An Alternately Worry Free and Tense-As-Hell Day

Today started out well simply because I knew it was one of the few days that I wouldn't have to worry at all about hearing scores of the games. Granted this immunity required me to wake up before 7:30am but that's a small price to pay. However, I knew going in to the day that I would be incredibly nervous because the England vs USA game was the prime time (for South Africa) feature and I would be on the edge of my seat the entire time. An expectation that proved to be true, by the way. Regardless, I took my five hours of sleep (see timing of last blog post) in stride and began the day anew with the South Korea vs Greece game.

South Korea vs Greece

I stated this in my predictions, but for the more recent reader (see, I'm pretending I get new readers all the time), I thought that both South Korea and Greece had a decent chance to challenge Argentina for the group lead due to their experience and disciplined play. I even picked Greece to win the group as an out of sync Argentina struggled to find their rhythm and stumbled into the elimination rounds. I picked Greece over South Korea in this role because I really liked what I saw from them during qualifying. They played a very disciplined game with tight passing to bring the ball up from the back and a striker in Theofanis Gekas who could turn almost any pass forward into a chance, if not a goal. As it turns out, I didn't realize how poor a choice this was and how much better the alternative may have been.

Greece started the game quite well and had a chance in the third minute off of a corner kick that didn't find the back of the net. At this point I am of course feeling great about my pick and am getting excited that Greece is finding such great opportunities early on. From here on out though, it's all downhill. On what is essentially their first offensive opportunity, South Korea buries a goal when an unmarked Lee Jung-Soo scores on the back post off of a free kick. My initial reaction is, of course, one of frustration. Here Greece has been playing so well yet South Korea scores as soon as they get a chance. It has to be bad luck... right?

South Korea quickly establishes dominance in the field and gets rather unlucky in the 15th when a crafty touch over a defender leads to a possible foul that would have given South Korea a penalty kick. Both sides attempted to stretch the field by picking out their strikers up top with long balls, but South Korea was actually able to establish possession while doing this whereas Greece seemed to thrust balls forward in desperation. From the goal in the 7th minute on in fact, South Korea looked like a confident, disciplined and capable side where Greece looked like a team that was try to find its rhythm, find its confidence, and find a structure to the game.

South Korea had another chance in the 28th off a perfectly weighted through ball that the striker received but was unable to beat Greek keeper Alexandros Tzorvas with. The kick save by Tzorvas kept Greece in the match but the Greeks never seemed to find an attack that justified his effort. South Korea was passing well with tight, crisp passes that moved the ball and opened up space for those receiving. They also played very composed on defense and their discipline kept them from overreacting to the few good probes that Greece made. And on the counterattack, South Korea would get the ball up quickly and actually present a threat on goal, something that Greece could never do. This general description sums up the whole of the first half and left me wondering if Greece could actually turn things around become a competitive side again in the second half.

Let me spoil the surprise for you right now: that never happens. Greece never turned things around and never proved that they should even be in this competition. In the 52nd minute, Loukas Vyntra put a terrible touch on a routine ball in the defensive third and Park Ji-Sung jumped on his mistake by taking the ball to goal and scoring a very composed second goal for South Korea. This obviously put Greece up against the wall and gave South Korea a good lead to protect, although with almost a full half left to play. But even with this sense of urgency, Greece didn't seem to be willing to turn things around and play better. They consistently tried to move the ball through the middle of the field but South Korea was too disciplined in the midfield to allow any real progress and the back line cleaned up any potential chances. Given this lack of success, you would think that Greece would be able to exploit the wings since South Korea was packing the middle. You would be wrong. Despite the clogging of the middle, Greece never freed men up on the wings, either due to a lack of quality runs or a lack of vision for wide passes, depending on the particular possession.

I would like to give credit to Greece for slowly turning things around in the latter stages of the second half, but even that is difficult. Greece started to push into the attack more and seemed to be getting closer and closer, both in terms of putting shots on goal and getting closer to a form that might actually threaten the South Koreans. Gekas was able to bring a ball down off of his chest and turn it into a misguided bicycle attempt and was then even more dangerous on a quick turn in the 81st minute that the South Korea keeper, Jung Sung-Ryong, was able to touch over the bar. However, these increased touches were more due to South Korea retreating into a shell to protect their lead than any kind of intensified Greek pressure. Greece looked more desperate towards the end, as should be expected, but South Korea handled it well and despite giving up some chances, generally made the game fairly uninteresting by closing things out as they should.

To be honest, as soon as Park Ji-Sung scored the second goal, things got boring in this game. In the first half, you could at least talk about how South Korea was dominating the game with their quick passes and how Greece looked completely out of sorts. These themes continued into the second half but with a 2-0 lead for South Korea, the drama was taken out of events. Gekas did look good during the game, but the service he received was either awful or nonexistent during the game. Park Ji-Sung was not the only story this game, but his is one I really do appreciate. He is the perfect example of what the World Cup can do to a quality player's career. He burst on to the scene in 2002 with South Korea's improbable run during the World Cup and was quickly picked up by PSV. After showing his quality there, he moved on to Manchester United and became a staple of the team for the next half decade, a chance he never would have had if it wasn't for this tournament. Anyway, enough storytelling. After being bored for most of the second half I was hoping that the Nigeria vs Argentina match would be better.

South Korea 2 - 0 Greece


Nigeria vs Argentina

In the third minute, Chinedu Ogbuke of Nigeria was able to separate himself from his defender with a beautiful stepover and then put a ball just wide of the back post. This play immediately removed me from my funk due to the previous game and got me excited to see an entertaining match. One of the beauties of soccer is that a simple play like that is all it can take someone to get back into the swing of things and up for the games once again. To be fair to Argentina though, it did not take them long to get chances of their own. Messi was able to use his quickness to split four defenders in the 4th, but nothing positive came of it. Then in the 6th Messi put an impressive shot on goal that Vincent Enyeama did very well to get a hand to, giving up a corner kick. On that corner, Gabriel Heinze ran unmarked inside the 18 yard box and put in an absolutely brilliant header. Granted he was free, but a powerful header into the left upper ninety over a Nigerian player stationed on the post is something of pure brilliance rather than something to simply be expected of an open player. Absolute magic off of a well taken set piece.

Argentina continued to build on their success with a nice pass from Carlos Tevez onto the foot of Gonzalo Higuain, but Higuain took a touch too many and put a shot directly into Enyeama. Regardless of this setback, Argentina began to establish themselves as the dominant side of the match, a theme that would continue all the way through to the end. Argentina's passes were sharper, their touches softer, and their composure better as they created chance after chance against Nigeria. In the 37th, Messi put a crafty shot on goal curling inside the left post but Enyeama was there again with a slight but impressive touch to send the shot wide. It is worth saying here that Enyeama was simply spectacular in this game. He made several world class saves that kept his side in the match and was by far the best Nigerian on the field. Ogbuke had several chances to claim that title, but his touch let him down even when he was put into superior positions. His first and second touches failed him on a first half chance that was perhaps Nigeria's best opportunity. Argentina went into the break with a half of domination behind them but a scant 1-0 lead to show for it.

The second half continued as the first ended with Argentina pressing into the attack and Messi putting a shot just wide left on yet another moment of brilliance. The attack continued and all of the sudden you get caught wondering how on earth this game isn't 2-0 or 3-0 instead of the one goal game that we still have. Argentina was creating all of the quality chances and was by far the more dangerous side when the ball is simply at their feat. The runs are creative, the passes are sharp and every touch around the attacking area puts you on edge for someone to hammer home another goal. To Nigeria's credit, however, that insurance goal never comes. Nigeria allows far too many chances but Enyeama is equal to all of them. Nigeria even pushes into the attack and Taye Taiwo puts their best chance just wide of the right post in the 71st minute. To be honest, there is more to this game for both sides, with Enyeama making another fantastic save and Nigeria failing to capitalize on a couple of solid chances. The game is sealed though and will be remembered as a brilliant Argentine performance, but one that people are still open to second guess because of the lack of finishes to put the game away. Nigeria did really play well despite Argentina's dominance and a Nigeria vs South Korea match-up is actually tough to determine because of the level of play each side faced. Either way, the initial two matches were down and the serious drama of the day was upon us.

Argentina 1 - 0 Nigeria


United States vs England

For this game, I went somewhat au naturale as opposed to taking notes on the game and putting forth a detailed description. This was admittedly half on purpose and half by accident, but I think it provides an entertaining counterpoint to the matches that I observed and studied instead of immersing myself in. For this game, I went out to a local Irish pub that I've watched matches at numerous times before and has a great atmosphere for soccer. As I walked into the bar (wearing the Eddie Johnson national team jersey that I'm both proud and not proud of owning due to his lack of effort on the field and failure to make the national team), I passed a guy wearing an English national team jersey who was smoking a cigarette outside. We sort of nodded at each other awkwardly and I went inside to meet up with people and prepare for the game. The bar ended up being an 80/20 split for the US I'd say with passionate fans all over the place. Our group of friends locked down one particular corner and dug in to watch the game.

England scored immediately. It was terrible. It was like a stomach punch to the US section of the bar and just a brutal blow for so early in the game. Emile Heskey made a beautiful one-touch pass to Steven Gerrard (poorly marked by Ricardo Clark) who calmly buried it in the net to the side of Tim Howard. Devastating. It was still early and there was so much time in the game but it was a "woe is me" scenario where everyone starts getting nervous for how bad the game is going to turn out. Thankfully, the US recovered after some dodgy possessions and was able to settle into their game.

To be honest now, the US's best game cannot match up to England's. The US was the inferior side throughout this match but they had to roll with that as best they could and limit England's chances. And to be fair, they were mostly able to do that. England got free for a couple of nail biting moments in the first half but the US was able to maintain some possession and get the ball moving forward as well. Landon Donovan was not a dominant force in this game but he was able to create opportunities and make plays that generally helped the team. The same could be said of Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. No overwhelming skill or ability to take over the match, but solid contributions that helped to keep the US within striking distance of England.

In the 40th minute, the US got the break that (hopefully) could break open the tournament for them. Dempsey made a solid move on the ball to create a shot, but one that was too routine for English keeper Robert Green. However, Green muffed the collection and could only scramble backwards as the ball rolled off his right glove and over the goal line for a United States score. The reaction in the bar was incredible and it went in stages. There was the Dempsey shot: OH! The obvious save by Green: Awwwww. The bobble: OHHHHHHHH!!!!! And the declared goal: complete freak out. I was up high fiving people I'd never met before and was just generally happy to be in a place to watch this game. The US put several shots on goal in the first half and while you never expect an absolute gift like this to be given to you, that's why you do it. To put pressure on the keeper and defenders and make them work for their clearances.

The half ended and there was much conversation on what had happened. It was a hopeful optimism for the US, a statement that would acknowledge that England was playing better but that smirk that suggested that the US could still pull things off. This was nothing like the Greek performance from earlier in the day. The US side looked almost like they acknowledged that the English were better, like the English were going to control the majority of possession, like the English were going to get the better chances, but that the US could still play disciplined and keep this result from getting any worse.

The English did not fail to live up to expectations and dominated the game from here on out. That isn't to say that it was only England that had any chances in the second half, but it is definitely true that England control possession, got the best chances, and put the fear of God into all US supporters. Aaron Lennon was at times nerve-wracking down the side with his quick runs that seemed like they would burn a US player any second. Wayne Rooney was even more breathtaking because every touch he put on the ball, every US fan started to stand up hoping that he wouldn't put that goal in that would seal their fate. As a United States fan, I was absolutely petrified of everything Rooney did druing this game. When he was 35 yards out, I was still yelling at defenders to close him out so that he couldn't get a random shot on goal. There is a reason he wears the number 10 and there is a reason why he considered among the best strikers in the world. He wears on all opponents and their fans and makes every touch seem like it could be the breaker. My hat is off to him because he played exactly as he should have, short of scoring, obviously.

The US did have a chance or two in this half so let's not make it seem like it was all England. Jozy Altidore had a brilliant run down the left hand side that ended in a well placed shot that Green just got a hand to. The save still went off the post and left every US fan wondering what could have been as they settled back down into the normal routine of the game. I wish I had more deeply personal tales to relate to you, but that is basically the story of the second half. Tim Howard made some excellent saves, including a shot that Heskey put directly into him instead of an open corner, and the US weathered the English storm to maintain a 1-1 tie, a huge result in a group that gives the US two "lesser" opponents during the next two games. Keeping England from getting a full result is huge and gives the US a sincere chance to take the group if they can impose their will on Algeria and Slovenia.

My last notes from this game involve general performances on the US side. Robbie Findley showed pace up top which I can appreciate, but he didn't show enough composure on the ball to really win me over. I'm not sold on this, but I think I'd rather have Edson Buddle starting. For all the talk about his injury and his lack of fitness, Oguchi Onyweu played a fantastic match. He won balls in the air, he closed out attackers when it looked like they had space, and he did his job whenever it was required of him. Similarly, I like the game Jay DeMerit played. He will never be the prettiest player on the field. He will never make that deft touch to free an attacker to start the counter and he will never be the defender that dribbles out of intense pressure to play a ball up to a forward. But he will be an absolute physical work horse who is never afraid to get dirty and do the work required to keep the other team out of his net. My only regret is that his yellow card from this match was on a silly handball rather than a hard tackle that could help set a tone. Here's hoping that he can keep it going from here on out. Lastly, let me state in print (such as it were) my dissatisfaction with Ricardo Clark. He seems to disappear in every game and never seems to have a majorly positive contribution. I have never left a US game saying "man, Ricardo Clark really saved that one for them." I would much rather have Jose Torres starting as he is deft on his touches and can maintain possession despite pressure from closing defenders. In other words Bob Bradley, please start Torres over Clark and let him show you what he can do.

United States 1 - 1 England

That's the end of this incredibly long post from today. I honestly don't think I know how long these seem as I'm writing them up and I tend to just empty my thoughts on to the page regardless of a particular target length or pre-approved theme to harp on. I hope you're enjoying it so far and know that even though it's keeping me isolated for large periods of time and may eventually completely wear me out, I'm loving doing it. The best to all of you until tomorrow when the games begin anew.