World Cup 2010 Blog: “Liveblog: Germany vs England, Round of 16” plus 8 more |  |
- Liveblog: Germany vs England, Round of 16
- Soundoff: Will USA Fans Root For or Against Mexico?
- Octopus vs Computer: England vs Germany Predictions
- Preview: Argentina vs. Mexico, Round of 16
- Match Review & Highlights: Ghana 2-1 USA
- USA Out of the World Cup, Ghana Advance to Quarter-Finals
- Liveblog: USA 1-2 Ghana (aet) Round of 16
- Preview: Germany vs. England, Round of 16
- Match Review & Highlights: Uruguay 2 – South Korea 1
| Liveblog: Germany vs England, Round of 16 Posted: 27 Jun 2010 04:00 AM PDT Welcome to the liveblog of Germany vs England in the World Cup Round of 16. Read up on the match with our Germany vs England preview and then make your computer/octopus inspired predictions here. Make your comments before, during and after the match in the liveblog window below.
Don’t just take our word on the match. Check out match comments from carefully selected Twitter accounts: FAN RESOURCES
        | ||||||
| Soundoff: Will USA Fans Root For or Against Mexico? Posted: 27 Jun 2010 02:27 AM PDT
Obviously, fans with pre-existing ties to either Mexico or Argentina get off easy on this question – you’ll support the same side you would have before. For the rest, it could be a complicated question. On one hand, Mexico is the USA’s biggest local rival, with the Gold Cup passing between us just about every time. There have been some bitter words (and hand gestures) both ways. There are Yanks with no particular love for Mexico football, and vice versa. But there are also a huge number of Americans who either have family in Mexico or visit there on a somewhat regular basis. And lets face it – US soccer has and will always have a somewhat Mexican flavor, both due to the heritage of players and the fact that the Mexican Primera is filling with more and more US players. For me personally, I’ve never been on the Mexico-hating side of US supporters. How about you?
    | ||||||
| Octopus vs Computer: England vs Germany Predictions Posted: 26 Jun 2010 05:33 PM PDT
So far I’ve seen two methods for predicting the outcome of this Round of 16 game. There’s a psychic octopus in Germany who predicts Germany’s results eating a mussel from one of two jars (one featuring a Germany flag, the other the opposition flag). So far the octopus -named Paul, believe it or not – has correctly predicted Germany’s win over Australia, defeat to Serbia and victory over Ghana. His pick for Sunday’s game? A German win.
In England, they’ve gone a little more high tech. The Mirror newspaper used the Football Manager video game to simulate the match, which ended in a 3-2 England win. Gerrard got two, Rooney one for England, while Germany’s reply came through Thomas Mueller and Bastian Schweinsteiger. I’m not sure which to trust more. An octopus or a computer. But by this time tomorrow one will be right and one will be wrong. Which do you think it will be?
    | ||||||
| Preview: Argentina vs. Mexico, Round of 16 Posted: 26 Jun 2010 05:01 PM PDT THE BIG PICTURE The selections of Mexico coach Javier Aguirre are even more intriguing. Most want to see him start young Javier Hernandez (aka Chicharito) instead of older attackers like Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Guillermo Franco. Mexican fans (and neutral bloggers) were also confused at Aguirre’s decision not to start Andrés Guardado in the early group games. More at the Mexico blog. WHAT’S AT STAKE Argentina look like genuine contenders for the World Cup, and will expect to advance to the quarter-finals. But they maybe had things a little too easy in Group B, and Mexico’s attacking talents (looking at you Gio dos Santos) should provide the sort of threat that will really test them. Leo Messi has been superb, but is yet to score. If he can find the net himself in this game, then the rest of the tournament can start trembling with fear. OUR PREDICTION FAN RESOURCES
    | ||||||
| Match Review & Highlights: Ghana 2-1 USA Posted: 26 Jun 2010 03:43 PM PDT It was quite literally a game of four halves. The USA did their now standard trick of starting flat and conceding early, when Ricardo Clark (a surprise selection ahead of Maurice Edu) lost possession in midfield and Kevin Prince-Boateng capitalized by striding forward and beating goalkeeper Tim Howard at his near post with just five minutes on the clock:
Clark went on to pick up a yellow card for a tackle that might have been worth a red, which was enough to persuade Bob Bradley to basically re-pick his starting XI by sending in Edu for Clark well before halftime. Ghana were easily the better team in the first half, being first to every loose ball and just looking generally more lively and more likely to produce something. Not sure what’s been happening in the US dressing room (or should that be locker room?) during halftime in these World Cup games, but once again they came out looking a different team. Coach Bob Bradley subbed off striker Robbie Findley for extra midfielder Benny Feilhaber, and it seemed to give the US better control of the midfield and more possession of the ball. In the 61st minute Clint Dempsey darted into the box, and was just too quick for defender Jonathan Mesah, who tripped the US midfielder. Penalty kick to the US, and Landon Donovan stepped up to equalized from the spot: That was Donovan’s third goal of the tournament, and it put the US level at 1-1. Which is how stayed until the end of 90 minutes, giving us our first extra time of World Cup 2010. Frustratingly for USA fans, the team started extra time as they started the game. Which was badly. Dede Ayew’s hopeful long ball invited Asamoah Gyan to run through the middle, where he was too strong for Rennes teammate Carlos Bocanegra, too fast for the chasing Jay DeMerit and his on-the-bounce strike too good for Tim Howard to save: The US had 27 minutes to save the game, and no one an argue they didn’t try. Cross after cross came in, and Ghana had to get bodies in the box to block several efforts at goal. Tim Howard even came up for a corner in the last minute or so, but Ghana held out to win this Round of 16 game 2-1 and move on to the quarter-finals. - More at the Ghana blog and the USA blog.
    | ||||||
| USA Out of the World Cup, Ghana Advance to Quarter-Finals Posted: 26 Jun 2010 02:26 PM PDT It was going to be big news either way. The USA in the quarter-finals would continue the American general public’s love affair with soccer. Ghana in the quarter-finals would mean one African team still left in this first African World Cup. After 120 minutes of football in Rustenburg, Ghana emerge as the winners, 2-1 thanks to Asamoah Gyan’s goal three minutes into extra time:
That win makes Ghana the third African team to reach the quart-finals of a World Cup, matching the achievement of Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Ghana plays Uruguay in the quarter-final on July 2nd, and a victory in that game would make the Black Stars the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals. Match review & highlights to follow… Go to the USA blog or Ghana blog for post match reaction.
    | ||||||
| Liveblog: USA 1-2 Ghana (aet) Round of 16 Posted: 26 Jun 2010 09:03 AM PDT Welcome to the liveblog of USA vs Ghana in the World Cup Round of 16, with USA WCB writers Jen and Ed. Read up on the match with our USA vs Ghana preview, and make your comments before, during and after the match in the liveblog window. Don’t just take our word on the match. Check out match comments from carefully selected Twitter accounts: FAN RESOURCES
    | ||||||
| Preview: Germany vs. England, Round of 16 Posted: 26 Jun 2010 09:01 AM PDT Get minute by minute updates in our Germany vs. England liveblogTHE BIG PICTURE Ah yes, a rivalry at last. Unfortunately, it’s of the one-sided variety: England dislike Germany greatly, Germany dislike their Dutch neighbors. Nothing feels worse than unrequited hatred. Fortunately the football will have to do, with both teams looking for an uptick from the groups. England very disappointingly finished second without a convincing win to match their confidence going in, while Germany had qualification go down to the last day in a tit-for-tat match with Ghana after their glittering start to the campaign. Both will want to get back on track – England finally, Germany again. Neither team has a great deal in the way of personnel debate, even if centerback for England and leftback for Germany are still awaiting a decision, but perhaps the biggest news of this game comes to us from Turkey. Mesut Ozil, one of the stars of the tournament and scorer of that brilliant goal which resulted in this game, lost his grandmother on Friday. He will still play, but presumably with a heavy heart and as an integral part of the German attack, his effectiveness is well up in the air. But Miroslav Klose will be back from his red card and Wayne Rooney is fit, so at least the potential for a barnstorming game is there. The real question will be will they bring club form or not? If they do, advantage England; if they don’t, advantage Klose. England had better hope they do, because if it goes to penalties, history will look awfully rosy compared to Germany’s phenomenon in net, Manuel Neuer. WHAT’S AT STAKE At this stage World Cup lives are on the line in every game, so each moment is of supreme importance. However, this one might just have a bit more with the ‘rivalry’ and all. Bragging rights on the line, along with the inevitable ending of the world should England lose. Don Fabio is no longer the darling he was during qualification and an English loss, one which would come to a very young Germany team many were writing off before the games, might just send the scales falling off the table. For Germany, it would be one more step in the evolution of what looks to be one of international football’s great generations – and they’re just getting started. OUR PREDICTION No point in hiding now: 1-1 through extras, England go out on PKs. (4-3) FAN RESOURCES
    | ||||||
| Match Review & Highlights: Uruguay 2 – South Korea 1 Posted: 26 Jun 2010 09:00 AM PDT A proper opening to the knockouts is what we wanted and it’s definitely what we got – even if it was played under a deluge of rain and there were more people on the pitch than in the stands by the end of it. Uruguay nabbed the victory late but it was an excellent show and the winner of Ghana v US is in heaps of trouble in the quarterfinals. The South Americans pressed, scored, went into their defensive shell, conceded when Fernando Muslera was a bit too rambunctious, exited their defensive shell and simply scored again. They played as almost three teams under poor pitch conditions and looked very impressive for much of the game. Though maybe not heavy favorites, Uruguay were the much fancied team heading into this one. So when Luis Suarez tucked a free ball into the side netting in the eight minute, it looked like South Korea were in very big trouble.
And since it was a one goal win, you could say it was very big trouble – they lost on their own fault as the ball trickled across the six with no one caring to clear. From there, Uruguay slowly descended into their more defensive shape with the only real test of the opening set a South Korean free kick nicking the woodwork. It was after the half that the game was turned on its head – largely due to the droves of rain pouring down on the stadium. The pitch, which was losing patches as though it had a bad case of mange even without the rain, was soaked and the wind wasn’t making things much better. South Korea pressed and looked much more impressive while Uruguay looked less assured in defense, if even slightly so. Then the equalizer came when Muslera came out for a ball he couldn’t get and Lee Chung-Yong headed it into the back of the net.
But what happened next was one of the more impressive things we’ve seen this tournament: Uruguay just flipped the switch and put South Korea on the back foot with the same personnel, commanding possession mere seconds after sitting on a lead, and causing havoc in the South Korean box. It took ten minutes, but they got their goal from a patented Luis Suarez curler off the post and into the net, which he celebrated by trampling South Korea’s photography team.
A brilliant goal, but their switch from defense to attack in quality was stunning. It really is the hallmark of a very, very good football team. One that deserves to be in the quarterfinals – their first since 1970 – and surely will have whichever opponent they face next trembling in their boots. They might just be a darkhorse to nab their third title… [Vids: TVGolo]
    |
We know a lot of our readers are USA soccer fans. Most of us here are too, and if you woke up this morning severely disappointed, with all the hangover and not enough of the party, we feel your pain. We all thought, and hoped, that there was just one more comeback on the cards, but as Landon Donovan himself said after the match, there are only so many times you can do that. Eventually you have to pay for giving up early leads. Anyway, the US is out and our neighbor to the south, Mexico, is playing a huge match today against 
As Chris pointed out 
| You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Posts
