World Cup 2010 a Good One!

I suppose it depends on your alliance to your team, and I had really hoped to see the USA go through to the Quarters or better, but in my mind this has been a fantastic World Cup Tournament.

The first round established that the level of play around the world is pretty high, and, for the most part, no team would be considered an easy play.

South Africa & Mexico opened with an exciting match, and hopes ran high that South Africa would be a strong competitor. France, on the other hand, finalists from 2006, did not look like they were prepared to face such a strong opponent in Uruguay.

Argentina won their opening match, but not without a struggle against Nigeria. Greece appeared to be the weakest team we would see, as South Korea really took it to them in their Group B opening match. Greece would go on to play some solid soccer after that opening round, defeating Nigeria, and playing Argentina well through the first half before the eventual 2-1 loss. I found them entertaining after all!

The English didn't seem to have all the parts working together when they played the USA, though they started the game strong scoring in the 4th minute. But the USA was fortunate to draw on keeper Robert Green's gaff in the 40th minute. Slovenia showed us they weren't afraid of anybody as they beat a hard playing Algeria, drew against the USA, and went down to England on a single goal in the 23rd minute.

Germany was the first power team to come out and look like they would in fact be the dominant team one would expect, as they steadily took apart Australia 4-0, scoring in the 8th, 26th, 68th, and 70th minutes of the match. Ghana and then Serbia both looked to be tough, especially as Serbia took down the Germans 1-0 in what I thought was one of the worst officiating matches of the Group play. The 9 yellow cards (most of which should have been simple fouls), one red resulting in the tossing of Klose, 19 fouls called against the Germans and 10 against the Serbs, resulted in the players unsure when/if they would get carded and my voting of the referee from Spain (Alberto Undiano Mallenco) as man of the match for having the most impact on the game. The Australia vs Serbia match was really enjoyable, especially the second half as the Aussies took a two nil lead only to see the Serbs come back with one, and put strong pressure through the end of the match.  Australia went home really as a result of the big loss to Germany as they scored three goals to Ghana's two in group play.

Netherlands and Japan looked strong, with the Japanese one of the surprise teams - at least for me. They have several players I suspect will be targeted by European countries to go play there next year. Denmark and Cameroon did not look like they would go easily either.  Both were fun to watch.

Italy . . . what can you say. Nothing really. The flop in the box that was awarded a PK against the Kiwis and cost them the win, eventually cost the Kiwis a spot in the round of 16. A shameful performance really, and watching them was one of the saddest for me as they put on acting performances that outshone their play. Paraguay on the other hand was really exciting to watch, and I look forward to seeing their match(es) in the knockout rounds. Slovakia was fairly heroic taking down Italy in the final match of the round, in spite of Italy's continual efforts to cheat the game right up to the end (witness the event in the net after their second goal . . .).

Portugal was the next powerhouse team to raise serious questions as they could not find the net against the Ivory Coast. They left us wondering though, as they destroyed a North Korean team that played well in a 2-1 loss to Brazil in their opening match for Group G, but then played a soft scrimmage match with Brazil to close their group play with a 0-0 draw to go through to the round of 16. Ivory Coast played strong to win 3-0 over S. Korea, but were not going to be allowed through due to the soft play of Brazil against Portugal.

Spain was the final powerhouse team to disappoint, as they opened with a 1-0 loss against a tough playing, and in the end a very enjoyable, Swiss team. Those guys battled tough. Chili emerged as a contender as well, winning against Honduras and the Swiss. Spain did come through with the kind of play we expected of them as they defeated Honduras 2-0, and a battling Chili 2-1. 

In all, the African nations were a bit frustrating to watch due to their tendency to play as individuals rather than a team (except Ghana) when they were behind late.  I enjoyed them none-the-less, and found myself rooting for them.  I even found Ghana enjoyable to watch as they beat the USA. South America produced winners, with every one of their entries moving on. Very impressive. Of the "big boys" France and Italy go home - both finalists from 2006. Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, England, USA, Mexico, and the Netherlands went through, pretty much as expected. Japan, S. Korea, Ghana (Africa's only Group round survivor), Paraguay and Slovakia were the surprises for me.

As for the referee complaints, we had them for sure. In the end though it didn't hurt the USA. It didn't hurt Mexico either (though I thought the call in the opening match was a good one), and Germany went on to destroy England today despite another missed goal. Neither England nor the USA looked good enough to go on, though I did think that the USA put much more into their match than England. Neither side looked creative for most of their Round of 16 matches. That's a subject for another write up.


Most of the Groups had slots up for grabs at the last match, and they were exciting to watch. I think my sentimental favorite has to be the boys from New Zealand. Ranked 78th, they looked like a comparative blue collar soccer team - not fancy, polished, or highly skilled, but they played 90 minutes, left it all on the field, and worked together really well. But for the Italian propensity to theatrical cheating, they would have had a spot in the Round of 16!

On to the rest of the show!

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Photo Credits in order of appearance:
1. Cup of Life - internet photo
2. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
3. (Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images)
4. (Chris Brunskill/BPI/Icon SMI)
5. (www.fifa.com)