Today is just the ninth day since the fun began. The fever is yet to soar and the drama is yet to reach the pinnacle! As the carnival continues, I thought of recalling the vivid memories thus far through few noteworthy remarks:
1. Brilliant hat-trick by Gonzalo Higuain in their match against South Korea. Though the goals came from Higuain, it was again the Lion-el Messi at the helm of affairs playing artistic football. The victory just reaffirms the prowess of Argentina this time around and virtually seals for them a place in the second round. While Nigeria is almost out of the tournament, Greece and South Korea will battle it out for second team to qualify from this group.
2. Spain losing its first game against Switzerland was first of major upsets. More upsets followed when France and South Africa lost their second group matches in Group A and Germany lost their match to Serbia in Group D. This essentially means that teams to go to next round from Group A could very well be Uruguay and Mexico. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Group D on the other side is still wide open.
3. Excellent form of Netherland continues which has taken them to second round. Cameroon really played well, but I am afraid they have to say “Goodbye South Africa”. If Denmark at all would want to make a point, they need to drastically improve their defense line.
4. Brazil is off to a great start with all the players looking in great touch. They displayed their typical deft style in their opening match against North Korea. Quite insipid performance by Portugal in another match of this group which led to a tie against Ivory Coast. This group is wide open too.
5. Few more insipid performances by Italy and England. England indeed struggled against the minnows Algeria. On the other hand, USA has shown great character to draw both their matches after trailing for a fair amount of time during the match. I am shocked to see the way Rooney has played. He is not at all living up to expectations.
6. Except a few games, there have been a lot of draws and bigger teams are lagging behind in the race to final 16. There have not been too many goals either. Teams are defensive in their approach and injury to some key players has not helped much either. A lot of penalty strokes have been awarded to the teams which is so unusual. Messi, Robinho, Forlan, Sneijder, Blanco, Hernandez, Higuain, Gyan, and Kyut have sparkled brilliantly through their individual performances.
1. Brilliant hat-trick by Gonzalo Higuain in their match against South Korea. Though the goals came from Higuain, it was again the Lion-el Messi at the helm of affairs playing artistic football. The victory just reaffirms the prowess of Argentina this time around and virtually seals for them a place in the second round. While Nigeria is almost out of the tournament, Greece and South Korea will battle it out for second team to qualify from this group.
2. Spain losing its first game against Switzerland was first of major upsets. More upsets followed when France and South Africa lost their second group matches in Group A and Germany lost their match to Serbia in Group D. This essentially means that teams to go to next round from Group A could very well be Uruguay and Mexico. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Group D on the other side is still wide open.
3. Excellent form of Netherland continues which has taken them to second round. Cameroon really played well, but I am afraid they have to say “Goodbye South Africa”. If Denmark at all would want to make a point, they need to drastically improve their defense line.
4. Brazil is off to a great start with all the players looking in great touch. They displayed their typical deft style in their opening match against North Korea. Quite insipid performance by Portugal in another match of this group which led to a tie against Ivory Coast. This group is wide open too.
5. Few more insipid performances by Italy and England. England indeed struggled against the minnows Algeria. On the other hand, USA has shown great character to draw both their matches after trailing for a fair amount of time during the match. I am shocked to see the way Rooney has played. He is not at all living up to expectations.
6. Except a few games, there have been a lot of draws and bigger teams are lagging behind in the race to final 16. There have not been too many goals either. Teams are defensive in their approach and injury to some key players has not helped much either. A lot of penalty strokes have been awarded to the teams which is so unusual. Messi, Robinho, Forlan, Sneijder, Blanco, Hernandez, Higuain, Gyan, and Kyut have sparkled brilliantly through their individual performances.
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2 comments:
Nice review of the last week. Its mostly been football of the variety that sends you to sleep. Except for Argentina, nobody is sending the pulse racing. Part of the problem is that players play too much football during the year - everybody is tired; everybody knows each others' game and its all far too boring. Hope Argentina (and maybe Brazil) will provide the wizardry to set the tournament alight.
@ Ramesh - Yes, the first week was a bit boring. However, with exception of France, bigger teams have come to fore to show their prowess in second games of first round. I hope to see much closer contests now. I would still likek to see Brazil and Argentina in the Finals.
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