September 8th, 2008 - The good, the bad and the ugly

As promised this past weekend's 2010 World Cup qualifying matches were anything but boring. While many teams, as predicted, came out on top, some of the heavy hitters were not so lucky.

The Good
Saturday was a big day for the United States as they pulled out a 1 to 0 win over Cuba. The U.S. surprisingly played well regardless of the weather, crowd and lighting issues, however they still didn’t play their full potential. Although the U.S. won, I think it’s safe to say that it was hardly an amazing match. Cuba is ranked 92nd in the world and the U.S. is ranked 28th. In my mind, when a team that is ranked that high in the world, they should put up a couple more against a team that is so much lower in standings. The fact that the U.S. only scored because of some shoty defense by Cuba early in the game, is more lucky play than good play. Beasley and the rest of the offense really needs to step it up if they expect to make it farther than group play in this tournament. After the qualifying round, the U.S. won’t be able to play the way they did and expect to win. The United States now leads their Group with 6 points.

The Bad
England barely came out on top in their game against Andorra winning only 2 to 0. The two teams were at a stalemate until midfielder Joe Cole came in during the end of the second half to score both the goals for England. Coach Fabio Capello should be kissing Cole’s golden shoes after him coming in and saving the day yet again. In England’s last game Cole also came off the bench to score the game winner for England. Capello hopefully has learned from his last two mistakes of not starting Cole and if he’s smart, he’ll start Cole on Wednesday’s match against Croatia. England underestimated Croatia two years ago in the UEFA EURO and suffered an embarrassing loss. If they want to win on Wednesday they’ll have to show a lot more effort than the game on Saturday and the game against Croatia two years ago.

The Ugly
The biggest upset of Saturday was the France vs. Austria game. Austria trounced France in a 3 to 1 win, which could have easily been much uglier if had… It was obvious that the French team couldn’t keep their heads out of the past, letting their previous failure at the UEFA EURO 2008 get the best of them. The lack of player experience played a big part in the loss, with the newer players not being able to bounce back as quick as older players would. Using this game as an example, it is easy to say that the French team has a long road to recovery in order to even resemble the team that they once were. The young French team many times looked clueless on the pitch, causing countless fouls and running around like chickens with their heads cut off when they had to set up. In fact, this inability to play defense after unnecessary fouls caused all of Austria’s three goals. Unless this team pulls it together soon, they’re bound to have even more disastrous losses in the near future.