FIFA WC 2006 - The Craze Continues ...

17 matches have been completed and all 32 teams have had a chance to showcase what they are capable of ! The tournament so far lived up to my expectations and is not a disappointment like WC2002 where most of my favorites got knocked out in the first round

Best Match So far
Of all the matches played so far, the best one was between Italy and Ghana. It was fast paced and there were opportunities all around and Ghana also fought well. The second best was the one between Argentina and Ivory Coast. Though Argentina displayed superb ball control skills, the match went down to the wire and could have easily gone either way. The Netherlands match was a disappointment as far as the number of goals went. However Spain dint disappoint me at all as far as the number of goals were concerned and I felt that they could have easily scored another 2 or 3 goals !

Best Match : Italy v/s Ghana
Most Boring Match : Sweden v/s Trinidad & Tobago (France v/s Swiss was a close second)
Most Promising Team : Spain
Most Disappointing Team(s) : England, France
Best Goal : Jaziri (Tunisia)

So with the first round in the preliminary group stage being completed, it is time to focus on the next round which would be important for most teams as far as further progress in the tournament is concerned. These are the matches that I would be looking forward to in round 2 of the preliminary stage.

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• Netherlands v/s Ivory Coast [Netherlands would have to fight hard to win]


• Argentina v/s Serbia & Montenegro [Another display of brilliant latin american soccer]


• Brazil v/s Australia [Would the Aussies be good enough to match Brazil ?]


• France v/s South Korea [Would this be the first major upset of the tournament ? I dont see France winning this one !]


• Italy v/s USA [Go Azzuri ! Go !]


• Czech v/s Ghana [How much can the Czech dominate !]