The groups with the pre tournament favourites come to a close

A few words about yesterday's games before we preview what is to come. First of all a number of Australians thought that I was being harsh on writing off their chances of  "advance Australia fair" being heard again in the tournament, or that France and Denmark would walk to a bore draw. Sorry mates, it wasn't rocket science and I never shy from the truth.

I wrote the Argentina game was to close to call, and by jolly, they just made it by the skin of their teeth. Credit given where credit is due, Messi's goal was sublime, a consummate piece of skill. However he only produced one other moment of note, that being his free kick which was well saved and in the second half, he was, along with the rest of Argentina quite awful.

It also has to be said that the Nigerians were quite naive in their approach to the last fifteen minutes. The Argies were under such immense mental pressure and Nigeria with their pace should have caught them on the break but they did not try that enough and as with Sweden against Ze Shermans, they paid the ultimate price.

A friend of mine described it, as an EnGerLand type performance with a German result and I think that summed it up very nicely. Next up for Argentina is France and Croatia will play Denmark.

Talking of Ze Shermans, a popular joke going around at the moment is that the last time Ze Shermans failed to make it out of the group stages was in 1938 and look what happened a year later. 

Ze Shermans managed, as they do, to mug Sweden in the last minute to stave off elimination and today against the weakest team in the group South Korea. will trample them into the ground in typical Teutonic fashion as they advance to the next stage.

Strangely, Ze Shermans seem to have forgotten how to defend and all teams are getting a chance to "hang out their washing on the Siegfried line" as the ditty used to go. Perhaps they are being distracted by the antics on the sideline of their coach, scratching his privates before having a good whiff of his fingers. Of course, it may just be that he is making sure they haven't frozen off as happened to so many of Ze Shermans the last time they were this deep in Russian territory.

The image says it all

The other game in this group is also intriguing, Sweden to carry on the IKEA analogy, alluded to in the preview for this group, collapsed like one of their pieces of furniture, just when you think you have built it correctly, along comes someone who gives it a push, and what do you know, that left over part was important.

How the Swedes, who ended up looking like turnips, react to that shattering defeat is vital. In all reality they have to win to have any chance of advancing with Ze Shermans facing on paper at least any easy game.

Mexico are in a strange position, they have won both their games, but a loss today coupled with a German victory could see them go out. All they need is a draw, but playing for one as we saw with Sweden and then Nigeria is a very risky way to go. Mexico should do it, but I would not be surprised if they fall at the last hurdle.

In group E, Brazil will face Serbia and Switzerland are up against Costa Rica. Brazil have been a shadow of themselves, they have not produced the free flowing joyful football that we crave to see and for which they are known, apart from in the first thirty minutes against Switzerland. They clawed themselves to a victory against Costa Rica, which does however still leave them in first place in the group.

Neymar, their superstar player not only has performed poorly, but also seriously blotted his copybook with a piece of acting that was deserving of a turkey rather than an Oscar, as he at first succeeded in conning the referee in awarding a penalty, only to have it correctly overturned on the video replay.
He should have been booked for a shameful piece of cheating, but most referees do not have the bottle to do that.

Bad Neymar

He also scored from three yards in the last minute and then cried like a baby, it is a shame because he can also produce this.

Good Neymar

Serbia can count themselves unlucky, they were ahead against Switzerland and should have been awarded a penalty, but suffered the worst decision of the tournament so far.

How was this not a penalty

They were then stung by two goals from players of Kosovar origins who celebrated their goals with an inflammatory gesture, in the eyes of the Serbians, that being the Albanian double headed Eagle.

The Serbian coach said of Ze Sherman referee, that he should be sent to the international court of justice in the Hague as were the many Serbs accused of war crimes after the conflict in the Balkans in the 1990's.

Perhaps he should have suggested Nuremberg as that is where Ze Sherman war criminals were tried. Of course the white washers at FIFA whilst investigating the incident did not ban the Swiss players involved and are trying to brush the issue under the carpet.

Serbia will be fired up after those incidents, if they can channel that aggression they could cause this Brazilian side some problems as the Brazilians "don't lie it up em". I still think Brazil should be too good for Serbia but it should be interesting.

In the other game the metronomic Swiss should not have too many problems dealing with Costa Rica. They only need a draw to advance and unless the Costa Ricans pull off a big surprise which they have showed no signs of doing as yet, Switzerland should join Brazil in the last sixteen.

Tomorrow will see the conclusion of the group stages with the last games before the beginning of the knock out rounds.