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World Cup Watching
June 17, 2010
Exhibit 1: Argentina. To say they aren't my favourites is a vast understatement, but it was hard not to enjoy their play today as they romped to a 4-1 victory. Gonzalo Higuain also took a decisive lead in the race for the Golden Boot (for leading scorer) by scoring two today to go with the one he scored in the opener. And he wasn't even the outstanding player of the game - that honour goes to play-maker Messi, who broke down the Korean defense all day long. The only flaw in their game was a defensive let down that allowed Korea their goal. Argentina served notice that they're here to win.
Exhibit 2: Greece. Greece pulled off a stunning win in the 2004 EuroCup but otherwise have a pretty empty resume on the world stage. In fact, today was their first ever win at the World Cup finals - heck, it was their first ever goal. Nigeria started the game looking stronger and quickly scored on a free kick where the goalie played for a header only to have the ball go straight in. Ouch! But a player lost his temper and was red carded for a flagrant foul and Nigeria had to play short-handed for nearly an hour. Mexico still had to really work for their two goals though because the Nigeria goalie was spectacular.
Exhibit 3: Mexico. Group A looked to be the easiest of all groups, designed that way no doubt to give the host nation a chance at going through. France's passing game looked very pretty at times with lovely flicks to maneuverer around the defense. But when it came to actually shooting at the net - horrible. Mexico wasn't exactly brilliant, but did impress with their speed on attack.
Forgive the pun, but the French are now toast. Their only chance at going through is to thump South Africa in their last game and pray that there's not a tie in the match between Uruguay and Mexico. Both of those teams go through with a tie, but Mexico at least has incentive to play for the win: the #2 team in this group will go on to face #1 in group B, almost certainly Argentina. Not exactly the team you want to be facing in the round of 16.
| Table A Standings | ||||||
| Team (FIFA rank) | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Points |
| Uruguay (16) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Mexico (17) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| France (9) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| South Africa (83) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Group B Standings | ||||||
| Team (FIFA rank) | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Points |
| Argentina (7) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Korea Republic (47) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Greece (13) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Nigeria (21) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
