Round 1 of the grp stages of world cup 2006 has been completed, and i must say that this is a tournament that is favouring the favourites so far, in the sense that there hasn’t been any major cock ups by the A teams…

The tournament started with a dud match, Germany 4-2 Costa Rica. High-scoring match still can call dud match. It is good value for spectators who want to see goals, above all. It is bad value from a pure footballing sense as we saw 2 teams that put so much emphasis on attacking that they forgot to defend. I guess that is the problem when u have a former striker as coach. Attack attack attack, we score more goals than you can liaoz.

Seriously even after last nite’s game when Germany beat Poland by a solitary goal in injury time, I’m still picky enough to say that the Germans are far from being among the best teams in the tournament so far. Poland should have been despatched with greater ease, what more they were playing with 10 men. Ballack has been a total waste of time, deciding to sit back in midfield n taking up the appointment of an armchair general, instead of surging fwd to lead from the front which we are so familiar with..

Another side that has disappointed with all the pre-tournament hype is England 赢个懒. As usual they come into the tournament feeling like favourites, simply cos they sorta of invented football, they won the world cup in 1966, they suffered the Hand of God (or Maradona) in 1986, they have been knocked out by Germany on penalties in 1990. It’s payback time. Every world cup, the english press would say they bring their best squad ever, and every world cup, the so-called best squad bombs out. 1-0 over Paraguay and want to win world cup? Less chance than Singapore’s Goal 2010.

Netherlands was abit disappointing, being too dependent on Robben. Interesting reports have been filtering out from the Dutch camp that there is infighting within the players (what is a tournament w/o the Dutch players quarreling?), with van Persie claiming that Robben is way too selfish. I’m hoping that they improve and that van Nistelrooy can start scoring goals.

France, as usual. Condemned.

The top sides that really impressed me so far are Italy, Argentina, and Czech Republic. Italy played Ghana and won 2-0 in a performance that was really standard for them. Score 1 goal, close shop and play on counterattack. Everything starts from a strong defence for them, and i think it would be very effective against lower-ranked opponents. The only problem is that Italy cannot afford to concede 1st, cos by doing so, they effectively lose their heads and dunno wat to do. Their new strike pairing of Gilardino and Toni looks good, fast n powerful. They have enuff power on the bench, Iaquinta and Inzaghi (offside king). I can never understand Italian coaches, why they always like to play Totti, useless prick.

Argentina, effective football. Let the ball do the work, instead of running ard like headless chickens like the Ivory Coast players. Unfortunately, in the real world, passion and spirit are never enough to win you games. You have to attack your opponents’ weaknesses, and Argentina did that by playing sweet passes that cut into the heart of the Ivorians’ defence.

Czech, ’nuff said about them. Their midfielders are good enuff to win the games for them. Rosicky has been the find of the tournament so far, with his hard-running, passing and of cos his long range boomers. The team is damn lucky that Nedved came out of retirement, and together with Poborsky, Czech has arguably the best midfield in the tournament.

Brazil, folly in playing 4-2-2-2? We shall see how long they can carry on like this, and when would Ronaldo (Ah Bui) repay the faith the coach has in him.