occasional posts by risa aratyr
The Swiss certainly had their share of set pieces, due to late tackles by the Hondurans. Too bad they couldn’t convert them. They needed 2 goals to go on in the competition. They had their chances to score, but didn’t. Honduras held on and held the Swiss back. The relatively ordinary, as-expected run of play … Read more WC Fields — Switzerland v Honduras
Though the other 2 teams in the group (Portugal and Brazil) seemed by far the more likely to progress, Cote d’Ivoire clearly wasn’t resigned to relegation. Their lively start produced 3 opportunities in the first 12 minutes of the game and culminated in Yaya Toure scoring a minute later. His spectacular goal was fuel to … Read more WC Fields — North Korea v Cote d’Ivoire
Portugal sat back for the 1st half, evidently content with their one win and massive goal differential. Though Brazil was sitting pretty at the top of the Group G table, they looked the more likely to score. The 2nd half started better, with Portugal creating several chances and Cesar with a brace of excellent saves … Read more WC Fields — Portugal v Brazil
Chile has been looking surprisingly spry on the field. Against Spain, though, they looked just that bit slower and clumsier than they had in their previous matches. Were they playing less well? Or did they seem to be off their stride because they couldn’t muster the extra reserves required to up their tempo, dexterity and … Read more WC Fields — Chile v Spain
When Paraguay’s Valdez made that gorgeous run up the left about 15 minutes in, I thought that alone was worth the price of admission. But Paraguay played it safe. Can we blame them — can we fault any team for pacing themselves? Why risk injury and exhaustion on a match you don’t have to win? … Read more WC Fields – Paraguay v New Zealand