World Cup Day 5- 15/06/10

I never thought I'd be saying this, but I think the world cup has been a bit disappointing so far. Today saw a total of 4 goals in the 3 games, with a very boring 0-0 draw in what I thought would be the most exciting. I also started to realise why there have been so many complaints about the new Jabulani ball. The amount of times we've seen shots skyed over the bar or sail wide is ridiculous. For me, the ball is simply too light, so players get too much lift on it, or it gets caught slightly by the wind.
The first game of the day was between New Zealand and Slovakia, both competing in their first world cup finals. I'll admit I wasn't holding out high hopes for this one, but based on previous events of the day it was actually quite good entertainment value. Not too much in the way of chances, but both sides passed the ball well and showed some good defensive play. It's hard to tell whether Slovakia deserved their goal, play was fairly evenly balanced. It was a well taken goal though, with Robert Vittek glancing in a terrific Stanislav Sestak cross. Credit to New Zealand though, they battled hard and really played well, never giving up until the very end, when Winston Reid, who may have been at fault for Vittek's goal, got a free header in at the back post and equalized. I don't hold out much hope for either of these teams making it through to the next round, but they play some decent stuff at times. Both did well when up against a team of a similar standard, but I fear they may be out of their depth when it comes to facing Italy and maybe even Paraguay.

I'm not even sure I can be bothered to talk about the Ivory Coast v Portugal match. It was what you might call a snooze-fest. With the exception of an early moment of Cristiano Ronaldo brilliance which resulted in him crashing a shot off the post, there was little in the way of entertainment value. It seemed that Portugal were more concerned with not losing than they were with winning, so stuck to a more defensive style of play. The same could be said of the Ivory Coast, although their defensive set up was probably more down to their attacking options being limited by Didier Drogba starting on the bench after breaking his arm almost 2 weeks ago. Hopefully these two will open up and play some more attacking football for the next two games, because they are both quality sides who have the ability to cause problems to any defence.

The final game of the day was between Brazil and North Korea, and the first half was quite similar to the Portugal match. Fortunately, however, the same certainly could not be said of the second half, which came to life 10 minutes into the second half. Brazilian right-back Maicon scored the goal of the tournament so far, sprinting onto a reverse pass and bending a fantastic shot into the corner from almost on the goal line for a goal that was almost remeniscant of Roberto Carlos' goal for Real Madrid against Tenerifé back in 1998. From there, Brazil continued to push forwards, and were rewarded after 72 minutes when Elano latched onto a great through ball from Robinho and slotted the ball home for 2-0. Credit to Korea for not giving in though, they battled through obvious fatigue and were rewarded 2 minutes from time as Ji Yun-nam fired home to restore some Korean pride. The Korean gameplan seemed to be a catenaccio style plan, with the Asian side seeming content to try and stifle Brazil's creative influence on the game and hope to catch them on the break. That unfortunately broke down after Maicon's goal, and they showed from then that they really don't have the attacking ability to progress in the tournament. As for Brazil, they showed what they are made of in the second half. They were suppressed by Korea in the first, but when they are allowed to play, trust me they will play, and will be extremely difficult to beat.

My Predictions for World Cup Day 6- 16/06/10
Honduras 0-0 Chile
In my opinion, the two worst teams in the tournament. 'Nuff said. Two poor sides with no real quality, shouldn't make for a brilliant match. Still, I've only been right once so far...

Spain 4-1 Switzerland
Spain are many people's favourites for the tournament, and it's easy to see why. They have probably the best midfield in the world, playing either a 4-4-2 with Xavi, Iniesta, Xavi Alonso and Silva, or a 4-5-1 with Fabregas coming in as well. Ahead of that is one of the best attacks in the world, with David Villa on his own in the 4-5-1 or partnered by Fernando Torres in the 4-4-2. Defensive vulnerability (which they don't really have much of) may see them lose the odd goal, but overall it should be a fairly comfortable win. Hopefully this time I'll be right when I say that.

South Africa 1-0 Uraguay
As we come to the end of the first round of fixtures, we start again with the hosts in the evening. South Africa will be buoyed by their performance in the second half of their game against Mexico, and should perform well in front of their home fans. Uruguay rely heavily on Forlan and Suarez, the latter performing poorly against France meaning Forlans workload was doubled. If that continues, then the first ever world cup champions could be in trouble.