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But first, the amazing Zenyatta going for a modern day record of 17 straight wins. Watch and marvel!
June 13, 2010
Wow, just wow. Normally I would go through the games in chronological order, but Germany's victory over Australia was just so wonderful to watch that I had to start with them. This was football at its finest - well, for Germany at least. They scored early and for a while in the first half, it looked to me like they might be content with that. They passed the ball back and forth in the midfield with characteristic precision, but didn't look like they were going to really attack. Turns out they were just feeling out the Australian defense, and they found plenty to exploit. Time and again, the Germans got the jump on the defenders, so much so that one might be forgiven for thinking they were offside. Our TV commentators kept showing us replays that confirmed the opposite - the Germans were just that much quicker. Wunderbar. The only remaining question for me is whether Germany is really this good or is Australia a fair bit worse than its world ranking would indicate. Looking forward to the next matches!
In other Group D action, Ghana earned an historic first win for Africa on a penalty kick in the dying minutes. It was a silly handball by Serbia that gave rise to the penalty, but the Ghanans looked much the better team. Serbia is now in big trouble, especially considering their next match is against Germany!
The 3rd game, between Algeria and Slovenia, was won by the latter on a very ho-hum goal. The win puts Slovenia at the top of Group C, but I expect that to be a short lived situation given upcoming matches against the US and then England.
June 13, 2010
Wow, just wow. Normally I would go through the games in chronological order, but Germany's victory over Australia was just so wonderful to watch that I had to start with them. This was football at its finest - well, for Germany at least. They scored early and for a while in the first half, it looked to me like they might be content with that. They passed the ball back and forth in the midfield with characteristic precision, but didn't look like they were going to really attack. Turns out they were just feeling out the Australian defense, and they found plenty to exploit. Time and again, the Germans got the jump on the defenders, so much so that one might be forgiven for thinking they were offside. Our TV commentators kept showing us replays that confirmed the opposite - the Germans were just that much quicker. Wunderbar. The only remaining question for me is whether Germany is really this good or is Australia a fair bit worse than its world ranking would indicate. Looking forward to the next matches!
In other Group D action, Ghana earned an historic first win for Africa on a penalty kick in the dying minutes. It was a silly handball by Serbia that gave rise to the penalty, but the Ghanans looked much the better team. Serbia is now in big trouble, especially considering their next match is against Germany!
The 3rd game, between Algeria and Slovenia, was won by the latter on a very ho-hum goal. The win puts Slovenia at the top of Group C, but I expect that to be a short lived situation given upcoming matches against the US and then England.
| Group C Standings | ||||||
| Team (FIFA rank) | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Points |
| Slovenia (25) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| England (8) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| U.S. (14) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Algeria (30) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Group D Standings | ||||||
| Team (FIFA rank) | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Points |
| Germany (6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Ghana (32) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Serbia (15) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Australia (20) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
