Germany, England, Argentina, Holland, Portugal, Italy, France, Brazil and Spain, veterans and favourites of World Cup. We had seen all of them except for Spain in the first round of group stages. Most of them had only achieved the 1-0 score line against their opponent, not winning very beautifully and faced a lot of pressure from their opponents. The only fantastic performance came from Germany in their opening match, scoring four goals against Costa Rica; this match was most entertaining and exciting with the great works from the host. Other than Germany, the other teams were not in good form to play brilliantly. Many of the favourites were against first-timers making their debut. Though the smaller teams lost, they gave the veterans the utmost resistance and it had been never an easy game for the veterans. With SpainÂ’s match against Ukraine coming up tonight, I hope that Spain can live up to their expectations and play well, though it is a tough match for them as Ukraine is not a bad team too.
Amongst all the favourites, Brazil is the hottest favourites for the championship but after watching their match yesterday, it was the most disappointing. If not for KakaÂ’s well-aimed powerful strike outside the penalty box and the Croatians not grasping their handful of goal-scoring chances, the Brazil might had created the biggest upset in this World Cup. Ronaldo, scoring the most goals in the last World Cup, was totally disappointing, with only a long shot outside the penalty box and it was well wide over the crossbar. I was too upset seeing him strolling in walking pace on the field for almost all the time and I thought he almost had disappeared if he had not the delivered the shot which was not on goal. Brazil certainly had not displayed their champion qualities. Other players, especially the forwards were very quiet, not causing that much trouble to Croatian defence as it was supposed to have been. It would be very embarrassing for them if they had not won but thanks to Kaka, saviour of Brazil.
Disappointment from France too in their draw with Switzerland. They had lots of goal scoring chances but continued their goal drought, not scoring for four consecutive World Cup Finals matches for such a France team. However, the 0-0 result was fair for both teams as the Switzerland side was terrific in defence and they too had great scoring chances, one which had struck the bar. FranceÂ’s performance too, was not bad as they displayed good football techniques every minute. The opponentÂ’s defence held up and they continued their failure for goal scoring. Despite the results which were not satisfactory for the French side, their chances for the second round were high as they take on Korea in their oncoming match.
It was unsatisfactory for England and Portugal with their small win. They were uneasy at many times of the game. Though winning was happy enough for their fans, I had expected them to play much more brilliantly. Argentina, Italy and Holland looked good as they emerged victorious in their important opening match. Argentina and Italy had shown clearly their goal scoring ability as they troubled the opponentÂ’s defence again and again, scoring two goals each in the match. Holland was inspired by the wonderful Robben. Robben had given a dazzling display with his sheer speed, accuracy and finish in the field. He was the most dangerous amongst all the players not only in the Holland squad but also in this World Cup Finals.
I looked forward to more great football by these veterans over the next month as they continued with their World Cup campaign. With the favourites performing and the weaker teams striving hard for surprises by giving the powerful the hardest times in this exciting World Cup Finals.