WC Round Up...Round 2

I guess the second round of group matches were quite unremarkable. Expectedly most of the major footballing teams made it to the second round: Germany, England, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Holland and Italy. Who's missing?

France. Not that they do not have a chance...but they have to beat a lowly Togo to do that; a mean feat for a team big on stars and hope, but short on goals; for God's sake they only scored once since winning the 1998 World Cup. With players like Henry and Trezeguet in their side? Something is seriously wrong with the team.

Still a lot of underdogs have a chance: South Korea, Australia, the U.S.A., Czech Republic; they have to win their matches to seal qualification to the last 16. So there'll be a lot of exciting final group matches starting today. Ivory Coast is one team a lot had high hopes for, but unfortunately in the Group of Death, they died early on.

England avoiding Germany? I hope so. Because Germany appears to be impressive so far. And England is not. Let's hope Becks and Co. get their act together before a real disaster happens. At least they'll have about 4 hrs to decide whether to win or lose the match against Sweden. I guess at face value facing Ecuador is the better option, but then again you never know with these minnows. They might just spring an upset or two.

So far, Argentina seems to be very impressive. Their 6-0 win of Serbia & Montenegro, now that was a delight to watch...a footballing extravaganza. The second goal: what a build-up; you hardly see a goal like that anymore nowadays. With Riquelme as a livewire, young Messi, poaching of Crespo, Argentina may well go all the way to the Finals. And Maradona may still get more speeding tickets or a heart attack. The team is still young, I think that it what worries opponents the most. Maybe in a year or two they will take the mantle away from an aging and uninspiring Brazil.

Aah...Brazil. Not much need to be said regarding their match against Australia. Poor Ronaldo. Think he really should retire from football. Ronaldinho, no silky skills from him just yet. Think the most impressive player in the side is Kaka. Guess without him Brazil would just be another England, struggling to win matches. But with players of such high quality in the side, it'll just be a matter of time before they explode into action. We'll just have to wait and see...

So tonight my favourite England's playing again. I'll stay up to watch...hopefully with a happy heart at the end...