Day 31: Campeones! 2

Netherlands 0 – 1 Spain (a.e.t)

That’s it, justice is done and the best team have won. Spain triumphed in what ended up as a straightforward battle between good and evil that rivalled anything from Middle Earth.

The first half of the showpiece occasion was one of the worst forty-five minutes of football in the tournament and, indeed, one of the worst I can remember. Spain were seemingly the only team there in the first fifteen but failed to capitalise and eventually the Netherlands came back into it. Their game plan quite quickly turned out to be to press Spain hard high up the pitch – but what that ended up translating into was a campaign of cynical fouling that prevented any outbreak, God forbid, of a game of football. It must surely have been the most difficult game that Howard Webb has ever had to referee in his life, and though he got plenty of decisions right, there were some he got wrong, mostly when it came to letting players off lightly. In the first half alone, Mark van Bommel should have picked up three yellow cards (only one was shown), Wesley Sneijder should have seen yellow for a poor studs-up challenge across the thigh of Sergio Busquets, and Nigel de Jong should clearly have been given a straight red for his reprehensible kick to the chest of Xabi Alonso. That challenge could have broken a rib. How he got away with just yellow is an absolute mystery.

There were one or two goalmouth incidents in that first half but not much. The best chances actually went to the Dutch, when from a cleverly pulled back corner van Bommel miskicked laughably from the edge of the area only for it to reach Joris Mathijsen from a great angle, who produced a centre-back’s shot, swiping at the air.

Half-time could not come soon enough, though the second half gradually improved. Spain, again, started dominantly but couldn’t find a way through, again really struggling without a Fernando Torres through the middle for Villa, Pedro, Xavi and Iniesta to swarm around. Pedro was replaced after an hour by Jesus Navas – it seemed a strange substitution for me at first in that tactically nothing really changed and Pedro had done OK, but Navas justified it by adding a little more directness in terms of running at Giovanni van Bronckhorst, playing his final professional game, and also in passing into the box, but just didn’t have anyone to aim for.

The first really good chance fell to the Netherlands, though, and Arjen Robben, comfortably the most dangerous player for his team. He broke through the defense picking up a great through ball from Wesley Sneijder, otherwise quiet, and was one-on-one with Iker Casillas, who produced a stunning save with his leg to deny Robben. Arguably Robben could have done better with that chance but you cannot deny the brilliance of Casillas to keep Spain level. John Heitinga then managed a similarly great stop to deny David Villa, having slipped badly to allow the striker to pick up posession at all, but managed to whirl around on the floor and stick a leg up to block the shot away.

The next golden chance that went begging, though, was all about the miss – Sergio Ramos really should have scored with fifteen minutes to go when he did very well to escape his marker from a corner and earn a free header from six yards, which he blazed over. It was a huge miss and one that you worried might punish the Spanish if Robben got another chance to break, and he did just that a few minutes later, tussling with Carles Puyol just outside the area and, for once, staying on his feet showing strength that makes even more deplorable his customary falling flat at any opportunity. Casillas once again came out and denied him, prompting Robben to run screaming at Webb in a disgusting example of dissent. The boy who cried wolf comes to mind.

Eventually, inevitably, it came to extra time and it was a pleasing relief that neither side seemed willing to settle the game on penalties, although the Dutch attempts to go forward immediately ceased when the red card was finally produced to Heitinga. Half-time in extra time and Vicente del Bosque produced a baffling substitution, withdrawing Villa for Torres. Villa hadn’t had a great game but he had been hamstrung by the absence of Torres or Fernando Llorente, and with penalty kicks looming why take off your best goalscorer and a natural penalty taker in favour of a striker with a confidence problem? I was seriously worried that del Bosque was shooting himself in the foot.

Finally, though, we got a breakthrough, although there was a touch of controversy. It came after Sneijder’s free-kick cannoned off Cesc Fabregas and went behind but was strangely given as a goal kick, which was a wrong decision, and then in the play that followed Eljero Elia went down looking for a free-kick having possibly been blocked off by a Spanish defender. The key word there is ‘looking’, though, as he was clearly trying to buy the free-kick for a foul that wasn’t really there (I’ve seen them given, but it’s not really a foul in my book). While Elia was asking for the free-kick Spain got on with it and, despite a lucky deflection allowing them to hold onto posession, Fabregas finally opened up space in the box for Iniesta, who, as coolly as you could ask for, took one touch and fired home a decisive shot. Spain went mental, and the Dutch more so, fuming that the goal had been allowed. There’s a slim case that backs them up but it was a lesser injustice than, say, Holland having eleven players on the pitch after forty-five minutes, so I don’t think they can really complain. There was just time for Fernando Torres to do his hamstring before full-time, and it really was the depressing icing on a miserable personal tournament for the Liverpool man. He’ll be back, though, and it was good to see that he was OK to walk around for the celebrations.

So in the end Spain definitely deserved it. They played the best football on the night, and were the best team of the tournament. They’ve been the single best international team in the world over the past four years, and this trophy is a fair reflection of that. The scary thing is that they could have been better – imagine if Torres had been fit and firing. Imagine if Vicente del Bosque was better at making substitutions. This team is still young enough to keep on at the top for the forseeable future, even if Puyol retires from international football now, as I believe is to be the case.

Man of the Day: Iker Casillas for me was the standout player, although his opposite number Maarten Stekelenburg also had a good game. Casillas’ two saves from Robben were absolutely crucial, and of course the Real Madrid man is the captain who lifted the World Cup trophy. That probably justifies him as Man of the Day.

Tomorrow…oh. No, don’t worry, there’s still some mopping up to do. I’ll be discussing the tournament as a whole in the next couple of days and handing out some CDB Awards, and then once all that’s wrapped up there’s all sorts of football to talk about. The Europa League’s already started, don’t you know.

Finally, I bow down before Paul the octopus. Let’s just elect him Supreme Overlord and be done with it.

Day 30: Stricken With The Loew Bug, Germany Finish Third

Uruguay 2 – 3 Germany

Sorry about the delay, readers, there have been some internet issues preventing this blog arriving on time. But I couldn’t turn my attentions to the big game this evening before giving a quick mention to last night’s thrilling third/fourth place play-off. It was, of course, the least relevant game of the tournament, as it always is, but this glorified friendly fixture has a habit of taking the pressure off enough to lead to a stonking game with plenty of goals, and last night was no exception as we witnessed the first match of the World Cup in which the lead ever changed hands. That in itself is an astounding fact considering Uruguay-Germany was the 63rd game of the finals, but more on that later.

First to the game itself, and it was very exciting, gradually becoming more and more end-to-end as the game went on, but on the balance of play you’d probably have to say that Germany deserved their win. They had the better of the opening stages and were rewarded when Thomas Mueller, one of the outstanding players of the tournament but somehow omitted from FIFA’s Golden Ball shortlist, slotted in his fifth goal of the tournament after Fernando Muslera awkwardly parried the ball straight into his path. It was an error by Muslera but there was evidence of the Jabulani’s devils at work, swinging the ball late in its arc to wrongfoot him.  Mueller now joins David Villa, Wesley Sneidjer and Diego Forlan at the top of the Golden Boot standings, and if neither Villa nor Sneijder score in the final tonight, Mueller will win the prize by virtue of having more assists (another ludicrous new rule from reliably idiotic FIFA – what exactly was so awful about having joint winners in the past? And what do assists have to do with being a great goalscorer?).

But Uruguay replied quickly with a wonderfully elegant sweeping move instigated by the terrific Diego Perez thieving the ball away from Bastian Schweinsteiger, captain for the night as Philipp Lahm was ill. Perez gave it to Forlan who threaded a perfect through ball in towards Edinson Cavani, who stretched his leg out just enough to place it past Hans-Joerg Butt for his first of the tournament, a goal which he richly deserves for his energetic and unselfish forward performances. There was a simple beauty about that goal that makes it, in my mind, deserve more attention than Forlan’s goal just after half-time. That, too, was of course a great goal, earned by a strong, determined run down the right flank by Edigio Arevalo, one of Uruguay’s best throughout the finals, who crossed it for Forlan. Forlan then unleashed a powerful volley that came off the ground and thudded into Butt’s net. Again, Forlan is now tied on five goals with three others, though he cannot officially win it.

In the minutes that followed Uruguay were solidly in control of the match, bustling and brimming with energy. So naturally Germany then stole an equaliser, a somewhat fluky goal for which Jerome Boateng lumped a cross into the box, Muslera jumped for it and missed, and Marcell Jansen, while apparently trying to duck out of the way, had the ball hit him on the back of the neck and deflect in. His celebration was suitably apologetic.

Admirably both teams pushed forward with greater and greater abandon, both trying to win the game presumably at least to avoid the unnecessary strain of extra time. It was starting to look like that was where we were heading, though, as Luis Suarez and Stefan Kiessling both had good shots saved, until, inside the last ten minutes, when a Mesut Oezil corner was defended a little clumsily by Uruguay, allowing Sami Khedira to rise above and head home for the goal that he too has deserved for his efforts in South Africa. Uruguay did keep pushing and managed to win a free-kick just outside the area with the last kick of the game. Forlan’s resulting effort was a stunner that deserved to go in, but pinged off the left side of the crossbar and out to seal Germany’s bronze medal.

That was that for one of the most entertaining games of the tournament and two teams who have both surprised and impressed me and many others. Uruguay were beaten but will return to Montevideo to a heroes’ welcome having exceeded expectations and put up a good fight against not only Germany but also the Netherlands. Forlan in particular has been one of the best players of the tournament, leading by example on and off the pitch with his constant reading of the game, intelligent passing, inspired set-pieces and five excellent goals. Suarez will be remembered for his goalkeeping rather than his striking in the history books but he too has been impressive and this summer on the back of his incredible goal record last season will surely see him secure a big-money move to a top club, maybe someone like Chelsea if they fail to get hold of Fernando Torres. Cavani, Diego Lugano, Jorge Fucile, Arevalo, Perez and Maximiliano Pereira have all been really good.

Germany know that there wasn’t really any more that they could have done. They played probably the most exciting football of the tournament despite being a reactive team rather an a proactive team, playing mostly on the counter. Surely the German FA must now give Joachim Loew whatever he wants to ensure that he can continue developing this team who, as long as injuries and form hold steady, should be a real force in Brazil in 2014. In Mueller and Oezil they have the two most exciting young players of the tournament, and Schweinsteiger has a strong case for overall best player. They’ll be back.

Man of the Day: Diego Forlan was the best player on the park for me, laying on the crucial pass for Uruguay’s opener, scoring another great goal and so nearly another in the dying seconds.

Later today, it’s the World Cup final! Crikey! It’s nearly over. I’m delighted that a new side will be lifting the Jules Rimet tonight and I’m in the happy position of having a personal interest in both sides winning, so I look forward to enjoying it whatever happens. Spain, though, should come out on top if they play to their best, although Arjen Robben has the power to change a game in a second and must be stopped in what could be a fascinating examination of both Sergio Ramos and, to a lesser extent, Joan Capdevila. See you on the other side!

Day 26: Forlan Looks All Round For Uruguay As Netherlands Reach Final

Uruguay 2 – 3 Netherlands

After the early stages of the tournament suggested that South American sides might dominate in the first African World Cup, it is now confirmed that we will see an all-European final, possibly between two sides that have never lifted the trophy before.

The Netherlands found their road to the final a rocky one, though, shattering those silly, arrogant proclamations that had been emanating from Holland about an easy game. For a goal that featured five goals it was quite cagey, with long periods of the game going by in which neither team seemed likely to break down the others’ defensive barriers. Certainly the first fifteen minutes were as tentative as they were even. The Netherlands were slow to accelerate, with Wesley Sneijder, their standout player so far, not exerting any real creative influence, and Uruguay immediately looked like they were lacking a dimension without Luis Suarez. Much of what has made them such an impressive side during this competition has been due to the running of both Suarez and Edinson Cavani around Diego Forlan, pulling defenders away. We saw how crucial that is to their play with their equaliser in the 41st minute – Cavani made an angled run not once but twice to drag away Joris Mathijsen which gave Forlan the space to turn and shoot. What a good shot it was, too, although arguably Maarten Stekelenburg should have done better.

Good as it was though, it wasn’t a patch on the opener. Breaking out of that opening crawl, Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst pulled an absolute corker out of the bag. Played in by a little through ball advancing on the left, van Bronckhorst didn’t wait to take a touch, he just shaped and from an improbable angle (and the small matter of 41 yards) cannoned the ball at breakneck pace arrow-straight into the inside of the far post. Fernando Muslera did as well as he could but there was no way he could have stopped that shot.  That absolute stunner is a late contender for goal of the tournament that may well not be beaten.

The intervening periods in the first half developed a bit of friction as some late tackles and more cynical fouls crept into the game. This was mostly from the Dutch, I think it’s fair to say, particularly after Forlan scored, and in the few minutes both before and after half-time, Holland looked rattled, defensive and edgy. That was the time when Uruguay could have seized the advantage but again they didn’t have enough penetration without Suarez and eventually the Dutch wormed their way back into the reckoning.

There was (and I’m sure will continue to be for a while) some debate over the goal that capped the Dutch resurrection. When Sneijder’s shot was hit, Robin van Persie was standing in a borderline offside position and was obviously ‘active’. From what I could see of the replay, though, van Persie looked marginally onside, but it was so close that whatever the officials’ decision had been there would have been complaints about it. It turned out to be van Persie’s biggest contribution – the striker had yet another average game, taking a little too much time to himself when opportunities presented themselves and not, to my recollection, getting off a serious shot on goal.

Whatever controversy there was over the second goal was completely absent from the third, which arrived just two minutes later and appeared to have killed the game off. You would have got long odds before the game on Arjen Robben scoring a header but that was what he did, burying with true poacher’s instinct a cross from Dirk Kuyt, who did surprisingly well stretching the Uruguayan right flank despite being right-footed himself. It was a cool, classy goal and it seemed to have taken all of the wind out of Uruguay’s sails. Their inability to mount a comeback was summed up by the substitution of Forlan, apparently carrying a minor knock, who looked resigned to his country’s fate.

There were a few hectic minutes as, out of nowhere, Maximiliano Pereira found himself with the ball on the edge of the penalty area following a well-planned free-kick and slipped a clever curling shot around Stekelenburg’s fingers into the corner of the net. Suddenly Uruguay were filled with urgency and they hurled themselves forward, causing a couple of nervy moments. Indeed, so eager were the Netherlands to see the end of this revolt that Mark van Bommel jumped to conclusions when the referee blew his whistle in stoppage time and kicked the ball away in celebration – for his trouble he was booked, ironic it being for such a simple mistake when he had inexplicably got away with several vicious fouls during the game. For him, certainly, it had been an unconvincing, slightly desperate game.

That was the problem with a few of the Dutch players, and, much like the victorious France side of 1998, they have reached the final having not yet really played all that well. There was so much obviously yet to come from the likes of Sneijder, van Bommel, Robben, van Persie and Rafael van der Vaart that the best player on the park in orange was the right-back Khalid Boulahrouz. Playing only because of Gregory van der Wiel’s suspension, and probably unlikely to keep his place for the final, Boulahrouz didn’t really get forward but just played a solid game in defense, helping to nullify Cavani’s runs.

So the Netherlands still have plenty of room to improve going into the biggest game of their lives – encouragingly, some might say. Uruguay, though, were clearly not as good as they had been in previous games. Suarez was a huge loss, and although Forlan had another good game, always looking capable of getting things done, he just didn’t have as much space as he did when there were two strikers running off him. In that way it was reminiscent of their first game against France, in which Cavani did not play and neither Forlan nor Suarez had much joy. But overall, despite this loss, Uruguay will look back on this tournament with pride. They have exceeded expectations, even accounting for a relatively good draw, and did it playing an attack-minded formation with a group of largely unheralded players. They also missed left-back Jorge Fucile tonight who’s had an impressive tournament but Diego Perez, Diego Lugano, Egidio Arevalo and the Pereiras (Maximiliano and Alvaro) have emerged with great credit. For a country with a population half that of Greater London, a World Cup semi-final is a brilliant achievement.

Man of the Day: Boulahrouz for me, although an honourable mention for Kuyt.

Tomorrow, I just don’t know which way to call it. On one hand, Germany have been arguably the best team of the tournament and should be well-suited to shutting down Spain. On the other hand, on paper Spain are the better side and David Villa has for my money been the best player of the tournament. Also, Paul the psychic German octopus, who has so far correctly predicted every German result, has spoken and the clairvoyant cephalopod has said that Spain for win, and who am I to argue with that kind of evidence?

Day 22: Uruguay Bring Ghanaian Adventure To Abreu-pt End

Netherlands 2 – 1 Brazil

Uruguay 1 – 1 Ghana (4-2 penalties)

Wow. What a day of quarter-final action. Two extraordinary matches but we’ll start with the first, a shock result as the Netherlands overturned the Brazilian juggernaut.

I’d thought coming into this game that the Netherlands might be the team best suited to beating Brazil, and while Arjen Robben did draw some fouls running down the right at Michel Bastos, he didn’t really take full advantage and the Dutch win ended up being quite a strange one. In the first half, there was only one team in it. Brazil fired a warning shot past their opponents’ bow when they had a goal disallowed after eight minutes and followed through on the threat just two short minutes later when Felipe Melo played a simple forward pass that bisected a static Dutch back line and Robinho made a great run onto it, needing only to sweep the ball past Maarten Stekelenburg to put the Selecao ahead, and so he did. From then on Brazil did what we expected them to and shut up shop, doing a good job of keeping the Netherlands, and particularly key man Wesley Sneijder, quiet. They outplayed the Dutch very simply and Bert van Marwijk’s side were unlucky not to have been punished more by half-time. Maicon in particular came very close with the last kick of the half, a brilliant, sweeping Brazil move reminiscent of that Carlos Alberto goal in 1970, which Stekelenburg got a subtle but crucial touch to and was wrongly called a goal kick. For the Netherlands, their half was summed up by an embarrassing attempt at a corner where Robben subtly poked the ball out of the corner and then walked away as if he hadn’t taken it, but none of his team-mates picked up on it and so Brazil just took it back. Funny, but cringeworthy.

In the second half though, everything changed. Bastos should have been sent off for a second booking when he blocked Robben off on the flank, but the resulting free-kick brought the ball to Sneijder, who put in a cross. Julio Cesar, the Vince Vaughn-a-like goalkeeper who is normally so imperious, came out to meet it, missed it as he jumped with Felipe Melo, and it came off Melo’s head for an own goal. It was a real calamity for Brazil and the incident seemed to transfer all of their previous confidence to the Netherlands. As doubt pervaded every Brazilian move, Sneijder and Mark van Bommel took control in midfield and started to make things happen. The second goal, a header from little Sneijder of all people, was deserved and then Brazil really started to fall apart. The tackling in the match had been competitive from the start, but the Brazilians started reacting to everything in a very negative way. It came to a head when Melo fouled Robben and then proceeded to stamp on him viciously as he tried to take the ball back from him. It was a moment of absolute insanity, completely inexcusable in a World Cup quarter-final when your team is chasing the game. With only ten men Brazil were unable to resurrect their juggernaut playstyle and although they had one or two chances from corners late on that the Dutch failed to deal with sufficiently, they never really looked like coming back and it turned out to be surprisingly comfortable.

The game after was even more eventful and emotional, though. In the first twenty-five minutes Uruguay were by far the better side, and there was a definite feeling that they would regret it if they didn’t take advantage by scoring. That was exactly what came to pass, as Ghana came back into the game, Kevin-Prince Boateng increasingly finding room to manouevre as he moved into the hole behind Gyan. With the last kick of the half, Sulley Muntari completed that turnaround with a frankly ludicrous swerving shot that, as it traveled through the air, echoed with all the complaints about the Jabulani ball. Fernando Muslera was wrong-footed, having taken a crucial step to his right, and so at half-time it looked pretty bad for Uruguay.

What got Uruguay back into it, and always looked like being their likeliest avenue, was a Diego Forlan set piece. This is a side of his game that I wasn’t really aware of coming into the tournament, but his delivery from corners has been consistently dangerous all the way through. His free-kicks too have been brilliant and none more so than the equaliser, which hovered and dodged its way into the net over Richard Kingson’s net. You could make a case for Kingson needing to do better with that shot, but you can’t deny the quality of the shot. From then Uruguay didn’t really kick on to seize back control of the game, though, and as the game dragged on Oscar Tabarez made a bold tactical substitution, taking off the creative forward Edinson Cavani and bringing on the target man Sebastian Abreu. It seemed to be a serious tactical error as Abreu distorted the Uruguayan attack plans, pushing the dangerous Luis Suarez too far to the right. You’d probably say it worked out though.

When extra time arrived things slowed down as both teams were clearly really tired. Ghana, obviously, had played extra time in the second round – I don’t know what Uruguay’s excuse was. There was plenty of effort from both sides but neither seemed able to produce any real end product, and penalties always looked the likeliest outcome. Until, of course, everyone thought it was all over – after a chaotic scramble in the Uruguayan box, Suarez blocked a goalbound shot with a blatant handball and was rightly sent off. You can’t really blame Suarez – he had to take it for the team from his perspective, but it was cheating. Justice would have seen Asamoah Gyan bury his third penalty of the tournament with the last kick of the game, but justice was absent. It was a shocking moment that will stick with the poor man for the rest of his life, but then he had to pick himself up straight away and take another one in the resulting shoot-out. You just felt that the Ghanaians had been jarred mentally by the missed penalty and so it proved as both John Mensah and young Dominic Adiyiah took poor spot kicks which were both saved by Muslera.

It is a great shame that the last African team has departed but Ghana can hold their heads up high. They’ve acquitted themselves very well and got better as they went on. Boateng and Gyan in particular have had excellent tournaments and they came so close to making history as the first African side to reach the semis. Considering how it looked that no team from the home continent would have made it to the knockout stages, the local fans must be proud of them. But sadly they will remember this World Cup for heartbreak more than pride, I fear.

Man of the Day: Hard to say. I’ll go for Sneijder, but Stekelenburg runs him very close for a brilliant save from Kaka and another great one from Maicon. For sheer effort, Gyan gets a mention too.

Tomorrow, we can only hope for another day of such excitement and drama. Germany-Argentina could be a brilliant end-to-end match, two teams who cannot really defend but attack with brilliant skill. I’m going to punt for Germany. Spain should have little trouble dispatching Paraguay.

Day 18: Juan Thing Led To Another…

Netherlands 2 – 1 Slovakia

Brazil 3 – 0 Chile

Not, I think it’s fair to say, the most exciting day of the World Cup so far, but I suppose we can all breathe a sigh of relief that nothing went disastrously wrong, anyway.

The Netherlands reached the quarter-finals with a routine victory over Slovakia that suggested that they are still yet to move into top gear. They dominated posession without ever seeking to really kill their opponents off, even with a relatively early lead through Arjen Robben. It was a great goal from the returning winger, sprinting to get on the end of a slightly overhit through ball as if to assure everyone that his hamstring is completely fine now, rounding the defender, and slotting a low shot into the bottom corner of the net. In real time, the goal looked slightly strange, the shot being quite a slow one that I automatically assumed would be saved, but replays showed that it was placed perfectly so as to evade the hand of Jan Mucha. It was quite easy in the end for Robben, whose return has balanced the Dutch side better, quashing my initial worries that moving Dirk Kuyt to the left would create the same cutting-inside problems as there were with Rafael van der Vaart there.

The game remained at 1-0 for a long period, with the Dutch clearly in control but seemingly reluctant to expend two much energy against such lowly opposition, a little arrogant but in the end it proved to be justified. Slovakia were unable to muster many threatening attacks on goal, despite young wingers Vladimir Weiss (Jr., Jr.) and Miroslav Stoch looking peppy and potentially useful outlets. As such it was quite a flat, boring game with no sense that anything of any great importance was going to happen after the first goal. Holland wrapped it up with five minutes to go when Mucha came out to try to stop the oncoming Dirk Kuyt, who evaded and found himself in loads of space. His patience in setting himself for the pull-back to Wesley Sneijder was impressive, and Sneijder atoned for an earlier miss by making no mistakes this time. That killed the game completely and manager Vladimir Weiss (Jr.) took the opportunity to give two squad players a few minutes as subs just to say they had played in a World Cup, which I thought was good of him, even though one of them, Marek Sapara, was a player I’d hoped to have seen more of. Then, out of nowhere, Slovakia got a penalty with the last kick of the game when sub Martin Jakubko made a rather pathetic dive over goalkeeper Stekelenburg, and Robert Vittek converted it to make himself joint top scorer again. Most of the Slovakians have only really had one good game, but Vittek’s done well throughout and his four goals in four games reflect that.

In the other second round match today everyone’s second favourite team, Chile, were comfortably overcome by Brazil. Again it was a slightly disappointing match despite having a few goals, with Chile attacking gamely as they were always going to do but suffering from the same symptoms as they have done all tournament, being unable to find consistent finishing to complete their attacking barrages. This was exacerbated by some terrific Brazilian defending, led chiefly by the man of the match Juan, who was constantly getting in the way and was rewarded by scoring the first goal, a strong header from Maicon’s corner. Only a few minutes later the game looked dead and buried as Luis Fabiano passed into an empty net. Going in two-nil down at half-time, Marcelo Bielsa threw any last semblance of caution to the wind by making two substitutions that essentially left Chile with only two at the back, later falling to just one, although obviously part of Chile’s tactics is that the midfield players can all drop back reasonably effectively. It didn’t make much difference, though, as Brazil continued to do an excellent impression of a brick wall.

In fact, both teams could easily have had a penalty, but missed out by two extremes – first, Lucio performed such an elaborate dive that the genuine foul he suffered was overlooked, and later, Alexis Sanchez refused to go down under a challenge in favour of trying to get a shot away, which came to nothing. There was no question of refereeing mistakes, though, as Howard Webb and his assistants had a competent game in a match with little serious incident. If you were watching ITV, though, you would be forgiven for thinking that the English officials had brought peace to the Middle East with their performance. I don’t want to get into a rant that non-British-based readers won’t understand a word of, but suffice to say that even by his own hideously low standards, Clive Tyldesley had a mind-numbingly bad game.

So now the two teams have set up a quarter-final against each other in a few days’ time, and it could be a really interesting game. From what I can see, the Netherlands are perhaps the best-equipped team to beat Brazil left in the tournament, able to match their formation man-for-man and with Arjen Robben running at Michel Bastos on the Dutch right and Dirk Kuyt maybe being able to match Maicon’s work-rate on the other flank. Bert van Marwijk will obviously have to make sure his side fire on all cylinders for that match, though, as anything less will not be enough.

Man of the Day: Juan was absolutely imperious at the heart of the Brazilian defense.

Tomorrow, I fancy Paraguay to overcome Japan in a hard-fought game, maybe on penalties, and Spain to dispatch Portugal in the Iberian derby.

Day 17: FIFAk’s Sake!

Germany 4 – 1 England

Argentina 3 – 1 Mexico

And thus concludes a thoroughly embarrassing day for FIFA and a thoroughly depressing day for me personally. Please bear with me, dear readers, as I am feeling quite sick today, and not only because of the England performance.

Let’s get one thing out of the way straight away: Frank Lampard’s brilliant lob should not have been disallowed. Yes, technology could have corrected the mistake almost immediately. Yes, it was an absolute howler for the officials and a huge egg on FIFA’s face. But let’s not let that overshadow the fact that England were absolutely abysmal apart from the 54-second period between Matthew Upson’s headed goal and “Lampsgate” (copyright: The Sun). I have never been a professional defender but it was really obvious to me that England’s positioning was all wrong, accounting for all the four German goals.

Culprit numero uno was Terry, who was playing like his first name was Hans-Dieter rather than John. He ran around chasing the ball like an exuberant puppy with absolutely no sense of organisation, and Upson followed him like the nerdy kid peering over the popular kid’s shoulder. With Gareth Barry further forward than a holding player should be because of the 4-4-2 formation, Mesut Oezil was constantly given acres of space in which to frolic like, well, an exuberant puppy. The difference is that Oezil is supposed to be that puppy. Terry is not. Elsewhere on the pitch, James Milner seemed to try but made little impact down the right, Jermain Defoe touched the ball little, and Wayne Rooney looked no less burnt out than he has done all tournament. Steven Gerrard showed signs of trying to lift the team single-handedly like he (used to) do for Liverpool, but after a few second-half long shots came to naught he faded as well. The only player to actually have a decent game was David James, despite conceding four. The goals were the fault of defensive mistakes and James prevented a couple of good chances from adding to them.

When trying to determine exactly what went wrong this summer for England, my first thought is to look primarily at the players. Whatever mistakes Fabio Capello has made (I’ll discuss those in a moment), this is a group of players who, by and large, have been part of the England setup over the past six to eight years, through three stewardships of two very different styles. They have consistently been unable to gel into a fluent team and have performed, for many years, several levels short of their club form. This is partly explainable by the fact that at club level they are surrounded by players of different nationalities, who have different mentalities and approaches to the game. However they must take responsibility for poor performances at big tournaments. Looking forward now to the future, England should take a leaf out of the German book and phase through a younger team sooner rather than later, one less burdened by years of failure. Terry in particular is one player who I don’t think should play for England again, but Upson, James, King, Heskey, Wright-Phillips, and maybe even the likes of Gerrard and Ferdinand should all be phased out. Now is the time for Joe Hart, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott, and Jack Rodwell to be brought in alongside Milner and Rooney.

It’s hard to say whether Capello is the right person to do that or not. I like him, I think he’s the best manager England have had in a long time, and should have the experience and the knowledge to make a new England side work. He has made some serious errors in this tournament, though, of that there can be no doubt. For one thing, this World Cup should be remembered as the one that consigned the traditional 4-4-2 formation to history. Playing 4-4-2 throughout the competition, England were exposed as too flat and predictable. In the modern game at least one holding midfielder playing much deeper than Gareth Barry is required, and most good teams now operate with two deep-lying central players in a 4-2-3-1 that gives greater flexibility. Barry was too far forward to pick up attacking midfielders like Oezil and Messi, and Frank Lampard was too deep to trouble holding players like Schweinsteiger and Gilberto Silva.

Capello’s substitutions were also poor at the World Cup, particularly today. Emile Heskey has his uses but he is clearly not an out-and-out goalscorer. If you have Jermain Defoe on the pitch rather than the bench to come on as a sub to stretch the game, then you can’t replace him with Heskey when you need to score three goals to get back into the game. In the squad, Peter Crouch was a more obvious replacement. In theory, Darren Bent should have been backing up Defoe.

I hope Capello’s forthcoming meeting with the FA to decide his future involves him convincing them that he is willing to adapt his tactics to better suit the challenges of modern international football. If he can’t overcome his stubbornness, then he should be removed from his post. I hope that it doesn’t come to that, but one way or another a change is required. If he does go, then I hope somebody intelligent, thoughtful and tactically modern can be found to replace him, and that the FA avoids the temptation to knee-jerkingly appoint an Englishman on principal, because not many English managers fit that description (I’d probably settle for Woy Hodgson, but I can’t think of anyone else. The worst case scenario would be ‘Arry Bloody Redknapp).

I must of course take a moment to comment on Germany, who thoroughly deserved their win, playing well and doing exactly what was required to exploit England’s weaknesses. Another four goals wouldn’t really have flattered them. Oezil had another excellent game – I really, really like him – and so did Thomas Mueller, who pulled the trigger twice halfway through the second half with two powerful shots, and Lukas Podolski. They did again look vulnerable at the back, just less so than England.

They will be much more tested by Argentina, who weren’t at their best but did do enough to beat Mexico in their second round match. They were sent on their way, though, by an even worse incident than the Lampard disallowed goal. When Lionel Messi, who was a little more subdued this evening, flicked a pass through to Carlos Tevez who scored, Tevez was clearly offside, with not even a single player ahead of him. Disallowing the goal was bad enough but when the man operating the stadium’s big screen oopsied and replayed the decision, clearly showing everyone inside the stadium that the officials had made the wrong call. The Mexicans knew and duly surrounded the referee, the assistant who flagged the offside knew and looked hugely guilty and upset at his mistake, and the referee knew but also knew that by the letter of the law, having already given the goal, he could not reverse the decision. And so everyone played on having discovered, like the TV viewers, that the goal should not have stood within about thirty seconds of its occurence. Sepp Blatter blathers on about technology eliminating the human nature of refereeing mistakes and taking away from the authority of the officials, but when we all know almost instantly that decisions are clearly wrong it degrades the referee’s authority even more severely. The technology exists, it’s quick, and yes, there would be some difficulties in deciding and fine-tuning exactly when and how often the technology could be applied, but it’s a bog that FIFA absolutely needs to weigh into for the good of the game.

There was no doubt about the second goal, though, as Ricardo Osorio made a catastrophically bad error passing the ball straight to Gonzalo Higuain who took full advantage. From then on Mexico did not look like seriously getting back into the game, and Tevez’s second goal in the second half was magnificent, a ferocious shot from the edge of the area. Javier Hernandez pulled one back with a really good goal, completely bypassing Martin Demichelis, who still looks like a major weakness for this Argentina side, and firing home with venom. The Mexicans just didn’t put together a strong enough push to capitalise on that lifeline, though, despite the best efforts of half-time sub Pablo Barrera, who looks a real player, and will be left to wonder what might have been if they’d had a more clinical target man and less of a shafting by Lady Luck.

Germany-Argentina will now be a fascinating quarter-final, which should produce plenty of goals. Both sides are weak in defense but posess two of the tournament’s best performers so far in Oezil and Messi. I wouldn’t want to call it.

Man of the Day: Sepp Blatter. (all right, Mesut Oezil.)

Tomorrow, I can’t imagine lightning striking twice with this Slovakia side and the Netherlands should blow them away with Arjen Robben now fit and looking in dangerous form, but Brazil-Chile could go either way. The suspensions will probably take their toll in the end. Brazil to win.

Day 14: I Told You They Were Pasta Their Best

Slovakia 3 – 2 Italy

Paraguay 0 – 0 New Zealand

Denmark 1 – 3 Japan

Cameroon 1 – 2 Denmark

Six groups have now been resolved as the first phase of South Africa 2010 nears its conclusion, and there was a big shock in store as the reigning champions Italy were dethroned by a Slovakia side who looked reborn after two indifferent previous games. Looks like I picked the wrong game to focus on in Paraguay-New Zealand.

I did have both games on in front of me but paid most attention to the 0-0 draw that secured Paraguay’s place at the top of the table, even after Robert Vittek scored the unlikely opener, running onto a delightful pass from Juraj Kucka after Daniele de Rossi gave away posession poorly, because from that moment on it became apparent that the only next goal that could change the shape of the table would be a New Zealand one. So I kept watching, and while the goals kept flying in at both ends on the other screen, the All Whites (today in all black) and Paraguay played out a pretty dull stalemate. Paraguay were quite a way below the levels of their previous performances. Oscar Cardozo, so prolific for Benfica this season, was neither as dynamic, energetic or effective as Lucas Barrios, who was really missed and came on as a sub too late to lift the rest of the tam. Nelson Haedo Valdez put in a shift but couldn’t get any joy and it was little surprise to see him taken off as well. They did what they had to do, though, and took the draw, certainly giving New Zealand far fewer chances than the Azzuri did a few days ago. They’ll need to rediscover that energy in the knockout stages, though.

From what I did see of the Italy defeat it looked like a real classic, though – when Vittek joined Gonzalo Higuain as the tournament’s top scorer in the second half taking advantage of a moment of indecision by Giorgio Chiellini, it seemed impossible that even Italy, who so often squeeze through through sheer force of will, would be able to recover but they came close. Fabio Quagliarella, brought on at half-time with Christian Maggio as Marcello Lippi sought to correct a poor first half, had a shot sensationally cleared just off the line by Martin Skrtel, and later was involved in a strange incident literally inside the Slovakian goal when Antonio di Natale pulled one back with ten minutes to go. Quagliarella tussled with goalkeeper Jan Mucha to pick the ball out of the net and when Kucka intervened both men ended up on the floor, Quagliarella claiming to have been hit in the face. There was little time to dwell on it, though, as soon after, Italy conceded a really soft goal, allowing substitute Kamil Kopunek to run unchecked into the path of a simple throw-in and slot easily past Federico Marchetti. Quagliarella went on to score a good goal in injury time, but Simone Pepe wasn’t able to convert a far-post chance that would have equalised and spared Italian blushes.

For Italy this will be a real kick in the teeth despite low expectations coming into this tournament. On paper they really should have got out of this group, but the ageing elements of the squad were shown up today. Fabio Cannavaro in particular finished his exceptional international career with a shocking game today, lucky to have avoided a second booking for a lunge on Marek Hamsik, and Gianluca Zambrotta and Gennaro Gattuso hauled off at half-time. Cesare Prandelli, who will now take over from Lippi, will need to do some serious spring cleaning to rejuvenate this side, many of whom are sure to be in for a savaging by the Italian press.

In Group F, however, things went pretty much to plan for the top seeds as the Netherlands confirmed top spot with a relatively painless 2-1 win over Cameroon, who leave with nothing after a really poor World Cup. Robin van Persie finally opened his account for the competition with a decent finish from a wide-ish angle and, although Samuel Eto’o equalised from the penalty spot, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar put a straightforward rebound from the returning Arjen Robben’s post-rattling shot to take the points and book a meeting with Slovakia in the next round, which is more appetising than manager Bert van Marwijk could have expected, even accounting for the massive boost that Slovakia will feel having vanquished the holders.

I was more focused on Japan’s impressive victory over a limp Denmark, however, in what was essentially the first straight knockout match of this tournament. In the early stages Japan looked content to play on the counter, as a draw would have suited them, but Denmark had few ideas up front, with Jon Dahl Tomasson particularly having a poor game. The game really came alive when Keisuke Honda netted the first absolute belter of a free-kick of this tournament, following Park Chu-Young’s more measured effort two days ago, from a huge distance out. He was helped by Thomas Sorensen, who made the first mistake of a really bad game by positioning himself badly in relation to his defensive wall, and consequently being stranded when the ball flew past him. It was a spectacular strike, though, take nothing away from it. What was incredible was that the next free-kick was even better, Yasuhito Endo producing a very David Beckham-like curler from a slightly shorter range that again Sorensen prepared badly for, placing the shortest member of the wall on the edge which made it easier for Endo. By that stage Japan looked totally dominant and the result was really a foregone conclusion from then on. It was evident that Denmark just didn’t have any ideas of how to break down a very solid Japanese defense, resorting to aimless long balls in search of Nicklas Bendtner that led to nothing.

In the second half Honda really took control of the game, causing constant trouble for Lars Jacobsen and Daniel Agger as he drifted in and out of the inside left position, and he made the third with a powerful run, keeping hold of the ball magnificently with great strength and ball control before laying it on a plate for the substitute Shinji Okazaki. This came after Denmark had pulled one back with a penalty, given slightly softly for a foul on Daniel Agger, who immediately gave the ball to Tomasson, who had showed exactly why he hadn’t scored in his past fourteen internationals, having been stuck one behind the all-time Danish goalscoring record. He did his best to avoid equalling that record, his average penalty being saved by Eiji Kawashima and nearly fluffing the rebound from a tiny distance, but luckily for him it did just trickle in. The two teams had been about equal in their previous two games but on this evidence it is impossible to argue with Japan’s qualficiation, which is their first appearance in the knockout stages not on home soil, a fine achievement for a nation that will surely grow larger as a footballing power in the coming years.

Man of the Day: Keisuke Honda really ran the show for Japan today, although Yuji Nakazawa was also brilliant at centre-back and Daisuke Matsui was an industrious, creative influence in the midfield. Robert Vittek must also get a mention for his fine example of a good poacher’s performance, but I’m sticking with Honda, who really caught the eye with a performance hinting at greater quality.

Tomorrow will probably begin with a Brazilian win over Portugal, alongside what I suspect will be a draw between North Korea and the Ivory Coast. The real fun happens in the evening, in a Group H with plenty of permutations. I don’t really see Switzerland scoring many against Honduras, and I’m going to plump for a draw there, with Spain to beat Chile and secure qualification. See you tomorrow.

Day 13: They’re Ghana Keep Going

Slovenia 0 – 1 England

USA 1 – 0 Algeria

Ghana 0 – 1 Germany

Australia 2 – 1 Serbia

It’s been a good day for the first African World Cup as Ghana reached the last sixteen ensuring that at least one nation from the continent can carry the local support into the second round. I’ll come to the Group D resolution in a few moments, after I’ve dealt with Group C, where England produced an acceptable performance to beat Slovenia and scrape through to schedule a defeat to Germany on Sunday.

If you were watching England edge Slovenia on the BBC you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the most impressive performance since records began. It is a sad indictment of just how bad the first two games have been for Fabio Capello et al that Guy Mowbray and Mark Lawrenson were purring as if they were watching Brazil circa 1970, because England were not exactly what I’d call impressive in victory. They were certainly much improved, pulling themselves together after a first few minutes that were largely in the same tone as the Algeria game. After about fifteen minutes things started to settle – Steven Gerrard actually listened to his manager’s instructions and stuck more strictly to the left wing, which allowed for better link-ups with Ashley Cole, who was one of England’s better attacking influences. James Milner, replacing Aaron Lennon, put in a much better performance than his stinker against the USA, showing the drive and work-rate he’s been putting in for Aston Villa this season, and gave much better end product than Lennon, the more natural winger, by providing some great crosses, none better than that which led to the only goal of the game. I don’t often have much to say in favour of Jermain Defoe, I’ve never really rated his ability to influence a game, but he made an excellent timed run to meet the cross and volleyed too strongly for the otherwise brilliant Samir Handanovic to save.

England continued to dominate through the first half without really creating many more great opportunities. The first twenty minutes of the second half should have seen them cement the victory though, Defoe in particular narrowly missing a chance he should have done much better with, and Handanovic being equal to a John Terry header that looked promising. But England just couldn’t pull the trigger and it became evident that Slovenia were becoming more confident from being reprieved. Towards the end things got tense as England were mostly on the defensive, and substitute Zlatko Dedic would have scored if not for an immense last-ditch tackle from Matthew Upson. England were overall worth the win, Slovenia having not really fulfilled the promise from their first half against the USA, but they will need to be far more ruthless if they are to stand a chance against a Germany side who are better all over the pitch than Slovenia (except for in goal). This performance was the minimum that is required from a side with quarter- or semi-final aspirations.

I saw very little of the USA-Algeria game but enough to recognise some shameful finishing from Rafik Djebbour for Algeria, and Jozy Altidore of the US, who blazed ridiculously over the bar from barely any distance out at all. It’s a good thing the States got the win because they had for the second time in this group had a perfectly reasonable goal disallowed, this time for offside, but the complaining that I read from some Americans on the web to the tune of “if FIFA wants us to be interested in the World Cup, stop giving us bad referees” was silly – bad referees happen to everyone. It’s part of being a fan. Anyway, I am pleased that the USA got through, I think it would have set back football in that country if they hadn’t, and they are quite a fun side to watch, more so than Slovenia. I would fancy their chances of making the quarter-finals, as well.

And so to Group D, where I would say that Ghana secured their qualification, but they didn’t really – it was thanks to Australia that they made it through. Ghana themselves lost an exciting and open game to Germany. It could have gone either way in the first half, with plenty of chances for either side and a suspicion of handball against Phillipp Lahm who blocked a goalbound header from a Ghanaian corner. Mesut Oezil was the star of the show again for Germany, making brilliant forward runs and slippery passes, and he scored the only goal of the game, an absolute belter from outside the area that Richard Kingson, who had a pretty good game generally, could do nothing to stop. Germany were clearly missing Miroslav Klose – Cacau just doesn’t seem as influential and powerful up front – but pressed their advantage in the second half as Ghana started to run out of ideas.

Ghana attacked plenty, with Kevin Prince-Boateng playing with freedom and adventure, but couldn’t quite find the goal they needed, which means that they have qualified, the first team in my memory to do so, without having scored a goal from open play. Only two Asamoah Gyan penalties have earned them their passage and it is arguable that they did not so much deserve to get through the group as Australia, who picked themselves up remarkably from their opening defeat. Gyan will need to assert himself more against the USA and those who surround him, particularly Andre Ayew, must polish their shooting boots, to find the finishing to reward their industrious midfield play.

As I say, it’s something of a shame for Australia not to have qualified. Their typically plucky effort to recover from what looked like a disastrous opening hammering at the hands of Germany culminated in a 2-1 win over Serbia that ended Radomir Antic’s hopes of leading his team to the next round. I wasn’t able to take in a great deal of the flow of the game but I was impressed by the Australian goals, two in four minutes that briefly raised hopes of the miraculous four-goal swing that they needed to displace Ghana. The first was a typical strong header from the returning Tim Cahill, exactly the sort of late run and score that Australia had hoped to use much more of before his unfortunate dismissal against Germany, and the second was a brilliant long range shot from Brett Holman, who was allowed too much space by Serbia and hit low and powerfully past Vladimir Stojkovic. Holman’s a player who I am told has been heavily criticised by Australian fans but I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve seen of him at this World Cup – I’d be interested to see what Australians now think of him. He may be their Owen Hargreaves now.

So today has set up USA-Ghana on Saturday and Germany-England on Sunday. My instinct would be to expect wins for both the group-toppers. Germany have looked far better and more cohesive than England and Oezil is exactly the sort of player who has far too much intelligence and pace for the likes of John Terry to cope with. The USA will need to match Ghana’s midfield work-rate but as long as they don’t concede any penalties I don’t see where Ghana’s goals are going to come from at this rate.

Man of the Day: Oezil. I’ve just been so impressed by him throughout the group stages and he showed today he has goalscoring power as well as creativity.

Tomorrow, Groups E and F reach their conclusion (although for some reason Group F will play the afternoon fixtures). I’m going to stick my neck out and say that draws for Italy and New Zealand against Slovakia and Paraguay respectively will see the first use of the drawing of lots to decide a World Cup elimination (though I am aware that this is unlikely, I just can’t bet against the All Whites). The Netherlands will probably field a team of reserves but Arjen Robben should be back and they should beat Cameroon who have nothing to play for, while I think Japan’s greater defensive organisation will allow them to edge out Denmark.

Day 9: Eto’Oh No!

Netherlands 1 – 0 Japan

Ghana 1 – 1 Australia

Cameroon 1 – 2 Denmark

Nine days in and we have both our first confirmed qualification and first elimination of this World Cup, in Group E where results combined to ensure the Netherlands’ passage into the round of sixteen and also confirm the exit of the first African nation, Cameroon.

The Dutch played first and though they had to wait a few hours to get confirmation of their qualification, they knew after their 1-0 win over Japan that they had almost certainly done enough. Their performance was pretty much a carbon copy of their last, with the same problems occuring, specifically trying to put Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart in the same team. With Arjen Robben still not available I would have turned to Eljero Elia to start on the left, who was excellent when he came on against Denmark and did reasonably well again today as a substitute. There was a definite feeling that Bert van Marwijk was being unnecessarily conservative by picking the same eleven that beat Denmark, as Japan were clearly going to set up to defend and so fielding two holding midfielders in Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel didn’t really make much sense. Indeed it might have helped van der Vaart to fit in if he and Sneijder were playing centrally in a midfield three and Elia was allowed to work the left hand side.

In any case the Dutch got the win they needed and Sneijder’s goal was a pretty good one, even if he was given a little help by Eiji Kawashima’s poor attempt to grasp the shot. They haven’t really got going in the same way that Argentina and Mexico have, though, and so will want to step it up against Cameroon before facing a tough Italy- or Paraguay-shaped opponent in the second round.

The first African side has been eliminated today and after a really disappointing game this afternoon, Ghana, who have the most realistic remaining chance of qualifying, made it a real possibility that none of this continent’s teams will get through. I really hope that doesn’t happen because the home fans have obviously been disheartened by South Africa’s nearly confirmed exit and if they don’t have an African team to support in the knockout stages that would be a huge shame, which would hurt the tournament as a whole.

Ghana really did miss a trick this afternoon, though, playing three quarters of the game against the ten men of Australia, who this time could have no complaints about the red card. Harry Kewell’s handball on the line was so blatant that it was funny and a little pathetic watching him plead with the referee to look at the big screen for the replay. The Aussies were angry because the penalty it led to, converted brilliantly once again by Asamoah Gyan, canceled out the great work they put in the first twenty minutes, including Brett Holman’s inspiring snatched goal after Richard Kingson fumbled Mark Bresciano’s clever free-kick. Holman may have his critics among the Australian supporters but I though he did really well in the Tim Cahill role today and deserved his goal. As Ghana sat back and refused to press their advantage, content to endlessly shoot from long range rather than push hard and try to wear their opponents out, Australia did well to come back into the game and in the end were the more likely winners. The substitutes Scott Chipperfield and particularly Josh Kennedy gave fresh impetus and each had good chances to sneak a winner. Australia still stand the worst chance of qualification – I expect Serbia to play more intelligently against them than Ghana – but have at least given themselves that chance after looking lost following their opener. Ghana, meanwhile, must play Germany in the final game, and need to win to guarantee qualification. Playing for the draw would be ill-advised against Germany.

As I said, I do hope they get through, because one of my better hopes for an African qualifier, Cameroon, are now definitely out as a result of a really exciting battle with Denmark. In a game littered with mistakes it was Christian Poulsen who gifted the opener to Cameroon, his lazy backpass intercepted by the opposition and given to Samuel Eto’o, who doesn’t miss those kinds of opportunities. Denmark fought back well, though, with two good goals, the first a great long-range hoick by Simon Kjaer into the path of the outstanding Dennis Rommedahl who pulled it back across goal for Nicklas “I’m One Of The Best Players In The World” Bendtner to tap in. The second was down to poor defensive work by Jean Makoun more than anything, standing stock still as Rommedahl ran at him, cut inside and slotted uncomplicatedly past Souleymanou Hamidou at the far post. Cameroon didn’t lose heart like they did against Japan and pressed solidly for the last fifteen minutes, and came closest to an equaliser when Thomas Sorensen, capable as always, saved brilliantly at the last minute from Achille Emana who’d made a great run in.

Now Denmark and Japan will duel for the second spot in the next round in a tie that could probably go either way, though I would lean towards Japan who seem better organised all over the pitch.

Man of the Day: Dennis Rommedahl can blow hot and cold but had a very good day today, tormenting Benoit Assou-Ekotto on the Danish right flank. His blistering pace made the first goal and scored the second.

Tomorrow, Paraguay should have too much for Slovakia, Italy will probably put a few goals past New Zealand, and I have a feeling Brazil may embarrass the Ivory Coast.

Day 4: No Pun Found

Netherlands 2 – 0 Denmark

Japan 1 – 0 Cameroon

Italy 1 – 1 Paraguay

Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart summed up his team’s performance yesterday quite well – “Germany played like us and we played like them”. The Dutch opened their campaign with a game less full of attacking penetration than we expected but kept the ball well and in the end comfortably saw off Denmark. The Danes were a little unlucky that Simon Poulsen’s own goal, a pretty dreadful attempt at a headed clearance that went completely the wrong direction and rebounded off one of his teammates into the net, came just after half time, as it visibly deflated them when they would have hoped to be at their brightest. In the first half Denmark had been growing into the game, fashioning a chance or two for Nicklas Bendtner (albeit chances finished in true Bendtner style) and you felt that if they started the second half strongly that an upset could have been on the cards. Their Plan B never materialised after conceding, though, and the match was almost surrended entirely when Morten Olsen withdrew Bendtner to avoid any reoccurance of an injury after just an hour.

Van der Vaart himself had an average game, taking so badly to his role as Robben’s replacement on the left wing that Wesley Sneijder had to be moved out of his most influential position in the hole to let van der Vaart come back inside. It wasn’t until the young winger Eljero Elia replaced him that the Dutch looked really potent up front, with Elia immediately making an impact. He tore the Danish right back Lars Jacobsen to shreds on more than one occasion with blistering pace, great ball control and one or two sumptuous teasing balls into the box. He was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet with the dinked shot that came off the post for Dirk Kuyt to wrap up the victory.

Elia’s performance was certainly much more assured and exciting than anything in Japan’s 1-0 victory over Cameroon, which for a long time was a very very dull game indeed. Japan were set up for the 0-0 from the get-go and Cameroon were quite clearly set up in a way that didn’t play to their strengths, with Samuel Eto’o stranded out on the right wing and never brought back inside. It’s all very well him filling that role at Inter where his central striker is Diego Milito, but when he’s the best player in his team by miles, giving his best job to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is just not good enough. Major mistake by Paul Le Guen. Credit must go begrudginly to Japan, though, who at least looked more determined once Keisuke Honda’s goal shocked everyone out of their comas, and deserved their three points having held on well. Cameroon’s Stephane Mbia must also be mentioned for hitting the best long shot we’ve seen so far in the tournament, crashing against the corner of the crossbar and post just before stoppage time.

Speaking of teams obviously not playing to their strengths, I was surprised by Paraguay, who I would have expected to play more of a 4-3-3 to take advantage of their excellent strength in depth up front. They wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice their hard-working defensiveness as the three man midfield could have gotten behind the ball when Italy were in posession, but the best way to test an ageing Italian defense would surely to have started Oscar Cardozo, who’s a really gifted player, alongside Barrios and Valdez and really ask questions of Al-Ahli-bound Fabio Cannavaro. I would only have been more encouraged to do this in the second half when Federico Marchetti had to replaced Buffon in the Italian goal after the great Gigi suffered a back injury (he’s expected to be fit for the next match, by the way).

That aside, Paraguay played well although the Italian equaliser clearly took the wind out of their sails in a big way. You felt as the game drew to a close that Italy could score at any moment but Paraguay managed to cling on to what will end up as a good point for both teams. They had the better of a slightly off-colour Italy side for much of the game, until Mauro Camoranesi was introduced to make a more orthodox 4-4-2 and allow Iaquinta to play in his more natural role through the middle. Aureliano Torres provided some great deliveries from set plays, none more so than the free-kick that set up Paraguay’s goal, centre-back Alcaraz heading home confidently, and they will be confident on this form of beating both other teams in the group and maybe managing to top the table.

Man of the Day: Simone Pepe impressed me today, as did Thomas Sorensen, but the standout performance was Elia’s, who totally transformed the Netherlands when he came on and terrorised Lars Jacobsen and the rest of the Danish defence. He should have made enough of a case to start the next game if Robben isn’t available again.

Later today I fancy New Zealand to snatch a draw with Slovakia, the Ivory Coast should beat Portugal (please! I drew them in a sweepstake), and Brazil should royally thump North Korea. We could finally see some serious goal action.

World Cup Guide: Group E Preview

GROUP E

NETHERLANDS

FIFA World Ranking: 4

Team Colours: Orange shirts with black and white trim, black shorts, orange socks. Away kit is white shirts with blue trim and two thin Vs across the chest, one blue and one orange, blue shorts, white socks.

Manager: Bert van Marwijk took Rotterdam club Feyenoord to an unlikely UEFA Cup (remember that?) win in 2002 after a second-place Eredivisie finish in 2001, briefly returning there in 2007-08 before being appointed as Marco van Basten’s successor. Van Marwijk has maintained essentially the same formation as van Basten but the style has been turned down a notch to help protect a somewhat wobbly defence. He is well liked by the Dutch fans for his quiet and sensible approach.

Form: The Dutch swept their (admittedly not that testing) qualifying group with a 100 per cent winning record, scoring 17 goals and conceding just 2 in their eight games, and were impressive throughout with no signs of faltering. Their subsequent friendlies have been similarly promising, with one draw against Paraguay last November and wins over the USA, Mexico, Ghana and Hungary in the build up to the World Cup, the 4-1 and 6-1 victories in the latter two games being particularly fearsome. They look in very good shape.

Captain: Long-serving left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst will retire at the end of the tournament after a fourteen-year international career, 454 club appearances and a trophy cabinet containing Scottish and English Premier Leagues, La Liga and Champions League medals. At 35, though, “Gio” has lost most of his pace and vigour to the extent that he is sometimes used in a defensive midfield role rather than the more demanding left-back position for which he is best known. Netherlands fans will hope that his experience and nous will make up for his physical shortcomings.

Key Man: Wesley Sneijder has had a gold star season at the forefront of Inter’s charge to a treble and will be the playmaker-in-chief for the Dutch side. Voted by 70% of Dutch fans as being the best free-kick taker in the country, Sneijder can spray passes with pinpoint accuracy to any of the forward three and is in arguably the form of his life.

Man to Watch: Exciting young right-back Gregory van der Wiel is the latest in a long line of products of the Ajax youth academy. The 22-year-old has attracted interest from Arsenal and Manchester United as a result of a season which saw him win the Johan Cruyff Young Player of the Year award in Holland, and has been hailed by team-mate John Heitinga as the spiritual successor to Michael Reiziger.

Prediction: The Netherlands look very strong this year, with the only real worry being a slightly shaky-looking back line. The ongoing worries over Arjen Robben’s participation are a problem, as well, and while young Hamburg winger Eljero Elia could step up in his place, Robben’s absence would be a real blow to a settled, cohesive attacking quartet. They should be able to overcome the challenges in this group but face a tricky road to the final stages, probably meeting Paraguay or Italy in the second round and likely Brazil in the quarters. I can see them edging past whoever they meet in the last 16, and they could give Brazil a heck of a match, but I don’t see them being able to undo their organised defence. Quarter finals.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax)

16. Michel Vorm (Utrecht)

22. Sander Boschker (FC Twente)

Defenders

2. Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax)

3. John Heitinga (Everton)

4. Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg)

5. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, captain (Feyenoord)

12. Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart)

13. Andre Ooijer (PSV)

15. Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich)

Midfielders

6. Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich)

8. Nigel de Jong (Manchester City)

10. Wesley Sneijder (Inter)

14. Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax)

18. Stijn Schaars (FC Twente)

20. Ibrahim Afellay (PSV)

23. Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid)

Forwards

7. Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)

9. Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

11. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

17. Eljero Elia (Hamburg)

19. Ryan Babel (Liverpool)

21. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (A.C. Milan)

DENMARK

FIFA World Ranking: 36

Team Colours: Red shirts with white trim and a white checkered strip horizontal across the chest, white shorts with red trim, red socks with white trim. Away kit is white shirts with red trim, red shorts with white trim, white socks with red trim.

Manager: 60-year-old Morten Olsen is one of the longest-serving managers at this World Cup, having taken the Denmark job back in 2000. Since then he’s led his team to qualification for the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and now South Africa. He is best loved, though, for being the captain of the Danish team through much of the 1980s, a team much admired by the fans and considered the best in their history. Some say Olsen is the most important player in the history of Danish football, and so it’s no surprise that support for his management has always been high.

Form: Denmark defied the odds to top their group at the expense of Portugal and Sweden, only losing once on their way to qualification and completing a double over rivals Sweden to the delight of their fans. They also scored three goals in the last ten minutes to secure a vital victory in Lisbon over the group favourites. In friendlies they’ve been inconsistent, though – a reasonably assured win over Senegal was followed by a defeat to Australia.

Captain: Well-traveled veteran forward Jon Dahl Tomasson is as crafty as ever. The former Newcastle, A.C. Milan, Villarreal and Stuttgart player, now back for a second spell at Feyenoord, plays as a second striker behind Nicklas Bendtner for Denmark these days. His record for Denmark commands respect – 110 caps and 51 goals. He may be getting on a bit but is still dangerous and not to be underestimated.

Key Man: Nicklas Bendtner thinks it’s him, but the main cog in the Danish engine is Juventus midfielder Christian Poulsen. The, shall we say, combative midfielder really gets stuck in and if Denmark are to compete with teams like the Netherlands who keep possession so well, they will need Poulsen to be at his irrepressible best to win back the ball whenever possible.

Man to Watch: You may have heard people talk about him already, but Palermo centre-back Simon Kjaer is a really promising player whose stock is rising fast in the world game. At just 21 years old he is already an assured and reliable presence at the heart of the defence who can confidently deal with any opponent. Clubs all over Europe are chasing his signature and he has a chance this summer to push his potential salary up by a digit or two.

Prediction: Even with the depth in this group Denmark look pretty interesting. They are arguably a better balanced squad than Cameroon in terms of ability in every position and could make life difficult for many a team in South Africa. I think they’ll make it out of this group and could even spring a surprise against Italy in the second round.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Thomas Sorensen (Stoke)

16. Stephan Andersen (Brondby)

22. Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen)

Defenders

3. Simon Kjaer (Palermo)

4. Daniel Agger (Liverpool)

5. William Kvist (FC Copenhagen)

6. Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn Rovers)

13. Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina)

15. Simon Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar)

23. Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga)

Midfielders

2. Christian Poulsen (Juventus)

7. Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen)

8. Jesper Gronkjaer (FC Copenhagen)

10. Martin Jorgensen (Aarhus)

12. Thomas Kahlenberg (Wolfsburg)

14. Jakob Poulsen (Aarhus)

19. Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax)

20. Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen)

21. Christian Eriksen (Ajax)

Forwards

9. Jon Dahl Tomasson, captain (Feyenoord)

11. Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal)

17. Mikkel Beckmann (Randers)

18. Soren Larsen (Duisburg)

JAPAN

FIFA World Ranking: 45

Team Colours: Blue shirts with red and white trim, white shorts with blue trim, blue socks with white trim. Away kit is the inverse.

Manager: Takeshi Okada was briefly in charge of the national team at France 98 but left after the tournament. His second, more long-term spell started in 2007 when he replaced Ivica Osim who had suffered a stroke. He bears a certain resemblance to a Japanese Sven-Goran Eriksson, and would be happy to emulate Sven’s traditional quarter final finish.

Form: Japan cruised through the various Asian qualifying sections until the final phase, where they were twice frustrated by Australia and finished second, though they booked their plane tickets an hour earlier thanks to the quirks of kick-off times. Their preparations have been less than ideal, though, with four losses in four friendlies against Serbia, South Korea, England, and Ivory Coast. In the game against England they showed signs of quality but shot themselves in the foot with two late own goals.

Captain: This will be goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi’s fourth World Cup, and strangely though he has been named as captain for his experience he will not start as the first choice goalkeeper, with Seigo Narazaki having impressed in qualifying (he, too, is in his fourth tournament). Kawaguchi has amassed 116 caps and is just 7 away from the all-time Japanese record.

Key Man: 26-year-old central midfielder Makoto Hasebe is a candidate to wear the captain’s armband if, as expected, Kawaguchi starts on the bench. The Wolfsburg man is a disciplined, mostly defensive-minded central player with plenty of stamina and determination, but can pick a pass well if needed to play further forward or on the right flank.

Man to Watch: CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda became the first Japanese player to play in the Champions League quarter-finals this season and one of Okada’s main tasks this summer will be to find the best way to utilise him. Usually an advanced midfielder in the centre, Honda takes a powerful free-kick and likes to get forward and take a shot, and can also play at left-back if necessary.

Prediction: Japan should be willing enough but will be too short of quality to get out of this difficult group. Their former talisman Shunsuke Nakamura has been in decline in the last few years since leaving Celtic for Espanyol and they look a little devoid of invention and creativity.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus)

21. Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale)

23. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, captain (Jubilo Iwata)

Defenders

3. Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata)

4. Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus)

5. Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo)

6. Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)

13. Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers)

15. Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo)

22. Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama)

Midfielders

2. Yuki Abe (Urawa Red Diamonds)

7. Yasuhitu Endo (Gamba Osaka)

8. Daisuki Matsui (Grenoble)

10. Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama)

14. Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale)

17. Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg)

18. Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow)

20. Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale)

Forwards

9. Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse)

11. Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus)

12. Kishu Yano (Albirex Niigata)

16. Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe)

19. Takayuki Morimoto (Catania)

CAMEROON

FIFA World Ranking: 19

Team Colours: Green shirts with red trim, red shorts, yellow socks with red trim. Away kit is yellow shirts with thin vertical red stripes and trim, green shorts, red socks.

Manager: Paul Le Guen has been in charge of Cameroon for just one year after leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the 2009 season, whom he led to a Coupe de la Ligue victory but couldn’t bring out of the relegation zone. He quickly imposed himself on the team by dropping veteran defender Rigobert Song as captain and installing talismanic striker Samuel Eto’o, who then inspired the team to complete qualification for the finals. Le Guen was part of the Lyon success story, winning the second, third and fourth of their incredible seven straight French league wins, but struggled at Rangers and PSG. Has made a solid start with Cameroon, though.

Form: Under former boss Otto Pfister (one of the best names in sport) Cameroon made a slow start to their qualifying group, losing to Togo and drawing with Morocco, before Le Guen’s arrival perked things up. Both Song and Eto’o responded well to the change in captaincy, with Song winning back his place and Eto’o scoring the goals that put the Indomitable Lions through. Their friendlies haven’t been amazing – a come-from-behind one-all draw with Slovakia was followed by a routine loss to Portugal and an exciting but eventually disappointing defeat at the hands of Serbia, albeit without Eto’o.

Captain/Key Man: Samuel Eto’o was the subject of one of the strangest transfers of recent years when he was included along with £60 million in a deal to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the world’s most over-rated striker, to Barcelona from Inter. Under Jose Mourinho’s stewardship, Eto’o has been playing in a slightly unusual role out on the right wing as a hard-working inside forward to make room for Diego Milito in the centre, but has done pretty well in that position on the way to winning the treble in his first season. Still one of the world’s most devastating finishers, Eto’o is a striker feared the world over and will be Cameroon’s main chance of getting out of this group. If you take him out of the equation Cameroon just don’t have much in the way of firepower, but Eto’o knows that this may be his last chance of making the impact on the World Cup that we all know he is capable of.

Man to Watch: Stephane Mbia joined Didier Deschamps’ Marseille last summer and became an integral part of their title-winning side having repositioned himself from central midfield to centre half. The 24-year-old could yet start at right-back for Cameroon, though, with no player having made the position his own in qualifying. Strong, powerful and versatile, Mbia’s physical presence will make life difficult for forwards.

Prediction: Will run it close with Denmark to get out of the group, and while it could go either way, my money is on Cameroon being pipped at the post and having to settle for third in Group E. Their midfield is willing, but Alexandre Song aside, relatively limited and their strength in depth isn’t quite good enough, with everything depending on Samuel Eto’o being fit and firing. A lack of experience in defence past Song, Geremi and Mbia if he plays there may be telling as well.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Carlos Idriss Kameni (Espanyol)

16. Souleymanou Hamidou (Kayserispor)

22. Guy N’dy Assembe (Valenciennes)

Defenders

2. Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham)

3. Nicolas N’Koulou (Monaco)

4. Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor)

5. Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham)

8. Geremi Nijtap (Ankaragucu)

12. Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes)

14. Aurelien Chedjou (Lille)

19. Stephane Mbia (Marseille)

Midfielders

6. Alexandre Song (Arsenal)

7. Landry N’Guemo (Celtic)

10. Achille Emana (Real Betis)

11. Jean Makoun (Lyon)

18. Eyong Enoh (Ajax)

20. Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslauten)

21. Joel Matip (Schalke)

Forwards

9. Samuel Eto’o, captain (Inter)

13. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Nuremberg)

15. Pierre Webo (Mallorca)

17. Mohammadou Idrissou (Freiburg)

23. Vincent Aboubakar (Cotonsport Garoua)

Day 7: Wow.

What a day of football that was. Firstly, Italy 1 – 1 Romania. Of all my pre-game predictions, this was the one I least expected to get right, but somehow it came off. It was a fair result, as well, as both teams would have felt severely hard done by if they’d lost. Romania were more attacking than I’d expected but showed that they can compete on more levels than just backs-to-the-wall defending, Mutu in particular having an excellent game, harassing the Italian defence and grabbing a deserved goal from Zambrotta’s terrible header. The immediate riposte from Cristian Panucci only served to ramp up the excitement for both teams, and it could have gone either way.

I suppose I’d better touch on the Toni goal that was disallowed wrongly for offside – yeah, it should have stood. Other than that, the referee had a pretty good game, but Italy will feel very aggrieved. They will probably see it as karma that Mutu’s penalty was later saved by an excellent Buffon dive.

Basically, that could have been the only game of the day and I’d have felt good about it, but no, there was even better to come. Holland 4 – 1 France was by far the best game of the tournament so far, featuring more stunning Dutch counterattacking and a fightback from the French. I certainly felt throughout the game, even when France were bombarding the Dutch box early in the second half, that Holland could probably go and score another goal at will, which they then proceeded to do in jaw-dropping fashion. All the goals were impressive, Dirk Kuyt’s opener because he connected with the header while being wrestled determinedly to the ground by Florent Malouda (how did he get picked again after the Romania game, by the way? He hardly justfied his selection last night), Thierry Henry’s clever touch into the corner to make it 2-1 for its precision and subtlety, and the other three were all sparkling examples of playing on the break.

Gregory Coupet was unlucky not to keep Robin van Persie’s effort out – it was so quick and difficult to save but he got a hand on it and nearly kept the score to 1-0 – but he had no chance at all with the third and fourth. Arjen Robben’s instant reply to the French goal, even quicker than Panucci’s equaliser, was absolutely stunning. The angle of the shot was just insane. Since his introduction at half-time, Robben showed exactly what he can be week-in, week-out, but isn’t because of his penchant for moodiness, diving and disinterest – he was my man of the match. Finally, Sneijder’s finisher in the final minute of stoppage time was an unstoppable rocket executed after a perfect turn around the French defender. I’ll need to see them all again to decide on the best, as well as Sneijder’s goal in the Italy game and Ibrahimovic’s wonder strike the other day, but I feel my life is enriched for having seen that game. It was the perfect example of the best of international football – on its day, it’s infinitely more entertaining than any club game. Tomorrow can’t possibly top it – right?

David Pleat Watch

Italy v Romania was one of Pleaty’s better days, but of course it was that man Mauro Camoranesi who proved his kryptonite. “Caroramesi”, “Canomaresi”, and “Camaresi” all made appareances. We were also informed that Romania were using Mewtwo, the popular Pokemon, as their penalty taker. Hmm.