AFTER THE FIRST STAGE, JUST TWO PLAYERS ON THE

PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT ARE FROM EUROPE!

 MUSINGS FROM IRENE

• Sure get the feeling that the USA will be better off with a defensive tandem of JAY DE MERIT & CARLOS BOCANEGRA > As Jay goes after every ball, you need someone back there who reads the game well and that’s Carlos!

• CLINT DEMPSEY seems far more dangerous playing up front, so let’s leave him there .. .. His laser blast v. ENG ended Robert Green’s INT career but his goal v. SVK got waved off so we’re even .. ..

Match 45: PORTUGAL v BRAZIL  [ Group G Finale ]

Date: FRI 25Jun10

Venue: Durban DURBAN STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ POR did an URUGUAY and just sat back with nine men behind the ball – disappointing .. ..

POR were poor, didn’t value the ball and didn’t deserve the result after TIAGO took a horrible dive in the BRA box and carded (thankfully) .. .. He easily could have set up a teammate, or go for goal himself, but he decided to go to ground from the slightest of brushes .. .. rubbish .. ..

As both sides trudged off 0-0 at the half, I think a lot of folks felt like doing the same .. ..

The second half was just another serving of a bad buffet, nobody ever looked like scoring although POR did look dangerous on their rare forays forward .. ..

Lots of effort > Lots of running > Lots of getting stuck-in = Not much scoring .. .. 

And, for all the hype that went into this match, both sides were rightfully booed from the pitch .. ..

+ KNOCKOUT ROUND OUTLOOK: POR just never looked dangerous and kept giving the ball away > If they keep playing like this, their continued stay will be kinda short .. ..

BRA got after them pretty good but couldn’t break down POR .. .. It isn’t pretty, but when they break forward, heaven help us all .. .. The key is to keep them defending .. ..

POR MoM: RONALDO

Always amazing close-control and did well not to pick up another YC tonight .. .. Was the only one making all the long runs and threatened the BRA goalmouth .. ..

BRA MoM: none

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Match 46: IVORY COAST v NORTH KOREA  [ Group G Finale ]

Date: FRI 25Jun10

Venue: Nelspruit MBOMBELA STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? PANDO!

+ Here everyone was looking forward to the POR/BRA match, and this one ends up being far more entertaining in the first half .. ..

IVORY COAST played hard from the whistle (outshot PRK 7-1 in the first 19:00) and got stuck-in all over the pitch .. ..

YAYA TOURE took a terrific through ball from ARHTUR BOKA at the T/Box and curled in a R/Footer > L/Right to start the scoring in the 14^th minute .. .. DIDIER DROGBA put on a show early on and his blast in the 20^th almost took the crossbar off and ROMARIC was there to head in the leftovers to take a 2-0 lead into halftime .. ..

There just wasn’t enough quality in the PRK side to hold the ball and take their chances when they appeared, but SALOMON KALOU grabbed the last goal of the match in the 82^nd minute when he took another terrific cross from ARTHUR BOKA in the M/Box and hit his R/Footer first-time > L/Right .. ..

VfB Stuttgart’s fireplug left-back ARTHUR BOKA was terrific > Running all over, getting stuck-in, great close-control and assisted on two goals with his hard crossed fro the L/Flank .. ..

CIV MoM: DIDIER DROGBA

There is a reason why the 32YO Chelsea striker is still the best forward in the world .. .. Had an acrobatic header goal waved off early on .. .. His brilliant R/Box turn & shoot resulted in the first goal .. .. Set up a cheeky split of two markers on the byline from a dead stop .. ..

PRK MoM: JONG TAE-SE

Poor lad > Had to play up top all alone all match but ran till he bled, made himself dangerous and took the chances he had, and created .. .. Knows what he is doing and was that bit of quality in a pretty poor PRK side .. ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Match 47: CHILE v SPAIN   [ Group H Finale ]

Date: FRI 25Jun10

Venue: Pretoria LOFTUS VERSFELD STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ Kind of a choppy start as SPAIN was put out by CHILE’s all-out running but once they got their feet on the ground when a suicide tackle by CHI GK CLAUDIO BRAVO went not so good .. ..

BRAVO who had recovered from a bad knee injury, came all the way out to the L/Flank to make a good slide tackle, but the ball rolled right to DAVID VILLA who hit a first-time L/Footer from 50y away that sweetly rolled into an empty net .. .. 1-0 .. .. Oh, BTW, Bravo’s club side (Real Sociedad) just got relegated to the ESP 2^nd Division > Not the best of days for Bravo .. ..

EESP struck again before the half when VILLA attacked down the L/Flank, sent in a perfect cross > ANDRES INIESTA at the top of the box and the Barca playmaker hit a first-time R/Footed curler > L/Right .. .. Poor MARCO ESTRADA (CHI) got sent off during the scoring sequence when he made light contact on FERNANDO TORRES who went down and caught the ref’s eye behind the play .. ..  

CHI to their credit still came out trying to get a goal and were rewarded in the 47^th minute when substitute RODRIGO MILLAR hit a bender at the top of the box but a PIQUE deflection put it > the T/Left of their own net and the 2-1 score was good enough for both sides as they pretty much took their foot off the pedal for the rest of the match .. ..

+ KNOCKOUT ROUND OUTLOOK: ESP has so much quality, they just have to watch out being caught out by a quick, athletic side .. .. CHI is still one of my sides of the Festival (other is URU) and will give everyone a hard time with their ‘ultimate attack’ tactics .. ..

CHI MoM: none

ESP MoM: DAVID VILLA/span>

AAnother GOLAZO from VILLA as everyone just went through the motions .. ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Match 48: SWITZERLAND v HONDURAS  [ Group H Finale ]

Date: /span> FRI 25Jun10

Venue: BBloemfontein FREE STATE STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ PLEASE HONDURAS, DO SOMETHING > YOU’RE EMBARASSING CONCACAF!

HONDURAS had the best intentions, going forward in numbers and leaving just three in the back, but there is just not enough quality talent in those attackers to threaten SWITZERLAND in the first half .. .. They only took one shot in the first 35 minutes .. .. feeble .. ..

Twice in the first 45 minutes, HON had an outnumbered attack v. SUI with the ball unmarked along the R/Flank and the pass that followed on both occasions could only be described as ‘vomit-inducing’ .. ..

Just horrendous > Both passes had a better chance of hitting a fan, rather than finding a teammate > How Gordo?

The second half was almost comical > SUI tried everything they could (13 crosses; 10 set-pieces) and just couldn’t put a good shot on goal .. .. HON could have put all 11 men in the SUI box, without a GK and they still wouldn’t be able to score .. .. Just think of GORDO in front of the net with no GK = NO GOAL!

The best chance of a goal came when HON had an easy 2-v-1 break, the ball was laid off to EDGAR ALVAREZ and his shot was saved by the fingertips of DIEGO BENAGLIO > Going in the opposite direction, BENAGLIO reached back across his body with his L/Hand and tipped it over the bar – WORLD CLASS!

This match was golden proof that FIFA should only allow two spots in the World Cup to CONCACAF .. ..

SUI MoM: DIEGO BENAGLIO

TTo me, the best GK of the Tournament – Reads the match well, comes out when he should and we already know about his shot-stopping ability .. .. MoM previously just solidifies his top spot in the Festival so far .. ..

HON MoM: none