footballspectator

They had started off their campaign demolishing the USA 3-0, but then went on to lose to Ghana… Today, against Italy, they needed to show the form they displayed in their first match to preserve the hope of making it to the last 16.

Did anyone see them today? They were completely harmless and never posed a real threat to Italy. True, Jan Polak was sent off just before the half time whistle, but they still hadn’t managed to produce anything tangible while they were still 11. Did Jan Koller’s injury affect the team so much, to the extent that they couldn’t play together anymore? This was probably their biggest chance ever to World Cup glory and they’ve blown it, big time!

Italy weren’t exactly impressive either, but they were effective. It was rather frustrating seeing them fighting (!) to preserve the 1-0 lead rather than taking advantage of having one man more on the pitch in order to secure victory. They finally got their second with Inzaghi in the closing minutes, but if they want to make it all the way, they better find back to the form they showed in their opener….

Well done to Ghana: with their 2-1 victory over the US they made it through to the next round and will probably face Brazil next…They played with enthusiasm and looked solid throughout. Shame Essien will miss the next match (he got his second yellow today), but they have enough good players to pose a threat to any team.

After the 3-2 at France ‘98, we were hoping to witness another clash between Holland and Argentina packed with goals. There were some clear cut chances during the game, especially on the Argentinean side, but in the end our hopes were not to fulfilled and it ended goalless. Messi, Tevez and co looked very impressive: they were all over the place, especially in the first 60 minutes, and had a number of chances to put their country in the lead. The Dutch had a tough time keeping Argies under control, although it must be said that the two Dutch central defenders coped extremely well with the pressure they were subjected to.

Argentina were hoping to finally beat Holland for the first time in 90 minutes: the only time they ever managed to defeat the Dutch was in the 1978 final, but they only did so after 30 minutes of extra time. It wasn’t meant to be this time, but we’re pretty sure that if the two should meet again in the final, Argentina will have no problem defeating them without having to resort to extra time.

Well almost! The legendary 16th century monk, who successfully predicted the tragic events of 9/11 among other things, also made the following prediction:

“…at the end of the sixth month of the sixth year [of the new millenium] the King of Spain with his army shall cross the Pyrenees and shall defeat the forces of Beelzebub in the planes of Central Europe and shall return to Spain victorious with the holy chalice…“

Spanish media have interpreted this statement as follows: the “king” is coach Luis Aragones, the “army” is the Spanish World Cup squad and the “chalice” is the World Cup itself. So if you are backing any other team you might as well forget it. Spaniards your years of underachievement are over!

Going into this match, England had not beaten Sweden since 1968. They still haven’t and had a very lucky escape. England’s much vaunted defence showed its weakness at set pieces, surprising given that this is the basis of Englsih football.
In the first half England were the slightly better team, but again lacked creativity. They suffered an early blow when Owen had to go off with what looked like a serious knee injury. He was replaced by Peter Crouch, that poor excuse for a footballer, who again did little but knock the ball down to other (usually Swedish) players. Rooney had a half chance, taking Beckham’s pass well but his shot was blocked by Lucic. Despite their possession, England created very little and it took a fantastic dipping volley by Joe Cole, England’s best player to give them the lead.

It was all change in the second half, as Sweden took control. Allback’s header, the 2,000th goal in World Cup finals, from Linderoth’s corner made it 1-1 and from then Sweden looked like scoring every time they had a corner. First, Robinson pulled off a great save to deflect Larsson’s header onto the bar from Kallstom’s corner. Then Gerrard cleared Kallstrom’s volley off the line and finally Mellberg hit the bar too - both these chances also coming from corners. Gerrard’s header gave England an undeserved lead in the 85th minute, before a throw-in from Edman caused confusion in the box and Larsson took advantage of Campbell’s failed attempt at a clearance to make it 2-2.

Sweden will now play Germany after Paraguay beat T&T 2-0 and should give them a good game. England face Ecuador. Their “40 years of hurt” look likely to continue.

Polish born strike force of Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski both scored to help Germany to a 3-0 victory over Ecuador in Berlin which means that Germany is the winner of Group A and will now face the second place team (probably Sweden) on Saturday for a place in the quarter-finals. Klose’s second double strike of the tournament means he is now the leading scorer on 4 goals.

Ecuador played like a team that was delighted just to qualify for the last 16 and did not really care who they will face next. Their team selection showed this, with Borja and Kaviedes coming in for first choice duo Tenorio and Delgado. A few tough tackles and a Mendez free kick apart, they showed very little. Klose’s first owed a lot to Schweinsteiger’s pull back and his second to Ballack’s neat pass and Mora’s poor anticipation. The third was scored as a result of a swift counter-attack following an Ecuador corner, Podolski converting Schneider’s cross.

After so many doubts about how they would perform and indeed whether they would even qualify from their group, given their form in the build-up, the hosts have made it. Their performance have exceeded expectations (well expectations were pretty low). Huge doubts remain about the ability of trio Metzelder, Mertesacker and Friedrich in defence as they have not yet faced top class opposition.

Also in Group A, Poland finished third by beating Costa Rica 2-1. For those who care, here are the goals: 0-1 , 1-1, 2-1.

Coaches, better make sure you have an ice bucket by the subs bench, just in case a player gets injured…

Spain’s failure at a major tournament is one of those things we can all rely on. Following the uncharacteristic 4-0 drubbing of the Ukraine, the Spanish press was filled with articles and comments from football experts assuring fans that this time it was different. Apparently tonight’s opponents had admitted that Spain were going to make it to the final, come what may, as had Michael Ballack according to Marca.

Tonight, however the euphoria almost evaporated as Spain struggled to beat Tunisia. Trailing to an early goal from Mnari, Spain only managed to turn the match around in the last 15 minutes following the introduction of Fabregas and Raul. Raul got the equaliser and the vastly overrated Fernando Torres got the other two. His first came from a great pass from Fabregas and a poor decision from goalie Boumnijel. His second was a badly struck penalty which squirmed into the net somehow.

The final score flatters the Spaniards and no doubt Marca will continue to whip up the hysteria. Tunisia are hardly a superpower. Spain to win the World Cup? Dream on…

Saudi Arabian players are boycotting the man of the match awards at the World Cup because they are sponsored by Budweiser and alcohol is prohibited under sharia law. Maybe that would explain why they were all so bad today - none of them wanted to win the award. Another reason could be the 100,000 riyals that each player had been given following the draw against Tunisia which made them become complacent - initially this amount had only been promised for victory. Brazilian coach Paqueta had a different reason - the rain. He claimed that the Saudis were not used to playing in such conditions due to the absence of rain in the country.
The real reason for the defeat was simply the gap in class between the two teams. The Ukraine dominated from start to finish. Their goals came though Rusol, Rebrov, Sheva and Kalinichenko, although keeper Zaid offered a great deal of help for the first two. The victory puts them back on track and a further win against Tunisia will see them safely through in their first finals tournament. The Saudis have another thrashing from Spain to look forward to…

Togo have enjoyed a roller coaster of a World Cup so far. First their coach quit and then decided to come back. Next the players threatened not to play against the Swiss today and only had a last minute change of heart following the intervention of FIFA. Yet today the Togolese somehow managed to put all the turmoil behind them and put in a rousing performance against Switzerland. Unfortunately it was not enough as they went down 2-0 following goals from Frei and Barnetta. Togo would be right to feel aggrieved however, having been denied a clear penalty when Muller stuck out his leg to stop Adebayor with the score still at 1-0 to the Swiss. The result means that France need to win their last match against Togo 2-0 to qualify.

For 80 minutes France dominated possession against South Korea, but rather than go for a second killer goal they decided to play keep ball and paid for it as Park’s bundled 82nd minute effort earned the Koreans a draw. Only after the equalizer did France start to play with any degree of urgency. Vieira and Henry had excellent chances but Vieira skyed his and Henry, normally so clinical shot too close to Korean keeper Lee.

At least there are a few positives that France can take from this match. First, Thierry Henry scored their first goal in a World Cup finals since Petit scored their third in the final agoinst Brazil in 1998. Second, their performance was a vast improvement on their match against Switzerland.

On the negative side, first they should never have allowed the Koreans a way back into the game. Second, Barthez has started acting like a clown again which must make an already unhappy Coupet furious. Third, Zidane earned a yellow card and now misses their third match against Togo. Visibly irritated with Domenech following his withdrawal when it was already too late, Zidane threw his sweat band at the bench. If France fail to reach the last 16 we will never see him play again.

Henry is desperate for more support up front and it is puzzling why Trezeguet has played such a small role so far. Domenech’s overcautious style is hampering Les Bleus. They now need a win against Togo to have any chance and will have to hope the Swiss win their next two games otherwise there might be a three way tie at the top which the French are unlikely to be favoured by. Gone are the golden years. This is very much a team clinging on to past glories. 

Adriano and Fred gave Brazil a 2-0 victory in a tense match in Munich, but once again the fluid flowing football that we all expected from Brazil did not materialise. The seleçao were slow and ponderous - no one wanted to run. In addition, they seemed intimidated by the physical approach of the Australians. So what about Ronaldo, aka “Fatinho”? Well he contributed much more in this game than against Croatia, but his performance was still poor. He started brightly with a neat flick setting up Kaka who volleyed narrowly wide but his lack of speed and fitness was exposed when he swung wildly at a pass from Ronaldinho and embarrassingly missed the ball.

The Australians were well organised, often with 11 men behind the ball in the first half. Indeed they held out until the 49th minute when Fatinho, unnecessarily surrounded by three players decided what we all knew already - he was not going to run - and instead passed to Adriano who finished well from the edge of the box. Cue wild celebrations to commemorate the birth of his son.

Australia now needed to open up and they did. Brazil’s defending was once more not the best and last ditch tackles from Ze Roberto and Juan denied substitute Harry Kewell. Kewell’s best chance came when Dida fumbled a cross but he fired wide of an open goal. Brazil improved following the introduction of Robinho who again carried more threat than Fatinho and it was from his shot, which came off a post that Fred finally made the points safe.

Brazil’s first two matches seem to indicate what we all feared. The players believed they only had to turn up to win and so failed to prepare properly. Their preparations resembled more of a circus than serious training. Of the famed “Quarteto” only Kaka has performed. Based on reputation and talent Brazil are among the favourites, but on form they are nowhere near.

Croatia’s 0-0 draw with Japan means that both teams are in with a chance of qualifying for the last 16 in their final group games. However, Japan will need to beat Brazil to do so. Croatia really should have won this match, as they created numerous chances only to be defeated at vairous times by poor finishing, the woodwork and Kawaguchi. Their best chance came from the penalty spot in the first half but Srna’s effort was well saved by Kawaguchi. Kawaguchi then almost scored a bizarre own goal from a back pass. The ball bobbled unexpectledly as he swung his foot at it and he was lucky that the ball went out for a corner.

Again in the first half Niko Kranjcar, who has been widely criticised in the Croatian press for his performances at at whom accusations of nepotism have been directed (his dad is the coach), produced a great shot on the turn which hit the bar. He also had a good chance in the second but Klasnic’s pass was slightly too far ahead of him and as he stretched he steered his shot wide.

Japan’s midfield duo of Nakamura and Nakata looked bright, but their attack was toothless and Pletikosa was rarely troubled. Zico’s team look to be on their way home.