Three games were played today, with two of the possible favourites playing, England and Argentina.
England vs Paraguay (Match Report)
After a perfect start for England, a 4th minute own goal by Paraguayan captain Gammara, they at times showed some quality, especially Joe Cole, and the Paraguayan defence struggled to cope with Peter Crouch. Overall however, England failed to dominate, and at times were lucky the Paraguayans couldn’t break through the defence, although serveral holes appeared from time to time. Early on it was obvious that the English would try and play a crossing game, however crosses from Beckham and Cole very made it to their intended targets, and I was quite disappointed with the quality of the crossed balls. This aside, it was an important win, and the first time in over 20 years England have got off to a winning start at a major international tournament.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Sweden (Match Report)
Trinidad & Tobago pulled off what should be one of the results of the world cup here, with a resolute defensive performance against Sweden, especially after playing virtually the whole of the second half with 10 men after Avery John was sent off, rightly IMO. Sweden looked tidy in midfield and defence, however they severely lacked any punch upfront, however they did make Shaka Hislop make some impressive saves in the T&T goal. In fact, substitute Cornell Glen nearly stole all 3 points when he crashed a shot against the crossbar, however I feel that this would have been a tad undeserved. In summary, as an England fan this is an excellent result, as a victory against Trinidad would guarantee us a second round place, and as a result, the Trinidadians fully deserved the point they earned.
Argentina vs Ivory Coast (Match Report)
The first match of the “Group of Death”, and I have to say that both teams showed what they were made of. In the first half, the Argentines showed why they are rightly considered as one of the favourites to take the title in a months time, with some brilliant passing, and taking two well taken goals, especially Saviola’s to make it 2-0, with Riquelme showing why he is wearing Maradona’s no 10 jersey with some quality build up play. Ivory Coast however refused to bow down, and they showed why they should not be written off with some neat moves of their own, and in the second half Didier Drogba rightly got them a goal, however resolute defending from the Argentines prevented them from equalising.
Looking at the performances of England & Argentina today, I can seewhy Argentina are one of the favourites, however I was less than impressed by England’s performance, but hopefully with a win under our belts we can improve for our next game, against Trinidad & Tobago on thursday.