The first quartet

pc120012, originally uploaded by Sarfraaz.

The Knockout matches have started and we already have our first set of 4 teams who enter the Quarter Final round.

The first match was between the home team Germany and Sweden. But then, after the first 15 minutes, there was only one team playing and that was Germany. The Swedes were just starting to warm up for the match, while the Germans were already in attacking mood and scored the first goal in the very 6th minute itself !!!, exactly the same way they started off in the round robin matches. The Swedes looked shocked and their defense was all scattered and the Germans were too professional to miss such a golden opportunity and scored another goal in the 12th minute. The Germans were attacking very hard, and the scoreline could have very easily been 4 - 0, and it looked like the Germans could just score as many goals as they wished. The professional aproach of the Germans and their strong physical presence in the ground along with the great home crowd support and home advantage, completely dominated the proceedings of the game. The Swedes did try their luck, but could hardly have any impact on the strong German defense. With this match, the Germans have definately given a strong signal to the other teams and have made their intentions of winning the World Cup this time and avenge the defeat of the previous World Cup against Brazil, snatching back the golden trophy.

The next match was between the strong Argentina against their neighbouring rivals Mexico. Mexico scored the first goal, again an early goal, in the 6th minute itself, but Argentina equalized soon in the 10th minute itself. From then on, the match was anybody's game. Both the teams were attacking and counter attacking, but both of them lacked that final sting in the attack. One could say that the defense of both the teams was good enough to restrict another goal being scored, but it was a combination of good defense and bad finishing. The match remained at a 1-1 stalemate till the stipulated 90 minutes, and the match for the first time in this tourney. moved into the extra time. In the 12th of the first half of extra time [ yes, there is no golden goal funda and the teams have to play full 30 minutes ], Rodrigues, scored a superb goal, from the right corner of the D, to land the bal in the top left corner of the goalpost. A fantastic finish indeed !!!

The classy Argentines will now meet the professional and mighty Germans in the Quarters and this will definately be the clash of the tournament. Its sad that one of these teams will not be making it to the Semis though.

The second day of the knockout round saw the match being played between England and Ecuador. Ecuador had shown great promise in the round robin matches and had made it clear that England could not easily walkover this team. And the match indeed ended up this way. The first half didnt produce a single goal by either sides. But the game was good and interesting. Both the sides were creating good spaces and attacking well, but their defense was too good to be beaten. Atlast, England scored the solitary goal of this match, and it seemed to be the only way England could breach the Ecuador defense, a lovely Beckham free kick. This was one of the most beautiful free kicks by Beckham I have seen live. The ball went over the wall, and just brushed through the hands of the goal keeper only to find itself on the side net, inside the goalpost. England had struck, and it looked very clearly that they were not interested in scoring any more goals as the English players started keeping possession of the ball, not allowing Ecuador to attack, and thus ended the match with England beating Ecuador 1 - 0.

The match between Portugal and Holland was very promising, but ended up being the worst game of the tourney, with 3 red cards being given and almost every other player was warned with a yellow card. It was the most roughly fought matches I saw in this World Cup. There was hardly any continuity in the game, with free kicks being given every now and then. It was certainly a pathetic game to see, and definately lacked any fun of watching a good game of football. Thanks to a well planned goal by Maniche, Portugal won the match beating Holland 1 - 0, but are left with 3 of their main players kept out and their main striker Ronaldo injured.

With England facing a low profile, second line team of Portugal, it seems quite certain that England will make it easily to the Quarters. Hopefully, the next 4 teams will win convincingly and we get to see some good quality football played fairly.