Reflections on Groups A and B

Now I've seen all 8 teams in the the first two groups play I can say that I'm willing to reaffirm my conviction that it will be Argentina and South Korea to advance out of Group B. Not only because they both won today (3 points in the opening match is a big step), but because they easily looked like the two strongest teams. Greece looked like they had no business being at this World Cup. They couldn't put a play together to put the ball in the net and they were shabby on defense. If they continue to play this way I'd say they're unlikely to get a goal, much less a point.


Every time I watch Argentina, I'm amazed at the quality of their passing game. They're so precise and able to string together 10 or 12 consecutive passes while setting up the attack. Remember their goal in '06 against Serbia and Montenegro - 26 passes, if memory serves, utilizing 9 players and ending in one of the best goals of the tournament. They got an early goal against Nigeria after both teams were taking it to the limit at both ends of the pitch. Argentina kept trying to beat down the door for that second goal, mainly from Messi, who was desperately trying to get his second World Cup goal. But not for the heroic goalkeeping of the Enyeama, the Nigeria keeper, Argentina would have been up by about 4 goals at the final whistle. It's no surprise he earned FIFA Man of the Match honors. As they came out in the second half it looked like Nigeria's whole strategy was to lock down the defense, keep Argentina from going up two and look for a goal on a fast breakaway. They had a few good chances, none of which were successfully finished.

In Group A, Mexico severely underperformed. They should have defeated South Africa, who scored the first goal on the one really good play they had the whole match. Mexico leveled the score about 15 minutes later. Mexico should be disappointed not to take 3 points off South Africa, who have to be thrilled to come out of their opener with a point.

I said in my initial prediction that this was a tough group to call, probably the toughest. With Uruguay and France playing to a 0-0 draw all teams in the group have 1 point. The group is still wide open. Uruguay looked strong with an unbelievably tight defense. France, on the other hand, looked sloppy. Well, both teams were sloppy on the attack. They just kept giving the ball away to each other, but every time France had the ball in or near Uruguay's box they were simply picked off or made bad passes. I'm sticking with my first prediction, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Uruguay go through.

And now: England - USA!!