2014 World Cup Thoughts
*sigh*… England. Despite losing to Italy, I saw such hope from the team. But having talented players can only help so much. You have to coordinate as a team, and have a plan–a strategy. When England played Uruguay, they needed a win, and after Uruguay were thrashed by Costa Rica, this didn’t seem impossible. But England just couldn’t get their act together. I’m all for national pride, and I rooted for England to win. But after their disappointing performance, I have no problem saying they deserved to lose, and it would be an injustice if they were still competing in the World Cup. Even though they’re out, England still have a game to play against Costa Rica who, against all odds, are currently leading the group. In all honesty, I don’t fancy England’s chances. This Costa Rica team are the ones to watch this tournament. They’re undefeated so far, and in a group where the other three teams are former World Cup winners, that’s very impressive. Sure, it would be nice for England to leave the contest with at least one tie or win under their belt. But the likeliest (and, I think, sweetest) result is for underdog Costa Rica to enter the round of sixteen as the undefeated Group D champions.
Of course, I have the benefit of being a naturalized US citizen, so I can root for the US with as much national pride as I would for England. And in stark contrast to England, the United States played superbly. Their win against Ghana, which was of huge psychological importance to the team, showed them to be real contenders for the cup this year. And when they played Portugal yesterday, they showed skill, organization, teamwork, and strategy. They deserved to win, and I hope the fact Portugal were able to steal a draw in the last thirty seconds of added time teach them not to be too complacent. Now the US need a draw or win against Germany to qualify. Surprisingly, Germany also need that draw or win. After trouncing Portugal in their first game, Germany looked like the team to beat, and well-deserved their second-favorite status. And since the US had beaten Ghana, I was sure Germany would have no problem. But this year’s World Cup will be remembered as the “take nothing for granted” tournament as Germany struggled for a tie. I don’t think Ghana played any better than they did against the US, so Germany should have won this one. I don’t know what happened, but if Germany want to stay in the contest, they need to not let it happen again. Right now, if Germany and the US play their third match as well as they played their second matches, the US are sure to qualify to the round of sixteen.
Unfortunately, Asia isn’t making as much of a splash as I’d hoped, though Japan are still very much alive, and South Korea battled back wonderfully against Algeria. If the Koreans had played their first half against the Algerians as well as they played the second, I think the score would have been very different. But I have to hand it to Algeria, they fought very hard for that 4-2 victory. Given they’ve never made it past the group stage, or even scored that many goals in a World Cup, I can’t feel too bad if Algeria qualify, even if South Korea go out as a result. As well as they played, maybe they deserve some time in the spotlight. Japan lost to Ivory Coast, but tied with Greece, so they need a win against Columbia to stand a chance of going through to the next round. Columbia look good, so this will be a tough game for Japan. Tough, but not impossible.
The final games of the group stage will be played this week. They’ve organized the matches so that two games play simultaneously at 12 pm EST and at 4 pm EST each day between today and Thursday. Here’s how the schedule looks. I’ve bold-typed the matches I think are ones to watch should you have to choose:
Monday, June 23 (12 pm): Netherlands vs. Chile & Australia vs. Spain
Monday, June 23 (4 pm): Cameroon vs. Brazil & Croatia vs. Mexico
Tuesday, June 24 (12 pm): Italy vs. Uruguay & Costa Rica vs. England
Tuesday, June 24 (4 pm): Japan vs. Columbia & Greece vs. Cote d’Ivoire
Wednesday, June 25 (12 pm): Nigeria vs. Argentina & Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Iran
Wednesday, June 25 (4 pm): Honduras vs. Switzerland & Ecuador vs. France
Thursday, June 26 (12 pm): Portugal vs. Ghana & USA vs. Germany
Thursday, June 26 (4 pm): South Korea vs. Belgium & Algeria vs. Russia
The comments are open for World Cup discussion! Who are do you think are going to make it to the final?
I’ve actually started to pay attention to the World Cup now because the children at work are really interested in it. This is their first proper world cup. Well, their third but they’re seven now and old enough to be aware of it this time. We’ve also got a few children whose countries are taking part so their interest is quite high. Since we did Mexico for International Week we’re all keeping an eye on them. 🙂
As for England… I wasn’t surprised. I don’t think they play to their full advantage and need more pushing. (IMO though.)
So I guess… go Mexico! *waves flag*
Potential. Not advantage.
I’ve lost the ability to speak English today.
Mexico are looking good. Their goalie is phenomenal. I didn’t mention them in the article, but they’re another great team to watch.
And since England are out of it now, how about waving a flag for your transatlantic cousins? 🙂 Seriously, this is the best US team I’ve seen in 20 years. They deserve to go far.
I don’t know who I want to win, but England going out this early on was a wee bit surprising. Not that I expected them to win, but not making the final 16 isn’t exactly brilliant.
At least none of our players bit someone though. #BanSuarez 😉
And guess what! I’ve tagged you on a character bloghop! Check it out here! I’d love to learn more about Pearl 😉
The frustrating thing is that England had the individual talent to go far this time… they just didn’t play together as well as they could or should. They were better than 4 years ago, though, so there’s hope for next time, perhaps! 🙂
It would be nice to see FIFA take action against Suarez, and I mean immediate action that prevents him continuing in the competition. That might hurt Uruguay, but Suarez should have thought about that before he decided to gnaw on his rivals. Should he be banned from playing period? I’m not sure how the politics of that works, but I hope it doesn’t come down as solely a FIFA thing, since ultimately it’s his local club that will suffer. There should be some club-level involvement with that decision. But that’s just my thought.
Yay! Thanks for the tag, Cole! I’ll check that out, and post something soon. 🙂