South Africa : FIFA World Cup 2010 so far

Top corner Goal from South Africa

Well, its been couple of days since the biggest show on earth got underway and it was lighted up by a thunderous strike by Tshabalala. Lets look at the standout points so far:

• South Africa take a point off Mexicans and get the crowd going.
• Unfortunately the crowd turns off TV viewers due to overuse of the Vuvuzelas.
• There have been some dull draws, referring to France and Uruguay match and some poor football as in the case of Greeks.
• Argentina and Nigeria match the best so far but not many goals due to poor finishing from both teams.
• Even England and Usa failed to get going in the second half apart from a few good moves.
• No slick passing game by any team apart from Korea, no real quality in he games so far which might be contributed to the use of the controversial Jabulani ball which is showing unnatural bounce.
• I might sound stupid but what might be missing is a controversy like that in the 2002 World cup about the refree’s and the ball, believe it or not they do get the audience glued.
• Not any outstanding performance or wonder goals apart from few skills from Messi and Co., and Dos Santos of Mexico summing up to ‘not enough excitement on the pitch’.
• Host of stars missing from almost all teams gives a chance to lesser known players to perform but these players don’t pull crowds unless they prove themselves.
• Compared to12 goals in first 5 matches in the previous world cup there have been only 7 in this edition.

Though there were some notable performances and hiccup’s which grabbed the headlines in the past 2 days.

South Africa Vs. Mexico

Top corner!

• Tshabalala’s stunning strike in 53rd minute lit up the World Cup getting the home crowd onto its feet.
• Itumeleng Khune the South African stopper did everything right, pulling off a few world-class saves to keep the host nations in the game.
• Dos Santos was Mexico’s best performer by far, causing problems for the South African defence. Repeatedly finding space for himself and was a menace to the hosts’ defence.

France Vs. Uruguay

Reviving the old rivalry

• Diego Forlan showed why he is such a feared striker but couldn’t convert the rare supply from his teammates.
• Fernando Muslera the Uruguay goalkeeper looked solid and made the save of the match to prevent Gourcuff’s fearsome free kick from going in.
• French coach Domenech came under fire for leaving out Chelsea star Malouda who has been in superb form, which also accounted for his team’s dismal show against a weaker team.

Korea Vs. Greece

Flying high!

• Koreans with their minimal height out jumped and outplayed their Greek counterparts.
• Ji Sung Park pulled a brilliant performance against the Greeks showing his class and quality with a superb finish and several brilliant balls.

Argentina Vs. Nigeria

Classic Maradona

• Argentina with the legend Maradona himself at the helm put up an impressive show led by World player of the year Lionel Messi, but concerns remain over the Argentinian defence which will have to be looked into.
• Gabriel Heinze sent a diving header home and was solid at back, hitting back at his critics with a solid performance.
• Vincent Enyeame was the savior for Nigeria who kept out Lionel Messi’s repeated attempts and made the defeat look more graceful.
• Yakubu held the ball up brilliantly at times, will need to be at his best if Nigeria have to progress forward.

England Vs. USA

Going going gone!

• England coach Fabio Capello pulled up a surprise by naming Milner instead of Joe cole, however the Aston villa youngster couldn’t prove his credentials and earned a yellow card and was substituted after 33 minutes.
• Gerrard gave England the lead but the n they struggled to score as Heskey and Shaun wright Phillips missed golden chances.
• Robert Green gave away the equalizer after a howler from a powerless Dempsey shot.
• England needs to improve if they have to realize their 1966 dream again.

There have been many draws but no major upset as such, we still have time before we jump to any conclusions about this World Cup specially with Spain, Germany and Italy yet to start their campaign.