Well, we are in the Second Round now. Okay, not we as I’m not really a part of the World Cup, but the Second round is indeed taking place right now, as I type.

How did Utopia’s picks fair?

Well, I got several correct but there are some teams who really sucked it up in the prelims and some teams who truly kicked some amazing ass.

Ghana. Who saw this coming? Seriously. Ghana. What the fuck? To be honest, they’re good and deserved to move on. I was impressed by their play. I think if they could play Italy again, they’d win this time. They are definitely the underdog team of the Cup. It’s a lot of fun watching them play. Their keeper Kingston is fucking amazing. He has an incredible sense of space and knows when to be aggressive and when to take a step back. They said that the Czech had one of the best keepers in the Tournament, but I really think Ghana’s keeper has outshined just about any other I’ve seen play.

Speaking of goalkeeping … The US’s keeper is an asstard. He failed to work with his defense about half the time and that is where the majority of the scoring on him came from. The other half of the time, he did work with his defense. It was this inconsistence that really fucked us. In the game against Italy, the US showed some true valor on the field with their strong defensive play. The rest of the games, they fell apart. I think the major shortcoming of the US team was their lack of aggression and ability to drive the ball down the field. Playing aggressively doesn’t mean making dangerous plays and ramming your elbow into the gut of your opponent. It means moving forward and pressing the other team for possession of the ball. It’s sad that the US only played well when they were down to 9 men on the field.

Argentina still burns brightly. They triumphed over Mexico in their game 2-1. I haven’t watched this game yet, but it makes me happy just knowing the score. I’m pulling for Argentina this tournament much to the chagrin of my British office mate. Germany beat Sweden 2-0, so they will move on to play Argentina in the Quarter Finals. I think Argentina can take them. In my heart I believe that.

But, poor Ghana. They get to play Brazil in their next match. I really want to pull for them because they have played amazingly well this tournament and shown all around good play. Plus, I’ve never seen such a bunch of polite soccer players. This is a team that I really want to see move on. Unfortunately they are playing Brazil and Brazil is Brazil. They have a consistent high level of play and more experience in Cup matches in general. But, who know. Ghana beat the Czech to show the world one of the biggest upsets it’s seen. Maybe they can pull the same on Brazil.

England has made a good showing so far as well. But really, I don’t think they’ve been truly challenged yet this tournament. They’ve had a fairly easy draw. Maybe they’ll go all the way. They reek of desperation and desperation can pull you along in a pinch. However, it can also make you choke under pressure. We’ll see what happens with that.

In other sports news, apparently there were finals for some other sports. I can’t tell you how these finals turned out or even who was playing because I don’t give a fuck.

Posted by Utopia at June 26, 2006 02:47 PM

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