All the participants in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, held in South Africa have already played their first, or even second matches in the group phase. What were the impressions of fans and experts?
Above all, everyone noticed the difficult start of those teams that had been determined as “favorites”. The European champ Spain, a team full with stars could not defeat the solid Swiss players and the 0:1 loss came as a logical result. This doubtlessly enhanced the tension inside the team before the next two matches in the group. The Italians, on the other hand barely drew 1:1 with Paraguay. The poor start of the “Azzurri” shouldn’t surprise anyone: the situation was similar at 5 out of the last 7 World Cups. Despite the difficult beginning the effectiveness of the Italians is really stunning – they have two World Cups, a second and a third place for this period of 24 years. So – be careful with Italy. England played with the USA too. It was a match with no ideas, Rooney was tired and the goalkeeper made a mistake again. And the final result was1:1. The Brazilian team also found its place in the alley of disappointments by winning over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea /DPRK/ with the unconvincing 2:1. And what about France… we should say something good or nothing. In this particular case – we say nothing. Germany and Argentine can be called nice exceptions among the favorites’ poor performances. The boys of coach Joachim Low traditionally jump into the battle since the beginning. The first ones, crushed by the German “tank” in South Africa were the Australians, who saw the ball in their net 4 times. However, the game of the German players was the essential part - their legendary teamwork was completed with the fantasy of the youth. The Germans are 4th out of 32 in the ranking, as far as the “lowest age of the players” indicator is concerned. The injury of the team’s captain Michael Ballack and his absence from the 2010 World Cup gave a chance to the young players and they didn’t miss it. On the other hand the Argentineans have now two wins – over Nigeria and the Republic of Korea. Their artistic game, sense for the goal and the presence of Messi definitely turned the team into one of the favorites for the cup.
Many fans and experts ask themselves what are the reasons for this difficult start of their favorite teams. It is true that such teams use to save their energy in the group phases of the World Cups and their coaches try to judge which place in the group is suitable for their ambitions. However, it is also a fact that the long season in Europe, where most of the footballers play, has exhausted them and they are pretty tired.
That is why the Asian teams turned out to be the pleasant surprise of the tournament. Footballers from South Korea, Japan and the DPRK really impressed with their physical training, discipline and teamwork. So far their musketeer’s tactics “One for all and all for one” is doing a great job. The Asian competitors do their best on the field and their will to struggle compensates completely the technical advantage of their opponents. South Korea won convincingly over the former European champion Greece by 2:0, and Japan crushed the tough Cameroon players by 1:0. The DPRK successfully fought for almost an hour against Brazil, before the proud 5-time world champions could score 2 goals.
Some of the second matches from the group phase have already been played. Footballers try to chase away the boredom of the fans. The development of the tournament so far has been determined as “boring”, since according to statistics there has been no world cup for the past 80 years with less goals scored in the first round of the group phase. Now, in the second round, those who missed their chances before will try to catch up and the winners will try to add new points to their scores in order to continue with their participation. There are only two places in each group that qualify for the round of sixteen. So we can expect new emotions and surprises.
English version: Zhivko Stanchev
