South Africa should be very proud of hosting a wonderful tournament & Spain are worthy World Champions

Spain have cemented their place as the best as well as most entertaining footballing nation in the world.

They are the new football kings of the world & their team sheet reads like the "who is who" of the football world, a team of champion players playing beautiful football in a champion team

They won a spiteful final match this morning against a Dutch team which played very ugly at times but should nevertheless be commanded for trying to neutralise Spain's attractive & attacking style.

South Africa & her people should also be very proud of staging such a wonderful tournament & largely the sceptics (including myself) wrong.

Other accolades go to New Zealand for its gutsy & impressive effort, & to Germany & Argentina for playing the game in its right spirit & scoring plenty of goals (as opposed to Spain who played beautifully but were unable to capitalise on their superiority most of the time & scored a mere 8 goals, one of the lowest for a World Cup winning side).

Whilst many expected France to disappoint, having only qualified by "the hand of Henry", & considered the defending Champions Italy over the hill & out of sorts, most were surprised by the poor results of England in particular, and Portugal & Brazil to a lesser extent.

And then there was the one & only worldwide superstar of the World Cup,"Paul the Octopus"! He managed to correctly pick all of Germany's 5 wins & 2 defeats plus Spain's win in the final & in the process became a superstar. How I wish he had picked Germany to beat Spain in the semi finals!
As for me personally, this has been a great World Cup despite my beloved Socceroos poor start to the tournament & their subsequent early elimination & my life long idols Germany not reaching the final.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the kind remarks & show of support & encouragement from all of you who were following my blog. A special mention also goes to Deborah Cameron & Jennifer Lacey at ABC 702 Sydney morning show (radio station) for their enthusiasm & support.

To top it all, I even managed to inadvertently get under the skin of a rather cranky Les Murray of SBS TV, who this morning sent me a less than complimentary email belittling me for merely suggesting that despite Spain's attractive way of playing, their multiple 1-0 victories & lack of goals were not a great way to promote the beautiful game to the casual non core supporters! I hope most of you agree with my point.

I must however emphasise that SBS once again provided Australia with a world class presentation & in fact managed to show all 64 games live. We are very lucky in Australia to have such a dedicated team at SBS.

On a final note, as exciting as the annual club competitions such as the Champions League & some of the European and other leagues are, they will never be able to fully replace the World Cup as the premier football (& indeed sporting) event in the world stage. Only European Championships come close & that is because it is similar to a mini world cup!

My blog will recommence at the beginning of the European season in late August. I hope you can join me from time to time!

Viva Espana! Congratulations to Spain & its supporters for playing wonderfully entertaining football on their way to winning the World Cup. They are worthy winners & will be hard to catch in the coming years.

Spain are the best team in the world of football but will they be crowned the World Champions?

The World Cup final on Sunday will feature some of the greatest footballers around the world. Footballers whose records outshine superstars such as Ronaldo, Rooney & the stars of France & Italy who usually get all the media attention but who faded away in this World Cup.

It is broadly acknowledged that the pillars of the success of the great Barcelona side of the last few years led by Lionel Messi are in fact Inesta, Xavi (above first & second from right) & their inspirational Captain Carlos Puyol ,whose goal took Spain to the final of the World Cup.
In Casillas Spain arguably have the best goalkeeper in the world & in David Villa (no 7 above) the striker with the best average goal scoring record in the world. Add to this players such as Piquet & Sergio Ramos, & Pedro who replaced the out of form Torres against Germany & it is easy to see why Spain are such a great side. Even their lesser known players like the no 11 (above) Capdevila of Villarreal have ended up being amongst the stars of the tournament.

It is difficult not to admire Spain & the way they play. They are simply irresistible to watch & play football they way the beautiful game is meant to be played. Commentators, players, coaches, journalists & past great players are all tipping Spain to win the final on Sunday. Even Johan Cruyff, the Captain of the legendary 1974 Holland team credited for creating the concept of total football believes this great Spanish side (& no doubt they are great to watch) will be crowned World Champions on Sunday.

Nevertheless, despite all the well deserved accolades & all the media hype I believe Holland will be crowned Champions on Sunday!

Whilst Spain are superior in tactical & technical terms & have better individual players overall, most media commentators are ignoring the main worrying signs in the Spanish side & idealistically concentrating on the attractive way they play. Yes! Spain have been one of the more attractive teams of the tournament to watch, but they can not be given so much compliment when they have only crawled their way into the final by three hard fought 1-0 results, a 1-0 loss to Switzerland & only above average performances against Chile & Honduras! This is despite the fact that Germany & in particular Italy have in the past won the World Cup despite mediocre performances on the way to winning the Cup.

Nevertheless, my main reason for suggesting that Netherlands will win the final lies in the great performances of the players in the above photo (photo from Euro 2008). Wesley Sneijder & the fit again Arjen Robben have been underestimated by everyone to their benefit!

For the first time in many years (including Gus Hiddink's Holland side of the 1998 World Cup) Bert Marwijk has managed to instill a great team spirit in the notoriously fickle & egotistic Dutch camp, and a team which achieves much more than the sum of its individual players suggests on paper. ie Here's my point:

Spain as a team have produced much less than the sum of their brilliant players on paper would suggest whilst Holland, led by the magnificent four ie Sneijder, Robben, Van Bommel & Van Bronkhorst have prodced much more than their individual players would suggest.

My other reason to believe Holland can win the final is the fact that 7 of their players have scored in this World Cup whilst Spain have been wasteful, missed many goal scoring opportunities & only 3 of their star studded players have scored their miserly 7 goals in six matches. Whilst many commentators have pointed to at times some less than impressive periods by Holland against Uruguay, they have ignored the fact that they have proven they can score goals & come back from behind, whilst Spain have been struggling to score & lost the one match they fell behind as a result of their inability to score.

So my prediction is we can expect an exciting & tactically enticing world class final, perhaps the best since the 1986 final between Germany & Madonna & Argentina, with Holland to win 2-1.

As for the third place play off which is becoming more & more of a prestigious match, I would like to see Germany to cap off a great World Cup with a big margin win, and for Klose to become World Cup's all time highest goal scorer! That's the least Bastina Schweinsteiger, Philip Lahm (above) & the exciting brave German side deserve after their great displays in becoming the first team since the legendary Brazil side of 1970 to score 4 goals in three World Cup matches.

World Cup semi finals: a showcase of contrasting styles & football cultures & a historic opportunity for European teams to shine

The World Cup's knockout phase has provided plenty of drama, excitement, goals & classic footballing moments & now we are in the final phase of the tournament with only 3 crucial matches plus the third place playoff left to consider.

Having started with correctly predicting only 12 of the 16 teams which qualified for the knockout stage, I managed to predict 7 of the 8 winners & all 4 of the quarter final winners correctly.

A special mention at this stage of the tournament must go to the black stars of Ghana. They preserved the pride of African football with their entertaining displays & in the process proved me wrong in the first knockout phase & were then desperately unlucky not to qualify for the semi finals.

Many of my "non football" friends have commented on Uruguay's Suarez & his handball which earned him a red card but ultimately resulted in the heartbreaking elimination of Ghana. What Suarez did was simple: a heroic sacrifice for his country & an awful act in the eyes of his opponents & many fans. It must however not be judged as a cynical act as he did it as a mixture of reflex reaction, instinct & desperation.

Now to my prediction for the semi finals:

Uruguay vs Netherlands: Whilst my dream final is the repeat of the 1974 final between Germany & Holland, if Suarez was not suspended & the fitness of Uruguay's influential Captain Diego Lugano (familiar to the die hard Socceroos fans) was not in question, I would have tipped Uruguay to potentially beat Netherlands. However, like Argentina & Brazil in the last round, Uruguay have had reasonably easy run thus far & are yet to prove themselves against a world class opponent. On the other hand, holland have won all their games so far & have not lost for more than 24 internationals. All of these factors, & taking into account the magical display of Arjen Robben against Brazil, I tip Holland to narrowly beat Uruguay & make it to their third World Cup final.

Germany vs Spain: The ever insightful SBS football commentator Craig Foster summed it up about Germany when he said "Germany have become lovable & are great to watch!"

As the sign above suggests, Germany are the first team since the legendary World Cup winning Brazil team of 1970 that have managed to score 4 goals in at least 3 World Cup matches. Their young guns are fearless & energetic & in Bastian Schweinsteiger have the "Player of the Tournament" so far. Although both sides are playing down the comparisons to Spain's 1-0 win in the final of Euro 2008, Germany will avenge that defeat & make it to the final.

If Holland win their match & the final becomes an all European affair, a European team will win the World Cup for the first time in Southern Hemisphere/Central America. Regardless of the final outcome of the two semi finals, we are set for two exciting & thrilling football matches with 4 teams with different styles & tactical approaches. The first semi final will be a matter of trying not to lose, whilst Spain & Germany will be aiming to win in their clash.

An overview of the group matches in South Africa 2010 & the knockout stage. Let's hope for more excitement & goals than we have got so far!

Thank you Argentina, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain & co. Not just because of your fans! But also for keeping the faint flame of exciting football in the group stages alive & for playing attacking football & trying hard to score lots of goals! Argentina's 7 goals & 30 shots on target made them the only team that averaged more than 2 goals per game & scored in all three group matches (Portugal also scored 7 goals but had two 0-0 draws & a 7-0 win against the hapless North Korea)



Only a handful of other so called footballing giants managed to show glimpses of brilliance in their group stage matches. Brazil, Portugal, Germany (against Australia), Spain, Holland & Uruguay played exciting attacking football at times but not with the consistency of Argentina. On the other hand, the 2006 finalists France & Italy were bitterly disappointing & England have looked lethargic & at times tactically lost!



This has made this World Cup, the tournament for the underdogs to a great extent. Whilst African teams largely disappointed by underachieving overall & only Ghana qualifying, the so called minnows of the rest of the world put up a brave fight & at times even thrilled with their overachievement.



Special mention should go to New Zealand for their brave unbeaten effort & Slovakia for defeating Italy & earning qualification in the process. Their group was meant to be a walk in the park for the reigning champions Italy. Instead the brave effort of New Zealand & Slovakia earned Italy the embarrassing wooden spoon in the group.



Some of the more seasoned but lower ranked World Cup campaigners such as USA, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Mexico & Paraguay also qualified with distinction whilst the likes of Australia's Socceroos, South Africa & Ivory Coast left the tournament with their heads high



As a result, so far South Africa 2010 a group stage that has produced the lowest average goals per match & many defensive & rather dull matches as weaker teams attempt to counter the "in Vogue" 4-2-3-1 style of most attacking teams.



Whilst this system can producing exciting attacking football, it is also very effective in protecting a lead once a team scores & can therefore produce overly defensive matches.



regardless of tactics, a major feature of South Africa 2010 was the European teams' poor 7 at times lethargic displays. The South Americans meanwhile have been comfortably impressive. 7 of the 13 European qualifiers, including Italy & France got eliminated.

This will undoubtedly raise calls for a reduction in Europe's quota again, specially as 4 of the 5 South American teams topped their groups & the Oceania Champions New Zealand finished ahead of the World Champions Italy.



It is well known that European teams have never won the World Cup when it has been held in the Southern Hemisphere or Central America & this year has so far been no exception. The knockout stage has produced more difficult passage for the qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw with heavyweights Germany, England, Spain, Portugal & the favourites Argentina all in that section of the draw. Europe's misery is compounded by the fact that its remaining 6 teams have been paired against each other guaranteeing Europe a mere 3 teams in the quarter finals as opposed to 6 in Germany 2006.

Here are my predictions:

Uruguay will get the better of the brave South Korea. This is the first time in many years that Uruguay have produced attractive & attacking football.

USA have been very entertaining & their die hard attitude should eliminate Africa's last remaining representative Ghana. Ghana, whilst fast on the wings, are careless in front of the goal & were lucky to draw with the 10 man Socceroos & only qualified on goal difference.

Holland will have Robben back & will account for Slovakia. Slovakia, in their first World Cup as an independent nation rewrote the history books by gallantly eliminating the reigning champions Italy & should therefore be very proud of their achievement.

Brazil would undoubtedly have preferred to face a non South American team & must be worried about the fearless Chilean side. Chile is coached by the Argentine Marcelo Bielsa, one of the most attack minded coaches in the World. He has instilled self confidence in his young side & as they proved against Spain with 10 men, they are capable of beating any team on their day. The only thing that could get Brazil over the mark is their vast experience at this level

Argentina & Maradona have proven all pundits & commentators wrong. Messi & co have produced disciplined attacking performances & are now favourites to beat Mexico & even go all the way to winning the Cup.

England vs Germany penalty shootout in the semi finals of World Cup 1990 won by Germany

• Germany have overall been more solid than an out of sorts England teams with Rooney struggling to find form. However this ultimate World Cup classic will see players on both side shift up a gear for supremacy in a footballing rivalry which goes back to many decades & has previously produced the 1966 World Cup final, 1970 quarter final & 1990 semi final. This match will be no exception & I am merely picking Germany because I am a life long hard core fan of the Nationalmannschat!

• Paraguay have been solid in defence & disciplined in their attack in topping their group whilst Japan scored two world class free kicks on their way to qualification at the expense of Denmark. This is the battle of equals but the South Americans tactical superiority should prevail.

• Spain & Portugal are both capable of winning this tussle but the fact that Portugal failed to attack or score against Brazil (& Ivory Coast) is a major concern & slightly tips the match in favour of Spain & the free scoring & impressive David Villa.

Whatever the out come of the above matches, let's hope they are all free flowing with an abundance of attacking football & lots of goals! Otherwise South Africa 2010 will go down as the dullest World Cup in history with the lowest average goal per match!

Final round of group matches start tonight: Which teams are likely to make it to the round of 16 in the World Cup?

The second round of all group matches was concluded this morning with Spain's 2-0 win against Honduras.
Tonight the final round of group matches will commence. Although the first two rounds produced the lowest average goal per game of just over 2, the final group round promises to produce lots of thrilling moments as well as a few surprises. The reason for this is because almost all of the European favourites or heavy weights, i.e. Germany, England, Spain, France & Italy, must win their final matches to guarantee passage to the knockout stage of the Cup. The South American teams on the other hand, are all on the way to potentially win their respective groups. As a result, the first knock out stage promises top produce a few blockbusters (such as e.g. England vs Germany) as the favourites in many of the groups will probably finish second instead of the expected first place.

Here's a quick review of each group & my view on which teams will advance (in bold):

Group A: Uruguay & Mexico

As mentioned in my previous emails, France not only embarrassed themselves on the pitch with their inept performances, they also disgraced themselves off the pitch with publicly fought unrest in their camp. South Africa will sadly be the first host nation in the history of the Cup not to advance beyond the group stage.

Mexico & Uruguay have been the stand out teams in this group. France need to score at least 3 goals against South Africa & for either Mexico or Uruguay to win their battle in order to have any chance of advancing to the next round. If this does happen, it will be undeserved.

Group B: Argentina & South Korea

Prior to the World Cup, I predicted that Nigeria, despite having so many talented players would disappoint at the World Cup & so far they have been far from competitive with two losses.

I believe despite their heavy loss to the scintillating Lionel Messi & Argentina, South Korea have shown enough to get past the predictably boring Greece & advance to the next round.

Argentina, on the other hand, arguably have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi & are once again one of the main favourites to go all the way & are simply irresistible to watch.

Group C: USA & England

This was supposed to be one of the easiest draws for one of the pre tournament favourites England. But once again they have failed to fire & have been rather disappointing. It all started to go wrong with Robert Green's disastrous mistake in the first game against the USA. It got worse when Ledley King who had replaced the injured Captain Rio Ferdinand in the central defence injured his knee. And to top it all, John Terry, the disgraced former captain destabilised the England camp further by attempting & failing to start a rebellion against the coach Capello on Sunday. Despite all this, England have enough character & calibre to beat Slovenia & advance to the second round for a possible show down with their arch enemy Germany.

I have been very impressed with the USA's fighting spirit, their speed & energy & believe they will be able to break down Algeria's disciplined defense & advance alongside England.

Group D: Germany & Serbia

My heart wanted my favourite two teams Germany & the mighty Socceroos to advance from this group, and Australia to meet England in the knock out phase. However, red cards have dented both Australia & Germany's prospects in their previous matches.

Germany, the record 11 time semi finalist & 7 time finalist in the World Cup have never failed to go through the group stage in World Cup history & should be too strong for Ghana. On the other hand, whilst I am sure the Socceroos will put up a brave fight, I do not believe Australia, in Harry Kewell's forced absence, will have the fire power to get through the solid Serbian defence and score the minimum of 2 goals they require. :(

Group E: Netherlands & Denmark

After a slow start in their first game, Holland found their feat in the second game & will advance as an outside favourite for the World Cup. their odds improve even further if Robben ends up being fit enough to play for them at some stage.

Denmark on the other hand will be too strong for Japan & should be able to win and advance. Japan however, do have a better goal difference. They will aim for a draw ad therefore there is an outside chance that Japan will end up advancing on goal difference.

Group F: Paraguay & Italy

Group F was supposed to be a walk in the park for the defending champions Italy. But Italy's coach Lippi failed to rejuvenate the 2006 team & stuck with the likes of Canevarro who is now 37! Their slow & tired legs has seen Italy ride their luck to two draw their first two matches.

However, those of you who are keen football supporters would know or (in my case) remember how Italy won the World Cup in 1982 after having drawn all their 3 group stage matches & advancing to the knock out stage on the basis of having scored a mere one goal more than Cameron. In more recent times, having experienced their mighty sting against Australia in 2006 & aging New Zealand last week make it hard to write off Italy totally.

Paraguay have on the other hand been the dominant team in this group, and a massive show of admiration also goes to the courageous effort by the great New Zealand side. They have once again overachieved & should be congratulated.

Group G: Brazil & Portugal

After sluggish start in their first respective matches, both teams produced fantastic attacking football & great wins in their second matches making in almost impossible not to go through. The final group game clash between Portugal & Brazil promises to be one of the best matches of the entire tournament.

Group H: Spain & Switzerland

After their shock loss in their opening match against Switzerland, Spain got back on track with a win against Honduras.

I believe they need to beat Chile to guarantee passage to the next round as Switzerland will beat Honduras. This will probably eliminate the impressive Chile on goal difference. However, amazingly, if Chile draw with Spain & the Swiss beat Honduras, Spain, the favourites will be eliminated from the competition.

It must also be mentioned that Switzerland broke the record for the longest time any team has not conceded a goal in the World Cup history last night, although eventually they conceded a goal 7 lost to Chile 0-1. their record started in the 2006 world Cup where they got eliminated without conceding a single goal in open play (eliminated in a penalty shoot out) & lasted two matches into this year's second round match against Chile.

As you can see, the mouth watering excitement of the World Cup is only beginning. Enjoy & check my blog to rate my predictions!

If you wish to leave comments but are unable to click on the comment section as reported by some of my friends, you may wish to email me on ricksamimi@gmail.com & I will post your comments.

How do the teams rate as the second round of the group stage starts to shape at the World Cup 2010?

The second group matches got on the way last night in FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Before having a look at the first round, I must thank 702 ABC Sydney (radio station) for interviewing me for the last two Fridays in the morning show with Deborah Cameron about the World Cup & also for including a link to this blog on the ABC website.

I'd like to remind those of you who are casual followers of the sport not to lose too much heart! The first round of the group stage of this World Cup has been unusual in its lack of goals. Most teams have been very cautious & some like Australia have not looked settled.

As it was evident last night, we will be witnessing much more attacking football in the crucial second round matches (13 goals scored in the 4 second round matches played so far whilst the same groups only scored 5 goals in the first round). And now to a selection of teams making headlines so far:

• France: As predicted, lost & clueless under their coach Demenech
• South Africa: sadly for them & their fans, will become the first host nation in the Cup's history not to make the second round
• Argentina: Maradona, Messi & co look good both on paper & on the field, a potential winner
• England & Brazil, both looking a little bit out of sorts & in need on fine tuning, which may be too late to do! but still potential quarter finalists & in case of Brazil, a potential winner
• Germany, sublime against Australia, got stifled in midfield vs Serbia & lost 1-0 having had their star striker Klose sent off & missed a penalty. I still rate them as a good bet for semi finals, and an outside chance for the final.
• Italy, looked old, jaded & too slow! They will be out by quarter finals!
• Portugal & Ivory coast had a tough match. Overall ronaldo was yet again disappointing for Portugal. But we have to wait to see their respective second matches.
• Switzerland & USA should be congratulated for taking points out of Spain & England games respectively. Switzerland legendary coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said he learned from USA's win against Spain in the Confederation Cup last year.
• Australia were hugely disappointing against Germany. Their coach Pim Verbeek should have used the same system as USA & Switzerland did in their first matches.
• And last & not least, Spain are still my favourites to win as long as they can mentally pull themselves out of the misery of the loss to Switzerland. However, that may turn out to be easier said than done as Spain are the perennial under achievers at the World Cup level & are notorious for losing their nerves. However, they are the current european Champions & the most attratctive side to watch!

All in all, the second & third round of the group matches are sure to provide more goals, thrills & surprises like the defeat of France by Mexico & Germany by Serbia.

If you are unable to use the comment section, you canemail me at ricksamimi@gmail.com with your comments & I will post them. Thank you.