The CDB Awards: South Africa 2010

So, the greatest show on Earth has closed its curtains for another four years (at least until the first qualification match for Brazil 2014 is played in about 13 months’ time) and it’s time to have a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of South Africa 2010 in the CDB Awards.

Best Match

For me, the most exciting match we saw over the competition was one of the most controversial games – Uruguay’s quarter-final win over Ghana could not be matched for sheer emotional drama. We were treated to some fluent attacking football by both sides, particularly by Uruguay, but Sulley Muntari’s long-range swerver just before half-time stole the initiative for the last remaining African side. Diego Forlan scored a great free-kick to equalise and both sides kept going for it, coming up pretty much on a par with each other and tiring a little. Extra time arrived and it got desperate by the end, with Ghana throwing a couple of kitchen sinks into the Uruguay box right at the death before the Hand of God 2: Hand Harder scandal. Luis Suarez’ instinctive block to deny a last-gasp winner spawned a ludicrously overblown furore, demonising the player for doing what any player (the Ghanaians included) would have done in his situation, and Asamoah Gyan’s failure to convert the penalty with the last kick of regulation play was a great shame, but you cannot deny the spectacle of it. Sebastian Abreu’s inappropriate but wonderfully ballsy chipped penalty to seal the win was the icing of the cake.

Runners-up: Slovenia 2-2 USA, Slovakia 3-2 Italy, Germany 4-1 England, Argentina 0-4 Germany, Uruguay 2-3 Germany

Best Individual Performance

Bastian Schweinsteiger’s unstoppable performance at the heart of Germany’s dismemberment of Argentina was a real highlight. It was a display of total dominance, with tough tackling that never became thuggery, sharp passing to start counterattacking moves, and involvement in two of the goals. His free-kick cross for Thomas Mueller’s opener and effortless slipping away from Angel Di Maria and Javier Pastore to supply Arne Friedrich were excellent. His performance only gets better when you consider that just one year ago, Schweinsteiger was an underachieving winger for club and country. Louis van Gaal has done wonders with him over the past season at Bayern Munich and no-one will have been prouder than him as Schweinsteiger announced himself as one of the world’s leading central midfielders.

Runners-up: Mesut Oezil (Germany 4-0 Australia), Diego Forlan (South Africa 0-3 Uruguay), Ryan Nelsen (Italy 1-1 New Zealand), Jean Beausejour (Chile 1-0 Switzerland), Thomas Mueller (Germany 4-1 England), Xabi Alonso (Germany 0-1 Spain)

The “Looks Like An Alien Sent From Outer Space To Play Just Off The Main Striker” Award

Mesut Oezil.

Best Hair

Honduras didn’t stand out for much in this tournament but fringe player (geddit?) Walter Martinez sported a breathtakingly silly dreadlock affair with the tips coloured alternately red and yellow. Stupendous effort.

Worst Individual Performance

I have never seen one player perform so badly and stay on the pitch the full ninety minutes as Wayne Rooney did for England against Algeria. He looked exhausted, uninterested and cripplingly short of ideas, and you could tell how angry he was with his outing by his outburst to the cameras at the end berating the fans for booing the team.

Runners-up: Abdelkader Ghezzal (Algeria 0-1 Slovenia), Sidney Govou (France 0-2 Mexico), John Terry (Germany 4-1 England), Felipe Melo (Netherlands 2-1 Brazil), Mark van Bommel (Netherlands 0-1 Spain)

Best Team Performance

Tough one to call, but I’m going for Spain’s slow-burning victory over Germany in the semi-final. They only won 1-0 and it was only through a Carles Puyol header from a corner, but what was so notable was the total cohesion and patience as they breezed past what had previously been the best team of the whole competition. Before the game there was reason to believe that Germany might neutralise Spain with their determined pressing all over the pitch but it turned out to be the eventual champions who took the German midfield out of the game, constantly hounding the defenders to force long balls forward, which just completely nullified Schweinsteiger, Oezil, and Sami Khedira. The scoreline suggested a close game, but it really wasn’t at all. Contrast Portgual’s 7-0 victory over North Korea where Carlos Queiroz’s side were no better than average at any stage.

Runners-up: Uruguay (vs. South Africa), New Zealand (vs. Italy), Germany (vs. Argentina)

Most Inspiring Team

Look no further than New Zealand – who would have predicted before the tournament kicked off that the All Whites would be the only team to leave South Africa with an unbeaten record? Ricki Herbert’s lower-leaguers and amateur bank clerks played with more pride than anyone else and you couldn’t help but wish they could have found that elusive goal against Paraguay which would have taken them through as group winners. Their backs-to-the-wall defensive performance to earn a draw with the holders Italy will live long in the memory.

Breakout Star of the Tournament

Turned out to be Bayern’s Thomas Mueller, the 20-year-old right-sided forward who came out of nowhere to sneak the Golden Boot with five goals and three assists. Displayed incredible poacher’s instincts to always arrive in the box at exactly the right time with lethal finishing to boot. Surely the natural successor to Miroslav Klose and now established as a world star.

Worst Team Performance

England’s dire 0-0 with Algeria wins on match alone, but France’s limp capitulation to Mexico takes the crown for its aftermath as well as the ninety minutes themselves. Literally nobody had a good game for France, utterly devoid of any desire and looking desperate to be eliminated just to get away from the clownish Raymond Domenech. Nicolas Anelka’s foul-mouthed tirade to the manager at half-time sparked a few days of hilarious self-destruction that brought such shame on everyone involved that President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to personally conduct an investigation into the team’s performance.

Runners-up: Greece (vs. South Korea), England (vs. USA), Algeria (vs. Slovenia), Slovakia (vs. Paraguay), Switzerland (vs. Honduras), Honduras (vs. Switzerland), England (vs. Germany)

Team of the Tournament

Playing 4-2-3-1 as nearly all the successful teams did.

Iker Casillas (Spain); Philipp Lahm (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Diego Lugano (Uruguay), Jorge Fucile (Uruguay); Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Sergio Busquets (Spain); Thomas Mueller (Germany), Andres Iniesta (Spain), David Villa (Spain); Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Best Overall Player

Forlan for me was the only man to play really well in all seven games, leading his team to a fantastic fourth place finish with intelligence and flair. Never once did he dive or complain to the referee either, just got on with the job in hand. By all accounts the nicest man at the World Cup, too, always taking time to sign autographs or talk to journalists and fans.

Player Most Likely To Have Earned A Big Money Transfer

Most people will remember Luis Suarez for the handball against Ghana but don’t forget his three well-taken goals, including an absolute pearl against South Korea, his searing pace and constant willingness to get in the box and shoot. Considering his fifty-plus goals for Ajax last season, expect plenty of rumour regarding his destination in the next few weeks.

Runners-up: Mesut Oezil (Germany), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana)

Goal of the Tournament

Look no further than Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s straight-as-an-arrow rocket blast against Uruguay in the semi-final. After several keepers had been caught out by the late movement of the Jabulani ball, Fernando Muslera could not complain about this one. From the moment it left his boot, it never deviated and struck perfectly off the inside of the far post and in.

Runners-up: Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa, vs. Mexico), David Villa (Spain, vs. Honduras), Fabio Quagliarella (Italy, vs. Slovakia), Keisuke Honda (Japan, vs. Denmark), David Villa (Spain, vs. Chile), Andres Iniesta (Spain, vs. Chile), Carlos Tevez (Argentina, vs. Mexic0), Miroslav Klose (Germany, vs. Argentina)

Alternative Team Of The Tournament

This is a team of players who might not have gone all the way in the tournament but still stood out as great without really getting all the praise they may have deserved. In many ways every bit as good as those who made the main team of the tournament. Also playing 4-2-3-1.

Samir Handanovic (Slovenia); John Pantsil (Ghana), Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand), Yuji Nakazawa (Japan), Carlos Salcido (Mexico); Anthony Annan (Ghana), Diego Perez (Uruguay); Landon Donovan (USA), Yasuhitu Endo (Japan), Jean Beausejour (Chile); Nelson Haedo Valdez (Paraguay)

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 27: Puyol Throws España In The Works

Germany 0 – 1 Spain

Bow down before the octopus. After a really fascinating if not thrillingly entertaining semi-final, Spain advance to meet the Netherlands in the final to ensure that there will be a new name on the Jules Rimet trophy.

Before the game the feeling was that although Spain had undoubtedly the superior players, Germany’s hard work, organisation and team ethic would be perfectly suited to keeping a lid on the tiki-taka and stifle the Spanish creativity while counter-attacking devastatingly. What actually happened was much the opposite – it was Spain who pressed hard and stopped Germany from getting any passing moves going, and still managed to build long spells of forward movement in posession. It was obvious very early on that Vicente del Bosque had won the main tactical battle and that he could alter the shape of the game whenever he liked. It transpired, however, that he was either unwilling or unable to exploit that position.

For all Spain’s quick passing and dominance in posession, they were unable to turn the screw for most of the game. As often turns out to be their problem, they were struck with a touch of the Arsenals, with so many players queueing up to provide the killer pass that could unlock the German defense, but with no player actually attacking the penalty box to receive that pass. Dropping Fernando Torres was a reasonable call for del Bosque – he’s clearly suffering from what golfers call “the yips” – but although his replacement, Pedro, was Spain’s most enterprising player in the first half, he’s not the same player who can go forward and lead the line. David Villa was forced to try and be that central striker but he was clearly unsuited to the role – he is a player who needs to cut in from the left and play off the main striker, which is why he has partnered Torres so well in the last few years. As the clock ticked on and on, Spain were desperately crying out for the introduction of Fernando Llorente to reprise his cameo role from the Portugal game as the target man around whom Villa, Pedro, Xavi and Andres Iniesta could have swarmed. I say Llorente very deliberately rather than Torres – dropping a player suffering from the yips is fair enough, but dropping him is very much a final admittance that his confidence is shot. Turning to Torres as a player to come on and change the game on his form would have been disastrous. Later, when Spain were ahead, Torres did come on, and in that situation it was more understandable – if he’d been able to tuck away a late opportunity to make it 2-0 it could have been the spark that revived him. However it was David Villa who del Bosque brought off to make room for him, an awful substitution that could have backfired horribly had Germany equalised.

Luckily Spain had the cushion of Carles Puyol’s 73rd-minute goal, a bullet header from a corner scored from the edge of the area following a late run by the Barcelona centre-back. It would have been reassuring for Puyol who should have buried a heading chance in the first half. It always seemed unlikely after that goal went in that Germany would be able to respond, having been by some distance the inferior side. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira were effectively prevented from exerting their influence from midfield by the Spanish pressing high up the pitch, usually crowding the German defenders out enough to force aimless long balls toward Miroslav Klose. Mesut Oezil just couldn’t get any of the ball, and was only visible for a penalty shout just before half-time. He basically ran into Sergio Ramos, though, and it was the right decision not to give it.

Germany have been a brilliant part of this World Cup and in many ways it’s a shame to see them go out, but their time will surely come. This immensely talented young team will be reaching their peak in four years’ time, and although Klose has probably played his last World Cup, there are several young defenders who should have surpassed Arne Friedrich and Per Mertesacker by 2014, and the likes of Thomas Mueller should be ready to take Klose’s place. Joachim Loew has done a fantastic job with his side and I very much hope that he resolves his current contract dispute to keep developing his team, who have combined solid and resolute defending with scintillating counter-attacking forward play. Philipp Lahm has been a revelatory captain, too.

Spain, though, deserve to reach the final, and it’s really delightful to know that this tournament will definitely be won by a country that has never won a World Cup before. The incredible statistic that Spain and the Netherlands have never met each other in either a World Cup or European Championship match serves to underline how both these nations have underachieved on the world stage, and I’m in the happy position of not minding at all which team goes on to win it.

Man of the Day: Xabi Alonso was a standout for me, even though I would have taken him off for Llorente if I were Vicente del Bosque. He was unlucky to be penalised by the referee for a couple of brilliant tackles and he was more willing than most Spanish players to actually take a shot now and then. Puyol, too, had a good game.

Only one game to go! All right, the third place playoff too, but it’s not as if anyone actually cares about that. I’ll be covering both and will be handing out some CDB Awards both before and after the final.

Day 23: El Diego On The End Of A Muellering

Argentina 0 – 4 Germany

Paraguay 0 – 1 Spain

Well, we expected one game that could go either way and one comfortable victory today, just in that order.

Argentina-Germany was supposed to be an exciting duel between two exciting attacking forces, but Argentina just didn’t turn up. Right from the start Germany overran them, closing them down quickly and allowing them no time to express themselves on the ball. Even after three minutes, when Nicolas Otamendi conceded a free-kick and some awful marking allowed Thomas Mueller to head in Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cross, Germany looked good value for their lead. That was just the start of a torrid afternoon for Otamendi, who was constantly tormented by Lukas Podolski on the German left, and was at fault for the second goal as well.

Argentina could have come back in the second half as they grew into the game a little bit more but couldn’t summon a really clear-cut chance. Gonzalo Higuain in particular had a really poor game, often miscontrolling the ball and losing posession up front. There was more pressure from Maradona’s men in the first few minutes of the second half but again nothing concrete, just a sense of attacking intent. The second goal arrived after just over an hour, when Otamendi’s pathetic attempt to tackle Mueller freed Podolski in the area. Podolski forced Sergio Romero to come out and then put it on a plate for Miroslav Klose, who could hardly miss from such a tiny distance (luckily, because the finish was actually quite bad). A similar defensive muddle led to a third shortly after, with plenty of bodies in the box from a corner and Arne Friedrich of all people finding space to tap in from virtually a prone position. By that time Argentina’s resolve was all gone and the tie was dead and buried, so when substitute Piotr Trochowski crossed for the unmarked Klose, it was no surprise that his simple but excellent finish made it four. Klose is now only one behind Ronaldo (the fat one) in the all-time World Cup goalscoring stakes.

I really can’t say enough how impressive Germany were. They look the best side left in the competition now, arguably, with every player knowing exactly what they’re doing and what those around them are doing. Schweinsteiger had an outstanding game, pulling the strings in midfield while Mesut Oezil had actually a rather disappointing, uninvolved day. Sami Khedira continued to be a solid, muscular presence up and down the field alongside him, and both full-backs, Lahm and Boateng, were also standouts. Mueller was industrious on the right but picked up a booking that will see him miss the semi-final. That could be a quite a loss for Germany, but you just know that Trochowski will come in and pick up exactly where the Bayern man left off. As for Argentina, I don’t think they ever really looked like winning this World Cup. Their defense has been a mess all the way through and it let them down again today. Maradona’s substitutions failed to lift them out of their malaise either, and there is of course speculation that he may resign tomorrow, but I for one hope he stays because he’s such an entertaining man to be in charge of the national team.

Germany will meet Spain in the semi, as we all expected, but the Spanish didn’t half labour to get there. In the first half Paraguay were the better team, pressing right from the front and not allowing Spain to settle in to their tiki-taka rhythm, much like Germany’s performance earlier except without the counterattacking panache. Neither side had much in the way of chances apart from Paraguay’s disallowed goal, a cool finish from the onside Nelson Haedo Valdez ruled out for Oscar Cardozo, who was just offside and, though he didn’t touch the ball, he jumped for it, thereby making himself a problem for the goalkeeper and being “active” by the letter of the law. For the commitment and effectiveness of their shut-down tactics it was hard not to say that Paraguay deserved to be ahead at half-time, but the goal was illegitimate.

The second half was much the same for the first fifteen minutes until an absolutely mental period of play began with a penalty being awarded to Paraguay. I was glad to see it given for arm-holding by Gerard Pique as he defended a set-piece, as it’s the sort of thing that needs to be clamped down on more. But Oscar Cardozo, recalled to the starting eleven after coolly slotting home the winning penalty in the shootout versus Japan, hit his shot too close to Iker Casillas, who had guessed correctly. Immediately after the ball was pumped up into the Paraguay half and David Villa rushed into the penalty area and was brought down by Antolin Alcaraz. Whether or not it was a clear cut foul is debatable but if, as the referee decided, it was a foul, it should have been a red card rather than the yellow given. Either way it was poor refereeing. When Xabi Alonso dispatched the spot-kick, though, he was pulled back to take it again because of encroaching into the area, but replays showed that the same thing was happening (and to a greater and more obvious extent) when Cardozo missed his, and the ref didn’t make him take it again. So more bad refereeing. Alonso’s second kick was poor and saved well by Claudio Bravo, who then should have conceded another penalty because in the ensuing melee in the box he went for the ball but took down Villa instead.

It was a shocking explosion of controversy and drama in a game that had been deathly boring for an hour, but despite that insanity the game returned to its previous rhythm. Spain continued to go forward but their passing just wasn’t coming off. Fernando Torres had already been withdrawn after another really lacklustre performance but they were crying out for some width to stretch the Paraguayan full-backs. Vicente del Bosque didn’t bring any on though, with Fabregas and Pedro, who is nominally a wide right player but enjoys tucking in, keeping things too constricted. Finally, though, the breakthrough was made with ten minutes left, and it was down to some inspiration from Andres Iniesta, who glided forward behind the defensive midfield line and laid a pass on perfectly for Pedro, who had to bury it – but hit the far post. Luckily Villa was on hand to take the rebound and tuck it in, though not before it bounced off both posts. That takes his tally to five for the tournament.

Spain are through to their first ever World Cup semi-final, but on this form they will struggle to beat Germany. There was enough from Paraguay’s determined pressing to suggest that Germany can do exactly the same and stifle Spain while having the attacking players to score goals on the break. I definitely feel that del Bosque has to drop one of Alonso and Sergio Busquets so that he can get more width from midfield if they want to avoid a repeat of this game. Villa is potent cutting in from the left but shouldn’t be the widest attacking player and either Jesus Navas or David Silva would provide a useful option on either flank.

Man of the Day: No question for me that it must be Schweinsteiger. The man whose name translates as “pig supervisor” certainly oversaw everything pretty much all over the pitch. Ballack? Who needs Ballack?

Another two rest days now before the semi-finals, but I’ll still be blogging. Haven’t decided exactly what about yet, though.

Day 19: Write The Future, My Arse

Paraguay 0 – 0 Japan (5-3 penalties)

Spain 1 – 0 Portugal

The quarter-final line-up was confirmed today, and each one of those four games will feature a South American side. That may well have some deep, meaningful significance but I don’t really think there’s any great secret that those teams have been hiding from anyone else.

For one thing, the Paraguay side that played out a pretty stinky 0-0 draw with Japan and then advanced on penalties was a step or two back from the one that had showed up to draw with Italy and beat Slovakia in its first two group games. They looked a little slower, particularly in attack, than they had been, at least until Nelson Haedo Valdez (a.k.a. My First Carlos Tevez) was brought on. I was really quite shocked that Valdez had been omitted from the starting eleven for this match, as his constant drive and energy had been a big part of Paraguay’s qualification from their group. As both teams played out a barren first half Valdez was conspicuous by his absence, and it was little surprise that he was brought on a few minutes into the second.

If it seems like I’m not saying much about this game, that’s because there’s really very little to say. Japan were set up defensively and didn’t attack well when they did get forward, Keisuke Honda not as impressive as he was in previous matches, and Paraguay were slow and ponderous. Even after Valdez came on, they couldn’t really conjure anything, but at least they had some bite and energy up front. Claudio Morel Rodriguez in particular had a poor game, floating several crosses hopelessly wayward. When extra time rolled around it was obvious that both sides were too scared of losing to really go for the win at all. Penalties were an inevitability. The shootout itself was reasonably exciting, most of the penalties being dispatched excellently, but Japan’s third taker, Yuichi Komano, broke a nation’s hearts by hitting the crossbar which proved to be the decisive miss.

Paraguay now ascend to their first ever World Cup quarter-final but I would be shocked if they made it any further on this form. Their opponents, Spain, had a decent game as they eliminated rivals Portugal by David Villa’s goal, a great finish to a thrilling passing move involving Andres Iniesta and Xavi. Spain controlled the entire game as Portugal sat back constantly, often with ten men behind the ball, content to play ultra-defensively and pray for a counterattacking opportunity at some stage which never truly materialised, save for one through ball that Iker Casillas rushed out to defuse. It was really disappointing to watch – it would be unfair of me not to compare them to Greece, to be perfectly frank. Meanwhile Spain spent the first half admirably trying to play through the Portuguese walls but got nowhere. Watching at home I was crying out for the introduction of Jesus Navas or David Silva to ping some crosses over the top towards Fernando Torres, who had another largely quiet game. However, Vicente del Bosque changed the game a different way, removing Torres for Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente, the best possible recipient of those crosses, and he had an instant impact. Sergio Ramos floated over a piercing cross that Llorente had to dive quite low to get a head on, so it wasn’t a great surprise that he couldn’t put it away convincingly, but the intention was signalled. From then on Llorente held the ball up excellently and brought others into play, and just a couple of minutes later, Villa scored. He’s certainly made a case for starting the quarter-final ahead of Torres, although I don’t think he well. Del Bosque knows that it Torres comes good he will be more effective against the top teams.

As for the red card late on that saw Ricardo Costa leave the field, replays seemed inconclusive as to whether his elbow connected with Joan Capdevila’s face. What’s for sure is that Capdevila’s reaction was embarrassing, but there seemed enough to indicate that the elbow was raised.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Prancing Prat himself, had another letdown of a match, isolated and unused up front, desperately shifting from one flank to the other to through the middle to try and exert some sort of influence on the game, but Portugal’s defensive tactics just didn’t feed him at all. It’s been another pretty poor tournament for the man who thinks he’s the world’s best player, but for sheer effectiveness I think David Villa has overtaken him in the race to be the world’s second best behind Messi. (Well, actually I’d put the Xavi/Iniesta machine ahead of him, too.)

Man of the Day: I know I must be turning into a broken record this tournament, what with my constant praise of not only Messi and Oezil but David Villa, but Villa really was the difference again today. The most outstanding player in a group of outstanding players was a constant threat from a wide left position, which will encourage his new employers at Camp Nou who were wondering what they were going to do with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He’s solidly established himself as the best centre-forward in world football.

Tomorrow, there’ll be….uh….oh. Hang on. There’s no football tomorrow. What? The World Cup’s over? But there’s a new one starting on Friday, I hear. I reckon England could do well this time.

Seriously, I’ll still be blogging on the rest days. In the couple of days before the quarter-finals I plan to discuss the French debacle and the teams who have left the tournament so far.

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 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 8: It Was The Best Of Games, It Was The Worst Of Games…

Germany 0 – 1 Serbia

Slovenia 2 – 2 USA

England 0 – 0 Algeria

Forgive me, dear readers, for I am struggling to muster the enthusiasm to write about today’s games. Which is a real shame because until this evening we were watching a really classic day at the World Cup, including the best game of the tournament so far.

We started, though, with another shock as Germany were brought down to earth by Serbia. They weren’t helped, of course, by the first really poor refereeing performance of the finals, the Spaniard Alberto Undiano Mallenco setting the tone of the game early by giving a really soft yellow card and, having set himself a precedent, proceeded to book players for any contact of any kind, culminating in the sending off of Miroslav Klose for two yellow cards. Neither of the fouls were really worthy of a booking and the sixth red card of the tournament seriously affected the outcome of the game in arguably more dramatic fashion than the mistake in the second match later on. Without their main striker Germany’s attacking strategy was completely broken. Mesut Oezil, so impressive flitting around off Klose against Australia, had to play as the main centre forward and simply couldn’t do it. Thomas Mueller tried hard but couldn’t get much luck against the solid Aleksandar Kolarov, and Lukas Podolski didn’t look the same after his tame penalty was saved by Stojkovic in the Serbian goal, a huge reprieve for Nemanja Vidic’s idiotic handball that was nearly a carbon copy of the one committed by Zdravko Kuzmanovic in the Ghana match. Jogi Loew’s substitutions didn’t really change anything either, and so Milan Jovanovic’s well-taken goal just after the sending-off was all that was needed for Serbia to really blow this group wide open again. Serbia weren’t all that but they were enough, and now have good odds of getting out of the group.

Straight after that match was a real classic – the USA staging a brilliant comeback to draw with Slovenia 2-2 having been two down at half-time and outplayed all over the pitch. They should have won as well, Maurice Edu’s late goal disallowed by the Malian referee for, well, I don’t know. There was no offside and the only fouls in the box were three committed by Slovenian defenders wrestling the Americans to the ground. Still, though, the Americans will be delighted with a draw because they seemed buried at half-time. Landon Donovan made it a contest again by scoring just after the restart, dribbling well into the penalty box, and when no team-mates materialised for him to cut it back to, he simply blasted it into the roof of the net from close range – Samir Handanovic was right next to him but could do nothing about the rocket-propelled shot. From then on the US pounded and pounded on the Slovenian door and though it was getting desperate, Michael Bradley’s brilliant equaliser did feel inevitable. Now facing Algeria in the final game, the USA should qualify for the second round.

Speaking of Algeria, they did deserve a point today but England did not. I have been watching England for a long time now, and I’ve seen some pretty poor performances, typically underwhelming efforts against teams they would have been expected to beat comfortably, but this really was the worst I have ever seen from an England side. There were simply no redeeming features to their performance today. The only player to not have been completely awful was David James, restored to goalkepeing duties following Green’s demotion, and that was only because Algeria couldn’t summon a really venomous shot. Nothing worked at all, and it has to be said that Capello made some serious tactical mistakes in this game. In a similar way to how Domenech changed the players but not the failing system last night against Mexico, Capello persisted with a 4-4-2 that clearly wasn’t working at all, with Gerrard simply unable to get involved properly on the left, an abysmal Rooney coming deep into no-man’s-land to try and link up with his captain, and Heskey having a shocker, at one stage embarrassingly trying to do a step-over on the edge of the box like he was Kaka only to completely miscontrol it.

But what did Capello do to change things? After an hour he withdrew Aaron Lennon for Shaun Wright-Phillips – who are THE SAME PLAYER. Naturally it affected nothing. Defoe for Heskey made some sense – there was no joy trying to play long balls into Heskey and so Defoe offered a different outlet but they didn’t really use him properly and the issues of Rooney, Gerrard, and the anonymous Lampard remained. His last throw of the dice was Crouch for Barry, and it looked like a different formation might be on the cards, but instead Gerrard moved central and Rooney to the left. Meanwhile the players who could actually have offered a real change in approach watched on, Joe Cole from the bench and Adam Johnson from home. The world has moved on from 4-4-2 and England just looked completely unable to perform in that system. It is totally clear now that Rooney must start as the lone striker against Slovenia with Gerrard in support. A 4-2-3-1 would suit the strengths of these players, but after a performance this bad the question will be whether England will be mentally able to pull themselves together. They left the field obviously frustrated and empty, Rooney showing his anger by turning to the TV cameras and sarcastically spitting “nice to hear your own fans boo ya”. Well, what exactly did he expect? In truth I suspect he was using the fans to vent his anger at his own performance as well as the team’s. I’d call him England’s worst player today but that would be far too generous to so many players. How Lampard, for example, remained on the pitch for 90 minutes is a mystery to me. England will still qualify if they beat Slovenia, but on the form showed today, I’d expect a Slovenia win. They at least clearly want to qualify.

Man of the Day: Valter Birsa was exceptional on the right flank for Slovenia and scored probably the best goal of the tournament so far, an out-of-the-blue curling shot from way out. His colleague Miso Brecko at right-back probably made the more lasting impact on that game, though, as Birsa faded a little in the second half.

Tomorrow, I expect a Dutch win over Japan, Ghana to beat Australia, and a draw between Cameroon and Denmark.

Day 3: Australia in “victims of crime” shocker

Algeria 0 – 1 Slovenia

Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana

Germany 4 – 0 Australia

If England fans had any panicky worries last night that a draw with the USA could see them struggle to get out of the group, they can rest easy. Both Algeria and Slovenia showed that they should not pose a threat to either of the other sides in Group C in a frighteningly dull match to start the third day of the World Cup. Algeria were willing and probably had more about them in the game but struggled to control their passing, often overhitting the light Jabulani ball. They had a couple of half-decent chances from crosses but for the most part could not put together a really threatening forward move. They were subject to a couple of very strange tactical decisions by Rabah Saadane, as well – one of their most talented players, Karim Ziani, was deployed on the left wing but the normally right-sided player is clearly totally one-footed and his potential impact was almost completely nullified by his own positioning. Their cause was also hindered by one of the most hilarious sendings off I’ve seen for some time – substitute striker Abdelkader Ghezzal got booked within a minute with a silly shirt-pulling and then gained his second yellow about fifteen minutes later with one of the most blatant and idiotic handballs you’re ever likely to see. His attempts to persuade the referee he should not have been dismissed were comical in their audacity.

Slovenia weren’t different to what we expected them to be per se, but they were a little underwhelming. I expected to see a greater understanding of their own game, a more organised, compact and productive performance, but instead they were simply ordinary. Captain Robert Koren was gifted his goal by a ludicrous mistake by Faouzi Chaouchi, equally as bad as Green’s last night, but this time the mistake was one everyone could have seen coming after Chaouchi’s poor all-round game, in which he constantly tried to overdo the most simple of goalkeeping duties.

The score was no different but Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana was a much more interesting affair, although Serbia, one of my dark horses, were disappointing. Beanpole Nikola Zigic did his best to make things happen but Milan Jovanovic on the left had a poor game, failing to cut inside with any purpose and therefore preventing Aleksandar Kolarov from breaking successfully from left-back. Playmaker-winger Milos Krasic was anonymous too, and much of Serbia’s creativity was expected to come from him. Zdravko Kuzmanovic ran Ghezzal pretty close in the Idiot of the Day stakes with a similarly moronic handball that led to the Ghanaians’ penalty, converted excellently by Asamoah Gyan to win the game, when seeing out a draw seemed achievable for ten-man Serbia.

Ghana put in a pretty decent performance, and they will have been pleased that their makeshift central midfield of Anthony Annan and Kevin-Prince Boateng had a relatively comfortable match in which to work on their partnership. I think they will still hope that Sulley Muntari is fit and ready in time to face Germany later in the group, though, but with Australia up next for them they have a great chance to qualify now.

Speaking of Germany v Australia, I guess the questions over the inexperienced German side have largely been answered with a fantastically assured performance by Joachim Loew’s team. Mesut Oezil completely ran the show, particularly in the first half, with a display of dazzling creativity that really caught my eye. Australia just couldn’t handle his clever runs from in front of their defence. My favourite bit of skill was the subtle pull back from a low Phillipp Lahm pass to play in Thomas Muller, even though Muller blasted over the bar. Germany as a whole were exciting and made a mockery of the odds that some bookmakers have been giving them to win the tournament (16-1 at one stage). Loew sensibly used his second-half substitutions to rotate his strikers, some of whom were out of form, and now they should all be in good confidence going into trickier games against Serbia and Ghana. Certainly Germany have put in the first really impressive performance of the tournament and promised a whole lot more as well.

Australia were of course hard done by, the Mexican referee giving their most important player Tim Cahill a frankly awful red card for an accidental collision that Cahill did a good job of pulling out of, but overall they didn’t really seem likely to compete with Germany at any stage, particularly without a recognised centre-forward for nearly 75 minutes. Josh Kennedy may not be much, but he is at least an aerial threat who could have made space for Cahill to play where he is at his best, behind the main striker. Pim Verbeek will now need to be more adventurous if his team are to recover, but without Cahill for at least the next game I think Australia are all but out.

Man of the Day: Oezil, without a shadow of a doubt. May well be my new favourite player. The only downer was his deserved yellow card for a needless dive early on.

Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to an exciting game between the Netherlands and Denmark that the Dutch should win, probably a draw between Japan and Cameroon, and I would also go for a draw in Italy versus Paraguay, with Paraguay maybe to sneak it. See you then.

World Cup Guide: Group D Preview

GROUP D

GERMANY

FIFA World Ranking: 6

Team Colours: White shirts with black trim and a single gold vertical stripe, black shorts with white trim, white socks with black trim. Away kit is black shirt with white and red trim, white shorts with black and red trim, black socks with white trim.

Manager: Joachim “Jogi” Loew succeeded Jurgen Klinsmann following Germany’s third place finish at the 2006 World Cup and started well by guiding the team to the final of Euro 2008, although by coming second to Spain they fell short of Loew’s stated aim of winning that competition. He had also pledged to continue the attacking brand of football introduced by Klinsmann but has perhaps faltered a little from that compared to his predecessor. The snappily-dressed manager has been accused of disrupting squad harmony during the qualifying campaign by bringing in newer faces to spark internal competition.

Form: Germany were unbeaten in qualifying, comfortably taking top spot in their group by beating second-placed Russia 1-0 in Moscow in the penultimate match, and only conceded five goals during that campaign. Their pre-tournament friendlies have gone well, including a 3-0 win over Hungary and a 3-1 victory against Bosnia & Hercegovina who were impressive nearly men in qualifying. Their plans have been disrupted by the loss of captain Michael Ballack, though.

Captain: Stepping into Ballack’s sizeable shoes is 26-year-old right-back Philipp Lahm, who is one of only nine players in the squad with more than twelve caps. He scored the memorable opening goal of the last World Cup in the opening game against Costa Rica with an absolute pearl of a long-range shot, but is not usually known for his scoring. He can also operate as a winger, though, which tells you about his attacking ability. He is also a very solid defender, though, and will be a reliable player for his team. It remains to be seen whether he will take to the captaincy.

Key Man: It has to be the man who fills Ballack’s role in a positional sense, Bastian Schweinsteiger. He will be more familiar to non-Germany fans as the bustling wide player who lacked a little in end product from previous international tournaments, but in the last season Louis van Gaal has transformed the Bayern midfielder into a central player who can both win the ball and spray it around as a playmaker. He would have played alongside Ballack but will now be thrust into the spotlight as the most experienced midfielder by far and needs to translate his excellent club form into a talismanic performance for Germany.

Man to Watch: Germany’s midfield is highly inexperienced but it does contain a quartet of rapidly rising stars – it’s hard to choose between Stuttgart general Sami Khedira, who will likely start alongside Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, the attacking midfielder who has impressed, scoring 1 in 4, on his now-finished 18-month loan to Bayer Leverkusen from Bayern, and Marko Marin, the Bosnian-born Werder Bremen winger, but the most exciting of all is Mesut Oezil, the 21-year-old also playing for Bremen who exudes the most natural finesse of all four. He’s very forward-thinking with a gifted left foot and an eye for goal. Of the four, he is most likely to dazzle for Germany this summer, but all four need to be ready for the big time if the decision to leave behind more experienced heads is to pay off.

Prediction: Germany’s problems are twofold – first is the astonishingly young and inexperienced squad, most obvious in goal where the first-choice keeper, Manuel Neuer, has just 5 caps which is as many as his two deputies put together. The second is up front, where Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez are all very much out of form and their backups have little international pedigree. At least Loew has six of them to play around with, but it may take too much time to find a successful combination. There’s no doubt that this Germany team is the most vulnerable one for many years, and they have been dealt a tough group. They should be relatively evenly matched with Serbia and it will probably come down to who can get the best results against the other two teams, and I suspect Germany may just edge that, but I can see a second-round exit looming against probably the USA.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Manuel Neuer (Schalke)

12. Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

22. Hans-Jorg Butt (Bayern Munich)

Defenders

2. Marcell Jansen (Hamburg)

3. Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin)

4. Dennis Aogo (Hamburg)

5. Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart)

14. Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich)

16. Philipp Lahm, captain (Bayern Munich)

17. Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)

20. Jerome Boateng (Manchester City)

Midfielders

6. Sami Khedira (Stuttgart)

7. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

8. Mesut Ozil (Werder Bremen)

15. Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)

18. Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich)

21. Marko Marin (Werder Bremen)

Forwards

9. Stefan Kießling (Bayer Leverkusen)

10. Lukas Podolski (FC Koln)

11. Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich)

13. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

19. Cacau (Stuttgart)

23. Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich)

AUSTRALIA

FIFA World Ranking: 20

Team Colours: Yellow shirts with green sleeves and a white horizontal stripe across the chest, green shorts, yellow socks. Away kit is dark blue with lighter blue sleeves and a yellow horizontal stripe across the chest, dark blue shorts, dark blue socks.

Manager: Dutchman Pim Verbeek was assistant to Guus Hiddink at South Korea for the 2002 World Cup and was in the same post under Dick Advocaat in 2006, but took the Australia job in 2007 after Hiddink left it behind. He will be leaving it himself at the conclusion of the tournament to take up a youth development post with the Moroccan national side. Verbeek has been a vocal critic of the Australian A-League, frequently calling it out on its lack of quality and criticising national team midfielder Jason Culina’s decision to move back there from PSV.

Form: Australia were the second team not called South Africa to qualify for the finals, and did so just one hour after Japan, whom they eventually overtook in their group as they comfortably made it to the tournament. They were unbeaten in the final phase of qualifying despite one or two close calls, particularly against Bahrain where they were thoroughly outplayed but managed to sneak a 1-0 win. They looked poor in their lucky 2-1 victory over neighbours New Zealand and yesterday’s lacklustre loss to the US, though.

Captain: Lucas Neill moved to Galatasaray in January having spent 15 years in England. The 32-year-old right-back can be a little hotheaded and dirty sometimes but is hugely committed to the cause and has generally been reliable for his country. He is perhaps the most robust of the Australian defenders and will need to be on top form to keep Australia from being caught out at the back.

Key Man: Everton midfielder Tim Cahill is a level above the rest of the squad in terms of ability and if he doesn’t play well, Australia have little chance of escaping from this group of arguably more lethal death than Group G. His specialty is late runs into the box to meet a cross with his head, but has a good shot on him as well and plenty of energy to run a game at his tempo. He has a dazzling scoring record of 20 in 40 caps for the Socceroos. A little injury prone, though.

Man to Watch: The only other man who could potentially earn Australia points on his own is goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who at 37 shows no sign of declining following another outstanding season at the heart of Fulham’s European adventure and finding himself rumoured to be the subject of interest from Arsenal. Always solid and occasionally spectacular, Schwarzer could benefit from a group in which no team contains a world class goal threat.

Prediction: Australia should not be short of effort but do lack quality and strength in depth, particularly up front where their only three forwards are a one-trick beanpole (Josh Kennedy), a fading cripple (Harry Kewell), and a relatively untried winger (Nikita Rukavytsya). They need Cahill and Schwarzer to be on fire to stand a chance of getting out of this group, and the smart money says they should come last here.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)

12. Adam Federici (Reading)

18. Brad Jones (Middlesbrough)

Defenders

2. Lucas Neill, captain (Galatasaray)

3. Craig Moore (unattached)

6. Michael Beauchamp (Melbourne Heart)

8. Luke Wilkshire (Dinamo Moscow)

11. Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel)

20. Mark Milligan (JEF United)

21. David Carney (FC Twente)

Midfielders

4. Tim Cahill (Everton)

5. Jason Culina (Gold Coast United)

7. Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers)

13. Vincenzo Grella (Blackburn Rovers)

14. Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar)

15. Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor)

16. Carl Valeri (Sassuolo)

19. Richard Garcia (Hull City)

22. Dario Vidosic (Nuremberg)

23. Mark Bresciano (Palermo)

Forwards

9. Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)

10. Harry Kewell (Galatasaray)

17. Nikita Rukavytsya (FC Twente)

SERBIA

FIFA World Ranking: 15

Team Colours: Red shirts with blue trim and a white cross on the front, blue shorts, white socks. Away kit is all white with red trim on the shirt.

Manager: Radomir Antic is very popular with the Serbian fans and has quite the impressive CV as well. As well as being one of only two men to have managed both Real Madrid and Barcelona, he is the only man to have managed those two as well as Atletico Madrid, where he enjoyed the most success of his managerial career, returning there twice and winning the league and Copa del Rey.

Form: Serbia finished top of their qualifying group despite taking just one point from favourites France, who stumbled elsewhere. They were at their most impressive thrashing Romania 5-0 to seal qualification but were cohesive and competent throughout and were eventually deserving winners. Their friendly results have been mixed – a shock 1-0 loss to New Zealand was followed by a frustrating 0-0 draw with Poland, but yesterday they produced an excellent display to come from behind twice to vanquish Cameroon, the sternest test of the three. Things may be coming together.

Captain: Dejan Stankovic is a highly accomplished midfielder who has won six Serie A titles and now the Champions League with Inter. A versatile player, he prefers to play in an advanced midfield role but can also be utilised on either flank or deeper in a holding or playmaking capacity and is a great passer of the ball. His experience and influence will be key for Serbia.

Key Man: It has taken some time for 29-year-old Milan Jovanovic to make a name for himself thanks to three unhappy years hardly getting a game for Shakhtar Donestk and Lokomotiv Moscow, but 52 goals in 116 games for Belgian side Standard Liege earned this deep-lying forward international recognition and a free transfer to Liverpool this summer. He will likely line up behind man-mountain Nikola Zigic with freedom to roam to the flanks if necessary and should be Serbia’s most potent attacking threat.

Man to Watch: Lazio left full-back Aleksandar Kolarov brings to mind Serbian legend Sinisa Mihajlovic with his runs down the left flank and rocket-propelled shot. Still just 24 years old, Kolarov has an impressive technique and should prove himself one of the best emerging defenders in the world game this summer.

Prediction: Serbia will surprise people. They have quality running right through the side with a reliable central defensive pairing of Nemanja Vidic and Branislav Ivanovic and Stankovic running things in midfield alongside creative 22-year-old Zdravko Kuzmanovic. They will be a serious threat and could be the ruin of a big name or two. I suspect they will meet England in the second round which should be a relatively evenly matched game, and really I wouldn’t know which way to call that one. If things fall into place a semi-final place wouldn’t be beyond their reach, but my gut says they will lose against England (though probably deserving to win).

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Vladimir Stojkovic (Wigan Athletic)

12. Bojan Isailovic (Zaglebie Lubin)

23. Andelko Duricic (Leiria)

Defenders

2. Antonio Rukavina (1860 Munich)

3. Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio)

5. Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United)

6. Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)

13. Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese)

16. Ivan Obradovic (Real Zaragoza)

20. Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders

4. Gojko Kacar (Hertha Berlin)

7. Zoran Tosic (Manchester United)

10. Dejan Stankovic, captain (Inter)

11. Nenad Milijas (Wolves)

17. Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow)

18. Milos Ninkovic (Dinamo Kiev)

19. Radoslav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade)

22. Zdravko Kuzmanovic (Stuttgart)

Forwards

8. Danko Lazovic (Zenit St. Petersburg)

9. Marko Pantelic (Ajax)

14. Milan Jovanovic (Liverpool)

15. Nikola Zigic (Birmingham City)

21. Dragan Mrda (Vojvodina)

GHANA

FIFA World Ranking: 32

Team Colours: White shirts with one grey sleeve with a dark grey star and black trim, white shorts, white socks. Away kit is red shirts with yellow vertical stripes and trim, red shorts, red socks.

Manager: Serbian Milovan Rajevac will lead Ghana into battle against his home country and the rest of Group D. He had only previously managed in Serbia and had not been in one job for more than two years before being hired in 2008. He is a strict disciplinarian who has earned a reputation as a shrewd tactician having overseen an impressive flawless qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations against a much-fancied Mali side, although Ghana’s second-round exit from that competition proper was less pleasing for the fans.

Form: In qualification Ghana were unstoppable, winning their group with a nearly 100 per cent record and becoming the first African nation (aside from the hosts) to qualify. They suffered a resounding 4-1 loss to the Netherlands in a pre-tournament friendly, though, and have had their preparations seriously disrupted by the withdrawal through injury of their best player, Chelsea’s Michael Essien, who will be a huge loss for them.

Captain: Stephen Appiah nearly hasn’t played at all at club level for two and a half years following a serious knee injury while he was at Fenerbahce that caused him to miss the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and only made his debut for new club Bologna as a substitute on the 9th of May this year. However he is still in the squad as captain, which has given some Ghanaian fans cause for concern as they would rather see a fit, regularly playing man starting games in a tough group against physically strong opponents like Serbia and Germany. Appiah does have plenty to give if he is fully fit, but he must be disadvantaged by his lack of game time.

Key Man: Michael Essien plays further forward for Ghana than he does for Chelsea, and so with him gone so is some of Ghana’s attacking prowess. The onus now falls squarely on the shoulders of Asamoah Gyan, the 24-year-old Rennes striker who has scored exactly one goal every two games for his country. He’s a powerful unit, strong and fast and able to keep on running and running, and will cause problems for defences.

Man to Watch: Dominic Adiyiah is a 20-year-old forward who earned himself a dream move to A.C. Milan after being an integral part of the Ghana team that won the 2009 Under-20 World Cup. He has scored 17 goals in just 16 games for the youth side and has been blooded recently by Rajevac with a view to having a similar impact in this tournament. He probably won’t start but could be a surprise package coming off the bench.

Prediction: The impact of Essien’s absence cannot be underestimated and it is made worse by suggestions that Sulley Muntari may not be fully fit in time for the opening game against Serbia a week today. Ghana can’t be counted out completely though, and should be reasonably competitive, but they should be overpowered by Germany and Serbia. A gallant third in the group.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Daniel Adjei (Liberty Professionals)

16. Stephen Ahorlu (Heart of Lions)

22. Richard Kingson (Wigan Athletic)

Defenders

2. Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen)

4. John Painstil (Fulham)

5. John Mensah (Lyon)

7. Samuel Inkoom (FC Basel)

8. Jonathan Mensah (Free State Stars)

15. Isaac Vorsah (Hoffenheim)

17. Abdul Rahim Ayew (El Zamalek)

19. Lee Addy (Bechem Chelsea)

Midfielders

6. Anthony Annan (Rosenborg)

9. Derek Boateng (Getafe)

10. Stephen Appiah, captain (Bologna)

11. Sulley Muntari (Inter)

13. Andrew Ayew (Arles)

20. Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (Al-Sadd)

21. Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese)

23. Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth)

Forwards

3. Asamoah Gyan (Rennes)

12. Prince Tagoe (Hoffenheim)

14. Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda)

18. Dominic Adiyiah (A.C. Milan)