I wasn’t tremendously excited about any of the games today, but there was a decent amount of action in them to entice even the most neutral viewer. For all the talk in the opening few days about this year being terrible, the pace and level of action has really picked up. Even if the goal averages are still pretty low, I’m happy with how things are going.
Netherlands 1 – 0 Japan
Dull, stuffy, uninspired, workmanlike, and solidly mediocre. The Dutch haven’t impressed at all so far, and yet they’re sitting atop the group with 6 points and should easily finish first. I bet all the big names that are struggling mightily would love to have the problems of the Dutch. The goal from Sneijder was another keeper error, but a pretty understandable one. I think his vision was a bit obstructed, and Sneijder really demolished the shot. If the Jabulani has taken away some goals, this is the sort of thing that it provides.
Ghana 1 – 1 Australia
If the Dutch goal was forgivable, the Australian one was not. On the Green-scale of howler, it was probably a 6.5 or 7. Pretty terrible but not absurd.
The referee’s decision about the red card and penalty was right, but still was a bit of a shame. You have to give a penalty there, even if the handball wasn’t intentional. That shot would have gone in if Kewell’s arm hadn’t been there. And once you give the penalty you have no choice but to give a red card, too. There’s no room for discretion there. It’s unfortunate, and is a perfect example of the problem posed by this rule.
After going a man down, Australia were immense. They didn’t dominate like Germany did yesterday, but Ghana simply couldn’t produce good chances and couldn’t generate something special to get a goal out of quarter and half-chances. Most of the best chances actually were Australian and they really ought to have scored at least one of them. It would have made for a fascinating group if they could have snatched the win. Now, they’re basically eliminated, which is really a shame given how hard they fought today.
By the way, my pre-tournament prediction that Serbia would lead the group could still turn out correct, for all that it seemed unlikely a couple days ago. If they beat Australia and Ghana get a result against Germany, it will be Serbia leading the group and Ghana finishing second. I’m guessing not too many people predicted that.
Still, I think Germany wins their game and Serbia comes in second on goal difference.
Cameroon 1 – 2 Denmark
Now this was an exciting game. If Australia had two or three chances they could/should have converted, both teams in this game had six or seven great opportunities. It was, by far, the most open game so far. You can accuse them of poor defending (and you’d be right), but the offenses for both sides were really clicking, too. The Danes’ first goal in particular was absolutely sublime. The second wasn’t quite as good but was a fine piece of individual skill.
I picked Cameroon to finish second in this group–and up until the end of the game I thought they still might make it–but instead they are the first team officially eliminated. It’s a shame.
Predictions for tomorrow:
- Slovakia 0 – 0 Paraguay
- Italy 3 – 1 New Zealand
- Brazil 2 -1 Ivory Coast
I’m traveling again tomorrow so I’ll miss out on watching most of these. The Brazil game is obviously the big one, but if Slovakia wants any chance of getting out of this group they need to win this game.
A couple final thoughts. First, this tournament has been very unkind to European (especially West European) and African teams, but very good for South American and Asian teams. For all that I mouthed the words about Europe tending to be overrated, I still fell into that trap. My solace is that pretty much everyone else did, too.
Second, the World Cup so far has not reflected well on the English Premier League. Quick, name three EPL stars who have had good tournament. Drogba was anonymous, all the English players have been useless, Torres didn’t look fit, Fabregas didn’t play, Ballack is out and so is Essien and Mikel, Anelka was rubbish and then got sent home for cussing out the coach, the French contingent from Arsenal has been useless, Evra has been poor. Deco was atrocious.
Tevez has been good but not great. Same with Mascherano. Bendtner has been alright, I guess? Vidic has been alright, except for his insane handball yesterday. Who else?
In addition, two players who were awesome (Robinho and Elano) supposedly couldn’t hack it in England.
It’s only a few games, of course, but is there some possibility that the style of the EPL or the length of the season, or something else is cutting down all these guys?
Cameroon v Denmark was great fun to watch. However, the way both teams defended, particularly in the first half, can only be described as comical.
On a different note, the US really needs to get over that terrible call if they want to move on to the second round…and the US media is definitely not helpful in this regard.