each team in the world cup plays three games apiece in the first round and, as i write this, the tunisia-saudi arabia match is the final match of this first “week.” when germany and poland kick off in just under two hours, it will mark the beginning of every team’s second go-round.
as tunisia lead the saudis at halftime, 1-0, here are some thoughts on the first match of the day…
match 15: spain v. ukraine
well, anyone who has read about my luck with picking teams in this world cup knew that this match was over before it started because i was for ukraine and their usually-quicksilver striker, andriy shevchenko. when the announcers stated that gametime temps were above 30 degrees Celsius, i knew the match was over. one day, i feel they should play the world cup on antarctica or greenland just to give teams like russia, norway (my lads), finland, and other such cold-climate nations a fighting chance.
regardless, from the start of the match, it was clear that spain were the better squad, unwavering heat or no. despite an early ukraine chance, in the buildup to spain’s first goal in the 13th minute, the iberians were clearly dominating possession, were crisp in their passing, sure in their tackling, and confident in their verve. xabi alonso’s poke in of a bounding ball in front of the ukraine goal for the first score was more than fair.
it only got worse four minutes later when a david villa free kick deflected off a ukrainian defender’s head and past hapless ukraine goalkeeper shovkovskiy. from that moment on, it was just a matter of how many spain were going to score. my man, shevchenko, who i believe was earlier a man some idiot had pimped to score a brace for the ukrainians, was nearly a non-factor for the first half, for he was shackled effortlessly by the spanish back line, led by carlos puyol.
the second half was only worse for the yellow-clad ukrainians. as the sun bore down and temps reached 34, in the 47th minute, the referee ridiculously sent off ukranian defender vladislav vashchuk for what was deemed a “professional foul.” after seeing the replay numerous times, i’m still befuddled at the decision. to compound matters, this phantom foul was committed in the ukraine box, thus handing spain this world cup’s first penalty kick. david villa coolly stepped up and hammered the penalty home and, just three minutes into the half, spain were ahead, 3-nil.
being a man down in the searing heat, ukraine put up little resistance for the remainder of the half. they had a moment or two when they threatened the spanish goal, not the least of which when robbie savage, uh, andriy voronin, who must be the jackass welchman’s ukrainian cousin, nearly put into the top left corner a spectacular shot from somewhere near the polish border. it didn’t matter, though, as spain continuously and mercilessly plundered and marauded the ukraine side of the pitch.
it was ugly–and that was before the (team) goal of the tournament in the 81st minute (not to be confused with the two best individual goals of the tournament, one by germany’s torsten frings and the other by czech republic’s tomas rosicky): the aforementioned carlos puyol took the ball near midfield, pirouetted around a lunging defender, laid off the ball for an unidentified teammate, who then laid it back to the still-running puyol, who defly laid it ahead for an onrushing fernando torres, who gratefully took the gift and put it past the hapless shovkovskiy. it was a magnificent goal, made all the more so by the nifty passing.
spain, after this performance, which i never saw coming (i thought it would be a much closer match, given ukraine’s stout run through the qualifying rounds the last couple of years), belong in the same breath as the czech republic and mexico as the most impressive teams to date.
of course, we all know how the spaniards are and this being their first match, may go straight in the tank for their next two matches and flame out of the group stages. until the spaniards prove their grist on the international stage, i have no faith in their ability to continue this performance, no matter how good they looked and how talented they may be…
this now brings my tally to 15 matches played, three teams correctly cheered for.
it was asked of me tonight, not without reason, whether i had a trinibago strip (in case you’re wondering, i decided several days ago that continually typing “trinidad&tobago” was too much effort, so i am now calling it “trinibago”, much like serbia&montenegro have become “serbinegro”), since that is who england, the team of teams for whom i’m cheering, play tomorrow night. the sad and shocking truth is that i have no trinibago strips, only four or five different england ones.
dear shiva, might i bring the “curse of dissidence” down on the mighty three lions? only wayne rooney can stop the madness, so he damn well better be playing tomorrow night.
