World Cup Fever Kick-Off! Contenders!
The World Cup 2006 kicked off last week on July 9 and earlier this morning the first round of matches have been finished. There are a lot of good and interesting games in this World Cup, which SURPRISINGLY came from the no-name teams. England v Paraguay was a boring match and it was very disappointing. France v Switzerland was about the same, what’s with the stupid 4-5-1 formation. But Australia v Japan and Tunisia v Saudi Arabia yesterday will come down into history as big matches. Even the Argentina v Ivory Coast was so damn amazing now I just feel I must to watch ALL the matches or I’ll lose something big.
So. After the first round has ended (and actually Germany played their 2nd game yesterday, won 1-0 and become the first team to book the last 16 ticket), naturally you would ask me who I think would go all the way to the top, right?
After winning their first match 4-0 yesterday against all predictions, Spain become one of my strong candidates to reach the top. Although maybe they still won’t be able to go home with the cup, they will be one of the teams that will go very far. Their midfield played very fluently and their attacks can come up from anywhere. They have strong forwards in terms of Fernando Torres and David Villa, and even Raul is still very dangerous. They still have amazing players in their substitution bench, which didn’t appear yesterday. They are a strong team.
Czech Republic has maybe the strongest attacking line right now. Their 3-0 win showed their magnificent strength and had Koller not been injured, they could have won more. Jan Koller is very strong in the air and also have some good techniques in hand, unlike Crouch. Tomas Rosicky… well, is very sick (pardon the pun). Three shots, two went in and one hit the crossbar. I can’t wait when this boy comes to Arsenal next season, Chelsea v Arsenal is going to be so damn interesting. EPL got Rosicky, Shevchenko and Ballack next season…
I didn’t see the match where Italy played, but the highlight shows they are a good team too. They won 2-0 and was unlucky not to win three with Luca Toni hitting the crossbar. Maybe they can go up to the top this year with Toni. Holland needs to give a hard smack on Robben. While he is very good, he played very selfish. They could have won more than 1-0 had Robben passed the ball around and not latch onto it all the time. Germany was good in the opener, but strangely, with Ballack back they could only manage a 1-0 win, hmmm.
For the Asia/Oceania team, Australia was good, and maybe Korea can also make it to the next round, although there were allegations France and Switzerland were playing a draw on a conspiracy to throw Korea away. With a draw, if both of them draw with Korea and defeat Togo, all of them will have 5 points and everything will be decided by the goal difference. With a 2-0 win against Togo, France and Switzerland can go to the next round. Korea will have no choice but to win one more match, if they lose even once it will be a game over for them.
Now my eyes are on England, the team I’m originally supporting, but disappointed me in the 1-0 game against Paraguay. Let’s see if they can win against Trinidad & Tobago tonight. With the way Shaka Hislop played in the last match against Sweden, it looks like it would be very hard for England to get a win. If they win, though, they will follow Germany ensuring a place in the next round. Peter Crouch, please MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL or I will kill you with my own hands!!! Sven, be sensible and do not play Rooney until it is absolutely necessary to do so. We wouldn’t want him to be injured again, would we? Besides, if he gets another injury, Sir Alex Ferguson is gonna kill you for sure Sven, he’ll chase you wherever you go with the Red Devil’s trident…
Can England do it? Hope so, because I bet for them on this game…
Update (16/06/2006): England 2 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago :: Crouch (83′), Gerrard (91′)
Don’t get cocky, Crouch! You did nothing and you played miserably on this match, missing that easy shot earlier. It’s all thanks to Beckham (the Man of the Match)’s superb cross that you managed to score easily, you didn’t even need to run or head hard, only jump a bit and it’s in, it’s a damn pinpoint pass. And Gerrard’s goal was a real screamer. Good thing England won. I was throwing f-words and d-words at Crouch when he played horribly in the First Half. I’ll remember that miss, Crouch!
