World Cup round-up: Group stage match 2

The World Cup continued in earnest and the goals finally started to flow. The round was not without shocks as World Champions Italy were held by New Zealand and Germany went down to Serbia. Holland and Brazil booked their places in the last 16, but England and France continued to flounder. Switzerland set a new record for minutes without conceding but still lost their Group H match against Chile. Here are the good and the bad of the second round of group matches.

GOOD

Argentina and Gonzalo Higuaín: Diego Maradona’s team put in an impressive team performance to ease past South Korea 4-1. Leo Messi was instrumental to the team’s performance, but Higuaín stole the headlines as he grabbed a poacher’s hat-trick. Worryingly for all the other teams in the tournament, Argentina did all this without using Inter’s star striker Diego Milito, and brought on the dangerous Sergio Agüero as a late sub. However, key defender Walter Samuel was injured during the game, leaving the primary defensive duties to the shaky-looking Martín Demichelis, whose error was responsible for the South Koreans’ goal.

New Zealand: The plucky Kiwis emerged with an improbable 1-1 draw against current World Champions Italy, to leave Group F wide open.  After taking the lead through a clearly offside Shane Smeltz, the All Whites put on a heroic defensive showing to limit the Italians to only one goal. The Azzurri are in serious danger of not making the second round and if New Zealand at least equal Italy’s result, they will be the ones to go through.

Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo et al blew away the supposedly organised North Koreans 7-0 to all but secure their passage into the last 16. A stunning display of attacking football in the second half saw the Portugese build on a 1-goal lead to run out easy winners. Ronaldo himself ended his long barren run without an international goal when he found the net in the 87th minute.

Honourable mentions: Greece, Denmark, Brazil, Holland, Paraguay, Chile.

BAD

France: There is nowhere else to start. If people in this country thought things were bad with England, they only have to look across at our neighbours to see a real crisis, both on and off the pitch. First, Yoann Gourcuff was ostracised and then Nicolas Anelka was sent home following a foul-mouthed tirade aimed at manager Raymond Domenech at half-time in the sorry 2-0 defeat to Mexico. Days later, there was an even bigger turn for the worse as squad captain Patrice Evra had a bust-up with the fitness coach and the whole squad refused to train.

England: Their underwhelming start to the tournament continued as England could only draw 0-0 with a poor Algeria side. The whole team looked totally devoid of creativity, touch and technique, with Wayne Rooney looking particularly poor. Players often couldn’t complete simple 10-yard passes or control easy balls, instead resorting to long punts upfield to an isolated Emile Heskey. Joe Cole was sat on the bench for the full 90 minutes while Fabio Capello once again brought on the ineffective Shaun Wright-Phillips for Aaron Lennon. Former captain John Terry then spoke honestly about possible concerns in a press conference, adding to the rumour that player unrest was rife.

Harry Kewell: The perenially injured Australia forward was brought in to Pim Verbeek’s starting XI against Ghana for the suspended Tim Cahill, with a view to providing goals and ingenuity in the final third. Unfortunately for him, his World Cup was most likely over after just 23 minutes as he saw red for handballing on the line. The one match ban means he will miss Australia’s last group game and probably the rest of the tournament. The Socceroos are unlikely to progress out of the group thanks to their terrible goal difference.

Honourable mentions: Cameroon, Kaká, Wayne Rooney, Germany, Nigeria, Italy.

UGLY

I missed this from last week’s entry, but Gervinho’s ‘braids’ definitely deserve mentioning.

World Cup round-up: Group stage match 1

After all that waiting, the opening round of games was something of an anti-climax. On the whole, teams were too afraid of losing to really go for the win and negative football was the result. Most of the big guns were far from impressive, and the overall quality of football has been poor. Whether this is because of the much-talked about Jabulani or playing at altitude, the football fan can only hope things get better from here. Nevertheless, there were a few bright spots in the tournament so far, including a vibrant display from the hosts and a stunning team performance from Germany. Here are the good, the bad and the ugly of the World Cup so far.

GOOD

South Africa: The Bafana Bafana opened up with a promising display and were unlucky to finish with a 1-1 draw against Mexico. They scored arguably the goal of the tournament so far, with left-winger Siphiwe Tshabalala smashing in to open the scoring. There seems to be a real buzz in South Africa as the whole nation is getting behind their team, and on the pitch, it looks like the players are drawing on that energy to perform above their normal level.

Germany: No Ballack, no problem. The Germans can never be written off at a major tournament, and this time around they laid down a marker with a crushing 4-0 win over a disappointing Australia. This is the youngest team Germany have brought to the World Cup for over 60 years (the absence of Ballack obviously helps this) and Jogi Löw’s side are playing with real dynamism. Their new talisman is Mesut Özil, the young Bremen playmaker, who really impressed with his technique and range of passing (not so much his diving). Even Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose were among the goals for the Germans, but predictably Mario Gomez still couldn’t find the net.

Switzerland: The Swiss team were handed the unenviable draw of playing European champions and No. 1 ranked team Spain in their opening match but came out with an unlikely 1-0 victory. Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team were meticulously organised and diverted Spain’s attacking play out wide, knowing the Spanish were hardly going to cause them problems in the air. Despite losing Philippe Senderos early on, they soaked up Spain’s pressure and scraped a goal on the counter, scored by Gelson Fernandes. On this form, the Swiss defence, much like their banks, looks completely secure.

Robinho: The Brazilian was almost unrecognisable from the sulky, uninterested player he became at Man City as he terrorised North Korea. Right from the start, he whipped out all his clever tricks and step-overs and showed a great deal of confidence and appetite for playing. He also provided what could be the pas of the tournament to set up Elano for the second goal, sliding a perfectly weighted ball between 4 players to the inside-right channel. It remains to be seen whether Robinho will be able to flourish against the tougher, more cynical teams.

Honourable mentions: Vincent Enyeama, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Chile.

BAD

Robert Green: England came up against the USA in an eagerly anticipated match on Saturday night. Unfortunately for Green and England fans, it will only be remembered for Green’s catastrophic error in allowing a Clint Dempsey shot (which was more like a backpass) to squirm under his body and trickle over the line. Given the speed of the shot, not even the controversial Jabulani could be blamed for Green’s aberration. Conveniently for Fabio Capello, the error masked a number of England’s shortcomings and his own tactical failures.

France: Arguably, Les Bleus don’t deserve to be at this World Cup, and on this evidence it doesn’t look like they will be in South Africa for long. Their own sports minister has criticised the team for staying in too nice a hotel, but I imagine Raymond Domenech won’t be getting too much sleep after his side’s nightmarish display against Uruguay. As usual, the French were lacking in direction, leadership and desire to win and their attacking play was woeful. Nicolas Anelka, Yoann Gourcuff and especially Franck Ribéry had terrible games, and the French did not increase the intensity of their play even when Uruguay went down to 10 men. Ironically, Thierry Henry had an appeal for a penalty turned down as his shot hit a Uruguayan arm at point blank range.

Simon Poulsen: The Danish left-back made an atrocious error when trying to head clear a Robin van Persie cross to gift the Netherlands their opening goal. It was reminiscent of fellow Scandinavian left-back John Arne Riise’s laughable attempt at a clearance against Chelsea. Unfortunately for Poulsenm there was no way back for the Danes as they went down 2-0.

Honourable mentions: Fabio Capello, Greece, Algeria, Spain, Tim Cahill, Faouzi Chaouchi.

UGLY

Watching for the first time in glorious HD, it is only now that I truly appreciate the hideousness of Franck Ribéry and Carlos Tevez. Also polluting our screens are  Salomon Kalou’s frankly awful haircut and Diego Maradona’s terrible silver suit.