was a fair result in the end and I reckon South Africa will get better now that this momentous opening match is out of the way.  Good Luck Bafana Bafana !

Here is the best goal of the game.

—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Friday, 11th June 2010
 

The Time of No Sleep !

OK.  First, a good link for you : www.IfYouLoveFootball.com.  It will take you right here during The Time of No Sleep !

In the entire history of the The World Cup, all the winners have come from two continents :  South America and Europe.  Even more staggering, in a world which has 195 countries, only 7 countries have ever won the World Cup, and none of those 7 include the superpowers (USA, Russia, China) :  Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Italy, Germany, Uruguay with Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Germany winning 14 of the 18 World Cups that have been staged.

So, will the first World Cup held in Africa yield a winner from outside of the Magic Four ?  I am certain of that.  On a year of surprises in sport, with rank outsiders Francesca Schiavone and Robin Soderling probably winning the French Open Tennis tournament later this weekend, I am certain that none of the Magic Four will win this year's World Cup.  Change is in the air.....

Will the winner come from a continent other than Europe and South America ?  Possibly.  For the first time, in five World Cups, some of the African teams have world class coaches, and since the vast majority of African players playing at the World Cup play for Europe's top clubs ...... Change is in the air.....

So let's start with Group A.  Every World Cup has a so-called "Group of Death".  This time round it's Group A.  France, a superpower of World Football, South Africa the host nation willed on by 50 million South Africans, Uruguay, two time winners of the World Cup, and Mexico who normally make the quarter-finals.  This group is terrible.
 

GROUP STAGE REVIEW OF TEAMS AND PREDICTIONS

Group A — France, Mexico, South Africa, Uruguay

France
What can you say ?  European Champions in 1984 and 2000, and World Champions in 1998.  Additionally, World Cup finalists last time round in 2006, 4 times semi-finalist in European Championships, and 3 times semi-finalist in World Cups.  We had 2 official days of national holiday after the 1998 win, and a virtual entire week of unofficial national holiday.  Will it happen again ?  I can't see it.  Me and 60 million other French people do not believe we have a chance to win the World Cup.  As simple as that.  Why ?  Because our coach, Raymond Domenech, is rubbish.  I'll repeat everything I said in the last World Cup :  he hasn't got a clue, he has never won a major trophy, he doesn't know how to win a World Cup, he alienates everyone, the players included.  The only way we might be able to make the Final is if Raymond Domenech is replaced next week (!!), or if the players impose on the coach how they want to play because then we have enough winners in the team to take us a long way.  Our form in the warm-up matches :  1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss, with none of the strikers scoring !
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Mexico
I have to admit I do not know Mexico much.  I do know their coach, Javier Aguirre, who is a winning coach.  He has won the Mexican Premier League, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the UEFA Intertoto Cup with Atletico Madrid, so he knows how to win.  My problem, having seen extracts of their warm-up matches against England and Holland, and with dissent in the camp (a striker complaining that his brother should have been included in the World Cup squad!!), I just can't see them winning the shoot-out with South Africa and Uruguay.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

South Africa
The host country.  Make no mistake about it, South Africa is normally second division African football, never mind World football — most of their players play in South Africa rather than in the World's best football clubs.  But this is different :  they are hosting the World Cup, they won the Rugby World Cup for Nelson Mandela, they will take the field for each match with a 12th player of 50 million voices, they had a very good Confederations Cup last year, and, most crucially, they have a World Cup winning coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira.  Carlos Alberto Parreira is a coach whom even Jose Mourinho would have to bow to.  He has won the major championships and Cups in Brazil and Turkey, qualified the totally unfancied teams of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to the finals of World Cups, and he won the World Cup as coach of Brazil in 1994.  Since his appointment last November South Africa have not only been unbeaten in warm-up matches, but they've actually won most of those warm-up matches.
Prediction :  I predict that South Africa will emulate South Korea in 2002 — Semi-Finals.

Uruguay
The winners of the very first World Cup, Uruguay are often forgotten as a World Cup Winner as they won their two World Cups yonks ago before TV, so you'll never see footage of their World Cup wins.  Uruguay come to this Word Cup as a team which either scores lots of goals or leaks them.  This team has firepower, period.  Diego Forlan who single-handedly won the Europa Cup for Atletico Madrid last month, and Luis Suarez who scored 49 goals for Ajax Amsterdam this year, and with half the midfield also playing for Ajax Amsterdam, this Uruguay team comes to South African with a genuine hope getting out of the group.
Prediction :  to qualify out of the group.
 

Group B — Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea

Argentina
Ever hear of DM ?  Or, Diego, in its short form ?  How about Milito ?  You were thinking "Maradona", weren't you....!

OK — so you've got it.  And there is the paradox.  Argentina comes to every World Cup as one of the favourites, because all top European teams have world class Argentinians, as simple as that.  And if there is one World Cup where Argentina should be favourite it is THIS WORLD CUP !!!  Which other team boasts the World's best player, Messi; the World's best strike force, Lionel Messi, Diego Milito, Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero; or read : Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid ?  This is the most potent strike force on show at this World Cup, with the potential to set the entire World Cup on fire.  And then there is the midfield :  Angel di Maria, Juan Sebastian Veron, Javier Mascherano, ...... Do I really need to continue ?  This team is a manager's dream.  And this is where the paradox is :  for Diego Maradona, the coach, this abundance of world-class talent is an absolute nightmare — he has been finding it impossible to get the right team balance, to get a team that should take apart anything put before it.  And this is why this team has not fulfilled its potential, and had to scrape into South Africa through the back door.  I just do not see this team fulfilling its potential in South Africa either.
Prediction :  Quarter-Finals.

Greece
One cannot talk about Greece without mentioning the name of the coach — Otto Rehhagel.  He coached Werder Bremen to two German championships, two German Cups, and one European Cup Winners Cup.  Then, at the ripe young age of 66 he coached Greece to become European Champions in 2004.  And here he is again on a World stage, in South Africa.  Like Argentina, Greece came to South Africa through the back door, finishing second in their group behind Switzerland and having to beat Ukraine in a play-off.  With a lack of world-class talent Otto Rehhagel's tactics have been, hmmm, ......, defensive !  I have difficulty making up my mind up on Greece :  everyone ignored this defensive team in 2004 and yet they took the big prize.  But this is the World Cup and I just cannot see Greece beating South Korea or Argentina, and I think the pace of Nigeria will defeat them as well.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Nigeria
Traditionally the most talented team from Africa, Nigeria is also traditionally by far the most disorganized.  If the Nigerian FA was organized, Nigeria would have won the World Cup already.  That is how good Nigeria has been in the past.  But the perennial disorganisation of the Nigeria Football Federation beggars belief.  Their current preparations have not disappointed — from a late change of base camp (with a resultant fine from FIFA), to cancelled warm-up matches, to problem with training venues, and a coach appointed just 3 weeks before the beginning of the Word Cup, this is just another typical Word Cup for Nigeria.  Frustrating !  Now, every football coaching manual will tell you that to succeed a team must have a good midfield, so, struck by injuries, the lack of international-class midfield in the Nigeria team would normally have supporters of Nigeria fearing the worst.  Fortunately, however, the coach, Lars Lagerback, the ex-coach of Sweden, is a coach for whom midfield does not matter.  Remember his Swedish team of the last 10-15 years or so :  a good goalkeeper, a first class defence, unknown barely noticed midfield, and Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.  And it worked.  Sweden would regularly make the Quarter-Finals, if not the Semi-Finals.  So despite everything pointing to elimination at the Group stage, with an excellent goalkeeper, a top defence, and world-class strikers (Kanu, Obafemi Martins, Yakubu), I can well see this unfancied Nigeria team (unusual!!) surprise a few.  Remember :  this World Cup is in Africa !
Prediction :  Quarter-Finals (and maybe Semis).

South Korea
South Korea arrives at this World Cup having lost very few games but also scored very few goals.  South Korean footballers have been highly regarded for a long time and many have in the past plied their trade in the top European clubs, from Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven, to Manchester Utd in England.  The current crop, however, is mainly home grown.  I have to admit not knowing much about the current crop, but what I am certain of is that, whilst this team is hard to beat, I still can't see it resisting the striking forces of Argentina and Nigeria, so, unfortunately, I fear a damage limitation for this team with, possibly, a win against Greece.
Prediction : Eliminated at the Group stage.
 

Group C — Algeria, England, Slovenia, USA

Algeria
In a group which includes England and the USA, I fear more for Algeria than I fear for Slovenia.  After a gutsy qualification, ousting the African Champions of the last 3 African Cup of Nations, Egypt, Algeria looked to be on top of the World, or, let's say, on top of Africa.  Since, however, their form has been really poor, with players letting themselves down with indiscipline.  Algeria would be able to get out of this group only and only if they played as a team but at the moment they seem to have lost that team cohesion which qualified them for the World Cup.  They have had a very poor run of warm-up matches, and I just cannot see them winning a single match in this World Cup.  To me they look like a team which will go to this World Cup trying not to lose, and that's a very bad way to approach a World Cup, particularly when many of the players play in the top European leagues and can hold their own with the best.  Negativity will not win in this World Cup.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

England
Hmmmmm.  Interesting.  Now, AnswersThatWork operates out of England, so I must be diplomatic....  Junk that !  Let's be truthful.  I feel the England team of 4 years ago was, pound for pound, a better team than this year's team.  The difference, however, is that this time round England have one of the World's best ever managers :  Fabio Capello.  Fabio Capello is even better than Marcello Lippi who won the World Cup for Italy 4 years ago.  His record at club level is unbelievable.  Like Jose Mourinho he is Mr Guarantee !  AC Milan, endless championships, Cups, and European Champions — then Real Madrid :  champions of Spain — then Roma :  Italian champions and Cup Winners — then Juventus :  Italian champions and Cup Winners — then back to Real Madrid : champions of Spain.  Fabio Capello wins everywhere he goes.  The man is unbelievable.  And if you're English and despondent after the first half display of England, hold your horses, his teams always win the second-half.  So I see England as a guaranteed semi-finalists.  For me there are two key players for England :  the first is Peter Crouch whose record on a goal per appearance ratio for England is simply incredible.  Why oh Why did Rafael Benitez let him go at Liverpool.....  The second, for me, is Joe Cole.  If Joe Cole plays then England could make the final in my eyes.
Prediction :  Semi-Finals (possibly the Final).

Slovenia
One of the dark horses of this World Cup.  They finished second in a group which featured Poland, Slovakia (another dark horse), and the Czech Republic who are normally part of the European Football Elite, and then went on to defeat the Gus Hiddink-led mighty Russia in the play-offs.  So these guys are good.  I like Robert Koren, a very skilful midfielder who plays in the English league, and possibly the only Slovenian player I know well.  Their manager, Matjaz Kek has won titles in Slovenia both as a player and manager, and as a manager he has retained the classic ex-Yugoslavia type of football :  skilful, short passing, skilful, pretty to watch, skilful, goals, often lots of beautiful ones !  I just cannot call this one :  just because he has not managed outside of Slovenia does not mean Matjaz Kek is not as good as Capello, we just do not know.  And in a group which also boasts the USA, how does one call this one ?  Well, I'll stay true to my opening page :  there will be surprises and I fancy Slovenia to spring a surprise at the expense of either the USA or England, regardless of my tip of England as being potential finalists.
Prediction :  Quarter Finals.

USA
Well, well, well. Under Bob Bradley the USA play exciting football.  Did you watch the Confederation Cup last year, or even the World Cup in 2006 ?  Whenever they attack it's at pace, skill, and with loads of players going forward.  I like watching Bob Bradley's USA in major tournaments, it is always edge of your seat stuff.  The problem is, that is where it stays at :  edge of the seat. Wild celebrations are few and far between because the USA still cannot find a world-class striker, preferably two of them.  Jose Altidore is a fantastic prospect and should have a glittering career provided he soon plays with a top club, but he is only just 20 years old, and at World Cup level you simply cannot progress beyond the Group stage without one or two international-class strikers — it just does not happen. With a world-class striker I could see them beating England and Algeria, and draw with Slovenia, but they don't have one, unfortunately.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.
 

Group D — Australia, Germany, Ghana, Serbia

Australia
With one of the World's best coaches, Gus Hiddink, Australia progressed out of their group in 2006. And it's no wonder. The majority of the squad is used to playing at the top level with clubs such as Liverpool, Galatasaray, Twente, this year's Dutch champions, Everton, etc... For such a small nation, population-wise, Australia produces a remarkable number of talented footballers who can hold their own with the world's best. So we know the players have the pedigree. Does the current coach, Pim Verbeek, have the pedigree ? Unfortunately not. When a coach has managed 17 clubs at just 54 years of age, you know most of it was not successful. And as much as I like Australian footballers, having seen some of the best ones play for my club, Liverpool, I simply cannot see this coach being able to coach Australia out of this particular group.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Germany
I need no introduction here.  Every betting man knows that the surest way to make a little money is to bet on Germany reaching the semi-finals of any football tournament, whether it be the European Championships or the World Cup.  Germany have reached more semi-finals than mighty Brazil, and have reached the same number of finals as Brazil.  German football is on a rising curve at the moment — Bayern Munich went to the final of the Champions League last month with a strong core of German footballers, and teams like Wolfsburg and Hamburg also made the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League and Europa Cup.  But there is something very ominous with this year's German team :  the average age of the squad is 25, and if you take out the one 36-year old and the one 31-year old, it drops to 24 !  That has to be the youngest squad at this World Cup after Ghana.  German teams usually have stamina — count on this team to have super-stamina !!  It gets better :  this young squad is also an experienced squad; most of the squad went to the final of the last European Championships where they lost to Spain, and over 50% of this squad also played in the last World Cup where they lost in the semis.  The youngest and most experienced squad all in one.  Staggering.  It gets better still :  this team scores goals, and plays attractive football.  Lastly, the coach :  Joachim Low has won the Austrian Championship and the German Cup, as well as losing in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup and the European Championships two years ago.  He is good.  This German team is good, and I for one look forward to watching their matches.
Prediction :  Semi-Finals at the very least !  (Possibly the Fin
al.)

Ghana
The youngest squad of this World Cup made primarily of the Under-20 World Champions squad of 2009.  This squad lost in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations only three months ago, so they have tasted the sweet taste of near success.  The majority of this young squad play in the top clubs of the top European leagues.  I haven't followed Ghana much but those who have write in eulogious terms about this squad, and who does not remember how Ghana lit up the 2006 World Cup with their skilful all-out attack football.  It was wonderful stuff and it needed Brazil to check their progress then.  I fancy this squad to light up the 2010 World Cup in the same way they did 4 years ago.
Prediction :  Quarter-Finals at the very least.

Serbia
Footballers from the Balkan Peninsula, the ex-Yugoslavia, are invariably .... skilful. Yugoslavia used to be called the Brazil of Europe.  So, just as with Slovenia, when you read "Serbia", read "Talent".  And this is talent which plays across the whole of Europe, from Russia to Portugal, in the toughest leagues, with the biggest clubs.  I know Serbia well — they topped our Group and we, France, then had to play a play-off with Ireland — remember that infamous "Hand of Henry" ?  Serbia's coach, Radomir Antic won the Liga/Copa del Rey double as a manager of Atletico Madrid, so he is a winner.  My problem, having seen Serbia play twice against France, is that I just cannot see them getting any points from Germany and Ghana.  Serbia topped our Group because France and Romania were very poor, not because they were outstanding, and this is why I do not see them progressing out of the group.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.
 

Group E — Cameroon, Denmark, Holland, Japan

Cameroon
Arsenal, Celtic, Lyon (semi-finalist of Champions Leagues this year), Marseille (French Champions 2010), Tottenham, Monaco, Espanyol, Mallorca, Real Betis, Inter Milan, Ajax Amsterdam, Kaiserslautern, Schalke.  You know them all, and they're the teams the Cameroon players all play in.  A team full of champions.  This team was going nowhere until Paul Le Guen came to the rescue to coach them to a place in South Africa 2010.  And Paul Le Guen is the crucial piece of the Cameroon jigsaw.  A winner.  In his first coaching post after retiring as a footballer, Paul Le Guen brought Lyon their first ever French Championship.  He won the French Ligue the next two years as well before taking a one-year sabbatical.  Then he went to Rangers but the players didn't take to this ..... Frenchman and he got sacked after just a few weeks.  Next stop, Paris St Germain (PSG) where he won the League Cup but didn't get on with the directors.  And eventually Cameroon.  This man is a winner who likes to play attacking football, and because of who this coach is I fancy Cameroon all the way to the semis.
Prediction :  Semi-finals.

Denmark
Try as I may I just cannot get excited by this year's Denmark team. They qualified top of what was arguably the weakest qualifying European group, not because of the countries involved (Sweden, Portugal, Hungary, Albania, Malta) but because Sweden and Portugal were themselves teams in transition and with poor direction. Result : Denmark topped the group with a series of 1-0 wins and 0-0 or 1-1 draws, with the odd 3-0 trashing of Malta and Albania. Denmark is a mixture of youth and ageing ex-great players in the wrong departments, and they do not have a single player you could call world-class. Lastly, their warm-up matches against fellow World Cup qualifiers have not been reassuring — the same problem keeps reappearing : inability to score goals.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Holland (Netherlands)
The Dutch.  So often they excite the World's imagination, and so often they let themselves down in the knock-out phases.  Two years ago in Euro 2008 they pulverised all before them in their group with scintillating football only to fall meekly to Portugal in the Quarter-Finals through lax defending.  Same story in the last World Cup after a brilliant opening game against the Ivory Coast.  The only question with the Dutch is, as always, "can they sustain it all the way to the final ?".  It's difficult.  How far this Dutch team goes depends, in my mind, on the fitness of the following 3 players :  Arjen Robben, currently injured and certain to miss the first match, Robin van Persie whose record of injuries down the year is staggering, and Wesley Sneijder, the fantastic playmaker who has already played a lot of football this year in winning the Italian Serie A, the Italian Cup, and the European Champions League last month with Inter Milan.  If two of these 3 players pick up injuries from the Quarter-Finals onward then the Dutch won't progress further.
Prediction :  Quarter-Finals at least.

Japan
Japan have never won a World Cup Finals match other than when they hosted the World Cup in 2002 with South Korea.  With a squad of players drawn almost entirely from the Japanese League except for 4 Europe-based players, Japan will be lucky to get a point in this difficult group.  Watchers of European football will all know of Shunsuke Nakamura, the ex-Reggina, Celtic, and Espanyol world-class midfielder, but unfortunately for Japan he is the only truly world-class player in their squad.  With Japan you will always get endeavour and skill on the ball, they are never afraid to take on their opponents, so I will be watching their matches with interest, and any decent European coach should do the same as every World Cup in which Japan participates throws up a new potential Japanese world star.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group Stage.
 

Group F — ITALY, NEW ZEALAND, PARAGUAY, SLOVAKIA

Italy
What did I say in the last World Cup ?  "Marcello Lippi. Mark this name down.  This is a coach with a tremendous CV.  This man has one business only, and he usually does it well, the business of WINNING !".  Didn't he just do it !  So, how about this time round.  The most successful European country in World Cups, 4 titles behind Brazil's 5, comes to South Africa incredibly as both reigning World Champions and rank outsiders.  This is eerie.  In 1982, Italy played a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their last warm-up match before the World Cup, were not favourite, and ran away with the title.  In 2006, Italy played a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their last warm-up match, were not even on the radar, and beat France in the final.  In 2010, Italy comes to South Africa with an average qualification campaign, a loss to Mexico, are seen as dark horses, and, then, machiavellicaly played another 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their last warm-up match last weekend, ...... and ..........., on July 11th, in the Final of 2010 South Africa ......  Woooo, I've got a chill running down my spine !  And it doesn't stop there — last week Francesca Schiavone simultaneously illuminated Roland-Garros and the whole of Italy and Marcello Lippi has now told his squad he wants 11 Schiavones on the pitch in South Africa.  Wooooo, that chill is getting colder....
Prediction :  Italy might not qualify top of their group, but after that take your pick .... Quarters, Semis, Final, Winners.  Just do yourself a favour — do not bet against Italy !

New Zealand
For New Zealand this World Cup will be the equivalent of me participating in the Olympics, and I hope they and their supporters enjoy every single minute of it.  They most definitely won't win any matches nor any point in this unforgiving group as aside from Ryan Nelsen who plays his football with Blackburn in the English Premier League, the majority of the other players play in the equivalent of 3rd or 4th division World football.  But that's OK.  African teams were 3rd division World football once upon a time, and look where they are now, an African team could win it this year !
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Paraguay
Underestimate Paraguay at your peril.  Every single member of this Paraguay team plays in a top European (England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal) or South/Central American league (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico).  Additionally, after a great 1998 World Cup where only the eventual winners, France, stopped them, they qualified for the finals in both 2002 and 2006.  They were disappointing in 2006, playing great slow-quick possession football but their injured strikers could not put the chances away, so they fizzed out of their group.  I reckon they will be out to make amends four years later, particularly after having for a long time led the South America qualifying section before Brazil and Chile edged them out in the last two rounds.  This time their strikers are fit and raring to go.  Everyone knows about Roque Santa Cruz, but there are others, such as Oscar Cardozo with 56 goals in 84 games for Benfica, and Lucas Barrios with 19 goals in 33 games for Borussia Dortmund.  And then there is the coach, the Argentinian Gerardo Martino who has won the Parguayan Primera Division 4 times with two different clubs, and was voted South American Coach of the Year in 2007.  I fancy Paraguay to outgun Slovakia.
Prediction :  Second round (possibly Quarter Finals).

Slovakia
It's a shame that Slovakia who did such a great job to qualify for this World Cup with a last match 1-0 away win in Poland, ended up in this really tough group.  They and Slovenia beat, against all odds, the Czech Republic and Poland to World Cup qualification, but, unlike Slovenia, Slovakia have ended up in a really tough group.  Slovakia will win their opening match against New Zealand, that's a certainty, and they may hold Italy to a draw, but all I can see is Paraguay giving them the run-around with their brand of football.  Now, here is a sport quiz goodie for you :  the father of the coach of Slovakia used to play for the old Czechoslovakia and the coach's son is in the Slovak national team — what are their names?  Answer :  they're all called Vladimir Weiss !
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.
 

Group G —  Brazil, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Portugal

Brazil
I almost decided it was not worth writing up Brazil.  Does Brazil really need introduction ??  Brazil is synonymous with World Cup Football.  Even people who do not follow football (who are they?) know about Brazil and that it's the country which has won most World Cups ever and is ranked favourites at every single World Cup, and in this World Cup, even more so than ever.  Smarting from being knocked out at the Quarter Final stage from France in 2006, Brazil replaced Parreira with Dunga, their 2004 World Cup winning captain.  Dunga came to the job with no managing experience whatsoever, but that doesn't matter with Brazil — from time to time promoting an ex player to manager of the national side is simply what they do.  In this case Brazil have come up with a winner.  In 3 years' management Dunga has already won the Copa America and the FIFA Confederations Cup, and are playing better by the month.  Their warm-up matches have been scintillating with Robinho scoring most of the goals all of a sudden.  This Brazil team arrives at this World Cup ranked #2 behind Spain but with all the right players to go away as #1.
Prediction :  Final.

Ivory Coast
Many independent observers see Ivory Coast as the African team most likely to win the World Cup if a team from Africa wins it this year.  I am no different.  Almost every member plays its football in the top leagues of Europe, and they also have a sprinkling of world-class players throughout the team, from the goalkeeper to the defense, the midfield, and the attack.  And then there is Drogba.  Drogba is 3 players into 1, a world-class fantastic forward, the best assist player in the business, and the local bully boy.  He is just amazing and it can be argued that without him Chelsea would not have won any of the trophies they have won in the last 5 years.  "Drogba wins the Cup for Chelsea", "Drogba wins the League Cup for Chelsea", "Drogba wins the Championship for Chelsea", are common headlines in England.  He is Superman personified and would have won this year's Player of the Year award if he'd been English like Rooney.  Drogba is injured at the moment, having broken his arm last week, but that's OK as Salomon Kalou and Arunda Dindane will have no problem taking Ivory Coast to the second round where Drogba will be able to return to terrorise opposition defenses again.  The coach :  Sven-Goran Eriksson who lost his way in England when his private life became more important than the England team.  Nevertheless he is another world-class coach who has won the UEFA Cup with both a Swedish and an Italian club, who has won the Italian Serie A, and who has won the Portuguese League 3 times, the Portuguese Cup, the Italian Cup with 3 different clubs, and more.  He is a top-class coach who can take this Ivory Coast team all the way.  Now, is this an omen :  the Ivory Coast Under-21s just won the France Toulon tournament a few weeks ago (the Toulon tournament is a de-facto mini World Cup for Under-21s), the first African team to do so (you should have seen the celebrations!) .....
Prediction :  Semi-Finals, Final, Winner.

North Korea
The return of North Korea to the World Cup is not going to be as successful as their only previous participation, I am afraid, as this is the second Group of Death in this World Cup.  Still, just like New Zealand they and their supporters should make the most of the occasion, particularly when they play Brazil and the Ivory Coast.  The North Korea coach predicts a run to the semi-finals, no doubt based on the fact that in 1966 North Korea surprised everybody who underestimated them and went all the way to the Quarter-Finals.  Unfortunately I predict that no team will underestimate North Korea this time round and the result will be zero points, particularly when one reads about their preparations :  because they cannot afford proper facilities North Korea have been training ............. in the local gym, amongst other gym-goers, juggling around South Africans using the gym, doing run-ups around users of the gym, and so on.  I am sorry but I cannot see a team reduced to such preparations being able to get a single point !
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Portugal
Portugal is a big name in international football with most of the squad playing in Portugal or Spain.  This team, however, came to South Africa through the back door and, unfortunately, I fancy them to go out the same way, through the back door.  Of course they have Ronaldo and Deco in midfield, and Tiago and Carvalho, but my main problem is they have no world-class striker and they seem to be a team in transition who do not know how they want to play, who they want to play around, what system they want to use, and what their strengths are.  Portugal are a team trying to find themselves and I am afraid South Africa has come too early for them.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group stage.

Group H — Chile, Honduras, Spain, Switzerland

Chile
know nothing of Chile, just Mark Gonzalez who played for Liverpool for a while...  What I do know is that they finished second only to Brazil in the South America qualifying group, winning the majority of their games and only losing home and away to Brazil, and once to Ecuador.  This is a good team with an Argentinian manager who has won many championships and cups in Argentina.  This looks like an excellent combination and I for one look forward to watching Chile.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group Stage.

Honduras
Honduras sneaked into the World Cup, courtesy of another team's results, coming third in the CONCACAF group behind the USA and Mexico, and while the USA and Mexico look like they will give all other teams a good game, I do not see Honduras in the same league despite having players like Tottenham's world-class Wilson Palacios playing for them.
Prediction :  Eliminated at the Group Stage.

Spain
The 2010 World Cup favourites, the World Ranked #1, arrive at this World Cup in ominous form, with all their players fit or having recovered just in time, whether it be Fabregas, Iniesta, or Fernando Torres who has not only recovered from an operation just in time, but he has even scored in the warm-up matches.  This Spain team is poetry in motion and under Vincente del Bosque, a coach who won many La Liga championships, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League with Real Madrid, all the time playing attractive football, I believe Spain have become even better than 2 years ago when they became European Champions.  Spain are the team to beat.  One slight element of doubt :  I believe that under Del Bosque Spain play more attractively and score more goals, but they also appear slightly less solid than they were 2 years ago, so they will need to be lucky at least once to go all the way to the final as they will have one off day and must pray that on that off-day their defence gets lucky and holds up, unlike what happened a year ago in the Confederations Cup semi-final against the USA.
Prediction :  Semi-Finals.

Switzerland
Switzerland would normally be regarded as a minnow of European football.  OK — stop right there :  the majority of the Swiss players play in the top leagues of Germany, France, Italy, and England, for top teams.  The Swiss are no minnows, particularly when you consider that their coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld is one of the Word's most respected coaches. He is one of only two coaches to have won the Champions League with two different clubs, the other one being Jose Mourinho, and he is also one of only a handful of coaches to have won major honours (championships, Cups) with more than 3 clubs, including 5 championships with Bayern Munich, 2 with Borussia Dortmund, and 2 Swiss championships with Grasshopers Zurich.  This man transforms everything he touches into Gold.  With such a coach, and players who are used to playing at the top level throughout Europe, I am certain Switzerland will edge out Chile.
Prediction :  Quarter Finals.


—— (TUT) SpaceMan

Copyright © AnswersThatWork.com