World Cup Day 9- 19/06/10

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the games today. However we are now at the stage where I can really talk about which teams will or won't progress from their groups. So that's what I'm going to do.

Cameroon are out, and Holland are through. These are the first two group standings to be officially confirmed today. The maximum Cameroon can get is 3 points. Denmark play Japan in the final group match. A draw sees both teams finish ahead of Cameroon on 4 points. A win for either team will see them finish on 6. Since Holland already have 6 points, any scenario will still see Cameroon finish below second. Holland are already through, and will probably top the group, since they would need to lose to Cameroon and have either Japan or Denmark beat the other in order not to. Even if this did happen, whichever team won the game would need to win by a few goals, as they would only be able to progress on goal difference. From what I have seen, both sides deserved their fate. I was able to catch some of the Holland game, and they were failry impressive. Japan did a good job of closing down their attacking play, but it was still an assured performance from the Dutch, though they desparately need to realise that Sneijder cannot play in the same side as Van der Vaart, and as long as Robben is unavailable, Elia should replace Van der Vaart. As for Cameroon, they are just poor. Paul Le Guen is a bad manager, as we know, and displayed a great tactical ineptitude in the opening game. Let's face it; Cameroon are a one man team, and if Eto'o doesn't play at his best, they have no chance.



The other game from today was from Group D, as Australia played Ghana. I didn't think Australia had much chance in this one, after their 4-0 thumping by Germany and the loss of talisman Tim Cahill. They lost another key player today in Harry Kewel, dismissed in the first half. But credit to the Aussies, they held on for a decent 1-1 draw which really does open up group D. Australia probably needed a win to have much chance of qualification, but they at least have a point, while the other 3 sides have 3. I'm backing Germany to at least draw with Ghana in the final match and Serbia to beat Australia, which would put the Serbs through as group winners and see Ghana going through second. However, a German victory is a big possibility, and that would see them top the group unless Serbia can really thrash Australia. So Ghana really have it all to do, and Australia need to win and hope Ghana win. Still all to play for.

My Predictions for World Cup Day 10- 20/06/10

Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay
Paraguay played well against Italy and showed that they could well be the team to beat from this group. Slovakia didn't play badly against New Zealand, but did seem to struggle, so probably shouldn't hold out too much hope of getting a result against a much better Paraguay side.

Italy 3-0 New Zealand
Italy struggled in their opening game against Paraguay, but didn't really seem allowed to play and were a bit cagey. I put this down to the old 'opening game syndrome', where nerves are very much present and teams care far more about not losing than they do about winning. There should be none of that here though, and the Italians should dispose of a fairly weak New Zealand team.

Brazil 2-1 Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast suffered big time from Opening Game Syndrome, making for a very dull match against Portugal. Hopefully this one will be different. There's no doubt that the Ivory Coast are a class outfit, so shoul take the game to Brazil, but Brazil move the ball around much better than Portugal, so should carve out more chances and put themselves in a good position to progress from the Group of Death.