The second Quartet

p6190194, originally uploaded by Sarfraaz.

The first round of the knockout stage is complete, and we have our top 8 teams for the Quarters. Germany, Argentina, England and Portugal have already made it to the round of 8. And now we also have the remaining 4 teams to compete in the quarters.

First was the match between Italy and Australia.One would have thought that Italy could easily wipe out the Aussies, but that was not be. The Aussies are a very determined lot and showed that perseverance and skill on the field. The Aussies truly have the "Never Say Die" attitude. They were hard and gave Italy the toughest time in this tourney. Italy was also attacking, but the ball was in possession more with the Aussies than the Italians. Italians committed a foul and the red card drama didnt leave this match as well, and Italy were down to 10 men in the second half. From that moment onwards, it was like, Italy had forgotten to attack, and the Aussies had just one thing to do in their live, and that was to attack Italy. It was really surprising to see the Italians go on a backfoot for so long. The Aussies were unlucky in not being able to convert numerous scoring chances. It was close to the end of the stipulated 90 minutes, and the teams were levelled at 0 - 0. It was in the 92nd minute, just 5 seconds before the refree could blow the whistle that Austrlia conceded a penalty !!! The hearts of all the people watching the match all over the globe skipped a beat and I am sure there were more heart breaks than the cheers for this penalty. No doubt, the penalty kick was taken very cleanly and was the best till now, one couldnt ignore the moment and the manner in which this penalty was awarded to Italy. The Aussies really deserved a better ending to their World Cup adventures.

Ukraine have been my favourites to reach the semis, but their game against the Switzerland started giving me some doubts on their ability to go ahead in the tourney. But, may be its true that, this match was between 2 good and strong teams who had battled it out in the round robin matches and were among the best 16 in the world. Moreover, I think its the fear of losing that makes teams play more cautiously. The match was equally fought well by both the teams, and at times Ukraine found that luck was not on their side and had to wait for some more time to taste victory. Even after battling it out for the extra time of 30 minutes over the stipulated 90 minutes, we could not find the better one among these two. And thus, we witnessed this World Cup's first penalty shootout. And boy, who could have predicted that it would be the worst penalty shootout of the entire World Cup history !!! The Swiss unfortunately could not score a single goal out the minimum 3 shots, thanks to 2 good saves by the Ukrainian goalkeeper. And even after missing one shot, the Ukranians scored 3 goals in 4 shots and one the match. What a day of events we have had today !!! Both the matches ending in such uniquely strange ways.

Then we had the much awaited Brazil v/s Ghana match. This definately lived up to its expectations. If it was not for the early goal from Ronaldo, in the first half of the match, Brazil would have definately found themselves in a more defensive position. Incidentally, this goal was the record breaking goal for Ronaldo, which made him the highest goal scorer in World Cup matches, breaking the German, Meuller's record of 14 goals. Though the final score line stood 3 - 0 in favour of Brazil, it doesnt really say what happened in the match. Ghana was dominating the match with some good bal possession and lots of attacks for most of the time. It was the fast paced counter attacks of Brazil, accompanied by some really harsh refreeing, not giving off-sides most of the time to Brazil, that won the match for Brazil. Ghana were very unlucky in not being able to finish off their attacks. It wasnt that the Brazilian defense was so strong that Ghana couldnt score a goal, but it was the lack of that final stinging shot which Ghana lacked that played spoil sport for them. Ghana, a team from Africa that beat good teams like Cameroon and Sengal in the qualifying matches, stood up to its reputation and gave the reigning champions a real fight. The World Champions though looking to be picking up some pace and rhythm now in the World Cup showed some bad teamsmanship by not passing the ball to their own teammates when it mattered the most. Had they been little more unselfish, we could very easily had atleast a couple more goals. I hope they learn a lesson from this match, and gel together unselfishly.

The surprise back door entrants France had a great time beating the much in-form Spain. The first half was fought brilliantly with the scores remaining level at 1 - 1, and i was seeing a much better France this time. They definately seem to have gained some confidence in themselves after having made their way to the knockout stage. I guess, it was this confidence that separated the 2 teams which didnt lack anything in technique and quality. I didnt watch the second half of the match, but later found out that France scored 2 more goal to win the match by 3 goals to 1, and set themselves a repeat of the 1998 World Cup final match against Brazil in the quarter finals. Brazil had lost that match and should be rooting to set the matters straight this time around. With matches getting more tighter and more important, and hoping that the refreeing gets better hopefully we should have a very good quarter final round and let the best team win !!!

With 6 of the 8 teams in the quarters being the previous World Cup champions, it definately is tough to choose the teams one would like to see in the semis. My choice of teams for the semis would now be Argentina, Ukraine, England and Brazil, with yes, an Argentina Brazil final :-)