World Cup - Day 1
Germany and Ecuador claim 3 points
Who would have thought that the first shock of this years World cup would come on the first day. Ecuador, probably the greatest side at home in the world, came down to sea level and scored a very handy 2-0 win over Poland. Ecuador qualified off the back of playing at altitude and the only away game they won was played at a higher altitude than their own stadium. Poland will be waking up today not knowing how this happened. For Ecuador it is a golden opportunity to qualify for the last sixteen for the first time.
For my money, Poland choked, if they played again tomorrow in a friendly, they'd win. I had thought Poland has potential to win this group if they tried. Their qualification nerves have obviously returned to haunt them and may see them take the short journey home in 12 days time. It will certainly make their game against Germany very interesting on Wednesday, because if they attack the Germans and can stay solid in defense they have a chance of getting a result.
How is that? I hear you say. Well although they beat Costa Rica 4-2, their defense looked ready to leak goals at every opportunity. As opening games go this was one of the best for entertainment I have seen. Based on footballing ability, it was severely lacking. There were two exceptional goals from the Germans, but also two rubbish pieces of defending that allowed Costa Rica to keep the pressure on. Based on this they will have to make sure they get at least one more victory. When they attack everything looks good, but when they defend everything looks average, and average is not good enough to win the World Cup. Hopefully today England and Argentina will raise the quality bar that everyone else will have to live up to.
Who would have thought that the first shock of this years World cup would come on the first day. Ecuador, probably the greatest side at home in the world, came down to sea level and scored a very handy 2-0 win over Poland. Ecuador qualified off the back of playing at altitude and the only away game they won was played at a higher altitude than their own stadium. Poland will be waking up today not knowing how this happened. For Ecuador it is a golden opportunity to qualify for the last sixteen for the first time.
For my money, Poland choked, if they played again tomorrow in a friendly, they'd win. I had thought Poland has potential to win this group if they tried. Their qualification nerves have obviously returned to haunt them and may see them take the short journey home in 12 days time. It will certainly make their game against Germany very interesting on Wednesday, because if they attack the Germans and can stay solid in defense they have a chance of getting a result.
How is that? I hear you say. Well although they beat Costa Rica 4-2, their defense looked ready to leak goals at every opportunity. As opening games go this was one of the best for entertainment I have seen. Based on footballing ability, it was severely lacking. There were two exceptional goals from the Germans, but also two rubbish pieces of defending that allowed Costa Rica to keep the pressure on. Based on this they will have to make sure they get at least one more victory. When they attack everything looks good, but when they defend everything looks average, and average is not good enough to win the World Cup. Hopefully today England and Argentina will raise the quality bar that everyone else will have to live up to.
posted by Sports Potato at 12:12 PM
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