WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 17

England skipper celebrates victory with a team mate

England beat Ecuador 1-0. The English victory was lacklustre. If I was Eriksson, I would certainly be very worried man. It was just a single moment of brilliance from Beckham, which took England to the Quarter finals. Lampard, Gerrard, J Cole looked ordinary. Rooney was heavily guarded and created a couple of chances, which could not be converted. A disappointing match for England. However, they will have a pretty good chance aginst Portugal who totally meesed up their match against Holland.

Portugal beat Holland 1-0. However, the match turned out to be the worst match of the world cup so far in terms of bookings. Russian referee Valentin Ivanov booked players 16 times which included 4 red cards – 2 each from either side. Portugal is likely to play without their star player Christiano Ronalo who is injured and will certainly miss Deco and Costinha who were shown red cards.

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 16

Podolski and Klose – Architects of German victory

The opening match of the knock-out stage of the world cup was between Germany and Sweden. Germany gave major blows to Sweden within first 12 minutes. Germany played, espcially the 1st half, with speed and perfection. Both the gols came from Podolski. Although the 1st goal was a deflection from Lucic’s head, the second gol was superb. Klose took 3 defenders away across the goal area and passed the ball on to unmarked Podolski who didn’t miss the chance and scored a brilliant team goal for Germany. From there on especially after Lucic was despatched out of the game in 35 minutes, German fans would have expected a slightly stronger scoreline in their favour. However, 2nd half didn’t turn out to be as exciting as the 1st one and the final score remained 2-0.

In another match, Argentina defeated Mexico 2-1. Mexico played much better than the qualifying rounds and took an early lead in 5th minute. The early Mexican lead was neutralized by Argentina in the 10th minute. However, the match went into extra time and the winner came from Rodriguez Maxi in 112th minute.

The quarter final will now be played between Germany and Argentina. And Argentina will have to play 200% to move past Germany who seem to be peaking at the right time.

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 15

As the 1st round matches end today, 16 teams start on their return journey home from the world cup in Germany. Now onwards there will be no parking for onlookers on the dance floor.

At the end of round 1, are their surprises? There are, certainly for me. I didn’t expect Czech Republic to exit so early. Neither did I expect France to qualify. There were diappointments too. Not a single asian side qualified.

Depsite the asian disappointment, the worlc cup continues to be fun. There were quite a few exciting matches played during their 3rd time outings by teams. Amongst the ones that were enthralling were 2-2 draw between Croatia and Australia, Ghana’s 2-1 victory over USA, and Switzerland’s 2-0 victory over Korea. On the other hand goalless draw between Argentina and Holland didn’t live-up to the expctations. However, Germany’s 3-1 win over and Ecuador and Brazil 4-1 thrashing to Japan clearly set them apart from the other probable contenders for the world cup. Ronandlo scored 2 goals and silenced his critics. He now shares the world record for most number of golas (14) scored in the world cup along with Gerd Muller. Watching Brazil play was like watching a ballet perfromance. They were fluent, elegant and flawless. After having seen Brazil the way they played I just wonder as to why I watch cricket! 

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – 2nd round Predictions Revisited

I made predictions at the end of 1st matches for all the teams and now that every one has played 2 matches, I am revisiting the predictions.

Group A: Earlier – Germany & Ecuador
Germany & Ecuador have made it to the second round. So my predictions hold good.

Group B: Earlier – Englad, Paraguay, Now – England, Sweden
England is certainly making it to the second round and Paraguay is certainly not. Trinidad & Tobago can still hope to qualify in the 2nd round if they beat Paragua with a goal difference of at least 3 and then hope for England to beat Sweden.

Group C: Earlier – Argentina, Holland
Argentina & Holland have already qualified.

Group D: Earlier – Portugal, Mexico
I am still holding on to my earlier prediction. Angola may still hope to qualify if Portugal beats Mexico and then have theselves beat Iran with a goal differene of 4. Unlikely.

Group E: Earlier – Czech Republic, Italy, Now – Czech Republic, Ghana
A tough group. I expect (hope) Czechs to beat Italy and Ghana to USA in their next outings.

Group F: Earlier – Brazil, Croatia, Now – Brazil, Australia
Brazil have already qualified. I don't expect Japan to beat Brazil and Croatia to beat Australia. Most likely Japan will go down to Brazil and then a draw would be good enough for Australia. On their current form I expect Astralia to beat Croatia and qualify for the 2nd round.

Group G: Earlier – South Korea, Togo, Now – South Korea, Switzerland
Will France be able to beat Togo? I certainly hope not. They don't deserve 2nd round berth.

Group H: Earlier – Spain, Tunisia, Now – Spain, Ukraine
Spain has alrady qualified. And with their current form I do not see Ukraine going down to Tunisia. Even a draw would be good enough for Ukraine to get into the 2nd round. Will Tunisia spring a surprise and beat Ukraine?

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 11

 
Commentator Diego Maradona's expressions say it all. A dull day at the world cup.

Switzerland beat Togo 2-0, Ukraine beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 and Speain beat Tunisia 3-1. The day was as dull as the description of the day above. 2 of the 3 matches played yesterday were one sided. The final match, Spain Vs Tunisia did provide some drama and entertianment for Football fans. Tunisia took an unexpected lead in the 8th minute which Spain took 64 more minutes to neutralise. Torres then scored in 76th minute and injury time to take the match beyond Tunisia.

Spain's Torres is now the leading goal scorer at the 2006 World Cup with 3 goals.

Day 11 summary: 

Scores:: Togo 0-2 Switzerland, Saudi Arabia 0-4 Ukraine, Spain 3-1 Tunisia

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 10

 
Adriano opens account for Brazil

Brazil fans looked forward to their match with Australia with hope and expectations of the revival of samba magic. And like their last match against Croatia, Brazil did produce some magical moments but the rythm and orchesrtation is not completely back yet. In the first half no team scored a goal. Ronaldo moved very slow on the field. On occassions he couldn’t even connect with the ball. It was embarrassing. But the glory came in the 49th minute when 3 of the 4 star performers of the Brazilian frontline collaborated to score an excellent team goal. In the closing minutes of the game, Brazil scored one more goal through Fred to seal the fate of Asutralia. Australia, in the true Austrlian spirit fough hard and defended well. Contrary to my earlier predictions, I now feel that they appear to be the most likely team along with Brazil to make it to the next round from Group F.

 
Japanese fans will have to hope for a miracle in their next match with Brazil.

Japan and Croatia would have both hoped for the victory when they started their match. Both the teams missed atleast one simple opportunity to score the goal. Contrary to the expectations of both the teams and their fans, the match ended in a tame 0-0 draw. The next match for Japan is with Brazil and for Croatia is with Australia; without some miracle, I do not think either Japan or Croatia making to the next round.

South Korea players acknowledge the support of their fans

A much better performance from France this time around. However despite this, they could just draw their game with South Korean team. Sadly, since their 1998 vicory over Brazil, France have not won a single match in the World Cup finals. And now they are on the brink of getting eliminated.

Day 10 Summary:

Scores:: Japan 0-0 Croatia, Brazil 2-0 Australia, France 1-1 South Korea
Goal of the day:: Adriano for Brazil in the 49th minute 

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 9

Day 9 turned out to be the day of upsets and surprises. 2 matches produced unexpected results.

Exasperated & helpless Rosicky symblozing the desparation of whole of Czech Republic

First Czech Republic Vs Ghana. I had expected Czech Republic to beat Ghana 4-0. Fortunately for Czechs, they were not recipient of such a scoreline. Had Ghana managed to convert all their chances that could have been the reality. Czechs had a complete off-day. They lacked speed, power, rythm, co-ordination – all those things associated with Football which are must haves if one wants to be the winner. On the other had Ghana dispalyed superb Football skills. They showed agression and had strong desire to win. Gyan gave Ghana the lead in 70the second of the match. And Muntari increased that lead to 2-0 in the 82nd mimute when Czechs had just 10 men the ground. In summary this was one of the best matches of the world cup so far.

Italy Vs USA prodcued a disappointing result for Italy, although Italy did all the scoring. They scored 2 goals – one for themsleves and one for USA as well. The match was full of action literally. Theree red cards and one injury. 1-1 scoreline meant almost all the teams – Czech Republic, Ghana, Italy and USA – from Group E can be hopeful of entering into the 2nd round.

Portugal defeated 2-0 in a one sided match. Having said that Iran played well in the first half and Portugal had to wait 63 minutes to score their first goal. Deco sscored a fantastic goal in the 63rd minute to give Portugal the lead. Cristiano Ronaldo then converted a penalty in 80th minute to register unbeatable 2-0 lead.

Day 9 Summary:

Scores:: Portugal 2-0 Iran, Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana, Italy 1-1 USA
Goal of the day:: Deco for Portugal in 63rd minute

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 8

Strike ftom Kone (2nd from left) deceives Dutch goalkeeper

Beyond description! No other words are good enough to describe the match between Holland and Ivory Coast. The final scoreline reads 2-1 in favour of Holland, however, a draw would have done justice to the efforts of Ivory Coast. Take any statistics and you’ll find Ivory Coast had either upper hand or matched Holland. Persie’s brilliant free kick gave Holland the lead in 23rd minute, and 3 minutes later Nistelrooy scored 2nd goal for Holland. But the match changed its course dramatically after 26th minute, as Ivory Coast took control of the game and in 38th minute, Kone scored arguably the best individual goal of the tournament so far. Holland who are one of the leading contenders for the world cup 2006 have to raise their game further up if they want to deliver what their fans want to see.

Maxi Rodriguez after scoring 2nd goal

Argentina delivered bliss to their fans. A scoreline of 6-0 means total dominance. Its almost difficult to believe that Serbia and Montenegro had 50% ball possession. But that is why statistics could be deceiptful. Argentina made most of their chances and sounded an alert to the other contenders of the world cup including Brazil.

Mexico - 4th ranked in the world, had a disappointing game. Mexico were the hot favourites for their game against Angola. But Angloa like their other African counterparts put up a brave fight and restricted Mexicans. Mexicans had their share of chances too but it was simply not their day.

Day 8 Summary:

Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Mont, Holland 2-1 Ivory Coast, Mexico 0-0 Angola
Goal of the day:: Kone for Ivory Coast in 38th minute

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Day 7

It was just 30 minutes to go for the final whistle, and England was still tied 0-0 with Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), the team England was supposed to run over. Sven-Goran Eriksson, the England coach, then turned to the last hope of England – jersey No. 9 Wayne Rooney, the prolific striker from Manchester United. Rooney made his world cup 2006 debut to the loud cheer from the English fans. Rooney didn’t get much opportunity to display the skills he is known for. But his presence on the Football field brought good luck for England. In the 84th minute, Crouch who so far played pathetic football managed to head the pass from Beckham into T&T goal post and the whole of England took a sigh of relief. On the TV atleast I didn’t witness commotion / mayhem from the fans that is associated with a world cup goal. In the injury time, Gerrard managed to score probably the best goal of the day. England beat T&T 2-0. But if they are to present themselves as the possible contender for the World Cup, lot more is desired from them. The front line till the 84th minute was lackluster.

What else could be worth noting on the day the God reappeared on the earth? Sewden did manage to beat Paraguay 1-0 and Ecuador secured 3-0 victory over Costa Rica. The 2nd round picture is now getting clearer. From Group A and B – Germany, Ecuador, England and Sweden have qualified for round 2.

Day 7 Summary:

Scores:: Ecuador 3-0 Costa Rica, England 2-0 Trin & Tob, Sweden 1-0 Paraguay
Goal of the day:: Gerrard for England in Injury time 2nd half 

WC Diary of a Football Rookie – Predictions for 2nd round

Every team has played 1 game. So its a good time to make predictions. Now no one gets them right, not even the experts. So, whats the harm in making predictions. Here are mine for the 2nd rounders:

Group A: Germany, Ecuador
Group B: England, Paraguay
Group C: Argentina, Holland
Group D: Portugal, Mexico
Group E: Czech Republic, Italy
Group F: Brazil, Croatia
Gtoup G: South Korea, Togo
Group H: Spain, Tunisia

I will revist them after every team has played its 2nd game.

What are your predictions?