All entries for Monday 12 June 2006

World Cup World Cup World Cup World Cup…!!

(what an imaginative entry title) :)

ok, i know i missed the last two days – but dont worry, each team plays at least 3 times so will all get covered. heres what i thought of the last few games that i saw…

germany4-2costa rica
decent opening game, at least there were goals! (and fring's goal was in the same class as gerrard) Germany's centrebacks looked poor. each time the ball was played between/over the middle there Wanchope was a danger, and not because he was anything special (although his goals were well taken). We'd been shown clips of goals scored against Germnay in recent friendlies before the match – and the same problems remained. theyll still get out of the group, but will be one of the easier sides to beat in the second round. costa rica didn't do anything particuarly special.

ecuador2-0poland
Ecuador in the first 'surprise' (read that as 'a European loss') (!) of the tournament. their centrebacks in contrast were superb. although ecuador sat back for most of the game, they did it well, with hurtado + espinoza winning everything, even in the air. Ecuador showed theyre not just altitude specialists, while Poland were lacklustre really. they were a real threat on the counterattack too – i can see Ecuador topping this group with a little luck! most likely though is that they will be England's opponents. We shouldn't have any problems with them, but will have to be careful it doesn't go the way the cameroon game did in Italia 90.
It was nice to see Ulises de la Cruz play in this one – he does play for villa, or at least Villa's reserves! he even managed to run most of the pitch at one point :)

england1-0paraguay
so… to england's first game. we won. ill be honest, i had this down as 1–0 anyway, but didnt expect england to labour to it that much. the heat definitely played its part – and shouldnt again due to better weather & kickoff times, but still. Owen was short of match fitness, Crouch looked decent. Bringing on hargreaves was a crazy decision as it could have been one lucky goal – england have to go for two goals, they cant afford to sit back! (trouble is, walcott was the only option once owen was off – johnson or defoe should have been in the squad) paraguay did play ok, especially in the second half. i think we just have to write this one off and take the 3 points.
the argument over allowing the players water seems crazy. i know fifa won't want too many stoppages but its serious for the players health if they play and cant drink.

Sweden0-0Trinidad & Tobago
i only saw the first half hour of this plus the highlights afterwards, but from what i saw… well done trinidad!! amazing to see dwight yorke finally play in the world cup – and making tackles in defence as well as running the show going forward! sweden had great chances, hislop did very well (for a portsmouth player :P ). trinidad even hit the post so it wasnt all sweden either. i liked beenhakkers decision to send on another striker after avery john was sent off, good to see attacking substitutions sometimes :) were you watching, sven? england had better make sure they keep their concentration for the trinidad game, as they were no pushovers and will be highly motivated for the england game. sweden will be difficult as they will have to beat us, but hopefully by then we will already have qualified.

argentina2-1ivory coast
i only saw the last 5 minutes of this, but the result's not a surprise. argentina are a very good side, but ivory coast might be a little dissappointed as they will need every point they can scrape in this group.

holland1-0serbia & montenegro
missed this game but well done holland & robben. did see the highlights, and some of those infamous shots form Savo Miss–A–Lot–Ovic :)

mexico3-1iran
only saw the highlights, so i wont pass judgement here. well done mexico though, and their keeper (Sanchez) did pretty well from what i gather.

portugal1-0angola
again, only saw the last few minutes+highlights. pauleta had a well taken goal, but i think portugal should have done better here really. whether that was because angola did well or portugal also struggled in the heat, i dont know but they will need to improve – same as England.

ok another post for todays games will be on the way…

: 12 Jun 2006 09:16 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem