Tag: sports

Precisely no one is surprised that Brazil beat Mexico, 2-0. But the Belgian defeat of Japan, 3-2, in the 94th minute was heartbreaking for Japan, given that they led 2-0 at the 55th minute. But, as Didier Drogba presciently observed during the group stage, Asian teams tend to overwhelm their opponents with their extreme effort for the first 60 minutes, then flag a bit, which allows the game to open up. This game was an almost textbook example of that.

I don’t see the hosts surviving a vastly superior Spanish team, or even keeping it close. As for Croatia vs Denmark, both teams are tough and disciplined, but the Croats have more skill than the Danes.

UPDATE: Holy cow, Russia winning on penalties after holding Spain to 1-1 through extra time. I did NOT see that coming.

France vs Argentina is approaching the half. Ugly, stupid late challenge and an obvious penalty vs a beautiful, flawless shot from well outside the box. 1-1 and it could easily go either way.

UPDATE: France won a very entertaining game 4-3. Next up is Portugal-Uruguay, and it’s hard to imagine Uruguay stopping Cristiano Ronaldo and his 10 merry men.

A pair of upsets in Group F. Sweden beat Mexico 3-0 to top the group, while Korea upset Germany 2-0 to hand second-place to the Mexicans.

I watched the Korean game. Germany had their chances, but the Koreans deserved the victory.

And yet, so appropriate.

Football is a simple game, 22 men chase the ball for 82 minutes and the Germans get a player sent off so 21 men chase the ball for 13 minutes and at the end the Germans somehow fucking win.
Gary Lineker

In fairness, the Germans deserved to win. Sweden simply didn’t take control of the game when they had a man advantage, but continued to sit in their defensive shell and allowed the 10-man Germans to dictate the action. Sweden also made the mistake of putting in their half-Arab, whose lack of Swedish discipline led to two unnecessary fouls, the second of which cost them the game.

Mexico is still looking formidable, as is Belgium. Both are very aggressive on the counterattack, but Belgium’s attacks are considerably more efficient, as Mexico doesn’t always make the final pass that is required for the optimal shot.

I was surprised that Argentina melted down in the second half, but not that they lost. They did NOT impress in their first game, and Messi didn’t exactly dominate in the previous World Cup either. Croatia is a tough, well-balanced team and looked better throughout most of the first half.

Hell of a finish by Rebic on the keeper’s mistake, though. That was nowhere nearly as easy as he made it look. Especially in light of how an Argentine missed an open net with a straightforward sidefoot in the first half.

What a bicycle shot that was by the Serbian player! Pity the goalie was right there to stop it. Interesting attack-oriented formation by Serbia, it seems to be working well against Costa Rica.

UPDATE: Massive upset of defending champions Germany by Mexico, 1-0. Mexico deserved it too; the German defense was shockingly bad and totally unable to deal with the Mexican counterattacks.

UPDATE: Great result for the Swiss, taking a point off the Brazilians. They have no scoring up front and Shaqiri is barely a net positive despite his skill due to his refusal to pass on the break, but they’re rock-solid on defense and hard to beat.

I didn’t bother watching the France-Australia game. Argentina-Iceland has been a very good game between two very different teams. I can’t believe Bjarnisson missed that sidefooted attempt at an open net, but Iceland made up for it only a few minutes later. Aguero’s goal was a nicely placed, highly technical shot which gave the goalie no chance to block it, and I thought the ref’s no-call on the inadvertant handball on the ground in the Icelandic box was an excellent one.

Argentine looked to overwhelm them for a little while after they scored, but Iceland is tough and didn’t crack. It wouldn’t shock me if they wore the Argentines down in the second half and pulled off yet another upset.

I paid no attention to the first two games, but Spain-Portugal is proving even more entertaining that expected. 2-1 Portugal at halftime, with Ronaldo scoring both goals.

WOW! Love him or hate him, Cristiano Ronaldo is simply awesome. Portugal came very close to stealing that game from a superior Spanish team.

This is an open thread to discuss il Mondiale. Russia plays Saudi Arabia today.