Probably unlucky for Mexico not to get a point there, but not undeserved for Greece who should have had a penalty like 10 minutes before the goal. Pretty good match, what a miss by Tecatito Corona though, wow. Anyway, still lots of games to play, but its been fun so far.
They are having an unusually great first round. 4 wins in 4. Expect Turkey to win as well against El Salvador. That would only England (vs Irak) and Croatia (vs Uruguay) for the perfect run... In 2011 Europe had 1 win, 3 draws and 2 losses in the first round, while in 2009 they had 3 wins and 3 draws (which was actually one of their better outings). North American champions with a loss and South American champions with a draw. So far only UEFA can be happy. All the other Confeds have more or less sucked.
Well, I dont follow Greece much but do they have some up in coming good players ? I dont think any of them were bad at all today against Mexico. I was bit surprised by them ! I guess I just expected them to not be so good. Dont hear much about Greece these days other than austerity. Which is a shame.
They are much more technical than Greek teams of the past. Though they still follow some basic Greek principles when playing, they have players who can hold the ball up and skip past defenders much better. Gianniotas from ARIS looks like a real good player (he's the guy who went past like 4 Mexican defenders today and looked to draw a handball in the box which wasn't called). The dude who scored (his name escapes me) was fantastic on that play and a couple others. Anyway, their technical ability was quite impressive, I think they have a couple good prospects, same with Mexico.
Watching Mali vs Paraguay and two things come to mind: 1. How the hell did this Paraguay defence end up ahead of Brasil and Argentina? 2. The referee has been terrible. Has not called a single foul, even though some were pretty evident. The only foul he seems to have called so far was a blatant dive...
Is anybody else wathing Turkey- El Salvador on Eurosport? If so, what accent does the second anouncer have? Is he Scottish?
Surprisingly biased referee... EDIT: Arguably the two worst defences in this tournament. Miskicking and hardly ever winning a header... still neither side seems good enough to benefit from the defensive frailties.
How far do you think the US will go? Despite their poor performance early on do you think they have a shot?
USA are in the toughest group and are historically speaking the weakest team... they lost big so 3rd place progression is iffy as well... chances aren't looking good.
Being realistic, we have a shot at third place. France and Spain are going to get the top two places in Group A, while the USA and Ghana will be fighting for third place. Whoever wins that game will most likely get third place, assuming France and Spain dispatch of these two on Monday.
Ghana also lost by a few goals. The USA looked a lot better against Spain than Ghana did against France. I don't understand how you are coming to the conclusion that they have no chance against Ghana.
Two of Ghana's three best players started from the bench plus Spain won't be able to dominate Ghana physically. Plus Ghana have a tremendous tournament history - Spain do not.
[quote="zahzah, post: 28071114, member: 190875"Plus Ghana have a tremendous tournament history - Spain do not.[/quote] This must be irony.
They didn't dominate the USA physically either, but they have two great strikers who can shred apart a defense. I don't know how good Ghana's defense is, but they let up three goals to France, who's strikers aren't as good as Spain's.
Yes, but they were physically dominant. Ghana was small and they lost out countless physical battles. Versus Spain this will no longr be a factor. Ghana were basically outmuscled. Ghana normally has a very well organised defence. Plus they will have Baba Rahman back in the defence, so the weakest link will improve.
Turkey guarantee UEFA a clean run: 5 wins. CAF 4th draw against CONMEBOL 2nd. CONCACAF with three losses, CONMEBOL with 2 draws, CAF with 2 losses and a draw. AFC looking ok with a win and a draw. The draw against CONMEBOL champions, but the win an unconvicing effort... Early days, especially given 4 lucky losers progress, but UEFA with an above par opening.
This must be irony.[/quote] FACTS: Prior to 2013: Ghana IN 5 APPEARANCES: 4 semifinals, 3 finals, 1 trophy Never lost a group game in 15 matches Always made it out of the group Spain IN 15 APPEARANCES: 4 semifinals, 3 finals, 1 trophy Failed to make it out of the group three times Yes, fact is Ghana has a tremendous tournament history. Spain do not (they do no have a poor history, actually a decent one). Ghana achieved in 5 tournaments what Spain needed 15 to achieve.
The South american under 20 tournament (all played in Argentina), was previously divided in two groups of 5 teams each, out of which 3 advanced to the final hexagonal. Chile, Colombia and Paraguay, eliminated Argentina, whom ended as fourth in the group over Bolivia. While in the other group, Peru, Uruguay and Ecuador, ended above Brazil, whom in fact ended as dead last of their group, as Venezuela also ended above them.
there are particular reasons why ghana's historical successes in youth tournaments may not be representative of their current level.