FIFA World Cup 2010: Group Stage Round 2 Analysis

The Second Round of the Group Stage brought more drama, more shocks, more upsets and most importantly more GOALS with it. The first Round of the Group stage saw 25 goals with an dismal average of 1.56 per game. But, thankfully the second round had 42 goals scored in it with an average of 2.65 per game. With teams starting to get used to the altitude, the conditions and the Jabulani ball, the quality of football in this round was much better and flow of movement was eye-catching. Strangely some of the European heavyweights like Italy, England and France have performed extremely below their capabilities and maybe one of them might not even make it to the next round. The South Americans though are having a blast in South Africa with all five of them topping their respective group. Lets see how the teams are stacked up after the second round of matches in the Group stage.

GROUP A --> Round 2 saw Uruguay clash against the host South Africa. The hosts were expected to put up a fight after a promising performance against Mexico but Uruguay demolished them with a resounding 3-0 victory. The result puts Uruguay on top with a goal difference of +3 and South Africa bottom of the group with a goal difference of -3. The other clash of the group was between Mexico and the favourites to qualify from the group, France. France with problems both in and out of the field were squashed by a confident and well oragnised Mexican team. Mexico outclassed the runners-up of the last world cup and earned a well deserved 2-0 victory.

Uruguay and Mexico top the group with 4 points each with the South Americans edging out Mexico with a superior goal difference. And with the French camp in all sorts of chaos and disarray, Mexico and Uruguay are the favourites to go through from this group. The host are all but out of the world cup with a goal difference of -3. The French with a goal difference of -2 need nothing short of a miracle to even come close of qualifying.

The clash between Mexico and Uruguay will decide the qualifiers from the group and the position of the qualifiers. Both of them know a draw but suffice their qualification and most likely play for a draw without taking any chances. Though the prospect of facing Argentina in the next round might make Mexico take the match to Uruguay.

GROUP B--> Argentina became the first team to qualify to the 2nd round of the world cup with a thumping 4-1 victory over South Korea. Higuain scored the first hat-trick of the world cup. Messi was again a delight to watch. He was at the heart of every goal with his repertoire of skills, he was twisting, turning and ripping the Korean defence apart. Messi and Argentina look to be in ominous form indeed. South Korea showed a little too much respect to Argentina and payed the price for it. Still the Koreans look to be the favourites to follow Argentina into the second round.

The other clash of the group saw Greece take on Nigeria. Though Nigeria took the early lead through their captain Eto, but were down to ten men after Sani Kaita was sent off on 33 minute. And with a little help of lady luck and the spill from Enyeama, the Greeks helped themselves to a 2-1 victory.

Greece after the win against Nigeria would look for a draw against Argentina and hope Nigeria beat South Korea. A draw against Nigeria would see South Korea go through unless Greece upset Argentina, which is not likely to happen.

GROUP C--> England took on Algeria after their below power performance against the USA and could only manage a draw. England looked weary and seemed to lack a leader on the pitch. Algeria were ready to grind it out in the middle and defended brilliantly to earn a well deserved point. A 0-0 draw meant Algeria were still alive in the tournament, though their chances to go through are quite bleak.

Slovenia took on USA in the other match of Group C and were 2-0 up at half-time. USA have a reputation of being slow starters and didnt they turn it up in the second half. They drew back on level and should have won it, if it hadnt been for the referee, who disallowed a USA goal on the 85th minute apparently for no reason at all.

Slovenia are on top now with 4 points, follow by USA and England with 2 points each and Algeria are at the bottom with a point. England play Slovenia in the next roundm and USA take on Algeria in the next round of matches. A draw for Slovenia would see them go through and if they do get it, then USA look the favourites to join them. But I am sure England have a thing or two to say about that. USA look more or less certain to qualify whatever the result of the other match be.

GROUP D--> Germany took on Serbia and after there performance against Australia everybody thought it would be a walk in the park for the Germans, but boy were they wrong. The Serbs beat germany 1-0 aided by the sending off of Klose. The Germans did get their chances though. They even got a penalty, but Podolski (who had a torrid game) decided it was a long time since Germany missed a penalty and it was high time for them to do so, and gave the Serbs a lifeline. Credit also goes to the Serbian goalie Stojkovic who guessed the right way and made other importand saves and was brilliant throughout the game. The Germans last missed a penalty 36 years ago, in the 1974 edition of the world cup.

Ghana played Australia in the other match of the group and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Australia took a early lead but were down to 10 men after Harry Kewell was sent off for handling the ball in the 6-yard box. Gyan converted the penalty to make it 1-1 and the Aussie managed to keep Ghana at bay and salvage a well deserved point.

This group is still wide open and all the teams can still make it to the next round, mathematically atleast. Germans will take on Ghana and Australia will take on Serbia in the next round. A draw for ghana is enough to take them to the next round. If Germany win by 2 goals, then a draw against Australia would take Serbia through along with Germany.

GROUP E--> The Dutch were the second team to qualify to the next stage after Argentina and they did it with a well earned 1-0 victory over Japan. Cameroon were the first team to be eliminated after a 2-1 defeat to Denmark. The Africans scored first but couldnt hold on to it. Bendtner equalised for the Danes and Rommedahl scored the winner which knocked Cameroon out of the world cup.

This is the most straigh-forward group of the world cup. Japan will take on Denmark in the next round and the winner of this match will join Netherlands in the next stage. A draw will not be enough for Denmark as Japan's goal difference is superior to that of the Danes. In the other match Cameroon take on Netherlands, even a draw would make sure the Dutch stay on top of the group.

GROUP F--> Paraguay consolidated their position on top of Group F with a solid 2-0 victory over Slovakia. Paraguay look more like an European team in their structure and organization than a South American one. They are almost certain to qualify to the next round with 4 points and a healthy goal difference of +2. Slovakia with only one point from their two matches are all but out unless they give a performance of a lifetime against against an angry and hungry Italians in their last match.

The Italians took on New Zealand in the other clash of the group. Many would think a match against a 78th ranked team would be a walk in the park for the world champions, I thought so too, but the Kiwis had other ideas. They took the early lead with a goal from Smeltz, but the Italians equalised when Iaquinta converted a penalty awarded to the Italians after De Rossi was pulled down in the 6-yard box. Even after being a team with players playing in a very inferior league to their Italian counter-parts, the New Zealanders were pace to pace with the Italians in attack, in defense and in the mid-field. Their goalie Paston did a fantastic job keep many long range effects at bay. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, which was a fair result.

New Zealand take on Paraguay and nothing less than a win would do any good for the brave-hearted Kiwis. A draw would be enough for Paraguay. The Italians take on Slovakia in their next game and would certainly like to lift their performance level. Not only Italians will look to win but they will look to win with a great margin in hope of qualifying at the top of the group and to avoid the Dutch. But a clash between the Italians and the Dutch seems quite likely.

GROUP G--> Group of death or no group of death, Brazil always do what they know best, play flamboyant football and to score goals and they didnt disappoint. Their clash against Ivory Coast, saw the five-time champs give the so called dark horse of the group a footballing lesson. The match finished on a darker note with sending off Kaka after an Oscar winning performance by Keita, who went tumbling and screaming when Kaka just bumped into him in the run of play.

After North Korea performance against Brazil many thought North Korea could give Portugal a run for their money, but boy werent they wrong. Even when the first half ended 1-0 in favour of Portugal, nobody could predicted what happened in the second half. Portugal ran riot in the second half scoring 6 more times and the match ended at 7-0, and that made North Korea only the second team to go out of the world cup.

Portugal along with Brazil are most likely to go through to the next stage, The next round of matches will feature the much awaited, mouth-watering clash between Portugal and Brazil. The match will decide the group toppers. Brazil without Kaka and Elano against a Portugal team in full form would be quite a sight. Ivory coast to have chance if Brazil thrash Portugal and Ivory Coast thrash North Korea, but that seems unlikely.

GROUP F--> After shocking the world with the victory over Spain the Swiss took on Chile who finsihed second in the highly competetive South American qualifiers. The Swiss couldnt emulate their first round performance though, and the red card to Behrami didnt help their cause at all. Chile even after dominating the entire match and creating numerous chances could only manage a 1-0 win.

After the embarassing defeat to Switzerland, Spain took on the Honduras in the other clash and many thought Spain would take Honduras to the cleaners. They created many chances and missed several of them. They even missed two one on one situtations with the goalkeeper and a penalty. But Villa's double stike, first of which is probably the goal of the tournament so far, was all they Spain could manage.

Honduras take on the Swiss in the next set of matches, and if Switzerland win by a couple of goals, they will qualify. Spain take on Chile and the Spanish need to win to go on top of the group. Chile are on thin ice, and will surely rue the number of chances they have wasted in both their matches. If they loose to Spain and the Swiss beat Honduras by a couple of goals the current leaders will be knocked out.

BEST PERFORMANCE (player)--> Messi was the stand out performance in the second round of the group stage. He was absolutely brilliant. Every time the ball came to him you could just feel the anticipation of the crowd. He was at the heart of the all the four goals Agrentina scored against South Korea. The fact that he was always surrounded by three or four South Koreans helped Higuain, Tevez and Aguero who came on later to make runs into the Korean 18-yard box.

WHAT I WANT MORE OF--> Obviously better goals...players really have found it very difficult to control the trajectory of the Jabulani ball. Hence we havent seen that many scorchers and screamers. Though they are getting closer and closer with the likes of Ronaldo, Villa and Montolivo coming extremely close but for the post. The third round is bound to bring one or two goals which we can savour.

WHAT I DONT WANT TO SEE--> I want to see less CARDS......too many cards are being shown. I thought the last world cup was bad but here too referees are shelling out too many cards for my liking. Already we have had 10 red cards and 126 yellow cards shown. Some of the reds like the Cahill one were insane. Also, because of referees going for the cards so easily players to go to the ground pretty easily so as to get their opponents booked.