I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. First up, the quarterfinals. Here's a preview on Uruguay - Ghana, which will be televised at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern) tomorrow on CBC.
Uruguay:
Record:(W-L-D) 3-0-1
GF: 6
GA: 1
Top scorer: Luis Suarez, three goals
Ghana:
Record: 2-1-1
GF: 4
GA: 3
Top scorer: Asamoah Gyan, three goals
Try your luck at sports betting!
This should be an interesting clash. Joe Posnanski has a great piece on soccer in Uruguay, what it means to the nation, and its rise and fall over the years. It's well worth a read, and it illustrates just how special this Uruguay team's run so far has been. Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan have been in superb form, and Uruguay's looked like one of the most dangerous teams out there.
On paper, Ghana shouldn't pose too much of a threat. They're without their best player, Michael Essien, thanks to injury, and few saw them making it out of the group without him. This Ghana team has been very impressive though; they were in every game in the group stage, and their only loss came against the superb Germans. They beat a Serbian team that was difficult to break down and battled to a draw against Australia. Their most impressive win to date was over the U.S. in the Round of 16, though; they shouldn't have won that match on paper, but they were the better side on the day and they outlasted the talented Americans. Asamoah Gyan has been fantastic, and he's getting support from the rest of the team. I think their World Cup may come to an end here against Uruguay, but Ghana has proven very difficult to predict so far, and they may keep their miracle run alive.
Prediction: Uruguay 2, Ghana 0
Thursday, July 01, 2010
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It's been a long wait for La Celeste to return to the glory it knew in the early days of the World Cup.
ReplyDeleteUruguay won the first two WC's it entered...it declined participation in 1934 and 1938...but since its appearance in the semi finals of 1954, success has been rare and modest.
Apart from a quarter final appearance at England 66 and a 4th place finish at Mexico 70, Uruguay has either failed to qualify or gone out at group stage.
So making the quarters in Africa for the first time in 40 years obviously has that little country of less than 4 million very excited.
It could be argued that this might be the best side Uruguay has ever sent.
On the whole, Africa 2010 has been a triumph for South American football.
4 out of 5 SA teams have advanced to the quarters...unprecedented, I believe...with the 5th team, Chile, eliminated by another South American side Brazil.
There is a possibility of an all South American gold and bronze medal match and it is not that remote either.
Well, so much for having an all South American final four.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, Uruguay were lucky to be the lone surviving side.
They survived essentially because of an illegal but necessary play by Suarez.
If it were not for his hand ball save on the goal line, Uruguay surely would have lost.
They really should have lost but Gyan mucked up the penalty.
My own personal feeling is that when a player other than the net minder blocks a shot with his hands and prevents a sure goal, the goal should be automatically awarded in instead of a PK just like in hockey when a player throws his stick at a player about to score on an empty net.
I wonder if anyone agrees.