Wow, Switzerland over Spain 1-0

Damn. That's a couple years in a row of bed shittings on the world stage (2009 Confederation Cup?)

I suppose they're still the best team in that group though right? They'll probably still get through.

Spain has been choking at the World Cup pretty much forever. After winning the Euros, this was supposed to be the Cup where they finally lay that to rest. We'll see.

Three quarters of Sports Illustrated's Final Four -- note: I know SI is not namely a soccer mag, though Grant Wahl is a beast of a writer -- not looking too sharp (England, Spain, Serbia).

Swiss coach Hitzfeld saying the U.S.-Spain match from last year is the blueprint he used in the upset.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/swiss-sweet-upset-born-in-the-usa--fbintl_ro-swiss061610.html

It all comes back to us somehow...

Yeah, the strategy against Spain is to clog the middle deep and let them make their pretty passes too far from goal to do much, keep numbers back, make them have to send balls into the box, where Torres is about the only guy you have to mark on high balls, and hope for something on the break.

They'll still probably beat you more than not, but at least make them play as much as possible to their weaknesses.

I'm not sure what you were expecting. Brazil typically takes 2-3 games to really get going and that's even more true this time with their best player, Kaka, still trying to regain his fitness in recovering from injuries.

Additionally, N. Korea was playing an unusually defensive game with 9 back and a back line of 5. As a result, it was hard to create space to operate especially with their passing understandably being not quite as crisp as it will be in later games. Predictably, after they scored the first goal, they dominated from there on with N. Korea having to play more offense.

Brazil will need more from Kaka and Luis Fabiano as the world cup progresses but I think Robinho, Michel Bastos, Maicon, and Nilmar all really looked strong. I didn't really expect much more in the first game. I also think N. Korea looked much better than I expected and I could see them giving Portugal and the Ivory Coast tough matches.

Billy G,
I was kind of expecting them to play like they did against the Yanks in the Confederation cup final without trailing 2-0 at the half.
I figured they would start slow and toy with North Korea as they got comfortable or realized they actually had to play a futbol game. Then they would score the two goals like they did early in the 2nd half and either add one or two late, or just show some flashy moves that confounded the Korean squad enough to preserve the shut out.

Anyone watch Uruguay-South Africa yesterday? The third goal was beautiful.

Think you were watching the goals in the wrong order!

Derris: Not sure about Spain now, anything less than a win against Chile and they are out and Chile aren't a bad team. Best bet might be that Chile only beat Honduras 1-0 so if they can beat Chile and then Honduras by two goals or more they might scrap through on goal difference but the fact that the last game is between Chile and Switzerland is a real headache for Spain. Switzerland might already be qualified if they beat Honduras and could rest players or take their foot off the pedal; or it could be both teams only need a point and therefore play for a draw.

Billy G: Wouldn't surprise me a bit if North Korea took points off Ivory Coast and especially Portugal. They are solid defensively and good on the break.

Greece v Nigeria might be worth watching this afternoon since they both have to win to stay in the competition. Based on their first match you'd have to say Nigeria look strong favourites.

I missed the first one, to be fair... and it wasn't so much the third goal itself as its setup, particularly Suarez's stop and cross.

argentina's gone all rapey on s korea. a veritable beatdown. pretty excited for this france-mexico affair coming up shortly. fml

i predict argentina will win the whole shebang

I would not be at all disappointed to see Maradona join Beckenbauer as the second man to win the cup as both a player and a coach.

You must have your lawyer's fee riding on Brazil to win it all.

Eff yo' jinxin', Bobbo.

After USA, I am rooting for Argentina because they are the homeland of my beloved MANU GINOBILI.

Also, if Argentina doesn't win it, Germany will.

Haha: http://gizmodo.com/5565262/vuvuzela-her ... uzz-builds

i haven't really watched any games but these vuvuzela jokes are great.

Only problem with this is that it has four horns too many

Congrats to Mexico...that should put them through. France was a disgrace.

No shit.
I was watching the game with a group of French students and was wearing a France jersey from the 2006 World Cup. Luckily we didn't deal with much of a Mexican contingency and at least I could simply laugh it off at the end of the match.
I kind of hope they fail to score a goal in this World Cup like they did in 2002, and now I firmly believe Ireland would have been a much more entertaining squad to watch at this tournament.