With a great mixed feelings I watched the South african depart the tournament as the first ever nation to host a world cup and fail to qualify for the next round since the establishment of the tournament. The spirits were very high in the nation which 80% of it is living in poverty conditions so one would certainly feel the need of these good people to have a good reason to be happy and hopeful. But hope has vanquished earlier despite their good display of skills against against the French who came to the world cup in shame and left in shame. The mixed feelings I mentioned is that I wished one way that the people
of South Africa would feel good about their team and themselves but at the same time I don't feel that they deserved to be in the world cup in the first place and if it wasn't for the rules that states that the host must participate (Obviously) in the tournament they won't have made it anyway to the world cup since they failed actually to even make it to
the last African Nations Cup 2010.
They have a chance to go to the next ANC but they will be facing Egypt in the qualifications , yet Egyptians must know that they will face a team that has acquired some experience and confidence in this WC regardless of their early exit. They can still hold up their head high despite the exit and despite that they have been helped today by the referee but in vain. They are a young semi-talented team and by
time they can get better.
On the other hand the French have came to the WC in shame and did exit in shame as well without anyone feeling sorry for them.They have displayed a broken spirit and lack of good sportsmanship amongst themselves. The disputes and arguments within the team and the
notorious involvement of their former hero Zidane have made things all worse for them.
Personally , I think he had no place in being with the team and has been a negative factor on the team spirit all over. Not just publicly criticizing the team coach but also inciting rivalries and dissent between the coach and his players. In my eyes he is becoming less and less of the person , I though him to be and I think he burning himself out and making a big fool of himself. Domenech is also a bigger fool and made a complete
ass of himself not shaking hands with the legendary Carlos Alberto in a scene that will never be forgotten in the minds of the entire planet. Complete lack of responsibility and sportsmanship from a team that deserves nothing but to be left in the dust bin of football history. Shame on Zidane , Domenech the rest of their French goons.
Unfortunately , it all lead to the expected end with the expulsion of France as they scored 1 goal and earned 1 point in the 3 games giving them the deserved place at the bottom of the table. Nothing can be said further except what we discussed a few days ago about Karma and how bitchy it can get. Now as I said earlier today I believe they are under some sort of an Ancient Celtic which was cast upon them by the Irish and it worked like a charm:)
In the Group B, Argentina managed to get the first full mark with 9 deserved points after a great display of attacking football. Maradonna still shines as a coach as much as a player now. Despite he has not been tested yet with a seriously strong opponent but there seem to be love and respect all around the Argentinian tea. Completely opposite of France. Maradonna with his simplicity despite being no great tactician have made a good mix between his main players and substitutes and that made everyone happy because he seems to spread this unity inside his team . Everyone in the team worships him and they do whatever he says knowing that he will always care whether they do well or not. For Example in the last game against South Korea. Demichelis made a silly mistake that resulted in a goal from the Koreans but he was hugged and never criticized by Maradonna and the result is that Demichelis himself was the first goal scorer today. This is a lesson how how a coach should deal with his players.
South Koreans and their respectable team of tactical players managed to have a good equalizers against the Nigerians who did nothing but silly dancing and wasting unbelievably easy chances throughout the 3 games. When you lose chances like these , you deserve to get disqualified. There is no coach on the planet who will cure this complete
sense of irresponsibility from the likes of Obassi and Martins who wasted goal chances that could have given them the lead of the group not the bottom of it as they ended to be . A deserved end to poorly skilled and unorganized team. Now to the game details and please excuse me for not being able to watch all the games entirely but I was lucky enough to watch the highlights which enabled me to provide the following analysis.
Uruguay - Mexico 1-0 (Complete Game watched)
In a game which no one expected much action from but some decent Latin style football. Uruguay managed to secure it's 7th point and Mexico managed to get the next round qualification card by not getting beaten too heavily. Personally , I have to admit that they seemed to be playing for really for the first ticket but evidently there were minutes
in the game where I believed none of the teams wanted to hurt the other chances for qualifications. They are both Latin , They are both Spanish speaking nations and they are both the deserving teams in be in the next round out of this group. Actually both teams seemed to be playing their nice and slick football particularly the Urus who dominated the bigger portion of the game but and many of the goal attempts were never finished properly due to the fact that neither teams were really pushing their limits and only the Mexicans were trying to equalize ever since they conceded their first goal.
The goal is probably the highlight of this average game and one of the best crosses and headers in the entire tournament it started by Edison Cavani great control of the ball and running forward and while lobbing a great cross on the other end of the Mexican goal keeper only to find the
great Suarez who buries it in the net with a great header at the 43rd minute. The Mexican in fear of losing their second place battle ferociously in the second half and some unexpected clashes between players has occurred but nothing was too serious. At the .
The possession of the Uruguayans was almost 60% throughout the game and despite , the Mexicans never stopped trying and the 65th minute Francisco Rodriguez had a great opportunity to score, but fails to hit the target with his header and wasting a very close chance to
equalize. Other chances from Franco were not utilized perfectly. On the other side , the chances from Uruguay were sometimes actually dangerous but lacked the good finishing from Suarez, Cavani and Forlan who wasted some promising chances and long shots.
One player that was really good in my opinion and should stay in the Mexican team main squad is Guardado who represented a lot of pressure on the left side all the time and I am wondering why the Mexican coach is putting him on the sides in other games.
The game ended with an acceptable win from the better side Uruguay who avoided meeting Argentina in the upcoming game and thus paving the way for Uruguay for further glory.
Mexico were not exactly happy with no points from the game but satisfied that at least they will get the chance in the next round.
France- South Africa 1-2 (only watched highlights and analysis)
In a game filled with negative and positive passion from both teams. The South Africans managed to exit the game with a sense of pride and satisfaction and though they wanted more from the tournament . The limited capability of the South African team cannot permit further achievements from the the tournament. They are supposedly and numerically the weakest of all 6 African teams who already falling one after the other. The game was as important to the French whose hopes were minimal as it is for the South Africans. But both teams wanted to try for one last time maybe a miracle can happen and at least leave a
decent memory for their fans. Both had the same drives and motivations to do one last stand.
Actually South African were more successful than the French in doing that managing to score twice in the net of the French team. The first goal of South Africa could have been easily a foul should it have been for any other team other than the host country. As in the corner lobbed by Shabablala to Khumalo at the 20th minute, witnessed Shabablala to be riding on the shoulders of the French defense and that was clearly a foul to be awarded to France. 6 minutes later and precisely at the 26 minute and during an attack opportunity from the French Goucuff jumped to head the ball towards the SA net but was pushing too strong while heading for the ball that lead him to use his hands and elbow in a spontaneous way which hit the face of SA defender Kheto , it was obviously not intentional and could have been awarded a yellow card as an extreme measure but the Referee decided that a red one is merited and sent off Gourcuff at the 26th minute. Much to everyone surprise. 11 minutes later Mphela due to complete lack of coverage from the French defenders , scored the second for SA and things looked brighter for South Africa. Honestly after the send off SA managed to control much of the remaining of the first half and the beginning of the second half to an almost surrendering French team. But after the replacement of the ill faded Thierry Henry by Gabriel Cisse. The French managed to get in re control by the 60th minute and that ended at the at 70th minute with Malouda scoring the first and last French goal in the tournament after a good pass from Franc Ribery. For the rest of the game South Africa was trying to increase the tally by trying to score more goals and that didn't happen despite attempts from Shabablala and his team . The Final whistle came as the end of far fetched hopes of a semi-talented players of South Africa and to end of the misery of the French who have just out of the worst nightmare that can ever face a former world champion but they were not sympathized for at all.
Argentina- Greece 2-0 (Complete Game Watched)
Argentina managed to score the highest percentage of possession in the entire tournament so far at 67% to 33% of Greece. From the percentage it's evident that Argentina are playing every game like it's a tournament of it's own and despite the replacement of about 7 key players from the previous game . Maradonna managed to keep his team in control of the ball despite the Greek iron defensive technique that reminded us of their 2004 glory at the European champions. With the exception of about 2 actual scoring chance, one of which was very dangerous for Samaras in the second half, Greece played almost the entire game in their own half and managed to keep the Argentinian at bay . Thanks to the great goal keeping of Tzorvas the Greek keeper who kept his net clean with great saves and clearances and Messi and Veron were never able to score from the numerous shots and chances they were shooting against him. This has changed at 77th minute after Demechelis managed to head a long corner cross which hit Milito (who was completely out of form) and rebounded to hit to kick in the Greek net who finally got what they deserved due to their extremist defensive style without no serious counter attacking attempt. Milito was replaced by the famous Palermo in the first appearance ever in a World Cup after this expulsion from the team due to the famous 3 penalties wasted in a single game in Copa America years ago. But it seemed that it was his lucky night to start to feel the glory for a really talented attacker who just a bad day that kept him for ages away from the Tango squad. Just at the 89th minute Messi (player of the game) dribbled through 3 different players at the 18th yard line and shoots a powerful one which was saved by the keeper but falls from his hands due to the strength of the shot only to be picked by Palermo to score his first goal and second goal for Argentina. Greece are out of the tournament and much to my surprise the Greek coach Otto Rehagel didn't try to take the risk and attack since the scoreline was not in his favour all the way and Greece must had to win in order to secure a place which they didn't do. Good work and game play Argentina and we are expecting more of this great stuff in the upcoming rounds. Upcoming game against Mexico will be great to watch so can't wait for that one.
South Korea - Nigeria (Only watched Highlights and analysis)
This group had everyone hoping to book the second ticket of the second round and South Korea were the closer contender to do this and they did. Despite a win for Nigeria would have been enough for the Nigerians to pass the next round , this never happened and the African Eagles ridiculously wasted one chance after another and they lead the game score at the 12th minute by a goal by Uche but that didn't discourage the Koreans who were more determined to get to the next round than the Eagles. At the 38th minute J. Lee by a good header.
At the start of the second half the Koreans continue their flood of attacksAt the 49th minute and from a free kick C.Park managed to score by a great shot directly at the net and managed to be the first to score from a free kick in this tournament.
The Nigerians in the second half were brough a breath of hope after the second weirdest miss by Chendu Obassi again who did the same in the previous games from even a easier chance where he seemed to be drunk and managed to shoot the ball away from an entirely empty goal . I believe if he even intended to miss it at this point he won't have been able to but this player seems to be a jinx and I can't believe he is playing for Everton. The breath of hope came after a penatly was awarded and Obassi placed it right this time at the time. But that was not enough for the Nigerians to qualify and fairly enough the deserving South Koreans to be next in line after Argentina to Face Uruguay in the next round. The Nigerians pulled their legs out after losing chance after another throughout the tournament and for losing their wits once they score a goal, the same mistake they did in Greece and eventually the Greeks overcame their loss and turned into a win again the Eagles. Farewell Nigeria and join the list of other African nations exiting early.
Tomorrow are some highly anticipated games particularly German and Ghana and I am hoping that Germany would get back their previous form in the Australia game and could win this one. I feel sorry for Ghana since they are a team I like but not as nearly as close as I like the German team. Also England have a tough game of fate to do tomorrow as it will "be or not to be" matter tomorrow. I wish all the best to the fine USA team against the Algerians too.
Have fun guys and look forward to hear your comments shortly. Thank you my good friends.
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Rising Stars Team
