Fever and the Group of Death

I was a bit sick with fever so my posting has been sparse. I will post today's preview, but would love feedback on what you dear readers would like to see more of.

Sven Goran Eriksson Transforms Ivory Coast in 47 Days


When Svenis won the Serie A with unfashionable Sampdoria in the early 90s, he employed a 4-5-1 tactic just like the one he used yesterday to not only defend succesfully against Portugal but force the upper hand for most of the match. Sven showed that he is 10 times the manager that overrated Queiroz is, using Ronaldo's presence with Portugal as a weak point against them, allowing him to get the ball in unfavourable situations where he had nowhere to dribble or develop his speed.

Although 0-0s are annoying for viewers, this draw was all but unexciting. The Uruguayan referee did a fair job of not falling victim to Ronaldo's diving, but could have handed more cards out. He missed what could have been a penalty by Carvalho on Gervinho in the Portgueuse penalty area in the 26th minute, but otherwise did not whistle every time Cristiano Ronaldo, who was unfairly awarded man of the match tried to influence him.


Dominant Slovakia Punished for Bad Finnishing


Slovakia dominated New Zealand but only scored one of 21 opportunities on goal. For this they were punished in the 93rd minute by New Zealand doing what they do best: scoring a headed opportunity.

New Zealand's defense was very poor, and I expect this team to be destroyed by both Italy and Paraguay.