Two remarkably different days in South Africa in terms of excitement but the group standings of some teams remains precarious.
Day Nine was not the most interesting day we’ve had so far. The Dutch kept up their 100% record with a relatively comfortable but unexciting 1-0 victory over Japan. It wasn’t a dull game and Japan were tactically sound and stubborn in defence, keeping their more illustrious opposition at bay right up the the 52nd minute when midfielder Wesley Sneijder fired in from just outside the box.
The football was more solid rather than thrilling but chances were created all through the match by both sides. Japan couldn’t find an equaliser though and, thanks to Denmark’s defeat of Cameroon later in the day, the Dutch are now through to the second round.
Before that Ghana played out a disappointing 1-1 draw with Australia, despite playing against 10 men for over an hour. It was the Socceroos that took the lead, Ghana keeper spilling a 30 yard free kick into the patch of Holman who tapped home.
Given Australia’s 4-0 hammering at the hands of Germany and Ghana’s victory over Serbia in the first group games, this wasn’t what was expected at all.
The African’s were given the chance to get back in the game and back on top when Mensah his a powerful shot that the recalled Harry Kewell could only block with his arm on the goal line. There was only one decision to make and Kewell was given his red card, protests ignored by the referee and rightly so.
Impressive striker Gyan scored the penalty. Ghana pressed on for a winner yet slowly ran out of ideas and Australia could have grabbed a winner themselves despite their numerical disadvantage through Chipperfield, Wilkshire and Kennedy. A point was all either side could get though – Ghana will be disappointed, Australia pleased.
Back to Group E and the best game of the day by far. Cameroon needed to win to have hope of progressing in the World Cup and took the lead through Eto’o, restored to a central role after his disappointing performance on the right in the first game.
Eto’o was fed by Webo following a disastrous square pass from Poulsen on the edge of his own area. This was a much improved Cameroon and it didn’t look like Denmark had much of an answer to their powerful opponents.
Experience tells, though, and the Danes got themselves back into the match through Arsenal striker Nicolas Bendtner. Veteran Dennis Rommedahl crossed low and Bendtner tapped in from six yards with 33 minutes gone.
The second half was end to end as both sides pushed for a winner, but once again it was experience that told, Rommedahl finding some pace from somewhere, racing past his defender and slotting coolly into the Cameroon goal on 62 minutes. The final half an hour saw chances for both sides, more for Cameroon as they applied pressure, but the Danes held on, kept their hopes alive and sent the Dutch through to the next round.
Day Ten was much better, with more attractive football and one shock result. The most anticipated clash of the day was the evening match between Brazil and the Ivory Coast, though the earlier games between Paraguay and Slovakia and Italy and New Zealand did not disappoint.
Paraguay were effective and entertaining in their defeat of the defensive Slovakians, winning 2-0 in the end, though it could have been more. Enrique Vera gave the South Americans the lead with a brilliant curling effort from the outside of his boot when under serious pressure from a Slovakian defender.
Wonderful passing and fluid movement from Paraguay’s 4-3-3 formation meant they could attack freely and Slovakia, not looking like they were up for this match, defended for much of the first half.
It was a surprise that Paraguay only grabbed their second of the game with 4 minutes to go through Riveros, hitting home from the edge of the box. It was nothing more than they deserved. Slovakia were dreadful but Paraguay are starting to look dangerous.
Italy versus New Zealand was supposed to be a formality. The current world champions against the 2000-1 outsiders. No contest, right? Wrong.
New Zealand took a shock lead through Smeltz after just seven minutes, the striker scoring his 20th goal in 37 matches for his country. Italy were stung into action – not all of it sporting – as they realised what had just happened.
The Azzurri complained of non-existent fouls frequently, though the referee ignored most. He couldn’t ignore defender Tommy Smith’s man-handling of De Rossi in the box around the half hour mark. Though the Italian went down fairly easily it was a legitimate penalty which Iaquinta banged home for the equaliser.
Italy continued to pour forward in the second half but the All Whites stood firm and could have snatched a late, late winner through Chris Wood but his shot went agonisingly just past the wrong side of the post. New Zealand keeper Paston was in impressive form and kept Italy out to ensure one of the most shocking results in World Cup history as the game ended 1-1.
Italy are desperately missing the creative influence of Andrea Pirlo and now must beat Slovakia to avoid going out in the first round.
And so to Brazil versus the Ivory Coast, the artists against the powerhouses. Four goals, a sending off and a lot of play acting made this a must watch game, yet Brazil were not at their best and the Africans were surprisingly defensive in their approach. It was not the anticipated classic, but there was enough incident to keep us all interested.
The first half offered little in the way of excitement but Luis Fabiano’s opener was a real highlight. A beautiful one-two with AC Milan’s Kaka allowed the striker to finish high and hard into the net from a tight angle to give the Brazilians the lead, which they took into half time.
The second half was much, much better for entertainment value. After just five minutes Fabiano was at it again as he flicked the ball over one defender, jinked past another and finished neatly for his and Brazil’s second goal of the match. Suspicion of handball in the build up didn’t receive any protests from the Ivory Coast and the goal stood.
Growing in confidence, the Brazilians upped the pace as the half wore on yet there was a disappointingly high amount of play acting from them which they really didn’t need to do. It came back to bite them before the match finished, but not before they scored a third and Didier Drogba grabbed a consolation with 10 minutes to go.
While Kaka should have scored with the best chance of the match instead of shooting straight at the keeper, he did set up Elano just a few moments later, worming his way round a couple of defenders to set Elano up for his second goal of the tournament.
With 10 minutes to go Drogba did pull one back, heading home Yaya Touré’s cross for the African’s consolation.
There was still time for Kaka to tarnish a much improved performance by picking up two yellow cards in quick succession, the first deserved for pushing Touré, the second totally undeserved as Keita ran into the little midfielder only to go down clutching his face in the most blatant act of deception. Sadly it worked, and Kaka was sent off. Presumably Brazil will appeal and hopefully successfully, but you can’t help thinking it was justice for Brazil’s own play acting.
Nevertheless, Brazil are through to the second round and while not displaying the flair for which they are famous, they are starting to show signs of becoming a dominant force in this World Cup.
Incidentally, Italy’s second draw of the tournament again puts England’s position into perspective. Admittedly, Italy have played far, far better than England so far yet they are in exactly the same position. There is no reason to abandon hope just yet…that will come Wednesday with a defeat.
