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Tournament Observations: June 10th 2002

- Denmark held it together long enough to earn a point from Senegal. Senegal is clearly relying on the heat to drain their opponents, but Denmark closed ranks and withdrew into the middle part of the field as the game wore on. Good wing play from Jesper Gronkjaer and Dennis Rommedahl, stretching their opponent's defense. Still, Senegal looked good on the defensive wings. Ferdinand Coly is having an especially good tournament on the right side, and Pape Sarr is doing well on the left.

- Cameroon looked dreadfully tepid against Saudi Arabia, a side they should have run off the field. Instead of actually winning the match they looked more like they were desperately trying not to screw up against a side that had no business making it even this close. Still, no concentrated attack by the Saudi's, and in the second half Cameroon were brought to life by three subs who started making penetrating runs through the soft Saudi defense. If the Indomitable Lions had shown just a little more interest they could have scored more. A boring match played down to expectations by a Cameroon side that is clearly playing to the abilities of whoever they are facing at the moment. They had better be up for the game against Germany.

- Leave it to an undermanned France side to be run all over God's creation by Uruguay, who should have been run out of this tournament by now. As it stands now, France finally gets Zidane back for their final fixture against Denmark but don't have Thierry Henry, the only really experienced international winger they have... And that is going to matter against a Danish side that is not bowling over the world at the moment but is playing well within itself. Until now I guess I didn't realize how important the absence of Robert Pires on the wing really was. I don't know whether it's due to the absence of Zidane, but just like in France '98 they are having trouble with up-front scoring. I'm not high on Le Bleus chances.

- Nigeria were as bad as I thought they would be. It took them only two matches to flame out. I at least thought they would make it interesting, but clearly they need a better organization and coach than the knucklehead they have. Freddy Ljundberg and Anders Svensson may not be scoring any goals but they sure are creating a number of chances for Henrik Larsson and company up front, and they are taking advantage of those chances. Could you ever have believed that at this point Sweden would be top of the table?

- What went virtually unnoticed by the media (and nearly everybody else) is that Nicky Butt took control of the midfield for England and effectively neutralized Juan Veron and the rest of the vaunted Argentinean attack. Michael Owen had much more pace, sharpness and flair this time around and did a good job of creating his own chances, and things opened up a helluva lot more when Teddy Sheringham came on in the second half (didn't I say England needed to bring on a more credible striker than Heskey or Vassell in my earlier observations? I just thought it would be Robbie Fowler. Either way it worked). England was playing with fire towards the end though when they took off Owen for Wayne Bridge, a defender, and left Sheringham up front all alone. I would have kept attacking, never letting Argentina have any real possession. But hey, it worked. Kudos for the defense for holding on at the end. I like what I'm seeing from Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand...and Danny Mills is actually doing a good job.

- I never would have believed that Spain would be doing this well. They plainly are having the best tournament so far. Fernando Morientes is clearly working well with his Real club-mate Raul up front. Still, Spain is a little slow on the defensive flanks; if Paraguay had just been able to sustain a flanking attack for any length of time this would have been a much closer match. A slow defense won't matter at this juncture, but in the knockout stage they are going to face teams that will exploit their weak flanks.

- Slovenia really wasn't all that good, and it showed. The only real attacking threat, Zlatko Zlahovic, they sent home after the first match. The only reason South Africa got the points is because Slovenia's "attack" (a word I use loosely here) didn't exist, so South Africa wasn't forced to really defend anything, so they could push people forward. Even an unremarkable side like South Africa was expected to get the points here. I'm thinking maybe Alex Ferguson needs to get winger Quintin Fortune more playing time at Old Trafford; he set up the goal that won it and killed Slovenia with his blistering crosses all match long.

- Croatia is proof-positive that all you need is a couple of lucky touches inside the box and you can pull off an upset. The two goals scored by Ivica Olic and Milan Rapajc were just that - lucky touches inside the box. The two goals also showed how important central defender Alessandro Nesta is to Italy; he is the main organizer in the back, and when he went out in the 24th minute nobody stepped up to become the defensive organizer. As a result, Croatia took advantage of an Italian backfield vacuum that, while still technically and athletically the best there is, was confused by their defensive assignments with Marco Matarazzi in the back. Still, this was a match Italy should have won regardless of who was in the back. The Croats used their speed and ball control to effectively take Francesco Totti out of the match (which is why he came out in the second half, but by doing that there was no skillful creator for Christian Vieri and Fillipo Inzaghi, his replacement). Now Italy has to get a win against a motivated Mexican side. The Azzuri had better get their heads out of their asses, get another striker up front with Vieri, and start finding other creative avenues when Totti is closed down.

- Brazil looks great right now...but so would a Sunday afternoon pick-up team against China.

- I totally underestimated Mexico. I didn't think they would do nearly this well. As it stands right now, they lead their group going into their match against Italy. I look at Ecuador and wonder how the hell they beat Brazil in qualifying. Mexico ran Ecuador ragged, and Gerardo Torrado clogged things up just in front of the back three, never letting Ecuador come forward in a concentrated attack and distributing the ball well in transition. Mexico is not overachieving, either, which doesn't bode well for Italy.

- I'm disappointed in Turkey. Clearly a winnable match against Costa Rica they let get out of their grasp. Turkey is not showing any real concentrated attack, letting Hakan Sas and Yildiray Bastruk do all of the lead attacking while the rest of them stand around enjoying the scenery. Costa Rica showed better skills and ball winning tenacity. Fortunately, Turkey probably gets three points from China while Costa Rica flames out of the tournament against a Brazil side that will still bring it on, even though they don't need to.

- I guess Russia's win over Tunisia was just smoke and mirrors; Japan ran them off the pitch. Arsene Wenger should try to find playing time for attacking midfielder Junichi Inamoto, who has found the space up front to attack and score two goals in this tournament. Clearly the ones doing it for Japan are the ones who play overseas (Inamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono), but you have to give it to Tsuneyasu Miyamoto in the middle of the Japanese defense. This is still a tough group to call, but with a date with Tunisia looming, one point should get Japan through.

- There just isn't any up-front finishing for Belgium. As usual, they get their scoring from midfielder Marc Wilmots or they don't get it from anybody. Clearly Belgium is not playing all-out the entire match; it's as if they show great technical ability for the first two-thirds of a match, then just hold on the last third. Clearly the better chances were taken by Tunisia, who used Hatam Trabelsi to stretch the Belgian defense on the flanks and close down Belgium's offense on the back flanks. Unlike Tunisia and Japan, Belgium's last opponent, Russia, will not attempt to run them off the pitch (they don't have the stamina). That might be the break Belgium needs to get the points and hope for a helpful result in the Japan-Tunisia match.

- What is really disturbing about the USA's 1-1 draw with South Korea is that this was a winnable match for the USA if they hadn't decided to concede the possession early and play behind the ball in their own end for the rest of the match after going up by a goal. I am not a fan of defensive soccer. I believe that when you let the opposition have the majority of the possession for a large portion of the match - without ever really trying to keep them honest and on their heels by at least attacking on occasion - that you are playing with fire. On as hot a day as it was in Korea, against a side that was as well-conditioned as South Korea - and coached by no less than Guus Hiddink -- it was no surprise that the Koreans came up with a late equalizer. That said, I'm liking Tony Sanneh on the left back and John O'Brian in the defensive holding role more and more, and Brad Friedel is by far the best goalkeeper in the tournament right now. I hope South Korea is happy with themselves at the moment, because the USA clearly has the more favorable draw in their last match against Poland, while South Korea gets Portugal - and Portugal is motivated right now. Their 4-0 destruction of Poland was not only unsurprising but clearly a sign that it wasn't the real Portugal we saw against the USA. I'm glad it's South Korea playing them last and not us.