June 14, 2010
The day was supposed to be good with teams involved being Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Cameroon, Japan and Paraguay. It was more than good by the end of the day. Three games - Netherlands V/s Denmark, Cameroon V/s Japan and Italy V/s Paraguay, each were evenly placed except perhaps the last one, which turned out to be the most wonderful match of the day.
Netherlands V/s Denmark; June 14, 2010, Soccer City, Johannesburg
The first match was Denmark vs Netherlands, from Johannesburg. Both teams were good on paper, and historically played good football. Dutch players of last world cup who played really well, but still missed out were still there in the team. Captain Van Bronkhorst was playing his 100th match and got his win. The match was a very mediocre display of football. Both teams lacked the fire to enthrall the crowd. They just played on and on. First half had nothing to say about, both in terms of score as well as play. Rommedahl who was full of energy and made fast runs in the wings was very slow this time. No other player was good enough too in Danish side. Sneijder made some good touches. The initial minutes of second half saw Danes concede an own goal by Paulson, who could only smile at what happened. He worked hard to deny Dutch a second goal, by Affeley. The only player worth watching was Elia, who played like a true striker, always on feet and moving towards the circle. His play made some sparks in the Dutch side, which sorely missed Van Persie, even though he was on field, and Arjen Robben, who was on the bench. Van Persie was a shadow of his self, which might be because of the fact that he was playing a more central role rather than in the wings. Last world cup saw great runs by both these players in the wings. Kuyt scored second goal for the Dutch, which all started with a pass from a swiveling Sneijder, to Elia who was agile enough to get himself to strike to the far left corner of post, the ball struck the outside of bar and rebounded to find Kuyt's feet who struck it cleanly inside. Kuyt is a complete striker, who has improved a lot, and find targets always. Elia was the star of the match. Danish keeper Sorensen was good, but not good enough to work all alone without any support from his defense.
Netherlands 2(S. Paulson[o.g.], Kuyt) – Denmark 0
Japan V/s Cameroon; June 14, 2010, Free state stadium, Bloemfontein
Next game was between Japan and Cameroon, two teams who work hard to prove that they are not a small team in every world cup. This game was better, with both teams attacking a lot, and when one team attacks, the whole of other team gets back. Japan in particular was defensive to boot, but counter attacking very fast. Eto'o was never allowed to move near 30 yards without at least three men escort, and Cameroon had to rely on Webo and Weia for attacks. The Cameroonian defense was shoddy at times, and this led to first goal by Honda, in the last 6 minutes of first half. Matsui gave a cross from left to right side of post, a ball which was to be headed off by defenders, but instead found feet of a calm Honda who chipped it in. This shook Cameroon who found it difficult to attack and defend at the same time. The second half saw Cameroon attacking with the last fifteen minutes of regular time showing the urgency in its full. Even the goal keeper came out of his territory to give a few extra yards to the attacking formations. The most definite chance came when Eto'o beat two Japanese players in Cameroons own half and gave a pass to another player but in the end the end, that move fizzled out before it could have been said as a brilliant one. Another chance came when Weia bent a ball from 35 yards, only to be denied by bar. Japanese worked hard, and defended resolutely. A comment by my brother in the start of the game came good, he said the Japanese plays like they work in companies. A good 90 minutes later and still looking for an equalizer, Cameroon got 4 minutes extra to try. Assou still ran in with ball, tried and tried, Eto'o tried, Webo tried, everyone tried but either Wakashima denied, or providence denied them the equalizer. In the end, the team that won was not better, and neither worse than other. The game was between two different styles, played equally to perfection.
Japan 1(Honda) – Cameroon 0
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