Italy continue to be bad, Brazil give no surprises
A shocking game from reigning world champions Italy, who have once again only drawn with supposedly-inferior opponents. New Zealand are the second-lowest FIFA/Coca-Cola ranked team in this World Cup, so what does that say about the Italians? The last time the reigning champions failed to win their first two matches in a World Cup was France back in 2002.
First, the card stats. There have been:
4 red cards
5 double-yellows to a single player in the same game
8 players have received two yellow cards in separate group-stages games
85 players have only had one yellow card
The two teams with the least cards given are North Korea and Spain, having not had any, although both teams are yet to play their second group stage matches.
The roughest team so far is Serbia, who have received 8 cards so far including one player sent off with two yellow cards against Ghana. This is partly because of their participation in the nine-card game.
The first game played today was Paraguay against Slovakia. Paraguay held Italy to a 1-1 draw in their first game, which is a mixture of good Paraguayan and bad Italian football. Slovakia lost 2-0, and also had three yellow cards, having previously drawn with New Zealand. If Italy beat Slovakia they will qualify, but if they draw then Paraguay have to beat New Zealand to go through. If Slovakia (somehow) beats Italy, they will qualify provided Paraguay lose. So this group is (surprisingly) anyone's game.
After Italy's disappointing draw with New Zealand, you can only assume that they're not going to retain the cup. A lot of supposedly-good teams this year are failing to do well. France and England have done especially poorly, and after a fantastic start, Germany have also fallen behind. However, Argentina and Brazil are doing well, and we've yet to hear from Portugal.
The big news is that France's star player Nicolas ANELKA has been sent home, and the entire French squad has disputed this decision, and thus refused to train. It remains to be seen how well they will fare against South Africa.
Brazil had another good match against Ivory Coast, winning 3-1. It's Brazil's second victory this World Cup, and continues their fantastic record. Ivory Coast is team led by ex-England coach Sven Goran-Ericcson, who led England to the quarter-finals of the last two World Cups. He may not have been able to beat Brazil, but bringing Portugal to a 1-1 draw is fantastic!
Goals per game: Mean - 1.97, Median - 2, Mode - 2, Range - 5
Cards per game: Mean - 3.93, Median - 4, Mode - 3,5, Range - 8
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