The save of the World Cup thus far has to be Honduran goalkeeper Noel Valladares save of Waldo Ponce’s header. Simply brilliant.
The Chile-Honduras score is a poor indicator of La Roja’s domination of Los Catrachos: 22 shots, 5 on target v 7 shots, 1 on target; possession 64% v 36%.
In a group where goal differential could be critical as to who goes through, I hope they don’t rue the near misses.
The stats for Spain-Switzerland are a mirror image to the Chile-Honduras stats as far as which team won. Spain had 25 shots, 5 on goal while the Swiss had 9 shots, 2 on goal. Possession went 74% for Spain to 26% for Switzerland.
If there is a silver lining to any of this for Spain it’s the low score and the fact that they received no cautions while the Swiss had 4.
Interesting source of inspiration for Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld’s tactical plan against the Spaniards.
If I were Vicente del Bosque, based on today, I would try to find a way to have Jesus Navas in the starting lineup.
Spain is going to have to really run up the score against Honduras, hope Chile ties Switzerland and then beat Chile if they want to win the group. If they score a number of goals against Honduras, then they can win the group if they tie Chile. It’s certainly not impossible, but it is a challenge.
Of course if they finish second a likely opponent in the round of 16 would be Brazil, presuming they win the group. I wonder who will be more annoyed: the bookmakers or Sepp Blatter.
Memo to Iker Casillas: next time try using your hands and being less tentative coming off the line.
My heart goes out to Bafana Bafana. I wanted them to win, but they were clearly outplayed.
Yes, South Africa’s goalkeeper, Thune made contact with Luis Suarez, but Suarez didn’t just make a meal of it, he made an entire banquet out of the contact.
How significant is Álvaro Pereira’s goal, the third on the day for Uruguay? Pending tomorrow’s result between France and Mexico and, of course, the final games, it could be enough to have them win the group.
Did Carlos Alberto Parreira have a tactical plan to win this game? Just wondering, because most of what I saw was crossing ball after crossing ball.
beltane
It looked like Spain basically frittered away the first half where they were dominant. Uruguay was impressive. Did anyone notice how the vuvuzelas went silent when the goal keeper was red-carded? It was stunning.
Mark S.
Huh, I must’ve turned it off right before that last goal. Well, at least Parreira won’t have to watch the last game.
Punchy
It never hurts to have a guy named Jesus in your lineup. If it rains a lot to form puddles, he can just walk on top of them. Or turn them into wine.
Argentina and Messi are going to destroy the Greeks tomorrow. I smell a 5-0 pasting.
The Dangerman
Newbie here, so please pardon the newbiness.
So, a yellow in a game means if you get a yellow in the next game, you have to sit a game.
Two questions:
1) Do you get booted out right away in Game 2?
2) How long does a yellow follow you?
Irritable Liberal
Two yellows and you sit out the next game. The slate is wiped clean after the first round but if you get a second yellow in the third group game you sit out the next game providing the team makes it through.
Bafana were awful today. They were completely flat, seemingly uncommitted and not aggressive. Uruguay won virtually every 50/50 ball which tells you something. The team that almost beat Mexico in the second half was invisible today. And Suarez is a complete baby. A mini Christian Renaldo.
PanAmerican
Argentina are playing Republic of Korea.
For all the pedigree I thought Spain lacked in defense. They were getting beat to the ball and to the space. Nothing today was quite as egregious as Ramos trying to dribble off the goal line at the Confed Cup but there was a similar lack of urgency in the defensive third.
Two yellows in a game = red card. A second accumulated yellow does not. Just a one game suspension for the next game. IIRC they reset after the group stage.
handsmile
As a longtime Arsenal fan, I knew that Switzerland would have a fighting chance against Spain once Philippe Senderos had to come off the field due to injury. His replacement at center back meant that the Swiss would finally have eleven players on their side of the ball. Refrigerator boxes possess more defensive skills than the hapless Senderos.
Snark aside, readers of these marvelous World Cup threads (thank you so much for your efforts, Randinho!) might enjoy the comprehensive tactical analysis of each match offered by the blog “Zonal Marking.”
mcd410x
I’ll admit before saying the following that I’d still searching for the 120 minutes of my life I misplaced watching the Switzerland-Ukraine match in 2006.
But this is what happens when you don’t try to score. Sometimes like Sui you get monumentally lucky and nab one. That’s precisely why the football has sucked at this World Cup. Every ridiculous defensive tactician’s wet dream came true with this result.
But, hey, to hell with the fans. As a coach determined to play Arsenal to a draw once said: If you want entertainment, go and watch a bunch of clowns.
(Get ready, America, this is exactly what Slovenia will try to do Friday. I hope we deal with it better than España.)
/rant
BGinCHI
Warning to teams who try too much fancy, non-organized play: too many individual moves inside the box only works in porn.
Spain fell prey to the Brazil sin of assuming that if it looks good it wins games. You can’t do the same thing over and over and just expect success. Tactics. Runs from the midfield. Crossing from the wings.
The Gimp
@mcd410x: I’m of the opinion that a draw with us does Slovenia no good. It would give them 4 points, tied with England (who will presumably beat Algeria), and leaves them praying that we don’t get a win against Algeria while they still need a draw with England.
Say they do as you suggest and get a draw with us. They’d only have 4 points and little hope of getting any against England, while England will (probably) have 4 points and likely a better differential. The US will have 2 points. A win against Algeria for us in the third match gives us 5, and leaves Slovenia needing at LEAST a draw and some help in the differential department.
If Slovenia wants out of the Group, they really need to beat us. The trash they’ve been talking suggests they know this and plan on trying for the win.
Jaim
Here’s hoping South Korea draws with Argentia, 1-1.
Jaim
Argentina, even.
mcd410x
@The Gimp: I hope you’re right. But what they think likely is that they can exploit our center backs on the counter attack. And win. Making the England game moot.
Edt: Just like Switzerland did to Spain.
smokescreen
As a Switzerland fan I was extremely happy with today’s result. Call it a steal if you like, but how many times did Spain really trouble the Swiss keeper? Three or four max, including the shot off the crossbar. Switzerland had two chances, one of which they converted. Casillas was also very lucky not to get sent off for his challenge on Derdiyok – a heck of a lot more contact than the RSA keeper put on Suarez.
As a Mexico fan I am extremely nervous about their chances of progressing – they need to find some goals in them tomorrow, and I wasn’t impressed with Perez: I’d like to see Memo Ochoa starting in goal. After a weak start Uruguay looked dangerous and I don’t relish facing them in the last group match needing a win at all costs.
mcd410x
What I would give for a Germany 8, Saudi Arabia 0 right about now.
Let’s boot the Swiss out and grab the Saudis. I can’t take this anti-football much longer.
Susan Kitchens
Planning some beers at a pub that’s tuning into world cup and replays (tho I think tomorrow replays’ll get preempted by the Lakers game). I told peeps who was playing and said this:
So, um, I have no idea about their prospects for real. But since this thread is about Futbol, well, here I post, I can do no other.
SRW1
@The Dangerman:
No. You will be declared ineligible for selection in the next game after game 2.
The accumulation is reset after the group stage, but if you catch your second card in the last group game, you miss the round of 16. There may be another reset after the quaterfinals, at least that is how UEFA handles it in the Euro tournament, but I am not sure FIFA does the same in the WC.
NobodySpecial
Luis Suarez: A shorter, darker Greg Lougainis.
Punchy
@Punchy: Whoops. Meant Korea.
J.W. Hamner
So it was an own goal on the South Koreans? Bummer.
I’d kind of like to see Argentina demonstrate some dominance, but I like the South Koreans’ scrapiness.
Randinho
@Punchy: Actually it’s South Korea, but they’re destroying them as well.
r€nato
That free kick on the Thune penalty was a total travesty; the red card was just a kick in the crotch on top of it. However I give the S. Africans credit for not rioting or setting shit on fire as soccer fans in other nations might have.
Nevertheless, S. Africa sure seemed to give up after that. Show some guts in front of your home crowd, guys.
Mike
I’d like to second the recomendation for the blog zonalmarking. I just discovered it a couple of days ago. I don’t claim to actually understand most of it, but it certainly is an interesting window into how much there is to see in a soccer game if you look past the surface (aka don’t just watch the ball).
I watch a lot of Premier League games, and the English announcers are always talking about ‘space’, ‘organization’, etc. I can’t see what they see, but I’m slowly learning.
Anton Sirius
@Irritable Liberal:
It wasn’t just Suarez. The whole Uruguayan team seemed to take turns writhing on the ground in agony. Considering the quality of their opponents, it was a ridiculous display. I think I dislike them even more than the French now, which I guess makes me a huge Mexico fan for the next few days.
S. cerevisiae
I wish one of the countries would have a goalie named Jesus, just for the headline “Jesus Saves!” It would have been even better in hockey since Satan already plays there.
Torteya
I have to disagree on Navas. While he certainly showed a desire to go forward, dribble and try to surprise, he seems to suffer from the same disease as Dani Alves: He is biologically incapable of crossing the ball properly. His “passes” always landed straight on a Swiss defender and at least 5ft away from the closest spaniard. That is, when they didn’t bounce off, or just went way wide.
I’d rather keep David Silva, and start with Niño Torres. Maybe use Cesc? Specially if Iniesta is not fit to play (which would terribly and horribly suck, he was the most threatening player on the first half). Is Cesc still unfit? I didn’t understand why he wasn’t sent in when they needed some clarity and ability to make through balls. Even moreso given Xavi’s underwhelming performance.