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The first quarter final was a real tough match between two highly skilled opponents. It is the first ever closely held match in this world cup. My favourites Argentina dominated the match right from the beginning and their midfield gave the best performance in any of the world cup matches this year. Germans could not get the ball from the Argies. But the Argies strikers failed to deliver. Argentina took the lead in the very beginning of the second half with a goal from Aloya and I thought they will rally to beat the Germans. But their tactics failed and they started playing defence style game and that cost them defeat. May be the injured Goal Keeper should have done well if he is not replaced. Poor Argies were defeated by Penalty Kick.
Though I am not a supporter of Germany, they really deserve this win for their team effort and guts.
Italy easily won Ukraine but I doubt if it will be an easy go for them with the Germans.
I would like to see atleast the last South American team Brazil to give a tough battle till the end of the tournament, though their performance is far from good till now.
20060625worldcup second round upsets
Soccer is getting more and more exciting with the second round. As expected Germany qualified for the quarter finals. They have improved a lot since their opening game. I thought they will fire some 4 to 6 goals seeing the first 12 minutes play. But the strikers failed to find the nets as time went on. Sweden missed a nice opportunity by not converting a penalty kick into a goal. In the first half itself, Sweden was reduced to 10men but they fought bravely not letting the Deutch to fire any more goals.
My favourite team Argentina failed to deliver and it qualified only by a single goal to the quarter finals by beating Mexico 2-1. Mexico did well and that final goal by Rodriguez is class of its own.
I would like Argentina to pull up their socks and go well against Germany. I wish Argentina get past Germany but that will be painful to the Germans.
England also qualified but their performance is not very good. Lucky Bechkam converted a free kick to a goal to qualify.
Netherlands failed to qualify for the quarters and Portugal really did well and I hope they do well against England. Unless England correct their mistakes and return to full strength, I expect Portugal to upset them.
Brazil vs Ghana will also be interesting to watch.
Japan with lots of hype faced Croatia. Japanese soccer experts as usual predicted a 2-0 win for Japan. They analysed all the negative points of Croatia and the goods of Japan but not the alternate. They decided themselves and have put lot of pressure on its players and the Media went mad with second round entry for Japan.
As I expected Japan and Croatia made a draw without even scoring a single goal. Kawaguchi made a nice save of a floppy penalty kick by the Croatian striker. He also saved few more goals while his defenders as usual dumped him on so many occasions.
Miyamoto was just present as a captain and I am happy he bagged two yellow cards and he won't be there for the Brazil match. Japan really needs to throw out people like Miyamoto and Yanagisawa who can't convert a goal when he is just 2 metres away from the goal with the Goal keeper in no position to block the ball.
Zico introduced Inamoto in the second half and he did somewhat well. Nakata sparkled with few good shots and I can't believe what happened to Croatia, the team that did very well against Brazil
I am sure that Japan's chances for the second round are already over. The best they can settle for a draw with Brazil if they perform exceptionally well. I don't think Japan wins with a margin of 2 goals to enter the second round
Besides Brazil is also not playing promisingly and I think Ronaldo should be better replaced with Robinho.
France gave another sloppy performance and I am happy atleast one asian country South Korea will be in the second round with their with draw France.
Argentina did a wonderful display of power and performance against Serbia & Montenegoro
I wish atleast one African team Ghana will be in the second round.
Australia also deserve a place with their good performance against Brazil though they lost the match 2-0.
I also wish Ecuador dump Germany in the final leaque match so that Englad will face Germany in the second round.
日本チーム本当にお疲れ様でした。また2010年にかんばってね。
More exciting days in the second round
As expected Japan team failed to deliver. Socceroos beat the Samurai. Japan did exceptionally well in the set play for the first 20-30 mins though most of the time the ball was on their side. Australia could not find their rhythm to convert opportunities to goals.
Nakamura then got a lucky goal which seems to be a foul. Anyhow Japan went for the half time with 1-0 lead. The Japanese commentators went crazy stating that they can win the match with a good margin. Once the second half play started, the commentator unveiled that Zico has adviced his players to play a game to protect their lead. There were few good shots by Fukunishi but the Japanese strikers are no good in their middle shoot. Hiddink sent in Cahill and another guy and they changed the game. I expected a draw should be good for Japan and Australia though Japanese soccer experts predicted a 3-0 to 2-1 win. Things started going wrong for Japan and they ran out of steam. After Cahill made the match tieing game, I expected Japan to atleast try for a draw. But Japanese defenders have no idea of what they are doing and they allowed 2 silly goals.
Japan is a better team in terms of skills but they lacked power play.
It is very sad for Zico that players like Nakamura started criticizing the coach during the mid of the tournament. Croatia is a much tougher side and I think Japan have to really do well to settle for a win or a draw
日本チームへ：気持ちを切り替えてかんばってください。
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