>Group C: Slovenia wins first ever, takes control of group
If you don’t know about Slovenia’s current World Cup run, you may want to start paying attention. Slovenia won its first ever World Cup match by defeating Algeria 1-0 (only other appearance in World Cup was a winless campaign in 2002). Captain Robert Koren scored in the 79th minute in a game that saw few shots contest the goal.
After a 1-1 draw between other Group C members England and the U.S. yesterday, the Slovenians take all three points in their opening match and sole possession of the group lead. All this after an improbable qualifying round.
Playing out of the European division, UEFA, which is a grueling task in itself, Slovenia finished ahead of recent Euro 2008 qualifier Czech Republic. Slovenia was then paired with Russia for a two legged playoff in order to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Russia, with more notable players and fresh off of a semifinal trip in Euro 2008, took early leads but ultimately lost on away aggregate goals.
Now the country that formely competed with Yugoslavia before gaining independence in 1991 can possibly advance out of the group stage. The United States has to view its match with this squad Thursday as a must win. Goal differential could be the tie-breaker in this group assuming England does not lose or draw another match.
>Group D: Ghana wins first match for African nation on African soil
Ghana defeated Serbia 1-0 to log the first win for an African nation. In a match that saw plenty of Serbian opportunities in the early going, it was a Serbain blunder that led to the game winning goal. Asamoah Gyan (pictured) scored on a penalty kick in the 84th minute. The penalty was a result of a hand ball in the penalty box off of a cross.
Though there were visibly empty seats, the pulsating roar of the dominantly African crowd made it seem as though the stadium was overflowing. Ghana now sits in contention to advance to the next round as it did in its previous World Cup (2006).
>Group D: Germany unleashes its firepower, Cahill red carded
Germany dismantled Australia 4-0, surely on its way to winning the group. It took the Germans just eight minutes to register their first goal of 2010, and from there they continued to show why no one counts out the German national team in a FIFA tournament. They also did so without injured captain Michael Ballack. After several matches with few goals and more draws than even the avid soccer fan would like, Germany let open the flood gates and sent a message to other world soccer powers yet to play like Italy, Brazil, Spain and Netherlands.
Australia’s Tim Cahill, its leading scorer on this year’s team and sixth all-time scorer, received a straight red card in the 56th minute. The Australians will have to make it to the second round without their best offensive threat. Cahill’s was one in a line of questionable cards by the match’s referee.
After watching Ghana take all three points earlier against Serbia, Australia will have to at least draw with Ghana Saturday and start finding the back of the net as often as possible.
>Group C: United States still mum on Howard injury
The United States camp remains quiet on any possible injury to star-goalkeeper Tim Howard. Howard took the cleats of an English player in the torso during Saturday’s match. There is some concern that he may have broken ribs, but American manager Bob Bradley remains optimistic that Howard will take the field Friday against Slovenia.
Certainly the hopes of the U.S. advancing past the group stage rests on Howard’s shoulders after a stellar match versus world power England.
Ghana made a good run in ’06. What do you think of their chances?
They’re playing without their best player Essien. Then again, a lot of teams are playing without one of their best. Just look at what Germany did without Ballack. But I watched most of this game and there really wasn’t anything that stood out to me. Luckily, and I stress LUCKily, they had that PK to get the 3 points.
Australia looks completely incompetent. They’ll definitely lose to Germany. As long as they can draw against Australia, they’ll make it out of that gorup with 2nd but I highly doubt they’ll notch another win form there on out.
I forgot about Essien.
How long before the governing bodies of soccer decide to look at the number of games these guys are playing and decide it is time to cut back. We have big name players either sitting out or playing less than 100%.
How did Australia qualify?
Australia qualifies with all of the Asian and Middle East teams. If you look at the teams in that confederation, it’s easy to see how they qualified. New Zeland, who plays out of the Oceania region, can only qualify by beating one of the teams from the Asian qualifiers. They’re the only region without an automatic bid.
As far as number of games, it sounds like to me that the club teams actually dictate this. When Drogba got injured a newscast said the Ivory Coast would send Drogba immediately to surgery “after checking with Chelsea.” The international teams are the ones who seem to always suffer, which seems backwards.
Take Dorgba for example: he played a total of 44 games this past season with Chelsea. He only played 15 (7 of those friendlies) games for the Ivory Coast.
USA will play the runner up of Group D, everyone is alive in this group even Australia. I hope the Aussies get a win and advance