The Fifa World Cup 2006- Week 1 (9-15th June)

The world cup, kicked off on 9th June 2006 with a colorful ceremony in Berlin, It was great to see the members of the world cup winning teams Klinsman, Mattheus, Sir Bobby Charlton and the legendary Pele . a sole personality missing was the Argentine great and the architect of the 1986 win Maradona.

By far the first round of matches have finished with each team in each group having played at least one match.

Germany hardly looked impressive in their first match against Costa Rica. The 4-2 scoreline in the end was showed a gaping void in the German defense (almost non existent) and the 4 goals scored didn’t boast of a good German attack but definitely another non-existent Costa Rican defense. Barring one goal from Frings from a distance the match did not have anything spectacular to offer.

Ecuador, one of the minnows did have a fantastic attack against a rather stoic polish defense. Poland, the favorites to win the match eventually ended up on the losing side with a scoreline of 2-0 in favor of Ecuador.

Then we had the much-hyped English team playing Paraguay. Now, England playing the FIFA world cup is always like India playing the cricket world cup, always tipped to win but the performances suggest otherwise. A Beckham free kick getting deflected into the goal by the Paraguay captain Carlos Gamarra himself ensured a 1-0 win for England but in particular England had nothing to be proud of in this match.
The English team minus the commentary and the hype is pretty useless. They’ve got 3 good midfielders in Lampard, Gerrard and Cole. Somebody replace Beckham, he doesn’t know what the left foot is, doesn’t head the ball, doesn’t hold play, doesn’t fall back. Anything else that’s needed of a midfielder?

The Swedes were held to a 0-0 draw with 10 man Trinidad & Tobago, and yeah both the teams looked good, particularly the Swedes.

Argentina, one of the least talked about sides in this world cup defeated the Ivory Coast 2-0, the Argentines showed an overall good game both in attack and defense.

The Netherlands won by a solitary goal courtesy Chelsea’s Arjen Robben over lowly rated Serbia & Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), which did boast of names like Mateja Ketzman and Dejan Stankovic. Nothing worth notice in that team as well.The Dutch, however , in form can be deadly dangerous.

Mexico came in late to defeat Iran 3-1 with 2 goals in the dying minutes of the game against Iran. But again, the Asian teams barring South Korea are weak as compared to the European and South American teams.

Portugal played their former colony Angola and defeated them1-0, now here the commentators were predicting a goal fest when Pauleta netted in the 4th minute or so. But a stubborn Angolan defense prevented anything of that sort.

Italy as clinical as ever, were brilliant in defeating Ghana 2-0. The legacy of Italian defense still lives on even after Maldini and Co.
The scudetto kinda confirms it, these dudes are just brilliant. Cannavaro and Nesta are by far the best international central defensive pairing you can get. They’ve been so for years now (since Maldini Baresi). All that hype about Terry and Ferdinand is just a load of Brit commentary…

The Czechs led by Pavel Nedved decimated the USA 3-0. The Czechs were always in command of the game and showed a lot of grit
Was wondering why the commentators were going gaga about Rosicky being the star of the team. Agreed he had a good game and scored 2 goals as well, but he’s not quite as good as Nedved (injury or no injury), it then struck me that Rosicky is one of Arsenal’s latest signings. Brit commentary…
Fall side for the Czech, their defending especially in the later parts looked more like just clearing the ball. There weren’t many buildups from the defense, they all seemed to happen from the mid.

Brazil with all its big names looked, to say the least, listless in their 1-0 win over Croatia. Ronaldo was seen walking (literally) all over the park, the only spark in that match appeared after Robinho substituted him in somewhat around the 69th minute.
Brazil, watch them for the joy of it… Don’t bet on them.

The French again choked against Switzerland, with a goalless draw, Zidane and Theirry Henry had no ideas against the likes of Phillepe Senderos in the Swiss defense.
The French got to get their act together else the world will miss out on a lot. This is a team with real talent and major ego

South Korea, the only Asian team worthy of a mention came from behind to beat Togo 2-1. Again nothing worth a mention here. This was a known result.

The best match in the tournament so far came when Spain decimated first timers Ukraine 4-0. Andrei Shevchenko from Ukraine (the AC Milan star) hardly got a touch.
Schevchenko has moved to Chelsea, one of the worst things to have happened to Football in general. He’s going to realize soon that Lampard and Ballack are not quite as good as Kaka is, it’s again hype and the same Brit commentary factor

Germans having gone thru the non existent Costa Rican defence in the opening match ran out of ideas but still managed to beat a strong Polish Defense 1-0
The Germans, So far… Rubbish. No ploy at all

From all the matches played so far it’s the Spaniards that are looking dangerous, the Argentines, Italians and Czechs have been playing good football and could definitely make it to the last 8 at least. Brazil with all its big names might not have got the start they wanted but it would be unwise rule them out yet.

Of the African countries making their debut’s Angola and the Caribbean team Trinidad & Tobago look to be decent and maybe , some players from these teams, will rouse the interest of some of the managers in the English Premier League for the next season.

This world cup has definitely been interesting with quite decent scorelines and high scoring matches. We for one would like to keep a watch on the Argentines and Italians.

The Argentines look damn efficient, Spaniards, Czechs and Italians look awesome and quite intimidating. Watch out for the Dutch and don’t let the Brit commentary sway your judgment.

As the 2nd week kicks off with the 2nd round of matches for each of the teams we shall keep you updated of the happenings as the week passes. Till then. Enjoy your football.

Authored by Antagonist and Komodo Dragon.

PS: If you find any of this on the wrong side of anything Brit, this is because Komodo (the harcore AC Milan Fan that he is) and Antagonist (A Juventus fan) both dislike the English team as the englishmen play real uninspiring football. Also even during the world cup, the commentary is pro brit , to put it in simple words , it is biased. Simply put the English Premier league is sluggish and drab as compared to the Italian or Spanish leagues.