World Cup 2010 Game 15: Chile 1, Honduras 0

Chile, which has the coolest border configuration of just about any country there is, dominated this game throughout. They probably should have put away more chances. This result is not a huge surprise. Chile finished second (to Brazil) in South American qualifying, while Honduras needed a 94th minute goal from the United States against Costa Rica to avoid having to take on Uruguay in the play-in series.

Performance against common opponents is always a chimerical way of evaluating teams, but Americans could not have been heartened by this result from the third place Concacaf team. The U.S. beat Honduras twice in qualifying, though they gave up an early goal at home and two on the road...to a team that never seemed able to sniff the danger area against Chile. Combined with Mexico's draw with South Africa, this result shows Concacaf teams are not really on the level as national teams on other levels. (And this in a World Cup in which Asia has acquitted itself quite nicely so far.) Then again, this is just one game and Chile is a top 20 ranked team. Still, Honduras looked like a team that was just happy to have qualified, and having lost to the second ranked team it will be interesting to see if they go at Spain at all. If they are out of it by the third game the Swiss could be the beneficiaries of having a "must win" against a team playing out the string.

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World Cup 2010 Game 14: Brazil 2, North Korea 1

Okay, everyone who had this score in your pool raise your ha...put your hands down, liars.

This one was supposed to be a rout, and really, once Brazil scored the outcome wasn't much in doubt. That it took Brazil 55 minutes or so to score was the first upset--though, wow, what a terrific angle shot. Maybe not one of the more spectacularly pretty goals you'll see at this World Cup but definitely a technically difficult shot--when South Korea scored near stoppage time that was the second upset.

The first round has been a bit slow without too many goals and only one side, Germany, looking impressive. Part of that was assumed to be because the schedule was backloaded with the #1 and #2 teams in the world not playing until almost a week in.

Brazil is a little bit like USA basketball...winning isn't enough. If they don't dominate than people are shocked. Nevertheless, this was a very yeomanlike effort, and it does take skill to exercise the patience necessary to break down a disciplined defense. Brazil strides quickly, covering so much ground that they are never far away from getting into danger territory, and they are pretty much the only team that you don't feel is in trouble when they are down a goal.

They are known for skill and precision passing, but I noticed in this game that Kaka (one of the star players) is also bigger than I realized, both in terms of length and upper body strength.

Much has been made of the North Korean side: they played home games in China because they wouldn't allow South Korean anthem to be played before the match; their "fans" are actually paid actors from China (hey anyone want to pay me to pretend to be a fan for free tix?), etc. Mmmm. Okay. Supposedly the goal scored was the only highlight allowed on North Korean television. Reminds me of the old Cold War joke: An American and a Soviet had a race and the American won. The next day Pravda reported "In an international competition, the Soviet Union finished second. The American was next to last."

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World Cup 2010 Game 13: Potrugal 0, Ivory Coast 0

The story within a story was the early hostilities between the Ivory Coast players and Portugal star Christiano Ronaldo who is on the short list of best players in the world but has a reputation for going down a bit too easy....and playing to the refs in other ways. (He famously winked at the Portugal bench after English striker Wayne Rooney was sent off in a quarterfinal match in the 2006 World Cup.

On the one hand there was a quick yellow card against an Ivory Coast defender. On the other, they goaded him into an altercation after a foul that got him a yellow card for...well, for being fouled. Given the emphasis on diving, once Ronaldo had a card the Ivory Coast could be a little more aggressive in defense, so they probably got the better of the in game.

This was the first game in the so called "Group of Death" and I think the draw helps Ivory Coast a little more. Portugal probably has a slightly better shot at tying or beating Brazil, but given they are the higher ranked team, the burden is probably on them to get the result against Ivory Coast rather than relying on doing better against common opponents. Portugal does get Brazil last, which means that as long as they put a number up against North Korea they may have the option of battening down the hatches and playing for a tie against Brazil. Then again, Ivory Coast will go into the North Korea game knowing what they need to do.

Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast did play about thirty minutes. He had his arm broken in a friendly leading up to the competition and has to play with a cast on his arm. Drogba is far an away the team's best goal scorer, so having to play large portions without him and still getting a draw helps make this tie, like the U.S. result against Engalnd feel like a bit more like a victory.

Drogba had a shot in the 90th minute but he had to go down and the shot went well wide. Playing with an injury, did he have to be a bit more cautious about attacking to protect his body? Oddly enough Ivory Coast had a corner kick in stoppage time and they played it short rather than crossing, never getting a shot. I think you have to take a shot there; it's a bit like holding on to the ball with one second on the clock rather than trying a half court shot.

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World Cup 2010 Game 12: Slovakia 1 New Zealand 1

Yesterday I suggested that New Zealand was the weakest team in the tournament. I forgot about North Korea, which according to the most recent FIFA world rankings is rated 105th, or about 27 spots below New Zealand. My apologies to the Kiwis. I stand by my opinion, though, that Group E is the easiest group.

New Zealand actually controlled play for the first 15 minutes or so. That seems to be a trend in world soccer as well...a weaker team coming out and seemingly doing okay, maybe even controlling possession, and then the stronger team coming down and scoring on one of their first real opportunities.

Is it better to play a weaker opponent to start or get your hard game out of the way? This group is a classic study. Slovakia did what they needed to get the points. But they know that Paraguay can beat New Zealand, so they would have to get at least a tie against Italy to stay square (and that's assuming no goal differential). Paraguay, on the other hand, could play for a tie against Slovakia, setting up a third round where they simply have to beat New Zealand to go through. I think Slovakia has to play the Paraguay game as though they need a win so that they are going into game three with Italy not needing a result. Then again, one of the vagaries of pool play is that sometimes a team can be through after two game and may not play as hard

Ha! New Zealand scores in stoppage time...literally with time running out. So this group starts with two ties. Nice for the Kiwis since I think Slovakia was offisides on their goal. Incidentally, wow, what a cross on the New Zealand goal. The guy was turned away from the goal. Talk about making something out of nothing.

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World Cup 2010 Game 11: Italy 1, Paraguay 1

The summer of 2001, Cindy and I went on a walking tour with Lost in Italy. Time in Florence, Assisi and Rome was spent on either side of hiking in the Cinque Terra and Tuscany. It was a great trip and there was very little I didn't adore about Italy: the wine, the art, the food.

Not sure why, but I hate their soccer team, though.

Maybe it's residual hostility over the vicious de Rossi elbow against Brian McBride--which the BBC called "sickening" (and seriously, how weird is it that you can find four year-old sports articles from the BBC on Google?)

Italy isn't the New York Yankees of world soccer...Brazil is more dominant. They are like the Duke University version of their sport...win a lot and make nobody happy but their own fans.

The Galaxy Theater in Cary had a lot less people today...mostly moms with ill behaved kids (and really, when Sartre said "hell is other people"...) and a few retirees. The crowd was evenly divided amongst Italy supporters and people who hadn't a clue where Paraguay is but wanted them to beat Italy.

Looked like it might happen for awhile, too. The rain made the play pretty ugly, and when Paraguay got a set piece header it looked like they were going to hold the fort. A goalkeeper goof (what else) on a corner kick gave Italy an undeserved tie.

Still, even if they had lost, I don't think Italy was in much trouble--with games against New Zealand (the primary beneficiary of Australia, they of the 0-4 thumping at German hands) having moved to Asia), possibly the weakest team in the tournament and Slovakia (currently ranked 34th in the world, or fifteen spots weaker than Cameroon).

Is there an opposite of "Group of Death" (the proverbial nickname for the hardest first round draw in the tournament)? For all the opining that the United States got a lucky draw (one called it the easiest draw the United States has ever gotten), England certainly looked better than Italy, and Algeria, the supposed weakling of the group is ranked higher than Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand. In other words, the worst team in our group is ranked higher than every other team in Italy's group except Italy. Ask the Brits which group they'd rather be in. I wasn't too crestfallen that Italy got the equalizer because even if they had lost I still couldn't see them not advancing to the next round.

Then again, Paraguay did beat Brazil by two goals (the only team to do so in qualifying) and sported a 1-0-1 record against Argentina. So they can play some defense. How they scored two goals against Brazil baffles me since I'm not sure they had the ball on the Italian side of the field that much. Their defense was solid, though. One thing I enjoy about the World Cup is seeing a lot of soccer and being able to see where the Concacaaf teams I usually see aren't as developed. What jumped out at me in this game is how quickly and tirelessly defenders closed space. (Think in terms of the difference between an open shot in basketball and one with a defender running at you.)

There's usually one big upset in the first round of group games. I don't think it's going to be Brazil-North Korea, so maybe Portugal should be sweating. (Though, honestly, the Ivory Coast beating them would not be that huge an upset...more like a Butler beating Syracuse, the names make it more shocking than the talent differential.) Could Spain possibly go down to the Swiss? Doesn't seem likely, but that's why they are called upsets.

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World Cup 2010 Game 10: Japan 1, Cameroon 0

A lot of talk before the tournament started was about how the home continent advantage would result in some African side doing better than expected. This could still happen--South Africa got a tie against a strong Mexican side in its opener--but with Japan's result against Cameroon we now have two Asian nations with victories under their belts.

Certainly the Asian teams took a step forward in their last World Cup, but I guess the sentiment was that this was because of it being hosted in Japan and Korea. How many times could the announcers say that Japan has never won a World Cup game away from its home soil?

One thing that both Japan and South Korea appear to have in common is pace. Both in terms of fitness and effort, they really seem to have fast teams. It's a bit of a cliche in America that the best athletes go into football and basketball. It's interesting, then, to see a non-traditional power try to use fitness and speed to make up for having less technical ability.

Cameroon played a somewhat tentative game and once Japan had its goal it tended to fall back in the second half--a decision that almost cost them when Cameroon hit the crossbar in the 87th minute. More shaky goal keeping on both sides...turning into an ongoing story for this World Cup. Is it really just the ball? Altitude? Or are Americans spoiled, having high standards with being used to having one of the best keepers in the world?

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World Cup 2010 Game 9: Netherlands 2, Denmark 0

Everyone, except maybe Monty Python, loves the Dutch. Always a good side but never champions, the Dutch also sport the cool and recognizable orange uniforms. One wonders if they ever actually took the whole shebang whether they would be as popular or whether they would mutate, Boston Red Sox like, into a much less likable team.

The Dutch were in control most of the match, never seriously challenged by Denmark, though not exactly putting the fear into other world class teams, either. We saw the first "own goal" of the tournament--a phrase used when a player on defense inadvertently knocks the ball into his own goal. In this case the Danish player actually had an unlucky break as his clearance was deflected off the back of a teammate and into the net.

Once again, I thought I was goingt ot get bonus points in my pool for correctly predicting the score (1-0), but a second goal in the 85th minute changed the final score.

I was glad to see the Danes playing hard even after the outcome was decided. As I mentioned yesterday in regards to Germany and Australia, the losing team here has to figure that both the other teams in their group--in this case Japan and Cameroon will be heavy underdogs to the Dutch and thus goal differential could matter. So when a Danish player made a spectacular effort to keep out the third goal, it was the sort of play easily forgotten but which could mean all the difference ten days from now (or could mean nothing, but that's the joy of sports, isn't it?)

I chastised the Germans yesterday for taking two dives and earning well deserved yellow cards. That night I watched the NBA finals, game 5. It always amuses me when fans of sports more popular in America try to find things to rip about football and complain about all the diving...like there has never been an NBA player flop to try to draw a charge or an NFL receiver sell a pass interference call. So I realize playing the referees are part of sport, but the cynic in me says that when you are already up by a large marge against a clearly outclassed opponent those sorts of plays only make you look more bush league.

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