Hunting after the season

Tired favorites don't live up to expectations

4. South Africa

The players who played in the leading clubs in Europe did not seem to have time to recover for the World Cup. The teams that suffer the most from this are the almost relegated France, England on the verge of failure, Germany's unstable results and unable to win even against the New Zealanders in Italy.

GROUP "C". England - Algeria. The second round of the World Cup, rich in sensations, presented an unpleasant surprise to British fans: the England team was unable to take the planned three points. The game with Algeria turned out to be zero both in content and result. And besides, it seems that the British are losing their nerve. Team leader Wayne Rooney was forced to apologize not only for the game, but also for sarcastic words addressed to the fans, and the English Football Federation filed a complaint with FIFA that one of the fans entered the team's locker room after the match. There he gave a brief scolding to the players, for which he was subsequently arrested.

Now the fate of Fabio Capello's team depends on the match with Slovenia, which only needs a draw. In Russia they remember well that the Slovenians know how to achieve what they need. But it is possible that the preparation of the England team was based on the players adding strength to the start of the playoffs.

Slovenia - USA. Slovenia, in turn, had to show its maximum in the group and could well solve its problem without delaying until the last round. During the match with the USA, the Slovenians, having played the first half powerfully, led by two goals, but in the end almost lost. The Americans, having cleverly reorganized the game, seized the initiative even before the break. Immediately after the break, Donovan, who found himself on the corner of the Slovenian team's goalkeeper's court, drove the ball into the near corner with a powerful blow.

The Slovenians, who had been barely holding back the attacks of the US team, faltered twice more. For the first time, Michael Bradley managed to pierce the ball into the net, and in another episode, the match referee from Mali canceled the goal of Maurice Eddu. As it turned out later, the referee blew the whistle a second before the US team player hit him, seeing a violation on the part of the Americans. They were indignant for a long time, but a draw leaves them a good chance of leaving the group: they just need to beat Algeria.

GROUP "D". Germany - Serbia. The Germans, and especially the Bayern Bundestim players, also had a difficult season. But after the defeat of Australia, it seemed that the youth of Joachim Loew's team would give it an advantage over its competitors who found themselves in a similar situation. Perhaps this would have been the case if the German team had not been let down by excessive ardor. The referee assessed two fouls on Klose as two yellow cards, which automatically turned into a removal. The Serbs used their numerical advantage almost immediately.

But even with a minority, the German team managed to play actively and create a lot of dangerous moments. The Bundesteam did not use the most important of them in the 60th minute - Podolski missed a penalty. And the Serbs, unexpectedly pressed against the goal, sometimes did not know how to fight off the persistent Germans, but retained three points.

Ghana - Australia. Now the once undisputed group favorites Germany will have to prove their worth in the match against Ghana. The Black Stars are the closest of all African teams to qualifying for the knockout stages. And the referees gave her this opportunity. Ghanaian Gyan scored both of his goals in this tournament from the 11-meter mark, and both of them brought points to his team. First, a victory over Serbia, then a draw with the Australians. But for the fact that the ball hit the Australia defender's hand, she hardly should have been punished twice - a penalty and Kewell's sending off in the 24th minute.

The issue of double punishment when committing a “foul of last resort” in the penalty area is the most discussed flaw in the rules. So far FIFA is silent about his removal. But he makes other amendments. Now all players' yellow cards expire not after the group stage, but after the quarter finals. This was done so that some star player would not have time to receive a warning in the semi-finals, which could be the second one, and would not miss the decisive match and thereby reduce interest in him.

GROUP "E". Holland - Japan. The “orange” ones also look faded. But modest victories with a minimal score allowed the Dutch team to be the first to secure a place in the playoffs. Perhaps the Japanese team deserved a better fate. But Wesley Sneijder's goal was natural, and the Asians had no counter arguments.

By the way, the leader of the “orange” Sneijder is one of those few who should be happy with the Jabulani ball. The Dutchman's shots are already strong, but multiplied by the unpredictability of the ball's trajectory, they become impossible to take, which the Japanese goalkeeper Kawashima should have appreciated. And if Sneijder, the leader of the last Champions League winner Inter, continues in the same vein, he could well compete with Messi in the fight for the Golden Ball, awarded to the best player of the year.

Cameroon - Denmark. Japan will compete for second place in this group in a head-to-head match with Denmark. At the same time, the Danes will only need a victory - they were unable to secure the required goal difference in the game with Cameroon. In general, Martin Olsen's team should be happy with the minimal victory, which also turned out to be strong-willed. The Cameroon "lions" led by Samuel Eto'o started so actively that the embarrassed defenders of the Danish national team themselves led them to their own goal. The Africans took advantage of only one gift, and probably later, having missed out on it from a ruthless rival, they very much regretted their wastefulness.

GROUP "F". Slovakia - Paraguay. In its group, Paraguay continues to prove that South Africa is a convenient country for representatives of the South American zone. In the second round, the Paraguayans dealt with Slovakia in a businesslike manner. At the same time, the most experienced player in Vladimir Weiss's team made the most mistakes - Liverpool central defender Martin Skrtel. Even though he had a less intense season behind him, a serious injury, from which he managed to recover only before the trip to South Africa, did not allow him to get into better shape.

Italy - New Zealand. And the world champions, the Italians, in their current state, cannot even beat New Zealand. Made up mainly of players from Juventus, which failed this season, the “blue squadron” is ready to go down without a murmur. In the match against the New Zealanders, Marcello Lippi's team could not bring themselves to turn on decent speeds. Having conceded at the beginning of the match after a set-piece and a mistake by Cannavaro, the Italians needed the help of the referee and an unobvious penalty to win back.

But the current world champions themselves were unable to create anything. Moreover, several dangerous counter-attacks from New Zealand could prove fatal for Lippi's team, and Italy could become another failed European team at this championship.

Match results. Group "C". Slovenia - USA - 2:2 ( Birsa 13, Ljubijankic 42 - Donovan 48, Bradley 82 ), England - Algeria - 0:0.

Group "D". Germany - Serbia - 0:1 ( Jovanovic 38 ), Ghana - Australia - 1:1 (Gyan 25 - penalty - Holman 11).

Group "A" I V N P M O

Group "B" I V N P M O

Group "C" I V N P M O

Group "D" I V N P M O

Group "E" I V N P M O

Group "F" I V N P M O

Group "E". Holland - Japan - 1:0 ( Sneijder 53 ), Cameroon - Denmark - 1:2 ( Eto?O 10 - Bendtner 33, Rommedahl 61 ).

Group "F". Slovakia - Paraguay - 0:2 ( Vera 27, Riveros 86 ), Italy - New Zealand - 1:1 ( Iaquinta 29 - penalty - Schmeltz 7 ).

Andrey VDOVIN