Match Day Six review

So yes... Spain, muy bueno. I was particularly impressed by David Villa, who was a handful everytime he had the ball. The Spanish were continually making runs for each other and playing as a team. I know it's early days yet, but it made me momentarily feel smug about my prediction that the Spanish would win the whole thing. The match was definitely marred by the ridiculous penalty and sending off... the most ludicrous call I've seen so far in the finals. Apparently, the Ukranians intend to blame their poor play--and click on this link if you even think for a millisecond that I am making this up--on some loud frogs.


But even as they are stymied by Spain and amorous amphibians, Ukraine have got to feel good that the Islam Bowl ended in a 2-2 draw. I watched the first half of this only, and was little impressed by either side. I thought the Tunisians had a touch more class about them, but not really enough to get out of the group, as I had picked them to do. The draw favors the Saudis, who will get to play the demoralized Ukraine next and save their Spanish mauling for the end, when the Spanish might be comfortable enough to send out their B team (i.e. Raul up front.) Anyway, a shame I missed the second half because the ending was quite dramatic. Unfortunately, the draw helps neither team.

You know, the G1 vs H2 round of 16 game is going to be a real crapshoot. That's where you could get an unfancied team reaching the quarters.


The second set of games got underway with Germany's last gasp 1-0 victory over Poland. Reading the Guardian's minute-by-minute report, you'd have thought this one to be a stinker, but really it was very watchable, played at a breakneck tempo, even if the quality wasn't always there. To their credit, Poland really came out to play, and looked several times better than they did against Ecuador. The substitution of Odonkor for Friedrich seemed to be the key; it brought Schweinsteiger inside and provided acres of space for Odonkor to operate (later, Klinsmann replaced Schweinsteiger with central mid Borowski, and gave Odonkor even more space.) It was just a matter of time before he produced a moment of quality, although it came with seconds left.


Some news of note for tomorrow's games. It looks like Rooney really will play against T&T. This, for me, seems like a fundamentally bad idea, but who am I to question Sven-Goran Eriksson's sound footballing judgement? (For those not familiar with the England team over the last six years, that was sarcasm.)

Also, it looks like Olaf Mellberg and Freddie Ljungberg have been fighting again, which, you may recall, they did in 2002 as well. We can only dream that there is footage as hilarious as there was last time round, when Ljungberg wildly tackled Olaf, who promptly grabbed him by the throat. Good times.