I have really been enjoying the football these past two-weeeks-and-whatever days. I especially enjoyed the fights that some of the less-appreciated nations put on; there were great displays of courage and national pride from some teams that weren’t expected to do well. I feel sorry for Ghana (thanks for knocking out USA!) that they now have to face Brazil so early on; England will be expected to have a much easier ride. But then again, Ecuador is showing itself to be a typical South American team; difficult to play and with flair in bucketloads, and beating Poland and Cost Rica soundly. I really do wish Japan and South Korea could have done better; for all the effort they put in and nifty footwork, they just don’t seem able to finish the move with threats in the box.
But no country is playing “typically” any more; as coaches drift from continent to continent, the styles of playing have really mingled until it seems that only the match on the day and the opponents decide what manner of game wll be played by any country, and even Germany is now playing attacking football!
The game I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, so far, has been last night’s amazing Argentina v Mexico. I was rooting for Mexico as soon as I saw the way they came flying out of the block. Even mighty Argentina seemed nonplussed and staggered in the early minutes. If only Borgetti didn’t head that own goal in (yes Crespo, we saw it wasn’t you, thanks to a few of the billion cameras around that stadium), things might’ve really been different now. As it was, Maxi scored an absolute blinder in a nail-biting extra time finish to edge Mexico out.
Let’s see what today’s matches bring: England v Ecuador and Portugal v Holland.