Told ya....

Well, Group A now stands wide open.

Both Mexico and South Africa should fancy their chances against France now, because they looked totally lacklustre in their opener against Uruguay.

None of the players left an impact on the game. Anelka was dubious, Ribery looked promising for the first quarter but then fizzled out, Govou was a big disappointment, Gallas was non-existent, and Henry looked out of sorts (possibly maybe because he didn't make the starting 11). The only two players who maybe gave it their best were Sagna and Gourcuff, who kept the Uruguayan goalie interested by 3-4 long rangers flying towards his goal.

Uruguay themselves were at sea. Forlan had at least two opportunities to make it 2-0 for them, but missed out. Their defenses need to tighten up considerably and more than once they left the goalkeeper stranded. The last 10 minutes of playing with 10 men and holding France back was slightly commendable, although it must be said that, with all due respect to Uruguay's defence, France lost on a great chance.

If this is how France plans to play the WC, I don't expect them to get past the Group stages. Even if they make it into the Round of 16 somehow, a QF berth will come as a surprise.

And boy, are the vuvuzelas loud or what!

I think both France & Italy will be a big tel down this time.

Anyway, at the moment I'm pretty excited about the upcoming match against ARGENTINA-NIGERIA! I'll try to leave early from the office but most probably will miss the 1st match of today...S.KOREA-GREECE...hoping a win for Korea.

Rise and shine, people.

Day 2 of the WC, and the first match coming up is GREECE taking on SOUTH KOREA.

Greece has had a history in the WC. Unfortunately they haven't done awesomely well in any of the previous editions. Don't think they will pose much of a threat in this one, either.

South Korea is a side with potential. Park Joo Yung is an experienced campaigner and is very fast up front. He will need plenty of support from the others to take them through.

My prediction - 2 - 1 to South Korea. (only because I want to see some goals and keen tussles, not dreary draws like last night's match)

And its 1 - 0 to south korea in the 7th min!!

Half time score reads 1 - 0 to South Korea.

My prediction of the scoreline could have been a reality in the first half itself! Greece had a fantastic chance of going 1 - 0 up in the 3rd minute itself when Karagounis sent in a superb ball from the corner, and the player inside had a clear shot at goal inches from the front, but shot it over.

Then came the superb goal from Lee Jung Soo in the 7th minute. A very clear shot from the corner saw him placed at the correct place at the correct time and he calmly placed it by the side of the Greek goalkeeper into the net.

It was South Korea's fastest goal in the WC.

And in the 27th minute, Chu Young broke through the right side of the field in an awesome run. The pass was executed flawlessly to him and he had nobody in front to stop him except the goalkeeper and 1 defender. He took the shot from very close to the goal, and if the goalkeeper's leg hadn't touched the ball and lobbed it safely over the goalbars into the backside of the net, South Korea would have been 2-0.

It's been all Korea so far. Greece look a panicky, broken lot. Constant arguments between themselves aren't helping much either. There was some shirt pulling and heated words between the Greek goalkeeper and one of his defenders, which doesn't say much about the team spirit of Greece.

Let's see what the second half is like...I am betting South Korea to finish this on a canter - at least 2-0 or even 3-0.

2 - 0 to South Korea in the 52nd minute! :D

Park Ji Sung decided to join the party!!

FINAL SCORE -



Well, Greece would be everybody's favorite whipping boy in Group B. Nothing home to write about them, except a string of missed opportunities in the final 20-odd minutes.

South Korea's defenses look a little suspect, but the way they keep building their attacks with patience and timing is very impressive. Watch out people, their matches against Nigeria and Argentina should be real crackers, if they aren't overawed by their opponents in the next two matches.

They are the first team to win a match in WC 2010. Congrats to the Asians!

And the firecracker of the day comes up shortly in 30 minutes time...

It will be ARGENTINA taking on NIGERIA!

Hope you are all home to watch it.

i did pick korea to finish 2nd in the group, so far so good

Nigeria should win their match against Greece, which is their next match after tonight.

So it will end up as Nigeria vs South Korea for the 2nd spot on June 22nd. And that will be a real mouthwatering treat!

OH YES 1 - 0 TO ARGENTINA IN THE 7TH MINUTE!!!


Swear I keep getting goose pimples everytime Messi touches the ball. :o

Halftime score -

ARGENTINA - 1
(Heinze 7')

NIGERIA - 0


The score doesn't show how lively the first half was. Full marks to the Nigerian goalkeeper for keeping 3 thundering shots of Messi out. Argentina were like a battering ram, relentless in their attacks. Nigeria have been dominated so far.

The second half should be as speedy as the first.

FINAL SCORE -



A tale of two halves, really. Argentina didn't look nearly as menacing as they did in the first half. Messi kept pounding at the Nigerian goal and was denied again and again (really, hats off to the Nigerian goalkeeper for keeping those 7-8 shots out!).

But the second half clearly belonged to the Nigerians. Some of the crosses sent in front of the goal came periliously close to scoring the equaliser, but they missed the final finishing move. Nigeria must be ruing all the chances they missed.

Still, if you are an Argentina fan, you shouldn't be so confident about your team's progress. There is the spark there, but the team lacks a bit of cohesion and some solidity in the defenses. Veron was totally out of sorts in the second half, plenty of crosses and passes from him going embarrassingly away straight into the Nigerian player's feet.

Argentina have won, but they need to improve a lot if they want to progress further. Nigeria can keep their heads high for their nice show in this match, and think about winning their other two coming up.

Yep...you're right. A pretty disappointed showcase of Argentine football. Let's hope that Messi & Co. will find the net next time.

ENGLAND versus USA starts in about 7 minutes. Any predictions, guys?

I say 2-0 to England. (waiting for the flaming from the HDC Americans now) :D

ENGLAND ARE IN THE LEAD BABY!!!

1 - 0 in the 4th minute, courtesy STEVEN GERRARD!

England is playing very well. The best team of the World Cup so far.

Gerrard is everywhere.

Want to believe this?! But believe it!!!

USA EQUALISE IN THE 40TH MINUTE!!!

It's 1 - 1!

Dempsey's shot was collected very poorly by Green and it rolled into the goal!!

I would like to comment on how much of a retarded American I am - It took me like 5 MINUTES to figure out when those games are actually scheduled (damn yanks writing out their dates month/day/year)... :o

Anyway - I wish that Americans were better at soccer.

That's some fucked up nipples you've got there, Chrono.

Who wouldda thunk?!


Halftime score -

ENGLAND - 1
(Gerrard 4')

USA - 1
(Dempsey 40')


England were very impressive right from the start. Repeated run-ins by Rooney and Heskey kept the pressure on the USA's defenses and they conceded the goal very early. Brilliant touch by Heskey found Gerrard at the exact spot from where he had the US goalie totally wrongfooted. 1-0, England.

But then came their lucky break. It was a fairly inocuous attempt at goal by Dempsey which looked to be heading straight into Green's hands for an easy collection, but would you believe it...the ball seemed to have a mind of it's own as it swerved slightly out of Green's grasp and as if in slow motion, rolled slowly into the England goal with a diving Green trying desperately to keep it out!

Weird, exasperating and slightly embarrassing moment for Green. Joy for the USA!

Let's see what the 2nd half unfolds...

The first funniest goal of WC'2010!:D Hoping to see more in coming matches from any European team.

Okay...just flicked it on to check (not a footie fan). How the FUCK has it got to the 74th minute without us dominating you yanks?! I thought you were meant to be terrible!

They squirt poison - I'd watch it if I were you...

FINAL SCORE -



What a wonderful entertaining game! This is how all WC matches should be played.

The second half was one of the most keenly contested halves you ll ever get to see. It was really heartening to see the USA team match England pretty much shot for shot, effort for effort. More than 30 shots were attempted at goal (2 of which materialised), and both goalkeepers were kept very busy till the very end. It was fast, it was challenging and it was really competitive. I was really impressed by the USA defender (the bearded fellow...I forgot his name) who had Rooney covered all through the match.

Plenty of chances for both sides. None really mattered in the end. You can imagine all sorts of scorelines for such matches, and this is a perfect example of even a drawn match providing so much fantastic entertainment.

The best match of the WC so far.

Escape and joy for USA. Smirks and shake of heads for England. They need to pull up their socks for the next game. USA can only improve from here on.

Time for bed now. Night, folks.

That's quite some weird squirting.

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are and are reading this post.

Today is a slightly indifferent day in the WC -

ALGERIA takes on SLOVENIA in a minute. Battle of the minnows.

Then we have GHANA taking on SERBIA. Another minnows battle.

And the big one for tonight, GERMANY versus AUSTRALIA. That should be a humdinger.


For this one, I predict 2-1 to Slovenia. Catch you all with an update after the first half is over.

Halftime score -

ALGERIA - 0


SLOVENIA - 0



The goalkeepers of both teams pulled off some good saves but overall it was a dull first half.

Like Angra would say - "Yawnnnn!" or "Boring!".

Maybe I was a bit over-ambitious with my scoreline prediction. 1 - 0 won't be a bad result for this one, either way.

FINAL SCORE -



Well the second half provided a bit more entertainment than the first, if you can call that. Algeria were down to 10 men in the 73rd minute when one of their substitutes, Ghezzal, picked up two yellow cards - the second one for a glaring handball - which adds to the red card.

That might have spurred the Slovenians on. Koren, the captain, sent in a very inocuous looking shot straight at the Algerian goal and the goalkeeper totally lost it. Maybe another goalie would have easily collected it, or maybe it was due to the controversial "perfectly round" Jabulani ball for this WC, but he was left with empty hands while the ball swung slightly away from him into the far corner of the goal. Great moment for the Slovenians, embarrassing for Algeria.

And that's how the scoreline stayed till the end. History was made as Slovenia registered their first ever win in the WC Finals.


Coming up in 30 minutes - SERBIA versus GHANA.

FINAL SCORE -



It was basically a dull game till the 85th minute when a wrong handling inside the Serbian box resulted in a Penalty Shot for the Ghana team. Asamoah Gyan didn't miss from the spot.

Nothing else to report from the second half, except a Red card for a Serbian player by way of two Yellow cards. Ghana win the match.

And Germany are ahead 1 - 0 in the 8th minute itself!!

All hail Podolski!

Germany are now 2 - 0 up in the first 27 minutes!!!

Miroslav Klose!!! :D

Halftime score -

GERMANY - 2
(Podolski 8')
(Klose 27')


AUSTRALIA - 0


Admit it, Germany are looking in fantastic form all through these 45 minutes. They are the team to beat in this WC. Watch out, other teams!

Australia must be really ruing their great chance at going 1 - 0 up during the first few mins when they missed a really easy shot at goal. Garcia got a great rebound from the German goalie through Cahill's shot but his shot was blocked by the goalie again.

Then came Podolski's shot straight into the Aussie goalie, who got a hand to it but the power behind the kick took the ball straight in!

The half belonged to Germany. They were ruthless and relentless. Klose came close to scoring at least 3 more goals but was denied once (fantastically!) by the defender when the goalkeeper was well and truly beaten, and once when he hit straight at the Aussie goalie from a very close range. The third time was when he failed to connect to a superb pass from the bottom corner straight in front of the Aussie goal.

Klose looks to have shed behind all his bad form of late and is looking superb and dangerous.

Also, Ozil had a tremendous run towards the Australian goal and had no defenders in sight, and even beat the goalie! But in doing that he mistimed the ball and it rolled out of play before he could reach it, to his intense frustration.

The Aussies were guilty of missing some chances too. A great, highly-charged and volatile 45 minutes has ended. Another 45 mouthwatering minutes remain.

Its 3 - 0, Germany, people!!!

Muller time!!! :D

4 - 0, Germany is on the rampage!!!

Cacau scores within 2 mins of coming in as Substitute for Klose!!

Euro giants like Germany, England & Netherlands has always been playing a great role to keep the momentum in almost every tournament of WC. They always starts quite promisingly but can't run all the way. Although Germans have a good record of winning 3 times but that's all for them should always be in the history of football. The way they won last time in 90 at Italy they have fallen under a great curse for sure by then. At least I want to believe it. From then I just don't like to see the German team at winning side in the field.

Hoping for a Germany-England match in 2nd round.:D

FINAL SCORE -



The second half totally belonged to Germany.

The bit of huge controversial news for the Aussie fans came in the 56th min when Tim Cahill was given a STRAIGHT RED CARD and sent off for an unfair tackle on Schweinsteiger.

Then came the goals, almost immediately after each other. First, the very impressive 20 year old Muller of Bayern Munich turned stupendously around and drove a right footer straight past the Aussie goalie. Whilst Germany celebrated their 3rd goal, Miroslav Klose was being substituted by Cacau. As if in extended celebration, Ozil sent in a near perfect pass to the new substitute who made no mistake in driving the ball in, compounding the Aussies' misery to no bounds.

It was all over for Australia, bar the shouting from here.

All of the German players look in fantastic form. The only one in doubt was Klose but he proved more than his worth and looked extremely fit and raring to go. He now has 11 goals in WC so far, 4 away from the top scorer Ronaldo.

Cahill's Red Card means he will be sitting out the next match for Australia. A huge blow to their team, considering the value Cahill brings to the Aussies.

Germany look fabulous. A well-knit, well-groomed and well-oiled unit and fully functional, they are ready to take on the world. Most of their players are new, but the coach has done a wonderful job with all of them in building their team.

If you were disappointed by France, Argentina and England, be no more. Germany will be the team to back from now on. That is, if they keep this run of their fantastic opener of this WC.

Don't mention THE WAR!!!

Was late returning from office today. Its 6 06 PM here right now and the first 50 minutes of the Netherlands - Denmark match has gone by.

The scoreline reads 1 - 0 to the Netherlands so far. And believe it or not, it was an OWN GOAL by Poulsen of Denmark in the 46th minute!!

Angra must be pulling his hair out in intense frustration right now.