Threshing is over

The valley, originally uploaded by Sarfraaz.

The Round Robin stage of the FIFA World Cup 2006 is over, and we have the boys separated from the men. We now have the top 16 nations battling it out for the prestigious golden trophy.

For some the third round of the round robin stage was a place to show their dominance, while for some it was a moment to redeem their pride and make their presence felt at this World Championship. To avoid any advantage to the teams, both the matches in this round in a group, as goes the tradition, were being played simultaneously.

Germany and Ecuador were the top 2 teams and had their places secured for the knockout stage, but this match was still not taken lightly, especially by the Germans. Ecuador rested some of its main strikers, and Germany were determined to raise the bar of their performance and went full guns against Ecuador, beating them 3 goals to nil. The only good thing from this match for Ecuador was that this match itself was inconsequential for moving to the next round. But this loss means that Ecuador will now have to face England in the knockout stage and Germany will face Sweden. Poland atlast registered their first win in this World Cup, winning 2 goals to 1 against Costa Rica, who had to return back without a win in this competetion, but not without showing some great promise of coming back to the next World Cup. Thanks to some great attacking games by Germany, this group produced 18 goals, the highest goals in a group.

In Group B, England and Sweden were already through to the next round, and it was a matter to knowing who would be the top team from this group after their match. England hasnt beaten Sweden for the past 38 years and had a great chance to breaking this record this year. But Sweden wasnt going to sit back and watch. The Swedes were going tit-for-tat against the English. The battle was fought with great anxiety, and the match was worth watching it. After watching the match, one could only say that a 2 - 2 draw, was probably the best that could come from these 2 teams attacking eachother so well. The only sad part was the second goal in the 90th minute, that was scored by Sweden when Larrson threw in a ball which beat everyone in the defense and viciously found itself into the English goal. The match definately deserved a much better finishing goal. Paraguay bid good bye to this edition of the World Cup, but not before registering their first win in this tourney by beating TNT by 2 goals to nil. I hope that Paraguay will have strikers who can move ahead with some good pace when they reach the next World Cup. TNT werent that bad, but yeah, they can definately improve a lot with the confidence that they must have gained now by playing in such a huge arena. Strangely, this group has produced the lowest number of goals. 10 !!!

Group C match between Argentina and Holland was more of a match of the titans than anything else. The match was inconsequential, but both the teams wanted to prove themselves against some tough opponents. Well, the scoreline read 0 - 0 after 90 minutes, and that shows how good these 2 teams have been in this tourney. Very good attacking game, but a very good defense on either side saw the scoreboard remain as it was before the start of the match. Argentina will now meet Mexico in the knockout stage, and this definately sounds like a good battle to watch out for, while Holland will face Portugal, which is gonna be another tightly fought match. Ivory Coast showed what mettle they are made up of when the won the match against Serbia by 3 goals to 2. This group was the group of death for me. If Ivory Coast were in any other group, I am sure they would qualified for the next round. I hope they come back for the next World Cup and get more luckier. With Argentina scoring 6 goals in a single match, this group has scored 18 goals in all. Again the highest number of goals in a group.

Group D saw Portugal beat Mexico 2 - 1, to retain their top position in this group. Portugal have reached the knockout stage for the first time, thanks to some really bad performance by Iran and Angola. I expected some good wins by Iran, by the match between Iran and Angoal ended in a 1 - 1 draw. Mexico is a very promising team, but will have to be in top form to beat Argentina to proceed ahead in this tourney. Portugal has a very good blend of experienced players and some new fresh blood that seems to be gelling well this time. They will meet Holland in the knockout stage, and it should be a great match to watch out for. This group produced 12 goals in all.

The last round of matched in Group E were more important than any of the other groups. Almost every team had a chance to make it to the next round. This group produced the only winning new comer of this tourney, Ghana. Ghana very convincingly thershed out USA, 2 - 1, with USA again being reduced to 10 players in this match as well. Ghana have played very well, and made good use of their opportunities in this group, and have advanced to the knockout stage, where they will meet the reigning champions Brazil. Its gonna be a match between the champs and the rookies. If Brazil dont underestimate Ghana, and dont get complacent, and Ghana doesnt create some miracles, then Brazil should easily walk through this match, hopefully. The Czechs have really dissappointed me in this tourney. I was expecting them to be in the semis, and their loss to Italy [ 2 - 0] just means that they have to return back without even quualifying for the knockout stage. Italy have been good, though I havent watched a lot of their matches. With Italy and Ghana scoring well, we could see 14 goals being scored in this group.

Brazil retained their top position in Group F, by beating Japan 4 - 1. Ronaldo atlast was able to hit the ball, and scored 2 goals, but only after Brazil were stunned to be reeling behind Japan by oe goal at the end of the first half. Croatia was another team that was disappointing in this group. They drew their match with Australia, and helped the gutsy Australia proceed ahead into the knockout stage. Brazil will face Ghana, while Australia will face Italy in their knockout matches. Hopefully, Brazil should peak up in the coming knockout matches, and we should be able to see them in the finals against Argentina. There were 16 goals scored in this group, probably less than expectations, especially with so much of hype being there for the mighty Brazilian team.

Group G was another open group, where any team could qualify for the knockout stage. And this definately produced the surprise of this tourney with France beating Togo 2 - 0, and qualifying for a place in the next round, even after Zidane had to sit out of this match on his birthday. A very similar episode had struck France, when Zidane sat out of the match in 1998, and came back to lead France to vistory in the Finals against Brazil. I am sure the French are hoping for a similar thing this year around. Only time will tell us though. Switzerland beat South Korea 2 - 0 to knock them out from a comfortable position to make way into the knockout stage. The Swiss will face Ukraine in the knockout stage, and France will have to fight it out against Spain. We got to see only 11 goals from this group.

Ukraine needed one more win and thats exactly what they got against Tunisia, beating them by a solitary goal to qualify themselves into the knockout stage. Ukraine have come back after a dissappionting start, and have to face the Swiss in their knockout stage, which sounds like an easy win for Ukraine. Spain, playing very good football, beat the Saudis 1- 0, to fix their knockout match against France. This definately seems to be a good match to watch, with Spain in great form, while France might have just found their touch again.

We have already seen 120 goals being scored in these round robin matches, and I am sure this should definately be one of the highest number of goals scored in round robin matches in all of the World Cups so far. It is definately a tough call to make now, but I guess that it would be Argentina, England, Ukraine and Brazil making it to the semis, with Brazil fighting it out with Argentina in the finals. Though, Germany look to be the under dogs this year and might just prove everyone wrong, while they are playing some great professional football with the home crowd advantage.