Some random observations after the third group fixtures:

France 1-2 South Africa: Both teams start needing a win, a lot of goals, and help in the other Group A fixture. While France controlled possession early, South Africa scored first on a corner. French goalie Hugo Lloris attempted to punch out the corner, but took a bad angle and the ball sailed over him to Bongani Khumalo for the wide open header. The goal energized Bafana Bafana and they created more pressure on Lloris. It got worse for Les Bleus when Younn Gourcuff received a red card for a high elbow to MacBeth Sibaya’s face as both went for a header in the French box. South Africa took over the game at this point. Tshabalala has a cross from the left wing blocked, but got the rebound and put it into the goalie box where Katlego Mphela muscled around a defender and knocked it in the back of the net. The French defenders looked clumsy and lazy. Raymond Domenech has lost this team. Mphela nearly had 4 more goals, hitting the post on one and forcing Lloris to make good saves on two others. Lacking any offense whatsoever, Domenech brought on Thierry Henry finally in the second half. South Africa pushed everyone up on offense looking for the goals that may get them a shot at advancement and Les Bleus finally showed some spirit and start counterattacking effectively. France finally managed a goal on a Franck Ribery cross inside the box to Florent Malouda with the goalie challenging Ribery.  France’s first goal in this Cup came with 20 minutes left in their last game. The South African defense did not collapse well on the play after France broke an offside trap. While South Africa should be proud about the win over a traditional power, they will be a bit disappointed that they couldn’t get the additional goals necessary for advancement. France was an utter disappointment and finishing last in the group was appropriate to their sorry play. Ireland is probably celebrating the French elimination after the French handball that led to the Irish elimination in qualifying. After one of the poorer coaching jobs, Domenech proved to be classless as well by refusing to shake the hand of South African manager Carlos Alberto Parreira after the game.

Mexico 0-1 Uruguay: Both teams came into the game likely to advance, however, the second seed from the group will probably face Argentina in round 2, so each had motivation to win in order to avoid that fate. Uruguay got the first real chance when Luis Suarez ran onto a pass behind the Mexican defense and chipped over the diving goalie, but it was just wide. Mexico’s first good opportunity came on a 35-yard blast from Andres Guardado that hit the crossbar and deflected almost straight down. Another inch or so lower and it would have been a goal. Both teams played cautiously in the first half, neither wanting to concede a goal, and the game was largely being played in the middle third. Just before halftime, a Uruguayan quick counterattack found Diego Forlan on the right flank and he  delivered an excellent cross to Suarez for a header on the far post for the first and ultimately only goal of the game. Uruguay nearly scored again on a header in the box off a free kick on which Mexican goalie Oscar Perez made a brilliant diving save. Mexico’s Francisco Rodriguez should have scored on a header in the box, but it went just wide. Uruguay’s defense kept Mexico from developing any kind of attack into the box up to that point. Mexico controlled possession as the second half progressed while Uruguay dropped back into a defensive shell to protect its lead. Nevertheless, Mexico played with no sense of urgency, no doubt realizing that they would advance even with a loss as long as they did not lose big. Both teams do advance to the second round, but the defensive mindset in a game where neither team had much reason to take chances made this largely a dull game.

-amwoods13

Some random observations after the second group fixtures:

South Africa 0-3 Uruguay: After featuring a heavily defensive formation against the French in their first game, Uruguay starts this game with three strikers, adding Edison Cavani to the Diego Forlan/Luis Suarez mix up top.  In contrast, South African brings out only one striker at the start.  Clearly Uruguay intends to be aggressive, while Bafana Bafana hope to hold and counterattack.  Uruguay pushed and controlled the pace and possession early on, but they couldn’t take advantage and their free kicks were pretty weak all day.  South Africa’s counterattack found few opportunities.   Uruguay’s continual attacking finally broke through on a stunning 25-yard shot by Forlan, a goal machine for Atletico Madrid in La Liga.  Even with lead, Uruguay continued to be aggressive on offense throughout.  The referee bizarrely gave a red card to South African goalie Khune on a slide tackle in the box where he barely clipped Suarez who had flipped the ball over his leg.  At worst, the play deserved a yellow card, but no card should have been issued at all for Suarez‘s flop.  The resulting penalty kick by Forlan put Uruguay up 2-0.  Bafana Bafana finally began attacking then and controlled possession thereafter as they desperately tried to catch up, but Uruguay’s defense marked well and allowed no solid scoring opportunities.  Their goalie was barely tested in the game.  Insult was added to injury in extra time when a simple Suarez cross into the box, which appeared to be almost devoid of defenders, found Alvaro Pereira who headed it in for the third goal.  After all four teams in Group A looked tentative in their first fixtures, Uruguay’s addition of a third striker to its starting line-up made a huge difference and really opened up their offense without increasing the vulnerability of their defense, though that is likely to change in their next fixture against Mexico. Uruguay looked like a team that could win Group A.  South Africa will need to beat France in its final group fixture and get some help in order to advance.

France 0-2 Mexico: Both teams came into this game disappointed with their first match results, ties against squads they expected to beat.  With the convincing Uruguay win over South Africa, neither team can now afford a loss.  Mexico played lots of long balls downfield to run onto.  They look like they have a speed advantage on France’s mostly older defenders and a plan to exploit it.  Mexico lost young striker Carlos Vela to an injury 30 minutes in; he has already developed a reputation for being fragile.  First half is a scoreless draw, but Mexico looks the much better team with several good scoring opportunities, while Les Bleus look listless and their passing is shoddy, particularly on crosses.   Les Bleus’ manager Raymond Domenech surprisingly removed striker Nicolas Anelka for the second half.  With Thierry Henry not in the game, that is a lot of veteran presence and goal scoring sitting on the bench.  Turns out that Anelka chewed out his coach at halftime and he was dismissed from the team days later.  Nice to see Mexico manager Javier Aguirre decide to go for it early in the second half bringing on striker Javier Hernandez for a defender.  Chicharito rewarded his coach by running onto a long chip pass over the French defense, dribbling around the goalie and scoring easily, matching his grandfather who scored against the French in the 1954 Cup.  French central defender Eric Abidal was trying to pull Hernandez offside and asked for the call instead of chasing Hernandez, a critical mistake. Domenech continued to confound, substituting a midfielder for a forward after the goal and never bringing in Henry, who only has more international goals for France than anyone else.  Abidal committed another cardinal mistake in needlessly taking down Pablo Barrera in the box when Barrera was chasing a ball toward the end line with a bad angle for a shot or cross.   Cuauhtemoc Blanco buried the penalty kick in the bottom right of the net.  With France in a desperate position, Domenech did nothing, failing to make his third substitution.  A fresh Henry off the bench would have been warranted.  Through two games, France is scoreless and Domenech has found no combination that works and he appears to not care.  France’s only shot at advancing is to beat South Africa soundly and have Mexico thrash Uruguay or vice versa.  With Anelka off the team and Domenech’s complete and utter failure to put Les Bleus in a position to win, France is in complete disarray and their elimination seems all but certain now.  Mexico will advance with a win or tie against Uruguay and probably even with a loss.

-amwoods13

Some random observations after the first group fixtures:

South Africa 1-1 Mexico: Early on Mexico showed more combination play and possession. Mexico was willing to spread the field by working the wings. Bafana Bafana seemed to be back on their heels, not showing any sustained effort to put an attack together; their build-from-the-back effort was stalling in their own end. After 20 minutes South Africa got a little more adventuresome, getting a little more direct through the middle but not using the wings effectively. Mexico had the better attack on the South African goal but Khune was solid in the net. Carlos Vela and Giovanni dos Santos worked the one-two well. Not getting a good start in this tournament with the officiating; Mexico’s goal from a corner kick taken away on a bad offside call (there was a South African player guarding the goal line). Despite the numbers Bafana Bafana had in the back Mexico made headway on set pieces in the box. South Africa got onto the attacking end a lot better in the second half, but it is clear they are going to have problems in this tournament because of their lack of refined finishing skills. S.A. spread the field on the attacking end better in the second half. Great breakaway by S.A. to take advantage of a midfield interception to get the first goal (Mexico caught napping with too many players forward); clearly a more counterattacking scheme works better for them than the build-from-the-back approach, but it is clear that coach Carlos Alberto Pareirra is going to stick with the latter. S.A. played with a lot more confidence after scoring, putting together better attacking quality. Breakdown by center of defense on set piece allowed a Rafael Marquez goal, clearly rewarding Mexico for their patience. Last fifteen minutes or so both teams played with attacking confidence, which opened up the game. Two relatively easy chances by S.A. could have given them full points, but both shots were off-target.

Uruguay 0-0 France: Interesting starting lineup for France; no Thierry Henry or Florent Malouda. France looked to get the ball on the attacking end quickly, using their rear wingers to get long passes up front. Uruguay played less to win and more to just survive; five defenders in the back supported by two midfielders just in front of them, really crowding the center and the box. Surprisingly France fouled the most. Uruguay relied way too heavily on Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez to play the one-two game up front, rarely providing any help up front and never having any numbers in the attacking area. France attack predictable, looking to get up front on the left flank with Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery opening up space in the center. Odd that Forlan was taking free kicks instead of receiving them. Every time Ribery got the ball Uruguay closed him down immediately with at least 2 players. Once Henry and then Malouda came on the French attack opened up, getting quick service up front from both flanks. Foul by Nicolas Lodiero probably did deserve a yellow, but the red was a bit excessive, and it was a game-changer. When Andre Pierre-Gignac came on Ribery played a little more centrally. Exciting ending as Uruguay on tired legs and down a man tried desperately to maintain their defensive discipline and hold off a furious French onslaught. Brilliant defensive display by Uruguay. I understand entirely why Raymond Domenech is losing his job.

ESPN’s World Cup coverage: Martin Tyler’s play-by-play one of the best in the business. Efan Ekoku personable but needs help with analysis. Ian Darke reliable and descriptive play-by-play. Ally McCoist much better than Ekoku. Derek Rae does play-by-play proficiently with a lot of authority. Robbie Mustoe is the best analyst they have. Adrian Healey was not very excitable play-by-play announcer. John Harkes was one of the better, more informative analysts, if somewhat jingoistic. Too many technical difficulties to count throughout their first day of coverage, though, so they are going to have to work those out.

After one matchday and only two fixtures, the officiating is leaving something to be desired.

– daveydoug