Another reason why the Euro is a great tournament, and why I am not a fan of the expansion for the next version (I liked it when it was only 8 teams, made for instant drama) - 4 games in and already we have teams in crisis!
Day 1 turned out to be not as drab as one might have thought. The Poland v Greece game ended with some controversial officiating - yellow card for going to head the ball? Really? Red card, penalty and save for Poland...game ends 1-1 so both sides will fancy their chances to advance. The advantage might go to the Greeks since they face what appears to be a sieve of a Czech team while Poland has to face the offensive minded Russians.
What is really interesting is what happened today. Denmark sprung the surprise, defeating the Dutch 1-0. I was only able to listen to the game on satellite radio and from the high lights I saw afterwards it appears that the Dutch missed on a few opportunities while the Danes did what they do best - play steady and collective football. In the other match, Germany secured the essential 3 points of a win, but I was not impressed by the pre-tournament favorites. Then again style does not matter, the three points do. However the Germans should consider themselves fortunate that Pepe could not find the happy side of the woodwork at the end of the first half and that Varela couldn't beat Neuer late in the match. The German offense seemed slow - where was Ozil? Looking at the statistics one would think that Portugal would have at least earned a draw - 2 posts hit and 7 corner kicks (Germany had 2).
This sets up a wonderful second day for Group B. With Germany facing hated rival Holland and Denmark and Portugal squaring off. Holland has to win the game, they could be fine with only a draw but that would place a tremendous amount of pressure on them for the final game. Germany, in case of a win, would be assured to go through and could rest players for the final game. Plus both teams hate each other! Should make for a juice match. In the other match, Portugal and Denmark face off again after being in the same qualifiers where they split their matches and the Danes finished top of group. Denmark will be happy with a draw, while Portugal has to also look for a win. Much of how this group will turn out depends on the Germany v Holland match. Holland must win, so it should prove to be a charged up match! Looking forward to that!
Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Saturday, December 12, 2009
World Cup 2010 - Group E
Group E is another group with teams that could all reasonably expect to go through:
The top seed is deservedly the Dutch. the Oranje once again enter a tournament with tremendous talent and expectations. With the likes of Sneijder, Van Persie (assuming his 100%), Robben, Huntelaar, van der Vaart, etc they will have plenty of horses to challenge any other national team. The question becomes, will they play as a team? That has always haunted them in the past. They walked through their qualifiers winning all 8 of their matches, scoring 17 and only conceding 2 goals in the process...impressive to say the least. So which dutch team will show up? The one that walked through qualifiers or the last one we saw at the Euro 2008, the one that was being thoroughly outclassed by a Russian team and one Arshavin. The status of Van Persie will also weigh on how far the Dutch will go in South Africa, but on paper they have more than enough talent to get to the knock out stage. So who will join Oranje in the knock out stages? Denmark is the little engine that could. The Danes always seem to show well for themselves at major tournaments, sometimes even winning them after not even qualifying! Quick question - name me 3 Danish footballers....ok Bendtner and um uh...yeah a team of relatively obscure
players who play in the Danish league. However they clearly know how to be a team - having won a difficult qualifying group, ahead of Sweden and Portugal - even defeating the Portuguese 3-2 in the first leg. The Danes are not to be taken lightly, and if history is any indication will do well in the groups and fizzle out in the knock out stages. What about the former co-hosts - Japan? Japan has always sought to be the Asian power that South Korea is, unfortunately they have never been able to assume that mantle. Granted they are getting closer. With a competitive and growing domestic league - the J League - they are becoming more than a baseball and sumo nation! They do have some players in Europe, mainly midfielders - surprisingly 2 in Ligue 1 - Inamoto and Matsui. They have had some recent strong run in friendlies...but those are very different that the bright lights of the World Cup. And they will not have home field advantage. They are getting there, but are still chasing South Korea and Australia for dominance in Asia...so far from world beaters in the World Cup. Finally we have Cameroon, and with the Lions one Samuel Eto'o. Much is being placed on the Inter forward's shoulders, I think too much. Granted the Lions have a solid squad with the likes of Makoun, the Songs (uncle and nephew), and a long in the tooth Geremi. They are also managed by an experienced European manager - Le Guen. This would be a threat...were the World Cup 4 years ago. The stars of Cameroon are a bit long in tooth and not sure they will be able to go far. However Eto'o remains a threat up front they do have some good youngsters in the Song from Arsenal and Bassong from Tottenham (he was a French U21 player). They will challenge for a spot in the knock outs.
Predictions: Holland, Denmark, Cameroon, Japan - I think the Danes are too well organized and will just beat out the Lions by a hair. Japan will show well for itself but in the end out matched in this group.
Player to watch: Eto'o - while he is not going to be playing with the caliber of players he had at Barcelona or even at Inter, if he steps it up, he will be a threat in every game the Lions play. While no where near the advanced age Milla was, he could mimic that performance in 1990.
Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Denmark | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Japan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Cameroon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The top seed is deservedly the Dutch. the Oranje once again enter a tournament with tremendous talent and expectations. With the likes of Sneijder, Van Persie (assuming his 100%), Robben, Huntelaar, van der Vaart, etc they will have plenty of horses to challenge any other national team. The question becomes, will they play as a team? That has always haunted them in the past. They walked through their qualifiers winning all 8 of their matches, scoring 17 and only conceding 2 goals in the process...impressive to say the least. So which dutch team will show up? The one that walked through qualifiers or the last one we saw at the Euro 2008, the one that was being thoroughly outclassed by a Russian team and one Arshavin. The status of Van Persie will also weigh on how far the Dutch will go in South Africa, but on paper they have more than enough talent to get to the knock out stage. So who will join Oranje in the knock out stages? Denmark is the little engine that could. The Danes always seem to show well for themselves at major tournaments, sometimes even winning them after not even qualifying! Quick question - name me 3 Danish footballers....ok Bendtner and um uh...yeah a team of relatively obscure
players who play in the Danish league. However they clearly know how to be a team - having won a difficult qualifying group, ahead of Sweden and Portugal - even defeating the Portuguese 3-2 in the first leg. The Danes are not to be taken lightly, and if history is any indication will do well in the groups and fizzle out in the knock out stages. What about the former co-hosts - Japan? Japan has always sought to be the Asian power that South Korea is, unfortunately they have never been able to assume that mantle. Granted they are getting closer. With a competitive and growing domestic league - the J League - they are becoming more than a baseball and sumo nation! They do have some players in Europe, mainly midfielders - surprisingly 2 in Ligue 1 - Inamoto and Matsui. They have had some recent strong run in friendlies...but those are very different that the bright lights of the World Cup. And they will not have home field advantage. They are getting there, but are still chasing South Korea and Australia for dominance in Asia...so far from world beaters in the World Cup. Finally we have Cameroon, and with the Lions one Samuel Eto'o. Much is being placed on the Inter forward's shoulders, I think too much. Granted the Lions have a solid squad with the likes of Makoun, the Songs (uncle and nephew), and a long in the tooth Geremi. They are also managed by an experienced European manager - Le Guen. This would be a threat...were the World Cup 4 years ago. The stars of Cameroon are a bit long in tooth and not sure they will be able to go far. However Eto'o remains a threat up front they do have some good youngsters in the Song from Arsenal and Bassong from Tottenham (he was a French U21 player). They will challenge for a spot in the knock outs.Predictions: Holland, Denmark, Cameroon, Japan - I think the Danes are too well organized and will just beat out the Lions by a hair. Japan will show well for itself but in the end out matched in this group.
Player to watch: Eto'o - while he is not going to be playing with the caliber of players he had at Barcelona or even at Inter, if he steps it up, he will be a threat in every game the Lions play. While no where near the advanced age Milla was, he could mimic that performance in 1990.
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