The group stages brought
considerably more excitement than anyone expected. International football is
usually predicated around playing “not-to-lose” instead of free-flowing
attacking football seen more commonly on the club level. It was certainly fun
to watch. Four teams were perfect, while three picked up zero points.
Fairly balanced overall, I would say.
South America dominated and CONCACAF
was very strong, while Asia failed to win a game and Europe struggled. Playing
at home is still as important as ever. I still see Brazil winning, but they will have to improve.
Group A
I expected Brazil and Mexico to
advance, and the results in this group went as I would have expected. Croatia
is a better team than Mexico, but I’ve spoken in lengths about European
struggles in South America, and with a roaring pro-Mexico crowd behind them,
the Mexicans swept aside their more esteemed opponents in fifteen minutes with
a three goal spurt. The 0-0 result between the advancing sides was not as
surprising to me – Mexico had been solid defensively throughout qualifying and
they had a good showing from their fans, which took a little bit of the swagger
out of Brazil’s sails. Their goalkeeper Ochoa also played the game of his life
and probably earned himself a big paycheck at the club level.
Croatia were good, but just not good
enough in their pivotal game. They were unlucky against Brazil on the penalty
call, but already had the fortune of collecting an own goal in the first half.
Cameroon was just plain ugly. They looked overmatched on paper to begin with,
but the fighting between players and the constant distraction of Samuel Eto’o
just turned their campaign into a complete disaster. They exit the World Cup
with no points and a -8 goal differential, worst in the tournament. It’s time
to blow up the team and start over.
Group B
Well, well. Mighty Spain was bounced
after just two games, officially ending the Spain-Barcelona era of dominance. I
think it was ended by Brazil last summer after they hammered the Spanish 3-0 in
the Confederations Cup Final, but there are no questions about that now. Spain
were slow and sloppy throughout their first two matches, and they played two
very opportunistic opponents who took full advantage. The FA should not fire
Del Bosque, but this team must use more pace and less finesse to return to the top.
Rumors of Xavi moving to the UAE from Barcelona this summer say it all for
Spain.
Meanwhile, the Dutch won all three
of their games and looked very dangerous in doing so. Goals came from all sides
and Louis Van Gaal’s youngsters even defended quite well against Chile. Mexico
will be a tough test, but Holland looks on top of their game at the moment.
Chile also impressed, as their forwards ran circles around Australia and Spain.
It doesn’t look good as they must play Brazil, but Chile will know their
opponents and would probably prefer to counter attack anyway. I expect a close
match. Australia played generally well, and Tim Cahill probably has the goal of
the tournament at this point, but unfortunately for the Socceroos, it didn’t
even earn them a point. They were always going to be up against it with the
quality of opposition in this group, and with a young team, I expect bright
things for Australia in the future.
Group C
Colombia legitimately “wow-ed” me in
the group stage. They crushed Greece, gritted out a win against Ivory Coast and
blew out Japan for a +7 goal differential in what I thought was a pretty evenly
matched group. This team proved it is not the Falcao show. They have made a ton
of progress over the last four years. Greece qualified in the only way they know
how to – look absolutely brutal but come up with a goal or two in the vital
moments to sneak through. They certainly aren’t bad, but their only two goals
came on a slip and a penalty, and while I’m aware they were down to ten men
against Japan, they looked like they were headed straight home after two games.
As it is, they face an inexperienced Costa Rica team that plays mostly on the
counter. Can anybody give me a case that the result of that game isn’t 0-0?
Ivory Coast has fooled me for the
last time. I won’t pick them again until I see tangible results on the
intercontinental level. They looked good against Japan despite getting off to a
slow start, but were just not good enough against a less-talented but harder
working Colombia side, and were just off the pace against Greece. The only
reason they won’t be looked down upon more is because in their same group,
Japan was the bigger disappointment. They failed to hold a lead in their first
game, only came close to breaking down ten-man Greece once, and were completely
outclassed against Colombia. I thought this was the best team in Asia and maybe
they are, but that really shows how far AFC is behind the rest of the world.
One point from your “best” team is a bad sign, and every team from AFC is out
of the competition already, with no wins between the four sides.
Group D
Costa Rica are the current darlings
of the tournament, written off as the “fourth” team in the group but playing
very well and winning the group with two wins and a draw. I thought they were
better than people gave them credit for but certainly not good enough to beat
two of the best sides in the world. They’re not going to take anyone by
surprise at this point but it’s been a great showing so far from the Costa
Ricans.
Uruguay’s success is tied to Luis
Suarez in my mind, and with him suspended, I would consider their chances
pretty much finished. There’s something mentally wrong with Suarez, and it’s a
shame because he’s one of the top strikers in the world. A four-month ban is
just, and even though it may get reduced, he has forever soured his reputation in
the international community. It’s also very strange that he actually has bit
someone on a soccer field at least three times (I would guess that’s happened
more before he was famous). Italy were unlucky but were also poor against Costa
Rica and failed to score outside of their first match. They were very
disappointing for me as I expected Balotelli to play better, but following
Bryan Ruiz’s goal I never saw the same flow from Italy’s midfield. It’s a
puzzling exit but certainly not a disgraceful one. This team will be able to
challenge for the trophy in the next European tournament.
England is just too typical. I said
they would come in last and come in last they did, despite not playing all that
badly. If I can guess the scores of their final two games correctly, they are
too predictable, and their media reaction was standard as well. It’s just funny
how hyped up the team was in a group where they were overmatched. I feel bad
for Steven Gerrard just because he lost the Premier League essentially on his
slip against Chelsea and they were knocked out of the World Cup on that bizarre
header he hit straight to Suarez. But England earns no sympathy from me. The
results just don’t come.
Group E
France produced two spectacular
performances against Honduras and Switzerland to rave reviews. Their
performance against Ecuador was more down-to-Earth, but France have still
looked like one of the strongest teams thus far. They’ve attacked with pace and
shown the ability to take over games. They also have a ton of depth. A possible
Germany-France matchup could happen in the quarterfinals – that would be a must
watch. The Swiss are through too despite getting torn apart by France, but the
Swiss have quite a bit of talent, and Xherdan Shiqiri’s hat trick against
Honduras was world class. That France game really puzzled me. This is a good
team, and a tricky one to play against, but I’m not sure they have it in them
to pull a major upset.
Ecuador are South America’s only
early exit, which speaks more of the quality of the continent’s teams than
Ecuador’s faults. After the tragic death of Christian Benitez last year, it was
good for the game to see Ecuador make it to the World Cup. Unfortunately, Ecuador
was the least talented South American side to make it and have traditionally
been much better at home, where they play at a very high altitude, versus
abroad. They were still close, but that last-minute defeat to the Swiss was the
killer. Honduras are simply not on the same level as the other teams in the
group. They did very well to make it this far, but were simply overmatched in
each game. The three losses are certainly disappointing, but not unexpected for
the team. The goal for Costly against Ecuador was a nice moment.
Group F
Argentina won all three of their
games in Group F, but didn’t particularly impress in any of them. They had the
weakest opponents of any of the big favorites, and won each game by a single
goal. The game against Iran was particularly troubling – Iran had two great
chances to score and a pretty strong penalty shout in the second half. The good
news is that Messi seems to have recovered the form he lost over the last few
months with Barcelona. He has been carrying the team, and the rest of the squad
will have to show up if they’re going to make a deep run. Nigeria were pretty
solid. They were slow and boring against Iran, but played very well against
Bosnia and hit Argentina well on the counter. This team has been improving
since the tournament started, and their defense produced two clean sheets.
Bosnia were a disappointment to me –
teams rarely do well on their first appearance in the World Cup, but Bosnia are
loaded and should have done better. They made mistakes and were punished each
time, which does not always happen, but at this level the mistakes must be
eliminated. I would chalk it up mostly to inexperience, especially on the
managerial level. Bosnia made it to Brazil because they played attacking
football with two strikers, Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic. They started their
first two games with just Dzeko, and he was noticeably stranded. In their third
game they started both players and scored three goals. They will learn and
continue to improve. Iran was simply happy to be in the finals, but they were
actually rather impressive. They played good defense and really could have
beaten Argentina. Unlucky more than poor execution from the Iranians.
Group G
Germany stuck up for Europe and as
coach Joachim Low stated, dominated. I thought they were poor against Ghana in
the second half, but were dominant in their other two matches. They certainly
showed up and while they do have weaknesses, this team is going to be a tough
out. USA were also impressive, and even more so when you consider they lost
striker Jozy Altidore twenty minutes into their first match, and their most
influential player, Michael Bradley, has yet to play a good game. The
last-minute concession against Portugal was devastating, but this team deserves
to be through and has a dangerous feel about it.
Ghana unraveled, with Sulley Muntari
and Kevin Prince-Boateng sent home before the team’s final game. They were
still a goal away at one point from going through, but it never came. They were
again Africa’s best hope for a deep run but came up short at the first hurdle. Portugal
produced the tournament’s worst performance against Germany in their 4-0
defeat, but recovered pretty well and collected four points from their last two
matches. That hole was always going to be too steep unless they beat the USA,
but I did not expect Portugal to show up after the first game. Ronaldo was
poor. Other than his majestic cross to Varela to steal a point, he was sloppy
and wasteful. His one goal was handed to him on a silver platter and he didn’t
come close to scoring one otherwise. I don’t blame him for their exit, but it
is impossible to argue against Messi’s ability to carry Argentina, while
Ronaldo could not carry Portugal.
Group H
Belgium were the last of the four
perfect teams, and may have also been the least impressive. They were very
strong defensively, having majority possession in all of their matches, while
conceding just one goal on a penalty. They did score just four goals and
struggled to break down any of their three opponents. They are very talented
but inexperienced at this level, and they will need to play much better in the
knockout round. Algeria were a nice surprise – they were timid in 2010 and
played much more freely this time around. Sofiane Feghouli has been the star as
Algeria scored six times versus zero in 2010. It’s unfortunate that they will
have to play Germany, but Algeria can be very proud of their showing so far,
and they looked like they have enjoyed the ride. From the first game, they
looked like a much more confident team.
If you watched the Russia – South Korea
game, you’d understand why both teams are out. Russia could not create any
offense and goalie Igor Akinfeev, who had been linked to big clubs in Europe in
the past, baffled the minds of fans. I have never seen him or any other goalie
make so many errors in such a short series of matches. I don’t blame him alone
for their exit but he is directly to blame for two of the three goals Russia
conceded, which in essence cost them four points. Without Alan Dzagoev
starting, Russia were barely a threat going forward and that’s what really did
them in. South Korea have been in decline since their sketchy run to the
semi-final in 2002, but this was much worse than expected. They were
overmatched in each game and showed very little creativity. There aren’t many
good points to take from this World Cup for the Koreans.
My brief thoughts on the round of
16:
Brazil : Chile
– I have the hosts winning this tournament, and while Chile have played well
thus far, this task should be too great for them. Brazil have yet to play a
complete game thus far, but have plenty of firepower to score on a disciplined
opponent. Brazil, 2-0.
Colombia : Uruguay
– Uruguay’s success seems to correlate to Luis Suarez’s performances, and his
ban will really hurt his team. Colombia have been superb thus far and I don’t
see them tripping up here. Colombia, 3-1.
Netherlands : Mexico
– This game should be very close. The Dutch are a better side but Mexico have
played very well and will have a strong showing from their fans. Could be quite
a bit of fireworks in this one. Netherlands, 2-1.
Costa Rica : Greece
– If this game has more than one goal in it, I would be surprised. In fact, I
don’t expect any goals at all. Costa Rica has played counterattacking football
while Greece pretty much packs the back. This game is very likely to end 0-0
and go to penalties. Those are always tough to call, but given a shootout I
would take Greece. I do see Costa Rica as the likelier team to score in open
play.
France : Nigeria
– France will have some issues dealing with Nigeria’s fast, physical forwards
but they are so much stronger in the midfield and defense. Don’t expect France
to go down this early. France, 2-0.
Germany : Algeria
– Germany are the strongest European side and they should have little trouble
with Algeria. I expect a slightly cagey first half but the Germans to
eventually take over. Germany, 2-0.
Argentina : Switzerland
– Argentina are big favorites here but have yet to impress. I think the Swiss
have a shot at upsetting anyone, but not here. Argentina need someone to step
up other than Messi, but he has been unstoppable thus far. Argentina, 2-1.
Belgium : USA – This
is probably the tightest matchup of this round. Belgium was able to rest some
players and has a deeper side than the USA, but the American midfield has been
superb thus far despite Michael Bradley playing far below his standards. I’m
just hoping they don’t run out of gas. USA, 1-0.
