Italians are STUNNED!

All the through the disappointing early performances of Italy in FIFA 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa, I had the belief that somehow or the other they will qualify for super 16. BUT, they have proved me wrong. It was an extremely poor show by Italy for first 75 minutes of the match, which put Slovakia in an advantageous position. Then Italian players woke from their sleep and worked hard for last 10 minutes or so scoring 2 goals, but FOUND THAT IT WAS TOO LATE!!

Vincenzo Laquinta and Fabio Quagliarella are dejected after Italy crashed out of FIFA 2010 Football World Cup.

The No.5 ranked Italian team lost to No. 34 ranked Slovakia in a disastrous upset. The final score of the match was 3-2 in favor of Slovakia.

Not long ago, in 2006, the FIFA Football World Cup was hosted in Germany, and the same Italian team had won it beating France in the final. Strangely, both the finalists of 2006 FIFA World Cup have been unable to make it to top 16.

Antonio De Natale is unable to control his emotions after his team lost to Slovakia and crashed out of FIFA 2010 Football World Cup South African. Italian team finished last in Group-F with 2 points, behind Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand. This indeed is a very tragic end for them.

The Italians fans too were heart-broken to learn that their team will not show up in top 16. The fans had come in big numbers from Italy to South Africa to support their team.

Italian coach Marcello Lippi is shell-shocked to watch the scenes at Johannesburg. He quickly left the stadium as soon as the referee whistled full-time, and did not even wait to join his players.

Marcello Lippi was the coach of Italian team from 2004-2006 and led Italy to FIFA 2006 Soccer World Cup win.

Teams appearing rock solid!

Till now, FIFA World Cup 2010 has seen some good performances from participating teams -especially Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Netherlands and Portugal.

The South American teams including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay have been the best performers. The European teams of Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, England and France have had a mixed tournament. Whereas the African teams of South Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon have not been able to put up a decent show for their crowds.

Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Netherlands are the teams who have dominated their groups till now, winning both their matches.

These teams owing to their brilliant performance have earned 6 valuable points and have confirmed their place in top 16.

The No. 1 ranked Brazil need to carry on their good form to the top 16 stage, where they will have to confront tougher competition. The same applies to No. 4 ranked Netherlands, No.7 ranked Argentina and No. 18 ranked Chile teams.

Portuguese crush Korea DPR

It was a day when Christiano Ronaldo led Portuguese team made Korean DPR defense look clueless, scoring record 6 goals in the second half.

This was the biggest ever win in a FIFA World Cup match for Portugal, and the biggest ever loss of Korea DPR!! Seeing the game of first 25 minutes, nobody could even imagine that the full-time score will be 7 goals to nil in favor of Portugal.

Christiano Ronaldo against Korea DPR at Cape Town on 21st June 2010. Out of the 7 goals scored by Portugal team in the entire match, Ronaldo could only score 1. It was 6th goal of the match, in the 87th min, when Ronaldo had to juggle his way through the Korean defense past the goal-keeper to take a comfortable shot.

When the Korean DPR defense performed well in the first 25 minutes of the match, it looked as though the Portuguese may have to work hard to score a goal. But it was in the 29th minute, when Raul Meireles made his way forward from the mid-field, Tiago slid a very good pass and Meirelez shot the goal past the attempting goal-keeper.

Raul Meirelez, the 27 year old mid-fielder for Portugal scored his fifth International goal against Korea DPR on 21st June @ Cape Town South Africa.

Meirelez made his debut against Kazakhstan in November 2006. He has 35 International caps against his name.

At the end of first half, the score was 1-0, with Portugal only having a 1 goal lead, and Korea DPR still fancying their chances to equalize in the second half. But the second half saw something that Korea DPR would not have imagined. The manager including the players were shell shocked to see what was happening. The Portugal team scored a record 6 goals in the second half, making it their biggest ever win in a FIFA World cup match. The Portuguese players who were amongst the scorers in 2nd half include Tiago (60' & 89'), Simao (53'), Hugo Almeida (56'), Leidson (81') and captain Christiano Ronaldo (87').

The 29 year old mid-fielder Tiago played his first International match against Scotland in November 2002.

He has 52 International caps to his name. He scored his first goal of the match in 60th minute when Ronaldo broke the offside trap from left to pick Tiago who scored the goal.

The dazzling performance on the field from Portuguese players brought immense energy and joy for Carloz Queiroz, the Portugal.

The 57 year old Portuguese coach began his coaching carrier in 1991 with Portugal. From 2000-2002, he coached South Africa and from 2003-2004, he was the coach of Real Madrid. Carloz was born in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique in Africa on 1st March 1953.

The flamboyance and superbly coordinated effort of Portugal team brought many smiles on faces of Portuguese fans who had gathered in large numbers to cheer their squad.

It was all fun and joy for fans of Portugal. The second half was a stunner with Portuguese strikers trying to create every opportunity to score.

The Portugal team is now comfortably placed at second position in Group-G with 4 points point, whereas Brazil is leading the group with 6 points, having won both its matches. Portugal is more or less definite to find a place in top 16 as there is a 9 goal difference between them and Ivory Coast.

Can USA proceed to top 16?

The matches in Group-C have seen a much improved effort by the United States soccer team, and the credit certainly goes to Bob Bradley.

Bob Bradley was appointed interim coach of US mens soccer team after its poor performance at 2006 FIFA World Cup. But it was only on 15th May 2007 that he was officially named the manager. And he certainly grabbed the opportunity with both hands, transforming the American team into a very competitive squad.

In the opening matches of the tournament, the US team were scheduled to face England and Slovenia. On one side Slovenia was a stable performer, and on the other side England had a star-studded lineup, and hence the competition was tough.

But the American players led by Carlos BOCANEGRA stood up to the challenge, with Jozy Altidore leading the attack, the other forwards as Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez and Edson Buddle. Amongst all Americans in the playing squad, Jozy has been the highest goal scorer at this level with 9 goals.

In their first game against England, the US team certainly knew the opposition was tough. The match began with both teams eying a early goal to get in front. With effort from all, it was only Steven Gerrard who scored for England in the 4th minute, an effort which gave a lot of confidence to Fabio Capello, the manager of English team.

Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and others celebrate with Steven Gerrard after he scored a goal for England in the 4th minute. It was 17th International goal for the 30 year old Gerrard who has got 82 International caps against his name. Gerrard played his first International match against Ukraine in 2000.

After such an early goal from English and the advantage of experience, it was up to the Americans to do something extra-ordinary. Though the American team got a total of 4 shots on goal, it was the 40th minute when Clint Dempsey took a shot on goal, and the ball went straight to English goalkeeper Robert Green, who made a mess of it.

The English goal-keeper Robert Green mis-judging the ball, leading to an equalizer in a game between England and USA played on 12th June 2010 at Royal Bafokeng stadium in South Africa. The 30 year old Green played his first International game against Columbia in 2005. He also plays for West Ham United in English Premier League.

The English team could not compensate for the mishap even until the end, and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Though the Americans fans were very happy to end in draw, the English fans were very disappointed.

The Americans fought their next game against Slovenia at Johannesburg on 18th June. Though Slovenia was number 25 in FIFA rankings as against USA at 14th, the Americans knew they could not effort to take this lightly.

The game began, and the first half turned out to be a shocker for Americans, with Valter BIRSA scoring in 13th minute and Zlatan LJUBIJANKIC scoring in the 42nd minute for the Solvenian team. The double doze was certainly hard to digest for Bob Bradley and his team, and the American fans were completely quiet.

The second half brought hope for Americans with mid-fielder Landon DONOVAN scoring in the 48th minute.

Landon DONOVAN takes a successful shot at the Slovenian goal, earning a valuable goal for this country.

The 28 year old DONOVAN has 43 International goals against his name, and has attained 124 International caps. He played his first International match against Mexico in 2000.

The next 30 minutes of play did not bring any benefit for American team, and the players were certainly desperate to attain an equalizer. Finally, in the 82nd minute, Michael BRADLEY, the son of coach Bob BRADLEY won the equalizer for his team.

Michael BRADLEY is elated after scoring the second goal for USA. The 22 year old energetic mid-fielder made his debut in May 2006 against Venezuela.

Till now, he has scored 8 International goals, and has 45 International caps to his name. He is also the son of current coach Bob BRADLEY.

The game finally ended in a draw, leaving Americans with 2 draws in a row, the first one against England and the second one against Slovenia.

On the points table in Group-C, with each team having played 2 matches, Slovenia is leading with 4 points, followed by USA and England at 2 points each. The next encounter of USA is against Algeria on 23rd June. If USA goes on to win this match, and Slovenia manages a tie with England, then USA will be through to the top 16.

On the other hand, if USA vs Algeria ends in a draw, and England defeats Slovenia, then England will be through to the next level along with Slovenia. Though these are all permutations and combinations, and the scene will become clear on 23rd June.

A super performance by Denmark!

This match at Tshwane saw an exciting contest between No. 36 ranked Denmark and No. 19 ranked Cameroon. The teams from the very beginning were evenly matched, and the strikers of both teams challenging the defense of either team. In the end, it was Denmark who proved a point by winning the game 2-1.

Denmark team celebrating after defeating Cameroon 2-1, even though Cameroon was first to score. At the end of first half, both teams were even at 1-1, with Denmark moving on to take advantage in the 2nd half. Bendtner and Rommedahl were the scorers from Denmark side.

Before the start of the match though, Morten OLSEN (the coach of Denmark) was slightly tense, sensing his team needed a win. He knew the Cameroon players had the ability to pose a serious challenge to his team. In mid of his concern, the last thing he would have thought is an early goal by Cameroon.

The first goal was scored by ETO'O for Cameroon, bringing his team in an advantageous position in very early moments of the match (10th minute). This brought a bit of worry on the face of Morten OLSEN, the Denmark coach. But the Denmark strikers soon sensed that they had to do something to open up the Cameroon defense.

ETO'O celebrates after scoring first goal of the match in the 10th minute, getting advantage for this team. A goal in early minutes always has a big impact, as we could sense from expressions on OLSEN's face. Now it was up to Denmark to create a move on for themselves.

Denmark got its first corner in the 17th minute, when Jorgensen took the corner kick, but still no result for the Denmark fans. The result for Denmark came in the 33rd minute when Bendtner scored, much to the relief of all fans who had gathered to support their team. The next 12 mins saw a lot of action without any goals, and referee announced half time.

The second half began with players from both Denmark and Cameroon eying to score, to get the much wanted 3 points. But it was Rommedahl who scored for Denmark in the 61st minute, leaving less than 30 minutes for Cameroon to equalize. The Denmark team still could not relax as the Cameroon strikers were succeeding in opening up the Denmark defense every couple of minutes.

We had reached the 88th minute and the Cameroon team got a free kick in a dangerous position, but still could not score. In the 90th minute, the referee announced 3 minutes of stoppage time, offering last opportunity to Cameroon to score, but Cameroon unfortunately could not get anything fruitful from it.

In the end, it was Denmark who gave themselves a real chance to enter top 16 in FIFA World Cup 2010 finals by defeating Cameroon 2-1.

England manages a draw with Algeria!

I do not know about anybody else, but I was badly shocked at the result of this English-Algerian encounter. A couple of minutes before the start of this match, the odds were pegged in favor British, to nobody's wonder. After all, the heavily favored English side carried the likes of Rooney, Terry, Lampard and Gerard.

If somebody had asked Fabio Capello in mid of his sleep about the turnout of such a match, he would have picked England, and that too with no less than 2 goal advantage.

But, here is the reality, and the look on his face says it all.

At this juncture, he knows himself that the progress of the English to the next level will require something special from his stars, especially after his team could not even beat Algeria.

Otherwise the English fans will have accept their fate and return home with little less than what they had anticipated. The same fans were nothing less than furious at the disappointing performance of their team. Some of them even went on to question the intent of English players, including the under-performing stars - Rooney and Terry.

An ever supportive English fan Chris Hick (name changed) from Manchester went on to say that English team is not motivated enough to win the world cup.

Well, Chris may have his own opinion, but even to me, there seemed a lack of effort both in mid-field and from the strikers.

Now coming to the heroes who were expected to play decent football, if not more. To start, Wayne Rooney, with whatever limited effort he put, was unable to control the ball when it mattered. At the end of it, he gave an enraged look to the camera who was following him as he left the field.

The highly reputed David Beckham was himself present at the Green Point stadium in Cape Town. Even he was clueless about what was happening, and had no advise to offer.

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