Youth Day in South Africa

I worked all morning and watched good games on TV as I have to prioritize my game ticket money allocations. Today is Youth Day in South Africa, so kids were given tickets to see World Cup games. One of the great things about soccer is that things don’t always go according to expectations. On paper, a team may be better but once the players go on the pitch, anything can happen and a good example is Switzerland vs. Spain.

Spain dominated throughout the entire game and could not put the ball in the net even though they had a lot of good chances. The need to win and team skills provided one of the best games yet in terms of exciting and entertaining soccer. Things are looking tough for Spain with Chile having a good solid team, and Honduras able to defend themselves strongly for at least 70 minutes. Spain not moving to the next phase can be the biggest upset yet. And again in the Chile vs. Honduras game it was nice to see the underdog holding on and creating a few opportunities of its own.

Chile another favored team to move on had a tough time scoring. Chile was in control of the game with lots of ball possession and nice infiltrations into Honduras’ penalty area. They just could not find the net for 34 minutes and throughout the second half. At the end, Chile is happy to have its first victory in World Cup games since 1962! The theme for the World Cup so far is strong defensive lines and great attackers who have been off their mark a lot. Making offside decisions is the toughest task in officiating because of human eye viewing physical limitations. It takes a lot of concentration and at times, a little bit of luck. In the 62 minute, the assistant referee signaled for offside when the attacker was on but luckily it did not impact the outcome of the game as Chile won. After a nice “Philly” steak dinner, Adrian’s specialty, we’re ready for the Bafana Bafana to take on “La Garra Charrua” aka Uruguay.

Controversy first… in the 76 minute, the player that is fouled for the penalty kick was in an offside position when his teammate deflected the ball therefore it should have been just an assistant referee flag and an indirect free kick for South Africa instead of the goal and the goalkeeper send off. For the first 25 minutes, things were even with both teams having difficulty putting three consecutive passes together. Slowly Uruguay took control of the game creating good opportunities to score. In the end, Uruguay’s teamwork ability to maintain possession and set a slower rhythm took the Bafana Bafana’s best weapon away… their speed.

A big hug to my nephews Chris, Fabian and Michael who are watching all of the World Cup games… dreaming to one day be playing for our national team.