The first week of the World Cup is now complete and the play has been phenomenal all together. With the United States prepared to take on Slovenia tomorrow, it’s time to reflect on the first week. There has been a lot of little things I have been impressed by so far, but there has also been other tidbits that do the opposite for me. Each person has its own opinions on everything and I, for one, love the vuvuzelas and hate the coaching that Dunga is carrying out for Brazil. I will warn any reader in advance that I will not bash things like Rick Reilly recently did for his column for ESPN (as seen here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5288738). No disrespect to the guy, but I believe a person needs to understand stoppage time before you can poke fun at the idea. With the rise of American soccer on the forefront, here’s my impressions on a week of futbol.

Impressed

--Diego Maradona’s coaching: Coming into the World Cup, I was concerned for the blue and white of Argentina because the focus seemed to be on coach Diego Maradona. Coach Maradona did not put some of Argentina’s strongest players on the team including Inter Milan star Javier Zanetti. A lack of defenders has not been a issue so far for Maradona’s mighty men of Argentina as the squad has allowed only one goal in two games thus far. With only Greece to play, Argentina is bound for an opportunity of a World Cup.

--Das Germans: Losing captain Michael Ballack a month before the World Cup seemed to put a damper on the parade that the German team was ready to carry out. With a team that returned most of its players from the 2006 team, I remained skeptic of how the team would react to Ballack’s injury. The Germans opened the Cup up with a 4-0 victory over the young Socceroo’s (Australia). The entire team of Germany showed great fluency with the ball and also used crisp passes to each other to find an open shot. Four different players scored in the opening match and coach Low has Germany aimed for a great shot of taking Group D and advancing into the round of 16.

--Asian Pride: The set of teams that looked to be the weakest coming in were the teams coming from the continent of Asia. That has not been the case so far. The three actual teams from Asia (not Australia or New Zealand) have looked strong on the defensive end and two of the teams have already won a game in its group play. Japan cruised by Cameroon with the help of Honda’s goal. Japan will need a win over the Netherlands or Denmark to spring into the next round. Even with South Korea getting beatup by Argentina with the score of 4-1, South Korea still has a good shot of making it into the round of 16 with the Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-Sung as its captain. North Korea was ranked lower than any other team in the World Cup heading into play, but the squad impressed me by with its performance against Brazil. Being in the group of death is not an easy task for a team that hasn’t been in a World Cup in over fifty years. I do not believe North Korea will capture any points with games against Portugal or the Ivory Coast, but they have gained the respect from hardcore soccer fans.

--Facebook Frenzy: I have noticed all over the Web 2.0 media that the World Cup is gaining enormous popularity here in the United States. Many people forget that the United States hosted this event 16 years ago because so little amount of people cared about soccer. This is one of the few times that I am happy with bandwagon fans since it is for the World Cup. I believe this is exactly what we need in order to push our squad into the next echelon of the top teams in the world. I support the people that never have played soccer but constantly rant about the games each day. I love that people are finding favorite players and buying jerseys. Side note: Ryan Braun has been quoted in saying that soccer was his best sport growing up. Do you believe he could have make the U.S. squad? (please comment below)

--Complete Domination (S.A. Style): By S.A., I mean South America and not South Africa. The quick pace style of South America is destroying the slow paced soccer manner that most teams play in this tournament. The teams from South America are yet to lose a game and I would not be shocked in each of the five teams from the continent make the round of 16. After tying with Italy, Paraguay has a strong shot if they have good showings versus lesser opponents, Slovakia and New Zealand. Chile leads Group H and if they beat Switzerland, Chile will also be rocking the round of 16. Uruguay and Argentina look as locks as two of the 16 teams with each team having only a single game remaining. Brazil is ranked number one in the world and are very confident that they have a squad that can win the entire tournament.

Not Impressed

--The Lack of Vuvuzela Supporters: As I stated in my opening paragraph, I love the vuvuzelas. I don’t find them as a distraction because there is always stadium noise where-ever you go. Just because it is something no other stadium is used to does not make it plausible to ban these instruments. The vuvuzelas are an important mark in South African culture. The majority of players have no real problem with the buzz of the vuvuzelas. I am shocked that more media members do not express their opinion on the matter of the vuvuzelas. There has been many critics of this instrument, but all are foreign to a soccer stage like this.

--La Furia Roja: The Red Fury of Spain seemed more fuzzy than fury in its first contest against the Swiss. Spain lacked a real fire in its first contest and I am actually worried that this team may not make it past the group stage. Striker, Fernando Torres, is still coming back from injury and without him, the play of second striker, David Villa, is worsened. He feeds off by being mismatched when Torres is on the pitch, but without him, he gets marked by the defense’s best defender. The midfield lacked real enthusiasm during the game and seemed rather unorganized as the ball kept being played back into the middle. The crowded midfield has to be eased up a bit for Spain’s final two games. I still have confidence in this team because it is the one team with no holes what-so-ever.

--Gino’s Azzurri: The team that won the 2006 World Cup has only nine players and only three starters total from its championship team on the 2010 roster. The worse news from that is that one of the three starters is out of shape from being injured the last two seasons and another of the starters is now down with an herniated disk. If Italy actually loses Gianluigi Buffon, I cannot see that squad advancing any farther than the round of 16. The Azzurri also lacks a true striker in its squad and is hurting for goals. Daniele De Rossi scored the only goal in the draw versus Paraguay and he is shown as the future captain of the squad. The Italians will need to be resilient and bounce back with two games versus teams that are not as good as the Azzurri. A match versus New Zealand is the perfect medicine in order to see what this squad is truly made of.

--Les Bleus: France looked completely unorganized in its poor effort against Mexico. Les Bleus could not muster a goal in the first game versus Uruguay either. France will need an extreme amount of luck to go on in the World Cup. The team has South Africa left on its schedule and Bafana Bafana would like to add a win to its resume as well. This squad looks like a bunch of players rather than a complete team. They do not rely on team chemistry at all and they also seem very slow. The team that came to the World Cup from ‘the hand of god’ seems like they will be be ousted by the ‘boot of god’.

--Dunga: For my final poor impression, I go to the group of death. No one is as famous as Brazil in the style of soccer that they play. Pele groomed this team back in his playing days to play an upbeat style by using many strikers and relying on offense to win titles. The new coach for Brazil has completely debunked that style of play during its World Cup run in 2010. Dunga played defense in his days in Brazil, and defense is the key for Brazil in the 2010 World Cup. Dunga did not elect to put fan favorite, Ronaldinho, on the squad as well as Adriano and others. Next, Dunga is not even running his top striker at his best position. He has Robinho playing attacking midfield rather than knocking in the goals from up top. The style that Dunga has the Brazilians playing is very boring and the lack of goals could come back to haunt them in its attempt for a sixth World Cup trophy.

There are still over three weeks remaining in this month long triumph for a victor. I am excited to watch the rest of the matches and I hope you are as well.

Comments (7)

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written by Chris MacGregor, June 18, 2010

I too have come to love the Vuvuzelas... so much that I put this link before every site. It's like the World Cup in your own home... http://www.vuvuzela-time.co.uk

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Cody Rocks!!!
written by Sam Bremer, June 18, 2010

This article was very impressive, and I agree with all of the comments you made about every team. I love the vuvuzuelas myself I share your love for the next couple weeks of soccer, they're gonna be absolutely fabulous!! Oh...and of course Ryan Braun could've made the U.S. squad, he is god-like.

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Predictions and more
written by Kreg Blair, June 19, 2010

Group A - Uruguay and Mexico will advance. Uruguay looks like they have one of the strongest team chemistries in the tournament and will pose a huge threat to anybody they play. Domenech (coach of France) is making horrible decisions and is hated by his own countrymen. I don't care how old Henry or Cisse are, you MUST play these players. They give you the best chance for a goal along with Ribery. He will be scrutinized by the French for years.

Group B- Argentina beats Greece and (South) Korea overcomes an underrated Nigeria team along with their keeper Enyeama who deserves a huge shout out for his play in this cup. Therefore, Argentina and Korea advance.

Group C - USA beats Algeria and England overcomes their midfield struggles and beats the speedy strikers (and weird haircuts) of Slovenia. England's midfielders are no doubt a pair of the best players in the world, but they just do not play together. USA got nothing but nuts and bolts in what should have been a 3-2 victory over Slovenia. That call just may cause the USA advancing into the quarterfinals as we may end up with the #2 seed instead of the #1 seed.

Goup D - Germany gets the #1 seed after beating Ghana due to goal differential. Serbia beats Australia by enough to give them the goal differential go-ahead over Ghana to advance to the next round and break the hearts of the home-continent team. (Although I do hope Ghana advances. They, along with Ivory Coast and Cameroon have the only real chance of advancing. Both Ivory Coast and Cameroon will need a bit of luck and good fortune to advance.

Group E - Netherlands have already clinched as expected. Japan will get the advancement and will once again leave the African fans discouraged.

Group F - Paraguay and Italy advance as they have perhaps the two worst teams in the tournament in each of their next two games.

Group G - Brazil gets shocked from both Ivory coast and Portugal and gets eliminated in the group stages. This is indeed a tough side to beat (Actually the absolute toughest side to beat according to FIFA rankings). But the hearts of Ivory Coast will triumph and the style of play of Portugal will match up extremely well against the, said, new style of dunga's brazilians. Call me crazy or call me a Guru.

Group H - Spain fixes their problems and Chile gets another win against the swiss. Spain and Chile advance despite the, so far, good fortune of the swiss.



As for the vuvzelas AND kuduzelas... They must NOT be banned. It is part of the games. The would be like banning brats and beers from Miller Park.

Ryan Braun and Kobe would both be on the national team if they chose soccer. Soon enough (4-10 years) we will start seeing more and more all-around athletes like this choosing soccer as it is growing in popularity. However, it won't be too many due to the struggles of the MLS. The MLS has a horrible following and it should. All the best players play overseas and that will never change. For a very long time at least. So, being at the top of the soccer world means living overseas. Personally, I would love living overseas, but many want to stay close to family and familiar ground.

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written by Cody Steger, June 19, 2010

C'mon Kreg! We chat sports all the time but give in to the Brazilians! And get off the Portugal bandwagon. The MLS is starting to gain some steam though.

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I will never give in.
written by Kreg Blair, June 20, 2010

Sure, I was going with my heart over my head picking Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire over instead of Brasil. I hate Brasil and I hate the Yankees. That will never change. My head and heart are it it with Portugal though. They will easily beat North Korea and they will beat Brasil especially now that they are without Kaka to get the 9 points and win the group. I was with my heart on Cote d'Ivoire because I would like to see at least 1 African team to advance. Now it looks extremely slim for the elephants especially having a -2 goal differential now. Lets go Ghana. I guess. Who also has extremely slim chances to even tie Germany, let alone beat them to advance.

Portugal 'bandwagon'? You know they are my team. Always have been. Along with USA (ofcoarse) and Nederlands.

Sure the MLS is starting to get some steam.. but the train is extremely slow-moving. We're going to need A LOT more coal (star players) to keep it moving after the year of the World Cup.

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Growth of the Game
written by Jacob Steger, June 21, 2010

What is so special about this cup is that it has been filled with upsets. The win by the swiss and the tie by new zealand is just a few to support my arguement. The cup shows the growth of the game at an international and this could be the year that a team shocks the world by winning the whole thing. Right now, I think the dutch is going to win, which is not a total shock at all. Finally, I think the refs have been too card happy and fail to assess players attempts to go for the ball. I could write a whole thesis on the referee who took the goal away from us on friday, but i know that the usa will be ready to play.

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written by Cody Steger, June 21, 2010

Kreg...Portugal tied its first game so they cannot get 9 points! C'mon!!! All Brasil has to do is tie Portugal and the offense is starting to kick up for both teams. This argument will never end between us until the actual game, so we shall see man. Jake, there are some upsets but I actually thought more upsets would have occurred. To me, there is no clear cut favorite anymore after Spain's debacle and Brasil's style of play. The Netherlands is usually a high scoring team and barely beat Japan! I am so upset that Kaka is not playing in the last game.

Speaking of picking up steam, the Arsenal coach wants Howard, Donovan, and Michael Bradley!

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