As an American, my primary cheering interests concern the USA, and right now I’m quite pleased with where we sit. A gritty, mostly exciting 1-1 draw with England is something any practical USA fan would gladly have accepted, and the seeming psychological dismay it caused the English side is just a nice bonus. However, working for an African soccer charity and with this being a World Cup in Africa, my secondary wishes involve seeing African teams do as well as they can.
Let’s start with an assessment of the host nation. Group A was projected to be a three-team race between Mexico, France, and Uruguay, but with their impressive showing in a draw versus Mexico, the South African squad have interjected themselves into that race. Throw in the France-Uruguay draw, and suddenly the Bafana Bafana have a decent say on who will advance from the group. The road ahead does not get easier with matches against Uruguay and France, two teams still well above South Africa in quality, but this is soccer, and maybe with the home crowd and vuvuzelas providing some added inspiration, the hosts might just sneak out of the opening round (especially if their goalie, Itumeleng Khune continues his stellar play).
As for Group B, I had hoped Nigeria would challenge South Korea for second place, and they still might have a chance. But while the South Koreans looked awfully good whilst dominating Greece, Nigeria barely hung on for a 1-0 loss to the class of the group, Argentina, who dominated the game. In fact, as Argentina outshot the Super Eagles 24-11 (7-1 in shots on goal), the lone bright spot for the Eagles was goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who was the best player on the field not named Lionel Messi. Things look grim right now for Nigeria, but with another stellar effort from Enyeama, maybe they can eke six points out of their next two games or garner four and hope for A LOT of help.
Poor Algeria. Hitherto considered Group C also-rans, the Desert Foxes acquitted themselves well against Slovenia, getting the better chances through much of the game, but were ultimately undone by a substitute’s (Abdelkader Ghazzel) two yellow cards (in less than 15 minutes!) and a weak effort by keeper Faouzi Chaouchi on a Robert Koren shot. With the perceived heavyweights of the group (USA and England) drawing, this was Algeria’s chance to gain confidence and maybe make a surprise run in the group. Now, with games against two much better squads looming and nothing to show for this past game, Algeria are effectively dead in the water.
Only one African team has won thus far, and that is Ghana. With a very even 1-0 victory over a Serbian team many predicted to be a WC dark horse, Ghana have set themselves up very well. In fact, they seemed to have the higher quality of scoring chances, and I now know the Asamoahs very well (as in Kwadwo Asamoah, who created numerous chances, and Asamoah Gyan, who scored the winning goal on an 85th minute penalty). Keep an eye on Ghana, for they now stand an excellent chance at advancing, and this would seem the most likely manner in which they would do so: Beat Australia by a good margin, and keep it close versus Germany. This would give them second place, assuming Germany beats Serbia.
We come now to Group E, where I made one of my less successful predictions (“Group E: Africa’s best shot at escaping group play”). I had thought Cameroon would beat Japan, and it would come down to them having to beat Denmark to grab the second spot in the group, but this has not come to fruition, as Japan knocked off the Indomitable Lions 1-0. Cameroon had the better chances, but the Japanese grittily bore down and held them scoreless. Now the Lions need to beat Denmark and hope the Netherlands beat Japan by a wide margin. This would allow the Lions to play the Dutch in the final game, hope for a close result, and hope that Denmark barely edges Japan in the final match.
Finally, we assess the strongest of the African squads, the Ivory Coast. They earned a scoreless draw versus Portugal yesterday. Star Didier Drogba did not start the game and did not appear in form when he entered during the last third of the match. Overall, it was obvious neither side wished to lose, and this match sets up an interesting possible route to the next round for the Elephants. Their next match is against Brazil, and win, lose, or draw, goal differentials will loom large in that game and their final one versus North Korea. It’s that simple; it appears the Ivory Coast will match Portugal in points, so they’ll try to keep it close versus Brazil and then bludgeon North Korea on the final game. Of course, Portugal has similar plans.
So, for an “African” WC, the results are a little less than satisfying. It seems only Ghana have a very good chance at advancing to the next round, while the Ivory Coast have a decent shot. Cameroon and Nigeria need a good deal of help, South Africa remains a pipe dream (although a more plausible one than a week ago), and Algeria are cooked. Then again, this is soccer, and strange things can happen over 270 minutes of play.
For me, the prettiest goal of the tournament thus far was scored during the opening match. Watch Siphile Tshabalala’s superb strike that gave South Africa a 1-0 lead.
