Nelson Motta Royal™

Netherlands 0-1 Spain + Best 11

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:37:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Netherlands 0-1 Spain (Iniesta)

The Line-Ups:

Netherlands: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 2-Gregory van der Wiel, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 8-Nigel de Jong, 11-Arjen Robben; 9-Robin van Persie.

Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 18-Pedro, 7-David Villa.

Netherlands Review - SWOT:

Strength – Do you even remember when was the last time you have seen Netherlands losing a match? They have one of the best midfield and offensive lines if not the best at the moment. Defeat is not a word featured on Dutch dictionary – Last time they lost a match dates from September 2008. Since then they won 19 matches and drew 4, scored 49 goals and conceded 9. From the last 10 matches, 9 were against World Cup seeded teams, they have only recorded wins. There are no words to define this squad and other than reaching the final would have been regarded as failure, so they made it against the odds. They have won all World Cup matches in South Africa.

Weaknesses – The loss of Van der Sar and not having found yet a goalkeeper of such status alongside with a weak and slow defense regardless the few goals they have conceded. The way they quickly find a very positive result favoring them just to let it slip through their “hands”. Meaning they fall asleep too easily after scoring one or more goals allowing opposition to thrive if they capitalize from chances.

Opportunities – In case their triumvirate steps up the game as they have done in the last World Cup matches as well in the rest of the whole season, they could reach the crown in a fashionable way. Pressuring high Spain and try to score first in order to almost surely determine the outcome of the match, because the Spaniards are awkward when coming from behind. They have scored in the last 10 consecutive matches.

Threats – If Netherlands underperform like they always do in top competitions just as it happens in an equally proportion with Spain, England and France. Orange has a lot of pressure on them because of the world class quality of players they possess. They have conceded in the last 4 consecutive matches.

SPAIN - SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength – Being the European Champions. They play like kids in the streets in early stages, passing on and on dominating in a powerful way before bringing the poison into their objective attack being unbeatable once they get ahead in the match. Having the most stunning stars in your team will give you the edge to shine and place you in the favorite candidates to win the World Cup. In the last 54 matches they have played since 2007, they won 50, lost and drew 2; scored 120 goals and conceded 26 goals.

Weaknesses – If Netherlands win the ball ahead by pressuring high on the field so that you could launch a strong counter attack and get ahead in the match will bring hard times to Spain. They know how to win but know not how to lose. They get too nervous when they take longer to score an opening goal so much that they start to open spaces and making defensive forced errors that in this World Cup have not been capitalized by Portugal, Paraguay, Chile nor Germany . Due to the fact of they are not that strong in terms of body building they fear opponents that play more under a physical approach, but in Netherlands we can only see that through Van Bommel & De Jong.

Opportunities – Playing at a high-tempo as they do will destroy the chances of Netherlands to defeat them in any strategic move. Their high rate of possession also comes through short pass like if they were slowly building a puzzle and getting all the pieces before delivering the final masterpiece (goal).

Threats – They are their worst enemy. When they play anxiously they tend to lose focus, especially when coming from behind in terms of result.

From the last 4 matches they played against each-other Netherlands has been undefeated and won 3 times and drew once. Overall stats see Netherlands winning 4 matches while Spain has won 3 times and they drew once.

Paul the Octopus has unveiled Spain as the winners of this World Cup at South Africa. Will he be 100% precise after having all the other results right?

Vuvuzelas, Jabulani, Octopus, Shakira, Knaan, Referees, altitude, winter, rain, marketing schemes, security, empty seats…So many different things that will be made as souvenir of this World Cup, but surely not by the overall football played on the field.

The FIFA’s shortlist as to who can win the Golden Ball (Best Player) of this World Cup as the following players:

Forlan (Uruguay); Asamoah Gyan (Ghana); Xavi (Spain); Iniesta (Spain); Messi (Argentina); Ozil (Germany); Robben (Netherlands); Schweinsteiger (Germany); Sneijder (Netherlands) and Villa (Spain).

The fight is on for the Golden Boot (Top Scorer) between midfielder Sneijder from Netherlands that is hoping to move to Manchester United this upcoming season and Villa that has recently moved to Barcelona.

Who will make the most of it - Robben over Capdevilla or Iniesta over van Bronckhorst ? Surely the match is to be decided on slight differences coming from these challenges. Kuyt will be playing surely the game of his life because for once he will have to be tactically flawless to perform a box-to-box approach on his way of playing – He will have to stop Sergios Ramos from going forward and in the other end he will have to supply the Dutch attack. Xavi is the player that has most passes in a match, ratio 1 per minute, will try to define Spain’s tempo and whether if they will try to go on the centre or more wide even though Spain do lack width. If Spain took the right notes from Netherlands-Brazil then they will try to attack through the centre because that is where should rely the Achilles heel of the Dutch. Xabi Alonso will make restless efforts to cancel Sneijder’s long shot and his perfect breakthrough passes that could easily open the Spain’s defense.

The 60^thminute mark is approaching and that’s when Spain has scored their goals. Navas, Torres and Fabregas have the chance to be brought in to change the outcome of the match to see Spain to open more wide and try to bring a second yellow card on van Bronckhorst.

Many, many chances in this match, but surely not like the one that Robben had Saint Iker to save brilliantly to say the least. As we stated on the SWOT report about both teams, if one cannot get the goal after being supplied by forced mistakes than they will be more likely to lose the match.

10 minutes later and Villa just did not want to score. He wasn’t selfish towards Robben, so they close the top 3 misses of the tournament alongside Yakubu. Just less than three yards away and the ball got deflected to corner. Now it is Kuyt going out to give way to Elia which is a very quick and tricky winger that might disturb Sergio Ramos from going forward because since Navas got it Spain forced their way more often through the right side.

And Robben misses it again as similar as he had missed a couple of minutes ago…

And moment of individual magic needs to happen right here, right now because the teams have entered the extra-time increasing their approach about not to lose rather much then try to win.

Heitinga is sent off by the 111^thminute and everyone was expecting this to happen on one side or the other once the game has been much more physical and tactical rather more than entertaining. Perhaps this should have been swapped with the match for the 3^rd place that was one of the best if not the best of the competition. Not the way that anyone would like this to happen, but still this has been the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Five minutes to go and Fabregas make the killer pass to Iniesta that K.O. Netherlands. No chance for Stekelenburg. There are already tears crawling down the face of Casillas meanwhile the Royal Family is making the party in the VIP stands.

None nation had won the World Cup after losing their opening match and Spain has done it as well as other records were broken such as host team not going through the group stage or a European team winning outside European soil.

And the next big thing in the world of football is the betting sites and pundits that will go to try and buy a multi-million octopus that predicts 100% accurate…

After Germany and France, it is Spain that wins the European Championships and the World Cup in a row.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Iniesta

Thomas Muller has been awarded Best Young Player of the Tournament after Podolski have made it in 2006.

After this final - Who will be disagreeing that Forlan should be the one winning the Golden Ball (Best Player) Award?

The Golden Boot (Top Scorer) was awarded to Thomas Muller because of the more assists he had even though there were other three with 5 goals, Sneijder, Villa and best player of the World Cup Diego Forlan. The Golden Glove was undisputed taken by Iker Casillas.

The Best 11 of the World Cup 2010 held in South Africa were as designated by Nelson Motta:

Casillas;

Lahm, F. Coentrão, Boateng;

Iniesta, Ozil, Sneijder, Xavi, Robben;

Forlan & Villa.

Iniesta had in his shirt written – “Daniel Jarque siempre con nosotros” in a mention to the unforgettable Spanish player Daniel Jarque that died in training of a heart-attack at the age of 26. A memorable way to finish this World Cup for Spain…God Bless

Netherlands 0-1 Spain (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Final WC2010 - MyVideo

Uruguay 2-3 Germany + Best 23

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:53:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Uruguay 2-3 Germany (Cavani, Forlan; Muller, Jansen, Khedira)

The Line-Ups:

Uruguay: 1-Fernando Muslera; 2-Diego Lugano, 3-Diego Godin, 4-Jorge Fucile, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 15-Diego Perez, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 22-Martin Caceres, 9-Luis Suarez, 10-Diego Forlan.

Germany: 22-Hans-Joerg Butt; 2-Marcell Jansen, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 13-Thomas Mueller, 4-Dennis Aogo, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 19-Cacau, 8-Mesut Ozil.

Germany started the strong the match willing to re-edit the high-margin victories they had in this World Cup. 10 minutes into the match and Friedrich heads it into the bar but still the game is levelled with no goals.

From one moment to another and again a shot from outside the box makes all the difference when Schweinsteiger strikes a powerful shot to see Muslera save it but on the rebound the candidate to the Best Young Player of the competition, Thomas Muller scores. (Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are also contenders) It is the 5^th goal from Muller that now tops the Golden Boot award with Villa and Sneijder.

Germany has just taken a bit of their poison. Uruguay on the counter-attack level the match 1-1 after Perez makes a brilliant tackle giving the ball away to Suarez that assist with a diagonal pass to see Cavani striking into the net comfortable despite the pressure from a German defender.

And the Germany is showing more than just signs that they do not know how to play against teams that master the counter-attack strategy. Uruguay has been just deadly to say the least. It is Forlan once again on the spotlight. In the first goal after having made a superb run that strategically provided space for Cavani to receive the ball now he scored in a stunning way. Suarez on the move again drops the ball into Arevalo that crosses with precision like if it was golf and with the precious timing Forlan delivers a scissor kick finding the net. Now we have four players in the top of the Golden Boot award – Forlan, Muller, Villa and Sneijder.

This goal could easily get rated as the best of the World Cup alongside Van Bronckhorst and Tevez that ultimately shall be the top three best of the competition.

The game has been so intense that a goal from Germany came as no surprise with Boateng tipped among the best 23 chosen by Nelson Motta crossing to see Muslera making an error from that delivery and Jansen makes no mistake and introduces the ball right where it belongs, into the net of Uruguay.

It has happened another turn-around in the match and just with 9 minutes to go. Crowded Uruguay box saw a corner from Ozil to find Khedira to head it into the net. It has been anybody’s game and if the World Cup was made of a match like this then it would have been the most memorable tournament.

What a memorable way to finish a World Cup... Forlan shots straight to the bar after taking a free-kick in the last minute of the match.

After history stated that no European nation had conquered a World Cup in a non-European soil, this time in South Africa the podium is made of European teams. Germany got the bronze while Uruguay placed as the best 4^th nation. Who will be the number 1 – Netherlands or Spain?

Germany go home with a little bit of pride despite not making into the final, but they were by far the best team of the tournament while Uruguay go home proud to re-edit the glorious times when they used to dominate the world of football and they finish as the most entertaining attack and having Suarez and Forlan with a combined 8 goals.

After this match, Forlan is heavily linked with the best player of the competition award, but still FIFA always finds a way to make things different. (They done it with the row between Pele and Maradona even though the world shouted Maradona was clearly the best ever player) Forlan was flawless, outstanding to say the least and Atletico Madrid will have a hard time to keep him for the next season after what he has done to Liverpool, Fulham, in La Liga and in this World Cup that increased his overall price by millions.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Diego Forlan

The Best XXIII of the World Cup 2010 held in South Africa as chosen by Nelson Motta are:

GK – Casillas; Kingson; Eduardo;

Defenders – Lahm, Maicon, Fabio Coentrão, Sergio Ramos, Boateng, Mensah, Lugano;

Midfielders – Podolski, Ozil, Asamoah Gyan, Alexis Sanchez, Iniesta, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Muller. Xavi, Sneijder

Forwards – Forlan, Villa, Klose.

Uruguay 2-3 Germany (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Best 30 - World Cup 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:01:00 +0000

Germany 0-1 Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:40:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Germany 0-1 Spain (Puyol)

The Line-Ups:

Germany: 1-Manuel Neuer; 16-Philipp Lahm, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 15-Piotr Trochowski, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 10-Lukas Podolski, 8-Mesut Ozil, 11-Miroslav Klose

Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 18-Pedro, 7-David Villa

SPAIN - SWOT ANALYSIS

Weaknesses – Winning the ball ahead by pressuring high on the field so that you could launch a strong counter attack and get ahead in the match will bring hard times to Spain. They know how to win but know not how to lose. They get too nervous when they take longer to score an opening goal so much that they start to open spaces and making defensive forced mistakes. Due to the fact of they are not that strong in terms of body building they fear opponents that play more under a physical approach like Germany.

Opportunities – Playing at a high-tempo as they do will destroy the chances of Germany to defeat them on the counter-attack. Their high rate of possession also comes through short pass like if they were slowly building a puzzle and getting all the pieces before delivering the final masterpiece (goal).

Threats – They are their worst enemy. When they play anxiously they tend to lose focus, especially when coming from behind in terms of result.

Germany - SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength –Germany is always tipped to win the World Cup as they already won it 3 times, but a European team never won outside European soil, but this time it will happen. Their well structured squad alongside their tough physical approach plays a key factor in Germany’s way of play. In this World Cup they managed to score 13 goals and conceded only 2 (3 if we take into account Lampard’s goal not credited). They have been able to play strong just in a counter-attack strategy and that seems to be the first time ever a team will manage to go that far in this major competition by playing in such style.

Weaknesses –The pressure has been on young Ozil to fulfill the Kaiser’s position of Ballack and that so far is almost certain that he will scope the Best Young Player of the Tournament following the 2006’s award to also a German player, Lucas Podolski. Playing on the counter-attack style is always a liability as it can backfire but if it does not happen against Spain, then will drive them very closely to the finish line as to be champions again.

Opportunities – Scoring an early goal against Spain will give them the edge to push for more goals because Spain hardly comes from behind as they lose focus and play under an emotional level rather more than strategy. Ozil might easily open spaces through his stunning breakthrough passes.

Threats – The German aggressiveness in defense will be taken into account by Del Bosque that will push for his creative players to get the referee decisions on his side. One of the two goals conceded gifted Germany with a loss against Serbia, meaning that they are not that thick even when managing to torn apart Ghana, England and Argentina.

After 70 minutes of dominance in almost every single department in this match, Puyol is able to head it into the net after a perfect corner kick taken by Xavi. Germany 0-1 Spain. It has been the most tactical match of this World Cup with Germany trying not to concede and with Spain trying to score.

Spain has been wonderful with their mastery passing game canceling almost all efforts from Germany to try and break from the counter. The staggering dominance from Spain is illustrated by their 13 shots against 4 shots Germany with the Spaniards being much more dangerous all the way throughout the match.

Through thick and thin La Roja have been very compact and deservedly have reached the final making the re-edition of their last win against Germany by 1-0 to make it come true the dream of the Spanish to get to that Final of this Major competition such as the World Cup after so long. Surely this time and after winning the European Championships they won’t be questioned how they made it, because they have been almost flawless in their approach. The Spanish media will have to apologize for sure in relation to their early remarks about Spain’s loss against Switzerland.

After Serbia we seen another team to cancel the German outfit and to make they look like ordinary. Argentina, France, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Uruguay are out and Germany joins them! Germany will still have the chance to fight from the 3^rd and 4^th place in an interesting clash against Uruguay, but will that be enough?

The final of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup as Nelson Motta predicted against all odds before the competition started is happening – Netherlands vs. Spain.

After all Nelson Motta’s talks regarding the Germany’s squad, finally a reality check came to those who were already crowing the Germans as champions.

The Sports Zone show with Pascal Mathieu and Nelson Motta were surely the only show worldwide stating what the final is as it will happen on Sunday. Back with the show on the 12th of July.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Pedro

Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:34:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands (Forlan, Maxi Pereira; van Bronckhorst; Sneijder, Robben)

The Line-Ups:

URUGUAY: 1-Fernando Muslera; 3-Diego Godin, 6-Mauricio Victorino, 5-Walter Gargano, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 22-Martin Caceres, 15-Diego Perez, 11-Alvaro Pereira, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 10-Diego Forlan.

NETHERLANDS: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 12-Khalid Boulahrouz, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 14-Demy de Zeeuw, 11-Arjen Robben; 9-Robin van Persie.

Into the 17^th minutes and a stunning long range shot by van Bronckhorst and surely the best goal of the tournament. Neither tactic nor strategy would be able to stop this powerful left foot effort from the Oranje captain. Interesting start to the match where Uruguay was dominating all over the field but it was another shot from outside the box kind of 40 meters and it was enough to separate the sides to make Netherlands likely finalist for the third time in history while Uruguay already were winners twice.

What a drama!! 26 minutes and everyone thought the worst about the potential injury of the Dutch player de Zeeuw that got kicked in the face by a bicycle kick from Caceres, but God came down and made everything to work out without major concerns. Back to the game again.

After cameras focusing on Suarez that is out following his red card, when they showed Forlan it was enough for him to strike a curly left foot shot also from long range got into the back of the net and Stekelenburg had some responsibility or was it Jabulani making new friends again. We are 5 minutes away from the Half-time and Uruguay scored in a crucial moment of a football match and specially because they are capitalizing their dominance in the match as well. Individually, it was the 4^th goal from Forlan in this World Cup.

Sneijder is continuously climbing up in the charts. Another shot, another left footed goal, another from outside the box and his 4^th of the competition. Netherlands are ahead once again and they have been displaying a better football in the second half and they made the most of it by scoring the second goal. Uruguay 1-2 Netherlands.

The Dutch are on the final of the competition with a perfect header from Robben after a killer assist from Sneijder. There’s nothing else Uruguay can do to stop the attack rampage from the Oranje and still 15 minutes left for the end of the match.

Maxi Pereira strikes with a curly shot after receiving the ball from a well orchestrated set-piece situation. This came after the 90^th minute but was not enough to ensure Uruguay at least a chance to play the extra-time.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Sneijder

Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Paraguay 0-1 Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:46:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Paraguay 0-1 Spain (Villa)

The Line-Ups:

Paraguay: 1-Justo Villar; 2-Dario Veron, 14-Paulo Da Silva, 21-Antolin Alcaraz, 3-Claudio Morel, 8-Edgar Barreto, 11-Jonathan Santana, 15-Victor Caceres, 16-Cristian Riveros, 18-Nelson Valdez, 7-Oscar Cardozo

Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 9-Fernando Torres, 7-David Villa.

Gerardo Martino adopts a conservative 4-4-2 as his style of play that can switch to an offensive 4-3-3 case Paraguay’s opponent are in a weaker position.

Paraguay - ANALYSIS

Strength – Remember Chilavert? The infamous goalkeeper was a key to Paraguay’s approach on a defensive perspective. They are a very strong side when it comes to defense, but they not neglect their offensive potential with the like of Santa Cruz, Barrios and Valdez or even Cardozo. They are very strong against European opposition.

Weaknesses – Playing a more direct football based often in counter-attack means that rolling the ball between the squad in terms of game-play is not what you are used to see in Paraguay. But this direct approach can be more effective, objective and less demanding than having ball possession all the time.

Opportunities – Paraguay has an undefeated record on this World Cup. Having won 1 match and had 3 draws. Additionally, they will face Spain with the opportunity to get on their nerves and then having the Spaniards on penalties like they crushed Japan.

Threats – If Gerardo Martino that embedded the methodology of Marcelo Bielsa’s approach doesn’t go beyond the game’s strategy, they could face tough issues regarding the ability of being motivated for the last matches that look much more decisive than the first one that probably will only manage to settle whose finishing top and second position of the group.

The match has seen Spain dominating in terms of ball possession but related to clear chances of goal it is all about Paraguay. This is what we can state about the first half alongside with a disallowed goal to Paraguay by the referee.

A fact just brought up by FIFA is that Spain only won one of their 11 World Cup matches with a 0-0 score at half-time and that has been the game against Portugal the latest one.

Paraguay needs to get Barrios on the field to increase their chances of getting something of this match while on the other side it would best for Spain to get Llorente, Fabregas or Navas in to improve their tempo that is not looking what Spain has got us used to.

56 minutes and it is a penalty!!! A clear one indeed... What was Pique thinking of when he was pushing hard Cardozo? Cardozo steps up and he misses it! Are we having another Uruguay-Ghana drama?

Guess so…because this time it is Villa that falls in the box and it has been only a minute from the missed penalty from Paraguay and now Spain can take the chance. Is it Alonso to make it happen? Sure he does, but wait…he needs to take it again and he misses it. What a drama!!!!

GOALLL and it is Spain and it is Villa once again! Iniesta with a wonderful move that opened the Paraguayan defense drops the ball to Pedro that strikes the post and then usual suspect Villa shots and the ball hits the right and left post before making the way into the net. 5^th goal for Villa in this competition and he tops the Golden boot table.

Spain is on the semi-final to face Germany and La Roja has done it again by the low margin but still was enough and after they scored the goal that got them ahead in the result they just made the ball roll around the whole team like if they were playing Playstation.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Iniesta

Highlights Paraguay vs Spain

Perry | MySpace Video

Argentina 0-4 Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 12:02:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Argentina 0-4 Germany (Muller, Klose 2, Friedrich)

The Line-Ups:

Argentina: 22-Sergio Romero; 15-Nicolas Otamendi, 2-Martin Demichelis, 4-Nicolas Burdisso, 6-Gabriel Heinze, 14-Javier Mascherano, 20-Maxi Rodriguez, 7-Angel Di Maria, 10-Lionel Messi, 11-Carlos Tevez, 9-Gonzalo Higuain.

Germany: 1-Manuel Neuer; 16-Philipp Lahm, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 13-Thomas Mueller, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 10-Lukas Podolski, 8-Mesut Ozil, 11-Miroslav Klose.

Argentina Review – SWOT:

Maradona works around a 4-3-1-2 formation with a lot of opportunities from midfield ahead – Sergio Romero; Heinze, Samuel, Demichelis, Burdisso; Mascherano, Verón, Di Maria; Messi; Higuaín, Tevez/Aguero.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength – A squad made mostly of players that represent the best competitions in Europe should tell you all. If that is not enough, then try to add the best footballer in the world, the most ever controversial icon in football and the finest striking power just to mention some of the epic proportion of the likes of Argentinean football.

In terms of facts, they have never lost this year and indeed won all of the matches they played in 2010. Furthermore, they have scored 10 goals and conceded only twice and have flawless record in this World Cup winning all matches.

Weaknesses – The pressure of being the former 2 time World Champion. Maradona’s ever changing environment style that might confuse most of the players regardless their potential. At least in terms of group stages their less effective defensive back line wasn’t a problem because of their prolific offensive line, but might be costly in the latter stages. DeMichelis has been a liability of Argentina’s last third.

Opportunities – Re-edit the victory they had earlier in the year against Germany with a goal from Higuain that surely has the pedigree to go and score again to lead the top-scorer table on this tournament. They have never got a draw under Maradona’s spell as a coach so penalties could be off the horizon as that was what beat Argentina back in the 2006 World Cup against the same opponent.

Threats – Against all odds, Argentina getting caught napping on several defensive mistakes at the expense of dramatic offensive performances by their opponents.

The Argentinean most flourished garden getting all wilted due to high expectations.

Germany Review – SWOT:

Joachim Löw organizes his methodological squad through a 4-4-2 but recently has been trying to merge its primary formation with a 4-2-3-1. Manuel Neuer; Lahm, Mertesacker, Boateng, Westermann; Mezut Ozil, Schweinsteiger; Trochowski, Podolski, Klose & Marin/Khedira/Cacau/Muller.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength –Germany is always tipped to win the World Cup as they already won it 3 times, but a European team never won outside European soil. Their well structured squad alongside their tough physical approach plays a key factor in Germany’s way of play. In this World Cup they managed to score 9 goals and conceded only 2 (3 if we take into account Lampard’s goal not credited).

Weaknesses – Likewise England, they have failed to win matches against major nations, but the difference is that related to England has happened in friendly matches while Germany has happened in the last stages of European Championships and World Cup as well. The pressure is on young Ozil to fulfill the Kaiser’s position of Ballack.

Opportunities – The lack of high performance levels of Argentina’s last third. Ozil might easily open spaces through his stunning breakthrough passes.

Threats – They have only scored four goals regarding their last Quarter-final matches in previous six World Cups. The German aggressiveness in defense will be taken into account by Maradona that will push for his creative players to get the referee decisions on his side. One of the two goals conceded gifted Germany with a loss against Serbia, meaning that they are not that thick even when managing to torn apart Ghana and England.

Schweinsteiger’s free-kick from the left curling in and Muller with a slight touch with his head puts it in!! It is 1-0 for Germany and we are just 2 minutes into the game. Could Romero have done it better?

Platini, Mick Jagger, Leo Di Caprio, Angela Merkel and many more are among the spectators for today’s match.

Germany switched approach. Now they look much more the Germany that faced England, sitting on the back and taking advantage of their quick developed counter-attack.

Into the 36^th minute and Higuain scores but was straight away disallowed by the linesman. Argentina had 4 players in an offside position. And the game starts to get passionate on the Argentina’s side.

It seems like the words of Maradona concerning the referees are backfiring to him. Germany is having a strong defensive performance and in the second half they have increased their capacity of having three different lines before Argentina are able to make anything of their own attack.

One more for Miroslav Klose as he gets closer and closer to Ronaldo World Cup record and surpassed Pele already. It was Podolski assisting in a perfect manner to see Klose to tap in one meter away from the goal line.

3-0 for Germany!! And Angela Merkel is dancing in the stands!! Schweinsteiger exposes big time Argentina’s defense dribbling all the way before assisting Friedrich that copy+paste the goal from Klose a few minutes before his first goal with the German shirt.

Taking into account the fantastic performances of Podolski we can see him featured later on in the best XI of this competition.

Klose scores another one. 4-0?!?!? Another counter-attack and another goal. Ballack is on a party mood off the field. The polish born striker is now one goal away of taking the World Record in terms of goals in this major competition.

Argentina goes home but surely they played the most entertaining football in their run until the quarter-finals before being outplayed by the German strategist Low. Haven’t we seen this coming in the last match against Mexico? (Things just changed after the “offside” goal of Tevez)

They enjoy the number 4. Will they do it again in the Semi-Final?

MAN OF THE MATCH: Podolski

Argentina 0-4 Germany - Highlights

Simão | MySpace Video

Uruguay 1-1 Ghana (4-2 after penalties)

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:13:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Uruguay 1-1(4-2) Ghana (Forlan;Muntari)

The Line-Ups:

Uruguay: 1-Fernando Muslera; 2-Diego Lugano, 6-Mauricio Victorino, 4-Jorge Fucile, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 15-Diego Perez, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 20-Alvaro Fernandez, 9-Luis Suarez, 10-Diego Forlan.

Ghana: 22-Richard Kingson; 4-John Pantsil, 5-John Mensah, 15-Isaac Vorsah, 2-Hans Sarpei; 6-Anthony Annan, 23-Kevin-Prince Boateng, 7-Samuel Inkoom, 11-Sulley Muntari; 21-Kwadwo Asamoah, 3-Asamoah Gyan

Uruguay Analysis – SWOT:

FORMATION

Oscar Tabaréz plays on a 4-3-3 but as he is a versatile coach tends to change formation depending on opponents’ approach, so easily you can see him changing to a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 formations.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength – Diego Forlán & Luis Suarez, the biggest duo threat of this nation with 3 goal a piece in this tournament so far. Hot-blooded, humbleness and Garra Charrúa brought into their essence since the 50s. Uruguay have not lost their last six encounters in World Cup competition and in four of those matches they have not conceded any goal.

Weaknesses – They are a “do or die” team. If they play a direct football ordered by Tabarez, then they might take advantage of their prolific attack, otherwise they can turn into an ordinary team.

Opportunities –They have never lost in any of the last nine matches when they were leading at half-time. Brazil was pictured like this and still they lost against Netherlands, is this a South American spell in Africa? Forlan seems to have a pedigree of scoring against African nations meaning that he got his last three goals facing African teams.

Threats – They create a lot of chances, but often they waste it.

Ghana Analysis – SWOT:

FORMATION

Milovan Rajevac like to play in a packed midfield formation of 4-5-1.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength – Their stamina, strength, pace and work-rate levels are second to none. Rajeva’c enforced a defensive mentality to a nation that was much more often playing on freedom and attacking bias and he got results out of it strengthen Ghana’s and make them much more cohesive.

Weaknesses – His top midfielders lack fitness. Appiah has not been solid with a team since 2008 even though he keeps doing his thing with the national team

Ghana’s lack of decent strikers will make the midfielders work harder than they already do.

Opportunities – If they can beat the odds and history their can turn their last defeats into a power drive winning matches. If they press high up in the South American’s midfield there will be opportunity to take something out of that game enough to advance to the semi-finals.

Threats – African nations are known for their fighting spirit, strength, pace and attacking strategies, but still look very primitive when it goes down to defense.

Winner of this match will face Netherlands on the Semi-Final on Tuesday the 6^th of July.

Ghana has 4 goals scored and 3 conceded so far in this World Cup while their opponents Uruguay have 6 goals scored and 1 conceded meaning they are a though side defensively.

In the first 25 minutes we finally have a brilliant chance of goal in this match. A glimpse of what Suarez might do in this match and for some reason he has 55 goals in 61 appearances in this season for both club and country.

In the last 20 minutes of the first half it was Ghana climbing up the charts improving their game and on the top of it they got three or four very good chances increasing the pressure on Uruguay to step up their game.

And African souls come into rupture with a long, long range strike from infamous Muntari that with the help of Jabulani curls it in from distance. The player that was sent home after going against the options of the national coach has had “therapy” from experienced fellow mate Appiah and got back on terms with the national team just to make the difference in this match. In the last gasp of the first half Muntari makes Uruguay 0-1 Ghana.

The beginning of second halves of each quarter final matches has been thriving. It was the very first direct free kick scored in this World Cup without deflections. Diego Forlan stroke perfectly to keep history going his way and so far he has been the Man of the Tournament. 4 goals in 5 matches tell it all.

In the 70^th minute it was almost another goal for Suarez but Kingston this time made it right.

Suarez is sent off for handballing in the last minute of the extra-time and goes off shredded in tears. And are you able to guess what happened in the penalty-kick taken by Asamoah Gyan? He misses it!!!! Strikes against the bar and so the game goes to penalties.

The most emotional match with no room left for flatline.

Ghana 1^st – A. Gyan scores Uruguay 1^st – Forlan scores;

Ghana 2^nd- Appiah scores Uruguay 2^nd – Victorino scores;

Ghana 3^rd- Mensah misses it Uruguay 3^rd – Scotti scores;

Ghana 4^th- Adiyiah misses it Uruguay 4^th – M. Pereira misses it;

Uruguay 5^th– Abreu clinically takes it;

What a finish by Abreu…and that is why Abreu is called “el Loco”.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Forlan

Highlights Ghana1-1 Uruguay

Perry | MySpace Video

Netherlands 2-1 Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:58:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Netherlands 2-1 Brazil (Sneijer 2; Robinho)

The Line-Ups:

Netherlands: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 2-Gregory van der Wiel, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen/André Ooijer., 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 8-Nigel de Jong, 11-Arjen Robben; 9-Robin van Persie.

Brazil: 1-Julio Cesar; 2-Maicon, 3-Lucio, 4-Juan, 6-Michel Bastos, 5-Felipe Melo, 8-Gilberto Silva, 13-Dani Alves, 10-Kaka, 11-Robinho, 9-Luis Fabiano.

Brazil Review - SWOT:

Strength – A team that has won 5 World Cup titles is always a nation take into account and that happens for a reason. Top quality players so many that is hard to choose a balanced 23 squad leaving out other important names. Still, dead ball situations and a mixed counter-attack with contemporary approach to the game will see Brazil on top most of their matches.

Weaknesses – Clashes of egos and struggle to break into goal playing against nations that develop a highly defensive strategy. Even though they are always among the favorites to win the competitions where they head to; their low pressure from midfielders is not the best one allowing a precedent to strong nations to take advantage like Netherlands, England, Italy, Spain for instance that have touch and go approach.

Opportunities – Using the individual’s skill to emphasize their group. If they perform at the level they got us used to, they will be hard to beat and that’s enough to describe it.

Netherlands Review - SWOT:

Strength – Do you even remember when was the last time you have seen Netherlands losing a match? They have one of the best midfield and offensive lines if not the best at the moment. From the last 7 matches, 6 were against World Cup seeded teams, still no loss recorded. There are no words to define this squad and other than reaching the final will be regarded as failure.

Opportunities – In case their triumvirate step up the game as they have done in the warm ups to the World Cup as well in the whole season, they could reach the crown in a fashionable way. Winning the first match against Denmark will deliver them the first place for sure.

This shall be the most interesting match in the competition. Neither Brazil nor Netherlands got an opponent to pressure their weaknesses but surely in this match either of the teams will get exposed.

When talking about Brazil they will have not the chance to display effectively their 3-5-2 box-to-box strategy because there is not much space for Maicon and Daniel Alves/Bastos to attack in the way the Samba boys are used to. All of this at the expense of Kuyt, Sneijder and Robber playing on the other side that will pressure them high in the field threatening that offensive approach from Brazil.

Netherlands weakness will come from their direct game once Brazil as quick players as much as the Orange and their 4-5-1 formation might not be the best to face the Canarinha. Brazil has two defenders centre and a defensive midfielder covering for them in a line that precedes their defensive set-up. Further to that Daniel Alves and Melo are playing as wing back so we see a much more defensive Brazil than we are used to and it is all about mind-games from Brazilian coach Dunga. Netherlands focus on Van Persie to deliver but they must not forget that the player himself just recently returned from his injury and might not be able to get on his best form in a decisive match like this, but the match will tell us that.

First ten minutes and God is shining on Brazil. Robinho scores!!!!!! Through the center…As we stated in the preview to this match, Brazil would have to change their approach and get a high level of adaptability. They have done it! Melo sends the ball in a wonderful breakthrough pass and opens the Orange defense to find Robinho that strikes comfortably to make it 1-0 for Brazil.

Heading into the first 30 minutes it is interesting to see how Brazil transformed themselves accordingly to what Netherlands has displayed. By this we mean that Brazil is playing fantastically through the center like if they were playing from the wings that is the normal strategy used by Canarinha. Furthermore, it has been crucial the way that the Brazilian defense closes down on Robben leaving no margin for him to come into the center from the outside in order to use his left foot powerful swerving shot and this is a wise stratagem from Dunga.

Brazil score inside the first ten minutes of the first half and so did Netherlands in the second-half. The first half hero Melo messed up jumping ahead of Julio Cesar heading to Brazil’s empty net after a curling cross from Sneijder. So with 55 minutes we have Netherlands 1-1 Brazil.

And it is Sneijder again!!! Through a corner from Robben and a slight touch from Kuyt it is Sneijder that heads it to the top corner of Brazil’s net making 2-1. Netherlands made it!! They came from behind to scope this result. History stats that each time that Brazil and Netherlands faced each-other then the winning team always get to the final of the competition.

Red Card and Melo is off!!! The referee dismisses Melo after he did aggressively stamped his boots on Robben while the Dutch was on the floor.

BRAZIL’s OUT!! Netherlands are on the semi-final.

No more pragmatism from Dunga and Netherlands made it happen against all odds. After England, France, Italy it is now Brazil out. The plot thickens.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Sneijder

Spain 1-0 Portugal

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:53:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Spain 1-0 Portugal (Villa)

The Line-Ups:

Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 9-Fernando Torres, 7-David Villa

Portugal: 1-Eduardo; 2-Bruno Alves, 21-Ricardo Costa, 6-Ricardo Carvalho, 23-Fabio Coentrao, 16-Raul Meireles, 15-Pepe, 19-Tiago, 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 11-Simao Sabrosa, 18-Hugo Almeida.

The clash everyone was waiting for saw Spain edging bit time Portugal even when the result was obtained only by the minimum margin, 1-0.

Portugal playing with 4 central defenders, 2 defensive midfielders meant that that would want to go all the way down to the excellence of Ronaldo or heading for the penalty-kicks after extra-time. Guess Portugal did not learn from their second half performance against North Korea that saw them playing their best football over of the last 2 years when they were able to perform as a whole rather than individuals and in that game regardless the opponent it was a true Portugal (3^rd best nation in the world according to FIFA rankings).

When you go deeper into the game that sees a nation defending all the way expecting the 90+30 minutes to finish to rely on lottery of penalties then the chances of advancing in a World Cup competition are slim and it is a pity with the fantastic team that Portugal had regardless the injuries in a tournament fulfilled with injuries in all of the teams represented.

The turning point of the match was when Portuguese coach Queiroz decided to change the strategy from 5-4-1 to a 5-5-0 with the introduction of Danny to replace Hugo Almeida. So you take the only natural born striker for a winger and then move a winger to a non-natural position that is Ronaldo ( that is the best worldwide playing on the wing but it is ordinary playing as a central forward and time has comfortably shown that…but then again we have felt that a coach like Queiroz with his experience would not go and try to gamble on mistakes from the past…but he did in the knock-out phase that you are not allowed to experiment, you need to stick to your plan from the beginning)

It was only a matter of time for Spain to score and the clock was ticking 63 minutes when a splendorous play from the Spaniards saw Villa scoring the opener and deadly goal for La Roja. That goal puts El Guaje on top of the table in terms of individual goals scored alongside with Higuain (still on the competition) and Vittek (out of the competition already).

The game headed for the last 15 minutes and Queiroz still surprises the pundits. He makes a double swap with Mendes and Liedson going in for Simão and Pepe. What can we think about this substitution? Was it the Portuguese coach not wanting to suffer a bigger defeat or else strategy?

In a space of ten minutes he changed the formation into something that only he understood what he was trying to achieve because in the end he sent Ronaldo back to the wing and Mendes to occupy the same position of Pepe (that is a central defender and not defensive midfielder even when his adaptability levels are high, but then again you don’t make experiments on a world cup knock-out stage) just to see Liedson alone up-front. Players got so confused that we even saw Ronaldo asking Queiroz what were they to do after that… Guess that tells you all how the fairy tale ended for Portugal.

Kick in the teeth for Queiroz that early this year shoved Portuguese journalist and UEFA delegate Jorge Batista because he had the same views as Nelson Motta regarding the handling of Queiroz affairs as Portuguese coach. We will once again reproduce our perspective: Queiroz is indeed one of the best if not the best coach in terms of youth level, but when it comes down to senior level on the prime role Queiroz does not have what is needed to be a successful coach and hardly they will change unless he changes himself on his perspectives.

The last thing we need to say is that Villa alone has had almost more shots than Portugal had the whole game and that tells you the story.

In the other match of the day Paraguay edged Japan in the shootout (5-3) after a 120 minutes match with the game finishing 0-0.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Villa

Spain 1-0 Portugal (Highlights)

Simão | MySpace Video

Paraguay 5-3 Japan PEN

Perry | MySpace Video

Brazil 3-0 Chile

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:34:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Brazil 3-0 Chile (Juan, Fabiano, Robinho)

The Line-ups:

Brazil: 1-Julio Cesar; 2-Maicon, 3-Lucio, 4-Juan, 6-Michel Bastos, 18-Ramires, 8-Gilberto Silva, 13-Dani Alves, 10-Kaka, 11-Robinho, 9-Luis Fabiano

Chile: 1-Claudio Bravo; 4-Mauricio Isla, 5-Pablo Contreras, 2-Ismael Fuentes, 8-Arturo Vidal, 11-Mark Gonzalez, 6-Carlos Carmona, 18-Gonzalo Jara, 9-Humberto Suazo, 15-Jean Beausejour, 7-Alexis Sanchez.

Brazil is playing all the fundamentals by the book. They are bringing their flavour into this last 16^th match. Felt like they were still getting to know Chile’s approach and then the samba poison comes into play. In the 34^th minute a bullet header by Juan opens the score-line after a well delivered corner-kick and by then Brazil was not even accelerating, they were just enjoying the whole thing like barefoot kids do in the “favela”.

When Brazil decided to step up the pace Chile’s defence broke down in tatters and the usual suspect had to make it happen, Luis Fabiano rounds the keeper Claudio Bravo to score and add another goal to his personal account. Fabiano has now 4 goals and it does not seem like it is going to end up here. Brazil was deadly scoring twice in a matter of 4 minutes.

Can Chile sustain the Brazilian’s natural born strategy?

Chile will go home having Beausejour as their best performer in this World Cup. Everyone was talking about Suazo and Chile was much more wise and dangerous without him rather than when he started to make part of the team. People kept talking about his 10 qualifying goal mark, but then again how hard it is to score against Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and having it as well from the penalty spot?

From one individual to another and this time it was Ramires stealing the limelight for Brazil in this match by running the whole half and dropping the ball into Robinho that comfortably slots it in to make the 3-0 and wave away to Netherlands which will be their next opponent in the Quarter-Finals match.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Kaka

Brazil 3-0 Chile (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Argentina 3-1 Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:54:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Argentina 3-1 Mexico (Tevez 2, Higuain; Hernandez)

The Line-Ups:

Argentina: 22-Sergio Romero; 15-Nicolas Otamendi, 2-Martin Demichelis, 4-Nicolas Burdisso, 6-Gabriel Heinze, 14-Javier Mascherano, 20-Maxi Rodriguez, 7-Angel Di Maria, 10-Lionel Messi, 11-Carlos Tevez, 9-Gonzalo Higuain

Mexico: 1-Oscar Perez; 16-Efrain Juarez, 2-Francisco Rodriguez, 4-Rafael Marquez, 3-Carlos Salcido, 5-Ricardo Osorio, 18-Andres Guardado, 6-Gerardo Torrado, 21-Adolfo Bautista, 17-Giovani Dos Santos, 14-Javier Hernandez

Carlos Salcido has the most unbelievable shot from 40 meters cruising into the bar and seconds after it is Giovani dos Santos having a closer but dangerous shot as well. All of that came 8 minutes into the game. It has been a lively match so far.

Argentina is playing in a much more 3-5-2 formation pressuring high on the field in order to sustain Mexico’s attacking ability. No man marking Messi individually as Greece done it so we will be heading to an open match between these two nations.

On the other side we see Mexico developing their strategy in a sustainable attack through a 5-3-2 formation using direct football and long shots taking advantage of that specific skill on the Mexican players.

Maradona goes wild with his pupil goal. Who else but Messi to make it happen? But there are concerns regarding the legal position of Tevez and now what a mess of it!! After the terrible decision in the England-Germany that determined probable the outcome of the match now it is the same in the Argentina-Mexico match.

After Messi’s goal it is time for World Cup’s best scorer Higuain to make 2-0 for Argentina. Osorio makes a non-sense move and gifts Higuain the ball that with a perfect composure rounds the Mexican goalkeeper and sends the ball into the net.

The first half has come to an end with Argentina leading 2-0 with courtesy goals from Messi and Higuain. But it is easier when you are playing 12 players against 11, isn’t it?

Carlitos Tevez stunner into the 51 minutes! What a goal!?!?! It is probably the most fantastic goal of this World Cup after so many beautiful goals so far.

The new Manchester United starlet Hernandez scores a delicious goal and it happens in another outstanding left footed effort. 3-1 after 73 minutes.

The final say to Argentina 3-1 Mexico is that La Albiceleste was pretty much objective in their approach to the match while Mexico often lost the focus in their effort. As part of it Argentina is comfortably through to the Quarter-Finals where they will face Germany relishing the contest between both nations that in the 1986 and 1990 World Cup faced each other in the final of this major competition.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Tevez

Highlights Argentina 3-1 Mexico

Perry | MySpace Video

Has Chile run out of luck?

noreply@blogger.com (Sports Zone Chile) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:00:00 +0000

So far the World Cup has been more then surprising; the early exit of the defending champion and runner-up 4 years ago in Italy and France, plus England and USA barely qualifying for the Round of 16. Not the mention our Country’s favourite, Chile, falling short to sending the European champion packing on Friday but the Spaniards had other plans. La Roja went all out trying to snatch the 1st place in group H but in the end the logic was respected and Spain ended up with a 2-1 victory clinching the Group and leaving Chile second.

So far at this World Cup, Chile has delivered according to expectation and beyond. They easily beat Honduras in their 1st game, then they became the first team in 16 years to score against Switzerland at a World cup beaten them 1-0 and they gave a run for their money to the ranked number 2 team in the world; Spain.

Is it all Chile has to offer or they have another trick up their sleeves? Though they came close to nick the top position in their group, we all expected Chile to finish behind Spain to then move into the Round of 16 to face the 5 times champion, their all time nemesis; Brazil.

Head to Head with the Scratch, in 65 games Chile has won 7 games and lost 46. La Roja scored 55 times versus 152 for the Brazilians. Their last encounter at a World Cup was in France 98’ in Round of 16 where Chile lost 4-1. Once again they will meet in the knockout round this time in Johannesburg at the Ellis Park Stadium this Monday.

What are the chances of Chile beating Brazil? They have allowed 7 goals in their last 2 games during the WC qualifying process losing 3-0 and 4-2. So far Chile has shown great offensive power, good control of the ball in the midfield and defensively they have been solid in their first 2 games but against Spain it was a different story.

Up front The Reds have not been able to rely on their best asset; Humberto “Chupete” Suazo. The top scorer of the qualifier was injured during a friendly match 2 weeks before the start of the WC and he has not fully recovered physically and mentally. Though he was on the starting line-up against Switzerland, he was pretty much invisible during the first half and his lack of game time clearly showed a Chupete out of shape with no rhythm. Bielsa took him out after 45 minutes. The problem here is that Chile doesn’t have a natural center striker to replace Suazo. Chile has good wingers in Sanchez, Beausejour, Gonzalez only to name a few but Bielsa clearly misses a goal scorer and the absence of goals in the first 2 games have been proven costly as Spain topped Chile on goal difference in the Group stage. Paredes seems to be an option for now but again Esteban has not played a lot lately and he is not clinical when it comes to score.

In the midfield, Chile has nothing to be shy of; they can compete with any team in the competition. This is their strength. Bielsa will see Matía Fernandez and Carlos Cormona reintegrate the team after being forced to sit out against Spain on accumulation of yellow cards. There is one area on the pitch where doubts remain; the defence.

Not that they have not done well so far, to the contrary, they have been brilliant versus Honduras and Switzerland and solid against Spain allowing only 3 shots on goal with a man short. They are well organised, disciplined and committed to each other. Though they held up with 10 players for more 50 minutes, defensively they committed loads of errors; lost balls and missed passes when pressing by the Spaniards. On a brighter side, Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce have been praised by most football experts and they figure on the list of top 10 best players of this world Cup. This is all great but the heck is that both Ponce and Medel will miss the next match against Brazil due to accumulation of yellow cards. How can Chile hold up players like Kaká, luis Fabiano, Elano or Maicon without their 2 best defenders? That is the question. How will Bielsa compensate his lost?

It is hard to see how the Chileans can get pass the scratch. Let’s hope that this World Cup still has more surprises to offer.

Chile will have to play a perfect game in all areas and score early to put pressure on Dunga’s squad. We have seen so far in South Africa that everything is possible in football; if Slovakia can beat Italy, Serbia upsetting Germany and South Africa dominating France, why not seeing Chile surprising Brazil? Dreaming is free, give it a try!!!!!

Catch all the action on Monday at 14h30 on TVN.

Germany 4-1 England

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:32:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Germany 4-1 England (Klose, Podolski, Muller 2; Upson)

The Line-Ups:

Germany: 1-Manuel Neuer; 16-Philipp Lahm, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 13-Thomas Mueller, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 10-Lukas Podolski, 8-Mesut Ozil, 11-Miroslav Klose

England: 1-David James; 2-Glen Johnson, 15-Matthew Upson, 6-John Terry, 3-Ashley Cole; 16-James Milner, 4-Steven Gerrard, 8-Frank Lampard, 14-Gareth Barry; 19-Jermain Defoe, 10-Wayne Rooney.

It is history on the dance floor at the expense of vuvuzelas in Bloemfontein that will see Jorge Larrionda to be the referee of this epic battle between Germany and England.

From the 31 times these nations met England came on top with 15 wins versus the 10 wins from Germany and in between they have 6 draws. Germany lately has been taking advantage of the draws because then they win throughout penalty-kicks. Will this be a revenge on the 1966 World Cup’s final ghost goal? Or will England make this happen and keep up the pace when they have been regarded as hot tip to win the competition alongside Brazil, Spain or Netherlands and Argentina?

Will England perform a 5-1 victory like they did not long ago in Berlin against fellow Germans?

Last 6 matches played between this teams sees them winning one losing another and if football was made of stats then Germany would win because they have lost the last match they played against England 1-2.

David James makes the first top save of the match after a breakthrough pass from the Germany midfield to find Ozil on the run and everyone was thinking that could have been the first goal just after 4 minutes.

It is interesting to see that Germany is playing on the counter-attack. They defend ten men into their last third and then break-down into a quick 4-3-3 at the expense of pacy Podolski and Schweinsteiger that search for Klose in the end of the attack.

Counter-attack working on the highest level. 19 minutes and after a goal-kick taken by Neuer to find Klose to finish and put Germany ahead even though England was dominating the whole match.

Heading into the 32 minutes and it is 2-0 for Germany and we have been talking about this. Podolski on the end of the play strikes comfortably to the back of the net and what to say now? Germany is having the game of their lives and teaching how stats don’t often prevail in a match especially in competitions like the World Cup.

England scores and it is 2-1. Upson who made a mess in the first goal of Germany, goes towards attack and heads it into the net bringing the game to a more lively atmosphere.

The ghost of 1966 goes and hunts England, but this time the decision was against them when Lampard strikes and the ball goes in by far like 1 meter and the referee does not give the goal. Definitely refereeing in this World Cup have been the worse so far ever seen in any top competition.

Excuse us FIFA. But it is not supposed to be a linesman and referee? Guess if 4 eyes cannot see what millions see. Then we got a problem haven’t we?

Lack of width on the England approach has been fatal so far against a well organized Germany that have created the most chances in this match. Mental strength will surely define the outcome of this match.

Into the 52 minutes and what a free-kick by Lampard hitting the bar as Neuer would not get that for sure.

Game over for England. On the counter attack again Germany scores through Muller in a awful defending by England. 3-1 for Germany.

Muller scores the 4-1 and there’s no way back for England.

Germany will wait for the outcome of Argentina-Mexico to see who will play who in the Quarter Finals.

In spite of the terrible decision by the referee while the match was 2-1 in favor of Germany this game looked always much more headed to Germany’s winning result rather than England. Big headlines expected in media tomorrow after the best match played so far in this World Cup.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ozil

Highlights Germany 4-1 England

Perry | MySpace Video

USA 1-2 Ghana

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:42:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: USA 1-2 Ghana (Donovan; K.P. Boateng, Asamoah Gyan)

The Line-Ups:

Ghana: 22-Richard Kingson; 4-John Pantsil, 8-Jonathan Mensah, 5-John Mensah, 2-Hans Sarpei; 6-Anthony Annan, 7-Samuel Inkoom, 23-Kevin-Prince Boateng, 13-Dede Ayew; 21-Kwadwo Asamoah, 3-Asamoah Gyan

United States: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 15-Jay DeMerit, 3- Carlos Bocanegra, 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 4-Michael Bradley, 13-Ricardo Clark, 8-Clint Dempsey; 10-Landon Donovan, 20-Robbie Findley, 17-Jozy Altidore

The match opposing USA and African’s hopes Ghana brings one of the most interesting flavors of football in this World Cup.

Guess what? Another goal in the early stages of the last 16^th - 4 minutes and 52 seconds was the time that left footed player K.P. Boateng took to find the net and place Ghana in a good position to advance to the quarter finals. Yet is too early to determine the outcome of the match because even though USA find it hard to come from behind in terms of result, they have done that in this World Cup against England, so will we see a similar thing in this game?

USA is trying hard to get their goal in order to get back into the game. And the chance is there after 61 minutes when Dempsey is brought down in the box. Donovan steps up to keep the National Hero Status and he scores. Perfect spot-kick that no goalkeeper would save having the ball hit the post before going in.

USA restructured their approach in a way they are outplaying Ghana that for the first time seem to be tired and they have not get us used to that. Seems like the game is heading to extra-time and fresh legs with the right move will introduce to a potential decider in terms of goal.

Asamoah Gyan scores!!! Just 2 minutes into the first half of the extra-time and Asamoah blasts it into the net making a wonder goal and taking to three the number of goals he has to his signature in this tournament.

Ghana is on the last 8 after Senegal done it back in the days.

Ghana-Uruguay next in the quarter-finals.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Asamoah Gyan

Highlights USA 1-2 GHANA

Perry | MySpace Video

Uruguay 2-1 South Korea

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:17:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Uruguay 2-1 South Korea (Suarez 2; Lee Chung-yong)

The Line-Ups:

Uruguay: 1-Fernando Muslera; 2-Diego Lugano, 3-Diego Godin, 4-Jorge Fucile, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 15-Diego Perez, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 11-Alvaro Pereira, 9-Luis Suarez, 10-Diego Forlan.

South Korea: 18-Jung Sung-ryong; 22-Cha Du-ri, 12-Lee Young-pyo, 4-Cho Yong-hyung, 14-Lee Jung-soo, 8-Kim Jung-woo, 16-Ki Sung-yong, 13-Kim Jae-sung, 7-Park Ji-sung, 17-Lee Chung-yong, 10-Park Chu-young.

Here we go! Second round underway with Uruguay and South Korea. What a start to a last 16^th match!!! Forlan picks the ball from the left to cross to the far post where keeper Jung Sung-ryong makes a mess of it allowing the ball to go through to Suarez that completely alone just taps in from close range making Uruguay 1-0 up against South Korea. It is the second goal from Suarez in four matches and he is living up to expectations under what we did predict prior to the World Cup.

After a cheerful first half dominated by the South Americans it is the South Koreans that that now pressure high and dominate the game and they even had two close chances to level the match but were unable to convert them into goals.

And South Korea does it!!! After dominating the whole second half we all saw it coming. Free Kick on the left and Lee Chung-yong from Bolton heads it to the back of the net leveling the match and what a deserved goal. Where is the magic of Suarez and Forlan duo? Are they to prevail or will Park Ji-Sung make it happen?

And Uruguay scores!!! The usual suspect strikes a swinging shot and doubles his personal account in terms of goals. Suarez comes from inside to outside the box and curls it in. 2-1 after 80 minutes and Uruguay will have to wait for the match between USA vs. Ghana to see who will they face in the Quarter-Finals of this World Cup.

The flawless due that had 77 goals combined this season do it again!! Suarez and Forlan help Uruguay to go through to the next phase. It is a pity to see South Korea going out of this competition after their fantastic performances, but that is World Cup. Mess with the best “die” like the rest.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Luis Suarez

Uruguay 2-1 South Korea (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand

The Line-Ups:

Paraguay: 1-Justo Villar; 4-Denis Caniza, 5-Julio Cesar Caceres, 14-Paulo Da Silva, 3-Claudio Morel, 13-Enrique Vera, 15-Victor Caceres, 16-Cristian Riveros, 9-Roque Santa Cruz, 18-Nelson Valdez, 7-Oscar Cardozo.

New Zealand: 1-Mark Paston; 4-Winston Reid, 6-Ryan Nelsen, 5-Ivan Vicelich, 19-Tommy Smith, 3-Tony Lochhead, 11-Leo Bertos, 7-Simon Elliot, 10-Chris Killen, 14-Rory Fallon, 9-Shane Smeltz.

Even though they won’t need the history factor to win this match as we can see Paraguay is playing a beautiful football, the South Americans have not been defeated in the last final group matches where they have played and even won the last three. Is that a guarantee? Time will tell us.

Not much to talk about this match. Teams were mostly interested in not losing rather than playing an interesting match.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Santa Cruz

Slovakia 3-2 Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:59:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Slovakia 3-2 Italy (Vittek 2, Kopunek; Di Natale, Quagliarella)

The Line-Ups:

Slovakia: 1-Jan Mucha; 2-Peter Pekarik, 3-Martin Skrtel, 16-Jan Durica, 5-Radoslav Zabavnik, 6-Zdeno Strba, 15-Miroslav Stoch, 17-Marek Hamsik, 11-Robert Vittek, 19-Juraj Kucka, 18-Erik Jendrisek.

Italy: 12-Federico Marchetti; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 4-Giorgio Chiellini, 3-Domenico Criscito, 22-Riccardo Montolivo, 6-Daniele De Rossi, 8-Gennaro Gattuso, 9-Vincenzo Iaquinta, 7-Simone Pepe, 10-Antonio Di Natale.

Sure there will be goals in this match because in the last 48 matches of Slovakia there have been goals for either side and on top of that one of the nations must win either to avoid Netherlands on the second round or just to advance.

Merry Christmas Slovakia. A gift from de Rossi to Robert Vittek that strikes the comfortably into the back of the net of Marchetti. And Slovakia is through to the second phase of the tournament with this result and that relegates Italy to the last position of the Group F.

Italy has been so poor that they don’t even seem the current World Cup Champions and instead of increasing their offensive plays they are being held at the back by the Slovakian.

In the 66^th minute Italy almost scored but the ball is cleared through an amazing goal-line save and so Italy still trails behind.

Game over for Italy. It is the second goal for Slovakia after a cross and the weakest link of Italy, the goalkeeper Marchetti could not save the effort from Vittek that scores the second against all odds.

Cassano, Totti, Del Piero, Miccoli, Grosso, Inzaghi among others must be taking a laugh back in Italy and tomorrow’s press is going to be full over it. It was everything down to Lippi’s choices and pride.

Italy scores after a rebound that Di Natale converts into a goal and Italy reduces 2-1 for the Squadra Azzurra.

Into the 85th minute and Italy have a decision working against them in a disallowed goal situation. Only the linesman saw that offside.

And Slovakia gets another one, 3-1, Kopunek the scorer and Marchetti it is on the frame again for the wrong reasons. What did we say about the absence of Buffon? Vital to say the least and as result of that Italy are out of the World Cup. No 1982’s revival after three draws. Slovakia outplayed the Italians.

What a match!!! Quagliarella scores an anthology goal but that will be not enough and Slovakia are through in the second place of this Group and will probably getting Netherlands on the second round.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Vittek

Ghana 0-1 Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:50:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Ghana 0-1 Germany (Ozil)

The Line-Ups:

Ghana: 22-Richard Kingson; 4-John Pantsil, 8-Jonathan Mensah, 5-John Mensah, 2-Hans Sarpei; 6-Anthony Annan, 23-Kevin-Prince Boateng, 13-Dede Ayew, 12-Prince Tagoe; 21-Kwadwo Asamoah, 3-Asamoah Gyan.

1 hour played and Ozil scores so far the best goal of the tournament and once again a left footed goal. Amazing composure by Ozil when controlling and then shooting the ball towards Kingson’s net. Germany are at this time top of the group D while Ghana maintain their qualifying spot but this time in second place due to the number of goals scored that are better than the run of Serbia.

While Germany keep playing in their high-tempo approach Ghana does not seem to be interested in losing the match as they already have had a lot of chances but failed to score yet they keep pressuring Germany in order to go further deep into Germans last third.

Germany-England & Ghana-USA in the second round of this World Cup.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ozil

Ghana 0-1 Germany (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Australia 2-1 Serbia

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:49:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Australia 2-1 Serbia (Cahill, Holman; Pantelic)

The Line-Ups:

Australia: 1-Mark Schwarzer; 2-Lucas Neill, 6-Michael Beauchamp, 4-Tim Cahill, 9-Josh Kennedy, 8-Luke Wilkshire, 23-Mark Bresciano, 5-Jason Culina, 16-Carl Valeri, 7-Brett Emerton, 21-David Carney.

Serbia: 1-Vladimir Stojkovic; 6-Branislav Ivanovic, 5-Nemanja Vidic, 13-Aleksandar Lukovic, 17-Milos Krasic, 10-Dejan Stankovic, 16-Ivan Obradovic, 22-Zdravko Kuzmanovic, 18-Milos Ninkovic, 14-Milan Jovanovic, 15-Nikola Zigic.

What a crazy Group D!! In the 70^th minute Australia scored a goal against Serbia through the inevitable Cahill. The Everton player’s goal means that Australia goes third but wait…

There’s another goal from Australia, could you believe that?! A 72th minute precious long shot by Holman finding the net and making the Aussies go wild. Can Australia score another two goals and edge Ghana from second position? In a world cup full of surprises go figure that odds.

Serbia scores!!! This fantastic match is on a 2-1 result. This time was Pantelic’s tap in to back of the net on the 84^th minute and on the 85^th minute if it was not the referee call on a offside and Pantelic would have scored a double.

That’s the end of the match with the Serbian team surrounding the referee because of handball inside of the area in the last minute that the judge has not give Serbia way.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Cahill

Australia 2-1 Serbia (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

USA 1-0 Algeria

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:09:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: USA 1-0 Algeria (Donovan)

The Line-Ups:

United States: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 15-Jay DeMerit, 12-Jonathan Bornstein, 3-Carlos Bocanegra; 10-Landon Donovan, 4-Michael Bradley, 19-Maurice Edu, 8-Clint Dempsey; 17-Jozy Altidore, 9-Hercules Gomez.

Algeria: 23-Rais Ouheb Mbouli; 2-Majid Bougherra, 5-Rafik Halliche, 4-Antar Yahia, 3-Nader Belhadj, 21-Fouad Kadir, 19-Hassan Yebda, 8-Medhi Lacen, 15-Karim Ziani, 11-Rafik Djebbour, 13-Karim Matmour.

Looks like this match it is going to be very good with both nations playing their soul out on the field. In the 7^th minute Algeria was almost scoring the first goal of the match with an acrobatic effort by Karim Matmour but the ball hit the bar.

Heading into the 20^th minute and USA has a disallowed goal when actually Dempsey does not seem to be offside, so the game will keep the 0-0 scoreboard with Bill Clinton on the tribune.

With England winning on the other match one of Algeria or USA must win in order to qualify otherwise they will be both out of the competition.

What a miss from USA!!! Dempsey had it all opened but managed to put the ball into the stands after taking the advantage of the rebounding ball on the post. Frustrated times in this match.

WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW Last minute and Donovan scores the most important goal ever for the North American. Like Obama’s moto “Yes, we can” so they did on the quickest of counters. The USA were really the best team on the field but were failing to convert the chances they created often throughout the match. No this time tough because they deserve it and with this win they are top of the group C.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Donovan

USA 1-0 Algeria (Highlights)

Simão | MySpace Video

Slovenia 0-1 England

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:07:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Slovenia 0-1 England (Defoe)

The Line-Ups:

England: 1-David James; 2-Glen Johnson, 15-Matthew Upson, 6-John Terry, 3-Ashley Cole; 16-James Milner, 4-Steven Gerrard, 8-Frank Lampard, 14-Gareth Barry; 19-Jermain Defoe, 10-Wayne Rooney.

Slovenia: 1-Samir Handanovic; 2-Miso Brecko, 4-Marko Suler, 5-Bostjan Cesar, 13-Bojan Jokic; 10-Valter Birsa, 8-Robert Koren, 18-Aleksandar Radosavljevic, 17-Andraz Kirm; 9-Zlatan Ljubijankic, 11-Milivoje Novakovic.

And that’s in!!!! Jermaine Defoe after a fantastic Milner cross swinging in gets the ball on the net. Tottenham’s striker high in the rankings after this goal and will England defend the result or will they try to increase the result?

Seems like England is going forward and developing an attacking 4-3-3 formation when on the move, maintaining 4-4-2 in terms of defensive approach because they are aware of the pace of the Slovenian full backs that come forward often creating spaces.

And that’s in!!!! Jermaine Defoe after a fantastic Milner cross swinging in gets the ball on the net. Tottenham’s striker high in the rankings after this goal and will England defend the result or will they try to increase the result?

In the last 15 minutes of the first half England kept pressuring high and were almost getting the second from inside the box when Defoe strikes and Handanovic gets it and Gerrard on the rebound was about to score before the Slovenian goalkeeper made his save of the tournament.

Offside…Rooney is offside way before Defoe puts the ball in the back of the net on the 49^th minute.

We are going into the 67^th minute and God Save the Queen. Terry first blocking and then Johnson in the biggest threat of the all match posed by any team and that was Slovenia on the attacking move.

Surprise substitution taking off Rooney and bringing on Joe Cole. We have been talking about this for a while and finally Capello makes it happen just after swapping Heskey for Defoe as we orchestrated in our report prior to the start of the World Cup.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Defoe

Slovenia 0-1 England (Highlights)

Simão | MySpace Video

Argentina 2-0 Greece

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:34:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Argentina 2-0 Greece (DeMichelis, Palermo)

The Line-Ups:

Greece: 12-Alexandros Tzorvas; 11-Loukas Vyntra, 5-Vangelis Moras, 16-Sotiris Kyrgiakos, 15-Vassilis Torosidis, 6-Alexandros Tziolis, 8-Avraam Papadopoulos, 19-Socratis Papastathopoulos 7-Giorgos Samaras, 10-Giorgos Karagounis, 21-Kostas Katsouranis.

Argentina: 22-Sergio Romero; 2-Martin Demichelis, 3-Clemente Rodriguez, 4-Nicolas Burdisso, 5-Mario Bolatti, 8-Juan Sebastian Veron, 20-Maxi Rodriguez, 15-Nicolas Otamendi, 10-Lionel Messi, 16-Sergio Aguero, 19-Diego Milito.

The very first chance of the match came through an individual effort from Aguero that opened completely the defensive line of catenaccio’s Greece and we were only into the first 17 minutes.

Argentina finally scores after 77 minutes through Demichelis to claim all 9 points from all matches played. It was a easy tap in by the defender after a good delivery after a corner kick. Not much to say about a game where Greece kept defending and Argentina kept attacking.

Palermo has his dream goal in the last World Cup of his career after a stunning shot from Messi being blocked by the Greek goalkeeper and he strikes on the rebound.

It is Argentina-Mexico in the second stage of this World Cup.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Messi

Greece 0-2 Argentina (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Nigeria 2-2 South Korea

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:34:00 +0000

THE FINAL RESULT: Nigeria 2-2 South Korea (Uche, Yakubu; Park Chu-young, Lee Jung-Soo)

The Line-Ups:

Nigeria: 1-Vincent Enyeama; 17-Chidi Odiah, 6-Danny Shittu, 2-Joseph Yobo, 5-Rabiu Afolabi, 12-Kalu Uche, 20-Dickson Etuhu, 13-Yusuf Ayila, 8-Yakubu Aiyegbeni, 19-Chinedu Obasi, 4-Nwankwo Kanu.

South Korea: 18-Jung Sung-ryong; 22-Cha Du-ri, 12-Lee Young-pyo, 4-Cho Yong-hyung, 14-Lee Jung-soo, 8-Kim Jung-woo, 16-Ki Sung-yong, 7-Park Ji-sung, 17-Lee Chung-yong, 10-Park Chu-young, 19-Yeom Ki-hun.

We are not even in the first minute and South Korea has the very first chance of the match thought a close shot by Lee Chung Yong that got injured after clashing involuntarily against Nigerian goalkeeper Enyeama.

Is this an injury match? Now it was Shitu that injured himself alone. He headed the ball towards Enyeama and when standing up he falls maybe due to messed up articulations, but still he keeps playing.

12 minutes and the number 12 of Nigeria, Uche scores a goal after performing a stunning anticipation move after a crossing from Chidi Odiah on the wing. 1-0 to the Eagles and with this result they just need Argentina to win against Greece and they will be through.

Set Piece from South Korea from the left wing and on the far post Lee Jung-Soo taps in from close range and levels the match. 1-1.

We are into 49 minutes and South Korea scores through a perfect free kick, the first of its kind on this World Cup and the magician was Park Chu-young striking from the edge of the box.

Nigeria by the 68^th minute has the chance to score through the penalty spot…And they done it, Yakubu convert the penalty to bring the game leveled and who knows what’s next!!

Nigeria had it all but the goal conceded from the free-kick knocked out the Africans. So it will be Uruguay-South Korea in the second round.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Park Ji-Sung

Nigeria 2-2 South Korea (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

Mexico 0-1 Uruguay

noreply@blogger.com (Nelson Motta) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:08:00 +0000

THE FINAL SCORE: Mexico 0-1 Uruguay (Suarez)

The Line-Ups:

Mexico: 1-Oscar Perez; 5-Ricardo Osorio, 15-Hector Moreno, 2-Francisco Rodriguez, 3-Carlos Salcido, 18-Andres Guardado, 4-Rafael Marquez, 6-Gerardo Torrado, 17-Giovani Dos Santos, 9-Guillermo Franco, 10-Cuauhtemoc Blanco

Uruguay: 1-Fernando Muslera; 2-Diego Lugano, 6-Mauricio Victorino, 4-Jorge Fucile, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 15-Diego Perez, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 11-Alvaro Pereira, 9-Luis Suarez, 10-Diego Forlan.

First five minutes and we see Suarez missing out on a perfect chance to put Uruguay ahead.

Advancing to the 21th minute it was Guardado for Mexico striking the ball violently against the post. So this means that no arranged match scam is on despite a lot of speculation.

43th minute and Suarez makes it 1-0 Uruguay. After Cavani crossing from the right wing Luis Suarez heads it in with no opposition from the Mexican goalkeeper.

Second half was not that lively even though Mexico tried to push for a goal in order to draw the match but still Aguirre felt much more comfortable when got from the bench that Malouda had scored for France and so the defeat even by a two goal margin would mean nothing but advance.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Suarez

Mexico 0-1 Uruguay (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video