World Cup Preview: Group B

Argentina
Nickname: The Albicelestes, after their white and sky-blue shirts
FIFA ranking: 7
How they got here: Made hard work of things, including a humiliating 6-1 loss to Bolivia, but eventually qualified thanks to narrow wins in their last two games.
Record in previous tournaments: Have won twice before, in 1978 and 1986. Lost to Germany on penalties in the quarter-finals in 2006.
Manager: Diego Maradona, formerly known for being the Best Player in the World^TM and scoring against England with his hand. Now known for having gastric bypass surgery and running over reporters with his car.
Players to watch: Leo Messi, aka the new Maradona and the reigning Best Player in the World^TM, who can do absolutely ridiculous things with the ball at his feet. They've got plenty of other talent, too, with players like Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain, and Diego Milito all fighting for a place in the lineup. Somewhat inexplicably, Juan Sebastian Veron is back in the quad, while Juan Roman Riquelme has been left at home, along with Champions League winners Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti. Captain Javier Mascherano will be spending the tournament trying not to get sent off for cursing at the referee.

Greece
Nickname: Traditionally known as the Galanoleyki (the blue and whites); they also picked up the nickname of "The Pirate Ship" in 2004, which is baffling, considering that their style is hardly what you'd call swashbuckling.
FIFA ranking: 13
How they got here: Finished second in their qualifying group and then beat Ukraine in the playoffs.
Record in previous tournaments: Have made it to the World Cup only once before, in 1994, when they lost all three group matches and failed to score a single goal. They did win the Euros in 2004, although it wasn't pretty.
Manager: Otto Rehhagel, who led them to their European title and coached in the Bundesliga before that.
Players to watch: Bayer Leverkusen striker Theo Gekas, the top scorer in UEFA qualifying.

Korea Republic (aka South Korea)
Nickname: The Taeguk Warriors. (The taeguk is apparently that yin-yang symbol in the middle of the Korean flag.)
FIFA ranking: 47
How they got here: Were undefeated in qualifying from their group in Asia.
Record in previous tournaments: Made it to the semi-finals at home in 2002, but were knocked out at the group stage in 2006.
Manager: Huh Jung-Moo. Who? Yeah, me neither.
Players to watch: Midfielder Park Ji-Sung, nicknamed "Three-Lung" by Manchester United fans for his indefatigable workrate.

Nigeria
Nickname: The Super Eagles
FIFA ranking: 21
How they got here: Squeaked into the tournament with a 3-2 win over Kenya in their final game of the qualification rounds.
Record in previous tournaments: Failed to qualify in 2006. Their best-ever finish was the round of 16, in 1994 and 1998.
Manager: Lars Lagerback, who previously managed Sweden but took over with Nigeria after the Swedes failed to qualify for this tournament.
Players to watch: Plenty of pace up front with Obafemi Martins and Aiyegbeni Yakubu. But they'll miss the strong presence of Chelsea's Jon Obi Mikel in midfield.

Verdict on the group
Maradona is constantly changing his tactics, has made some bizarre choices for the squad, and doesn't seem to know how to get the best from Messi.
The team is like a Ferrari being driven by a retarded, drug-addled monkey.
Despite that, I'd still expect them to top the group, because they've just got too many good players. How far they get beyond that depends on how well they can rise above Maradona's limitations as a manager and really play as a team.

As for the second team to come out of this group, I don't think South Korea will be able to reproduce their dark-horse form of 2002, which leaves Greece or Nigeria. I'm voting for Nigeria, partly because of their quasi-home field advantage and partly because watching Greece makes me want to poke my eyes out with a shish kebab.

Women's World Cup: Day 4

The most notable result from this round of games was England holding Germany to a scoreless draw. It was a thoroughly disciplined performance by England, as the defence stifled the German attack while Kelly Smith, leading the line on her own, harried them at the other end. England allowed Germany very few clear chances at goal, and keeper Rachel Brown was equal to those they did have, including an excellent save late in the game.

Argentina were Germany's victims in their first match, but they put on a much better show against Japan -- possibly heartened by goalkeeper Romina Ferro replacing the unfortunate Vanina Correa. Japan thoroughly dominated in terms of both possession and shots but couldn't seem to score, while Argentina could only muster up one shot on target. The one and only goal came late in the game, Yuki Nagasato pouncing on a rebound in stoppage time to give Japan the win.

That leaves Germany and Japan level with four points atop Group A, although Germany have a far superior goal differential. England trail with two points, but they still have a chance to move on to the next round if they win their next game and beat Argentina by more goals than Japan did.

In Group B, the USA bounced back from the disappointment of their draw against North Korea to defeat Sweden 2-0. Once again it was Abby Wambach (in this case, her presence rather than her absence) who made all the difference as she scored both goals for the USA, from a coolly taken penalty in the first half and a super half-volley in the second.

North Korea also won their second match 2-0, beating Nigeria thanks to two goals in the first half from Kim Kyong Hwa and Ri Kum Suk. Both goals came from set-pieces, the first directly from a corner that looped into the net over keeper Precious Dede (best. name. EVER). The Koreans and the USA are tied and lead the group with four points each; they face Sweden and Nigeria, respectively, in their third game, with both teams knowing that a draw will be enough to see them through to the quarter-finals.

Group A
Argentina 0-1 Japan
England 0-0 Germany

Group B
Sweden 0-2 USA
Korea DPR 2-0 Nigeria

Women's World Cup: Day 1-2

Last summer in the men's World Cup, Germany v. Argentina was one of the best games of the tournament. Not so much with the women's version. This was a blowout. A score you'd usually associate more with, say, Germany v. San Marino. The Germans were helped by some terrible goalkeeping by Vanina Correa, who put the ball in her own net twice, as well as some equally atrocious defending by Argentina; the back line might as well have not even been there for all the good they were. I think they just kind of gave up after the first five goals or so. But even so, it takes a pretty good team to score eleven times in the space of 90 minutes, including hat tricks for both Birgit Prinz and Sandra Smisek. WIR SIND DEUTSCHLAND. WIR SCHTOMPEN ON DIE PUNY SOUTH AMERICANS MIT UNSERE BIG SCHTOMPY BOOTS.

Fortunately, the other matches so far have been much closer. In the other Group A match, Japan scored first with a free kick from Aya Miyama, before England equalized and then took the lead with two quick goals from Kelly Smith. But in injury time, Miyama scored from another free kick on the edge of the box, leaving both teams with a share of the points.

(I'm not going to do the bad hair awards for this tournament, because most of the players just have ponytails, which is boring. But I have to mention Japan's Eriko Arakawa, who has a truly spectacular fro. How do you even head the ball with that?)

Group B, meanwhile, is wide open, as both of those games also ended in a draw. North Korea surprised the favoured Americans with two goals in the space of five minutes, both scored with the USA down to 10 players while Abby Wambach was off having a nasty head wound stitched up. I'm not quite sure why that took the team up so much, though -- if you're going to be missing a player, wouldn't you want it to be a striker?

And finally, Nigeria's Cynthia Uwak scored a late equalizer to give her team a deserved point against Sweden, who'd taken the lead early in the second half with a goal from captain Victoria Svensson.


Group A
Germany 11-0 Argentina
Japan 2-2 England

Group B
USA 2-2 Korea DPR
Nigeria 1-1 Sweden

Women's World Cup Preview: Group A

GERMANY
Nickname: Die Nationalelf (nothing to do with Legolas; it means "the national XI")
Current world ranking: 2
Coach: Silvia Neid, who took over in 2005, having previously led the U-19 side to the title at the world championships in 2004. She was also a member of the German side that lost in the final in 1995.
How they qualified: Won their UEFA qualifying group with a flawless campaign, winning all eight games.
Past record: Reigning world and European champions, Germany are always one of the favourites for the title. Their worst performance was in 1999, when they only made it to the quarter-finals.
Other results: Six-time European champions; they were also bronze medalists at the 2004 Olympics.
Why they could win: Germany are a very talented and physically tough team. They cruised through qualifying, scoring 31 – with goals coming from all sorts of different players – and only conceded three, thanks to the strength of goalkeeper Silke Rottenburg and a solid defence in front of her.
Key players: Striker Birgit Prinz racked up eight goals in qualifying and is a two-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year. Midfielder Renate Lingor is the team's linchpin; she has great vision and can be deadly from set pieces.
Predicted finish: Runners-up

ENGLAND
Nickname: Three Lions (or should that be the Three Lionesses?)
Current world ranking: 12
Coach: Hope Powell, appointed as the team's first-ever full-time coach (and also their first female coach) in 1998; she racked up 66 caps and 35 goals for England in her career.
How they qualified: Finished on top of a tough UEFA qualifying group that also included France and the Netherlands, with a 6-2-0 record.
Past record: Only one previous appearance at the World Cup, in 1995, when they were knocked out by Germany in the quarter-finals.
Other results: Not much to speak of, although they were semi-finalists at the European championships in 1995.
Why they could win: Women's football in England has made great strides in recent years, boosted by hosting the Euro 2005 tournament, but there have also been setbacks like the Charlton ladies' team being closed down due to lack of funding. They lost 1-0 to China in a recent World Cup warmup game, but they're still riding the high from their successful qualifying campaign, where they only gave up two goals.
Key players: Strikers Rachel Yankey and Kelly Smith, who both play for the quadruple-winning Arsenal ladies' team. Smith was the player of the tournament at the Four Nations Tournament in China last year.
Predicted finish: Quarter-finals

JAPAN
Nickname: Nadeshiko (the Japanese word for the wild pink carnation that has come to symbolise the country's ideal woman)
Current world ranking: 10
Coach: Hiroshi Ohashi, who took over in 2004.
How they qualified: Finished a disappointing fourth at the Asian championship in July 2006, but beat Mexico in a playoff to earn a spot at the World Cup.
Past record: Have qualified for every tournament, but their best result was reaching the quarter-finals in 1995.
Other results: Four-time runners-up at the AFC championship.
Why they could win: Japan has a well-balanced, hard-working team. The players support each other selflessly, and they're good at creating space and passing around opponents. However, they struggled in qualifying, and hard work alone won't be enough to get them through the tournament.
Key players: Midfielder Homare Sawa, Japan's all-time scoring leader, with 60 goals in 118 caps. This is her fourth consecutive World Cup, and she's got lots of experience, having made her first appearance in the Japanese women's league at age 12.
Predicted finish: First-round elimination

ARGENTINA
Nickname: Albicelestes
Current world ranking: 29
Coach: Carlos Borello, who's been in charge since 1998; he previously coached at San Martin de Burzaco in Buenos Aires.
How they qualified: Upset Brazil to win the South American qualifying tournament in November 2006.
Past record: Qualified for the first time in 2003, when they lost all three of their group games and finished with a goal difference of -14.
Other results: Three-time runners-up for the CONMEBOL title, before finally beating Brazil last year.
Why they could win: That victory over Brazil in the South American championship is a big point in their favour, but the fact is that – unlike the situation with the men's teams – Argentina are not nearly as strong as the Brazilians. The Argentines have good passing and ball-control skills, but have been let down by some wayward finishing.
Key players: Striker Maria Belen Potassa, who scored one of the key goals against Brazil and previously played with the U20s in 2006, is quick and has a good shot. Influential veterans include Marisa Perez and Rosana Gomez in midfield, and Romina Ferro in goal.
Predicted finish: First-round elimination

Group Predictions
Germany are the obvious favourites to win the group, and I think they can go all the way to the finals. England may be ranked below Japan, but I see them as a dark-horse candidate here. Unfortunately, the draw means that they'd probably end up facing the USA in the quarter-finals, which would likely spell an end to their campaign. Argentina may have beaten Brazil recently, but I don't think they're ready for the world stage yet.

U20 World Cup Finals

Czech Republic 1-2 Argentina
So Argentina won, as you might have predicted. But although they dominated possession, the teams were very closely matched, in a replay of their scoreless draw from the group stage. The opening goal didn't come until the 60th minute, and it was the Czechs who struck first, with Martin Fenin holding off the defender to swivel and power his shot in at the far post.

Argentina responded almost immediately -- you're always more vulnerable when you've just scored a goal -- with a perfect through ball from midfield that split the defence for Aguero to run onto and slot past the keeper. The winning goal for Argentina was late in the game, Miguel Zarate beating Radek Petr at the near post and making his team six-time world champions at this level. The commentators seemed to think that Petr was slightly out of position for the shot, and he did look wrecked after the game, but if so, it was harsh on him, because he'd he'd been outstanding throughout the tournament up till that point.

Also outstanding: Sergio Aguero, who won both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, and of course is now going to be constantly referred to as the new Leo Messi. (Can you even have a new Messi if the old one's only 20?) And Maxi Moralez, who is literally easy to overlook but has been fantastic in every game I've seen, even when, like in this one, he's running around with his head all bandaged up. Finally, I have to give kudos to the referee; when he pulled out his card for an early booking, I was afraid it was going to turn into a repeat of Argentina-Chile, but although there were plenty of fouls, he seemed to keep things under control. Yay for avoiding another international incident.

In the third-place match, Chile managed to cobble together 11 fit players to beat Austria 1-0, the only goal coming from a free kick in first-half injury time that defender Hans Martinez volleyed acrobatically into the net. The third-place finish is Chile's best ever and will hopefully console them somewhat for losing out to Argentina in the semis. As for Austria, they did well to make it this far, and I'm going to give them (collectively) the final Bad Hair Award of the tournament, for all painting the Austrian flag on the back of their heads.

That's it for the U20s, although if I feel really ambitious I may do some sort of overall tournament wrap-up. Depends how bored I am by all the pre-season friendlies: quite a bit, or a really staggering amount?

U20 World Cup: Semi-finals

Austria 0-2 Czech Republic
Chile 0-3 Argentina.

Well, that was ugly.

I'm referring mostly to the post-game scenes at the Argentina-Chile match last night. Some of the Chilean players, understandably not happy about two of their teammates having been sent off, squared up to the referee, who had to be escorted off the pitch by the police. And it got worse after that. It's not really clear what made everything kick off -- there's supposed to be another press conference later today -- but basically, some of the Chileans got into a scuffle with the police as they were boarding their team bus outside the stadium. (There's a fuzzy YouTube video here, but if you can tell what's going on, your eyes are better than mine.) It ended up with one of them getting tasered, several being handcuffed, and the team taken back into the dressing room to be detained. Nice.

As for the game itself? Well, that wasn't too pretty either. It started well enough, with chances for both sides, before Argentina's opening goal: a through ball to Angel di Maria, and a beautiful first-time finish that crashed in off the inside of the post. But a few minutes later it got worse for Chile, as Gary Medel was sent off for kicking out at Gabriel Mercado.

After that a little bit of football actually managed to break out, but basically the game was a flurry of fouls, yellow cards, and players rolling around in feigned agony. The Argentines were particularly good at this -- I'm sure the senior team would be very proud of them -- but the Chileans weren't exactly innocent victims either. Here is the thing: you can play hard, possibly even dirty, or you can bitch and whine about being fouled. You cannot do both. No, you can't. Because I said so, that's why.

I think the referee, Wolfgang Stark, really didn't help matters. He set a precedent by pulling out a yellow card for practically the first foul of the night, and once he'd sent off Medel (a debatable call, because Mercado kicked out at him as well; Mercado just happened to be the one on the ground pretending he'd got hit in the face), it was all downhill from there. Chile had another player sent off in the 77th minute for picking up two yellows -- it's hard to tell, from the cluster of players around the ref, but I'm assuming the second was for dissent. And, yes, that's a stupid thing to get booked for, but you can kind of understand their frustration by that point. The one Chilean player who stood out for me was the goalkeeper, Toselli, who's also their captain and did his best trying to keep his team calm. Oh, but he got booked for his troubles as well.

There were a couple other goals for Argentina -- Claudio Jacob converting a cross from Maxi Moralez, and then Moralez adding another one in stoppage time -- but the whole game just left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Austria-Czech Repulic match on Wednesday night was relatively calm by comparison. But then again, it also bored the crap out of me. The Czechs were up 2-0 after 15 minutes, with goals from Tomas Micola and Martin Fenin, and were happy to just sit back and fend off Austria for the rest of the game. The Czech Republic had the advantage of having stayed in Edmonton after their quarter-final match, while Austria had flown in from Toronto and were also missing a bunch of key players through suspensions and injuries. Erwin Hoffer started up front for Austria, but all he did was prove that he's much more effective coming on as a sub.

Anyway, I've decided that I'll be cheering for the Czech Republic in the final on Sunday. I can't support Argentina after all the nastiness yesterday, not to mention, well, they're Argentina. Plus, how can you not love the Czechs for celebrating their victory by (1) making a train across the pitch and (2) putting on deely-boppers?

And speaking of ugliness, yes, it's the Bad Hair of the Day award. I was going to give it to Chile's Christian Suarez for his half-cornrows, but then I saw his teammate Mathias Vidangossy, who has managed to combine a fauxhawk-cum-mullet and a few straggly rattails with a really unfortunate dye job that makes him look like he's got a rust-coloured opossum on his head. A truly stellar achievement.

Stuff that doesn't involve underage footballers

• I decided to watch the final of the Copa America between Argentina and Brazil on Sunday...not that I really like either team, but I figured that at least Argentina had been playing some good football throughout the tournament, so they'd be worth watching.
  
  Wrong.
  
  My theory us that they were so discombobulated by the sight of Julio Baptista acutally scoring that it totally threw them off their game. Baptista not only scored, it was a stunner, and coming so early in the match, it should have given Argentina lots of time to equalize. But although they did have a few good chances, it was Brazil who scored again. Well, technically it was Ayala, trying to atone for his earlier mistake against Baptista by clearing a dangerous ball in the box but sending it into his own goal by mistake. Ouch. It was 2-0 at halftime and 3-0 after an hour, with Argentina looking increasingly cranky and out of sorts. Brazil played like Italy -- solid defensively and then counterattacking dangerously -- whereas Argentina just played like crap.
  
  
• YNBA and I have done our second annual end-of-season awards. Yes, we know we're really behind on that. But it's never too late to award some lucky player Chav Of The Year.
  
  
• David Beckham was unveiled as an LA Galaxy player on Friday; I've got nothing new to say about it, so I won't. But I do have tickets to the Galaxy game against Toronto FC next month. I could sell mine and, you know, have a nice down payment on a house, but I think I'd rather see this one. Also, I wouldn't bet against the Toronto fans reviving some of the dirtier chants about Posh. (Speaking of whom, I watched that NBC special last night, and wow, that was not good.)
  
  
• Toronto picked up another point on the road, holding the Houston Dynamo to a scoreless draw despite having Maurice Edu sent off in the first half. Heading into the all-star break (the "Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park"; how lame does that sound?) they're still second from bottom in the Eastern Conference, but frankly it seems to be much tougher than the Western Conference. And thanks to the MLS's "Everybody wins! Participation counts!" approach, they just have to be among the top 8 out of 13 teams to make the playoffs at the end of the season. That'll be tough, but it is possible.
  
  
• Canada may have sucked at the U20 World Cup, but the Canadian women's team is currently kicking ass at the Pan Am games in Brazil. They thrashed Uruguay 7-0 to open the tournament and then followed it up by beating Ecuador 4-0 yesterday. Some of the team members are also guest blogging over at Canada Kicks; too bad they're not very interesting so far.

U20 World Cup: Quarter-finals

Austria 2-1 USA (aet)
Spain 1-1 Czech Republic (3-4 on penalty kicks)
Chile 4-0 Nigeria (aet)
Argentina 1-0 Mexico

I finally got to see one of the games live: I went to USA v. Austria on Saturday. It was a great game to watch, too, aside from the fact that it rained the entire time. This is not fun in an open stadium. I'm sure the guys outside selling rain ponchos made a fortune that day.

Anyway, I sort of feel like I should apologize to YNBA and goalscoring robot for cheering for Austria and jinxing their team, but I really didn't think the Austrians were going to win. Especially not after they gave up a goal in the first 15 minutes. They pulled one back just before halftime though, with the US keeper spilling a shot (blame it on the rain, as both Milli and Vanilli would say) and Ruben Okotie pouncing on the rebound. That was pretty much the only useful thing I saw Okotie do all game; he had a terrible first touch, and I can't figure out why he started the game instead of Erwin Hoffer, unless it was deliberately planned so that Hoffer could do his super-sub thing once again.

Hoffer came on as a sub in extra time (and I should point out here that he has his nickname shaved into the side of his head, which is an excellent reason for y'all to make fun of him), and just as he did against Gambia, he bagged the winner for Austria. It had been a very physical game, with a total of 41 fouls and 12 yellow cards -- and two of those yellow cards went to the US left back Anthony Wallace, who was sent off in the 103rd minute. The resulting free kick pinged around the box before Hoffer scrambled it into the net, sending his team into the semi-finals.

I only saw bits and pieces of the other matches, but I did catch Spain reverting to form (i.e., choking) against the Czech Republic on Saturday night. Both teams failed to score in regular time, although Spain's Adrian Lopez missed a tap-in on an open net near the end of the game. In extra time it was much the same, with the score level at 1-1 and Spain again wasting a great chance to win the game. Instead they went to penalty kicks, Manchester United's Gerard Pique had his shot saved, and the Czechs won their second straight game on penalties.

Chile and Nigeria were also scoreless after 90 minutes, but then the game exploded in extra time. Jaime Grondona scored what would be the winning goal for Chile just five minutes in, but the Chileans also scored a penalty in the 114th minute and followed it up with two more goals, just to pour salt in the wounds, as Nigeria pushed forward desperately in search of a goal.

Argentina v. Mexico was the only quarter-final match that didn't go to extra time. The two teams largely nullified each other, with the decisive goal coming from the pocket-sized Maxi Moralez (seriously, he's shorter than I am; that is short) just before halftime. These were two of the best teams in the competition so far, and the Mexicans may feel they were unlucky to meet in the quarter-finals. But it'll be Argentina v. Chile in Toronto on Thursday, while Austria fly to Edmonton to take on the Czechs on Wednesday.

U20 World Cup Round of 16: July 12

Chile 1-0 Portugal
Zambia 1-2 Nigeria
Argentina 3-1 Poland
Mexico 3-0 Congo

All the quarter-final matches I've seen have been fantastic, but for about 80 minutes, I thought that Portugal v. Chile was going to be the exception. I don't know if the Portuguese team was missing their injured captain Bruno Gama or what, but they just weren't on their game yesterday. Chile took the lead just before the break, Arturo Vidal scoring off a free kick, and although Portugal got it together a bit in the second half, they never really looked like they thought they could win. And then it all deteriorated into a farce in injury time, with Mano sent off for scuffling with on of the Chilean players, Zequinha trying to prevent it by snatching the red card out of the referee's hand and being sent to the showers as well, and then Chile losing Vidal a couple minutes later after a second yellow for time-wasting. It was sort of reminiscent of Portugal-Holland at the World Cup, except with extra hot-headed teenage idiocy.

In the other game I saw, Poland jumped out to a surprise lead against Argentina, with Dawid Janczyk beating the offside trap and finishing coolly. But Argentina took less than 10 minutes to equalize, through a gorgeous flowing move created by Maxi Moralez, who scurried past a couple of defenders, played a one-two with Sergio Aguero and then squared the ball across the net for Angel di Maria to sweep home. The Argentines dominated possession all game, with Aguero scoring again just after halftime and then adding a third late on. The result sets up an intriguing quarter-final against Mexico on Sunday -- a rematch of the semi-final between the senior teams in the Copa America.

Finally, in the other two matches, Congo conceded a penalty to Mexico in the first half and then had a player sent off, but held on bravely before giving up two more late goals, while Nigeria edged out Zambia in a tight contest between the two African teams.

So here's how the quarter-finals shape up:

Saturday
Austria v. USA
Spain v. Czech Republic

Sunday
Chile v. Nigeria
Argentina v. Mexico

Canada 1 - 2 Argentina

This was the first U20 match I've seen, so I didn't really know what to expect. But I thought it was a great game -- I was a bit surprised at how close it was -- and I'm really looking forward to the U20 World Cup now.

Argentina opened the scoring in the first half with a goal from Alejandro Gomez that had keeper Asmir Begovic rooted to the spot. Canada tied it up just five minutes later with a penalty awarded after Simeon Jackson was pushed over in the box. It looked as if the game was going to end in a tie, but Argentina finally broke the deadlock in the 88th minute, winning a disputed corner from which Gabriel Mercado scored with a header.

The scoreline was disappointing for Canada, who I think played well enough to deserve at least a draw. Although their only goal came from a penalty, they'd created quite a few good chances and contained Argentina for most of the game. They can be proud of their performance against the defending U20 world champions -- even considering that Argentina was missing quite a few key players who are still with their clubs at home and in Europe.

Argentina are definitely going to be one of the favourites for the tournament this summer. They're obviously very skilled, and they played the smooth passing game you'd expect, with lots of two-touch passing through midfield. They're also quite apt to fall over at the slightest hint of contact. Canada, in contrast, played a more, um, robust game. They're a much bigger team and they used that to their advantage. Yay for national sterotypes.

A few Canadian players who stood out for me:

• David Edgar at centre-back. His was the only name I recognized before the game, and that's mainly because he scored against Manchester United for Newcastle. He coolly took the penalty for Canada, and kept his back line well organized throughout the game.
  
• Jaime Peters on the right wing. He's got loads of pace, and good skill on the ball -- he was giving the Argentine defenders trouble all night.
  
• Andrea Lombardo, the target man up front. He was very good at holding up the ball and bringing his teammates into the play; worked his butt off for 90 minutes.

The game was part of a pre-tournament cross-country tour for the Canadians. They've already played Scotland in Vancouver and Victoria; after this they play two matches against the United States (June 3 in Kingston and June 6 iin Ottawa) and then face off against the Czech Republic in Edmonton on June 18.

World Cup Quarter-finals

The quarter-final matches that didn't make me want to stab anyone, that is...

Germany 1-1 Argentina (Germany wins 4-2 on penalties)
Let's say you're managing Argentina in the World Cup, and you've currently got a slim 1-0 lead over Germany in the quarter-finals. You've got Messi, Aimar and Saviola -- among others -- on the bench. What do you do?

Most of us would probably think, "This German team has been pretty good offensively so far. I don't think a one-goal lead is going to be enough. Their defence, on the other hand, is kind of shaky -- seeing as it mostly involves being tall and blond -- so let's see if we can score another one."

If you're Jose Pekerman, on the other hand, you take a page from Sven Goran Erikson's Big Book of Management Fuck-ups and pull off your main playmaker in favour of a defensive midfielder.

Which worked brilliantly, because Germany promptly went out and equalized.

So Pekerman fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go up against Germany on penalties when the World Cup is on the line.

(Did you see the pictures of Oliver Kahn hugging Jens Lehmann after the penalty shoot-out? Please tell me I'm not the only one who found that more than a little terrifying.)


Brazil 0-1 France
Somebody should've reminded Brazil that you have to do more than just show up to win the World Cup, no matter how bonito your joga is supposed to be. They never got out of second gear, whereas France has finally shaken off their first-round apathy and totally outclassed the Brazilians in this match.

I still think Thierry Henry needs to spend a little less time complaining about diving and a little more time studying the offside rule, but nevertheless I hope that France knocks those cheating Portuguese wankers out in the next round.


Italy 3-0 Ukraine
Italy, also, are stepping up their performance at just the right time. Admittedly, they had the easiest of all the quarter-final draws, but the Italians looked pretty solid. Their semi-final match with Germany should be fantastic. (Either that, or a deadly nil-nil draw.) As for Ukraine: thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts for you.

World Cup update

It's day three of the World Cup and I've managed to watch every game so far. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this up, seeing as I have, you know, an actual job, but for the moment it's great.

Things we have learned in the past two days:

• Currently leading the pack in the World Cup Bad Hair competition is Sweden's Christian Wilhelmsson with his lopsided rattail (reminiscent of New Kids on the Block circa 1989; unfortunately I haven't been able to find a good picture), followed by fauxhawked Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany and the entire Argentine team.
  
  
• The vampire who refereed the England-Paraguay game really had it in for Peter Crouch, who constantly got fouls called against him for, as far as I could tell, simply being tall and gangly. Maybe the ref just doesn't like the robot dance.
  
  
• Half the Trinidad and Tobago players seem to have their first and last names backward. Poland has the best names so far, though, with players called "Bonk" and "Yop" (I'm probably not spelling those right, but I'm too lazy to look them up).

In my attempt at more serious analysis (ha!):

• Germany 4-2 Costa Rica: I know Jurgen Klinsmann has been trying to make Germany a more attacking team, but I didn't realize that meant giving them a complete personality transplant. Scoring four goals is great and all, but their back line was so shaky it'd make Newcastle look good by comparison.
  
  
• Poland 0-2 Ecuador: Actually, I fell asleep watching this one. I think it's probably better that way.
  
  
• England 1-0 Paraguay: England, on the other hand, haven't had a personality transplant at all, no matter how much Sven tried to fool us with his squad selection. You know the pattern: Eke out a lead and then hold on like grim death (two words: Owen Hargreaves. Which is not so much "grim death" as "mild case of stomach flu," but anyway). At least they did manage to win withough actually scoring a goal, so that's...good? I guess?
  
  
• Sweden 0-0 Trinidad & Tobago: The upset of the tournament so far (I realize it's only day three, and it was actually a tie, but humour me here). Looking at it as an England fan, this is a great result, but on the other hand, if England play worse when they come up against mediocre opponents (see: England v. Paraguay, among others), then their game against Sweden next week is going to be awful.
  
  
• Argentina 2-1 Cote d'Ivoire: The first game from the group of death (yes, America, it's Group C, not Group E, no matter how much you whine) so I figured it had to be good. The Ivory Coast have a fair bit of talent -- not to mention tons of pace -- but Argentina have even more talent and looked very disciplined. If they keep playing like this, they're going to go far in the tournament. And that'll bug me, because it turns out my dislike for Diego Maradona is even greater than my annoyance with Didier Drogba.

Also, I have to give props (can I even say that, or am I just too white?) to Sportsnet and TSN for their coverage so far. Just look at the TV schedule: that is a thing of beauty. They're airing everything live, and rerunning every game at least once. (And plus there's all the games on the foreign language channels. Yay for Canadian broadcasters.) I haven't been paying a lot of attention to their pre- and post-game coverage, but at least it hasn't made me want to throw things at the TV -- until this morning, when they referred to Arjen Robben as "classy." Perhaps most importantly, they're using the British international feed, rather than ESPN, for their play-by-play commentary, for which I am profoundly grateful. And you should be too, because it means I don't have to rant about it for the next month.

(Speaking of throwing things at my TV, though: those Rogers wireless commercials where they go to Germany and find a "really cool oom-pah-pah band," etc., are on constantly and every time I hate them more. Unlike the Adidas +10 ads, which I could happily watch over and over, and yes I know that makes me a patsy to advertising but I don't care. They make Jermain Defoe play goal!)