Wednesday 16 June 2010

The 2010 FIFA World Cup First Match Round Up

Well, every team has played in the has played their first match in the World Cup!
Personally though I'm kinda disappointed about the first lot of matches! Most of the teams were more concerned about losing rather than playing to win. Who knows maybe the second lot of group matches will offer more excitment (I hope.)
However, there has been some suprises, cock ups and good matches!

Here's a round up of the first matches. I will go through the scores and my some of my personal insights and opinions of the matches:

Group A
South Africa 1 Mexico 1
I missed most of this match. At least both teams looked liked the wanted to win! they both played great attacking football neither of them giving any quarter. I would've prefered South Africa to win the match!


Uruguay 0 France 0
A lackluster performance on both sides. I knew France had some problems but damn, they couldn't get the upper hand of Uruguay even after Uruguay got reduced to 10 men! I don't know why the French manager never took Karim Benzema or Samir Nasri. They need 'em!
Credit to Uruguay though. Even with 10 men they held France to a draw!

Group B
South Korea 2 Greece 0
South Korea was just all over Greece. Simple, nothing more!

Argentina 1 Nigeria 0
Despite being a low scoring match alot happen during the game. Mainly the Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama saving all of Lionel Messi's shots! BTW Lionel Messi is the best player in the world right now, hands down! It's a shame that Nigeria can't finish for shit. I mean with the likes of Yakubu and Obafemi Martins they should get in the goals. I think Obafemi Martins has incredible potential but he always gets injured.

Group C
England 1 U.S.A. 1
Good god Engand should have won that match! Within the first few minutes England were 1-nil up thanks to Heskey setting up Steven Gerrard, who btw played and lead England fantastically.
Then a slipup by the England goalkeeper Robert Green put things level................ sigh. The second half England kept breaking through the U.S. defence but we just couldn't score.

Algeria 0 Slovenia 1
I didn't watch this match. Watching 2 really poor teams playin eachother didn't really appeal to me. Apparently I didn't miss much anyway.

Group D
Serbia 0 Ghana 1
I missed this match. And people told me it was a good match as well............ Oh well at least Ghana won. I love watching Ghana play.

Germany 4 Australia 0
You know in American "Prison" movies where the little dude gets his arse raped by the big dude usually called "Bubba"! Guess who was "Bubba"!? LOL!
Germany went into the game to establish themselves as a contender and boy did they do it with authority! Australia can never fart properly or sit down properly ever again!

Group E
Netherlands 2 Denmark 0
I quite liked this match! I think the Danes played alright but with that own goal it kinda demoralised them. Then at the end with Dirk Kuyt rushing in to score that goal it was the end for the Danes! I like Dirk Kuyt, he's an underrated player!

Japan 1 Cameroon 0
I missed this game.

Group F
Italy 1 Paraguay 1
I really wanted Italy to lose this game and they almost did. Paragauy came out hard and was looking to score the first goal before the Italians and they did with a great set piece. I thought that would be the end for Italy. However Italy in the second half came back hard and equalised from a set piece. Irony!

New Zealand 1 Slovakia 1
I didn't watch this game.

Group G
Ivory Coast 0 Portugal 0
I have to say Ivory Coast did well even without Drogba. They showed that they can run with the big boys. Portugal did do that badly either. However apart from Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco they don't have any standout players whatsoever!

Brazil 2 North Korea 1
Now this was a auprising match! Brazil did not have an easy time with North Korea. North Korea kept a strong and tight defence but in the end Brazil being Brazil found a way through it to score, twice! However towards the end of the game North Korea got a consolation goal that showed some suprising skill! I don't think any team should underestimate North Korea.

Group H
Honduras 0 Chile 1
I missed this game. Shame though, I heard it was alright.

Spain 0 Switzerland 1
The biggest suprise of the tournament so far! Spain are usually a joy to watch, such a technically gifted team. But even with their talent and skill they still got beating by quite frankly a slightly above average team like Switzerland. Spain did create some oppurtunities but they didn't score! Credit to Switzerland, they were well organised and they were hungry for a win. Sometimes it isn't skill that wins games, it's determination!

Teams I thought played well: South Africa, Mexico, South Korea, England, Ghana, Germany, Netherlands, All of group G and Switzerland.
Teams that were disappointing: France, Greece, Australia and Spain.

Who gonna go through to the 2nd round: Who knows?

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