World Cup Update 2

Well that week seemed very quick.  Except for the 90 minutes on Friday night that dragged like a cat bringing home a freshly killed “gift”.  We found out that 4-4-2 doesn’t work, the ball doesn’t dip and the referee doesn’t know his dive from a swinging elbow.  There were many good results with the big teams continuing to drop vital points but again the ball seems to be hampering those long shots and free kicks.  There was an improved 42 goals in 16 games so maybe they’re getting used to it.  France are doing their best to take over Holland’s title of “Most Self Destructive” but ever competitive England are starting to challenge for that title too.

Second round down, Cameroon and North Korea are out already but will they get a consolation of one of my “Awards of the week”? (Spoiler: They don’t)

Best Goal

David Villa – Spain

Special mentions to Landon Donovan and Luis Fabiano (The good one not the handball one)  but this one topped it.  Nice solo effort, quick feet coming in from the left and stretching to lift the ball into the far corner.  Best goal so far I think.

Best Team

Serbia

Tough one, New Zealand played a very average opponents, as did Argentina, Mexico, Algeria, Portugal and Spain to rule them out of team of the week.  But with Germany playing VERY well when they came up against Serbia who limited their chances despite the Podolski penalty miss.

Best Player

Gonzalo Higuain – Argentina

Straight forward, World Cup Hat-tricks are hard to come by and no matter how they go in they all count.

Least Valuable Player (AKA The Muppet Award)

Wayne Rooney – England

“His second touch is a tackle” has never been more pertinant than the game against Algeria.  No control, no shot, too slow, didn’t chase back, nothing, couldn’t be bothered.  Kaka, Villa etc woke up after one game hopefully Rooney will wake up after two.

Best Moment

Kaka – Brazil

Loving the Karma again.  OK, it was 12 years ago since Rivaldo was “hit in the face” with the ball against Turkey.  So I took great delight in Abdelkader Keita for Ivory Coast just dropping holding his face when he was… erm… whats lighter than a push? He was ‘brushed’ in the chest by Kaka.

That’s my 5 awards for another week.  From now until Friday you have the choice of which game to watch as the groups are decided.  I’ll be watching Mexico, Greece, Slovenia, Ghana, Slovakia, Cameroon, Portugal and Chile vs their respective opponents.

Qualifying Predictions are..
Uruguay – Mexico
Argentina – South Korea
England – USA
Germany – Serbia
Holland – Denmark
Paraguay – Italy
Brazil – Portugal
Spain – Chile

I’ll be back on the full time whistle on Friday with more news and to see how the predictions went.

@jestatharogue