By Mark Vincent Lincir
It looked like Brazil stayed in second gear in their 2-1 World Cup opening win (goals by Maicon and Elano) over North Korea on Tuesday. True to Brazilian form, there was no panic or over-working to be done. It was simple, it was clinical…it wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.
Was it beautiful? Absolutely not. But it was much better-looking than most of the first round action we have seen so far. How loud can you scream “give me better football!” I’m better off getting back out into the real world and working during the day if the games are going to continue to be generally choppy and boring.
The saving grace is that it will get better. We all know that. First games are always choppy and slow and more about not making mistakes than playing good soccer and sticking it to the other team. Nobody wants to give away three points and taking home something in the first game is massive as opposed to going away with nothing. No matter how disappointing you make it on the paying spectator.
How did New Zealand tie Slovakia? No wonder I’m getting my butt kicked in my World Cup Fantasy tournament…nothing is going according to plan. Portugal in a stalemate with the Ivory Coast? So much for Portugal’s chances at winning it all, they looked awful.
Good news from the United States’ camp as goalkeeper extraordinaire Tim Howard looks to be fit for Friday’s huge game against Slovenia. What are the odds of Coach Bob starting Jonathan Bornstein (who doesn’t belong on the team by the way)? I say he starts him, because making a massive boneheaded maneuver will just be too easy for Coach Bob to pass up….oops, wait. He’s already starting his son, so maybe he won’t also start Bornstein.
PREDICTIONS FOR MANANA…Chile will get past Honduras 1-0 in another match that won’t be graded for style points. Spain will crush Switzerland 2-0, but it’ll feel more like 8-0 and Uruguay will send the hosts home sad for the day by beating Bafana Bafana 1-0 on a Forlan goal.
NOTES: Maybe we all just expect too much from this game nowadays. I know that if the camera angle isn’t just right, the field in pristine condition and the play up to World Class standards x 2…I feel ripped off. Do we need to change our expectations? NO WAY. The soccer needs to get better! Come on, this is the World Cup guys, get it going before we all go back to our families and jobs!
Mark Vincent Lincir can be reached at [email protected]. Check us out on Facebook and Twitter now too!
