Exciting day three of World Cup
In the first match of day three of the FIFA World Cup 2010, Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0. If it had been a draw, England would have been the favourites to go through with the USA. Slovenia’s win means that they are now top of the group with three points and they are one of the favourites to go through with England.
Similar to the England match yesterday, it was a goalkeeping mistake that cost Algeria the match. The problem seems to lie with the football — a lot of the players are complaining that these new Adidas footballs are too light for the goal keepers.
While Slovenia did not pick up a point, they could still have a say in this World Cup. They played very good football at times and probably should have scored on a number of occasions.
The second game yesterday was between Ghana and Serbia. The bigger picture here about this World Cup is the fantastic support for the African teams. All the African supporters are coming together to support each other, which is fantastic and makes for a great atmosphere. Ghana is the first African team to pick up three points against a very strong Serbian side.
The last match of the day between Germany and Australia was the most impressive match of the World Cup so far, with Germany beating Australia 4-0. What was so impressive is that Germany area very young team who haven’t been playing well in the last few years. They are the second youngest team in the World Cup — behind Ghana — with most of the players coming from the team that won the European Under 21 Championships last year. This is a great opportunity for these young players, most of whom are only 21 years old. Mesut Özil of Turkish descent — was the most impressive player on the German team.
German sides always manage to perform well in the tournament format, even when their expectations are low, they seem to know how to find the winning formula. The German team’s success illustrates the paradox that exists between this and the French team’s performance – the Germans team unity is far greater than the sum of the individual players, as opposed to the star-studded French who do not seem to gel as a team.