World Cup Roundup Day 7: Ou est Zidane?

For those of you who don't read or speak French, the title says where is Zidane. The French who had the perfect opportunity to get a victory and all but assure their qualification into the round of 16. Instead they looked like a bunch of good players who were unable to put any offense together. The sum of the players was better than the whole eleven. Raymond Domenech, the coach of France, is leaving the direction of the national team with an undesirable result. It is pretty clear that the France '98 World Cup winning and '06 runner-up generation is retiring and a new group of players is taking their position. The starting eleven of Les Bleus is going to look different in the next few years as young players take over. The key is for them to find an organizer and director of the offense who is similar to Zinedine Zidane. Without him they clearly looked like they had plenty of offensive power, but no one could set the scoring plays in motion. Hugo Lloris is not responsible for either of the goals given up today. He did his best one on one in the first goal, and he dove in the right direction on the penalty shot. The most likely replacements for Domenech as coach are Didier Deschamps or Laurent Blanc both of whom were on the '98 World Cup winning team. Argentina put up a four spot on South Korea which shows that there is still a significant gap between the quality of confederations. Nigeria suffered elimination when Kaita went off for a red card and lost the game 2-1.
Serbia-Germany is an elimination game for the team from the Balkans. A loss to Germany will send Serbia to their second three and out. The match that matters the most to my readers is the US-Slovenia match. This is a must win for America. A victory is critical to put the US into a qualifying position for the knockout stages. This will be difficult with the stinginess of the Slovenian defense. They beat Russia in a knockout playoff. Algeria-England should be a victory for the English. Anything less and Parliament will start an official inquiry. They are already considering being the first country to not go Green.

World Cup Roundup Day 6: Spanish meltdown

Spain and South Africa suffered crushing defeats. The Spanish were highly tauted for their vaunted record in the last two years that came with their offense. Switzerland effectively shutdown the box and frustrated the Spanish forwards and midfield. Switzerland scored on a counter-attack that took advantage of a weak defense from Spain. I believe that Spain will defeat Honduras which was clearly dominated in all offensive categories by Chile. Group H, which contains Spain, Switzerland, Chile, and Honduras, could be decided only in the the final games of group play. South Africa suffered a painful 3-0 loss. This loss has effectively eliminated the host country from the knockout stage, breaking a record. To make matters worse they have lost several of their starters due to yellow card accumulation and the goalkeeper, Khune, getting a red card. The quality of the South African squad is okay, but the non-starters are much weaker than the starters. I just don't see the South Africans beating France and pulling off a miracle to qualify for the knockout stage. Uruguay is a solid squad and could be very dangerous as a first round knockout stage opponent.
Tomorrow's games include South Korea-Argentina which will decide the winner of group B. Nigeria and Greece is effectively an elimination game with the victor still having an outside shot at making the elimination portion of the tournament. In the case of a tie, qualification will be only held a thin strand of hope. The last game of the day is the marque match up between Mexico and France. This match will decide whether South Africa has even a chance to qualify. A tie will be in the best interest of the Bafana Bafana. I feel that France showed it's offense was potent enough to beat a very unconvincing Mexican side. My prediction is France winning that match probably 1-0.

World Cup Roundup Day 5: The Group of Death

Today the infamous "group of death" started play. Group G includes five time winners Brazil, Portugal, African power Cote d'Ivoire, and North Korea. The most highly anticipated match was between Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire. The end result was a draw which was nearly broken up by Didier Drogba in the 90th minute. Portugal didn't look impressive at all and was relying on Ronaldo to create the scoring. They are sorely missing the play of Luis Figo, who is retired, from their Euro 2004 squad. The Ivorians looked like a solid squad that was able to create scoring chances with Drogba on the bench. I look forward to more games with Cote d'Ivoire. Brazil got an unconvincing 2-0 win against North Korea. I was slightly disappointed that Brazil didn't score more goals, but the Koreans were well organized having been playing together as a squad for several years. The Korean defense proved effective to stymie the Brazilian samba style offense. Understandably Brazil has brought a squad that is more defensive in nature, but their offense has been severely hampered in this game and last year's Confederations Cup final against the US. We may see Brazil make an exit from the tournament prior to the semifinals if they continue this quality of play. New Zealand provided quite some excitement by scoring towards the end of second half stoppage time to get a draw against Slovakia.
The most interesting game tomorrow should be the Spain-Switzerland game. Spain is highly touted as a strong contender for the cup due to their offensive prowess. They are also the current European champions which is no small feat. Switzerland were good enough to qualify for the knockout stage in 2006, but is this team as good. Honduras-Chile is an interesting South American-Central American match. Chile was the top qualifier from South America whereas Honduras qualified in the last spot behind the US and Mexico on the last day of qualifying. The US and Mexico have shown in the last few World Cups that they are not cupcake victories in the group stages and have the capability to advance through the knockout stages. The key question is whether there is any other quality sides in our region. If Honduras were to win or tie this would be a major wake-up call that North and Central America are beginning to mature into a strong region for international football. The last match of the day is South Africa-Uruguay. I feel that South Africa buoyed by the home crowd of vuvuzeulas will qualify for the knockout stages, but this match will be important as a victory will put them in the drivers seat to participate in the third week of the tournament.

World Cup Roundup Day 4

The Dutch looked convincing in their 2-0 win. They did get the benefit of an own goal on the part of Denmark. They did get a beautiful goal from Dirk Kuyt which is classical of their flowing style of offense. Denmark is not completely out of the tournament since Cameroon, which was thought to be the other power in this group, suffered a loss to Japan. This is only Japan's fourth World Cup and they looked like a squad that has finally materialized into a significant competitor. This just shows how much soccer has globalized at a top level of play. The afternoon game between Italy and Paraguay was a rather boring affair that ended in a tie. Paraguay should have won this game after scoring late in the first half. The Italians seemed to be lackluster and ineffective. They will not win the World Cup if they continue to play like this.
Tomorrow starts play in the "group of death". The marque matchup is Cote d'Ivoire- Portugal which should be electrifying with the play of Ronaldo and Drogba. The key question is whether Didier Drogba, who broke his arm in a warm up match, will start or even play. Slovakia-New Zealand will be a very good quality match. Brazil-North Korea could be a beat down for the Koreans similar to the Germany-Australia match on Sunday. The Brazilian samba speed footwork should overpower North Korea.

World Cup Roundup Day 3: The goal scoring has arrived

Coming into today the goal scoring had minimal with most games ending in ties no greater than 1-1. Today all that changed. Germany came out and put on a clinic in a 4-0 beating of Australia. This should scare all American soccer fans since they may be the first knockout stage opponent. It must be said that half the goals occurred after Australia went down to ten men. Germany may have a young squad, but they didn't show any World Cup opener jitters. They were dominant in time of possession, which is an attribute I wish the US would pick up. Ghana showed the World that 2006 was not a fluke in winning their opener against Serbia. They are in the best position of all the African nations thus far to play. Yesterday's tie between England and the United States has put both of these teams in a precarious position now that Slovenia has beaten Algeria. This goal was once again a fluke type of affair. The Algerian goaltender could have punched the ball to the side, but instead tried to scoop up the ball. The effect of today's result is that England and the US need to win their remaining games to go to the knockout round. If anyone falters they will be out. The onus is harder on the Americans as Slovenia, a good squad, is the next opponent; while England face an altered Algerian squad due to a red card.
Tomorrow's games include Denmark versus Netherlands and a variant of total football. Defending champions Italy will start their title defense against Paraguay will be an interesting Europe-South America encounter. Japan against Cameroon may mean the next African team to notch a win. Cameroon is a solid squad led by their star striker Samuel Eto'o.

World Cup Roundup Day 2: Disaster Avioded for the US

Today was another exciting day at the World Cup and the opener for the US against the powerful English squad. Greece was beaten badly by South Korea and it doesn't look good for their qualification. This is sadly another bad blow to the Greek psyche as they are already suffering through a significant economic crisis. Argentina clearly looks like it will be a very strong contender in the knockout stages. The won very comfortably without scoring from Lionel Messi who was just off several times. Nigeria put up a strong fight and should look to rebound in their next match. The nightcap, in the afternoon for those of us in the US, was a beautiful game of back and forth action between the US and England. Disaster struck in the fourth minute when Steven Gerrard scored for England when his shot was unchallenged and open in front of the goal. The disastrous start was nullified by Dempsey's goal. The rest was fairly neutralized. The US looked it had some jitters which hopefully were eliminated with this game. Our offense showed some evidence of being very potent with the speed it features, but there was not enough consistent play in England's end to put up more than one goal. This needs to improve if the US has any hopes of advancing in the tournament. The US back line was solid when facing the onslaught in the second half. There is still room for improvement in communication. Other than the one missed header, Wayne Rooney was kept off the score sheet and ineffective most of the game. Of particular concern for me was the unmarked shots from just outside the box that were on goal. As for Gerrard's goal this was not the fault of the US defenders, but a mistake by Ricardo Clark. The key for the US seems to be the first ten minutes of the game. If they can survive unscathed they tend to have success. It was quite obvious that the US squad misses Charlie Davies speed threat on the attack even with Robbie Findley. Tim Howard showed why he is among the best goalkeepers in the world with all of his spectacular game saving saves.The best situation for the US and England is that Slovenia and Algeria end up in a tie. Otherwise one of the favorites will probably be heading home. If the US and England beat the other members of group C and the Slovenia-Algeria game ends in a tie then both teams advance.

World Cup Roundup Day 1

Attention to Mexico, France, and Uruguay. The Bafana Bafana are here to play and the other qualifier for the knockout stage is between the three of you. The opening match of the World Cup was quite a spectacle. South Africa's defense will need to be improved because they gave up too many good chances and a very easy goal. If the opponent is going to score they should have to outplay you in skill rather than take advantage of a defensive mistake. More importantly Mexico needs to realize that its soccer dominance in North America and the world has eroded. They are not as good as they think. The other game was rather boring for the first 75 minutes with Uruguay in a purely defensive formation trying to avoid conceding a goal. The French definitely have the quality of players, but soccer is a team sport and there is a lack of unity of play on Raymond Domenech's squad. I have a feeling that they will come out much more unified as a starting eleven in their next game. Tomorrow has three very good matches South Korea vs. Greece, Nigeria vs. Argentina with Lionel Messi, and the primetime affair between England and the United States. If the US pulls off another upset I think the world will finally wakeup to the quality of American soccer.