I don’t have a dog in this hunt. I picked both to go through, but am not sure now.
Randinho wrote at Balloon Juice from 2010-16.
"Hi, everyone, my name is Randy Paul. I normally blog at my own blog, Beautiful Horizons. John has graciously accepted my offer to blog about the upcoming soccer World Cup..."
Twitter: @randinho
Greece-Nigeria Open Thread
Let’s see if Greece can finally score a goal.
South Korea-Argentina Open Thread
I’m a bit late with this, but have at it. Right now Argentina is having its way with the Koreans.
Some Thoughts on Wednesday’s Games 6-16-10
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.
Some Thoughts on Wednesday’s Games 6-16-10Post + Comments (26)
South Africa-Uruguay Open Thread
I have to run errands this afternoon so the DVR will get me the Uruguay-South Africa game. I’ll have more later including some thoughts on the Spain v Switzerland shocker.
Go Bafana Bafana!
Open Thread Spain-Switzerland
Great trivia question: why is no one singing Spain’s anthem?
Open Chile v Honduras Thread
A lot of possession by Chile so far 24 minutes in. Have at it!