World Cup Thus Far

Well what can we say... It's been a rather intriguing tournament these past 4 days. With plenty of goalkeeping errors, lack of creativity, and terribly annoying horns; we've certainly indulged in one of the more memorable first rounds in recent memory. I have a few thoughts from kickoff last Friday to today's games.

I was glad to see that South Africa got a point from their opening match. It was pretty evident in Mexico's preparation games that they lacked something. Both teams were undoubtedly consumed by the electric atmosphere. With that, I am sticking to my original prediction that South Africa will indeed go through to the next round by some act of the heavens.

England was really, really, really disappointing. I'm not one to question Don Fabio, but leaving Theo Walcott off the squad made me a little angry (being an Arsenal fan of course). I feel England is going to suffer the same fate that seemingly hampers them in every tournament, a lack of creativity. Using the ESPN analysts new favorite word, the Three Lions lack "guile." I can't even begin to explain the problems I had with the American squad. I love my country to death, but I hate our national team and the current system in place (which will continue to hold back the advancement and evolution of American soccer).

Germany was the most impressive team in the first few days. I have them losing in the Finals against the Dutch, but yesterday, they showed that they are one of the favorites to hoist the trophy in mid July. Schweinsteiger is one to watch. He may not be as flashy as he used to be, but he was pulling the strings in his relatively new position in the center of the park. Germany are dangerous to say the least.


Lastly, the Netherlands and Italy today. The Dutch need to pick up their game, but don't worry me too much. I think they will hope to catch fire in the latter rounds as opposed to repeating their Euro 2008 performance which saw the Oranje run out of gas. Italy is old. Contrary to ESPN analysts, I thought that Montolivo had a decent game. He was the most dangerous man on the pitch. The Fiorentina man had a great shot in the second half that he nearly put in the back of the net. He also had numerous passes into the flanks that the Italian strikers managed to mess up in one way or another. The Azzurri need to figure it out soon, or else Paraguay and Slovakia could find themselves in the next round.

That's it for now, surely more to come tomorrow...