2006 HWCI World Cup Pool "Clap! or Crap?" Newsletter (Sam Nishi)

BY THE NUMBERS .. ..

As the Group round & first two knockout matches have finished, here is what the numbers show .. ..

Of the 39 Group matches that had a winner >

79 winning players played in the Premiership last year .. ..

Second was GER that had 74 play in the Bundesliga .. ..

Third was ESP that had 67 play in La Liga .. ..

In those 39 winning Group matches > Winning players represented 34 different leagues - NONE of them being MLS .. .. 25 leagues showcased a WC scorer (MLS had 1 thanks to Deuce) .. ..

ROUND OF 16 WEEKEND

Match 49: GERMANY v. SWEDEN

Very, very handy win by GER who strolled away in a canter over, what was thought, was going to be stern competition .. .. But, maybe the race was over in the post-parade .. ..

BBC pundits commented how tentative SWE looked coming onto the pitch for pre-match warmups – Did something happen in the locker room (ala BRA in 1998?) beforehand or did IBRAHIMOVIC’s sulking damper the SWE spirit? Either way, it was not what we expected of them .. .. They gave up far too many chances and came out walking .. .. Perhaps the pro-Deutsch setting in Munich took it out of them .. ..

GER peppered SWE’s ISAKKSON but both goals were set up by KLOSE and PODOLSKI just happened to be on the receiving end of great service .. ..

Maybe it’s KLINNSMAN getting GER to come right, or their fitness level, or the unprecedented GER fever sweeping the nation. Whatever it is, BALLACK is rounding into form and GER will be hard to beat .. ..

GER MoM: #11 MIROSLAV KLOSE set up both goals with his cheeky ball-skills and vision .. .. Used his acceleration to split defenders and have a tap on goal which was bravely pushed away by ISAKKSON only to have PODOLSKI poach and get an easy goal .. .. He also set up PODOLSKI’s second goal when KLOSE cut left at the top of the box, drawing 2 defenders and then touched the ball off to a wide-open PODOLSKI .. .. Had the quickness late on to tap-around a marker and also ‘meg’ a marker later .. .. Gets his skills from his Polish parents – His father was a winger in POL and his mother got 80+ caps for POL’s handball team .. ..

SWE MoM: #11 HENRIK LARSSON was the sentimental choice in his last WC appearance .. .. Looked the only one who was running early on and set up their best chance when drawing a PK in the first half .. .. He took the PK but his right-footer sailed high and right .. ..

Match 50: ARGENTINA v. MEXICO

Terrific knockout round match that witnessed a WONDER-GOAL by MAXI .. .. Will he ever stop scoring??

MEX shocked the match open early on when Barcelona’s MARQUEZ snapped in the business end of a FK but HERNAN CRESPO responded right back, beat BORGETTI to a CK and right-footed the ball past a shocked SANCHEZ .. ..

ARG came forward with style when MAXI just hit an amazing shot from on top of the box that also left SANCHEZ with no chance .. ..

As the match wore on, MEX just had too many unforced errors and seemed to be outworked in the midfield .. .. That is probably just a result of ARG having more quality in the midfield, both on the pitch and the bench .. .. ARG just wore down MEX with their overall quality .. ..

ARG MoM: #18 MAXI RODRIGUEZ held down the midfield until he had a chance to come forward .. .. SORIN hit him a terrific 50-yard switch ball from the left-flank, MAXI chested down the pass and then before the pill hit the ground again, he hit a left-footed knuckler, on the turn and sent a ‘heavy’ bomb towards goal that kept going left and sinking, leaving SANCHEZ no chance .. .. GOLAZO!!

MEX MoM: #4 RAFAEL MARQUEZ was ever present coming forward to get involved in the offense .. .. Scored the first goal of the match when MENDEZ sent in a great FK from the left and he whacked it in with his right-foot .. ..