Sucks.
Well, besides the fact that today’s games weren’t particularly brilliant…
The Lions Aren’t Really Very Indomitable At All
Commiserations to Cameroon, who become the first team officially eliminated from the World Cup. Their defending against the Danes was awful, prompting a simple winner from Dennis Rommedahl, 83, in the second half.
Simon Kjaer’s gaffe gifted them an early lead, only for Nic Bendtner to dust off his pink boots and actually convert a simple enough scoring chance.
It was a fun game to watch simply because neither team fancied defending, but now we wonder what will happen to Paul Le Guen after his abject failure to turn a talented, cosmopolitan squad (all 23 men play in decent European leagues) into a team that should really, as we all predicted, made it to the Round of 16.
We imagine Le Guen will be cast off sometime in July, as will some of the veteran players who won’t make it to the 2014 qualifying campaign. Bid farewell to Rigobert Song and Geremi, two of the most capped Lions in their proud history.
Eto’o might have another go (and we all know he’s the de facto manager anyway), but yeah. Disappointment abound for a team that was meant to do better. Then again, we’ve been seeing that a lot in 2010: France, England, etc.
The Oranje Are Lucky, Which Makes Us Really Nervous
All the world’s best teams need good fortune to layer atop their pile of skill, and when we watched the Dutch this morning, we saw plenty more evidence that they’re destined for great things in 2010. Why? Because they’re playing some dire, substandard soccer yet sit on 6 points and can boast of being the first team to clinch their spot in the Round of 16.
I’m not sure what’s clicking, but I could point out some general areas:
- Wesley Sneijder is not dominating the attacking third like he did with Internazionale
- Rafael van der Vaart has been taking anonymity lessons from Frank Lampard
- Robin van Persie just can’t get open in the 4-2-3-1
Those alone might go some way to figuring out their dilemma, but one thing’s certain: without Nigel De Jong and Mark van Bommel anchoring the midfield, this team would have been sussed out by now. Japan played a determined, though awkward, game in which final passes consistently let them down though their workrate was superb. In the dying minutes, shoddy finishing by substitutes denied them a deserved draw.
But back to the Netherlands; subs like Elia and Afellay showed the kind of drive and spark we’ve been expecting from those big brands they understudy, and we’re sure by the time the Round of 16 comes around, Bert van Marwijk will have worked out the kinks.
Until then, we look at their 180+ minutes of soccer at this World Cup and wonder just how on earth they’ve played two, and won two.
Something About Australia, But Really This Was A Day To Enjoy The Good Weather
Yeah, Ghana and Australia muddled through to a 1-1 draw despite Kewell’s first-half dismissal for a deliberate handball — let’s face it, he was probably tired or injured by that point and needed the rest — and we must note that the Socceroos even had some glorious chances to mess up Group D with a win of their own. However, overall, we were just not that into it today, despite our collective best efforts; the exhausting emotions of Friday left these games with an impossible benchmark of drama to live up to, and so we were rewarded with a decent time-out, flashes of good football, and some great weather to enjoy before Italy and Brazil take the field tomorrow.
Rage has turned to exhaustion.
Poor Cameroon.
The absence of Arwen Robben is what’s messing up the Dootch.
/not really, just wanted to say “Arwen Robben”
The first two fixtures tomorrow don’t exactly inspire thoughts of wonderful football either.
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Can we make a pact to not get excited about African sides in 2014?
Also, without specifically targeting anyone who’s rooting for the African teams, this is something I’ve been kicking around in my head for the past few days: isn’t it a bit patronizing for everyone to really want African teams to make it to the knockout stages? It feels to me like an attitude of, “Oh, you’re all a bunch of backward soccer nations, but look! you have your very own World Cup now! You can do it!” In other words, it feels like Africa is being singled out for just the kind of treatment it doesn’t need from the rest of the world.
- [kudos to LE for thinking this up]
Like I said, I don’t think any commentator in particular is guilty of this. I just mean the general desire that is being expressed everywhere for African teams to advance.
@Ryan
Funny thing is, we’ll still be here, livebloggin’ both of ‘em. And we’ll even engage in some Dueling Liveblog action to round out the group games. I fully expect our servers to explode during the USA-ALG and SLV-ENG dueling…
@Anon: Clarence Thomas doesn’t want any of your affirmative action.
But really it’s not just African nations getting this treatment; people pulled for the Aussies to succeed in ’06 just as hard or the S. Koreans in ’02. Hell people are inexplicably pulling for North Korea, which is way more troubling to me. Everyone loves an underdog. These particular underdogs just happen to be from poor black countries. Which is why it smacks of paternalism so much. Or maybe it really is patronizing, even absent intent, just because of those very characteristics. I don’t know.
A question on the nature of stardom and playing for the national team, and it’s not relevant to this post so get over it. How does the manager’s job and the FA’s job interrelate when it comes to the Wayne Rooneys and Ribery’s of the team. Can the manager legitimately drop those guys? Or does he have a mandate from on high saying these stars must play because these are the players the world/the fans want to see. And I don’t mean dropping one guy who’s not doing his job, but if Capello were to line up without Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, and Rooney, would that even be tolerated?
@Anon
I now feel like a douche for maybe sub consciously doing that.
@Tno: Eh, don’t. I was just throwing it out there, because I don’t know. I just hear a lot of things like, “Well, it’s an African World Cup, so obviously a lot of people want African teams to advance,” but that’s not obvious at all. Did everyone want Germany to advance in 2006? Imma go with no. But I don’t think it’s necessarily some form of rampant cultural imperialism or whatever. I dunno. So I just thought I’d put it out there.