World Cup - Opening Games in the Group Stages

Ok, I’ve taken a pretty long break from this blog. If you’ve noticed, it looks different. I’ve added some subscription feeds in the past few days and of course some advertising to line my pockets.

As everyone knows we’re in the midst of the World Cup fever. I’ve planned to catch every single match and write a short review, but of course this is the typical Man proposes and God disposes scenario. I’ve not been able to do what I planned to do, well, not entirely anyway.

In any case, here’s what I saw in the first round of matches in the group stages. The matches have been played in a truely friendly fashion, with the referees having a relatively easy time, with only 3 red cards and a penalty to show, albeit a dubious penalty. This is probably one of the most friendly World Cups in modern time.

And there were no surprise results. All the favourites did what was expected of them.

Group A

Germany 4 – Costa Rica 2

Germany – Looks like a pretty good team, unfortunately looks suspect at the back. I mean they allowed Wanchope to score 2 goals, both on one to one chances. The Germans used to have some pretty mean defence, but this team seems to lack it. This is the best team in this World Cup group.

Costa Rica – Probably not going to be a factor in this competition, but they are definitely not the whipping boy from their performance in the first game. Would be interesting to see how they perform against the luckless Poland or Ecuador.

Poland 0 – Ecuador 2

Poland – How unlucky can a team get? They practically did everything but simply couldn’t put the ball between the posts. Looks like it’s going to be a tough climb for them in order to make it to the second round. Well, their form of not winning a game from the last World Cup has continued, and looks set to continue since they are facing Germany in the next game.

Ecuador - They proved that they are no pushovers. It was a gutsy win against the Pols. They should have enough to beat Costa Rica in the next game and proceed to the second round.

Group B

England 1 - Paraguay 0

England - Screw the English. It was a laboured and boring game. They scored a fluke own goal. There was no attack apart from the occasional strike from Lampard. How England missed Rooney! It doesn’t help that they have a donkey of a coach in Eriksson who sent Defoe home in favour of a 17 year old boy who hasn’t even played for his club. Perhaps it’s just retribution that Theo Wilcott is injured. Anyway the English should make it to the second round, however I don’t see them being a big player to win the World Cup, unless someone steps up (hint: Rooney).

Paraguay - Looks like the weakest team from South America. I personally don’t think they would make an impact should they make it to the second round. However the results in the other games in this group going in their favour, they may well make it.

Sweden 0 - Trinidad & Tobago 0

Sweden - I couldn’t really see this match, since all I got was a blurred TV screen while trying to tune to SCTV (an Indonesian channel). Anyway it ended up a nil all draw, so I didn’t really miss much

Trinidad & Tobago – They are supposed to be the whipping boys in this group, but have done well to draw their more illustrious opponents. This result makes the fight for second in the group interesting.

Group C

Argentina 2 – Ivory Coast 1

Argentina – This is probably the toughest groups to be in. Every one of the teams in this group is capable of going far in the competition. Argentina had a slight scare when they allowed Ivory Coast to score one goal. However they are an accomplished team, and should be one of the favourite to lift the World Cup.

Ivory Coast – Typical African team. Plenty of skill, but not enough team work. At seems to me that they lack another accomplished striker to partner Drogba. They were totally reliant on him to deliver the goods. So far in the first group, they are the best African representatives, too bad they are in a really tough group.

Holland 1 – Serbia & Montenegro 0

Holland – They are a one man team. All their attacking play came from Robben. The other players did nothing much that could be considered praiseworthy. Should Robben get injured, they are pretty much screwed. Ruud has brought his club form to the World Cup, so don’t expect much from him.

Serbia & Montenegro – They came into the competition with the meanest defence, conceding only one goal (an own goal) in the qualifiers. And from this game you can see why. They close down on their opponents really quickly and scarcely allow the Dutch any breathing room in the midfield. However, they lack the creative spark going forward, despite having good players like Kezman and Milosevic playing up front. They are going to have a hard time playing against the Argentines or the Elephants.

Group D

Mexico 3 – Iran 1

Mexico – The game was an interesting game. Both the teams were pretty equal in strength, however Mexico just seemed more clinical towards the end of the game. Should be interesting to see who ends up second in this group.

Iran – They are certainly no pushovers despite losing the first game. They gave Mexico a good run. Had they had a full squad of players to choose from, things might have been different. Chances of them advancing to the next round are pretty slim, unless some of their players make a miraculous recovery.

Portugal 1 – Angola 0

Portugal – They started this game with a bang and ended with a whimper. Once Christiano Ronaldo left the pitch, they looked lost going forward. Like Holland, they look like a one man team. Remains to be seen if they can overcome this.

Angola – Another African team. Looks like all African teams seem to have really skilful players but can’t play as a team. A little trivial here, their goalie shares the same name, Ricardo, as the Portuguese keeper. He’s also without a club, and has been training on his own for the past year in preparation for the World Cup.

Group E

Czech Republic 3 – USA 0

Czech Republic – They are one of my personal favourites to win this World Cup, and they played like they were good enough for it. They were efficient and were threatening whenever they went forward. The only worrying thing with the team is that they have no strikers. Baros is injured, and so is Koller. I waiting to see if they can recover before placing a nice bet on them.

USA – Unfortunately they didn’t live up to their billing as the 5th best soccer nation in the FIFA rankings. The Czechs were simply too good for them. They showed that they can play a good game, but simply weren’t good enough to make any impact.

Italy 2 – Ghana 0

Italy – Another team that is in my radar. They have what it seems to be one of the most complete teams in the competition. They looked good in all departments, with world class players at every position. Pirlo in particular impressed this game. I’ve not rated him highly, especially after watching his pathetic performances with AC Milan, both in their domestic league and the Champions League. Looks like he’s been saving himself for the World Cup all along.

Ghana – Disappointing showing from them. They had good players but again with all these African teams, they simply cannot play a team game. Too much individual showboating and too little passing. It seems they can’t seem to understand the team concept or most of the players play in Europe and have very little time to gel.

Group F

Australia 3 – Japan 1

Australia – They looked to be defeated in this game until Tim Cahill came on. He single-handedly changed the game to their favour. Guus Hiddink is a genius, as proven in the last World Cup with South Korea. He put in Cahill after the Japanese had given their all, and Cahill ran riot.

Japan – Disappointing in the matter that they lost. They put in a lot of hard, honest work, but were simply unable to stop the irresistible force name Tim Cahill. Looks like it’s going to be an uphill task to make it to the next round.

Brazil 1 – Croatia 0

Brazil – Not impressed with them at all. They were tipped to be the bookmarkers favourite, but failed to live up to expectation. Ronaldo looks really ‘heavy’ (I’m too polite to call him fat). They only managed to score one goal against Croatia and were relatively lucky not to have conceded in the second half. I don’t see them winning the World Cup. I do, however, hope they thrash Australia and Japan. It would boost the odds of the other teams I’m going to bet on.

Croatia – You would think that after trailing by a goal at the half, they would pack up and save their energy in the second half. But they didn’t. After a poor first half performance, they turned up the heat in the second half and gave Brazil a mighty scare. Whether they would proceed to the second round depends largely on the Kovac brothers and Prso. These players are probably going to be the difference makers for this team.

Group G

South Korea 2 – Togo 1

South Korea – The indomitable spirit of the Koreans live on! They were down 1 at half time and came back to win this game, with a little luck with the sending off of a Togo defender. Take nothing away from the Koreans, they were worth their victory. I don’t know what possessed me to take Togo in my fantasy league!

Togo – Typical African team. The theme seems to keep playing itself over and over again this first rounds of game. No point harping on it.

France 0 –Switzerland 0

France – Something’s seriously wrong with the French. They seem to have lost their mojo after winning the previous European Cup. Perhaps they are relying on too many old players like Zidane, or perhaps their young players are simply not good enough. Whatever the case is, the French golden age is officially over. Henry, as usual, hasn’t and doesn’t perform on the big stage.

Switzerland – They were the better team by a far margin. Every time they had the ball and moving forward, they always caused the French problems. Would be interesting to see if they proceed to the next round. They should cause some of the bigger named teams some problems.

Group H

Spain 4 – Ukraine 0

Spain – Are Spain going to screw up after such an emphatic win? I’m betting on them screwing up at some point in this competition. They performance in this game was probably the best and most comprehensive I’ve seen so far in the World Cup. But we all know what the Spanish are capable of. They’ve always performed well in the group stages and completely self-destruct in the knock-out stages. I personally hope they do well, but my money isn’t going to be on them.

Ukraine – They look totally clueless. No ideas up front and Shevchenko looks like a lost puppy up front. If they carry on playing like this, there’s no way in hell they are going to beat the Saudis or Tunisia.

Tunisia 2 – Saudi Arabia 2

Tunisia – This was the first score draw in the competition. Tunisia didn’t impress at all. Had it not been an injury time goal from Jaidi, they could and should have lost this game.

Saudi Arabia – After a boring first half, the Saudis gave it a good account of themselves and had the lead until the dying seconds of the game. Unfortunately they are facing two European teams in their next two games. They are going to need a lot of luck to make it to the next round.