![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The second round of group play ended with quite a bang - the fans of both Portugal and Spain must be in seventh heaven! Can't wait for the 3rd set of games to begin in a few hours. There's a lot still on the line - only two teams (Cameroon and North Korea) have been mathematically eliminated.
June 21, 2010
The day started with what at first looked like a tight match between Portugal and North Korea. North Korea had held Brazil to only two goals in their first game, and it looked like they might do the same or better with Portugal. But the floodgates opened for Portugal in the second half when they scored 3 goals in 8 minutes. They then gave Korea a brief respite before reigniting for another 3 goals near the final whistle. One might feel a little sorry for North Korea if the play of Portugal hadn't been so darned exciting - football at it's finest.
Next up was Chile versus Switzerland in a match that was almost the polar opposite - a tight defensive struggle. Switzerland, which scored a huge upset by defeating Spain last week on a score of 1-0, set a World Cup record by going 550 minutes without conceding a goal. The last team to score on them in the World Cup finals had been Spain in 1994 - now that's impressive defense! Alas, only minutes after setting that record, they conceded the only goal of the game. Chile lack the world class finishing that distinguishes the other South American teams, but nonetheless are currently at the top of group H. (Interesting fact: 5 South American teams qualified for the World Cup, and all 5 are leading their respective groups.)
After losing their opening game, Spain were in a must-win situation here. For the first 15 minutes or so, tension was high - Spain's play was beautiful to watch but could they actually manage to get the ball in the net? David Villa answered the call with a magnificent goal, darting through the defence and unleashing a powerful finish. The goalie had no chance on this or Villa's second goal when his shot deflected off a defender's knee. Going for the hat trick, Villa had the goalie beat on a penalty shot but alas missed the net. If Spain's finishing had been just slightly better, they could possibly have matched Portugal in the goal scoring department. Nonetheless, it looks like they are rounding back into form at the right time. They still need to beat Chile next week though.
It's fun (for me at least) to figure out all the scenarios that would allow a team to progress to the round of 16*. Consider for example the case of Portugal and Côte d'Ivoire. Côte d'Ivoire would need to win its last game to get to 4 points, and then have Brazil thump Portugal to such an extent that the current goal differential (+7 for Portugal, -2 for Côte d'Ivoire) changes to their advantage. In other words, Portugal is ALMOST sure of going through.
And in case you're wondering, Brazil (currently ranked world #1) and Portugal (#3) wound up in the same group because the World Cup has a complicated procedure for semi-randomly setting up the groups. Basically, the home team and the top 7 teams in the world get seeded in separate groups. However, the seedings were based on the world rankings back in October 2009, at which time Portugal was ranked #10. Obviously, they are a very hot team, which is why we may well be seeing a preview of the World Cup Final in group play next week.
*The rankings in each group are based on:
a) total points; then
b) goal difference; then
c) goals scored.
If two or more teams are still tied, then it comes down to:
d) points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
June 21, 2010
The day started with what at first looked like a tight match between Portugal and North Korea. North Korea had held Brazil to only two goals in their first game, and it looked like they might do the same or better with Portugal. But the floodgates opened for Portugal in the second half when they scored 3 goals in 8 minutes. They then gave Korea a brief respite before reigniting for another 3 goals near the final whistle. One might feel a little sorry for North Korea if the play of Portugal hadn't been so darned exciting - football at it's finest.
Next up was Chile versus Switzerland in a match that was almost the polar opposite - a tight defensive struggle. Switzerland, which scored a huge upset by defeating Spain last week on a score of 1-0, set a World Cup record by going 550 minutes without conceding a goal. The last team to score on them in the World Cup finals had been Spain in 1994 - now that's impressive defense! Alas, only minutes after setting that record, they conceded the only goal of the game. Chile lack the world class finishing that distinguishes the other South American teams, but nonetheless are currently at the top of group H. (Interesting fact: 5 South American teams qualified for the World Cup, and all 5 are leading their respective groups.)
After losing their opening game, Spain were in a must-win situation here. For the first 15 minutes or so, tension was high - Spain's play was beautiful to watch but could they actually manage to get the ball in the net? David Villa answered the call with a magnificent goal, darting through the defence and unleashing a powerful finish. The goalie had no chance on this or Villa's second goal when his shot deflected off a defender's knee. Going for the hat trick, Villa had the goalie beat on a penalty shot but alas missed the net. If Spain's finishing had been just slightly better, they could possibly have matched Portugal in the goal scoring department. Nonetheless, it looks like they are rounding back into form at the right time. They still need to beat Chile next week though.
It's fun (for me at least) to figure out all the scenarios that would allow a team to progress to the round of 16*. Consider for example the case of Portugal and Côte d'Ivoire. Côte d'Ivoire would need to win its last game to get to 4 points, and then have Brazil thump Portugal to such an extent that the current goal differential (+7 for Portugal, -2 for Côte d'Ivoire) changes to their advantage. In other words, Portugal is ALMOST sure of going through.
And in case you're wondering, Brazil (currently ranked world #1) and Portugal (#3) wound up in the same group because the World Cup has a complicated procedure for semi-randomly setting up the groups. Basically, the home team and the top 7 teams in the world get seeded in separate groups. However, the seedings were based on the world rankings back in October 2009, at which time Portugal was ranked #10. Obviously, they are a very hot team, which is why we may well be seeing a preview of the World Cup Final in group play next week.
*The rankings in each group are based on:
a) total points; then
b) goal difference; then
c) goals scored.
If two or more teams are still tied, then it comes down to:
d) points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
| Group G Standings | ||||||
| Team (FIFA rank) | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Points |
| Brazil (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
| Portugal (3) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7(!) | 0 | 4 |
| Côte d'Ivoire (27) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Korea DPR (105) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Table H Standings | ||||||
| Team (FIFA rank) | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Points |
| Chile (18) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Spain (2) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Switzerland (24) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Honduras (38) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
