Reflections on the 2006 World Cup Days 1 & 2

by user Thecrookedcap

5 games done in the first round of match over in Germany. Time to look at how these teams did in their opening matches. We'll look at each team report card style, with a bit of a curve.

Germany: A-
The German offense fired on all cyclinders despite the lack of Michael Ballack's presence. Defense tactics were questionable, since they were just begging Paolo Wanchope to keep Costa Rica in the game. Still, a fine effort for the opening team with a lot of question marks.

Costa Rica: C+
Defense was pourous, and the offense was practically just Wanchope. Individually, Paolo gets an A, but not the rest of the Ticos.

Ecuador: A
So they can play at sea level. They looked impressive in their Germany debut, and are exceeding my expectations. They could be ready to spring an upset or two and be surprise like the Bulgarians in 1994, Croatians in 1998, and the Senegalese in 2002.

Poland: D
They looked awful. "Magic" Zurawski was any but, and the decision not to bring Dudek will be rearing its ugly head. Worse of all, they have to turn it around against a scary looking Germany.

England: B-
A win keeps you above the C's, but that was some ugly winning. You expect to tell me that playing with the pedigree of the English can't put together more than a lucky own goal? Owen was invisible, Crouch needs to be more disciplined, and the midfielders not named Downing looked sluggish.

Paraguay: C
Aside from the own goal, they did keep the glory players of the Premiership out of the nets. They lacked any spark of offense, which they'll need to do to turn it around. Fortunately their chances of advancing were made better by Shaka Hislop of T&T.

Sweden: C
Heavily favored, playing one up for one half, plenty of time in their attacking zone, and 18 shots. Sounds like a recipe for a rout, but instead is a failure for the Swedes to score one measily goal. Yeah, on a couple of occassion they got unlikely and T&T had only 2 or 3 great scoring chances, but they still didn't win a game they were supposed to.

Trinidad & Tobago: B+
Excellent showing from a team that isn't supposed to do much. Avery John's red card was the best thing to happen to them, along with the unorthodox substitution of Cornell Glen, an attacker when they went down a man. He gave the Soca Warriors their best shot at the upset. Now we'll see if lightning strikes twice against the other pedigreed side of the group.

Argentina: A
Once they settled down, they controlled most of the action. Juan Riquelme is really making up for missing that PK for Villarreal in Champions League, instrumental on a majority of their scoring chances. Results like this combined with their depth will make them one of the few teams with a decent shot at taking down Brazil.

Cote d'Ivoire: C
Remember: Didier Drogba needs help to score goals. More discipline in the backfield and more help up front is necessary if they're going to advance, especially against the big-name Dutch and the brick wall Serbians.

I'll be back tomorrow with my impressions of Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro, Mexico, Iran, Angola, and Portugal.

Date

Sat 06/10/06, 2:20 pm EST