The First weekend...phew!
What a weekend that was. Germany's opener against Costa Rica turned a few heads. Especially Lahm's and then Frings' goals. Not to forget Paolo 'Spaghetti Legs' Wanchope opening his account with two very well taken finishes against a poor German keeper. Oliver Kahn must surely be called from the bench for game 2?
The best games came courtesy of two distinct underdogs. Ecuador outclassed the rather stale Polish team and even though we predicted an unlikely draw, the Ecuadorians went one better and beat the Poles 2-0. But the highlight so far has to be the 0-0 draw between Sweden and a ten man Trinidad & Tobago. Such heroics have never been seen in a dogs age on a football pitch. Dwight Yorke's men fought gallantly against the yellow tide of a very talented and extremely well organised Swedish team, and thoroughly deserved their draw for a 'backs against the wall' performance that was second to none.
The yawn-fest of the tournament came from Engerland, who provided absolutely no guile or imagination in the absence of their talismanic Wayne Rooney. Never before have I seen such an obvious one man team, but England without Rooney are very ordinary. A flukey own goal from a perfectly delivered Beckham free kick was enough to get all three points, but surely this kind of luck can't hold out long enough for them to provide any serious competition?
Holland and Portugal both got off to winning starts albeit sluggishly. Both teams failed to convincingly despatch what could be considered 'lesser' opposition. Portugal came up against Angola, the most physically strong team we've seen thus far, and they gave a good account of themselves. Figo was like his old self, masterminding the midfield while Ronaldo offered the width and pace to compliment Figo's deft passing ability. But on the hour mark Big Phil Scolari subsituted Ronaldo for the more defensive Costinho and moved Figo out to the left where he would me more restricted and left the horribly ineffective Simao as their pacey right sided midfielder? Such inept subsitutions lead you to wonder how this coach ever won a world cup.
The Dutch are simply playing the wrong system. Van Nistelrooy has never worked well as a lone strike. Man Utd tried this last season with disastrous consequences that seen them dumped out of the Champions League at the group stages. However Marco Van Basten decided to play him as the target man in front of a five man midfield. Robben and Van Persie provided the width, but why wasn't there TWO strikers in the box. Surely Kuyt and Van Nistelrooy should have started together with Cocu in the middle losing out?
Sneijder and Van Bommell did an adequate job in midfield but you can't help wondering is Van Der Vaart injured? He surely must be because the team needs his talent. The Dutch will grow into this tournament, but they really need to start operating with two out and out strikers.
Today we get our first sighting of the USA and The Italians. The Italians will start slowly but get results. The USA......well we'll see.
Todays Bet: 5 euro on Pirlo to score first in Italy v Ghana at 11/1
The best games came courtesy of two distinct underdogs. Ecuador outclassed the rather stale Polish team and even though we predicted an unlikely draw, the Ecuadorians went one better and beat the Poles 2-0. But the highlight so far has to be the 0-0 draw between Sweden and a ten man Trinidad & Tobago. Such heroics have never been seen in a dogs age on a football pitch. Dwight Yorke's men fought gallantly against the yellow tide of a very talented and extremely well organised Swedish team, and thoroughly deserved their draw for a 'backs against the wall' performance that was second to none.
The yawn-fest of the tournament came from Engerland, who provided absolutely no guile or imagination in the absence of their talismanic Wayne Rooney. Never before have I seen such an obvious one man team, but England without Rooney are very ordinary. A flukey own goal from a perfectly delivered Beckham free kick was enough to get all three points, but surely this kind of luck can't hold out long enough for them to provide any serious competition?
Holland and Portugal both got off to winning starts albeit sluggishly. Both teams failed to convincingly despatch what could be considered 'lesser' opposition. Portugal came up against Angola, the most physically strong team we've seen thus far, and they gave a good account of themselves. Figo was like his old self, masterminding the midfield while Ronaldo offered the width and pace to compliment Figo's deft passing ability. But on the hour mark Big Phil Scolari subsituted Ronaldo for the more defensive Costinho and moved Figo out to the left where he would me more restricted and left the horribly ineffective Simao as their pacey right sided midfielder? Such inept subsitutions lead you to wonder how this coach ever won a world cup.
The Dutch are simply playing the wrong system. Van Nistelrooy has never worked well as a lone strike. Man Utd tried this last season with disastrous consequences that seen them dumped out of the Champions League at the group stages. However Marco Van Basten decided to play him as the target man in front of a five man midfield. Robben and Van Persie provided the width, but why wasn't there TWO strikers in the box. Surely Kuyt and Van Nistelrooy should have started together with Cocu in the middle losing out?
Sneijder and Van Bommell did an adequate job in midfield but you can't help wondering is Van Der Vaart injured? He surely must be because the team needs his talent. The Dutch will grow into this tournament, but they really need to start operating with two out and out strikers.
Today we get our first sighting of the USA and The Italians. The Italians will start slowly but get results. The USA......well we'll see.
Todays Bet: 5 euro on Pirlo to score first in Italy v Ghana at 11/1
posted by Derek Keogh | 12:58 PM
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