2010 HWCI World Cup Pool - Pando! or Gordo?

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PANDO! or GORDO? 2010 FIFA World Cup

TICKER: ManU is will bid for US-born NEVAN SUBOTIC who’s playing for Serbia ..  

Match 9: NETHERLANDS v DENMARK

Date: MON 14Jun10

Venue: Johannesburg SOCCER CITY

PANDO! or GORDO? PANDO!

+ A skillful way to start and morning with these two sides .. .. NETHERLANDS debuted their short-passing game in South Africa and created more chances than DENMARK but they had their chances too (3 shots in the box – 1^st half) .. ..

It’s too bad the second half started with an OG off of DEN defender SIMON POULSEN who was stretched off a great HOL cross and couldn’t get good contact on his headed clearance and it found the back of his astonished teammate .. ..

The Oranje continued to march forward creating chances and finished off the match in the 85^th minute when DIRK KUYT followed up a shot in the R/Box and tapped home the rebound to cement the win .. ..

2-0 was a harsh scoreline for DEN, but HOL is skillful even without the injured ARJEN ROBBEN and look a major threat in the Festival .. ..

NED MoM: DIRK KUYT

Fan favorite for Liverpool & Holland put forth all his talents today – work ethic, first touch and finishing too .. .. Son of a fisherman is also a philantropist, opening a foundation to help disabled people enjoy sport .. ..

DEN MoM: DENNIS ROMMEDAHL

Skillful & pacy out on the right all match long .. .. A Dane playing in Holland .. ..

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Match 10: JAPAN v CAMEROON

Date: MON 14Jun10

Venue: Bloemfontein FREE STATE STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ In a tussle that might have seen CAMEROON overlook JAPAN a bit, JAPAN scored against the run of play in the first half and held on to win .. .. And, as the match wore on, you got the distinctive feeling that CAMEROON is better than they looked today and JAPAN was punching above their weight for 90 minutes .. ..

CMR looked the better in both halves, but JPN took their chance when it appeared .. .. DAISUKE MATSUI was nifty when he cut back to his left on the R/Flank and sent his cross to the far post to see KEISUKE HONDA settle the ball and put it home with his L/Foot .. ..

Both teams continued to wander about aimlessly in the second half but even at that, CMR could have scored at least two goals on another night if it weren’t for lucky JPN goalkeeping and the post .. ..

CMR outshot JPN 11-5 on the match, but in the end, JPN came away with their first three World Cup points away from Japan .. .. Deserved, but definitely fortuitous .. ..

I’d imagine the form book will return to normal for the rest of the festival with CMR playing much better and JPN returning to mediocre play .. ..

JPN MoM: KEISUKE HONDA

Powerful striker who brings skill + flair to a Nipon side desperately lacking in both .. .. Has the bloodlines for stardom with his uncle being an Olympic canoeist and his cousin was an Olympic wrestler .. .. Plays in Russia for CSKA Moskow who splashed out a nice ₤8,000,000 for his services .. .. 

CMR MoM: SAMUEL ETO’O

Prolific striker didn’t see much of the ball up front, but became provider instead .. .. Sent a sweet thru-ball early and then went 1-v-3 down the R/Flank and beat two JPN defenders 2x to get free on the byline and challenge the goal – sweet .. ..

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Match 11: ITALY v PARAGUAY

Date: MON 14Jun10

Venue: Cape Town GREEN POINT

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ We all figured it would be a dour, sullen defensive struggle and it was – Until PARAGUAY SCORED! Again, this is another case where a team with less-than-perfect preparation strike first .. .. Paraguayan Striker Salvador Cabanas was shot in the head in Mexico City earlier this year and was being counted on to lead the PAR line .. ..

Incredible > AURELIANO TORRES took the FK and found tall defender ANTOLIN ALCARAZ who climbed over his Italian markers and rammed into the L/Right to send Paraguay into the stratosphere .. ..

The first half was physical and ITALY did come to play but were sloppy and had no problem giving the ball away throughout the match .. .. 

ITA perhaps equalized unfairly on a CK when PRG GK JUSTO VILLAR got a late start on the ball, missed his punch and DANIELE DE ROSSI never quit on the ball and re-directed the ball into the net .. ..

The rest of the match turned into a wet slog with ITA misfiring and ITA is pretty lucky to come away with a point .. ..  

ITA MoM: SIMONE PEPE

Was the creative drive behind ITA tonight and was running his socks off all night .. .. Whether he was hitting a cross-pitch switch or sending a through-ball for his teammates, when ITA came forward, it was because of the Udinese playmaker .. .. His hard CK fell to DE ROSSI for his equalizer .. .. 

PAR MoM: AURELIANO TORRES
27YO, who is just two days shy of his birthday, ran the show for Paraguay and like PEPE, sprayed his passes around and when PAR came forward, it was mainly because of the San Lorenzo-ARG lefty .. .. It was his hard FK that found ALCARAZ for the go-ahead score ..