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World Cup Highlights: Day Thirteen

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England & Fabio Capello CelebrateEngland, USA, Ghana and Germany all through on Day Thirteen, disappointment for Slovenia, Algeria, Australia and Serbia.

What it means is that England and Germany renew their decades old rivalry on Sunday while the US face Ghana on Saturday. The Australians will be devastated – were it not for their heavy 4-0 defeat to Germany in their first match it would be they, not Ghana, playing the US.

England’s 1-0 defeat of Slovenia yesterday was achieved with a much improved performance and a much more positive, less frightened mindset. Improved, yes, but still not good enough. If England are to overcome Germany it will take further improvement, especially in the passing and finishing departments.

Nevertheless, let’s not underestimate the boost a victory and qualification will give the players, not least a so far under par Wayne Rooney. It might have been Jermaine Defoe that scored the winning goal, turning in James Milner’s cross from close range, but there were chances for Gerrard, Rooney and John Terry too, Rooney hitting the post when through one on one with Slovenia’s keeper.

For a long time England topped Group C and appeared to be going through to face Ghana, but when the USA scored a 92nd minute winner through Landon Donovan they grabbed that opportunity, leaving England with that huge clash with Germany.

The Germans themselves had to settle for a slim 1-0 victory over Ghana to top their own group, thanks to a fantastic volley from outside the box by Mesut Ozil and while Australia did all they could to qualify by beating Serbia 2-1 they were never likely to overcome the goal difference advantage of Ghana.

The US will, of course, be delighted with how their World Cup campaign has gone so far. They would have hoped for only second place in Group C but thanks to their opening draw against England, they qualify first. In contrast, England are just grateful to be through at all and their World Cup begins now.

Ghana are the first – and will possibly be the only – African side to make it through to the last 16. Only Cameroon have the faintest hope of joining them with a big victory over Holland and even then only if Denmark defeat Japan. Neither is likely.

Ghana, then, carry the continent’s hopes on their broad shoulders as we go into the knockout stages.

England Expects

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England FlagIf England needed pointers on how to win then they needed look no further than their cricketing counterparts and adopted ‘Englishman’ and Wimbledon hopeful Andy Murray yesterday.

England’s one day side beat Australia by four wickets and Murray eased through his first round match against Jan Hajek. For English (ok, British) sport Tuesday 22nd June 2010 was a good day.

Wednesday 23rd June is Judgement Day for the national football side, their World Cup hopes hanging on victory against Slovenia. We all know the Slovenians are the sort of team England should be beating easily but Fabio Capello’s men have been unbelievably poor so far in South Africa and we’re all on edge about today’s match.

We all have our opinions on which team should be selected, what we expect from the players in terms of commitment and, no doubt, what the eventual result will be. Only one opinion matters, though, and it’s that of Capello.

Despite growing calls for him to unleash Joe Cole, reports suggest James Milner will be recalled, apparently on the right wing, and Jermaine Defoe will accompany Wayne Rooney up front, the coach abandoning his tried and tested big man / little man partnership.

I’m hard pressed to work out how that line up will take to the field so, for perhaps the last time, I’m going to put my faith in the fact Capello knows what he’s doing. God knows, that faith has been tested lately but this is his – and the players’ – chance for redemption, in my eyes and those of the nation.

I’m actually slightly impressed by the fact that Capello seems to have resisted mounting media pressure on who to pick and remains his own man. That, at least, is refreshing from an England coach.

For what it’s worth, this is the team I would have picked:

James

Johnson Upson Terry A. Cole

Lennon Gerrard Barry J. Cole

Rooney Crouch

Either that or replace Crouch with Lampard and push Gerrard further forward. It would – and will – all mean nothing, however, if theplayers don’t go out with confidence. That’s down to them.

England expects, lads. It’s time to restore our faith – and your own reputations.

World Cup Highlights: Day Eight

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Miroslav KloseThis tournament is starting to throw up some real shocks, not least England’s surprising inability to play football of any sort. However, I’m going to leave the England game and aftermath for a whole other blog post.

The highlights from Day Eight in South Africa were provided by Serbia and the USA and Slovenia.

Germany’s demolition of Australia had us all believing they were going to be a force to be reckoned with but against tougher, more stubborn and better prepared opposition in Serbia they were found just slightly wanting. They weren’t helped by the puzzling dismissal of Miroslav Klose, booked twice for the only two tackles he made in the game.

Before that the Germans had looked good going forward but the Serbian defence had the answer to every question posed. When Klose was sent off it took just a minute for the Serbians to spring a surprise of their own and score through Jovanovic. That was pretty much all Serbia wanted it seemed and as the game wore on Germany pressed for an equaliser in with increasing frequency and numbers.

Serbia stood firm though and were aided by the poor finishing of Lucas Podoloski. He missed a penalty and a hatful of chances. As Germany pressed Serbia broke well on the counter attack and could have scored more, hitting the woodwork twice.

In the end they had to settle for the one goal while Germany were left shocked at the defeat. In a close game they really should have won, but it was “one of those days” for them.

Perhaps the best game of the tournament so far was the USA versus Slovenia, which also happened to feature the best goal of the tournament so far.

Slovenia took a 2-0 lead into half time thanks to Valter Birsa and Zlatan Ljubijankic. Birsa’s goal was a joy to behold as he curled an effort at speed past Tim Howard, who didn’t even bother to move as he watched it scream past him into the back of the net. Ljubijankic doubled the lead three minutes before half time to leave the Americans with an uphill battle to get anything out of the game.

A double substitution at the break – Edu for Torres and Feilhaber for Findley – proved inspired as the USA forced their way back into the game. Landon Donovan found himself clear on the right and raced into the box. He looked for a pass but with nothing to be found he chose to simply rifle the ball into the roof of the net over the Slovenian keeper.

Sensing they were in the ascendency the States pushed forward and were duly rewarded for their endeavour when Michael Bradley, son of coach Bob Bradley, scored with eight minutes to go.

The Americans could have won the game when Edu volleyed the ball home but it was ruled out for a foul in the box. Quite how that decision was made when there was so much going on, with potential fouls being committed by both sides in the scramble, I don’t know and it left Bradley, Edu and the rest of the team furious.

Nevertheless, the decision stood and the pulsating match ended 2-2. As games go, this was one of the best so far and we can only hope the rest of the World Cup offers up this sort of entertainment. It certainly didn’t happen in the England v Algeria match, though…

World Cup Highlights: Day Three

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Germany celebrateDay Three unveiled the team of the tournament so far and one barely given a mention when it came to who might win the World Cup this year.

Step forward Germany. It’s a mystery to me that they haven’t warranted more coverage and discussion. Every four years they turn up, set about their work efficiently and progress to the latter stages, yet this year no-one is talking to them.

Until now. Their 4-0 demolition of Australia showed that they have allied a certain amount of flair with their usual ruthlessness and defensive strength. The loss of captain Ballack before the World Cup began actually seems to have done them some good. Whereas Ballack would be central to most things Germany did, he slowed the game down. Without him there’s a pace to their movements that was a joy to behold.

It was far from the slick speed at which Argentina moved the ball around in their opening game but it was still…well, very un-German-like. Thomas Muller was outstanding, Miroslav Klose looked to be getting back to his goal scoring best and the fact that their were four different scorers underlines the German’s strength in depth.

Phillip Lahm, now captain in the absence of Ballack showed defensive strength and attacking prowess in equal measure, getting an assist and ensuring Australia offered little going forward as he marshalled the back four from his full back position.

If anyone was in any doubt about Germany’s capabilities before this game, they should now know that Low’s men are here to win, not just make up the numbers.

They were, in all fairness, aided by the sending off of Australia’s Tim Cahill on 56 minutes but by then they were 2-0 up through the aforementioned Klose and Podolski.

The Germans will face tougher opposition than the Socceroos, of course, but that won’t phase them, such is their mental strength.

Elsewhere, Algeria and Slovenia played out the dullest game of the tournament so far. I wildly and somewhat hopefully predicted a goalfest on Twitter using the “it’s always the lesser games” logic. How wrong I was. It would have ended 0-0 were it not for a goalkeeping howler by Algeria’s Chaouchi – one Robert Green would have been proud of. He let Slovenia captain Robert Koren’s only slightly curling effort go right through him in the 79th minute.

The result means, rather inexplicably, that Slovenia now top England’s Group C but neither they or the Americans will fear playing either of these sides.

Finally, Ghana became the first African side to register a victory in the 2010 World Cup with a 1-0 win over Serbia thanks to an 85th minute penalty from Gyan. I didn’t see this game so I can’t comment on whether on whether or not it was a highlight or a lowlight. By all accounts though, this was a deserved victory for Ghana and sets them up as favourites to qualify as second place from Group D, behind Germany.

The game also featured, by my count at least, the third red card of the tournament when Serbian Lukovic was sent off in the 74th minute. Any bets on how many there will be come mid-July?

Germany have announced their arrival in South Africa and we have still yet to see the Dutch (just kicked off against Denmark actually!), Spanish, Italian and Brazilian teams. What a World Cup it’s turning out to be.