Portugal 2 – 0 Iran
Czech Republic 0 – 2 Ghana
Italy 1 – 1 USA
One moment in today’s first match was guaranteed to bring a wry smile to the face of any seasoned football fan. After seeing one of the Iranian players yield to the softest of challenges, everyone in the Portuguese dugout leapt to his feet in protest at the obvious dive, while the players gesticulated wildly at the referee. How deliciously ironic.
Apart from that, I can’t remember much about that match. Iran might have stood a chance if they’d had the courage to play with more than one striker… as it was, Kazemeian rarely found the ball at his feet. Portugal certainly deserved to win, but for a neutral observer it was like watching paint dry.
While Group D is shaping up to be one of the least interesting, Group E is packed with potential.Today’s first game looked like a perfect chance for the Czechs to build on their impressive performance against the USA, but Ghana had other ideas.
Back on Day 4 I thought that Italy weren’t particularly convincing in their win against an unlucky Ghana. However, everything worked for Ghana today, while the Czechs looked like the post-match celebrations had erased any memory of how they’d so comfortably demolished the USA.
And now for something completely different… hang on, isn’t the comedy warm-up act supposed to come on first? Or was this Greek tragedy? Whatever, the Italy/USA match was like a cross between a classic midwinter Premiership (or Serie A) grudge match and… well, a scrap in the pub carpark. The ITV commentary team made all the right disapproving noises, but this match was every bit as compelling as some of the more skilful displays we’ve seen.
We already knew that Italy have the capacity to self-destruct even more dramatically than England, but they did well to regroup after the Zaccardo own goal and De Rossi sending off. I would have expected more self-control from the Americans, though. With both teams reduced to ten men and knowing that the referee was a stickler, they still started the second half in exactly the same full-blooded style, only to have another player sent off. With the disadvantage in numbers, the USA did well to hold on to the draw. It wasn’t pretty, but perhaps we’re now seeing a little of the true capability of this US team.