Saudi Arabia. El Salvador. New Zealand. China PR. South Africa. Trinidad and Tobago. United Arab Emirates. Korea DPR. Congo DR. Cape Verde Islands. Antigua and Barbuda. Faroe Islands. Sierra Leone. Hong Kong. Equatorial Guinea. New Caledonia. Kitts and Nevis. Sri Lanka. Netherlands Antilles. Vincent and the Grenadines. Chinese Taipei. Puerto Rico. Solomon Islands. Cayman Islands. Cook Islands.
Turks and Caicos Islands. Dominican Republic. A win against Korea Republic will see them into the next round. Italy is still a force to be reckoned with, but is age really catching up to them like some pundits suggest? France is pretty much where they should be. They were ninth in the FIFA world rankings going into the World Cup and they did nothing to warrant edging their way up the rankings after stuttering to a goalless draw against Diego Forlan and Uruguay.
They had limited chances even when their opponents had Nicolas Lodeiro sent off, and they will need to respond with a convincing win against Mexico on Thursday. America won , if you will believe the New York tabloid newspapers.
They entered as underdogs and even though their goal was fortunate, they handcuffed England just enough to probably deserve their point. If they topple the Swiss in their next game, even a point against Spain would guarantee them a spot in the last A loss however, would almost certainly put them out. Uruguay held the Europeans to a bunch of half-chances, and keeper Fernando Muslera was hardly tested despite a barrage of shots. The South Americans will need to do a lot better with set pieces though if they want to get into the knockout rounds.
Switzerland were battered throughout the entire game, and they had no real answer for the pace and precision of the Spaniards other than to pull them back and chop them down. That said, give the Swiss their due respect. The Spanish left Fernando Torres on the bench for the first hour and the Swiss defense held firm. Robert Koren had a good game even without his match-winning strike, and Slovenia will now be looking to cause an upset against the two favored teams in the group.
They are still unlikely to advance, but their chances are infinitely better now that they have a win under their belt.
I thought Greece would dispatch Korea Republic without too many problems, but how wrong I was. They managed just two shots on target despite holding the ball pretty well, but their bigger problems came at defense and midfield where the Koreans were able to run roughshod over their tactics. They need to restricts their remaining two Group B opponents to far fewer shots if they want to be successful.
Serbia is a good team on paper, but they can count themselves unfortunate to emerge from their opening match without a point. They deserved a draw against Ghana, but a late penalty saw them leaving Loftus Versfeld stadium empty handed. Marko Pantelic needs to get much more involved in the next game, although you expect Germany to win pretty comfortably.
Rafael Marquez denied the hosts a win on the first day of the tournament, although Mexico will feel disappointed with just one point. They were the better team throughout and they created enough chances that they really should have won. Up next is the French, and they will definitely have to be more clinical there. Cameroon will find it difficult to progress from Group E after a loss to Japan in their first match.
Keisuke Honda scored the only goal of the game, while Eric Choupo Moting looked decisively average at the other end before getting substituted. A win against the Danes is vital to make their third match with the Netherlands meaningful.
Nigeria ran into an offensive juggernaut in Argentina although they can take heart in the fact that this was as hard as they come. If they can craft a result against Greece, there is still every chance they can finish second in their group. It is obvious just how much the loss of John Obi Mikel means to the Nigerians. The Socceroos got a footballing lesson in Durban and they will need to be much better against Ghana. Yes, they were up against one of the best teams in Europe, and yes, they neutralized Ronaldo, but with Brazil still to come, things are not looking rosy.
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