World Cup Discussion

[RedSoxFan]

I thought I'd start a separate spread to discuss all the games. I'll repost my France-Senegal summary here, and then I'll write my Denmark-Uruguay recap soon.

Senegal 1 France 0:

That really was a big upset. The last time the defending champs faced an African squad in the first game, in 1990, Cameroon stunned Argentina 1-0.

I have to give Senegal a lot of credit. They gave a great effort and had a lot of energy. They were very disciplined defensively. Although they normally play a 4-4-2, they switched to a 5-4-1.. normally this kind of change is an exercise in futility, both because they're not used to it, and they find it impossible to score goals. But they were in France's face the entire match. The way the goal happened was kind of lucky. Diouf broke free on the left wing and brought the ball into the box. He had a decent cross in front of the goal. Petit kicked the ball hard to clear but it bounced off Barthez's sliding legs perfectly in front of Bouba Diop who was lying in front of the goal after a slide. Diop just had to poke it in.

France just couldn't get anything in. They hit the crossbar twice, and Henry showed flashes of brilliance. They had other good opportunities, but you could tell many of the French players were having substandard games. LeBeouf, Trezeguet, Vieria, Wiltord, and Djorkaeff played well below their best. Zidane is out with an injured thigh, and the latest estimates were that he'd miss the first 1 or 2 matches, but I wouldn't be surprised if he suits up in their next game even if he is still injured because the French certainly missed the best player in the world today.

Senegal should have had more chances. Diouf was caught offside at least seven times. I know it's good to do that because of the occasional lucky break and the disruption it causes to the other team's flow, but most of those times Diouf would have got a good run on the ball even if he held up his run until the ball was played.

Something else I wanted to mention is that in the first half, it seemed on Senegal's breakaways that the midfield support was very slow in coming.. I remember once Diouf had the ball on the right wing and had to pass but his support wasn't even to the top of the box and barely got off a shot. But in the second half, the support was there, but when the attack fizzled, the players didn't hustle back to get on defense. France almost burned them a couple times because of that.

[RedSoxFan]

Denmark 2 Uruguay 1:

It was a rather exciting game. The first half was wide open with lots of attacking chances for both sides. It was surprising that it took 44 minutes for the first goal to occur.

Recoba has an amazing left foot, always a threat on corner kicks and free kicks. Apparently Uruguay was missing their best midfielder to injury, but he should be back for their next match. The Uruguayans play very aggressive, committing a lot of fouls. I could see Denmark start to get frustrated with their opponent's play.

Denmark broke Uruguay down the last several minutes of the first half, culminating in a goal the result of beautiful teamwork between Gronkjaer and Tomasson. Uruguay had a stunning equalizer in the 47th minute: Rodriguez, their left back, scored on a volley shortly after a corner kick from a few yards out of the box. It was a perfect strike right into the upper left hand corner of the box.

The winning goal was scored in the 83rd minute, also by Tomasson. It was a header from a great cross by Jorgensson. Denmark displayed the better possesion and teamwork in the 2nd half, and deserved the win. It was crucial victory: if this game had been a tie, it would've been difficult for either team to advance.

[RedSoxFan]

Germany 8 Saudi Arabia 0:

Saudia Arabia were short on stature and short on good fortune in this one. They were disorganized and not as skillful as the Germans, who hadn't played well in recent international competitions, but certainly looked good today.

Tough to draw too many conclusions on Germany's chances in the tournament from this lopsided contest, but they look sure to advance to the 2nd round as they need only one more win (and they'll also have the first tiebreaker: that's goal difference.)

The Germans outshot Saudi Arabia 26-3. Klose scored three times: Ballack, Jancker, Linke, Bierhoff, and Schneider all scored once. They nearly tied the record margin of victory of 9 goals.

[RedSoxFan]

Time for more updates.. by the way, please feel free to post if you have any comments, insights, or questions.

Argentina 1 Nigeria 0

Both teams had very close chances in the first half, one by Ortega and another by Okocha (for Nigeria), both of which required a diving deflection by the keeper to force the ball inches over the crossbar.

Nigeria's keeper played well overall but looked shaky on corners, and that led to Argentina's goal, a header on a corner by Batistuta.

Argentina just played better, as expected, but Nigeria limited their opportunities and nearly scored themselves a couple times. The rest of the games in this group of death will be very interesting. Nigeria definitely has the potential to advance.

[RedSoxFan]

Paraguay 2 South Africa 2

Paraguay was missing their team leader and keeper Chilavert de to suspension.

There was rough play by both sides, many yellow cards (and more could have been issued). Great goal on a header by Paraguay's Santacruz off of a free kick in the first half. A brilliant free kick by Arce, perfectly in the corner, scored the 2nd goal for a 2-0 lead by Paraguay.

South Africa had chances throughout the game, and broke through in the 63rd minute. After a few minutes worth of opportunities were repelled by Paraguay, a shot by Mocorena from the top of the box deflected off a defender and into the goal (a poor decision by the scorekeeper who changed the ruling to an own goal).

South Africa should have scored the equalizer in the 84th minute. They had a lot of pressure in the later stages of this game as Paraguay defended their lead with their lives.

A crucial call made by the referee in the 90th minute.. a penalty kick! I wouldn't have made the same call, but it wasn't up to me. The goalie barely clipped the attacker.. Fortune converted and tied the game

Very disappointing result for paraguay. Up 2-0 and the better side, they should have won here. It will be more difficult to advance with Slovenia also battling for the 2nd spot behind Spain.

[RedSoxFan]

Spain 3 Slovenia 1

Spain played better throughout and deserved the win. Slovenia was very solid, though. They didn't make many mistakes, and created decent opportunities on the offensive side.

Spain got a 2-0 lead on goals by Valeron and Raul. Slovenia scored in the 80th minute with a goal by Cimirotic. So far, very reminiscient of the other game in this group, Paraguay - South Africa. In that game, South Africa was awarded a controversial penalty kick that tied the game. In this game, Slovenia drew what looked more like a penalty kick than what happened in the first game, when its striker was pushed over in the box. No call was made: and a couple minutes later, Spain was awarded a penalty kick on a very questionable decision. Slovenia was attempting to clear the ball, and a miskick sent it into the air right at the edge of the box. The Slovenia defneder went to kick the ball away right when it hit the ground. A spainiard had come up to the ball and the Slovenian's kick clipped him. Though he was not making an attacking play at all, and the kick was inadvertant, he was still awarded the penalty kick, which Hierro converted.

Slovenia looked surprisingly good. With Paraguay tying South Africa as the other match in this group, Slovenia has a good chance to advance.

[RedSoxFan]

England 1 Sweden 1

A tale of two halves as England was the better side in the first half and Sweden was better in the second half.

England scored in the first half after a beautiful corner by Beckham was sent in to the net by the head of Sol Campbell, one of the team's central defensemen.

Sweden scored in the 57th minute after a defensive misplay by Mills ended up on the foot of Alexandersson just outside the box who put the ball in with a good strike. Sweden continued with good pressure and nearly scored again in the 61st minute as they forced a great diving save by Seaman. Sweden's other best chance came 2 minutes into stoppage time, as a mistake by England's defender Cole led to a decent shot by Sweden that was just a foot wide.

This match was the first for Beckham after he broke his foot in early April. Though not 100%, he played well in the first half, including the assist on the corner, but was invisible in the 2nd half until he was replaced in the 62nd minute.

This was a pivotal battle in the group of death. If one of these teams had won, they'd have improved their chances of advancing immensely. As it is, it is still up in the air whether one of these teams or Nigeria will advance with Argentina.

[RedSoxFan]

Ireland 1 Cameroon 1

A crucial match for both teams, if one assumes Germany will finish the group stage with 3 wins and Saudi Arabia with 3 losses

Mboma had a 1 v 1 opportunity vs the keeper early in the first half but failed to convert. Both teams had many more close chances.

Mboma scored late in the first half after a great effort and pass from fellow forward Eto'o. Ireland scored early in the 2nd half with a perfect strike a few yards out of the box by Holland. Ireland had a great chance in the 83rd minute, but the other Keane's shot hit the post, and again in the 90th minute, a free kick forced a difficult deflection by the keeper. Cameroon was lucky to prevent Ireland from scoring the winning goal late in the game.

A disappointing result for Cameroon, as I'm sure they were hoping for the win that would assure them of advancing, not only because they're slightly better than Ireland on paper, but also Ireland is missing its best player, Keane, for the duration of the cup. Ireland was very impressive, though, and I certainly didn't see in Cameroon a team that, as Sports Illustrated predicted, would make a surprise run to the semifinals.

With the draw, unless one of these teams manage a draw with Germany, these teams will battle on gaol difference. With that being the case, both teams will try to score as much as possible against defenseless Saudi Arabia.

[johnny]

seems like not having a job yet is not so bad after all. i get to watch some of the games and not worry about anything like work.

argentina-nigeria

argentina was very aggressive and certainly had more experience than the young nigerians. they had ball possession most of the time. batistuta is really good at headers.

spain-slovenia

i agree. that penalty call was very questionable. i think that really decided the game. had it not been for that, slovenia could have come back to equalize (cause a goal down is not as bad as two).

[jets fan]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFan

Germany 8 Saudi Arabia 0

Is the World Cup playoff system set up to encourage a high margin of victory, as in college football? I was starting to get the feeling that Germany was running up the score and humiliating Saudi Arabia. But if it is somehow to Germany's advantage to do that, then I can't fault them.