Thanks For Mailing It In

Today's games had the potential to be absolutely fantastic. Looking at the schedule at the start of the tournament, there's no way that you wouldn't have circled Brazil vs Portugal as one of the best match-ups of the group stage. Then once Spain lost their first match to Switzerland and everyone saw Chile dazzle in their victory over Honduras, you had to think that Spain vs Chile would be high drama as Spain would almost definitely need a win to move on. Unfortunately, the Brazil vs Portugal game was sandbagged last week when Brazil beat Ivory Coast and Portugal put up seven(!) goals on North Korea. With the Ivory Coast needing to make up nine goals in differential, there was almost no way that Portugal was going to take any risks against the Brazilians. I chose to watch that game anyway as there was no excitement in Ivory Coast vs North Korea, but even knowing how low the stakes were going in I still managed to be disappointed.


Portugal vs Brazil

The first fifteen minutes or so played out exactly as you would expect. Brazil held the ball more, as is their nature, but almost no serious chances were created for either side and cautiousness was the general mode of play. In the 18th, Raul Meireles put an excellent chip in from the left side looking for Tiago at the top of the penalty area, but he swung and missed on his volley. It was a half chance at best and it would have been quite impressive if he had connected, but it showed good creativity from Meireles and hell, it was the first interesting thing that happened in the match. Then in the 24th minute, Dani Alves put his third corner into the head of the first defender at the side of the six, further fueling my hatred of him. Really, I have this slightly irrational hatred of Dani Alves. He bitches and moans after any call that goes against him, and yes, of course he does because every player does, but for some reason it bothers me more when he does it. He's like that kid that hassles the ref all game long where you're playing rec league soccer. It's tiresome.

The 30th had the first real chance of the match as Nilmar got open for Brazil on the back post and put a nice touch on goal that goalkeeper Eduardo did well to get a hand to, deflecting it off the post. Then one of my favorite things in soccer happened the next minute when Tiago received a yellow card for diving in the box. A defender put a hand on Tiago to steady himself and Tiago pitched forward like a car hit him. Not only did the referee not buy that it was a foul, he clearly saw the dive and gave Tiago a deserved yellow. Love. It. The 39th brought the next chance which was Luis Fabiano getting free in the box for a header that he really needed to put on goal but instead sent it just wide on the left side. The half ended just as it started and to be honest, I might as well just tell you that that's how the match ended as well. There were some chances in the second half, like a dipping Simao shot, a long run by Ronaldo to set up Meireles, and a deflected shot by Ramires that brought out the best in Eduardo, but it was a very boring game in general since neither team needed to push for anything. In fact, the most exciting part of the game was probably in the 20th or so when the announcers tried to play up Ivory Coast's early 2-0 as a real tension builder. In reality, Ivory Coast's 3-0 was nowhere near enough and Brazil moved on in first place with Portugal in second.

Brazil 0 - 0 Portugal


Chile vs Spain

To me, this had a chance to be an all-timer. Spain couldn't rely on Switzerland drawing or losing to Honduras so they really needed to push for the win against a speedy, skilled team that didn't require much possession to be dangerous. Chile needed to fight as well since even a 1-0 defeat would leave them out of the next round if Switzerland could put together a convincing win against Honduras. This match had all of the necessity of a classic, but unfortunately events transpired to rob us of such quality.

The game started off cautious as both teams probed at each other, looking for weaknesses and testing strengths. As time pressed on, it was surprisingly Chile that was the better side. In the 10th, a cross into the box off of a run by Jean Beausejour was just slightly behind the hero of Chile's win over Switzerland, Mark Gonzalez. Chile kept earning half chances, such as the shot by Marco Estrada in the 12th that took a deflection but didn't do enough to bother Iker Casillas as he saved it comfortably falling to his left, and really did look dangerous when they were on the ball. The Spanish were playing surprisingly tentative even when Chile started pressing forward which seems mind-boggling since that's how they wasted a half against Switzerland before losing 1-0 on a second half goal. Then in the 24th, completely against the run of play, a very smart long ball was played up the left wing to Fernando Torres who looked like he would beat his defender and run in on the keeper alone. Chilean goalie Claudio Bravo did very well to come sprinting off the line and clear the ball away from Torres, but he made a crucial mistake in not clearing the ball out of bounds. Instead the ball rolled up the sideline and straight to David Villa who hit the ball on his first touch and found the back of the net on one bounce from around fifty yards out. People are not going to realize how difficult a play like this is but when you are playing at game speed and need to hit the goal from fifty yards away on the sideline, it is anything but a gimmie. Villa did incredibly well though and made Bravo pay for his mistake. And just to clarify, I do think that Bravo did the right thing in coming off of his line to clear the ball away from Torres. I just think that if you choose to do what he did, you must make sure the ball in cleared fifteen rows into the stands, and this is the part that was lacking.

Spain worked their way back into shape after this, spurred on by Villa just as in their victory over Honduras. In the 34th, he added to his legend by possessing the ball on the left side of the box and drawing two defenders before laying the ball to the top of the box for Andres Iniesta who side footed the ball inside the back post to put Spain up by two. Another simple looking finish by Spain that was really artfully done. Amazingly, on the same play, Chile went down to ten men when Estrada was given his second yellow for what looked like incidental contact on Torres. While I guess I can see where the referee is coming from since Estrada had been involved in several dangerous tackles including his first yellow, this was a very soft call and really shouldn't have been given. With Chile down to ten men and Spain holding a 2-0 lead, the rest of this game became very boring. Chile did well coming out of the break to make it 2-1 on substitute Rodrigo Millar's deflected shot that gave Casillas no chance, but quickly the game degenerated into Spain holding the ball for minutes on end while Chile tried to counterattack without leaving themselves completely exposed. The second half dragged mightily and finally ended 2-1, which was enough for Chile to make it through as Switzerland never got on the board against Honduras and was sent home with a scoreless draw. While the game didn't live up to my expectations, I was very happy to see both of these teams go through since I love their style of play and think they will make very interesting elimination match contestants.

Spain 2 - 1 Chile


As a bonus (if you actually consider me writing more a bonus), I'm going to briefly break down the eight elimination games that we'll see over the next four days. There are some very interesting contests in here and I think there could be some very high quality matches.

Uruguay vs South Korea

Uruguay has looked very dangerous during this tournament so far with Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez acting as a particularly formidable 1-2 combination. South Korea has played very disciplined, defensive soccer however and can contain less offensively powerful teams, but in the end, I think Forlan's talent and creativity will win the day here though I definitely expect South Korea to make Uruguay earn every chance they get.

Argentina vs Mexico

I think that Mexico has a lot of talent. Despite the fact that he's Mexican (note: this is a "anti-US soccer rivals" comment, not an embarrassingly racist comment), I love the creativity and pace of Giovani dos Santos and think that he will provide a challenge for the Argentinian defense. But really, how can you not pick Argentina to win? Lionel Messi is playing exactly how we all thought he was, Gonzalo Higuain is scoring prolifically, and Carlos Tevez is working doggedly for everything he gets. I would be surprised to not see Argentina coming through here.

United States vs Ghana

I think I would make the same pick if I wasn't biased but I really can't be sure. This is perhaps the biggest toss-up of this round as the US is creating loads of chances on offense but has been very sloppy on defense at times. These defensive errors are particularly scary because Ghana's attackers are fast, aggressive, and incredibly skilled. Their wingers play with pace and confidence and they switch up their runs enough to confuse defenses that are playing far more organized than the US right now. I think the US's fitness, organization and offensive ability will out do Ghana here, but I am definitely nervous about this match.

Germany vs England

Germany did not have an easy road through to the finals, yet here they sit at the top of Group D with six points, their only loss coming when Miroslav Klose was unjustly sent off early in their second game. England survived Group C, but only barely on a 1-0 win over Slovenia. While Germany has shown an attacking quality and general skill, England has stumbled through their matches and, to be honest, seem lucky to be in the elimination rounds. England has plenty of talent and can of course turn things around, but I don't see Germany rolling over for them. I like Germany in a well fought, but ultimately inevitable result.

Holland vs Slovakia

Holland should not take this match lightly as Robert Vittek has been a scoring machine that can trouble any defense he faces. Plus, Slovakia has been playing tight defense and knocked the defending champions out in their last group match. However, I think the real key here is the return of Arjen Robben to the Dutch lineup. His ability to run at defenders is something they were sorely missing in the first two games. In the end, Holland is just too skilled and too dangerous for the Slovaks.

Paraguay vs Japan

This is my first and only upset, but I'm actually starting to believe in the Japanese. They showed in their game against the Dutch that they can't contain a high powered attack all match, but they're playing a Paraguayan team that has more of a focus on defense than constant pressure up high. Keisuke Honda has been fantastic in Japan's matches so far and can score with almost no preamble or possession, something that makes an organized, disciplined defensive team like Japan incredibly dangerous. This will probably be a 1-0 result, but I think Japan has the quality to make it through.

Brazil vs Chile

What a fantastic pairing. I feel bad for Chile though because Brazil is such a skilled team and after seeing their side of the bracket, I would be very surprised if they don't end up in yet another final. Chile should make things interesting with their ability to constantly pressure defenses and get up and down the wings with ease, but this is Brazil's match to lose and I don't see how they do it.

Spain vs Portugal

The obvious pick for best match of the round of sixteen, this has every chance to live up to its incredible hype. Spain has looked sluggish at times, needing David Villa to jump start them in their last two games, but it's hard to deny that they are more talented and deeper than Portugal. Any team that can afford to use Cesc Fabergas as a second half substitute is absolutely loaded and I think this is what ultimately wins them the match. Portugal is no slouch though and don't think for a second that they will let Spain get an easy win. I would love to see a high scoring, free flowing game and here's hoping these teams can live up to the hype.


I think that's about it for me, finally. I hope everyone is enjoying things so far, both in the World Cup and in this blog, and let me assure you that it will only get better now that we're into the do-or-die games. I leave you with this one last chant:

USA! USA! USA!