Like It Is

My World Cup blogging has actually taken on a life of its own and surprised even me. I have always followed the World Cup because I’m interested in it, however blogging about the World Cup action is new for me. I started blogging about it to report on Team England’s progress. With the other great teams performances that simply had to be mentioned, it became an update on on other World Cup teams, their matches, the implications of the outcomes and their progress in general. I only blog about the matches I manage to catch, either live or via the Internet, or the matches that I consider key. Fitting these around my full work day has been an interesting feat.

World Cup matches have been played daily for the last 10 days, with more than one match a day so I like to add my updates and views on the day of the matches. This has meant I’ve added a World Cup post almost every day. It’s going to be interesting in two weeks, as I will be away in England. However, after the Round of 16 there will be gaps between matches played, so this may work to my advantage – as well as the 5 hour time difference!

Look out for my update on England v Ecuador – playing right now!

Germany 2 Sweden 0. Once Germany scored two goals in the first 12 minutes of the game it was pretty much over for Sweden. Germany gained confidence to add to determination and Sweden were outplayed. Germany will now face Argentina in the quarter finals next Friday. Should be something to watch.

Argentina 2 Mexico 1.  Argentina swaggered into this match as the champions elect, thinking it was going to be a stroll in the park. Someone forgot to tell Mexico that however and it was anything but. Mexico showed they were there for business and there were scary moments for some when they threatened what would have been the World Cup’s first big upset. At full time, Argentina was still only drawn at 1 goal with Mexico, and it was 8 minutes into extra time when Argentina scored the needed goal to go through. It’s bye bye to Mexico, but what a great show! They tested the Argentina team - this was no walk in the park. Two good teams playing very well.

France 2 Togo 0. On one hand you could say that this result was as expected. On the other hand it was not an easy breeze-through as for the whole first half it was goalless. France could not afford this. They needed victory to ensure they would progress from Group G. They got their much needed victory from Viera and Henry in the 55th and 64th minutes. Togo put up a spirited defence which did manage to cause frustration to the French.  So, France, breathing a sigh of relief, are going to meet Switzerland, while Togo are going home.

Switzerland 2 South Korea 0.  With their 100% record of clean sheet wins from their three group games, Switzerland were determined to be winners, ensuring their place in the second round with a ballsy victory against South Korea. Switzerland will now meet the Ukraine in the second round.

Ghana 2 – USA 1. An exciting and physical game and well done Ghana!  The two goals (one a penalty) were superb. The US took too long to get into gear, giving Ghana a chance to keep up the pressure. In the end the American’s couldn’t break down the Ghanian team’s game. I wasn’t surprised at Ghana’s result, given how they played their previous game

It’s homeward bound for the US, while Ghana is now in the final 16 of the World Cup. They meet Brazil next. I suspect that even if Brazil beats them, they won’t be terribly upset because they’ve done so very well in this victory. Brazil are the favourites, but what an upset it would be if Ghana did beat them….

Ivory Coast 3 Serbia Montenegro 2. From 2 goals down the Ivorians came back from 2 goals down to win a historic, if not stylish match. This is only the second time a team has come back from being 2 goals down to win a match in the World Cup. The first was when West Germany got a 3–2 victory over England in 1970. The number of red and yellow cards made the great entertainment.. and as for the hand balls…let’s not go there. But it’s Ivory Coast’s first win in the World Cup, good for them!

Holland 0 Argentina 0. A goalless draw. Not that much to say about this one, in fact, there was no urgency for either team. Unexceptional. Just two football heavyweights slugging it out. Holland and Portugal will now meet and the winner plays England in the quarter-final if England beats Ecuador.

Sweden 2 England 2. England needed just a draw to go through, and really they were playing for the draw. Why work harder than you need to seemed to be their game plan.  More importantly they will now play Ecuador instead of Germany, which must be a huge relief.  Not too sure they should breathe easy just yet though, given their second half action today.

Buoyed up by a fantastic goal from Joe Cole, England was the dominant team in the first half. But after the break they seemed to get tired and were suddenly all over the place. Total control? Gone. Zero. They were struggling. If they play like they did this second half they won’t even beat Ecuador.

England have never beaten Sweden, not since May 22 1968. Looks like they will never beat them now.

Sweden, coming forward as the underdog in today’s match, will be more than pleased.

Spain 3 Tunisia 1. Ultimately predictable, but it looked in doubt to begin with. Spain overcame the 1–nil deficit with three straight goals. Good try Tunisia, but it’s curtains for you this World Cup.

Switzerland 2 Togo 0. Pretty much as expected. A win or draw against Korea and the Swiss are through to the next round. Switzerland advances with a win or a draw against South Korea.

Now it gets interesting. Bizarre in fact.

Assuming Korea and Switzerland draw, if France wins by 2 goals or more against Togo, France and Switzerland advance out of group G. But if the goal differential is less than 2 in the France – Togo game (and remember Korea and Switzerland have to draw) there are many scenarios. But I will let you work through the possibilities because it is Byzantine – and my head hurts.

Here are the official World Cup 2006 Preliminary Round tie-breakers, in order:

1. Goal differential – Goals scored minus goals allowed
2. Total goals scored – self explanatory
3. Head to head result (what’s important here is France tied Switzerland and France tied Korea, this tie-breaker doesn’t apply)
4. Drawing of straws

Bizarre as it may seem, I’m pretty sure that the results of June 23 could mean France’s World Cup future could be determined by dead grass. We can only hope.

Trust me, it is possible – we’ve done the math. Here’s a hint – assume Korea and Switzerland are 0–0. What would the score of the France game have to be to get a FIFA official to rip apart a broom? – Show your work, bonus points for neatness!

Brazil 2 Australia 0. Ronaldinho struggled to show he was the star that most thought he was, and disappointingly couldn’t quite make it. It wasn’t long before he was replaced by Robino. Brazil managed to get around Australia’s staunch defence with goals from Adriano and Fred. Australia had chances, but couldn’t take advantage of them enough to score the elusive goal. Pity – they deserved to get a goal for the way they played. Not a star game, but one that puts Brazil where they need to be, even though they seemed to stumble to get there.

France 1 Korea 1. France hasn’t managed to change their World Cup fortunes since 1998 when they beat Brazil. France got their first goal and for the first half, looked set to dominate. But then, they seemed to get sloppy in their defending and paid the price when Korea scored the equaliser in the last 10 minutes of the game. After that, France just seemed to be desperately seeking a chance to score another goal, only that resulted in an off-side call. Celebrations for Korea who have come from behind to snatch a point, upsetting expectations once again.

Given all the good players on the French team it is a mystery as to why they were unable to deliver as expected. Personally I think they have yet to learn the most crucial lesson of all – you may have great players, but if you cannot play together as a team, you will lose to a team that can. Korea is now on top of Group G with four points – two more than France, who again look like they might crash out of the World Cup at the group stages.

France doesn’t seem to be able to play well together any more.

USA 1 Italy 1. A draw. Don’t know what was more enthralling in this match, the number of red cards flying round the pitch, the referee being centre stage for all the send offs, or the nine men game. You had this “Whatever next?” feeling right through. The fouls on both sides were pretty sickening though, they deserved being sent off.

I was rooting for the US in this one. Kasey Keller in goal was great! I’d have been happy if they’d won and dispatched Italy but it was a gutsy draw by the USA and they get their point. They do have some work to do on their offensive game if they are going to stay in. I will be rooting for Ghana, but I still hope the US works on their offensive game.