Goals Galore in Group G

We come to Group G and one of the tastiest looking groups in the competition - The perennial heavyweights of Brazil, always tricky customers Portugal, most people's fancied Africans The Ivory Coast and the the unknown entity that was North Korea.

Brazil and The Ivory Coast both entered the competition looking strong from qualifying and appearing relatively comfortable on the road to South Africa. Brazil always look like they are capable of something special even if their team does not boast the strength throughout the side of previous Brazil sides. Ivory Coast have got some very talented players including the talismanic Didier Drogba who is always good for an attention grabbing moment - we just hoped it was due to his football.

I was then backing these two to come out of this group - however Portugal would definitely have something to say about this. Though Portugal were looking to be a shadow of the team that had been narrowly defeated in the 2004 European Championship final against Greece. They were taken to the wire in a Play Off match to get to South Africa - and would look to be overly reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo to spear head their campaign.

The other team making up Group G was North Korea - they had perhaps shocked a few teams by even qualifying for the World Cup and were heavily tipped to be the whipping boys here. Little was known about the players though as the vast majority only play in their native country, what we could expect however was hard work and discipline as the team had been taken on a rigorous world tour to prepare for the tournament.

After all that - in true ironic World Cup style - when we were expecting a hummdinger of a game between Ivory Coast and Portugal both teams seemingly conspired to play out a bore draw. No performances of note from any of the top class players on show as it seemed both teams were more keen not to lose than either one of them was to win.

To give Didier Drogba his due he entered this game as an unlikely participant having looked to be out of the World Cup due to a broken arm in a warm up game, this must have adverse affects on the Ivory Coast team and had a major impact on their preparations. As for CR7 - I think he had just forgotten how to play for his country. One thing was for sure - at least one of these teams would be regretting this performance come the end of the group stage.

Attention turned to the other opening game in the group with the expectation of seeing a bag full of goals  at one end of the pitch. To surely everyones, even North Korea themselves, surprise after 45 minutes the score was Brazil 0 - NK 0. OK it didn't last, but for a moment North Korea were on top of the world and competing with the most illustrious international side around. Eventually Brazil broke through with the skill and precision that they possess, however North Korea scored a goal to lose out only 2-1 in the final reckoning - a great performance.


The second round of games were a bit more familiar - with Brazil looking too strong for the Ivory Coast and seeming more like the South American show stoppers we know and love. Ivory Coast looked capable without ever really being on top and their frustrations showed when they managed to get Brazilian midfielder Kaka red carded for an innocuous incident. The victory for Brazil secure before this however was a fair result.

The Ivory Coast had every need to get frustrated though as elsewhere Portugal would provide the landslide victory that everybody has expected against North Korea. Somewhat surprisingly Portugal managed to succeed where Brazil had failed and break down the stubborn defences of the communist state. In the end even Cristiano Ronaldo got in on the act in a 7-0 drubbing. Bad news for Ivory Coast indeed as they would now require a minor miracle to turn around the goal deficit in the final game.

It all went a bit predictable from here with the Ivory Coast huffing and puffing away to score as many goals as they could against North Korea. They did manage to record a 3-0 victory, but it was all shown to be in vain as elsewhere Brazil having already qualified seemed to rest players and take their foot off the gas in a non event of a 0-0 draw that put Portugal through without need for any last minute goal tallies.

The Flippant Focus turns to Group F

On the face of it World Champions Italy had a group as easy as Englands for the first stage of the 2010 World Cup. It turned out to be a fairly fickle face as the Azzuri tried to rely on the same team that had taken them to glory in Germany just four years earlier. It’s fair to say they got slapped.

It looked like Paraguay and Slovakia would be fighting out for second place as average teams lacking in stars but with sets of solid qualification results. New Zealand would undoubtedly be the whipping boys of the group and possibly the whole damn show given their lack of World Cup experience, lack of recognisable names and lack of sturdy opposition in qualifying. Then again, perhaps the lack of pressure from a rugby mad public would give the All Whites the freedom they need to play expansive, sexy football and crumble the stubborn defences before them to dust.

Started pretty slowly, like most of the first round of games no one imposed themselves out of fear that defeat would make a journey into the second round trickier. Perhaps someone should have pointed out that a win would have made the potential for progress easier. Both games were 1-1, although both had noteworthy moments. Italy celebrated their equaliser against Paraguay like they’d won the bloody trophy while New Zealand provided a healthy dose of drama by scoring in the 93^rd minute. In the negative column Buffon disappeared with a mysterious injury at half time and from then on the Italian experience would only go downhill.

Within seven minutes of the second game they were a goal down against New Zealand. Sure they offered a bit of pressure but not much end result, bar a dodgy penalty which gave them a point and they almost lost that after a last gasp effort from Chris Wood swished slightly wide. The Kiwis had certainly come to play. Unfortunately the Slovakians hadn’t so the South Americans continued their continents run of good form by cantering to a 2-0 win. Given the amount of chances they had it was only selfishness that didn’t increase the margin. As it stood going into the final round any of the four could go through and any of the four could still go out.

And despite two efficient displays people were still writing New Zealand off, writing that the Paraguayans would easily pick up the required three points to top the group. It actually turned out to be an unspectacular 0-0 so the final points of interest were that the All Whites wore their rugger colleagues all black kit and that just one sneaky goal would have seen them through. Fortunately the other game was a bit feistier, although Italy still took plenty of time to get the motor running. The Slovakians had decided to give it a go from the outset which obviously confused Lippi’s side a little. The game went end to end towards the end with the Eastern Europeans 2-0 up and heading through. Di Natale pulled one back on 81’ before some embarrassing defending from 2006’s best defence restored the two goal lead on 89' before Quagliarella halved the deficit with a delicate strike on 92'. Cracking stuff.

But it wasn’t to be for the previously mighty Italians, bottom of an easy group there would be tears before bedtime and no mistaking. A lot of people said it tainted the memory of their victory in Germany and even sought to question their credentials in winning that tournament. Although the teams were largely the same and Lippi had returned as manager I felt they were two very distinct efforts. Whatever went down between Materazzi and Zidane in Berlin the Azzuri were the best team back then by combining organisation and creativity. This time around they certainly missed Buffon and Pirlo who embodied those qualities respectively. But they were too old and came up against some surprisingly solid teams.

Kudos to Paraguay for showing the tiny bit of invention necessary too finish top and Slovakia for finding some fight in the final game. Much respect to New Zealand for ending up unbeaten. Special mention also to Howard Webb for keeping control of a tense finale to Italy v Solvakia, no doubt there’ll be more mention of that man later on.