World Cup - A review of the beautiful game.

The World Cup is over now and  for the winners Germany it is probably just sinking in what they have achieved. 

I thought the the some of the group games where fantastic and teams played without fear. 

One of the group games  I enjoyed watching was when France beat Switzerland by five goals to two and the French played amazing free flowing footballs. 

The game that I found most exciting was the Ghana versus Germany match and this match could have gone either way but ended up in the draw. 

However the match that almost put me sleep was Nigeria versus Iran was an incredibly boring match with both teams trying hard not to score....

So I thought the knock out games where going to be just as good and sadly it was not the case. The free flowing football had been replaced with edgy and defensive football. 

The stand out game of the knock out stages was Germany beating the host Brazil by seven goals to one. It was a little embarrassing to watch and this was compounded by the crying fans in the stadium. 

So the two most efficient and consistent teams of the tournament Germany and Argentina who made it to the final. 

However it was a little bit of a damp squib with little or no entertainment but the German team where the worthy winners. 

World Cup - day nineteen

Day nineteen at the World Cup and France beat Nigeria by two goals to nil. It was a very high tempo and competitive match but in the end the French had that little more cutting edge and where able to get the goals and win the game. 

The French are my personal favourites to win the World Cup as they have the best players and seem to have at least two players for ever position. 

Nigeria did well but at this stage of the competition they lacked that clinical finish that could have seen them into the quarter finals. 

Elsewhere Germany beat Algeria two goals to one but this was after extra time. The Algerians gave everything and defensively they where brilliant but they did not have that clinical finish that is needed at this stage of the competition. 

The Germans will be breathing a huge sigh of relief that they are still in this competition but they face France who can attack and defend so pose a different problem to the German team. 

World Cup - Day fourteen

Day fourteen at the World Cup and Argentina beat Nigeria by three goals two and this was a very entertaining game. 

In the first hour Nigeria looked like they where going to win this match, however somehow Argentina just seemed to have a little bit more in terms of attack and defence. 

France drew nil nil with Ecuador and France had already qualified so this draw meant that they would finish as group winners. 

Like I said in my previous blog France definitely had the strength and depth to do very well at this World Cup. 

Switzerland beat Honduras by three goals to nil and this win helped Switzerland to qualify for the knock out stages. 

World Cup - Day nine

Day nine of the World Cup and France beat Switzerland by five goals to two. The French played total football and have now become my tournament favourite to win the World Cup. 

The French seems to have extra player for every position and I was particularly impressed with there player Karim Benzima. 

The shock of the day was Costa Rica beating Italy by one goal to nil. Italy seemed to be very relaxed and there finishing in the final third was woeful. 

I think this will be costly loss for the Italians as I think they will struggle to get a win against Uruguay which would take them into the knock out stages. 

World Cup preview

Ok I am a little late with my World Cup preview but it is better late than never..I haven't got World Cup fever yet but I am sure I will soon get it. 

The teams to watch this World Cup are Spain, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Brazil. Needless to say that they are all World Cup wiinners. 

These teams will be hard to beat with their experience of winning this plus some unbelievable players. 

Teams that I think have an outside chance of winning it our France and Portugual. France are former winners but I don't think they have the team to win it but I expect them to do reasonably well. 

I also think that realistically Ivory Coast might do reasonably well. I am hoping that both Ghana and England do well but it is going to be incredibly difficult for them. 

So it should a really interesting World Cup with lost of twists and turns, happiness and heartbreak and that is why it's called the beautiful game. 

World Cup - selected group review

The draw for Brazil 2014 took place yesterday and there where a few surprises. 

England are in a group with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica. It is going to be a tough World Cup for England as the draw has not been kind to them. 

It will be a a real uphill task to qualify for the next round. I think they will really struggle to get a win against any of these teams.

Ghana are also in a very very tough group with Germany, Portugal, USA. It is really hard to imagine Ghana topping this group. 

They better pray that they have all their players are fully fit to have any realistic chance of topping or winning this group.

Spain also in a tough group with Holland, Chile and Australia. It won't be easy but I can imagine Spain will make it to the knock out stages. 

After struggling to qualify for the Workf Cup France have somehow managed to be drawn into a reasonable group with Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras. I can imagine that they will make it to the knockout stages. 

Nigeria have drawn into a farely reasonable group with Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iran. I can see Nigeria qualifying for the knock stages.

 

World Cup round up - playoffs

Some of the World Cup playoffs took place last night and France beat Ukraine by three goals to nil.

It was a fantastic come back for the French as they had lost the first leg by two goals to nil.

I was relieved that Didier Deschamps left Oliver Giroud on the bench, as I think that technically Giroud would have been ineffective last night.

 

It is credit to Didier Deschamps that he went for more attacking line up which helped them to win the match and qualify for Brazil 2014.

Elsewhere Ghana qualified for their third successive World Cup and which means Ghana are now going to Brazil 2014.

World Cup - round up

The first leg of the of the play-off tie took place over the weekend France lost two nil to the Ukraine.

This was a bad result for France and they are really going to need to up their game if they want to qualify for the World Cup. 

 

I will be very surprised if Oliver Giroud can score the three goals they need to make it to Brazil 2014.

 

 Leaving Bacary Sagna on the bench was a bad move as he can defend as well as whip
those crosses in. 

 

So if they want to make it to the final they need to amend the line up and include Bacary Sagna. 

 

Elsewhere some the African teams played the second leg of the play-offs and this meant Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast all qualified for Brazil 2014.