World Cup - Day Eight

6/16/2006: Mexico 0 – Angola 0 (Group D)

This game looked difficult on paper for Mexico. Angola had played Portugal extremely even in the first game and had it not been for that early Portuguese goal, that game would have ended in a 0-0 draw. The first half saw plenty of chances for Mexico including Rafael Marquez’s low shot that bounced off the right post, but the game was an exciting back and forth with Angolan having chances of their own.

Mexico dominated Angola in the second half and kept the pressure on. This game was reminiscent of recent 0-0 games where the favored team finally scored after mounting relentless pressure on the opposing team (i.e. England and Germany most notably; Sweden and Paraguay was a pretty even game). The same story here with the exception that the Angolan keeper Joao Ricardo, a man without a club, played what I think was the best game of any keeper to date. He made numerous incredible saves (including one on the blast from Rafa Marquez in the 87th minute) on direct shots, fielded crosses impeccably, and his best two friends the posts helped out him out twice (although not in the same place like in the Poland game). Angola played a decent offensive first half but really played for the draw in the second half, knowing that that result would be most favorable for them since they now play the weakest team in the group. Mexico, on the other hand, has its hardest game in the next round against Portugal. If Portugal beats Iran, it is through and it will be between Angola and Mexico to fight it out for second place.

6/16/2006: Holland 2 - Ivory Cost 1 (Group C)

I have remarked how great the African teams have looked so far, but the fact is not one of them has won a game yet. Ivory Cost, probably the best of the African teams on paper, looked extremely good against Argentina in their first game, and with Argentina having drubbed Serbia 6-0 in the earlier game, the Elephants sensed that their chance to advance to the second round hinged critically on a positive result in this game. In the first 15 minutes they demonstrated superior team football to the Dutch, moving the ball all around the field, running their plays with aims of finding their superstar Drogba, and generally displaying their incredible speed and athleticism.

It was the Dutch, however, who struck first blood in the 23rd when van Persie scored on a beautiful free kick. Ivory Coast make a mistake by putting their two shortest guys to guard the far post on the wall, and when Persie’s kick flew atop one of them, the keeper had no chance. In the 26th minute, Robben back-heeled to Ruud Van Nistelroy, who shot high left to score his first ever World Cup goal. Ivory Coast did not pack it in at this point though. After Zokora’s blast from 30 yards out hit the post, Kone scored a tremendous goal, running to his right, and shooting high to the far post beating Van der Saar.

Just before halftime, Drogba found himself leading a 2-1 breakaway from just beyond half-field after vanBommel was disposed, but his pass to an on-side teammate was intercepted by Giovanni van Bronckhorst. (In the second half, Drogba also made a poor pass on a play that could have resulted in a goal.) This just goes to show that Drogba, a true striker, had to resort to being more of a playmaker on the national team and he couldn’t deliver the pin-point passes when called upon.

What Drogba does well is score and had his teammate van Persie now chested out his header on the line, this game would have been tied. There were also two controversial plays, either of which could have resulted in a PK against the Dutch. One involved Drogba, who I thought was clearly grabbed in the area, and the other was the foul on Eboue as he dribbed in towards the Dutch goal, right before the aforementioned Drogba header.

In the end, the Dutch bent but did not break and now move on while the Elephants now only have one game against a Serbian team which has to be completely demoralized after their crushing defeat to Argentina. Holland and Argentina renew their classic rivalry with a game to decide who will head the group.