World Cup Rundown

OK I know, I'm usually good about keeping my blog focused on Science, Biology etc...

There has been quite an interesting debate going on at several blogs/sites about peer review and challenges to the conventional methods of publishing.

But for those Soccer Maniacs (or Futbolistas) here's my take on the first round of the World Cup:

Biggest Surprise: The lack of any big surprises. It would seem like all the traditional powers in soccer are winning all their games. Of all the smaller countries, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Trinidad & Tobago have played great soccer. What is impressive with these teams is the amount of great individual talent. They play with a Brazilian flair and are exciting to watch. Why haven't they won any games yet? Well in part bad luck. The Ivory Coast played against Argentina and Holland in their first two games, both perennial powerhouses. In fact the Holland-Ivory Coast game could have easily been a tie. Ghana played its first game against Italy ... today they face another tough team, the Czechs. I think that the difference between these African/Caribbean countries and the bigger soccer countries is discipline. The Ivory Coast was punished by Holland for two bad defensive plays, and Italy scored its second goal on a give-away by the Ghanaian defense. Trinidad tied Sweden, but lost to England in a close game. Besides defense, they need to pass the ball a bit more when attacking. Too many times they played beautiful soccer only to give the ball to their strikers that held on to the ball too long and/or failed to make that last pass.

Biggest Disappointment(s): So far France and Brazil (both finalists in the '98 final) have looked lackluster. If anything the African teams are playing with the flair that Brazil used to have. Will they wake up, we'll see later this week.

Best goals: So many goals have come from shots outside of the penalty box. I'm sure it's a combination of the number of great strikers and the new ball. But the absolute best goals came from two impressive wins. The first was initiated by a great acrobatic manuver started by the Spanish defender Pujol and developed into some excellent "one-touch soccer" and ended with a blast from the sticker Torres:

The second was another fine team effort by the Argentine team as they played "one-touch" soccer deep inside the Serbian territory and capped the play with a back heal
Pass and a blast past the Serbian goalie:

Simply fantastic!

Update: They did it. Ghana played excellent soccer and demolished the Czechs. Incredible!