Four more games in two days, and we're down to the last eight teams in World Cup 2010. Whilst the usual suspects have made it to the quarter-finals, I can still sense a huge upset happening at some point. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the last four games of the second round.
Holland 2 – 1 Slovakia
In all honesty, this was a fairly underwhelming game. Although Holland won, they rarely found themselves needing to step up a gear against Slovakia to get the job done. Granted, Arjen Robben’s goal was quite special, but until Wesley Sneijder scored and the doubled the lead with five minutes to go, the result wasn’t safe. Holland had a whole host of chances but failed to capitalise earlier in the match. I can’t quite figure it out. History tells us that Holland usually thrive in the group stages of major tournaments, and tend to struggle in the knockout stages. If they don’t start playing better, history is going to repeat itself. They’re just not clinical enough in front of goal. On paper, they have one of the strongest teams in the tournament, but something still isn’t working. They now face a daunting quarter-final against Brazil now. Holland enter this match as underdogs, so it will be interesting to see how Bert van Marwijk prepares his team for this one. Slovakia now return home knowing that they exceeded expectations in this tournament.
Brazil 3 – 0 Chile
As far as complete team performances are concerned, I think this was the best of the tournament so far by Brazil. What a fantastic display of football. The three goals scored by Juan, Luis Fabiano and Robhino respectively demonstrated how much of a threat this team can be at any point in the game. Chile were restricted to very few chances in the game, and although they showed creativity in the middle of the park, they struggled against a resilient Brazilian defence. The loss of key players through suspension in their game against Spain really hurt them, especially in defence. It’s shame to see Chile eliminated from the tournament as they have been a great side to watch, and had they faced anyone else in the last sixteen, we might have seen them progress. Brazil were just suffocating. Dunga must be excited about the quality of players he has to work with, and the depth in which said quality lies. It’s difficult to see this team not making the final.
Paraguay 0 – 0 Japan (Paraguay win 5-3 on penalties)
Despite both of these teams having done incredibly well in the group stages to progress to the last sixteen, this was probably the most disappointing game of the second round. Penalty shoot outs are always a difficult way to declare a winning team, but after two hours of football and no goals scored, it almost seemed fair this time. You have to feel for Yuichi Komano who blasted his spot kick against the crossbar. The game never really amounted to much in terms of clear goal scoring opportunities, and neither side went all out in extra time to get a goal. Japan may feel that they could have progressed further in this tournament, but taking the whole of the game into consideration, Paraguay deserved to win - but only just. They now face a very stern challenge against Spain, who are hitting good form just at the right time. What are the chances of two South American semi-finals?
Spain 1 – 0 Portugal
This might not have been the spectacular goal fest many football fans had been anticipating, but Spain played a very intelligent game against the Portuguese. Vicente del Bosque stuck to his game plan, despite not having scored in the first half, having faith that his team would find a goal. With David Villa on the pitch, it’s more than just a possibility. He now has four goals in the last three games. Unless Fernando Torres can rediscover his goal scoring form, Spain may have to rely on Villa for a little longer. Their defence did its job in frustrating Cristiano Ronaldo, limited him mostly to shots from distance. Portugal also defended strongly, but their key players in midfield didn’t get enough of the ball so as to provide an attacking threat. The red card for Ricardo Costa near the end of the game was thoroughly disappointing, as there didn’t seem to be any contact at all between him and Capdevila. The better side won on the night, though.
That's the end of the second round. The quarter-finals begin on Friday, and we have some very interesting matches. I'll be writing about those over the weekend, so stay tuned. Your thoughts and comments are appreciated, as always.
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