I thought I was burdened with the Commentators Curse when my pre tournament favourites Spain were shocked in the first match of the group by Switzerland, when Brazil struggled against North Korea and then later Germany was beaten by Serbia in the second round of matches.
Despite the defeats of Spain and Germany, at the end of the second round, it looks like this World Cup is progressing as per the form book.
The South American teams are looking great. Argentina looks solid, despite Maradonna as their Coach. Their mid field is functioning well, and Messi is in his elements. Brazil came to their own in their match against Ivory Coast, though they struggled against North Korea. But then Brazil has always been troubled by higly defence oriented teams who denies them space inside the penaly box. Brazil always had the flair. But their Coach Dunga has brought a discipline and organization to their tactics. They are not reckless anymore. But contrary to what many thought, this has not killed the creativity of the Brazilians. All the 5 goals they scored were pure gems. The Maicon's zero angle shot, Fabiano's marvellous skills and the sublime pass given by Kaka for Elano to tap in has restored my faith in the Brazilians. Their only worry could be the two cheap goals they conceded, one each against North Korea and Ivory Coast, but they look solid in defence with Luciao, Maicon and Bastos and for once have a World Class Goal Keeper in Cesar. Paraguay will go far. They are lively, moves the fall around fluently and should reach the quarter final at least. Both Uruguay and Chile should progress to the next round. That makes it 5 out of 5 for the Latin American Teams, no mean achievement.
There is a levelling off in Europe. Spain and Germany, despite their defeats look good. Spain was again wasteful against Honduras and cant afford to be so in the Round of 16, where they will meet either Brazil or Portugal, the latter pumping 7 goals against a hapless South Korea, but to be honest, the Portugese were clueless almost for 2/3rds of the game. Germany lost mainly because Klose was harshly red carded. Even then, they looked good against Serbia in their defeat. Their only worry could be the poor form of Podolsky and Klose, their strikers, leading to the World Cup. Holland has been steady but not spectacular. One has to wait for Arjen Roebben to return to see whether they are lively as well. The other title contenders Italy, England and France are trash. Italy is an ageing team and have forgotten how to score. France is a joke and has provided much entertainment off the field with Anelka abusing the Coach, being red carded out of the team altogether, players refusing to train, fitness coach walking off, Federation President quitting in disgust and finally some players refusing to play in the last game. Makes for a nice Bollywood script - all that is missing is the sex element, which anyway Ribery and Benzema provided before the World Cup. England is England - long on talk but short on football. Describing their play as insipid is an understatement. The lesser teams like Denmark and Serbia are likely to progress and looks quarter final material.
African teams have disappointed. Much was expected of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria. Only Ghana looks game to progress to round 2 and it was supposed to be Africas Word Cup. The Mexicans have taken after their Latin American neighbours and look good, while New Zealanders have brought their Rugby zeal into their game.
The World Cup which was mediocre in the first round of games have livened up a bit in the second round. That is due fear of elimination triggering the attacking tendencies. Round 3 is do or die for many teams, and should see some attractive attacking football. It can but improve.
Argentina and Brazil have their noses ahead by a small margin now. But never underestimate the Germans. They will be there when the Semi Final line up is completed. The fourth place could go to another Latin American team.
