Get down to business

Both the waterfalls, originally uploaded by Sarfraaz.

Every team has played one game each, while some tasted First Blood [ a good reason to get the name of my blog here ;) ], some have started shedding off the World Cup blues, and are getting into the thick of things to make a mark for themselves in this edition of the World Cup. After the second round of matches in the round robin, most of the teams would know when to book their flight back home, while for some it would be a wait and watch, to either decide when to go back home or to which stadium they would have to proceed in the next round based on the performance of their group mates.

Hosts Germany had a very tough fight with Poland, and their perseverance paved way when Neuville scored the winner goal [ the only goal in this match ] in the dying moments of the match, 92nd minute to be precise. Poland did give them a good fight, and Germany missed quite a lot of chances and should consider themselves lucky to have got a win from this match. But, i liked the way the Germans are playing this time. Their attacking game looks very good and they have a very good defense too. I consider them to be strong contenders for the Semis, but they might most probably have to face England in the Quarters, and sadly one of them will not make it to the semis :-(, unless Ecuador top Group B, and earn a showdown against Germany.

I am sure Ecuador wouldnt want this to happen as they would have to play against the less gutsy Sweden as of now. The way they played against Costa Rica and won an easy 3-0 victory shows a lot about this team. The method of their game and the way they were making places for themselves to score, should definately make their oppostion take notice of this team. Ecuador could well turn out to be the Senegal of this World Cup. We will have to wait and watch though. The other 2 teams in Group A, Costa Rica and Poland, are technically out of the tourney.

England showed some signs of improvement but i am sure they are capable to doing much better. After a shaky start, with Rooney coming back into the team, and Owen being substituted in the early second half, their spirits did seem to be high. The decisive goal by the Liverpool captain, Gerrard definately showed what England is made up of. They are currently the group leaders and will most probably meet Germany in the knockout stage, but should be hoping to face Ecuador. The second team in Group B, Sweden did show some promise in this match, coming back from a goalless draw earlier in their first match. Their win eliminated Paraguay. And a loss to England, eliminated TNT.

Group C, has Argentina all geared up and roaring to give all the 15 teams qualifying for the knockout stage a run for their money. Serbian players had a great lesson on how to play football and could merely watch Argentina as spectators, while Argentina scored 6 goals in a single match !!! The match was completely one sided, but the finnese and grace with which the Argentines scored the goals, just shows how well a team in unison can perform. All the Argenine players are on the same wavelength and the team would hope to resonate well again, once they meet Brazil in the finals [ well, yeah ... thats my prediction for the finals ]. The first goal of this match, had 24 passes made between 8 Argentine players, without a single pass being intercepted by the Serbs, and a final back heal pass to Saviola came just 6 minutes after the match started. This is undoubtedly the tourney's best team goal, and might infact stake claim for the world's best team goal !!!

Holland had a tough fight from Ivory Coast. It was sad that Ivory Coast couldnt fetch a single point from this game that was so equally contested. The match was on equal grounds, but for Neistelroy luckily not being found off-side, scoring the winning goal for Holland. They will most likely face Portugal, who would be making their debut appearance in the knockout stages, while Argentina, the top team in Group c will face the much easier team Mexico.

Serbia and Ivory Cost are virtually out of this tourney. Ivory Coast showed a lot of promise and I would have been happy to see them have a fighting chance in the next round robin matches, but technically they are out. In Group D, Iran, even after showing some spirited game, are out of the tourney, while Angola have a chance to sneak in, but only if they can score more than 3 goals against Iran, and Mexico lose to Portugal.