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We just crossed the halfway point of the tournament, when measured in terms of number of games played. The tournament consists of a total of 63 games, of which: 32 games have been played over the past 11 days: 4 games in each of the 8 groups; there are 16 games remaining in the group phase: 2 games in each of the 8 groups, with 4 games per day over the next 4 days (Tues-Fri); 16 teams will advance to the knockout phase: 2 teams from each of the 8 groups; 15 games will be played in the knockout phase: 8 + 4 + 2 + 1. So the total # of 63 can be broken down as follows: 63 = 32 + 16 + 15 = 8*4 + 8*2 + (8 + 4 + 2 + 1). Let me know if you see anything wrong with the math here.
Spain just kicked off against Honduras--and so begins the highly anticipated return of Spain to the field of play after their shocking loss to Switzerland last week. Req'd--or at least highly suggested reading going into this match is Adam Novy's listicle: "5 Reasons Spain Lost to Switzerland".. Starting lineups: Spain - Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Juan Capdevila, Jesus Navas, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Fernando Torres, David Villa. Honduras - Noel Valladares, Sergio Mendoza, Osman Chavez, Maynor Figueroa, Emilio Izaguirre, Danilo Turcios, Wilson Palacios, Amado Guevara, Roger Espinoza, Walter Martinez, David Suazo. Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan). Commentary after the jump... [liveblog]11[/liveblog]
Chile vs. Switzerland: SNOOZE. Besides that rando-red card, there hasn't been much to report on in this match-up IMHO... except, of course, this game's clear pick for Most Valuable Hottie: the young-and-banging Carlos Emilio Carmona Tello, Chile's 23-year-old midfielder who was the touch-leader of the first half of the game (I think I made that up, but it means he had the most touches of the ball - 43)! Carlos was his country's youngest player at the 2005 U-20 World Cup in Holland and captained some other teams I think. I can't find that much about him on the internet, but don't you just want to drown in those bedroom eyes? La Swoon!
Like the last couple games we've (semi-)liveblogged, we won't try to keep up with the game play-by-play, but we will post some thoughts and observations on the flow of play and on the individual players. This match just kicked off a few minutes ago. It should be an interesting and competitive match, as both teams won their opening games: Chile impressed in defeating Honduras; while Switzerland shocked the world by upsetting Spain. Starting lineups: Chile: Bravo, Isla, Jara, Ponce, Vidal; Carmona, Medel; Sanchez, Fernandez, Beausejour; Suazo Switzerland: Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Von Bergen, Grichting, Ziegler; Behrami, Huggel, Inler, Fernandes; N'Kufo, Frei Time-stamped observations after the jump... [liveblog]10[/liveblog]
Via an Englishman in New York, @johnglally (whom we hope will soon shift (or at least crosspost) his commentary from Twitter to CultFootball): "I wonder why England players might suffer from complacency and overconfidence..." Dateline = December 2009, when the group draw was announced.
A big day for the two teams who were in last tournament's final. France refused to train in solidarity of Anelka's sending home (after calling Domenech a "son-of-a-bitch" when taken off during the 2-0 loss to Mexico). Italy looked lifeless today against the All-Whites, until they were scored upon and need to level. They dove, wow did they dive, their way back to a 1-1 scoreline, then sat back and relaxed again, never really threatening for the whole 3 points. What can you say other than, WTF? We've all seen the players on both these teams at club level, and they are fantastic week after week. They play beautiful team ball and are punished if they don't. Then they throw on the national team jersey and everything goes to hell. This is where a strong manager comes to play. National team coaches can't simply pick the best players in the
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We're not liveblogging this one, as the game is already in the 29th minute, and in fact Paraguay just scored to go up 1-0. But we'll use our liveblogging format nevertheless for some notes and observations about the match--probably mostly about the Paraguayan side, as we're guessing they're the more likely to advance out of the group. Starting lineups below, and notes after the jump... Slovakia: Jan Mucha, Peter Pekarik, Martin Skrtel, Zdeno Strba, Vladimir Weiss, Jan Kozak, Stanislav Sestak, Robert Vittek, Jan Durica, Marek Hamsik, Kornel Salata. Paraguay: Justo Villar, Claudio Morel, Carlos Bonet, Roque Santa Cruz, Enrique Vera, Paulo Da Silva, Victor Caceres, Cristian Riveros, Nelson Valdez, Lucas Barrios, Antolin Alcaraz. [liveblog]9[/liveblog]
No one in their right mind would say that France and England don’t have great players. The problem is that most of them play the same position.
