Daily Archives: June 17, 2010

Spain 0-1 Switzerland: Spanish failings the main reason for the scoreline

Leave a reply


Margaret Gradwell, Indaba Series
“We were looking for Spain to really get the tournament going – they did exactly that, but by being on the end of the biggest shock so far, rather than providing an amazing attacking display. Switzerland’s win was remarkable – to keep a clean sheet against this Spanish side is very impressive. Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side did not actually play particularly defensively – they rarely had the ball, certainly, but they broke in numbers and frequently got four men in the box when they had the ball in an attacking zone.” (Zonal Minute)

World Cup 2010: Spain’s nightmare – an early dream final with Brazil
“Two wildly contrasting states jolted this World Cup to life, with North Korea (totalitarian) roughing up Brazil and Switzerland (laissez-faire meets conservatism) shocking Spain, the European champions, in Durban. With the first upset of the tournament the iconoclastic Swiss may have spoiled the dream final. If the favourites finish second in Group H they are likely to collide with Brazil in the second round.” (Guardian)

Unflinching Swiss Give Spain a Jolt
“Beautiful to watch and all but impossible to beat for the last two years, Spain has not yet figured out how to combine artistry and victory in South Africa. Since winning the European championships in 2008, the only blemish on its record was a surprising 2-0 loss here to the United States in last year’s Confederations Cup. But the even bigger surprise came Wednesday on a lovely late afternoon in Durban, where Spain was beaten, 1-0, by Switzerland in the World Cup opener for each team.” (NYT)

Withering World Cup & Brazilian Brightness

Leave a reply

“Theories abounded that this World Cup would favor attacking teams. The cold weather was supposed to lead to superior fitness and, ergo, a goalfest of epic proportions. However, these scientific theories overlooked a very simple fact – we live in the dark ages of soccer. Despite Barcelona’s great season a year ago and Spain’s title as European champion, the tendency to pack the box and not risk tossing numbers forward plagues the world of football like pox-carrying rats. These locusts have resulted in a paltry first round goal total and abysmal goal per game percentage.” (futfanatico)

The memories come flooding in

Leave a reply

“The crowds had gathered near the Hector Pieterson Memorial, and a group of schoolboys stood together on the street, in their iron-crisp uniforms, singing at the top of their lungs. Through our open van windows, it sounded like a song of celebration, a joyous song. But our driver, a 45-year-old former soldier named Jan, felt the hair on his arms go up. He had not been back to Soweto since his military service ended in 1994, when the apartheid regime fell and the soldiers were told to go home. Now that song brought him back to the freedom riots here, the burning tires and the bricks. The memories came flooding in.” (ESPN)

“You idiot. Go kill yourself!”: Watching Ghana beat Serbia, in Serbia.

Leave a reply


“I am probably watching soccer with the wrong person. As my friend D. and I walk through the 40-degree heat of downtown Belgrade, where she grew up and returns in the summers, I spot a building-high vertical banner of an enthusiastic, fit young man in body paint hawking soda. ‘Refresh Your World!’ it implores.” (Soccer Politics)

On “Men With Balls”

Leave a reply

“This moment from Point Omega kept coming to me yesterday during the Brazil versus North Korea match. Not only for the suspense that was ‘trying to build,’ but for the curious fact that I was sitting in a white-cubed art gallery, my eyes fixed mainly on the projected match but occasionally straying over to another screen, this one showing Douglas Gordon’s Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, the film, made with Phillipe Pareno, that famously tracked Zidane — and Zidane only — with 17 cameras over the course of a match.” (TNR)

Argentina 4-1 South Korea: Attacking talents overwhelm Korean defence

Leave a reply


Gonzalo Higuain
“A game that Argentina dominated from the first minute, and the scoreline is an accurate reflection of the balance of play. Diego Maradona changed Argentina’s shape slightly, resulting in a more balanced and dangerous side when going forward.” (Zonal Minute)

World Cup 2010: Argentina 4-1 South Korea
“‘There’s enough material here for an entire conference,’ said the psychiatrist in the Fawlty Towers episode entitled, funnily enough, ‘The Psychiatrist.’ Argentine coach Diego Armando Maradona, we are told, is a modern day Basil Fawlty. A six-one loss to Bolivia, selected 107 players, scraping through to the finals, picking his 36-year-old mate who hadn’t played for Argentina this century, not picking Esteban Cambiasso…or any full-backs, or getting the best out of Lionel Messi. That’s been the narrative.” (twohundredpercent)

Argentina 4-1 South Korea – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – World Cup – 17 June 2010
“Argentina faced South Korea in a match of the two teams who won their opening matches in Group B. A win for both sides but likely qualify them for the knockout stage. South Korea were impressive in a 2-0 win over Greece but would be the underdogs against Argentina, who created several chances but only beat Nigeria 1-0 in their opening match.” (The 90th Minute)

Greece 2-1 Nigeria – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – World Cup – 17 June 2010

Leave a reply

“Two teams who needed a result to have a realistic chance of making it to the knockout stage met as Greece faced Nigeria on Group B play. A loss wouldn’t end either teams chances but a win was definitely needed for Greece who will play Argentina in their next match.” (The 90th Minute)

World Cup 2010: Greece 2-1 Nigeria
“Finally the tournament has come to life. In the twenty four hours before this game we’ve had some fine football played by Switzerland, Uruguay and Argentina, some drama and our first proper upset in the first of these games. We’ve even had some controversy going on off-the-field too. If we needed a reminder that behind this celebration of world football lies a grubby marketing exercise then there’s the faintly scandalous decision to prosecute two of the women involved in Monday’s ambush marketing stunt (which seemed, in any case, not to break any of FIFA’s strict rules) at the Holland v Denmark game.” (twohundredpercent)

World Cup Security Guards Strike

Leave a reply

“Dozens of security workers walked off the job hours before the Brazil-North Korea soccer match Tuesday night here, the latest in a series of labor strikes that have challenged organizers of the World Cup in South Africa. With the latest strike at Ellis Park stadium, soccer’s governing body FIFA has now been forced to ask the police to take over security at four World Cup stadiums around the country. The other three stadiums are located in the cities of Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Cape Town, Durban and Ellis Park — as well as Soccer City in Johannesburg — had contracted security services to Stallion Security Consortium, the local World Cup organizing committee said.” (WSJ)

The Toughness Game: An American Style of Soccer

Leave a reply

“The US game against England–a 1-1 tie, as everyone knows–was real entertainment and also, for me, a moment of revelation. After an early goal, when it seemed like it would all be out of reach very soon, star-studded England seemed troubled by the innocent, sincere play of the Americans, who were able to pull even later in the first half and keep it at that for the rest of the game.” (Soccer Politics)