Archive for June, 2010
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Five times World Cup winners Brazil will face Holland on Friday without their influential midfield Elano, who injured his shin in the 3-1 victory over the Ivory Coast in the group stages. Elano, who turned 29 earlier this month, scored three goals in twenty starts for Turkish side Galatasaray. The former Manchester City man has scored two goals so far in this World Cup tournament – in the opener against North Korea and just before his injury against the Ivory Coast. Brazil managed to draw 0-0 with Portugal to finish top of the group before beating Chile handsomely in the last sixteen.
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Posted in Injury News, Players, South Africa 2010, World Cup | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
We now know from which eight countries the winner of the World Cup will come. There are four South American nations, three European nations and one African nation.There is the prospect that all four semi finalists could be South American with the draw shaping up like this:
Netherlands vs. Brazil
Uruguay vs. Ghana
Argentina vs. Germany
Paraguay vs. Spain
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Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Doron, Germany, Ghana, Holland, Paraguay, quarter finals, SA 2010, South Africa 2010, Spain, Uruguay, WC 2010, World Cup 2010
Posted in Africa, Europe, South Africa 2010, South America, World Cup | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
This assessment comes in three parts: vs. Germany; the tournament as a whole; and the future. As with my last post, I am very keen to get a discussion going at the bottom of the article. As I have experienced this afternoon, everyone has an opinion on what has happened and where to go – there is no right answer, so have a read of what I think and then I want to see what the World Cup Statistic’s readers think. We’ve been accustomed to England Football Jokes over the years, now we want to know what you think!
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Tags: Capello, Doron, England, Rooney, SA 2010, South Africa 2010, WC 2010, World Cup 2010
Posted in Managers, Match Report, Opinion, Players, Premier League, South Africa 2010, World Cup | 8 Comments »
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Uruguay’s last World Cup win came sixty years ago, twenty years after their first World Cup win back in 1930. Eighty years have passed since that historic first World Cup, when Uruguay beat neighbours Argentina to win the first ever World Cup, which was then known as the Jules Rimet trophy, named after FIFA’s longest serving president. So can the South American’s beat Ghana in the quarter finals and advance to the semi finals for the first time since the 1930 World Cup (the 1950 World Cup had a unique group format, without a knockout phase)? Uruguay have been a breathe of fresh air at these finals, playing a high pressing game and alternating between a three and four man defense. Is it their time again?
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Posted in International, Opinion, South Africa 2010, South America, Statistics, World Cup | No Comments »
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina all qualified for the knockout stages. There wasn’t a South American team that didn’t advance past the groups. Why have they been so successful?I’m not really sure what the answer is to this, so I’m quite hoping that this will trigger some suggestions (type away in the comment box at the bottom of the page).
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Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Doron, Paraguay, SA 2010, South Africa 2010, South America, Uruguay, WC, WC 2010, World Cup, World Cup 2010
Posted in Opinion, South Africa 2010, South America, World Cup | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
England eased past Slovenia 1-0 to finish runners up in Group C and now face a dramatic showdown against the ‘old enemy’ Germany on Sunday 27th, whilst group winners USA will play Ghana the previous evening. England’s performance was much better than against Algeria the previous Saturday. The United States secured a place in the last sixteen after a dramatic late winner from Landon Donovan against the Algerians. The goal put Slovenia out of the World Cup and booked the American’s match with the runner up of group D.
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Posted in Injury News, South Africa 2010, World Cup | No Comments »
Monday, June 21st, 2010
That weekend felt draining. I don’t think I’ve experienced so much footballing information in such a short space of time. Saturday started with the England hangover. Everyone has their own opinion as to why England continued their poor form with another failure. England fans weren’t the only ones feeling angry. The USA’s fans awoke to their own frustrations. They felt, quite rightly, that their side had been denied a 3-2 victory against Slovenia which would have capped an excellent turnaround having been two goals behind. Maurice Edu’s late goal was harshly ruled out by the referee.
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Tags: America, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Capello, Denmark, Domenech, Doron, Duverne, England, Evra, France, Ghana, Holland, Italy, Ivory coast, Japan, Lampard, Lizarazu, New Zealand, Paraguay, SA 2010, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa 2010, Terry, USA, WC 2010, World Cup, World Cup 2010
Posted in Africa, Europe, Ligue 1, Managers, Match Report, Opinion, Players, Premier League, Reviews, South Africa 2010, South America, World Cup | 3 Comments »
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
Cameroon have become the first nation to be knocked out of the World Cup. Boasting a strong squad made up of a lot of European-based players more was expected of Paul Le Guen’s side. After a 1-0 loss to Japan they lost 2-1 to Denmark yesterday to sit rock bottom of Group E. They will play merely for pride in their final group match against the Netherlands later this week.
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Tags: Cameroon, Denmark, Doron, Group E, SA2010, South Africa 2010, WC 2010, World Cup, World Cup 2010
Posted in Africa, Europe, Match Report, South Africa 2010, World Cup | 2 Comments »
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
As the World Cup started I agreed on a (slightly bold and rushed) statement with my housemate: ‘if England don’t win the World Cup it’ll be down to the players and not the coach’ – that statement doesn’t stand so true anymore. After the USA game I attacked the England players individually with some player ratings. Post-Algeria I don’t see any point to individual assessment. Everyone was poor. The team must be examined as just that – a team.
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Tags: Capello, Doron, England, Fabio Capello, Rooney, SA 2010, South Africa 2010, WC 2010, World Cup, World Cup 2010
Posted in International, Managers, Opinion, Players, Premier League, South Africa 2010, World Cup | 11 Comments »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuaín scored the first hat-trick of the World Cup as Diego Maradona’s Argentina overcame South Korea in Soccer City today. Argentina went 2-0 with goals through Higuaín and an own goal from Park, CY. However Argentina notched their first goal from open play as Higuaín scored his second and third from moves inspired by Ballon D’Or winner Lionel Messi and Maradona’s son in law Sergio Agüero.
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Posted in Managers, South Africa 2010, South America, World Cup | No Comments »
