-Undoubtedly the main headline from the first round of group game was the lack of goals.
Here's a little taste for you:
Teams not scoring:13
Teams scoring once: 15
Teams scoring twice: 3
Teams scoring four times: 1
That's 28 out of 32 teams, either not troubling the scorers or hitting the back of net only once. Not exactly the free-flowing, attacking soccer we all live to see. It seems to me that many of the teams approached their opening games with a good degree of cageyness, far more fearful of what losing might entail than industriously trying to carve out a victory.
The perfect example of this was the Portugal-Ivory Coast game. Both teams knew that they would probably going to be competing against each other for the second spot in their group (behind Brazil) and therefore they seemed loathed to give the other a three-point lead and hardly took any risks. Many of the games so far have reminded me of the first leg of a Champions League knockout match-up: the teams are ready to take advantage of any mistake or opportunity but hesitant to really press the issue.
The good news for the fans is that all of that cageyness should evaporate in the next set of games as the teams that lost their first games start staring elimination in the face. And who knows, that dreaded Jabulani devil-ball might finally start playing tricks on goalkeepers.
-Game of the Round: Spain vs. Switzerland
This must be why my dad always rooted for the underdog to score first in a soccer game. The Swiss goal seven minutes after halftime completely opened the game up. Spain turned on their offensive firepower, made some lovely flowing moves and created a boatload of chances, which somehow didn't translate into any goals. Meanwhile the Swiss looked industrious and threatening on the break and had a couple opportunities to put the game away.
Runner-Up: England vs. USA
-Worst Game: Algeria vs. Slovenia
A football game almost entirely devoid of any real quality. A total absence of goal-scoring opportunities, and the game was ultimately won by Slovenia (much to the disappointment of the American and English disappointment) thanks a poor piece of goalkeeping from the Algerian keeper that sum the whole game up.
Runner-Up: Ivory vs. Portugal-Ivory
-Biggest Upset: Spain vs. Switzerland
Credit to the Swiss for holding onto their slender lead in the face of the Spanish onslaught. It was a huge step towards qualification for them while for Spain, a lot of work remains to be done, particularly if Chile can replicate the form they displayed against Honduras.
Runner-Up: Brazil vs. North Korea (not that it actually happened but this deserves a spot simply because of how big the Koreans (who haven't been to a World Cup since 1966) taking a point from the Brazilians would have been.)
-Best Performer (Team): Germany
Are we really that surprised? An unheralded Germany side doing better than predicted: hardly a real shocker. But not only did they play well, but they also produced by far the best soccer of the tournament in a 4-0 demolition of Australia. They created chance after chance, exploited every one of the Socceroos' weaknesses and were hardly threatened themselves. Maybe Australia will turn out to be a worse team than expected, but that was still a strong message sent out by the Germans.
Runner-Up: South Korea
-Worst Performer (Team): Portugal
Okay, so maybe Algeria or one of the other losing teams played worse, but this category is evaluated in terms of performance versus expectations. Portugal has often produced fast attacking soccer teams in recent times, but they were anything but against the Ivory Coast. They sat back and played ultra-cautiously. Their attacking game plan seemed to be: wait until Cristiano Ronaldo comes up with a moment of individual brilliance to give us a win (which he almost did, by the way, with a thunderous strike from 30 yards that came back off the post in the first half). They may still make it out of the “Group of Death” but on that form they shouldn't be a factor in the latter stages of the tournament.
Runner-Up: Greece
-Best Performer (Individual): Mesut Ozil, Germany
Maybe my vision was blurred because I haven't seen much of him before, but Germany's newest playmaker, Ozil, looked like a stud against the Aussies. He may have been booked for a dive in the first half, but he also showed a passing finesse and play-making ability that will have soccer fans salivating for years to come. No wonder the Germans didn't seem too worried about losing the aging Michael Ballack to injury before the tournament started.
Runner-Up: Tim Howard, USA (kept England out with a series of great saves)
-Worst Performer (Individual): Robert Green, England.
How much really needs to be said about this? If you haven't seen Green's goalkeeping howler yet, then you probably don't know there's an oil spill going in the Gulf of Mexico right now either. Here's the Cliff Notes on both events. Expect Green to be riding the pine against Algeria and boycott BP.
Runner-Up: Nicolas Lodeiro, Uruguay (two yellows in his first twenty six minutes of World Cup action)
-Best Goal: Siphiwe Tshabalala, South Africa (now there's a mouthful).
Last World Cup, Philip Lahm opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, and Tshabalala continued the tradition this year with a stunning opening strike against Mexico. A lovely counterattacking move ended with a blistering “across-the-keeper-top-corner finish” to send the home fans into delirium.
Runner-Up: Thomas Mueller, Germany.
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