England thankfully through but Germany and Argentina wait as potential heart-breakers

The romantic tendencies of the world cup were almost resurfaced as South Africa gained a 2-1 victory over a French team who find themselves in utter turmoil. Following the South Africans taking a proud lead, Yohann Gourcuff was unjustly dismissed for what appeared to be a very slight, accidental elbow into the upper body of an African defender. Although France received little sympathy following the disgusting antics of the egotistic squad’s strike. And, when South Africa bundled their second over the line, the majority of the world would’ve been cheering. However; despite the possibility of an unlikely qualification for South Africa when Uruguay’s Luis Suarez scored his first of the tournament to ascend the South Americans into first place and leave Mexico’s place in the last 16 in a vulnerable state, South Africa were incapable of converting the flurry of goals they required, and as France escaped the tournament in disgrace, South Africa are able to hold their heads high and enjoy what remains of their prestigious competition, despite their own omission.
In the evening, Diego Maradona’s Argentina sported what was considered a second string side, however still included the illustrious names of first-time starters Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito, as well as the consistent inclusion of Lionel Messi. Greece continues to approach the game with a lack of ambition and appeared happy to depart the tournament on the back of a dour 0-0 draw with the South Americans. However, despite containing the virtues of Messi for the entire evening with a specific marker, the Greeks began to tire and the Argentineans eventually made the breakthrough via Demicheles blasting a shot into the roof of the net from a scrappy corner. Argentina went on to net a second when a Messi rebound poetically dropped to the feet of veteran, Martin Palermo who solidified Argentina’s position at the pinnacle of their group and left Greece with little positives to take from this tournament. At least we won’t have to face another hour and a half of their negative tactics this year. In the parallel fixture South Korea and Nigeria produced an exciting 2-2 draw which sends the Koreans through to the next round and leaves the Nigerians in despair, Yakubu in particular contributed one for next Christmas’ “Own Goals & Gaffs” DVD when he missed an easy chance which could’ve seen his side in the last 16.
It was then the nationally awaited turn of England as they engaged with Slovenia in a crucial fixture requiring a necessary win. The omission of Emile Heskey put many English fans in good spirits before the game had even begun and with a fellow goal scorer, Jermain Defoe, beside a rather depleted Wayne Rooney, the approach to the game was a lot more positive. James Milner particularly impressed as he consistently whipped efficient crosses into the box, eventually Defoe pounced on one of these in typical fashion, sending England into a one goal lead and the country into hysterics. A few scares were in store but despite a magnificent challenge from fringe defender Matthew Upson, solidifying his position in the squad, and an unusual miss from Rooney, England claimed a vital victory sending them into the next round. Despite this situation resulting in England topping the group for the majority of the day, Landon Donovan, incredibly, scored in injury-time sending the Americans into first place and leaving England with the likely scenario of a tense game against Germany against Sunday afternoon. If that doesn’t woo the Americans into falling in love with football, it’s questionable as to whether they ever will.
Sure enough, it was the impressive, Mesut Ozil who scored an astounding volley from the edge of the area for Germany, a worthy match-winner over Ghana, and setting up a charming tie between Germany and England packed with emotion, heritage and rivalry. The perfect match. The Germans have been impressive at times in this tournament but the defeat to Serbia will unveil loopholes in their brilliance to Fabio Capello and as they struggled to gain the win over the Africans, England certainly can win this match. However, the likelihood is that Argentina will be waiting for them in the quarter-finals and this would be an even tougher ask, however, again it would be a historical fixture which, with a victory, would capture the hearts of the globe.
Serbia couldn’t manage the win they required over Australia as the ‘Socceroos’ gave themselves a chance of a place in the last 16. However, with the two victories being as narrow as they were; Ghana sneaked through on goal difference to be a rare representative of Africa in the advanced stages of the competition. The tournament is beginning to heat up as it began with rather modest displays and as the knock-out stages close in, could this be our year? At the moment I’m still too afraid to say it.

Do we never learn? 'NEVER write off the Germans!'

As the world cup has progressed we’ve already seen the typical, predictable, yet rather fun circus of controversy, tears and ‘never write off the Germans’ slogan, which tends to show it’s face every four years.
Following England’s disappointing showing in the opening fixture of group C it was now time for the two lesser nations of the group to fight for some valuable points. Whoever lost this game would arguably find it almost impossible to qualify and whoever won would have a strong three points, go top of the group and genuinely be able to begin a solid quest for qualification. However; with the potential of the world cup knockout stages in store, neither side began with any particular strength, skill or determination. A very poor match by world cup standards, sporting only three to four players who could possible hope to even play in the premiership, was thankfully finished by a goal from former West Bromwich Albion midfielder, Robert Koren. Koren’s shot looked to be heading for the Algerian keeper’s grateful grasp when he suddenly appeared to forget he had the use of his arms and helplessly watched the ball fly past his chest into the back of the net. It appears it’s not only Robert Green having his problems and perhaps if these goalkeeping misjudgements continue to occur it will be the “Jabulani” ball who has yet more guilt to accept.
It was then the start of Group D where a reasonably strong Serbia side would take on last tournament’s wild card; Ghana. The Ghana side quite obviously missed the presence of Michael Essien in the middle, as any team would, following his heart-breaking injury and the lack of urgency in midfield became instantly apparent. The slow tempo in the middle of the park made for yet another poor game with a lack of attacking flair but Ghana will be pleased with the acquisition of Kevin-Prince Boateng as a Ghanian international as his flashes of quality proved decisive and he, himself will be delighted with his high stature in the team despite his easy route to the tournament. Despite a strong nucleus of Nemanja Vidic, Dejan Stankovic and the giant Nikola Zigic in the Serbian side they failed to advance from first gear and never really got going. An imbecilic hand-ball from a Serbian international in his own penalty area lost the chance to gain any points as Asamoah Gyan stepped up confidently for Ghana, in patriotic fashion to blast the ball into the back of the net resulting in wild celebrations of joy and cultural dance. However; despite the win, it was another disappointing display from an African side who I had expected to excel in this tournament.
With neither team a particular favourite of the Englishman, the majority of the nation did not mind if either side crashed and burned immediately. However; to see Germany beat Australia so convincingly was rather worrying as they put in, unquestionably, the performance of the tournament so far to smash the Aussies and place a gloomy cloud over group C, which of course includes England. Whoever draws Germany in the round of the last sixteen will have to do very well to advance any further in the competition. As we, in England, consistently moan how our players including the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney perform so magnificently at club level, yet fail to convert their form onto the international stage, it appears Germany have the complete opposite of that problem. With Miroslav Klose and Lucas Podolski only scoring three goals each domestically this season, they still managed to form a deadly partnership and opened the scored for Germany with a goal each. The third striker, the much talked about Mr. Muller, then aptly netted the third goal and to top it off, the introduction of Brazilian-born forward Cacau then netted the forth to complete the demolition.
Confident moves and comfortable passing from the Germans throughout made this performance more than convincing with the captain, Phillip Lahm just one of the stand-out players as he patrolled the flanks in aid of offense and defence. Mesut Ozil was another star who appears to have burst onto the scene and his effective play-making is likely to have taught England a lesson. We need Joe Cole. The young midfielders dribbling ability and eye for the killer pass, aswell as his own threatening runs towards goal made him a constant problem to the opposition. His position was clearly made for the slow tempo of this year’s world cup and the only players England have in that mould has to be Chelsea’s departing Mr. Cole. The controversial sending-off of Tim Cahill was a shocking mistake which sent the Australian into tears. Not only did it effectively kill the game off in Germany’s favour but it also broke the heart of a fantastic, honest footballer and again raises the question of video technology. The challenge should no where near have been deemed a red card offence and now Cahill’s tournament could be over due to the reckless, unnecessary antics of an irresponsible referee.
Holland’s game the following morning was of much anticipation with excitement building around this year’s team despite the absence of Arjen Robben. However, despite a relatively comfortable win, the side failed to live up to it's expectations of ‘total football’. An incredibly fortunate own-goal in favour of the Dutch saw a Danish defender, under little pressure, head the ball into the back of his own team mate only to watch it drop perfectly onto the post and in. Later on, as the game was becoming stale, Holland hit the post and the ball fell nicely for Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt who gratefully slotted home. Holland showed no where near the class of Germany the previous evening.
Japan then stole a deserved 1-0 win over another disappointing African side in the form of Cameroon. Despite the likes of Geremi, Sebastian Bassong and Samuel Eto’o, the organised unit of the Japanese drove out a grinding 3 points and increased their, before, slim chances of qualification to the knock-out stages.
Overall; the tournament is advancing calmly into one of potential excitement but has so far failed to hit the heights we had all hoped for. Apart from the Germans of course. Typically we wrote this off as their ‘worst team ever’, and yet again, typically they have proved us wrong with a stunning display of strength, skill and determination and emerged as genuine contenders. Tonight we can see the world champions, Italy with an ageing team against a Paraguay side without it’s two key strikers, Roque Santa Cruz and Oscar Cardozo. If the Italians fail to beat the Paraguayans then surely their chances of retaining their title is over. But then again; you never know in football.