Today was an interesting day in the Cup, with top teams that performed below expectations due to exceptional, or exceptionally poor, goalkeeping, and an excellent performance from South Korea in an under card match. I encourage you to check out The Goal Post's liveblog replays for play-by-plays and very colorful commentary. Here's my take on the day's matches, and what they mean:
South Korea v Greece
South Korea may have managed the first victory of the Cup, but they still have a tough road ahead of them to qualify, as Greece was definitely the lowest-seeded team in the group. Nigeria is a tough and physical team, and while South Korea seems to have perfected the dive tactic (many of their players have played for Italian clubs), I think that some muscling will go uncalled, and Nigeria will mount confident attacks against a weak defense that went largely untested by Greece. I really don't see Greece doing anything but tying, and even that would take some luck.
Argentina v Nigeria
Higuain had at least three excellent chances to score for Argentina, with well-delivered passes that he controlled on the first touch. On each occasion, he did the one thing that strikers are paid not to do: shoot the ball at the goalkeeper. Messi looked mesmerizing with his beautiful curving shots on goal, but his efforts provoked equally excellent displays of goalkeeping rather than goals. Some might say that Argentina looked weak in this game, edging out a mere 1-0 victory, but the score doesn't speak to their offensive effort. I'll admit that Argentina has some work to do, but they still looked strong. Their potential goals, and therefore the scoreboard, were mitigated by the outstanding performance from Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria's Goalkeeper.
As for Nigeria, if they can continue playing like they did in the last fifteen minutes of today's game, they can definitely beat Greece, and probably beat South Korea. Once they calmed down, and realized that that they had run with Argentina for 70 minutes while conceding only one goal, they started to attack with more confidence. Nigeria took a cluster of shots in the final fifteen, and some were on target. Perhaps they were just inspired by the world-class play from their keeper (Enyeama was challenged often, and was often up to the challenge), but at the end of the game Nigeria was looking ready to proceed through the group.
England v USA
Despite my earlier predictions to the contrary, England probably deserved to win this game. Not so much because they looked particularly powerful, but because the US really didn't produce much offense, and their lone goal was the product of horrendous goalkeeping. Robert Green will surely regret his loose ball-handling today. Also, Wayne Rooney played like he'd been drinking two six-packs of Castle Lager a night since landing in South Africa, and was often outpaced by the US defense. There were a few incredible opportunities that he flat out missed, and at one point he went up for a header that sailed wildly over the crossbar, and fell to the ground like he'd been shot in the head. He should heed the commercial he starred in, and write the future, not erase it.
The USA played fairly well, but Tim Howard excelled. Dempsey's goal was not the finest shot from the American arsenal, but they played with the confidence of a world-class international team (even if their execution was lacking). Luckily, England should be the hardest opponent they face in the group, but they need to score more than 1 goal per game if they're going to advance.
So those are the thoughts. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. Check out our live blogs in the morning.
