A whole slew of thoughts on recent events in the World Cup... Hopefully this will develop into a daily feature.
1. A continent sees red…
Nigeria looked in complete control against Greece until a 33rd minute red card was shown to midfielder Sani Kaita for one of the dumbest fouls you’ll ever see. The expulsion left the Super Eagles with only 10 men and shifted the momentum in favor of a country that had yet to score a goal in its entire World Cup history. Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama was heroic between the pipes once again but couldn’t keep the ball out of the net as Greece won, 2-1.
The African hosts saw their Cup dreams shattered by a red card yesterday when goalie Itumeleng Khume was red-carded with South Africa already down 1-0 to Uruguay. The subsequent penalty kick made it 2-0 and left Bafana Bafana with almost no hope of advancing to the knockout stage.
Yet another African team had already seen a player sent off, as Algeria had been cut down to 10 men in its debut before conceding the game-winner to the Slovenians. While there’s no way of knowing exactly what caused each foul, it’s not unreasonable to suspect the pressure of playing on its home continent is wearing on the these teams.
2. Argentina looks much different than the squad that barely qualified…
After opening play with a 1-0 victory over an impressive Nigeria team and its seemingly invincible keeper, the Fighting Maradonas exploded for four goals against South Korea, essentially locking up their advancement. Lionel Messia remains goalless, but his fingerprints were all over the three goals scored by Gonzalo Higuain, who had open looks at the net in each instance.
It was a far cry from the side that needed wins in its last two games of World Cup qualifying to leapfrog in the standings an Ecuador team that faded late. They collected just eight wins in 18 matches and suffered the indignity of a 6-1 loss to Bolivia (perhaps the continent’s worst team) that had the world questioning how fit Maradona was to lead one of the world’s most talented rosters.
3. Scoring has opened up…
The first round of games were a soccer hater’s dream. Nine of the 16 matches were scoreless through the first half and 14 of the matches had two or fewer total goals. Blame was shifted from defensive tactics to the ball to the altitude, but whatever caused the draught in scoring seems to be gone for the time being. The first three games in the second go-round of group play has seen scores of 3-0, 4-1, and 2-1 – more 3 + goal games than the previous games combined.
4. Spain is in trouble…
La Furia Roja’s shock defeat at the hands of the Swiss is not a Cup-ender in terms of the immediate future, but it may leave Spain in a world of trouble down the road. If Spain advances out of the second spot in group H, they’ll potentially face Brazil in the Round of 16 and The Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Not exactly the lineup you’d prefer over the alternatives – a wounded Ivory Coast followed by an aging Italy.
5. USA cannot afford to lose…
Contrary to popular belief, the Slovenia game is not a must-win – just a can’t lose. A tie against Slovenia coupled with a win over (so-far) hapless Algeria and an England win over Slovenia would send the United States through to the Round of 16. A loss would be crippling at this point, however, because it would essentially guarantee Slovenia one of the two spots in the knockout stage, leaving England and USA to fight it out for the other spot.
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