Day four of the world cup saw the introduction of most peoples Dark horses for the tournament, the Dutch. With the excellent playmaker Sneider and the fit again Van Persie in their side they are going to be a force going forward. But the questions marks are over their defence. However it was clear from the first half against Denmark that their defence was not going to be tested. Denmark's strength in qualifying was their well organised defence and it was quite ironic that the conceded two goals that were both avoidable and caused by defensive errors. The first was an own goal caused by a bad header and a deflection off Agger from an in swinging corner. The other was caused by the quick reactions and hunger of Dirk Kuyt compared to the sleepiness of the Danish defence. The Dutch will be happy to get this game out of the way and get three points on the board without Robben but it was far from them at their best. Interestingly enough, the Dutch players said that they struggled to breath during the game and that this was caused by the altitude issue. It is going to be an interesting tournament and one of the interesting aspects will be how the players react to the altitude.
The second game of the day was Japan V Cameroon and I did not see it, but from the highlights the Japanese were neat and tidy and well organised and worked hard and scored a decent goal. By all accounts Cameroon were lethargic and lacked any sort of energy and played their star forward Eto out of the wing. Glasgow Rangers fans can profess to the bizarre decision of Paul Le Guen and he did not disappoint on this front with this decision. It places Japan in a very good position with regard to qualifying for the 2nd round.
The Final game of the day was the perennial slow starters and group colleagues of Ireland, Italy. Due to an early start and a late night the night before, I found myself struggling to stay awake last night and quite a few times I nodded off during the 1st and 2nd half. I am not sure was the sooth tones of the buzzing of bees at the game or as other people call it the vuvenzelas, or was it the turgid football on show. Italy were caught just before half time at a set piece and the things that they are famous for, organisation and good defence were found wanting as the ball was clipped into the box. Lippi obviously read the riot act at half time and rumours that Buffon refused to turn up for the 2nd half spread around the Italian camp. Italy came out in the 2nd half and when they brought on the Argentinian born Camronesi and the much fancied Di Natale they looked a much better team, and they scored a quite fortunate goal from the combative De Rossi. So once again Italy start slow but many people are writing them off. I wonder will they have egg on their face when the tournament finishes.
So 4 days in and its a tournament that has disappointed many. The lack of goals is worrying and the slow pace of the games is quite obvious. There is no doubt that the altitude is having an effect on the players and they cannot keep up a fast pace throughout the game. In addition the standard of shooting has been abysmal and I cannot think of one free kick of a decent standard. In my view this is caused by the combination of the altitude and the new ball. Its quite interesting to read that the German league has played with this ball for the second half of the German league. Just to add Germany won 4-0 and seem to have had no problem striking the ball cleanly. Once again preparation and organisation puts the Germans in a position as contenders with a nice sprinkling of skill too.
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