Good morning all! Welcome back to the Football Phoenix. Due to nights out, delayed trains after nights out, work and very hot nights preventing me from sleeping properly, there hasn’t been a blog since Friday morning, and so I haven’t been able to cover the World Cup as well as I would have liked, but hopefully things will pick up now.
Before we get to previews of tonight’s games, let’s take a look at the weekend results from Groups A, B and C (D, E and F tomorrow). Amazingly, no draws so far in this World Cup too! I think what we’ve seen so far has already been much better than the World Cup 2010 in its entirety.
Mexico 1-0 Cameroon: More refereeing controversy as Mexico had two Giovanni Dos Santos goals incorrectly ruled out for offside. It didn’t matter in the end though as Oribe Peralta was on hand to tap in the rebound for the only goal of the game after Dos Santos had an effort saved. Just the result Mexico needed if they’re going to want to get out of the group, but the same challenge is now going to be very tough for Cameroon as this really was a game they needed something from.
Spain 1-5 Netherlands: The first shock result of this tournament. Netherlands got revenge for the 2010 final emphatically. Spain were dubiously awarded a penalty when the totally-not-Spanish Diego Costa went down easily under a Stefan de Vrij challenge. Xabi Alonso’s penalty goal was cancelled out by Robin Van Persie’s fantastic diving header just before half time. Arjen Robben scored an excellent brace either side of further goals from Stefan de Vrij and van Persie again, the latter coming due to a poor goalkeeping error from Iker Casillas. Much as I find it hard to support anyone with Van Persie these days, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Dutch and was glad to see them do so well. Spain will hope to still qualify from the group, but following this result Chile might feel more confident against them and the goal difference could be decisive.
Chile 3-1 Australia: A scoreline that reflect more poorly on Australia than they deserved. Alexis Sanchez and Jorge Valvidia scored two early goals to put Chile 2-0, but later on in the half Tim Cahill rose well to head home and pull one back for the Socceroos. Despite Australia’s best efforts, their quality up front was sadly lacking and they failed to get the second goal they needed. In injury time, Jean Beausejour wrapped up the scoring with a well taken long range low drive. This result, in addition to Spain’s defeat, should leave Chile confident of their chances of progressing from the group, but it’s very difficult to see Australia progressing.
Colombia 3-0 Greece: Colombia dispatched of the most boring football team the world has ever seen with an emphatic 3-0 victory. An early effort from left back Pablo Armero put Colombia in front, forcing Greece to do something that they’re not comfortable with at all, and that is to actually attack. The Greeks actually fashioned several good chances, only for poor finishing (see Theofanis Gekas’ header onto the bar at 2-0 down) and unlucky near misses to prevent them from levelling the score. Despite not playing all that impressively on the whole, Colombia sealed the win with second half goals from Teofilo Gutierrez and James Rodriguez. Considering that Ivory Coast and Japan are, at the very least, no easier opponents than Colombia, it’s hard to see Greece getting out of this group.
Ivory Coast 2-1 Japan: Two headed goals in two minutes from Wilfried Bony and Gervinho, both from Serge Aurier crosses, secured a comeback victory for the Ivory Coast after Japan took an early lead through Keisuke Honda’s fine effort. A good victory on the whole from Ivory Coast, who looked better for the majority of the game after Japan’s early dominance wore off.
Right then, today’s biggest showdown is Germany vs Portugal. It’s set to be a good game, methinks, and with the Germans playing so well you have to fancy them as the slight favourites even if Portugal have Christiano Ronaldo ready to go. Seeing as Messi scored an excellent goal last night, Ronaldo will want to match the feat of his long-time rival.
There’s also Iran vs Nigeria and Ghana vs the USA to look forward to. Iran are serious underdogs and it would take a brave man to bet on them leaving this tournament with any points, whereas Ghana and the US are two relatively evenly matched teams who are likely to produce a pretty open game.
So here are my predictions for tonight’s fixtures:
Germany 2-1 Portugal
Iran 1-3 Nigeria
Ghana 2-2 USA
That’s right, I’m fancying the first draw of the tournament at long last later.
Anyway, that’s all for today. More tomorrow.
thefootballphoenix 