EN World World Cup blog

[johnsemlak]

So far, Brazil-Ghana has been a great match. Bad luck for Ghana.

Though I thought that second goal was offside. But I always said, "It's not what actually happened, but how the ref calls it."

Yeah, Adriano's goal was a bad offsides no-call. He was running ahead of the defense all the way down the field. Should have been easy to spot. Interesting that the fans where overwhelmingly booing Brazil because that goal was allowwed.

 

[Klaus]

3-0 and Brazil won, even though it played reeeeally badly. Ghana was crowding the midfield, so instead of trying to cut through the midfield, Brazil should've used the sidelines to get to Ghana's goal. But for that, Brazil had to have actual PLAYERS, not the granpas "I play because of my name, even though I'm too tired to do anything but brag about my records" Cafu and Roberto Carlos.

Juninho Pernambucano's entry gave the team more speed, but the fact is that the team that defeated Japan was far more representative of the Brazilian school of football than the team that began against Croatia, Australia and Ghana.

Yeah, we Brazilian are di**s. We win by 3-0 and still say the team sucked. Them's the breaks...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hats off to Ghana!

But for some good play by Brazil's goalie, there could have been a very different result...

Of course, had it not been for the play of their goalie, the other Brazilians might have woken up and played seriously...

I'm going to go waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out on a limb and say I'll expect to see Ghana again in 4 years, especially if they develop their defense up to the same level as their offense. You simply can't play an offsides trap like that against a team that good and not expect to see some breakaways.

Imagine being Ghana's goalie, facing the "best player in the world" one on one...

 

[johnsemlak]

Yeah, we Brazilian are di**s. We win by 3-0 and still say the team sucked. Them's the breaks...

Well, many non-Brazilians are probably writing about how 'badly' Brazil played today. It'll keep going right up to Brazil holding the trophy.

Interesting to see that Brazil got booed a lot by the crowd. I think it's in part because Ghana had become a particular underdog fan-favorite.

 

[johnsemlak]

Spain-France pregame

Kick-off in ten min.

I'm quite intrigued by this match up. I initially wrote it off as an easy win for Spain but maybe this could be Spain's first real test. Here's hoping for a great match.

I still think Spain will put a lot of pressure on Barthez, who might make a blunder to concede a goal. I actually like Barthez but after seeing him at Man Utd I saw how he's occasionally erratic. On the other hand with Zidane there's always a decent chance at a Zidane goal from a free kick, and Theirry Henry should make several threatening runs.

 

[Klaus]

Well, many non-Brazilians are probably writing about how 'badly' Brazil played today. It'll keep going right up to Brazil holding the trophy.

Interesting to see that Brazil got booed a lot by the crowd. I think it's in part because Ghana had become a particular underdog fan-favorite.

That would change if Brazil has actually played like, y'know, Brazil. For that we need to replace Cafu and Roberto Carlos for Cicinho and Gilberto, replace Emerson with Juninho Pernambucano and Adriano for Robinho. If the teams starts to move about and play what we call football-art, people will start to root for them, like they did for the awesome 1982 team (who lost to the very boring Italy).

I'm torn over Spain-France. I'm part Spanish, but a part of me wants to face France again and slap them about for the 1998 final.

 

[Jdvn1]

I'm quite intrigued by this match up. I initially wrote it off as an easy win for Spain but maybe this could be Spain's first real test. Here's hoping for a great match.

I'm still not sure why you thought this would be an easy win for Spain. France is one of the top 10 teams in the world. It's not an easy win for anyone.

Sure, Spain's been playing well, but France didn't get to be ranked so high (and consistently) for nothing.

 

[Jdvn1]

I'm still not sure why you thought this would be an easy win for Spain. France is one of the top 10 teams in the world. It's not an easy win for anyone.

Sure, Spain's been playing well, but France didn't get to be ranked so high (and consistently) for nothing.

Though, I didn't expect 3-1.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think France had the advantage over Spain because the game was scheduled so close in time to siesta...the Spainiards were groggy.

 

[Klaus]

I think France had the advantage over Spain because the game was scheduled so close in time to siesta...the Spainiards were groggy.

Nah, the match was at 9PM local time, siesta is noon-to-2PM. La Furia just fell back to its usual Cup behaviour...