On the cusp of greatness ... and other World Cup based thoughts

Wow, what a week!

Juggling a new job, the World Cup and other commitments is making my head spin. But hey, its once every four years right (the World Cup, not the job). So grin and bear it. At least the vcr is getting a good workout and I'm managing to squeeze in as much soccer as possible in between normal TV programming.

So what has happened since the last post? A lot but I'll start with the team that are second on my list of teams to win the tournament, Argentina (England being my first choice - more on them later). They won big on the weekend, hammering Serbia and Montenegro six goals to nil. The Europeans were a weakened and demoralised side to begin with, what with injuries to key defenders (Nemanja Vidic) and a first up loss to a less than brilliant Netherlands.

But it wasn't the number of goals Argentina scored but how they scored them. Every goal was a work of art that makes football the beautiful game. It also showed the type of teamwork and unity that Brazil lacked in their less than convincing win over Croatia. All the goals were scored from inside the box and the defence was taken apart in clinical fashion each time. There was only one piece of individuality, courtesy of Carlos Tevez late in the game.

Argentina have demonstrated that they have a mix of both teamwork and individual skills to open teams up and so go to the top of my World Cup favourites. England laboured to a 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago who looked more than likely to steal a point off their more fancied opponents. Captain Fantastic at Liverpool, Steven Gerrard got the late second goal while Peter "he's got a good first touch for such a tall lad" Crouch got the opener.

It was good to see Rooney get a run and his introduction along with Aaron Lennon gave England a sense of urgency which was missing in the game against Paraguay and for most of the T&T match. Sweden finally got going with a drab 1-0 win over Paraguay but the talking point is that Trinidad and Tobago can still make the second round if Sweden lose or draw with England.

Another debutant that still has a chance is Ghana, who I was very impressed with in their win against the second ranked team in the world, the Czech Republic. The first upset of the tournament was a thumpingly good match with Ghana taking the lead within the first minute then dominating the match until the second goal which was ripper from Sulley Muntari, who up to that point, I only knew from playing Pro Evolution Soccer 5 on my PS2. I'm happy to report that the real version is as good if not better than the pixelated version.

The Czech Republic were plain outplayed and didn't look passionate enough to get a result. Apparently they have a problem with their strikers being injured, which may affect their progress later on. Meanwhile the USA and Italy cancelled each other out in a 1-1 stalemate which looked more like a bad day in Baghdad than a soccer match. Claret everywhere, the liquid and plastic variety. That leaves Group E wide open and I hope Ghana can beat the USA in the next game to go through.

Bring it on

And so finally the game tonight, which I won't be staying up for, Australia v Brazil. It's time to make a mark on the world stage and lets hope Guus has a brilliant gameplan on hand to stop the Samba Kings, who like Argentina, are due a big match. I'm sure the Brazil team will want to put an exclamation point with the victory and it's important the Aussies hang on. This myth that Brazil have defensive problems, must be ignored. Teams with defensive problems don't win five World Cups.

I'm hoping for an Aussie win, not only because that will guarantee our passage into the second but also guarantee that football will be the most watched sport in Australia (I guess the Wallaby's farcical rugby union win over England has jaded me a little).

Whatever happens (hope for a win, pray for a draw), the Socceroos and soccer ...football, will be the winner on the day. I'll be back with a wrap after the coming weeks games.

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
Oi! Oi! Oi!

- The Psynic