World Cup Day 12: France crash, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico impress

Day Twelve... how do you say "ouch" in French? *

prediction: France 1-0 South Africa

result: France 1-2 South Africa

Wrong result, half-wrong score. Well, we have our first big casualty, but is anyone surprised? I really thought France would have enough talent to overcome their chaos, but France never looked good all tournament. Well done to South Africa for getting the win. A win and a draw are nothing to be ashamed of, even if they are the first host to not get through the group stage.

Domenech the muppet started Djibril Cisse and Gignac up front... Cisse was good five years ago and plays in the Greek league; Gignac has never impressed outside of France and has only scored against the Faroe Islands and Austria.

prediction: Mexico 1-1 Uruguay

result: Mexico 0-1 Uruguay

Wrong result, half-wrong score. Mexico should have equalized after Uruguay went ahead. The first half of this was the most attractive bit of football I've seen so far: end-to-end stuff, both teams playing to win, getting chances, stringing passes together. The second half cooled down as Uruguay looked to defend their lead.

prediction: Greece 0-2 Argentina

result: Greece 0-2 Argentina (link to match report pending)

Argentina worked hard to break down a resolute Greek side that could have gone through with a draw. Maybe not the best plan against Argentina, especially given how weak their central defenders looked at times.

prediction: Nigeria 1-2 South Korea

result: Nigeria 2-2 South Korea
Nigerian striker Yakubu missed a sitter from 4 yards out. Really, probably the easiest goal he ever could have scored. He redeemed himself from the penalty spot shortly after, but still...

* According to Babel Fish, it's "aïe".

World Cup Day 11: Holy goalfest Batman! Portugal turn it on

Day Eleven results

prediction: North Korea 0-1 Portugal - "Portugal are ... quite good"

result: North Korea 0-7 Portugal

Right result, wroooonnnnng score. Yep, that's right, seven goals. Three halves of stalwart defending (game v. Brazil plus first half here) is still quite respectable. We'll hear about this loss every time NK and the World Cup are mentioned together, but I don't think North Korea have anything to be ashamed of. Here's hoping the Great Leader agrees.* Portugal turned on the class in the second half and scored in bunches. C-Ron even scored an amusing goal after unknowingly bobbling the ball on his neck, back and head.

prediction: Chile 2-0 Switzerland - "Switzerland can't keep it up forever"

result: Chile 1-0 Switzerland

Right result, half-wrong score. I didn't know this, but Switzerland were on course to set the record for the longest time without conceding a goal in World Cup history, and they did it in the first half before Chile finally broke them down. A bit of a fortunate non-call for offside on the goal, but Chile deserved the win, helped on by a soft red card to Switzerland in the first half.

prediction: Honduras 0-2 Spain - "Spain will score goals"

result: Honduras 0-2 Spain

Right result, right score. Spain scored. That was more like it: flowing, attacking football leading to two nice goals. They didn't dominate like they can, and there are some serious questions marks over the head of Fernando Torres. So much for my "Fernando Torres will be the leading striker" prediction. He can't put a shot on net. Watch for a barnstormer against Chile in a few days. Spain need to win, Chile could lose or draw.

And that's 3 for 3 on the day for my predictions. Thank you, thank you. Back to .500 on the tourney.

Did you know?

Did you know that after France won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 they exited the 2002 World Cup after the group stage without scoring a single goal? They famously lost the opening game to Senegal, a former French colony.

Whoops. That wasn't part of the plan for the reigning

world and euro champions.

Contrast that with Switzerland, who didn't allow a single goal at the 2006 World Cup but were still eliminated in the Round of 16, going out on penalties to Ukraine.

* Apparently after a big loss to South Korea in 1994 Kim Jong Il refused to let the team play any international matches until 1999. What a dick.

World Cup Day 11: Will today be the day all the results make sense?

Day Eleven predictions - on my way to a .500 record?

Portugal 1-0 North Korea

North Korea put in a stellar performance against Brazil. Playing Portugal may be a letdown. Portugal aren't Brazil, but they're still quite good.

Chile 2-0 Switzerland

Switzerland can't keep it up forever. Chile deserved more goals in their opener.

Spain 2-0 Honduras

Spain will score goals at the World Cup. Just depends on how soon that happens, and if they change their tactics. Honduras won't be as organized as the Swiss.

I think I'm 13 and 16 on the tournament so far. With these three correct guesses, I'll be back to .500; I've only got all three right once, though, so I don't like my chances.

World Cup: Has the rest of the world caught up to Europe?

The collective record of the best European teams at this World Cup so far is dreadful:

Team - W-D-L

France: 0-1-1

England: 0-2-0

Germany: 1-0-1

Netherlands 2-0-0

Italy: 0-2-0

Portugal: 0-1-0

Spain: 0-0-1

for a combined record of 3 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses. If you consider that neither of the Netherlands' wins have been convincing, you're left with one solid win from 12 matches. This could be seen as a crisis of continental proportions.

What it is is boring. Only Germany in their first match (and maybe the Dutch in theirs) were adventurous and attacked with skill, flair and intent. Other than that it's been boring, boring football from Europe's leading football powers.

I wonder if it hasn't become more about minimizing the damage to a team's reputation than anything else. It is so damaging to lose that teams don't venture forward in numbers, or they try to control the game as much as possible, with possession more important than chances on net.

Most of these teams still have good chances of going through to the Round of 16. France are almost certainly going home and the Dutch are already through. With wins in their next matches England, Italy and Germany will progress. Portugal and Spain have only played one each, so it's harder to judge, but both could struggle.

It would be interesting to compare this to other World Cups. My memory of team records isn't great, so I don't know if this is an anomaly or if it happens every World Cup. What is obvious is that teams like Paraguay, Mexico and Chile seem to have narrowed the distance between themselves and the traditional European footballing powers. Depending on how the next few games go, we might even be talking about how they have been surpassed.

World Cup Day Ten results: Paraguay are my new favourite team

Smeltz celebrates his goal for New Zealand. A historic goal and result for football in NZ.

Day Ten results

prediction: Paraguay 2-1 Slovakia

result: Paraguay 2-0 Slovakia

Right result, half-wrong score. Paraguay pressured Slovakia like Japan pressured the Netherlands, but they attacked with equal intent. They should go through top of the group. Slovakia showed nothing to indicate they should progress. I think their first shot was in extra-time.

prediction: Italy 1-0 New Zealand

result: Italy 1-1 New Zealand

The first half saw both goals: Iaquinta converted a penalty to bring Italy level after NZ scored off a set piece early. This was a very poor showing from the Italians. Except for Di Natale (who Lippi refuses to start) and Montolivo (who wouldn't be starting if Pirlo was healthy), the Italians looked devoid of invention. NZ defended well when needed, and even threatened to win late. If Italy go through I'm going to kick someone Italian.

prediction: Brazil 2-1 Cote d'Ivoire

result: Brazil 3-1 Cote d'Ivoire

This wasn't as exciting as the score would indicate. I faded in and out of watching it, even. Luis Fabiano's second goal only came after he handled the ball twice, both somehow eluding the ref's attention (though click that link or watch the video of the ref joking with Fabiano, it's weird). (Actually, the video is below; it deserves your attention.) A few instances of brilliance led to Brazil's goals, but other than that they were hardly inspirational. Drogba got a consolation goal late on, heading in nicely from a brilliant pass from rumoured Arsenal target Yaya Toure.

World Cup: Why I don't think Didier Drogba is a bad person anymore

I have really had a hate on for Didier Drogba, Chelsea and Cote d'Ivoire striker and diver/cheater extraordinaire. He's easily the strongest striker in the Premier League yet seems to fall over at the slightest bump and flagrantly dives fairly often. He's a great striker that unfortunately lacks class.

And then I heard today while watching the Brazil-Cote d'Ivoire match that he recently donated 3 million pounds to build a hospital in the capital of Cote d'Ivoire. He just signed a new contract with Pepsi and asked them to donate his entire fee; his club Chelsea will also give their percentage to the project. Wow. Good on ya, fella.

And apparently he also helped broker a peace deal to end the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire. What?

World Cup Day Ten: Italy suck

Day Ten predictions - a little after the fact

prediction: Paraguay 2-1 Slovakia

result:

Haven't watched this yet, not sure if I'll bother.

prediction: Italy 1-0 New Zealand.

result: Italy 1-1 New Zealand

Guess I got this one wrong. I really, really hope Italy don't make it through the group stages. What a dull team. They were really dreadful, and barely deserved a draw against New Zealand, a team that many had picked as the worst in the tournament. They lack speed, creativity, intent, and motivation. Their backline is old and looks slow.

prediction: Brazil 2-1 Cote d'Ivoire

result:

The game has just started. Nothing to report, except that Drogba is starting. Oh, and the Ivorians are playing in striped shirts, green and white horizontal. Quite nice. UPDATE: It's 3-0, after a handballed goal from Luis Fabiano* and a nice pass by Kaka for an Elano goal.

*After the uproar over the Henry handball, I'm just waiting for all the Irish fans to get super upset about it... wait, most fans are completely self-interested and only care when cheating hurts their team.

World Cup Days Eight, Nine. I'm really slowing down.

Day Eight results - 0 for 3 again.

Germany 0-1 Serbia

me: Germany 2-1 Serbia. Wrong result, half-wrong score. Shit reffing. Nine cards in the first half. Klose should never have been sent off. The Germans looked good in the first half, but Podolski apparently found his club form for country. Well done to Serbia. They are my dark horse candidate, so...

Slovenia 2-2 USA

me: Slovenia 1-2 USA. Wrong result, half-wrong score. What a great game, though the US really should have won, with a ghost call pulling their third goal back. What was so impressive was that neither team stopped attacking. Compared to the next game, this was so refreshing and exciting.

England 0-0 Algeria

me: England 2-0 Algeria. Wrong result, half-wrong score. What a dire game for England. Only the play of keeper David James was any good. Could this finally put to rest the Gerrard-Lampard-midfield debate? Gerrard was England's best player against the US. Out wide against Algeria he was barely in the game, and Lampard was shit. It must be so frustrating for coach Fabio Capello to watch as pass after pass goes astray. Just for fun, compare the forwards for Spain with the England forwards. It's not a pretty sight.

Day Nine results - finally some results in my favour

Netherlands 1-0 Japan

me: Netherlands 3-1 Japan. Right result, wrong score. What a boring game; worst I've seen so far. The Dutch seem to have forgotten how to attack. Full credit to Japan, who swarmed all over the field pressuring the Dutch at every touch, but a better team would have passed or dribbled through the pressure, while the Dutch were happy enough to just pass it back to the keeper time and time again. I can't remember any of the Dutch starting 11 trying to dribble past an opponent. They've got two wins, neither convincing, and I hope they either find their real form or lose their next game. I had such high hopes for their playing style.

Ghana 1-1 Australia

me: Ghana 1-1 Australia. Right result, right score. A good match that Ghana should have won. Winger Harry Kewell was sent off for stopping a goal with his arm; full credit to the Aussies, who needed a win and kept on attacking. Someone had obviously told the Ghanaians to shoot from distance; too often they did when a pass would have been better. This group is bonkers now, and this sets up a barnstormer of a game between Ghana and Germany.

Cameroon - Denmark

me: Cameroon 1-0 Denmark. I haven't watched the whole game yet. It's 1-0 to Cameroon in the 30th minute, so could be good for me. J-pop says it's a great one, so I'm looking forward to finishing later today.

I'll link to match highlights after the games today; I don't want to inadvertently see a result.

And now a seemingly forgotten segment here: Did you know?

Not available in Europe. Get it? Doesn't make as much sense now that he did well while on loan at Everton last season, but it's still funny.

Did you know that Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy golden boy and the face of the US national team, is known as Landycakes? He really is. Even to his fans. I really don't like him, but I can't remember why. This quote might explain it:

“They are jealous of us, the Mexican players, because we've got a life and they have nothing ... Because of that they despise us. ... Who is going to win this game? The best team. And we know good and well who is the best team between the U.S. and Mexico. We know it well.” - Landon Donovan

That's only slightly unfortunate right now, as the US are struggling to get out of the group stages while Mexico are almost guaranteed to go through.

Update on the North Korea at the World Cup #3 UPDATE!!

They're coming fast and furious! This just popped up in my email:

Legea UK Ltd to me

show details 1:15 AM (3 minutes ago)

Dear Sir,

Due to the lateness of the contract being finalised, we are still awaiting delivery of the first shipment of Replica Shirts, we believe that these will arrive shortly, but do not yet have a confirmed date.

We will keep your details on file and will forward further information as soon as we have it.

Regards

Legea UK Ltd

North Korea at the World Cup #3 UPDATE!!

Well, what could I be updating? You guessed it, the North Korea shirts situation. As pressing an issue as we'll see at this World Cup.

As noted earlier, I emailed as many people as I could about the Legea shirts that the North Korean team is wearing. Here is the briefest of exchanges I was rewarded with:

Time: 12:10pm

Subject: North Korea World Cup shirt

Hello. Is there any way to get ahold of a North Korea World Cup jersey?

Cheers,

Brenton

and the response came a mere 2 hours and 42 minutes later, from peppefalanga@live.com:

Dear Mr. Brenton Walter we close the deal with Korea DPR only a week before the 2010 World Cup and because so the merchandising will be available in one month. If I will get anything before I will let you know. By the way how many jerseys will you need?
Thank you for contacting us.
Best regards

That's is. I've got a contact that can get me North Korean World Cup shirts!