RED the winners.

RED took FIFA 2010 home. Overall it was an entertaining affair. Time to move on to other things.

WAKA WAKA Life .

Fancy This

The top 16 has been decided and as I write Ghana leads USA by 1-0. I am sure Uruguay team would be toasting champagne somewhere after their well deserved victory over South Korea and a place in quarter final not to mention the crazy celebrations back home.

The shocking exit of Italy and France hasn’t dampened the spirits much. Lot’s of Football to watch in the next couple of weeks.

I fancy a Brazil Vs. Argentina final. Let’s see how their fortune plays.

Portugal 7:0 North Korea

Yesterdays Matches.

Spain        2:0    Honduras
Chile        1:0    Switzerland
Portugal    7:0    North Korea

Spain and Portugal are back in reckoning.  The teams seem to be gelling well and playing well as the tournament progresses with the exception of France. A resounding win over North Korea by Portugal and an equally well crafted Spanish win over Honduras put wheels on their progress. They are definitely into the round of 16 but how far would they go from there is to be seen. Don’t be surprised if you see one of them slugging out for the position in the finals.

How can I not mention the samba boys win over the Côte d’Ivoire. The game reached excellent heights with a fine display of skills by the Brazilians. I definitely see a winner there. Kaka was red carded, I am sure he would use this time to rest well for the play in the latter matches.

The Football World

- Harsh Nema

Football is played in every corner of the world.

FIFA has more members than UNO.

Almost everyone of us has once played football.

You need to agree, nothing but Football could be the sport of we human beings? Watch this World Cup; it can beat Olympics in terms of it’s world wide coverage. Football has created it’s own gods and demons, winners and losers. No game in our history has given us so many moments of ecstasy and despair than Football. It also presents a humbling playground where everyone is equal, where else would we see USA and UK struggle against Algeria.

Yet we at this corner of the world; we nurture a small dream that our nation – one day we too would play in the FIFA World Cup Finals. We will have our very own Kaka, Messi, Rooney along with our moments of triumphs and despair. Imagine a day when we will manage a draw against Brazil and in next few days will be beaten by the Portugese by a  huge margin .

Let’s hope that one day we would be recognized as a country that kicked the ball instead of only hitting it with sticks and bats . For now though, we can enjoy the Football world from the sidelines.

Germany 0:1 Serbia | France 0:2 Mexico

This is what happened yesterday.

England        0:0    Algeria
Slovenia        2:2    United States
Germany       0:1    Serbia

After a shocking defeat of Spain and France we have Germany humbled by supposedly not so great Serbia. A missed opportunity and playing with 10 does not augur well with the match results.

France could not get their act together and didn’t look a bit like a unit in their outing against the speedy Mexicans the day before. France is unlikely to make it to the next round.

England was frustrated by Algeria who looked sharp throughout the match and held England to a goalless draw, 2nd one for England. Would the English side make it to the next round? Let’s wait and watch.

"We just never hit our level today and it’s not good enough. I don’t  know why that was, but we weren’t aggressive enough, we didn’t win the  ball back early enough and there was no cutting edge in the final  third," Steven Gerrard, England captain.                

Brazil 2: 1 Korea DPR

What a show was put up by the minnows Korea DPR – impregnable defense. They had respect and reverence for their football Gods but did not give in easily. They frustrated the mighty Brazilians and didn’t let them score until  the 55th minute. And the next two goals scored by the Yellow shirts were one of the best so far in the world cup. Not to forget the Reds put one in the Brazilian nets.

Portugal and Ivory Coast would have to watch out for Korea DPR; they have potential to hold them to draw and deprive them from moving on to the next stage.

Day 5 – FIFA World Cup 2010

Two superbly contested matches concluded on the 3rd day and one more would start in a couple of hours. Slovaks would have a sleepless night haunted by the header of one Mr Reid in the dying minutes to shave off 2 points and force a draw. Who were the better side? Definitely Slovakia.

Portugal and Ivory coast played a fast game with many attempts at goal from either side going a begging. Ronaldo and Drohba couldn’t produce those sublime moments… we might have to wait a bit and be patient, I do see them  in offing.

Côte d’Ivoire   0    :    0    Portugal

And breathing down their neck and vying for a spot in the next round is Brazil; who would have a face off with Korea in a couple of hours. I reckon its the most difficult of the groups and many a hearts would be broken – one can’t have 2 favorites.

Italy 1:1 Paraguay

Italy 1:1 Paraguay

Woke up to the news that the reigning champions drew their match with Paraguay and helped the fan breath easy with the equalizer in the 2nd half.  It was a well fought battle in difficult weather conditions. Traditionally, Italy starts slow and gathers steam as the tournament progress.

Would Italy frizzle or inch forward? Time will tell. Till then enjoy the smorgasbord of the football styles served to you.

DAY 4 – FIFA World Cup 2010

Two exciting matches concluded today and still Italy to play Paraguay later in the day. Netherland won but looked their pale self and then Eto’s cameo didn’t help Cameroon. The Asian nations are force to recon with now – worthy wins for South Korea and Japan.

Japan 1 : 0 Cameroon

Netherland 2 : 0 Denmark

The World Cup is getting better with each passing day. Let’s see how the last FIFA Cup winners ITALY would fare. They say the side is aging and do I hear Marco Materazzi is in the squad.

Germany routs Australia 4-0

A resounding easy win for the Germany. Though the score reads 4-0 however it would have anywhere between 8-0 and 12-0. What a performance! They played a possession football and made great runs at the Socceroos nets. The Socceroos were no match – totally decimated. Lets hope they pick themselves up and put a better show with the other in their group. The best game of the 9 played so far with goals galore and sublime football play by the Germans. Are these signs of who gonna ease their way to the top and do we have a challenger somewhere – it would unfold soon.

Klose (in picture) finding form. They didn’t seem to miss services of Ballack.