Ok, I Admit It, It's Starting to Wear On Me

Please see title. Last night I watched all three games after returning from work and didn't start my blog post until 12:30 or so. By the time I was done, it was past 2:30 and I still had to undergo the tricky business of falling asleep. All-in-all, I'd say that I got less than five hours of sleep and was none too happy while at work today. Tonight's games were going to take me to roughly the same time but then I also had to factor in the Celtics vs Lakers game, which was going to drive me back even further. There was the potential of going to bed later than 4am based on scheduling alone, forgetting any writing related issues. I had to plan strategically to get everything done in the quickest time possible and even after that, I wasn't looking at much sleep. But fuck it. This only comes around every four years so I'm going to do my damnedest.

The Celtics were terrible so that helped to speed the schedule up somewhat and put me on course for a late night, but not a terrible one. The soccer matches from today were the potential also-rans in Group F (New Zealand and Slovakia) and the two matches from the Group of Death: Ivory Coast vs Portugal and North Korea vs Brazil. There has been a large amount of discussion about the moniker of "Group of Death" so I wouldn't be an opinionated blogger with a small readership if I didn't comment on it as well. The Group of Death is supposed to be the group where several important sides will end up not making the elimination rounds due to the strength of their group, not the default "toughest group." It's where dreams go to die, not where everyone is kind of as good so it's the Group of Death. With this established, Group A cannot be the Group of Death. True all sides have a good chance at making the elimination rounds, but that's not what this is about. Is anyone going to be shocked if the worst two sides from this group, Uruguay and South Africa (I know, debatable selection of worst two sides) don't make it out of the group stage? Same for Group D. It is a very tough group of course and Australia isn't going to make it out. But would we be shocked if Ghana or Serbia didn't progress? Would that shock the soccer world? So then let's move on to Group G. You have the most successful World Cup side of all time, Brazil. You have perennial contenders featuring one of the best players in the world, Portugal. You have the consensus best African side and a very underrated candidate for best player in the world, Ivory Coast. And you're telling me that we know for a fact that one of these three teams is not going to make the round of 16? That is why Group G is the Group of Death. But first, Italy's walkover group.


New Zealand vs Slovakia

Ok, perhaps that was cruel. But I stand by it. Neither of these teams have any business challenging Italy for a spot in the finals but might stand a chance against Paraguay, so this match became a crucial opportunity for one side to win three points and make the next two matches interesting. The favored side was, and should have been, Slovakia with their relative wealth of European talent and superior skill. New Zealand came to play though, and within the first couple of minutes had already put a header on goal, albeit a simplistic one. Early on, New Zealand showed a willingness to push forward and were also able to possess the ball to keep Slovakia from attacking their defense. This started to change roughly 15 minutes in however with Slovakia beginning to hold the lion's share of possession and keeping New Zealand from doing much of anything in their offensive zone. In the 28th, Vladimir Weiss of Slovakia combined well with Stanislav Sestak to set up Sestak for a shot inside the 18 that stayed just wide on the near post. New Zealand couldn't seem to push forward at all due to Slovakia's chances and possession, and it seemed like the break for Slovakia would come at any time. New Zealand was able to make it to the half though and had their opportunity to regroup.

The break at the half wasn't enough and Slovakia pressed New Zealand just as hard in the beginning of the second half causing outright confusion at times along the back line. The breakthrough in this game rightfully came in the 50th minute when Sestak set up Robert Vittek beautifully with a pinpoint accurate cross in from the right hand side to the penalty spot. Vittek placed the header perfectly inside the left post and Slovakia was instantly rewarded by all their hard work and attacking presence. It only remained to be seen if New Zealand could create chances again in order to pull level. Early after the goal, the Kiwis did start to swing play their way, but only in a superficial way. They started to keep more possession and work the ball around the back, but Slovakia locked them down any time they truly got close to goal. After this initial change in momentum, Slovakia actually took back the majority of possession and began to put more dangerous chances on the New Zealand goal. It was beginning to look like all the snide commentators were correct about New Zealand's inability to deal with true soccer talent on a world stage. Then, late in stoppage time, the Kiwis turned the day on its ear when, out of nowhere, Shane Smeltz put a gorgeous ball into the box that Winston Reid made no mistake on and placed a header just inside the right post. Yellow card for celebration? Reid and the Kiwis couldn't care less. They had just stolen a point under the most unlikely of circumstances and had squared the entire group at 1 point.

New Zealand 1 - 1 Slovakia


Ivory Coast vs Portugal

This was supposed to be the match of the day, the one worth watching while all the others had either predictable outcomes or pedestrian efforts. And in truth, this was the one decision I had the most trouble with during predictions. I stated as much in my earlier predictions post, but I kept going back and forth on this pick no matter how much I thought about it. This was evidenced by the fact that I picked the Ivory Coast in a pool with some friends and then, not three days later, picked Portugal in my predictions for this blog. I was excited to see how the Portuguese side played without Nani (and of course how well Christiano Ronaldo played) as well as what the Ivorians could do without Drogba leading the charge up front. Very excited.

As soon as the game started, you could see all the ways it was different from the first game of the day. The end result of relative equality was the same, but the way we got there could not have been farther apart. In this game we had mesmerizing step-overs combined with quick passes combined with intelligent runs while before we just had a stalemate of average soccer. Then, in the 7th minute, Christiano Ronaldo reminded me why I can never root for the Portuguese. Didier Zokora came through on a late challenge and slide underneath Ronaldo. Granted, Zokora got in his way. But the way Ronaldo went to ground as if he had been shot in order to earn a yellow card on Zokora made me remember why I will never respect him as a person. But good god I was forced to see what a talent he is when he took a pass in the 11th minute, set himself up on his right foot with an absurd touch between his legs, and then sent a beautiful dipping shot on goal with his right foot, striking the left post squarely in the middle from at least 25 yards out. God that was breathtaking. It's so hard to hate someone who can do that but he somehow makes it so easy.

Dramatics of that diving ponce aside, the Ivory Coast was the real story of the first half and of this game. Early in the first they looked deadly with penetrating runs and clever balls around the box. They lacked that last touch to finish plays off but those touches looked like they would be coming shortly. Then around the 20th minute, Portugal completely retreated in their defensive zone to prevent those chances from coming. It really looked like they had called a huddle, decided that they were going to settle for a 0-0 tie, and then came back out on the field. I hesitate to call it cowardly because it's only the first game and you don't have a reason to start getting reckless, not to mention that the Ivory Coast looked dangerous in almost all fashions of the game. But it still feels as if Portugal conceded this half and it's a shame that the Ivory Coast couldn't make them pay. Gervinho was brilliant in this half (and was my man of the match to be honest), making run after run that the Portuguese defense was forced to deal with. Even with these advantages though, the Ivorians couldn't put a ball in the back of the net and we went to the half 0-0.

It looked as if the Portuguese players were absolutely screamed at during the half because they came out on a mission to take the fight back to the Ivory Coast, and it definitely worked. For the first 20 or so minutes of the second half, Portugal was the better side with more possession, more dangerous attacking play, and better defense. The Portuguese defenders on the wing were magnificent this game. Fabio Coentrao and Paulo Ferriera did an excellent job of covering runs but they were even more impressive playing one-on-one defense versus the Ivorian wingers who were trying to beat them to get a cross off. Coentrao and Ferriera never let attackers around or behind them and stood up so many attacks that the Ivory Coast started to push more into the middle just to try a new angle of attack.

In the 65th minute, with the Ivory Coast looking like the poorer side and having no particular answers for the Portuguese, manager Sven Goran Eriksson brought in Didier Drogba despite the striker's broken arm. I love this move because at the very least, it gives the fans and the team an emotional boost from having its star hit the field. And from a tactical standpoint, Drogba is a player who can take one touch and turn a game on its head, a talent that not many have. Drogba himself did not turn this game around, but the Ivory Coast did start to look better as time went on and eventually proved to be the dominant team once again. All of this dominance didn't mean anything though as they consistently lacked that final pass to set a teammate up or that true form on a shot to trouble the keeper. The Ivory Coast was the better side but Portugal was good enough to keep them off a board and earn a scoreless draw for a safe first game for each side in the Group of Death.

Ivory Coast 0 - 0 Portugal


North Korea vs Brazil

I feel like this is almost a lose-lose situation for me as a writer (well, a blog writer). We all know how this is going to end even if we don't know the absolute specifics. Brazil will be the dominant side. North Korea will be overmatched. Brazil will gain three points and immediately vault to the top of Group G. The problem lies in my reaction to such an obvious situation: if I don't report on it at all, I'm purposefully ignoring news from the World Cup. If I tell you all about how awesome Brazil is, I risk losing people on the simple "no shit" rule of sports commentary. My compromise is this: Brazil won. I acknowledge this and that they are an excellent team. However, North Korea played surprisingly well and particular Brazilians did well enough to be mentioned individually. So the suspense is gone but maybe the unexpected nature of this can prove useful.

Early on I expected Brazil to play the ball around and probe the North Korean defense, which is what happened. What I did not expect to happen was for North Korea to maintain possession and actually push towards net with the ball. Yet this did happen and I was in shock. I had just seen Slovakia shut down New Zealand for nearly ninety minutes and you're telling me that Brazil can't completely limit North Korea? Don't get me wrong, this was absolutely still Brazil's game. Robinho was all over the field and created opportunities wherever he went, Maicon was a menace down the right side as usual and Kaka showed flashes of his former form that could send Brazil over the top. But through all of this, North Korea still got chances. Jong Tae-Se actually put a shot on goal in the 6th minute. Through the first third of the half, the Koreans were able to maintain some possession, and not just by passing around their fullbacks. They were able to possess deep in Brazil's territory and actually looked dangerous at times when they were a pass or two away from a solid chance. Throughout the entire first half, even though Brazil dominated play and got the best chances there was always the danger of a North Korean attack, something unheard of before the game began.

In the second half, Brazil finally made the most of its possessions. Maicon was chasing a ball down towards the touchline in the 55th and had some players in front. North Korean keeper Ri Myong-Guk guessed on a cross because there were three or so Brazilians out in front, but Maicon put a touch on the ball with the outside of his foot and beat the keeper to the goalmouth, putting a strike into the back corner. There was much debate about this goal and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure I have an answer for you. It looks as if he checks the keeper's position and the decides to throw a shot on goal rather than across. Then again, it looks as if he checks his teammates' positions in front of the net and then mishits a cross to them. I honestly have no idea and I think the only person who knows is Maicon. If he wants to take credit for it, he's more than welcome to. If he wants to tell the world that he mishit that goal, I'll respect him that much more for his honesty. Regardless of intent, a goal is a goal and Brazil finally had one. Their second goal would come in the 72nd with Robinho again acting as creator. The artful attacker played a perfectly, perfectly weighted ball into the box that just passed the defender and found Elano who finished precisely at the back post. I don't think I can say "perfect" enough times to describe that pass. Just brilliant.

At this point, everyone knew that Brazil was going to take a win here and start out on top of Group G. But North Korea never quit and for that I give them credit. Perhaps the most unexpected goal of the entire tournament came in the 89th minute when Ji Yun-Nam broke free and calmly finished past Julio Cesar to give North Korea their first goal of the tournament. I said at the start that I'd be shocked if the over/under on North Korean goals for the entire tournamet was more than 0.5 so if I was right, kudos to anyone who took the over. Brazil may have wrapped up a win that they should have had but North Korea served notice to Portugal and the Ivory Coast that you can't just show up against the North Koreans and expect a victory. My hat is off to them.

Brazil 2 - 1 North Korea


With my longest day in the books, I can finally look forward to watching my second favorite national side, Spain, play their opening match. In my opinion, Spain plays the most entertaining soccer out of any team in the tournament and I can't wait to see them in action against a disciplined Swiss squad. Classic matchup of technique and skill versus discipline and defense. These days may be starting to wear on me but I'm not giving up any time soon. I hope you enjoyed today's post and by all means come back for tomorrow's.