I don’t usually like the style in which the Germans play their football. Add to that - (a) they were playing against a weak Costa Rica team and (b) the poor ESPN-Star preview for the World Cup, I was deflated soon after I switched on the TV set. Harsha Bhogle is a good cricket presentor but why bring him to football. The commentator for the opening game was also pretty drab - the player looks up in the blue sky as he scores.

There was gloom given the history of low scoring dull matches we have seen for inaugral matches for the world cup historically - only 9 goals in the previous 10 matches. The six goals in the opening match then, exceeded my expectations. Germany were playing more attacking football than they usually do, Wanchope provided excitement for Costa Rica. I did not like the game as much despite the many goals. However, given my early deflated spirit, I was more than happy with match 1. The big pointer from game 1 was this though - Germany let weak Costa Rica score twice. The German defense was shown up in this match and it is a big worry for them for the tougher matches in the second round.

The second match for the day proved brilliant. It is, in all likelihood, the most crucial encounter for the group with the winner, in all possibility, advancing as the second team along with Germany. The opening 20 minutes or so saw Poland dominate attack. However, Ecuador kept pushing and thwarting the Polish attacks physically if there was even an hint of the Polish coming near the Ecuador box. Then, Ecuador scored. The match changed significantly from then on with Ecuador playing one touch football and being the team which kept attacking. They could have scored 2 more goals during a short period had the strikes materialised. The first half, thus, can be split into two.

Read the rest of this entry »

The opening day sees, if you have been living under the roof, the following matches:

• Germany vs Costa Rica [Sky]
• Poland vs Ecuador [BBC]

Do drop in a comment while you are here..

My predictions:

Germany 2 Costa Rica 0
Poland 1 Ecuador 0

For part 12 of the series, I caught up with Tomek Lenkiewicz. Tomek is originally from Wroclaw, Poland and is a recent college graduate from Arizona State University. He got his BA in History and currently works in the mutual fund industry in Scottsdale Arizona. His passion includes ice-hockey, politics, history and, obviously, football.

I thank Tomek for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Road to the World Cup – the qualification, and the emotions the fans went through at the time.

Poland’s road to the World Cup was not a very bumpy one. We were grouped with England, N. Ireland, Austria, Wales, and Azerbaijan. During the qualifications we only lost two games (both by the score of 2-1 to England), scored a total of 27 goals (only Portugal and Holland scored more in Europe), and qualified as one of the best second placed teams. The emotions of Polish fans would be best described as quiet confidence. We knew England was the best team in the group but all the other teams were well within our skill level. However, I must admit that some of the close games against Austria and N. Ireland were a little nerve wracking.

Read the rest of this entry »