well, one-quarter of the round of 16 is set: germany v. sweden on saturday at 11:59pm and england v. ecuador on sunday night at 11:59pm.
germany, roared on by an intimidating sell-out crowd in berlin, looked back to being well in-form in their 0-3 rout of ecuador last night. two miroslav klose goals before intermission combined with a third by lukas podolski 12 minutes after the restart gave germany a well-earned victory and saw them finish first in group A. one would have to favour the prussians over their scandinavian opponents at the weekend, but it won’t be easy. the south americans, playing their worst game of the tournament so far, finish as runners-up. they most likely will not play so poorly at the weekend against england.
rounding out group A’s final matches was costa rica v. poland. the poles fell behind in the 24th minute to a ronald gomez goal, only to level 9 minutes later on defender bartosz basacki’s first goal for his country. though it was a day game played in sultry weather and the two teams were playing only for pride, there was passion and a fair amount of energy on both sides. pressing the issue finally paid off for the poles when, nearly at the midpoint of the second half, that man bartosz scored his second goal of the night to put the poles up, 1-2. they held on from there and salvaged three points from another disappointing world cup campaign.
in group B, paraguay were playing for pride while trinibago were playing for a win and lots of england help. the islanders didn’t get the win, as their defense, which had been resolute and solid in drawing with sweden and losing late to england, was exposed more in this match because they were pressing for goals. paraguay went up a goal just past the midpoint of the first half when the soca warriors’ brent sancho turned the ball into his own net. this made the tiny islanders’ plight even more precarious. they pushed hard in the second half, needing at least two goals, but their lack of quality in their opponents’ end was as glaring as ever. nelson cuevas sealed it for paraguay four minutes from time and the south americans got the deserved win.
though trinibago failed to score even one goal, their effort and desire to battle their asses off made them lots of new fans, including nearly all the neutrals in the crowd and me watching here in korea. a testament to that was that i split my time fairly evenly flipping back and forth between this game and the sweden-england match.
speaking of which, where to start on this one? owen’s injury, rooney’s superb first half and subsequent fade after the restart, joe cole’s smashing volley, or england’s shit play on set pieces? well, first things first, i guess: england and sweden drew, 2-2, to leave england atop the group and sweden as runners-up.
there isn’t much to say about owen because we don’t know anything at this early point in time. his knee twisted up on him in an ugly manner after a minute of play and he was stretchered off (i needed a few drinks as i watched him writhe in agony, already thinking ahead to how this will affect my beloved newcastle’s upcoming season; i could just imagine the geordie cries of anguish all over the northeast of england, especially on tyneside, as owen lay there). rooney looked nearly like his old self in the first forty-five minutes, but slagged off after the restart and was replaced 20 minutes from time by steven gerrard. rooney was none too happy when taken off, although it’s now unclear whether he was angry at his poor second half or at being replaced. knowing rooney, it’s probably a little of both.
meanwhile, joe cole’s goal, the match’s first goal, was a cracker of a volley. he was divine in this match, much better than he was against trinibago–and england are going to need him to continue to be in form. however, five minutes after the restart of play, marcus allback brought the swedes level with a header off a corner. sweden were the better team for most of the second half and will feel aggrieved not to have gone ahead on several occasions after the score was levelled: a couple of shots hit the woodwork, a claim for a handball in the box was ignored, and gerrard had to clear a ball off the line.
then, five minutes from time, gerrard gave england what was thought to be the winner (which would have been england’s first win over the scandinavians in my lifetime) on a header, but henrik larsson equalised in the 90th minute on a goal as ugly as ji-sung park’s against france, if not uglier. i’m still not sure larsson got his foot on the ball, but it counted and the match ended with honours even.
sweden have a formidable task at the weekend against rampant hosts, germany, and england are going to have to step it up another notch if they are going to slip by ecuador; they certainly are going to have to tighten up their defense on corner kicks and set plays, as both sweden goals came from there. and with owen’s world cup most likely over, sven will have to go into that match with only three fit strikers. lovely prospect for the rest of england’s germany adventure, whether it’s one game or two or more…
21 Comments
Hi Dave,
I’m part of the Koreabridge.net management team and we’re having a webcast on Sunday at 1 pm Korea time about the World Cup. We’ve so far secured Greekfreak (http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org/) as a guest and would also like to invite you on as a fellow World Cup blogger.
Sorry to contact you through the comments (feel free to delete this) but if you could email me at manager@pusanweb.com with either a Yay or a Nay, I’d appreciate it.
Sarah
am enjoying the daily wrap ups. please stop capitalizing the groups as it throws off the lower-case symmetry.
Two soft goals aside, that was far and away the best England performance so far. Rooney looked good in the first half, the midfield emerged from hiding, and two great goals were scored. Things are looking up.
That said, Campbell looks ring rusty. If there’s anything wrong with Ferdinand, or should Rooney or Crouch get hurt, we could be up the creek.
Dave: I, too, am enjoying the daily wrap-ups, and commiserations about Owen.
The Guardian is saying he could be out for up to nine months.
I’ll stick with my prediction (though with rather less confidence after seeing the Bosch take apart Ecuador): Germany to go out in the last 16. And Iceberg, my “nut” bet was on England playing Germany, so the right one stays in place, thank you very much.
“a goal as ugly as ji-sung park’s against france”
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
for god’s sakes, baduk, chill out. park scored an ugly goal, as did larsson, but such a description does not constitute anything other than just that–a description. a goal’s a goal, regardless of how ugly or beautiful, which was my point. the three ugliest goals of the world cup, so far, have been these two along with the own goal by italy v. u.s., which means, based on your posts yesterday, that i’m a racist, especially against koreans, swedes, and americans… dude, grab some weed, smoke a bowl and chill–and stop calling this sport “soccer.”
the only thing beautiful about park jisung’s goal was that it was the product of persistence, discipline, endurance, and fitness. as far as aesthetics are concerned that shit was ugly as fuck.
danger: i don’t know about germany’s going out so quickly, but sweden will be a tough out. as for england, i think sven ought now to go with this 4-4-2: rooney and crouch up front, cole on left wing, lennon on right wing, hargeaves holding in the middle (he was impressive last night) along with stevie g. becks at right back, ferdinand and terry in the middle, and carragher at left back (of which england really don’t have a natural). lamps and a. cole might be the odd men out in this scenario, but i’m tired of lamps’s shooting from long range and hitting so little and of cole’s insipidness on defense. i don’t know, i’m no expert, just want to see the SOBs play one 90-minute match of consistent good play.
very much agreed upon regarding your assessment of park’s goal, davelee…
What a bummer! Would have loved to see my German friends sending them overrated Anglo-Saxon whiners (”It was sooo hot to play good football today” - my ass!) packing.
Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins. Gary Lineker
So true, mate!
Well, I like the Park Jisung’s goal for the following reasons.
1) When Sul Gihyun centered the ball, he could not see any of Korean players. He was actually sending up a prayer. Just kicked in the direction of the net. However, he is an expert in this type of centering. So, his kick was just right.
2) When Cho Jejin saw the ball coming to him, he was careful not to get the ball out but he was also thinking about
a) head the ball in himself. (this was a wrong choice. The angle is too narrow. He only had 10% chance of put just right amount of spin into the ball and try “Banana heading” shot. )
b) Head toward the mid field so that incoming Korean players if any can kick the ball. (Bad choice. less than 50-50 chance)
c) Then, he saw a Korean player running in. He didn’t know who it was. But, he decided to head it down to him. Now, it is rather difficult to do this, because he had a defender right in front of him. He jumped up high, and was successful in heading it down.
3) Park just stuck his feet out. You can not kick it. The best thing to do is just stick a part of body out hoping the ball will somehow make a contact. It is 50-50.
The ball actually was touched in awkward fashion and it rose just right in front of the goalie. He had 50-50 chance of catching it but the ball just slid out of his stretched hand.
Woo~La~La!!!!! Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DaeHanMinGuk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
haha baduk, no one is downplaying the strategy involved, its the aesthetics. it was a downright fundamental, straight to the point goal, that did not swish through the mouth of the goal, but rather bounced around awkwardly around the line like it dindt know whether it wanted to go in or stay out. any football fan would agree that this goal is ugly compared to the glorious mighty kick that clears the net. in the end though, you are right - beauty is in the eye of the beholder. which is why in my eyes that shit was ugly.
Park Ji-sung is a sexy bitch!
Well, I actually play soccer and I had been in Sul’s position, Cho’s position and Park’s position.
Of course, my favorite is Park’s position. But, for those who play the game, Cho’s or Sul’s positions (assist positions) are just as fulfilling as Park’s (goal scorer).
One has to play the game to absorb all poignant details (the beauties) of the game.
Can’t wait to watch Germany v. Sweden match. It will be very exciting game, indeed!
But Germany will advance by 2-1 against Sweden.
Part of Rooney’s problem is that he scares the $#!% out of the opposing teams so much that they double mark him. It doesn’t always work, in the first half there were moments of Rooney magic when he took control of somewhat wayward passes despite the attentions of the defenders (I recall an absolutely magic header on to his own foot). In theory England can take advantage of the defense concentrating on Rooney to let others score - the first goal against Sweden was an example as was IIRC one of the T&T goals - but to do that really requires all the English midfileders to play properly. Right now it seems like we can have any 2 out of 4 or 5 playing well …
Its a good thing we won - we’d never beat Germany playing like this, hopefully we can beat Ecuador but unless the team starts coming together better we won’t get any further than that (I think we’ll be meeting Holland or Argentina after that no?)
RE: Owen’s injury… Leading up the WC, Northern Rock (Newcastle’s sponsor) took out a full page ad in football mags featuring Owen draped in an England flag, standing amongst suitcases at an airport baggage claim. The tagline? BRING HIM BACK IN ONE PIECE.
ahhh…
“owen’s injury, rooney’s superb first half and subsequent fade after the restart, joe cole’s smashing volley, or england’s shit play on set pieces?”
You RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, if it works for Baduk…
Danger Rat, I already lost a quid or two to Iceberg on Togo going through; care to help me win it back? Germany beats Sweden and procedes to smoke their next opponent, possibly argentina, at sundown. Meanwhile England beats Ecuador, then comes crashing down at the hands of Portugal (if Nether Regions make it, the Queen’s boys might make it through).
Mr. French Fries,
You have a bet.
yes, i am a racist!
fuck england, the english, and anybody who looks english, speaks english, and drink gin!
and dissidents, argentinians, those in exile, corvette drivers, refugees, north carolinians, the displaced and the diaspora, rabbis, sunderland, the frog people of northern turkmenistan, southern africans and northern africans (but not western africans), norwegians, glaswegians, vegans, pot smokers, teetotalers, politicians, gay men (but not gay women), those who hose ho’s with their hoses, and people with teeth, blue eyes, and no ass.
thanks for exposing me, headache!!!
I *knew* it!