June 19 Games

From Javier...

The 2010 World Cup has been cracked wide open over the past three days. Sukhdev is fuming after yesterday's poor showing by England (Algeria 0, England 0). Difficult to understand the lack of conviction of the English players, reminds me of Spain. But coach Capello has to take a lot of the blame, the English team seems to be playing with too many constraints and rigidities. Placing Gerrard on the left was a tactical faux pas. Rooney looks particularly nervous and with either physical or confidence problems. "Nice to see your own fans booing"........ is what he said to the camera at the end of the game. Not smart to antagonise the fan base, but maybe this is the catalyzer he needs (he will like to make obscene gestures to the fans when he scores his next goal).

Serbia beat Germany 1-0 and the Germans missed a penalty. The Germans were furious about the referee's dismissal of Klose in the first half. But if you tackle someone from behind in mid-field, don't touch the ball, trip the opponent and interrupt the flow of play and the opportunity of the other team's counterattack, and if you have been warned by the referee not to do it again just a few minutes earlier, what is to complain?

The USA and Slovenia tied 2-2 in a lively match. Good to see the team USA with courage being rewarded with a draw after going 2-0 down. Note for the rest: instead of caving in to pressure or lamenting back luck, just keep focusing on getting the ball, getting into goalscoring situations and shooting on target when the opportunity arises. I loved the spirit of team USA.

Today's games and the Simulator estimates are the following.




Netherlands are strongly favoured by the model over Japan, but the reality on the ground against the well organised Japanese will be tougher than on paper.














The Australians are tilted to win over Ghana. But Ghana are favourites to win with media and fans after beating Serbia. I believe the Australians will come out with much stronger mindset than the game against Germany and will be a competitive game.















Cameroon takes on Denmark in the match of underachievers, with Cameroon estimated to have slightly higher chances of taking this one.Both teams need to win to keep their qualifying chances so hopefully they will come out with a winning mentality.