Czech Republic 0 – 2 Italy
Ghana 2 – 1 USA
Along with Group G, this was one of the most interesting in the run-up to the final matches. Any of these four teams had a chance of progressing, but by the same token, any of them could have been knocked out.
As it turned out, the Czechs were again unable to match their form in the opening game, while Italy have started to show signs of being a proper Italian side. If Cannavaro can maintain that sort of quality, Italy won’t be letting in many goals. To be fair to the Czechs, Baros really didn’t look fully match-fit, while the loss of Koller (injury) and his understudy Lokvenc (suspension) affected their game plan badly.
Meanwhile, the once-promising USA limped out of the tournament with a defeat to one of this year’s surprising new discoveries. Although it’s good to see an African team progress to the second round, the USA were unlucky… that match-winning penalty simply shouldn’t have been awarded. Oh, but look who was in charge… Markus Merk, that notoriously erratic referee! Only yesterday, Merk withdrew his official complaint that (after the Brazil/Australia match) Harry Kewell had called him “fucking shit” when his report of the incident oddly failed to tally with those of the other officials. Now, with that in mind, why was he even allowed to referee such an important match?
I’ve been baffled on several occasions by interpretations of FIFA’s latest directives, and I’ll try to find time to moan about them soon. For now, though, there are matches to talk about…
Japan 1 – 4 Brazil
Croatia 2 – 2 Australia
Not quite as open as Group E, but any of the other three teams had a chance to join Brazil in the second round. For Japan, it was little more than a statistical possibility, but it was great to see them really going at Brazil, playing quick, skilful football and scoring a classy opening goal. They were just unlucky to be up against a Brazil team that was starting to get into its (considerable) stride. Before the competition started, I hoped that Brazil had purged themselves of their recent negative style, and for the first two matches I wasn’t convinced. However, this was a tasty performance. I’d love to see them play Argentina right now.
Meanwhile, Australia needed a draw to progress. They stuck at it and got the result (although I’m not sure the change of goalkeeper was the best idea). However, a truly bizarre refereeing performance by Graham Poll made it difficult to see what the real outcome of the match should have been. Poll missed at least another two or three potential Croatia bookings, but what about the other four officials? Didn’t any of them notice he’d booked Simunic three times?