wc06: tonight's quarterfinal previews

for those of you still interested in that “minor” sporting event going on “over there” in germany, let’s look at the tonight’s two quarterfinal matchups as i hope the symptoms of my two-day football withdrawal don’t get worse before kickoff tonight at 11:59.

germany v. argentina: from a neutral standpoint, this is, in my opinion, the glamour fixture of the quarterfinals. yes, my heartrate will be that of a dog’s after eating a box of chocolates when england play tomorrow night v. portugal; yes, there are more world cup titles, combined, on display in the brasil-france fixture–but that’s skewed because five of ‘em belong to the banana-clad, samba-dancing south americans; and, yes, outside the nation of italy, most neutrals will be pulling for ukraine to see off the panty-waisted thespians that are the azzurri. still, this opening quarterfinal is a dandy.

this wc2006 edition of the germans is not the germans we all grew up (except those of us who are german) cheering against because of their dull, boring, boorish style of play and on-pitch demeanour. in fact, this isn’t the same germany that, before the cup started, most germans were decrying as unfit to wear the famous kit because of their poor form in the months leading up to the competition.

they’ve played with flair, with gusto, with verve, with swerve (as evidenced by the phillip lahm and torsten frings goals against costa rica in their opening match) in their four impressive wins to get to this stage. however, it can be argued that these “impressive” wins have come against nowt competition: an overmatched costa rica, a poor poland, a second-string ecuador, and a ten-man and disappointing sweden.

whatever. regardless of the level of competition, just taking the german squad on its own merit, they’ve not been your usual german team. klose has been deadly in front of goal, as has podolski. ballack is rounding into stellar form after missing the opener to injury. the back line hasn’t allowed a goal since the opener to costa rica, though goalkeeper jens lehmann has yet to let in a howler and the further germany go, the more likely it will be to happen. add to this some of the youngsters on the bench whom coach jurgen klinsmann substitutes for an already young starting XI, and there is genuine reason for hope to win the cup now, as well as in four years down on the forgotten continent.

as for argentina, they’ve been classy for most of the tournament, though they weren’t always the definitely better side in the round of 16 clash with mexico. they’ve played the “beautiful game” well, beautifully, for large stretches of the tournament–and against competition that, save for serbinegro, wasn’t too shabby.

to most non-argentinian observers, midfielder juan roman riquelme has played outstanding football–but the grapevine vibrates from down patagonia way with grumblings that riquelme has been subpar. typical south american football aristrocracy: excellent footie isn’t enough; it has to be exquisite, effervescent, and as sharp as a stepmother’s tongue.

another gripe from the folks back home (there certainly don’t look to be any gripes amongst the mob of argentinian supporters in the stands who have enlivened every argentina match with their incessant dancing, singing, and general merrymaking), apparently, is that coach jose perkerman is not playing his youngsters enough, letting the likes of lionel messi, pablo aimar, and carlos tevez languish on the bench.

while it is true that neither of the three wonderkids has played too much, it’s because the starting XI isn’t all that shabby; perkerman’s is a luxury that any gaffer would gladly enjoy being criticised for having.

last year, germany and argentina saw each other twice, with each ending in a 2-2 draw. if we’re lucky, we’ll have another four goals scored, at least, as well as extra time to watch these two battle. extra football in such a glamourous quarterfinal match would be the least we fans deserve.

my take: germany’s path to this point has been as soft as downy fleece and it’s only a matter of time before disgruntled former number 1 goalkeeper oliver kahn’s bitterness at being replaced by the irritating lehmann begins to take its toll on team chemistry.

for the first time in the tournament, germany will be going against a side that has every bit the talent in midfield, and even more talent up front, than it does. the backlines of both sides have been exposed as being shaky at times–and very easily could (should) have been denuded even more with more expert finishing from opponents when there were chances.

in the end, though, i see a deeper argentinian side sending 80 million germans into a state of mourning as the south americans push through to the semifinals.

italy v. ukraine: not a very sexy matchup, unless you like prancing drama majors diving all over the pitch (okay, in all fairness, ukraine have no history of being silly corset-wearing pansies on the pitch, but the italian side have enough for two teams, if not more).

italy haven’t conceded a goal scored by an opponent yet (the one goal to blemish their “goals against” sheet was an own goal by cristian ziccardo against the u.s.) and have looked, aside from their opening match against ghana, as boring as italy usually look.

it’s a shame, really, with all their alleged attacking talent in midfield and upfront that they play such shit football, but it does produce results. that, and their aformentioned penchant for going to the ground at the slightest touch (or glance) from an opponent or opposing supporter.

unfortunately for us all, ukraine, while not diving like their quarterfinal opponents, have also played boring football while advancing to this stage. okay, their match against spain wasn’t so boring, but giving up four goals doesn’t boring football offset.

to their credit, though, the ukrainians have rebounded quite nicely from that opening debacle and sit a victory away from progressing further than any of the former soviet republics have done on the international footballing scene since the breakup of the communist entity a decade and a half ago.

both defenses are solid, and, under normal circumstances, the midfield and striking edge would seemingly go to italy; however, with injuries and suspensions haunting the italians (and giving them plenty to whinge about when they lose), the midfield battle becomes more of a tossup and ukraine might even edge the azzurri up front, on the simple talent of andriy shevchenko alone.

there is very little reason, however, to believe italy won’t slip past less-fancied ukraine; italy have the history, they’ve been on the big stage before, and they will grind opponents and fans alike to tears in order to hoist their 4th cup.

in the end, this matchup will not be decided conventionally; it will come down to this: the mediterranean sea (italy) v. the black sea (ukraine). and here are the key breakdowns of these two areas of contention:

• the med borders three continents; the black only crashes upon two. advantage: med
• the med is bigger, more famous, and shakes hands with the atlantic ocean; the black is landlocked, underappreciated, and shakes hands with the sea of azov. adv: med
• the med has a chain of upper-class, obnoxious, haughty resorts named after it; the black is a huge link in the chain of pipelines that funnel oil all over europe. adv: push
• the med is polluted by holiday merrymakers; the black still suffers from chernobyl. adv: push
• the med is hard to spell or pronounce; the black is linguistically pleasing. adv: black
• the med has sambuca and red wine; the black has vodka. adv: black
• the med has made-to-order mafia; the black has mail-order brides. adv: black
• the med is home to, among others, italian football; the black isn’t. adv: black

well, there it is. it’s hard to argue with the numbers. the advantage for this fixture goes to the ruffians from the black sea. it’s not always about what happens on the pitch or at the stadium because, in a battle of aesthetically-displeasing footballing squads, one must throw out conventional footballing wisdom or analysis and look elsewhere for prescient inspiration.

victory to the ukrainians! vodka for everyone!

wc06: quarterfinals all set

last night was, seemingly, the first time in two weeks that there was little or no refereeing controversy in either of the matches, although there was another red card in the brasil-ghana match and a blatant offside missed on brasil’s second goal. finally, the focus in the aftermath is on the footie, not on the decisions of the officials.

in brasil v. ghana, ronaldo sprung an offside trap to get 1-on-1 with the ghana ‘keeper, performed an act of magic to dance around said ‘keeper, and cooly buried his 15th goal in world cup competition, putting him all alone in first place for world cup goals scored.

congratulations, ronnie. for all the talk of ronaldo’s weight, his footwork still looks slick and he looks to be rounding into form, bad news for any opponents left in brasil’s path.

ghana certainly didn’t look overmatched on this night–the 3-0 scoreline is very harsh on the black stars–but, just as with cote d’ivoire in their group matches, ghana lacked the finishing class that separates the elite countries from everyone else. time and again, ghana opened huge holes in the brasilian defense, but, all too often, bad touches on passes, or bad control of passes, or taking too much time in the brasil box that allowed the defense time to recover, or bad decisions, or bad luck all conspired to leave the west africans empty-handed.

you knew it wasn’t going to be ghana’s night when their own john mensa, from point-blank range, headed a corner kick down to the turf and seemingly into goal for an equaliser, only to have the ball, shockingly, hit the brasil keeper’s shin and bounce away from the goal. it wasn’t until after it hit his own knee that ‘keeper dida even saw the ball.

still, the ghanaians did their nation, and their continent, proud and have a lot to look forward to in south africa 2010.

in the other fixture, matching european neighbours, spain and france, the spaniards had a great chance to try and begin ending the constant underachieving label that they seem to wear on their strips at every international tournament. so many “experts” seemed certain that this was the year for spain to shed its “choke” cloak. they had so many fine, young stars, they had romped through their group–even while playing a team of second-stringers in their final group fixture with saudi arabia–they had played with class and quality, and they were playing an ageing france team that had struggled to get out of the group stages. it was all set up for the spaniards to…

…do their usual. not content with dominating the first half and having a handful of chances, and having only one goal to show for it, they, just before the break, handed the french a lifeline and allowed france to level.

a 1-1 score at the break was not a reflection of first half events, yet it seemed typical for the spaniards. in a second half that would seem to have favoured the younger iberians, it was the french who seemed better suited to take honours and, so it was when patrick vieira headed les bleus in front seven minutes from time. zinedine zidane added confirmation in injury time and the resilient french went out as winners, 1-3.

perhaps next time for the spaniards, say, euro ‘08, for all the “experts” out there who keep saying that “this” is spain’s year?

now the quarterfinals are set and three of the four are rematches of some repute from the last decade or two (all times are korean):

11:59pm, friday–germany v. argentina: five stars combined on the two strips to represent the five world cups won between the two. a rematch of the ‘86 and ‘90 finals, with each nation winning once. arguably the two most consistently impressive teams of this year’s competition. fun, fun, fun, especially for a neutral.

4:00am, saturday–italy v. ukraine: a lack of sexy history between these two does not necessarily mean a boring, ugly affair. wait, it’s a match involving italy; yes, it does mean ugly. and it’s a match involving the ugliest kits left in the whole affair, ukraine’s pinwheel-like monstrosities. yep, this one will be ugly.

11:59pm, saturday–england v. portugal: a rematch of the euro ‘04 quarterfinal that saw a winning england goal late in regulation wrongfully disallowed. a match involving ill-tempered teams, most especially, in recent years, portugal. england have thus far avoided any tussles with the refs or the opposing teams; with a stormy rematch with payback written all over it, look for this continued english avoidance of controversy to end.

4:00am, sunday–brasil v. france: a rematch of the ‘98 world cup final, won by les bleus. the spectacle of carefree, half-naked, and willing brasil fans v. snobby, half-naked, and haughty french fans. these two nations are beginning to play the football we expected, or hoped, they would play. a veritable feast of football talent will blanket the pitch, even if it some of it is ageing or out of shape.

as much as i usually like to see some wild cards or underdogs in the quarterfinals, even i’m impressed with the loaded quality of these quarterfinal fixtures. personally, i like the england-portugal matchup because of the very test euro ‘04 match and the possibility of over-the-edge footie, but, from a pure footballing standpoint, i’ve got to go with the glamour germany-argentina fixture because of the potential for some cracking football.

what are your thoughts?

fifa’s anti-korean conspiracy continues and the coming retaliation

it’s being well-documented in certain internet football circles how so obvious it is that FIFA are waging its conspiracy campaign against korea, koreans, korean culture, the korean language, korean way of life, kimchee, soju, scientist woo-suk hwang, and, soon, long-time national hero, admiral sun-shin yi. however, before FIFA get their chance to smear admiral yi, they have taken on–and successfully defeated–a modern-day korean hero, the round-eyed king of korean football, guus hiddink.

in case you missed it last night, king hiddink’s australia squad were defeated by one of FIFA’s co-conspirators, italy, in a world cup round of 16 match. the loss in and of itself is not cause for suspicion, but the nature of the loss certainly is.

in a world cup fast becoming known less for the stellar play and sublime goals of the players of the competing nations than for the incredibly low quality of officiating, australia were a victim of a very dubious penalty given to ten-man italy at such a late point in the match that the ensuing penalty kick was the very last kick of the game.

that the australian player was lying unconscious on the ground in the penalty area, victim of a sniper shot from one of FIFA’s paramilitary units sitting on the roof of the stadium, was completely ignored by the spanish referee. that the italian player tripped, and then dove, over the prone and very dead aussie–because he’d forgotten his pregame instructions from one of FIFA’s goons about how to make the dive look like a brutal cutdown by the defender–was conveniently ignored by the spanish referee. (did you notice that spanish is now the official language of FIFA? you would were you able to logon to its web site).

however, fortunately for FIFA, because korea is out of the world cup and because so many korean netijens are in their fourth day without sleep as they continue to wage their online terrorism against football’s governing body, the only people watching the football games now are me, a couple of this aetherspace's dedicated footie fans, and, i believe, a group of tibetan pygmies living in the mountains of gangwon province. none of the netijen terrorists actually knew there was a match involving their great round-eye king.

as luck would have it for the korean cause, though, irate australians are putting down their mugs of mead, their pints of pilsner, their bowls of beer, and their grails of ale to join the koreans and are plotting their own terrorist war against FIFA.

though their strategy is still in its formative stages–and, of course, top secret–one thing is for certain: as non-aboriginal australians are descendants of great britain’s finest and pettiest criminals of several centuries previous and, as such, are feeble-minded in the pursuits of technology and internet prowess, they will not participate in a cyber-war but, more likely, will wage war involving the myriad of poisonous and man-eating creatures so prevalent to the world’s largest and most inhospitable island.

after all of FIFA’s governing personnel have been poisoned to death by snakes or spiders, after all swiss and italian citizens have been devoured by man-eating kangaroos, crocodiles, wombats, emus, and mutant koalas, the new alliance, called korestralia, will cancel the remainder of the competition and anoint itself world cup champion for 2006.

in other news: ukraine unwittingly announced itself as the new korestralian alliance’s arch-enemy when it put a crimp into all the pro-swiss conspiracy theories by somehow defying the odds, playing the entire match 11-on-14, and beating switzerland on penalty kicks to advance to the quarterfinals against italy. the only way for ukraine to avoiding being invaded and wiped from the face of the earth in the coming days by the korestralian alliance is to lose to italy at the weekend.

all of this action sure beats england’s continuing pathetic play in the world cup, don’t you think?

non-linear world cup thoughts

well, despite what most people here in korea think, there is still football being played; since it’s called the world cup, and there are still 16 nations represented in the tournament, FIFA voted not to discontinue the world cup when korea crashed out early yesterday, although it would surely be understandable if they had, given that their web site was crashed by a bloodthirsty horde of idiotic korean netijens–and is still unable to be accessed from korea–and that one of the swiss embassies is apparently a target of a bomb plot.

yep, many koreans have lost the plot on how to handle being served an early exit home. funny, eight years ago, koreans would have been dancing in the streets at having secured four points at a world cup played on european soil. now, because the expectations in this country of so many “expert” football fans, “expert” football analysts, and the finest football organisation in the entire universe–the korean football association (!)–four points garnered by a team not nearly as good as the one in ‘02 is reason enough to find scapegoat after scapegoat for their having not progressed, instead of looking collectively into a mirror for the real guilty party.

now, before the rage hits the fan too hard regarding my comments about korea’s not being as good in ‘06 as they were in ‘02, allow me to articulate just a moment my reasoning: defense.

in the six meaningful matches korea played in ‘02 (and i’m not counting the third place fixture with turkey because it was meaningless and i try not to remember those worthless third-place matches), the stout korean defense, backed woon-jae lee in goal, gave up a grand total of three goals (one apiece to the u.s., italy, and germany). that’s it–three goals.

the defense in ‘02 was hard-tackling, fit, obstinate, and made, in general, life miserable for opposing strikers. this defense contained jin-cheul choi, tae-young (spiderman) kim, nam-il kim, and sang-chul yoo and was duly complimented by midfielders sun-hong hwang and (captain) myung-bo hong, who both were influential in both directing the midfield and helping the defense make life hard for opponents.

how good this defense was and how it was ultimately responsible for korea’s run to the semifinals was and still is lost on the majority of the korean public because so many koreans aren’t as knowledgeable about football as they think they are. instead, everyone wants to point at jung-hwan ahn’s hair for the dramatic, chun-soo lee’s hairstyle and putrid dye jobs, guus hiddink’s antics, and whatever else was flashy enough to capture the public’s attention.

this cup’s edition didn’t have the defense of the ‘02 edition and it cost them. in three games, they gave up the only goal a three-loss team would score in the tournament (togo), a goal to a team that hadn’t scored in more than 370 minutes of world cup fixtures this century (france), and a total of four goals in all. so, let me refresh that for you: the ‘06 squad played half as many meaningful games as the ‘02 squad, yet gave up one more goal than did the ‘02 edition.

this, ladies and gentlemen, is why korea didn’t advance to the round of 16 and why they didn’t deserve to advance. no refereeing conspiracies, no pro-round-eye coalitions, no anti-orientalism collusions, no exclusionary scams. just crap defending–and some poor finishing.

lower those expectations, shore up that porous defense, qualify for south africa 2010, and we’ll see you there and see how it goes then.

now, for the first two matches of the round of 16, germany v. sweden and argentina v. mexico:

roared on by its home fans (just as the nations of the last two world cups were), the germans brutalised the swedes. a stunning two-goal lead after 12 minutes put the scandinavians in a huge hole out of which they couldn’t quite climb. thrown in the expulsion of teddy lucic in the 35th minute for two bookable offenses and it was not meant to be. factor in germany’s brilliant michael ballack and the swedes were boiled. mix in a some wasted chances by the swedes and add a little henrik larsson penalty miss in the 53rd minute and it all made for cooked scandinavia, which is a shame because some of us guys–and perhaps some of you ladies, as well–are going to miss the blonde-and-tan eye candy so prevalent in the stands when the swedes play. rolling germany 2-0 sweden.

and, in the quarterfinals, the hosts will meet… argentina, winner over mexico in a classic of match that featured a goal of such quality that you may watch football for a decade of sundays and still not see a goal of higher class.

not many rated the mexicans’ chances against perhaps the current tournament co-favourites (along with germany), including yours truly–though sporting a green mexican strip to pass on some karma–but mexico introduced themselves to the match with a very early goal, in the 6th minute, by captain rafael marquez. however, it didn’t last particularly long, as four minutes later, from an argentine corner kick, mexico’s jared borghetti, battling very hard with argentina’s hernan crespo, inadvertently headed the ball into his own net. i know that the box scores with today’s match report give credit to crespo for the goal, but if you watched the play, you’ll see that borghetti got his head on the ball in front of crespo’s foot.

the rest of regular time saw no more goals (though a lionel messi effort did see the back of the next late to give the argentines the apparent win in regular time, only for the linesman to rule, incorrectly, that messi was offside), but plenty of high-class football from both teams–and a top-drawer atmosphere in the stands from two of the most passionate sets of supporters in international football.

though a major error denied argentina a win in regular time, everyone watching a match of the highest quality deserved to have an extra thirty minutes and the rewards were just when the classy winning goal arrived eight minutes into extra time.

argentina’s maxi rodriguez took a pinpoint cross onto his chest at the upper right corner of the box, volleyed it, and sent an insane left-foot laser into the upper left corner of the net. world cup matches no longer have “golden goals”, but this would surely would have been the most golden of golden goals. as it was, twenty-two minutes remained, but no more goals would be scored and the argentinians would sqeak out a 2-1 victory.

thus, quarterfinal 1 is a tasty match of three-time winner germany v. two-time winner argentina. i, personally, think it’s too bad that these two have to face one another so early, but, nonetheless, it’s as good a quarterfinal as we could ask for.

round of 16 set; korea heartbroken

*note: the following post was written immediately after the switzerland v. korea match, almost 24 hours ago now. my apologies for being late in posting here.

well, for most of the 48 million people on the peninsula who live south of the 38th parallel, the 2006 world cup is effectively over, for there will no korean side–in fact, no asian one, either–in the knockout rounds after they went down, 2-0, to switzerland in the final match of the group stages.

in the pub where i watched this morning’s switzerland v. korea match, there was a lot of optimism before kickoff. however, nearly from the very start, it was evident that the swiss had brought their “a” game and the koreans had not. the swiss outplayed, outdefensed, outpassed, and outhustled the taeguk warriors almost from the beginning. philippe senderos’s 23rd minute bullet header put the red-clad swiss deservedly in front and, despite a furious korean push to end the half, that was the scoreline at the break.

the restart saw the koreans pushing just as hard as they had to end the first half, but it left them vulnerable to swiss counterattacks. korea really never seemed a threat to score, though they came closest in the 66th minute when jae-jin cho headed a chun-soo lee cross toward the goal, only to have it cleared at the last by swiss ‘keeper pascal zuberbuehler. this came several moments after the koreans had appealed to the ref for a penalty kick for a handball on a swiss defender in his own box, but the ref correctly ignored the korean protests.

at this point, france were ahead of togo in their match, 2-0, which meant korea had to score two goals to win to be able to advance; a korea draw with france ahead, 2-0, would do the asians no good, so they poured forward seeking, first, the equaliser first and, second, the winner. but the match’s second goal would not come from the white-clad asians.

instead, the europeans scored the next goal and it, scored 13 minutes from time, was not without controversy, albeit undeserved controversy. deep in the korean end, a pass from a swiss player was deflected inadvertently by a korean defender to teammate alexander frei, who tiptoed around korean goalkeeper woon-jae lee and slotted home from an acute angle. the linesman on the side closest to the play raised his flag for offside, but was correctly overruled by the ref because of the korean defender’s touch on the ball, which negated the offside. the koreans vehemently protested, but to no avail; it was karma coming around for payback for some of the calls in ‘02 that went korea’s way.

in the end, though, the controversy was unwarranted and of no consequence to the outcome, as switzerland were the better team and, as france got the better of togo, 2-0, the ‘02 semifinalists, whom everyone here thought had started so well to beat togo and draw with france, were left to rue their slew of poor finishing and suspect defending (woon-jae lee excluded) in all three matches. in the end, to be fair, korea didn’t deserve to advance and will be trudging home shortly with lots of “what ifs” running through their minds.

in the early matches of the night, from group h, a second-string spain side saw off saudi arabia, 0-1, and ukraine struggled to put away ten-man tunisia, 1-0, but with the spain result, the ukrainians only needed a draw to advance, anyway.

thus, the final two fixtures of the round of 16 are now set: spain v. france and switzerland v. ukraine.

and the knockout stages begin later tonight with germany v. sweden at 11:59pm, korea time, and argentina v. mexico in the early sunday morning 4am fixture.

now, the fun really begins…

day 14 wrap-up

if you didn’t stay up until 6am this morning, korea time, to watch the late fixtures, you missed perhaps the best match of the tournament in croatia v. australia. and with brasil getting a wake-up call a half-hour into their match with japan before getting juiced, it made for an exciting two hours of football.

japan v. brasil: japan took a shock lead 33 minutes in on a goal by keiji tamada, who was fed an exquisite through ball by alex (alessandro santos by name, a brasilian-born naturalised japanese citizen). it was japan’s first real chance of the half and was, to be fair, an undeserved lead.

to that point, brasil had been peppering the japan goal, only for that man, outstanding japanese goalkeeper yoshikatsu kawaguchi, to keep the south americans at bay with save after save. it was only a matter of time, however, that he would concede because his defense continually kept breaking down in front of him. once the dam was breached, as it was by ronaldo two minutes from the break, it became the proverbial flood and brasil, with three second-half goals, coasted to a comfortable 1-4 win over the asians.

the elimination of the japanese, coupled with iran’s exit a couple of nights earlier, leaves just two asian teams to carry the continent’s banner into the next round, saudi arabia and korea. and, of course, korea seemed the more suited to shoulder this burden–and we shall see soon enough.

croatia v. australia: this was perhaps the most exciting match of the tournament so far. it had an early goal, a late goal, two comebacks, one man for each team sent off in regular time, a goalkeeper make one of the howlers in world cup history, a ref forget how many bookings he’d given–and, as a result, dish out three bookings to one player, the third one right before the final whistle in injury time to make it three explusions–and raucous celebrations by both sets of teams and fans at various points of the match.

if the brasilians did the expected and defeated japan, then the winner of this match would go through (though, in that case, oz really only needed a draw). to make this a potentially thrilling match, croatia would need to score first, which they obligingly did in the third minute to stun the travelling hordes of aussies. oz would equalise five minutes from the break with a craig moore penalty conversion.

the restart began as the game did, when, 9 minutes in, substitute oz keeper, zeljko kalac, gifted the croats a goal when he allowed a weak ball from nico kovac, that kalac seemed to have grasped, slip away and bundle over the goal line, giving croatia the lead and an open door to the next round. a while later, oz had a second penalty denied, thereby raising the stress levels inside the stadium to what seemed, from watching on television, an unbearable level.

all that tension from the travelling hordes wearing yellow and green was released ten minutes from time when harry kewel levelled for the socceroos. the scenes on the telly were stunning. the theretofore dancing and singing croats were reduced to stunned silence while jubilant australians were losing their knickers.

the last ten minutes were as nerve-wracking as a group stage match could produce as croatia slammed the oz goal in desperation to get the goal they needed to progress. as the minutes ticked down, the croats pressed and nearly got what they needed, only for that shot to be kicked off the line by moore. at that point, you couldn’t help but think the croats were going to nick it, even when, first, dario simic was sent off in the 85th minute to reduce the croats to ten men and, then, for sure, when oz’s brett emerton was given his expulsion two minutes later. the scene became beyond surreal when josip simunic received his second and then third yellow card in injury time and was expelled just seconds before the final whistle.

with that, oz’s 2-2 draw was enough to see them through to the next round for the first time in their history and i’m sure the denizens from down under partied stuttgart numb in celebration.

can friday night’s matches top this for drama. while group h seems nearly set, group g seems the more likely to produce histrionics, with three evenly-matched teams–switzerland, korea, and france–desperately in the running for the next round and the wild card, togo, completely unpredictable but, oh, so able to have a say in the final results. it should be fun…

last night’s fixtures didn’t offer too much drama. in the night’s first matches, portugal v. mexico and iran v. angola, the africans needed to win by more than one goal and a portugal win in order to advance to the next round.

in the second fixtures at 4am, korea time, holland v. argentina and cote d’ivoire v. serbinegro, there was much less drama:

group d: portugal, though resting several starters, were the better team right from the start and were duly rewarded in the 6th minute with a goal from nuno maniche. just over 15 minutes later, sabrosa simao converted a penalty (given for handling in the box by mexico’s captain, rafael marquez) and the selecao were up two goals and giving angola plenty of help, which the black antelopes couldn’t take advantage of. five minutes later, however, francisco fonseca halved the portuguese lead with a header in the box in which i was closer to marking him than were the portuguese defenders. the first half of each game ended thusly: portugal 2-1 mexico; and iran 0-0 angola.

the second half of both games saw plenty of action, but not always well-played footie. angola gave themselves hope in their match by scoring fifteen minutes after the restart, and just minutes after mexico’s omar bravo missed a penalty which would have drawn the mexicans level and end the suspense. regardless, all suspense was ended 15 minutes from time when iran’s sohrab bakhtiarizadeh (no clue if that’s spelled right) drew his team level. there would be no further scoring in either match, so portugal and mexico move on to play another day and iran and angola crash out.

though dominating this particular match and most likely feeling aggrieved at the deceiving scoreline, the iranians were a massive disappointment, securing only one point from three matches. on the other hand, the southwestern africans did themselves and their nation proud by playing gritty, tough, resolute football and can feel good about how they conducted themselves on such a formidable stage.

group c: this group’s final match day saw the two already-eliminated teams play and the two already-qualified teams play. in the “eliminated” match, cote d’ivoire came from two goals down–after twenty minutes of play–with an inspired display to grab a 3-2 victory over ten-man serbinegro. this game had a lot for such a meaningless match: two goals within the first 20 minutes, two penalties (both against serbinegro and both of which were converted), and two red cards (one for each team, though the ivorian red was in the 90th minute, not enough time for the serbinegrans to take advantage).

the world will have to wait four more years to get another big-stage glimpse of the ivorians, but they have made their mark that they could be a force in the coming years.

the “qualified” match saw a scoreless draw between the dutch and argentinians, but this, too, was far from boring. the two sets of supporters sounded like this was a do-or-die match, at least from where i was watching, but the two teams, while entertaining and looking for scores early, just didn’t give that final push to secure victory. each team was content to let honours be even once the match got into the latter stages. thus, argentina finish top of the group, level on points (7) with runners-up holland, but with a greater goal difference.

well, now half of the round of 16 is set: on tap sunday morning at 4am, korea time, following germany v. sweden, is argentina v. mexico. monday’s 4am matchup, following england v. ecuador, will be portugal v. holland.

tonight’s previews:

group e: many have called group d the group of death, but this group e is the only group to see all four teams neither eliminated nor qualified as they play their third matches, which are italy v. czech republic and ghana v. usa:

it’s simple for italy: win or draw and they’re through, regardless of other results
czech republic win and they’re through, regardless of other results
ghana win and they’re through, regardless of other results
usa win and italy defeat czech republic, usa go through
any scenarios involving a draw in the italy-czech republic game and it’s a logistical nightmare that i’m going to spare you.

if you really want to know exactly what the u.s. must do in the event of an italy-czech draw, click here: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=372079&cc=3436

group f: this one is a little bit simpler, with the matches being japan v. brasil and croatia v. australia:

brasil are already in, regardless of result, but a draw or win put them top of the group
australia beat croatia, oz are in, regardless of japan’s result
croatia beat oz, the croats are in, regardless of japan’s result
oz and croatia draw and japan lose, oz are through
oz and croatia draw and japan win, then it all depends on goal difference and goals scored. again, too complicated for here

it should be an entertaining night of football and we’ll all know three-quarters of the next round about 6am friday morning, korea time.

it’s all so complicated that i can’t predict what’s going to happen (not that i’d get it right, anyway…!) but here’s one man’s hope that ghana, czech republic, brasil, and oz qualify for the next round.

hope your team gets through…!

world cup: day 13 preview

after tonight’s matches, half of the round of 16 will be filled out and tonight’s offerings seem to have as little drama as last night’s did.

group c: cote d’ivoire v. serbinegro and holland v. argentina

cote d’ivoire and serbinegro are playing for nothing more than pride, especially the serbinegrans, who have massively disappointed in two matches. will they battle back from their smackdown by argentina or will they just posture their way through 90 minutes and meekly scuttle home? we pretty much know that the orange elephants are going to bring it and it’s a shame, from an admittedly ivorian point of view, that cote d’ivoire didn’t get the serbinegrans in their first or second match so they possibly would have every thing to play for tonight. drogba & co. to win and salvage three deserved points.

holland v. argentina, on paper, would suggest a heavyweight matchup between two teams who’ve already secured their place in the next round–and it really is, save for the sometimes sputtering dutch attack in their first two matches. they certainly are a flopping bunch, which no one wants to see, especially when they are so talented.

arjen robben has been aces for the oranje, except when he’s been diving, but they were severely exposed by the talented ivorians, who had too many cases of nerviness when finishing and let the dutch off the hook. if the dutch get exposed tonight in the same way, and argentina bring the same classiness they delivered to serbinegro, watch out–it could be a romp in favour of the south americans.

something tells me, though, that this match will be close; though the dutch need to win to top the group, and argentina need only a draw to top the group, i see argentina continuing their stellar play and winning a close one.

group d: iran v. angola and portugal v. mexico

this group mirrors almost identically group b from last night. angola, like trinibago before it, need a win and a portugal win by a combined margin of at least four goals. the combined margin could be three goals, but angola would need to score four more goals than the mexicans score–and that ain’t happenin’, folks. a much more plausible scenario, but still a longshot, is for angola to win, 0-2, and for portugal to win, 2-0. with the persian defense being as soft as year-old tofu, angola’s prospects of latching onto a nil-2 or 1-3 win aren’t so farfetched.

what is more difficult to decipher is whether portugal can help out their former colony by doing the same to mexico that angola need to do to iran. with the iberians certain to rest five of their starters–all of whom have bookings in their pockets from the two earlier matches–it doesn’t look good for angola. the mexicans stuttered against the unfancied black antelopes last time out and will be looking to bounce back.

a draw will see them through–as, of course, will it see through the portuguese. if this one is a draw, then portugal pip the group with mexico runners-up. if the mexicans win, then they top the group and portugal are runners-up. if mexico lose, well, we’ve already covered that.

my heart wants what it wanted last night–a 2-goal win by a group leader (portugal) and a 2-goal win by the rank outsider (angola). however much i will be cheering that on, my head says no. thus, portugal and mexico draw, angola win, and portugal and mexico live to fight on in the next round.

day 12 wrap-up

well, one-quarter of the round of 16 is set: germany v. sweden on saturday at 11:59pm and england v. ecuador on sunday night at 11:59pm.

germany, roared on by an intimidating sell-out crowd in berlin, looked back to being well in-form in their 0-3 rout of ecuador last night. two miroslav klose goals before intermission combined with a third by lukas podolski 12 minutes after the restart gave germany a well-earned victory and saw them finish first in group A. one would have to favour the prussians over their scandinavian opponents at the weekend, but it won’t be easy. the south americans, playing their worst game of the tournament so far, finish as runners-up. they most likely will not play so poorly at the weekend against england.

rounding out group A’s final matches was costa rica v. poland. the poles fell behind in the 24th minute to a ronald gomez goal, only to level 9 minutes later on defender bartosz basacki’s first goal for his country. though it was a day game played in sultry weather and the two teams were playing only for pride, there was passion and a fair amount of energy on both sides. pressing the issue finally paid off for the poles when, nearly at the midpoint of the second half, that man bartosz scored his second goal of the night to put the poles up, 1-2. they held on from there and salvaged three points from another disappointing world cup campaign.

in group B, paraguay were playing for pride while trinibago were playing for a win and lots of england help. the islanders didn’t get the win, as their defense, which had been resolute and solid in drawing with sweden and losing late to england, was exposed more in this match because they were pressing for goals. paraguay went up a goal just past the midpoint of the first half when the soca warriors’ brent sancho turned the ball into his own net. this made the tiny islanders’ plight even more precarious. they pushed hard in the second half, needing at least two goals, but their lack of quality in their opponents’ end was as glaring as ever. nelson cuevas sealed it for paraguay four minutes from time and the south americans got the deserved win.

though trinibago failed to score even one goal, their effort and desire to battle their asses off made them lots of new fans, including nearly all the neutrals in the crowd and me watching here in korea. a testament to that was that i split my time fairly evenly flipping back and forth between this game and the sweden-england match.

speaking of which, where to start on this one? owen’s injury, rooney’s superb first half and subsequent fade after the restart, joe cole’s smashing volley, or england’s shit play on set pieces? well, first things first, i guess: england and sweden drew, 2-2, to leave england atop the group and sweden as runners-up.

there isn’t much to say about owen because we don’t know anything at this early point in time. his knee twisted up on him in an ugly manner after a minute of play and he was stretchered off (i needed a few drinks as i watched him writhe in agony, already thinking ahead to how this will affect my beloved newcastle’s upcoming season; i could just imagine the geordie cries of anguish all over the northeast of england, especially on tyneside, as owen lay there). rooney looked nearly like his old self in the first forty-five minutes, but slagged off after the restart and was replaced 20 minutes from time by steven gerrard. rooney was none too happy when taken off, although it’s now unclear whether he was angry at his poor second half or at being replaced. knowing rooney, it’s probably a little of both.

meanwhile, joe cole’s goal, the match’s first goal, was a cracker of a volley. he was divine in this match, much better than he was against trinibago–and england are going to need him to continue to be in form. however, five minutes after the restart of play, marcus allback brought the swedes level with a header off a corner. sweden were the better team for most of the second half and will feel aggrieved not to have gone ahead on several occasions after the score was levelled: a couple of shots hit the woodwork, a claim for a handball in the box was ignored, and gerrard had to clear a ball off the line.

then, five minutes from time, gerrard gave england what was thought to be the winner (which would have been england’s first win over the scandinavians in my lifetime) on a header, but henrik larsson equalised in the 90th minute on a goal as ugly as ji-sung park’s against france, if not uglier. i’m still not sure larsson got his foot on the ball, but it counted and the match ended with honours even.

sweden have a formidable task at the weekend against rampant hosts, germany, and england are going to have to step it up another notch if they are going to slip by ecuador; they certainly are going to have to tighten up their defense on corner kicks and set plays, as both sweden goals came from there. and with owen’s world cup most likely over, sven will have to go into that match with only three fit strikers. lovely prospect for the rest of england’s germany adventure, whether it’s one game or two or more…

day 11, pt. 2; day 12 preview

yesterday’s play in the world cup went pretty much according to plan. switzerland took care of togo, 0-2, but not without some anxious moments (i know some of you hard-core cynics out there hate to have any comments made about refereeing decisions, but the togo penalty claim in the first half that was denied–the one where swiss defender muller blatantly stuck out his foot behind himself to trip up togo’s adebayor, who was going around him for an open shot on goal–was perhaps the most disgraceful refereeing decision of the tournament so far). togo were outgunned, in the end, but were never really out of it and never really too outclassed.

ukraine showed what many of us thought they had–but didn’t show against spain–as they blasted saudi arabia, 0-4, in a dominant performance that has them well on track for the next round. they merely need a draw in their last match with tunisia and hope that saudi don’t humiliate spain by some five- or six-goal margin, which might not even happen were spain to play their players’ children in that match.

in the final game of the day, tunisia got off to a flying start and caused spain some anxious twisting before the spaniards levelled right before the break. two goals by fernando torres in the second half saw off the north africans and put the iberians into the next round. this sets up a do-or-die for tunisia in their third match, with ukraine. beat ukraine and the carthage eagles are through; a loss or draw to ukraine and tunisia watch the rest of the tournament like the rest of us will.

tonight’s matches provide some entertainment, though not as much as will other group matches tomorrow and later in the week.

group A: this is pretty straightforward. costa rica and poland play each other with nothing but pride on the line. i like costa rica to win, but it doesn’t really matter. the top two teams in the group, ecuador and host germany play and it’s straightforward, as well: ecuador win or draw and they win the group. germany must beat the south americans to win the group. hoping and thinking ecuador will top this group, these two will play the winners and runners-up of…

…group B: this one’s a little more tricky than group A. the matches tonight–and these are the late games–ppit sweden v. england and paraguay v. trinibago.

• first, paraguay are out.
• second, england win or draw and they win the group.
• third, if sweden beat england, then sweden win the group and england are second, regardless of what trinibago does.
• fourth, if sweden draw with england, then england win the group, sweden finish second, and trinibago go home, regardless of its result.
• fifth, trinibago can qualify for the knockout stage only under this following scenario, which is plausible: england must beat sweden and trinibago must beat paraguay by a combined four-goal difference. right now, trinibago is -2 on goal difference while sweden are +1. so, if england win, 0-3, and trinibago win, 0-1, then trinibago and sweden would finish level on points (4), but trinibago will have a better goal difference, -1 to sweden’s -2.
• sixth, trinibago can qualify for the knockout stage under the following scenario, as well, also feasible: england and trinibago win by a combined three goals and the soca warriors score two more goals against paraguay than do sweden against england. thus, if england win, 1-2, then trinibago must win score at least three goals AND win by two goals, so at least 1-3. ergo, sweden and trinibago are level on points (4) and goal difference (0), but trinibago’s goals for is 3, while sweden’s is 2.
• seventh, i don’t want to think about it because it hurts too much, but some sort of lottery, panty raid, farting contest, penalty kick shootout, or limbo party would determine who goes through…

anyway, in group B, my head says sweden and england draw, sending them both through. my heart says that somehow england and trinibago wrangle wins by enough margins to send trinibago through to the second round. under either scenario i’m predicting, ecuador would play sweden/trinibago at the weekend while sven’s men would play the hosts.

my, oh, my, welcome to the round of 16 were the latter to occur. not a bad way to kickoff the knockout stages, eh?

day 11 wrap-up

togo v. switzerland

the worst possible result, from a korean perspective, in this match has happened.

switzerland have just beaten togo, 0-2, which now puts the swiss on top of the table because of a greater goal difference than korea, +2 to +1. korea were hoping to face a switzerland squad with near-zero chance to advance, but, alas, that’s not going to be the case. korea are now going to be facing the team that has looked the strongest, over the first two matches, of any of the group.

this means that, on saturday morning 4am (korea time), korea must beat switzerland to qualify for the next round. a draw with the swiss will not eliminate korea, but they will need help from the togolese, who are certainly capable of providing that help, but, given their inner-camp turmoil, it is not something to count on.

so, here’s how it breaks down:

if korea win and france win, then they’re both through

if korea lose and france lose, the switzerland and korea advance

if korea and switzerland draw (any scoreline), and france draw with or only win by 1-0 to togo, then korea and switzerland advance (korea pipping france on goals for, though level on points {5} and goal difference {+1})

if france lose, then, regardless of the outcome of their game, switzerland and korea advance.if korea and switzerland draw (any scoreline), and france win by one goal and score three more goals than did korea against switzerland, then france and switzerland go though (example: korea draw, 0-0, then france must have a one-goal win and score three goals or more because the tiebreaker between teams level on points and goal difference is the number of goals for, not the number of goals against)

if korea and switzerland draw (any scoreline), and france win by 2 or more goals (any scoreline), then switzerland and france advance (france and korea will level on points (5), but france will have a greater goal difference, +2, than korea, +1, would have.if korea and switzerland draw (any scoreline) and france win by one goal but only score exactly two more goals than korea (say korea draw, 2-2, and france win, 4-3, the they are level on points{5}, goal difference {+1}, and goals for {5}), then flip a coin, i guess, because france and korea will be level on points, goal difference, and goals for. from here, i don’t know how it breaks down. maybe it’s goals against, maybe it’s decided by a soju-drinking contest, taking penalty kicks, which teams has the biggest jerks, or maybe arm-wrestling between trainers, i’m not really sure. the fifa world cup site didn’t seem to offer any insight, so maybe one of you diligent folks out there can provide us with a more replete answer.

thus, korea face a near-do-or-die against the swiss. as stated above, it’s certainly possible they can lose to switzerland and still qualify, but that’s placing their fates in the hands of another and that’s a shaky thing. as both games–as all the third games of the group stages will be–will be played simultaneously, korea will have to go for the win.

my head hurts now from all of that–and it might not even be right. i’m sure one of you wary and watchful souls will catch me if i’m wrong–and i’ll be much obliged for it, too.

france v. korea

while sitting under some steps next to the cheonggye stream that meanders through the jongno district of seoul in hopes of catching a glimpse of the meaning of the universe from under a short skirt, here are some thoughts on last night’s this morning’s one and only match of consequence here on the peninsula:

in complete fairness, the france-korea match was, for the majority of the time, a pitiful bore. for the first ten or fifteen minutes, france were the better team and were well-deserved to be ahead in the 9th minute on thierry henry’s goal–france’s first world cup goal of the 21st century. from shortly thereafter until about fifteen minutes from time, the game was a yawner, which isn’t good when kickoff is only an hour before sunrise.

there is no use crying about france’s “goal” that wasn’t because if the two teams can play like shit, then so can the ref have a crap day. france didn’t not win because of that non-goal, but it is fair to say that had the goal been rightly counted, the entire complexion of the game would have gone from pimply and pock-marked to glamourous and photogenic because the koreans would have had to up their game to get back in it. as it was, france were content after that to sit back and play conservatively and, until a quarter hour remained in the match, korea looked as likely to score as a lesbian on a naval carrier lost at sea.

*a comment or two on the “goal” that wasn’t: goalkeeper woon-jae lee’s entire body was behind the goal line when he scooped the ball out of the goal mouth, so it was clearly a goal, available replay angle or not.

it is clear that FIFA have got to do something to remedy these sorts of situations. it’s bad enough that neither the ref nor the linesman had position enough to witness the ball’s clear crossing of the goal line (and for all you korea-backers out there, clam it; just once, i’d like to hear koreans admit that there was a blown call that went in their favour instead of their being yellow and hiding behind the mantra of, “the referee didn’t see it.” i guaran-damn-tee you that were the reverse ever to happen to korea, the amount of sound from all the whingeing in this country about it would be enough to alter the earth’s revolutionary orbit around the sun), but how bad is it going to be when this such a thing (and it is a case of when, not if) happens in a knockout stage game or, even worse, in a semifinal or final (spain’s bad luck with the refs in ’02’s quarterfinal match with korea notwithstanding)?

be that as it may, that lack of call didn’t lose the match. refs make mistakes, just as players do. france seemed to tuck their tails between their legs and saunter back on defense after that.
i don’t know about “sir” advocaat’s genius, but korea certainly pressed the issue late in the match. just before ji-sung park’s goal levelled the match, comments at our table in the pub were along the lines of, “france are holding on, but it looks to be a matter of time before korea level, given how the match is going currently.”

and, then, as in the togo match, park was monumentally instrumental in getting korea level.

park’s goal was one the ugliest the talented midfielder will ever score, but all goals look the same in the match report and many koreans (jung-hwan ahn, in particular, as well as members of the england squad–frank lampard, i hope you’re paying attention via ESP) would be well-served to recognise that sheer blasting of the ball when presented an opportunity is not always the most effective, though it can be the most glamourous, way to score a goal. a well-place sidefooted shot or diligent persistence in front of the goal mouth or merely tapping in a rebound all count the same.

and i would be remiss not to shout kudos regarding park’s goal to (i think) jae-jin cho, who’s header toward the front of the goal mouth while pedalling backward to get to a tad long cross resulted in panic amongst the french defenders and allowed park to poke at the ball. cho deserves as much credit for the goal for his diligence to get a head on the ball as does park for his diligence to bundle the ball over the line in seemingly slow motion.

i have some thoughts on this group G of korea’s, but i think they’re better served to simmer until at least the finish of tonight’s switzerland-togo, provided there is a match.

for god’s sakes, this togo saga is as bad as a reality TV show back in britain or america–or any drama here in korea. the togo football federation is beginning to make the korea football association–one of the main reasons i detest korean football at the moment–look like an association of innocuous nuns who always keep their word, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and are truly benevolent every minute of their lives.

god, i hope togo don’t boycott tonight’s match. what a blight on togo’s football federation, on this world cup, and on football in general were that to happen.

world cup, day 10

while koreans this morning (and all day, for sure) are celebrating their 1-1 “win” over france (any time a team scores a late equaliser, as korea did, doesn’t it always seem like that team “won” the game?), i’m going to continue my dogged pursuit of updating everyone on the world cup, so those of you only interested in the korea match may want to ignore this and wait for the next post.

though a scoreless draw, croatia and japan provided a fairly entertaining match. while croatia aren’t so bad, the only reason to watch japan play footie is to watch their hidden gem of a goalkeeper, yoshikatsu kawaguchi. though he conceded three goals to australia, he frustrated the socceroos all game long and only gave up the goals because his defense let him down. he was again remarkable last night againt the croats, most especially in the 22nd minute when he stopped a dado prso penalty kick and he denied the croats on several other occasions in the first half.

japan’s performance, aside from the gallant kawaguchi, has been pathetic. their drive to create has been typical for a culture that stifles individual creativity and their finishing in front of the goal has been horrific, most notably for this match in the 51st minute when atsushi yanagisawa flummoxed a ball wide from virtually point-blank range and the croatia goalkeeper not only out of the picture, but seemingly completely distracted by his dancing countrymen in the stands.

croatia have only one point from two matches–a somewhat cruel fate for an underrated squad that have played good football for two matches. their next match, with australia, should be a steamer just on general principles and will be aided and abetted by the fact that the croats need a win to book passage to the knockout rounds. japan, meanwhile, will battle mighty brasil and, given their performance in the first two matches–again, yamaguchi’s performance aside–will be hard-pressed to be fancied to advance.

and while australia only need a point from their match with croatia, they should feel aggrieved not to have at least gained a point in their match with brasil. for nearly all of the match, the ‘roos battled on even grounds with the five-time world champs. true, they were called for 25 fouls in the match (more than double brasil’s fouls), but they didn’t play as chippily as i thought they might. they heroically held kaka and ronaldinho in check and the difference proved to be this: a moment for inspiration from ronaldo produced a ball that adriano pinpointedly finished while the aussies had chances twice at open netting only to have both chances flash tantalisingly over the bar. their second goal in the 89th minute was inconsequential and only provided for a very deceiving scoreline.

this is the difference between world-class teams that’ve won the world cup and those that want to win the world cup: taking advantage, under great pressure, of the few chances afforded them. not every team is going to be able to create, in every match, as many chances for itself as, say, argentina did against serbinegro–not even argentina is guaranteed to do that again in this tournament–so teams that win the world cup take advantage, more often than not, of the goal opportunities when they are presented.

brasil won, 2-0, and the scoreline is an unfair reflection of the match, but it is a fair reflection of a team accustomed to finishing its few chances in cold-blooded fashion. australia, should they progress to the next round, are going to a handful for anyone they play, but they’ve got to be better about finishing should they fancy making a run at the prize.

the france-korea update will follow shortly, as my verbosity may get the better of me and it’s better to make it a separate entry…

italy v. u.s.

amazing football in this one, to say the least. it may not have been the cleanest, most error-free, most concise, most ingenious football match ever, but, boy, was it entertaining. an own goal, three red cards, a goal disallowed on a dubious offsides (i’ll elaborate in a moment), some decent goalkeeper saves, a lot of poor finishing, and tons of effort and heart the pitch over. though it was after sunrise when it finished here in korea, i was inspired enough to go outside immediately and play a little footie myself…

despite my feelings toward the u.s. in general, i’ve always been an admirer of u.s. footballers because they toil in anonymity in a country that could care less about “soccer.” they are, essentially, the black sheep of american sports–and, being a black sheep myself, i usually find myself taking u.s. football to heart on the big stage. and this morning’s match gave me no reason not to continue doing so, though i’m going to have a tough time in the next match because i want both ghana and the u.s. to go through and it’s impossible for both of them to do so. tough choice, but that’s for later.

this match might be the match that will start the international football pundits on their way to begin acknowledging that while the u.s. might not a footie superpower–overall, as a nation–the football climate that does exist in the u.s., small though it may be, might be on par, in its own way, to that of any nation whose entire populace is mesmerised by the game. while watching the match on television, i was amazed to hear, throughout most of the second half, that it was the american fans doing most of the rowdy singing, not the lazy gits from southern europe. the atmosphere inside the kaiserslautern stadium was usually not one reserved for a match involving the u.s and seemed fantastic.

and, from that, the u.s., down to eight men within 90 seconds of the restart, made what had theretofore seemed impossible: eight outfielders nearly running nine ragged. for most of the second half, it seemed like it was nine-on-nine in the outfield. i honestly couldn’t tell that the u.s. only had eight players. they won loose balls, they tackled with conviction, they played with heart and character that many thought they didn’t have.

it was an entertaining game because it was never dull. it did seem like the u.s. got a little gassed toward the end, because the italians seemed destined to nick the entire three points, only to have u.s. goalkeeper, kasey keller, make several key saves in the final ten minutes. it was a well-deserved point for the u.s.; after their dismal showing against czech republic, they proved their mettle, their detractors wrong, and that the second round will be poorer if they’re not in it.

now about the red cards and the offside call: de rossi’s red card was well-deserved and he should be banned from the rest of the tournament. it was a blatant cheap shot and it could have cost the italians the game, and, ultimately, a shot at the next round. mastroeni’s red was not hard for me to argue with, either, because it was a cynical, two-footed lunge that got no ball and all opponent. i have no beef with it; in fact, were i bruce arena, the u.s. gaffer, i would be (still) very put out with mastroeni for such an idiotic play when there was still more than a half to play for italy being a man down. the u.s. could have done to italy what ghana had done to the czechs the game previous and run them into the ground and perhaps gotten a goal or two more.

the second red on a u.s. player, just after the restart, was rubbish. pope’s tackle warranted no yellow; it was an overly harsh, unnecessary decision by the uruguayan ref. though there were numerous fouls and plenty of bookings, this was not one i felt deserved a booking. it had a profound effect on the match; with what the u.s. did to italy when down to eight men, imagine what damage they could have wreaked if there had been nine outfielders for each squad.

as for the offside call that disallowed the u.s. a goal in the 65th minute, i’m not sure about that one, either. yes, mcbride was clearly not onside, but he was not involved in the play and, if he didn’t get a touch on the ball, under the new rules for offside established in the last year or so, it should not have been called offside.

however, and i never saw a replay that confirmed or disputed this, if mcbride did get a touch on it, then, sure, it’s definitely offside. i think FIFA need to clear this up because it seems too often as if we are awaiting the outcomes of such incidences to rely on judgment calls made by linemen who are often on the other side of the pitch from the play or from referees who are out of position, too far behind the play, or whose direct line of sight are blocked. it was a heartbreaking decision for a team down to eight outfielders, yet were outplaying the gits who still had nine.

nevertheless, the result, considering the circumstances and the way the italians came so close in the last ten minutes to scoring, is a fantastic one for the yanks and sets up a still-intriguing final match in this second ”group of death” (group C–argentina, holland, ivory coast–is the other group of death–and, no, serbinegro’s two results earn them no mention in the group of death now).

what to avoid tonight: a dull and lack-of-quality match in japan v. croatia; an oz foul-fest against whingey and potential drama queens, brasil; booking a hotel near city hall in seoul in hopes of having a fitful, undisturbed sleep; having your pic plastered all over the internet should your team get a result and you get carried away celebrating, in public; no wild celebrations in apgujeong, for that will mean korea have won.

things to hope for tonight: oz to get a result in a well-played match with brasil; a result, as well, from japan-croatia so that the third games in this group will also mean something; france to break their 360-odd minute scoring duck against the koreans; more intelligent reaction from koreans, regardless of outcome, when analysing the game (look, a plethora of stats are great–and relevant–in baseball, american football, basketball, clogging, ice dancing, piggy-back riding, and growing marijuana, but not in football, so spare me the stats crap when talking footie; it only shows your football ignorance). the only stat that truly matters is the scoreline and how much heart each team play with.

a sunburn and the world cup

it may take me months to recover from this world cup. this is even worse than two years ago when i stayed up nightly to watch the european 2004 football championship. add to my lack of sleep a healthy dose of beautiful weather and lots of sun while working out or hanging at the beach, and it all adds up to haggardness.

however, because of last night's games and today's matches, thus far, it's a fate i accept willingly. if the african teams can keep up their current good form, then it's all good with me...

after last night’s draw with mexico, angola might have believed they were carrying the hopes of a nation and a continent on their backs, but that was pretty much dispelled by an impressive portugal tonight, who dispatched iran with relative ease, 2-0, sending the iranians out of the cup ignomiously.

angola now only have a slight chance to advance because they are -3 on goal difference to mexico. it will be tough enough for angola to beat iran, much less beat iran by enough goals combined with an equally dominant portugal win over mexico for the black antelopes to run through to the second round.

however, after taking no points from their first four games, the african teams have bounced back and now have taken 5 points from their next four–and the pointless game, ivory coast’s losing last night to holland to crash out of the cup, was an undeserved no-pointer.

iran were a major disappointment in this cup, having exited their group surprisingly meekly. it was thought by many that they were a legitimate threat to nick runnerup in this group because mexico and portugal are not always reliable on the international stage. instead, the iranians are out and unfancied angola are still hanging around. i can assure you that not many “experts” would have thunkit before the world cup started.

but the first real “upset” of the tournament just finished a few moments ago. just days after coming close to italy, the ghanians were not too fancied to win this match against the czechs–more especially because of the czechs’ dominant performance against the u.s. in their opener. however, nearly from start to finish–even before the czechs went down a man to a red card for tomas ujfalusi 25 minutes from time–the west africans reinstated pride to the forgotten continent with a fairly thorough thrashing. the 0-2 scoreline is actually flattering to czech republic because ghana missed a penalty and had czech goalkeeper petr cech make five nearly incredible saves in the last twenty minutes of the match to keep the score close. the czechs are very lucky not to be -2 or worse on goal difference.

this sets up an even more intriguing-than-before match between italy and the u.s. not long from now. if italy win, they’re through and the u.s. crash out. if the u.s. win, then all four teams will sit on three points each, with only goal difference to tell them apart–and setting up some fine, tense third matches next week. if italy and u.s. play out a draw, then the drama is still there, just not as thick, for both games three.

both italy and the yanks have to take heart from ghana’s thrashing of czech republic, but for different reasons. italy know a win will put them in the group driver’s seat and the u.s. now can be boosted by the knowledge that this group is as evenly matched as they initially thought it was. of course, italy will face a dangerous, wounded czech team in game three, while the u.s. will face a dangerous, confident ghana team in their game three.

just for the sheer drama of it, a u.s. victory over italy tonight would be fantastic. it’s always nice when the final group stage matches mean something for every team in a group.

enjoy the u.s. match and see you back here again soon…

day 8

the beach beckons, so this straight to the matches:

match 21: argentina v. serbinegro

what can one say about a 6-0 thrashing? well, how about this: how sick are argentina that they can take their foot off the gas for most of the second half, already up 3-nil, and then still flip a switch and score three goals in ten minutes toward the end of the match? it was so bad that we were thinking the referee was going to call the game in the 85th minute when it was 4-0 and the serbinegrans having already been down a man for 20 minutes at that point. that he even gave a minute of injury time was merciless.

the argies simply ran riot over the serbinegrans. their second goal was one of the sickest of the tournament, a seven-pass buildup (including five one-touch passes) in which the final pass was a backheel in the box by hernan crespo to a surging esteban cambiasso, who finished brilliantly. to be honest, all six goals were of quality not seen everywhere and it was mesmerising to watch. i don’t much like argentina, but one had to admire this insane display of fabulous footie. if they keep this up, it’s going to take an otherworldly effort to conquer them.

match 22: holland v. cote d’ivoire

perhaps the best overall match of the tournament was on display in this from stuttgart. given argentina’s ridiculous display in first match of the day, the loser of this match was almost definitely going to be going home sooner rather than later. and it would be a shame, too, because either of these teams could easily qualify for the knockout rounds, if not win the group outright, were they in any of the other seven groups.

for the first ten minutes, the two sides were like heavyweight fighters measuring each other up. then, after the game opened up in the next ten minutes, an undisciplined foul by the ivorians’ kolo toure gave the oranje a free kick just outside the west africans’ box. robin van persie stepped up and rifled such a pacey shot that jean-jacques tizie, the elephants’ goalkeeper, had no chance even though it was directly at him. he couldn’t react quickly enough and, in the 23rd minute, the dutch were up, 1-nil.

they doubled their advantage four minutes later when arjen robben served ruud van nistelrooij with a fine reverse pass that beat the offside trap (in case you’re wondering, the ivorian defender who was more than twenty yards away on the other side of the trap played van nistelrooij onside) and jerry seinfeld’s long-lost younger brother clinically finished, as he most often does. hard to believe, but it was horse-face’s first world cup goal ever.

the elephants came flying back and dider zokora almost halved the score moments later with a shot that nearly went through the crossbar rather just inside it for a goal. but the ivorians weren’t discouraged at this misfortune and kept pressing and were finally rewarded with a fabulously-taken goal by bakary kone from just outside the right top edge of the box that did, in fact, halve the score.

mere moments later, cote d’ivoire nearly levelled the score when didier drogba nicked the ball from marco van bommel near midfield and roared, 2-on-1, in on goal. all that was needed was a simple early pass to teammate arouna kone to leave him one-one-with edwin van der saar, the dutch keeper, for a certain goal. instead, drogba panicked and kicked the ball into the feet of the oncoming defender, giovanni van bronckhorst. then and there, one could sense that such a gaffe from such a gift was going to bedevil the ivorians later in the match, especially if they never could equalise.

sadly for the world cup, the equaliser never came, though the ivorians poured forward and threw all they had and more at the dutch defense throughout the second half. time and again, the ivorians showed class all over the field in all aspects, but they just didn’t have enough to finish anything well. perhaps their best chance after the restart came late, about twelve minutes from time, when drogba bounced a header at the dutch goal only for van persie to bravely chest it off the line and out of harm’s way. the dutch hung on the last bit of time and emerged battered, but unbowed, and into the round of 16.

as for cote d’ivoire, it was a second successive heartbreaking loss to a team considered a contender for the cup itself. however, as against argentina, the ivorians just lacked that something extra in finishing and it ended up costing them. they deserve to go home because they lost to two very good games, but their fine play over two games suggest that the world cup is not the better off for their having failed to reach the second round. i know that i, for one, will miss them in the next round because they had a real chance to make a run and offer rebuttal to all who criticise the african teams, the elitists who forget that it’s the world cup, not the european or south american cup, the snobs who feel that five teams from africa are too much (like senegal or cameroon or nigeria couldn’t have done better than serbia tonight, costa rica last night, ukraine a few nights ago, and the u.s. the night previous to that one?). theirs was the best chance to do africa and all fans of football minnows proud. there are still four african teams alive, and even if one or more them make the second round, this world cup, as well as i, will still miss cote d’ivoire.

mexico-angola perhaps to follow after the beach...

day 7

*note: the following was written at 6am this morning, but i'm just posting it now in mid-afternoon...

i just got back from the pub and watching two matches; my heart’s still pounding from england’s leaving it late against trinibago. i can hardly type straight…

match 18: ecuador v. costa rica

this looked to be, for most people, it seemed, a boring match, but not for me because it was two latin american teams and, well, i’d get excited to watch a world cup match involving luxembourg and, say, indonesia. it’s the world cup, for chrissakes…!

anyway, i was interested to see how each team would come back from their opening matches–the south americans’ win over poland and the central american lads’ loss to a far-from-dross german side. could ecuador ride their momentum to a win and qualification for the round of 16? could los ticos nick a point, possibly three, and keep themselves in the running for the next round?

the opening exchanges were typical in that the teams were getting a feel for each other and the match itself. ecuador were making noises on the costa rican side of the field, but nothing threatening until the 8th minute, when luis valencia crossed from just outside the right side of the box to carlos tenorio, who eluded his defender and headed home assuredly. it was a shocking start for costa rica–again, as they had given up an early first goal to germany, too–and they really never looked like threatening too much the remainder of the half.

los ticos struggled to find any rhythm and the equatorians dominated first-half possession. costa rica had a fairly decent chance three minutes from the break, but it was really their only chance of the opening half. and they were fortunate to be down only 1-0 at breaktime because ecuador’s agustin delgado whiffed on a perfectly-placed cross to him just in front of the goal mouth nearly on the knell of halftime.

in the opening moments after the restart, costa rica looked sharper and, in the first five minutes had several decent chances, but not much quality to take advantage of them. just when it looked like costa rica were going to keep pushing for an equaliser, they nearly gave up a goal in the 53rd minute because of shoddy defending.

two minutes later, their shoddy defending in their own box from a clearable throw-in did result in an ecuador goal of amazing quality by the aforementioned delgado from as tight an angle to the near post as you’ll see. it was a super goal, but the costa ricans weren’t dead, yet, as they should have pegged one back a few moments later when mauricio solis ran riot into the ecuador box only for it to go for nowt as his effort was wonderfully saved by ecuador’s christian mora.

from there, it seemed that costa rica ran out of gas and their rhythm sputtered. much of it had to do with ecuador’s fine style of play, too. it was about a quarter-hour from time that i realised ecuador were on top of the group on goal difference, ahead of germany, and would remain so unless the central americans could muster an effort to pull a goal back.

a frantic costa rica tried to gear it up in the last five minutes and came close to halving the score in the 87th minute, but alvaro saborio’s well-placed, swerving effort could only bounce off the cross bar and out of danger for ecuador. and in injury time, ivan kaviedes made costa rica pay for not cashing in their chances when he deftly lofted in edison mendez’s lovely cross to make it 3-0.

this result means that both ecuador and germany are assured of places in the round of 16. these two will square off in their final group match with germany needing a win to assure themselves of finishing first and avoiding perhaps england in the round of 16. a mere draw mean ecuador will top the group and play the second place team from group b (that is the england group, along with trinibago, sweden, and paraguay).

there has been a lot of talk about how good germany have looked, but they find themselves staring up at ecuador in the group table and, to be honest, the south americans have, in their first two matches, looked every bit the prussians’ equal. don’t bet the farm on germany’s winning the group just yet…

match 19: england v. trinibago

i was as worried about this match for england as a full bottle of jim beam in dubya’s presence. i’m sure that many englanders around the world weren’t worried–thinking no way england play like shite and trinibago like resolute soca warriors for the second straight match–but i was scared sober. i had been very impressed with ten-man trinibago’s game effort against sweden and expected nothing less from them again. i certainly didn’t expect england to be as poor as they were against paraguay, but that didn’t ease my mind.

plus, there was the added agony of knowing that half of trinibago’s squad play or have played in england (even if not always in the premiership), so there was familiarity; on top of that, there was the added incentive for the islanders of going against their former colonial masters, something i never underestimate in international footie. a draw was highly possible in my mind, if not an out-and-out upset.

from the outset, england dominated possession, but lacked clarity in front of the soca warrior goal. time and again, they would blast chances over the goal, or get a weak effort on goal, or, for the love of shiva, peter crouch would fail to get good head on the ball (um, no comment on my choice of words there).

how is it that a man who’s more than 200 centimeters tall not be good at heading a football? a man that tall should be able to head most crosses down on goal, not over the crossbar time and again like a man 30 centimeters shorter. i don’t rate crouch at all–certainly not as a starter–and for more than 80 minutes of this match, he did nothing to change my mind.

david beckham’s crosses lacked their usual precision, joe cole was not as beguiling to the trinibago defense as he was to the paraguayan defense last saturday, lampard and gerrard continued blazing long range efforts over the bar, and owen was again without much pace. england had three good chances in the first half only to be undone by either bad luck or poor quality (in all honesty, it was more the latter than the former).

trinibago, on the other hand, had only two good chances:the first one, a header by stern john from a dwight yorke header that just sailed wide, and the second one, another effort by john that was destined for the back of the net (since england’s keeper, paul robinson, had made a major gaffe by coming out on a ball that he misjudged and whiffed on) only to have super john terry seemingly come from estonia to clear the ball off the line. i thought my heart had stopped on that one.

trinibago would have rightly felt aggrieved not to have been ahead, 0-1, at the break, and they continued, after the restart, to frustrate england, who were still dominating possession, but lacking verve and cool in front of the net. we thought that wayne rooney would be introduced at halftime, but england manager, sven goran eriksson, gave his starting charges about ten minutes more before giving in and subsituting rooney for michael owen and young aaron lennon for jamie carragher in the 58th minute. this meant a change in the england formation from a 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 and it began to pay immediate dividends.

while rooney may have lacked match fitness and sharpness, his entrance onto the pitch energised his teammates and the very partisan england crowd. lennon’s pace–something owen so clearly lacks at the moment–on the right side tormented the left side of the trinibago defense, though he wasn’t often able to deliver quality crosses at the end of his runs. however, it was beginning to open up some space for beckham on the right and lampard in the middle.

however, england still couldn’t breach the trinibago goal and one began to sense an unwanted (from an admittedly england point of view) draw looming like an invasive mother-in-law. that, or a sudden trinibago counterattack that would catch england off-guard and result in some fluke goal like nearly happened in the first half.

finally, however, lennon’s pacing gave beckham some needed space for a cross and he delivered, in the 83rd minute, a pinpoint one that crouch finally put with conviction past the keeper and into the back of the net. fortunately, he didn’t celebrate with his damned “robokop” dance, but instead just seemed happy and relieved to have finally breached a stubborn defense. his only good touch of the match was an important one, but i still don’t rate him.

it still wasn’t over, though, as trinibago pushed for an equaliser; however, instead of an equaliser from the islanders, it was england who scored when gerrard put it out of reach in injury time with a patented left foot blast from 25 meters. the scoreline was nearly halved seconds later when the aforementioned stern john went cheeky with a backheeled goal, only to have it rightly disallowed for being offsides.

the scoreline was 2-0, which flattered england immensely and did no justice to trinibago’s effort. the result gave england passage to the round of 16 and leave the other three in the group still with all to play for. in fact, a paraguay win over sweden followed by a trinibago win over paraguary and a sweden non-win against england would give the tiny island nation a passage to the next round in their debut world cup. how excellent would that be for a football minnow!!!

now off to collect myself and cheer for paraguay against sweden. oh, and peter crouch was, incredibly, the man of the match. i’m assuming none of the muppets who choose this ever laid eyes on aaron lennon or john terry at any time throughout the match. oh, well…

match 20: sweden v. paraguay

i watched the sweden-paraguay match, saw sweden play all game with frantic desperation not to have another draw, saw paraguay play for the draw by playing stout defense (so that they’d have a huge chance for qualification against trinibago in their next match), saw freddy ljungberg save the night for the scandinavians with an 89th-minute header. i realise that there are still lots of story lines from this group and that trinibago still have a shot to go through; in fact, only the paraguayans are eliminated–they have to be gutted. i came prepared to cast my wit and oh-so-not-incisive-at-times commentary on the match…

…only to be too damned tired to write much more than this.

things i hope don’t happen today: argentina have the same form as they did against cote d’ivoire; robben terrorises the ivorian defense; fifa don’t overturn crouch’s goal for fouling the trinibagian defender on england’s first goal.

things i do hope for today: angola pull the shock of the tournament by upsetting mexico; les elephants (cote d'ivoire) see off holland and serbia take out argentina to make everyone in group c level on 3 points; sleep.

day 6

the beat continues for the world cup and its avid world-wide followers:

match 15: spain v. ukraine

well, anyone who has read about my luck with picking teams in this world cup knew that this match was over before it started because i was for ukraine and their usually-quicksilver striker, andriy shevchenko. when the announcers stated that gametime temps were above 30 degrees Celsius, i knew the match was over. one day, i feel they should play the world cup on antarctica or greenland just to give teams like russia, norway (my lads), finland, and other such cold-climate nations a fighting chance.

regardless, from the start of the match, it was clear that spain were the better squad, unwavering heat or no. despite an early ukraine chance, in the buildup to spain’s first goal in the 13th minute, the iberians were clearly dominating possession, were crisp in their passing, sure in their tackling, and confident in their verve. xabi alonso’s poke in of a bounding ball in front of the ukraine goal for the first score was more than fair.

it only got worse four minutes later when a david villa free kick deflected off a ukrainian defender’s head and past hapless ukraine goalkeeper shovkovskiy. from that moment on, it was just a matter of how many spain were going to score. my man, shevchenko, who i believe was earlier a man some idiot had pimped to score a brace for the ukrainians, was nearly a non-factor for the first half, for he was shackled effortlessly by the spanish back line, led by carlos puyol.

the second half was only worse for the yellow-clad ukrainians. as the sun bore down and temps reached 34, in the 47th minute, the referee ridiculously sent off ukranian defender vladislav vashchuk for what was deemed a “professional foul.” after seeing the replay numerous times, i’m still befuddled at the decision. to compound matters, this phantom foul was committed in the ukraine box, thus handing spain this world cup’s first penalty kick. david villa coolly stepped up and hammered the penalty home and, just three minutes into the half, spain were ahead, 3-nil.

being a man down in the searing heat, ukraine put up little resistance for the remainder of the half. they had a moment or two when they threatened the spanish goal, not the least of which when robbie savage, uh, andriy voronin, who must be the jackass welchman’s ukrainian cousin, nearly put into the top left corner a spectacular shot from somewhere near the polish border. it didn’t matter, though, as spain continuously and mercilessly plundered and marauded the ukraine side of the pitch.

it was ugly–and that was before the (team) goal of the tournament in the 81st minute (not to be confused with the two best individual goals of the tournament, one by germany’s torsten frings and the other by czech republic’s tomas rosicky): the aforementioned carlos puyol took the ball near midfield, pirouetted around a lunging defender, laid off the ball for an unidentified teammate, who then laid it back to the still-running puyol, who defly laid it ahead for an onrushing fernando torres, who gratefully took the gift and put it past the hapless shovkovskiy. it was a magnificent goal, made all the more so by the nifty passing.

spain, after this performance, which i never saw coming (i thought it would be a much closer match, given ukraine’s stout run through the qualifying rounds the last couple of years), belong in the same breath as the czech republic and mexico as the most impressive teams to date.

of course, we all know how the spaniards are and this being their first match, may go straight in the tank for their next two matches and flame out of the group stages. until the spaniards prove their grist on the international stage, i have no faith in their ability to continue this performance, no matter how good they looked and how talented they may be…

this now brings my tally to 15 matches played, three teams correctly cheered for.

it was asked of me tonight, not without reason, whether i had a trinibago strip, since that is who england play tomorrow night. the sad and shocking truth is that i have no trinibago strips, only four or five different england ones.

dear shiva, might i bring the “curse of dissidence” down on the mighty three lions? only wayne rooney can stop the madness, so he damn well better be playing tomorrow night.

and, yes, it was not spain who fell on their arse tonight, it was my hijacked prediction that they would. i believe that this isn’t first mistake i’ve made all week.

i just realised another mistake: it’s not 3 in 15 matches that i’ve cheered for the winning team, but 4 in the first 15, as i did cheer on oz when they played japan (and that doesn’t include trinibago’s 0-0 “win” with sweden). my mistake, my friends from down under.

now about that last african team upon which i was pinning my hopes…

match 16: tunisia v. saudia arabia

regarding my unabashed love for all teams africa, this was the most difficult for me to choose, not the least of which because tunisia and egypt are usually my two least favourite teams on the forgotten continent. this, coupled with the fact that i still feel badly for saudi arabia based on their ‘02 performance, really had me in a quandary, but i eventually remained africa when choosing sides. however, should the result have gone against me, i wouldn’t have been too ragged, either.

anyway, as i mentioned earlier while commenting on spain-ukraine, tunisia were 1-nil up at half time thanks to a nicely-taken goal by zied jaziri in the 23rd minute. jaziri took a side-volleyed goal in the box when it fell to him after a tunisia free kick.

i think one of the reasons i've always less fancied the atlas lions”than most other african teams is that they are the african side that most resemble a european side. they are usually tight on defense (relatively speaking, of course), they aren’t spectacular in their offense prowess, but, rather, are efficient, and normally have none of the flair of the majority of the other african sides. however, they are often vulnerable to opponents’ counterattacks, and tonight was no different.

in the 57th minute, a ball was struck well from near midfield to saudi winger mohammed noor running down the right flank just outside the tunisian box. noor then cleanly squared to onrushing striker yasser al kahtani, who, between two defenders, lasered the ball up into the top inside of the crossbar with the side flick of his right boot. just like that, with tunisia having had the better of play for nearly an hour, it was level.

the goal seemed to energise the “desert princes”, who immediately began to exert their influence on the match. they were finally rewarded in the 84th minute when, again, on a counterattack that started at the foot of their own goal, they were, in a flash of two passes, past midfield. a streaking, unmarked, sami al jaber slotted the ball past tunisian ‘keeper, ali boumnijel, after having an unimpeded run of about 50 meters. as i watched yet another team i fancied seemingly about to go up in smoke, i couldn’t help but feel a sense of happiness, anyway, as i watched the saudi players celebrate hedonistically. after their ‘02 censuring, you could see the pure joy in their celebrations.

there was not much time left, but i couldn’t abandon the only african team left, so i grudgingly watched the remainder play out. when the referee signalled that 4 minutes of stoppage time remained, there was a hint of opportunity, but i wasn’t sure how much. the first two and a half minutes was just a myriad of long balls by tunisia into the saudi half followed by a saudi clearance.

until…

…out of the blue, the saudi defense failed to clear one ball and allowed a tunisian to gather the ball just inside the box, nearly on the touchline and to the right of the goal, and he deftly flicked a cross to an awaiting radhi jaidi, who was between two defenders but not really marked. jaidi did what he was supposed to do and that was bury the ball into the back of the net.

now it was the north africans’ turn to be bounding on the pitch and in the stands in unfettered delight. about a minute later, the referee blew his whistle and the match concluded. it was an outstanding finish to a fairly entertaining game and a deserved result for tunisia. saudi arabia should feel flattered to get out of this with a point, but their two goals were well-taken and not undeserved, so they shouldn’t be too apologetic for nicking that point.

however, finally, africa have a point!!! that it should have to have come from tunisia–the one african team i thought was a sure win–is a tad depressing, but i’ll take it and hope it delivers good karma for the rest of the forgotten continent as the tournament heads to “week” two.

oh, the first “week” tally is now official: 16 matches played, 4 teams correctly cheered for (though there are two draws, the trinibago one and the just-concluded tunisia one that each feel like a correctly-chosen selection). let’s hope the second go-round is better. if it’s not good for me, then i hope it is for you…

match 17: germany v. poland

dortmund was the site of the hosts’ second match and it was as festive an atmosphere as you could hope to see, one you would expect from a host nation–reminiscent of two certain asian nations from back in ‘02 or something (and, yes, let’s not forget that japan CO-hosted the ‘02 version with korea…)

for this particular match, the barbarians, er, bavarians would be virtually booked a place in the next round if the could keep their pesky polish neighbours at bay, and, to many in attendance and watching around most of the world–not in poland or, say, indonesia, of course–this match was a foregone conclusion in favour of the germans.

germany had looked very good on attack in their first one against costa rica, but a little soft at the back, while poland had looked like warmed shit covered with banana cream sauce in its first one with ecuador. it would only stand to reason that the germans would romp, right?!?!

well, though the teutons’ michael ballack was back from injury patrolling midfield, they didn’t manhandle the polish as easily as was thought they would. in fact, it was obvious nearly from the outset that poland were not the same easy date ecuador had brought to the dance and taken advantage of; no, this time, poland was far more protective of her virtue than she had been in her first dance. to be honest, they were even the more aggressive of the two at times and it was german who often found itself trying to fend off poland’s advances.

the two squads traded close calls with one another for good portions of an entertaining first half before lukas podolski nearly gave germany the lead at the break, except that his lousy finish from five meters had all the quality of a one-legged first-grader.

the second half continued in the same vein as the poles continued to frustrate the german advances. there was very little imagination from either side and the anxious locals in the stadium were starting to show their discomfort with the proceedings. to appease the masses–and to inject some life into his own team–german gaffer jurgen klinsmann substituted david odonkor for arne friedrich about 25 minutes from time. this did seem to put some life in the bavarians and, ten minutes later, poland were reduced to ten men when midfielder radoslaw sobolewski was sent off for his second bookable offense on a marauding miroslav klose.

though the poles were a man down, germany could not breach the poland goal, even with its now-rampant domination and peppering of the poland defense. much too close for comfort for the home crowd, it was not until injury time that germany finally put the poles away.

it was substitute odonkor who provided a nice cross to onrushing fellow sub, oliver neuville, and neuville clinically drove the ball into the net for a hard-fought 1-nil victory that sent germans the world over into party mode. regardless of their difficulty with the poles, germany is now at the brink of 2nd round qualification and the locals were (are still) mad with joy.

as has already been mentioned in other points in aetherspace, germany is going to be tough to beat for the title with a strong squad and a raucous home nation backing it. should be fun to watch, as it was four years ago.

things i hope not to see today: a rainy surface for england’s match render wayne rooney inactive or re-injured; more trinibago resolute defending, like against the swedes; fried pub food; a sweden win over paraguay; serbinegro’s horrible-looking, pinwheel-like home kits; an argentine win over said serbs; english complaints about the heat.

things i do hope to witness: rooney emerge from trinibago unscathed; more goal celebrations like the togolese did; more koreans watching matches that don’t involve korea; indonesia in the world cup before 2104…