WC Day 2

Last night was England (#10) v Paraguay (#33), Sweden (#16) v Trinidad and Tobago (#47) and Argentina (#9) v Côte d’Ivoire (#32).

Results:
England 1 – 0 Paraguay
Sweden 0 – 0 Trinidad and Tobago
Argentina 2 – 1 Côte d’Ivoire

Now, this is why I will continue my rant on rankings. Côte d’Ivoire, in my opinion, totally outplayed Argentina. They had the majority of possession and were constantly making attacking plays in Argentina’s half of the field. Argentina’s went into half time leading 2-0 on the back of virtually their only two forays into the opposition half. That’s probably not entirely accurate, I was also watching the back of my eyelids a couple of times during the game, which kicked off at 5am.

After two hours sleep at the most after the tournament’s opening game and the second match at 5am Saturday, it was an effort to stay awake for the three games through the night last night. I caught a 15 minute nap during halftime of England v Paraguay, which kicked off at 11pm, and then must have dozed off again late in the second half, because I woke up to Sweden v Trinidad and Tobago. It looked like a good game, Sweden were playing at what looked like a frantic pace because they were desperate to win as expected. I was only awake for a few minutes, but it seems Dwight Yorke and Co. played well.

Argentina v Côte d’Ivoire was definitely the highlight of the night. It was good to see someone outplaying the South Americans across the park. The Ivorians had a lot of dodgy decisions from the referee as well, but it’s a good start for them. I think they can beat Netherlands when they meet next Saturday.

And strangely Togo’s coach has quit – two days before their opening match against South Korea.