The World Cup is On

The first 8 games of the 2006 World Cup finals are over. We have had a look at all the teams in Groups A, B, C and D.

Group A –
Hosts Germany kicked off the 2006 World Cup finals in Munich against Costa Rica with a win. They played well enough to silence some of Jurgen Klinsmann’s critics, but the Costa Ricans revealed several chinks in the German defence. Miroslav Klose scored 2 goals, and there were a goal each for full back Philipp Lahm and midfielder Torsten Frings. Frings’ effort was spectacular, to say the least, and he did enough to cover for Michael Ballack’s absence. Ballack return would only strengthen the midfield further. Costa Rica played well in patches, and their talismanic centre forward Paulo Wanchope got both their goals, beating the lethargic German off-side traps on each occasion with ease. However, unless they improve drastically in their next 2 games, the Costa Ricans are unlikely to progress further in this year’s competition.

In the second match, Poland started in whirlwind fashion against Ecuador. However, they failed to score and slowly allowed the South Americans to regroup, until Carlos Tenorio’s headed goal gave Ecuador the lead. The Polish conceded another goal in the second half to go down 0-2. Agustin Delgado got the goal for Ecuador after Ivan Kaviedes did the spadework. Both teams showed enough to suggest that Germany’s next 2 games won’t be easy at all.

Group B –
England started in the best possible manner against Paraguay in Group B and got a goal very early in the game after the Paraguayan captain Carlos Gamarra deflected a free-kick from England’s captain David Beckham into his own net. Paraguay lost their number one goalkeeper soon afterwards, and it looked as though England will score many more. But Frank Lampard’s long range efforts were to be the only meaningful attempts at goal for the rest of the game. Substitute goalie Aldo Bobadilla saved both with confidence. 2 insipid substitutions further reduced England’s sting, and Paraguay came close to equalising on a couple of occasions. Still, a winning start is not too bad.

The second match in this group was supposed to be a one-sided affair, with Sweden carrying too much firepower for little Trinidad & Tobago. But the West Indians fought well in the first half, and a bit of luck as well as Shaka Hislop’s goalkeeping kept the Swedes away. In the second half, T&T lost defender Avery John almost immediately when he became the first player to be red carded in this World Cup. However, the 10 remaining men from the Caribbean fought brilliantly and kept the score sheet blank. In fact, substitute Cornell Glen managed to hit the woodwork and almost pulled off a fairy tale win. Anyway, T&T’s draw was the first ‘upset’ of this Cup.

Group C –
Argentina, one of the cup favourites, played the first match of Group C against debutantes Ivory Coast. It was a tremendous first half, when mostly, Ivory Coast played while Argentina scored. Forwards Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola got the goals. The second half was more sedate by comparison, and when Ivory Coast’s captain Didier Drogba scored towards the end, a grandstand finish was set up. Argentina managed, however, to hang on to their lead with some degree of comfort.

The second match of this so called ‘Group of Death’ pitted the Netherlands against Serbia & Montenegro. The Dutch played with some flamboyance, with Arjen Robben outstanding. Robben got the only goal of the match with a brilliant strike in the first half. The Serbs also played well and promised enough to suggest that the remaining matches in this group would be interesting, to say the least.

Group D –
Group D was kicked off by Mexico and Iran. Iran fought bravely in the first half, and defender Yahya Golmohammadi equalised Omar Bravo’s goal for Mexico to go to half-time at 1-1. In the second half, Mexico slowly stamped their authority on the game, and Bravo and the Brazil-born Zinha got 2 goals in quick succession to seal the match. The Mexicans played well enough to suggest that they might go far in this competition.
In the second match of this group Portugal beat their former colony Angola by a solitary first half goal from Pedro Pauleta after a brilliant run from Luis Figo. However, Angola, like all the ‘minnows’ in this competition so far, fought gamely, and suggested exciting results in their remaining games.All in all, it was a satisfactory series of 8 matches for the football fan.

The World Cup is hotting up, as they say!