After Spain’s victory against Germany and Netherland’s victory against Uruguay, it was a certainty that there would be a new world cup champion, since neither of them won the world cup ever. Then in a drawn out, yellow card filled match of Netherlands vs Spain, Spain scores during extra time with four minutes remaining, making them the eight country to have won the world cup. Spain played really well, so you know what? I think they deserved it, so I congratulate them. I hope at least one Asian country can make it, someday… forever…
Addendum: If you are interested in third place match, it was Germany vs Uruguay. It was a really good, exciting game. Germany won, of course.
Here is a second batch of what I think are highlights:
Round 2: Netherland Defreats Brazil
Not that Netherland was a bad team, but still, Brazil is one of the best teams in the world. Anyways, here is the highlight.
Round 1: None of the Asian Countries Make It
And I am sad because of that. Japan lost against Paraguay in a penalty while South Korea lost 2-1 against Uruguay. Anyways, all of them played really good, especially Japan. Plus, that is how South Korea should have played against Argentina!
Round 2: The Really Intense Match of Paraguay Against Spain
Man, I watched this one, and it was reallly reallllyy good. Plus, I got two see two penalties in a row, all of them lost opportunities. In the end, Spain won.
Love the Spanish commentary, by the way, always so exciting. If you don’t understand Spanish, you are missing out on great commenting.
Round 2: Germany Defeats Argentina in a Wide Margin
Truly, this world cup is full of surprises. I didn’t expect Argentina to loose this badly: 4-0. They are both great teams, so watching this game, I expected things to be more even. Both teams were at the top of their shape. Unfortunately for Argentina, they fizzled out after the second goal by Germany during the second half of the second time. The last goal was pretty much a last minute thing. Sad day for Argentina. But you know what? They took it with good sportsmanship.
Extra highlight: The sad face of the fans of the losing teams. Seriously, I have never seen people this dejected after sports. And that is because I have never taken a close look at them before. It is funny, but at the same time, I feel for them. This is probably how I, my brother, and my parents’ faces looked like after South Korea lost the match.
Thanks goes to the FIFA web site agian for providing the higlights.
I have been watching the world cup for the last few weeks, and you know what? It has been one heck of a world cup. To celebrate the advances to the round of 16, I have decided to compile some of the moments that sticks with me.
World Cup Host is Eliminated
For the first time in world cup history, the host country has been prevented from joining the rounds of 16. The host country for this one, of course, is South Africa.
I think this is a shame. While they may not be the best team ever, I think they have done quiet good and I really like this team. Plus, they left with dignity after they beat the disastrous team that was France, which leads to:
France and Italy’s Last Place Finish
This event left me utterly perplexed. Especially since they were the finalists for the 2006 world cup! And did you know, this is the first time ever in which both world cup finalists ended up in last place? Compared to the team they were, they did horribly this year.
Let’s start with France. While they did fine against Uruguay in a game which my brother dubbed “the goldrush”, because of how savagely they seemed to fight for ball possession and seven yellow cards, they fell flat in their matches against Mexico and South Africa. I saw the matches, and yeah, they failed badly. Plus, there are news about internal dissent within the team, which of course, would mean that they wouldn’t play as a team. Oh, and they skipped a practice too.
What about Italy? I can’t say they did any better. I mean really, they even tied with New Zealand. I didn’t watch this game, so I don’t know how New Zealand played. But still, I congratulate the New Zealanders for at least not losing any game (they tied all of them), and considering that they rarely make it, I think that is a good send off to them. But Italy did not have a good sendoff. Not after…
Slovakia’s Historic Advancement to the Round of 16
And they are first timer to the world cup, you know that? Although their history is not that simple. While they did not have a perfect run, they did a good job and managed to defeat Italy 3-2 in an awesome game, thereby managing to put what used to be an excellent Italian team into last place of the group. Further compounding the embarassment for the Italians, there was this:
Yeah, that probably did not happen to the Italians. But if you want to know about disastrous, nothing was as disastrous as:
North Korea’s Epic Ass Whooping
Note, at first they did well. They actually lost against Brazil 2-1 and they managed to make a last minute goal. They played really good defense, although they were light in their offense. So I thought they would do well against Portugal. Imagine my surprise when I woke up in the morning… erm… 12PM and saw the result: 7-0. If you know something about football, you know that goals in football are very rare. Which is why a result of 7 goals in difference is not just some trivial result. It is a total massacre! Also, curse you Portugal, you totally killed any chance Ivory Coast had with the absolutely almost impossible goal difference! And you can see it with all its glories in this video:
Embarassingly enough, this was North Korea’s first ever live broadcast of a football game in their country. Yeah, after that, I don’t even know whether they are going to be showing a match live ever again. I don’t believe in karma, but if there ever is a situation where invoking karma would have been appropriate, this is it.
Poor North Korea, first world cup in 44 years and they failed badly. Its Southern counterpart, though, was more successful:
South Korea and Japan’s Success on Foreign Soil
This is the first time both of them passed to the round of 16 in foreign soil. Their other only time was in Korea-Japan 2002, with Korea achieving results beyond one’s wildest expectations (the semifinals). And these various unexpected results are something I am really glad that is happening. Firstly, I am Asian, more specifically, Korean, so of course, you know which teams I would rather support. But beyond that, I am tired of seeing the same freaking teams win everytime. I want to see some variety. Seriously, seeing boring invincible teams win everytime is just not super exciting for me. *Argentina, Brazil, Germany, cough cough*
There are other events that had peaked my interests, including:
France entered the world cup after a handball against Ireland: Seriously?! Serious. This was France’s crucial game and if they had lost, they would have been out. Fortunately, this goal was there for them:
Chile vs Spain, a Spanish player tripped with his own foot/dived, earning a Chilean a red card: not 100% sure, whatever it was, it was a good game, and Chile held up very well dispite a missing player. Here is the video:
And that were all my points of interest. Here are the matches of the round of 16, see you then!
Posted by ibyea 
Japan lost against Paraguay in a 
