Thursday 17 June 2010

Host Nation's World Cup Armchair Diary: Day Six

With all 32 sides off and running now in the 2010 World Cup, it may finally be safe to confirm that the worst of the shaky, tentative start to proceedings, accompanied by all of the excuses and concerns, is behind us.

Unfortunately, it also seems that host nation South Africa's chances of continuing their progress on home soil has also fallen by the wayside, unless the Bafana Bafana can pull off a miracle against France.



It would be the first time the hosts had fallen at the first hurdle, but unfortunately the weak SA defence criticised on this very blog back on Day One was indeed put to the sword by Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, with a pair of goals for the ex-Man United striker and two assists for Ajax's hot property.

The 3-0 scoreline was helped along the way by the unfortunate sending off of goalkeeper Itumeleng Khume, who despite conceding a stonewall penalty for Forlan's second didn't really prevent a goalscoring opportunity thanks to Suarez's heavy first touch.

Forlan's first on 25 minutes, however, continued to restore hope in this year's tournament and showed that the South Americans do have attacking style after impressing nobody in their first game against France. And while it took a deflection on the way up before dipping in, you cannot take too much away from the Athletico Madrid man.

While this game began the second wave of group games, it was preceded by the final group kicking off their respective campaigns. And while each Group H game offered just one goal apiece, the quality of football was some of the best yet.

First, Chile deservedly defeated Honduras 1-0 and despite having plenty of chances to extend the scoreline will be happy to have begun their WC run in such polished, positive fashion. It was their first win at the finals since defeating the old Yugoslavia on terra firma in 1962, on this very day in fact.

Jean Beausejour didn't know a lot about his winning goal, which was knocked onto him by his marker while trying to deal with the low delivery from the right. But the spotlight, regardless, belonged to Udinese's Alexis Sanchez who was at the forefront of much of Chile's exciting play within their unique 3-3-1-3 formation.

At the opposite end of the quality scale was substitute Mark Gonzalez, remembered by some for his brief stint at Liverpool, who managed to waste three or four chances in a matter of minutes while displaying a profound lack of common sense or vision throughout.

The Hondurans showed little to convince anyone they could fight for a top two berth in the group, and will hope to at the very least be able to dig deep and have their World Cup moment as New Zealand and North Korea managed yesterday, as it wasn't on display this lunchtime.

Chile will hope that their failure to extend the margin of victory wont come back to haunt them after Switzerland provided the shock of the tournament so far by not only defeating one of the favourites, Spain, 1-0 but by doing so in assured and well-earned fashion.

As expected (and after the last few days of non-action, hoped), the Spaniards brought their fluid style and threatened on many occasions. Gerard Pique in the first half and Xabi Alonso in the second had the pick of the chances, with the latter rattling the crossbar after a clever low corner kick found him around the 'D'.

But the Swiss took Japan's strategy of diligent defending combined with sharp, well-timed counter attacks to a whole new level, successfully upsetting the European champions via ex-Man City midfielder Gelson Fernandes (who, thanks to his Brazillian heritage, sounds far more Spanish than he does Swiss) in a move that could have easily led to a penalty conceded by Iker Casillas had Gelson not followed up with the winner.

The result brings intrigue to a group that was expected to come down to who could join the Spanish in the last sixteen - now, this one result could lead to our first major casualty of the tournament.

Between this turn of events and the volume of entertainment on offer despite just two goals in 180 minutes, Group H is sure to attract plenty of viewers when matchday two comes their way.

THE GAMES SO FAR:
  1. Germany v Austrailia, Group D, June 13 (4-0) - 8
  2. Spain v Switzerland, Group H, June 16 (0-1) - 8
  3. Brazil v North Korea, Group G, June 15 (2-1) - 7.5
  4. South Africa v Mexico, Group A, June 11 (1-1) - 7.5
  5. Chile v Honduras, Group H, June 16 (1-0) - 7
  6. South Africa v Uruguay, June 16 (0-3) - 7
  7. Argentina v Nigeria, Group B, June 12 (1-0) - 6.5
  8. New Zealand v Slovakia, Group F, June 15 (1-1) - 6.5
  9. Ghana v Serbia, Group D, June 13 (1-0) - 6
  10. England v United States, Group C, June 12 (1-1) - 6
  11. South Korea v Greece, Group B, June 12 (2-0) - 6
  12. Japan v Cameroon, Group E, June 14 (1-0) - 6
  13. Holland v Denmark, Group E, June 14 (2-0) - 6
  14. Italy v Paraguay, Group F, June 14 (1-1) - 5.5
  15. Cote d'Ivoire v Portugal, Group G, June 15 (0-0) - 4.5
  16. France v Uruguay, Group A, June 11 (0-0) - 3
  17. Algeria v Slovenia, Group C, June 13 (0-1) - 3
THE GOALS SO FAR:
  1. Tshabalala (South Africa v Mexico, June 11) 9
  2. Forlan (Uruguay v South Africa, June 16) 8.5
  3. Maicon (Brazil v North Korea, June 15) 8.5
  4. Podolski (Germany v Australia, June 13) 8
  5. Yun-Nam Ji (North Korea v Brazil, June 15) 8
  6. Klose (Germany v Australia, June 13) 7.5
  7. Ji-Sung Park (South Korea v Greece, June 12) 7.5
  8. Muller (Germany v Australia, June 13) 7.5
  9. Elano (Brazil v North Korea, June 15) 7.5
  10. Gerrard (England v United States, June 12) 7.5
  11. Heinze (Argentina v Nigeria, June 12) 7
  12. Reid (New Zealand v Slovakia, June 15) 7
  13. Honda (Japan v Cameroon, June 14) 7
  14. Pereira (Uruguay v South Africa, June 16) 7
  15. Cacau (Germany v Australia, June 13) 7
  16. Alcaraz (Paraguay v Italy, June 14) 7
  17. Fernandes (Switzerland v Spain, June 16) 6.5
  18. Beausejour (Chile v Honduras, June 16) 6
  19. Jung-Soo Lee (South Korea v Greece, June 12) 6
  20. Kuyt (Holland v Denmark, June 14) 6
  21. Koren (Slovenia v Algeria, June 13) 6
  22. Marquez (Mexico v South Africa, June 11) 5
  23. Dempsey (United States v England, June 12) 5
  24. De Rossi (Italy v Paraguay, June 14) 4.5
  25. Vittek (Slovakia v New Zealand, June 15) 4
Tomorrow, the order's shaken up a little as the hosts must wait until the evening before they see just how difficult their attempts to survive in their own World Cup will be, with France taking on Mexico at 19:30 local time. Before then, Group B will take shape as it's winners v winners and losers v losers: Argentina v South Korea and Nigeria v Greece!

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