Uruguay's dry spell is over
Uruguay played South Korea in the first match of the day. It was raining all through the match, and coming down harder in the second half. The South Americans began well with an early goal, and were unfortunate to not be given a penalty from a Korean handball. Korea took the second-half by storm, however, and had the majority of the possession throughout the match. They eventually got a goal back, destroying Uruguay's clean sheet for the first time in the competition. Uruguay went 337 minutes without any team scoring against them.
Then Uruguay had a fantastically lucky goal that almost hit the post, giving Suarez his third goal in the competition, which puts him well into the Adidas golden boot competition. ITV and FIFA both agree it's one of the best goals so far. After holding on for 13 more minutes, the South Koreans were put out of the World Cup after a fantastic final 16 game.
Later: USA vs Ghana.
As evidenced by the change of title, I'm now branching out into other sports. Also to come: Formula 1 race 9 qualifying.
Showing posts with label south korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label south korea. Show all posts
26/06/2010
Day Sixteen Preview: 26/6/2010
We have every qualifying continent but Europe represented today! Who will win? I predicted yesterday that Uruguay and USA will win. Do the stats bear this out?
Uruguay/South Korea
Ranked 16 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, Uruguay are far ahead of South Korea, who are only 47 – the worst-ranked team in the finals. Point one to Uruguay.
In their five confrontations, there was one draw, and Uruguay won the other four matches – most recently in 2007. Point two to Uruguay.
In the World Cups 1994-2010, Uruguay have only qualified twice, not making it out of the group stages in 2002, and failing to qualify in 1994, 1998 and 2006. South Korea, however, qualified for all five Cups, coming fourth in 2002, but mostly staying in the group stages. Point three to South Korea.
Comparing group performance just at this World Cup, Uruguay have a 2-1-0 record, while South Korea have a 1-1-1 record. Point four to Uruguay.
This suggests the South Americans will win.
USA/Ghana
Ranking: USA are 14, while Ghana are 32 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings. Point one to USA.
In their only confrontation, at the 2006 World Cup, the USA were defeated 3-1 by Ghana. Point two to Ghana.
In the World Cups 1994-2010, the USA qualified each time, making it to the quarter-finals in 2002 and the final 16 in 1994. Ghana have only qualified in 2006 and 2010, but have made it to the final 16 each time. Point three, just about, to the USA.
By performance at this World Cup, USA have a 1-2-0 record, while Ghana have a 1-1-1 record. Point four to USA.
This suggests the USA will win.
Will my predictions bear out, or will the weight of Africa's support spur Ghana to victory? No teams have any extra disadvantages from disqualified players, so it's all down to the skill of the players.
Uruguay/South Korea
Ranked 16 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, Uruguay are far ahead of South Korea, who are only 47 – the worst-ranked team in the finals. Point one to Uruguay.
In their five confrontations, there was one draw, and Uruguay won the other four matches – most recently in 2007. Point two to Uruguay.
In the World Cups 1994-2010, Uruguay have only qualified twice, not making it out of the group stages in 2002, and failing to qualify in 1994, 1998 and 2006. South Korea, however, qualified for all five Cups, coming fourth in 2002, but mostly staying in the group stages. Point three to South Korea.
Comparing group performance just at this World Cup, Uruguay have a 2-1-0 record, while South Korea have a 1-1-1 record. Point four to Uruguay.
This suggests the South Americans will win.
USA/Ghana
Ranking: USA are 14, while Ghana are 32 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings. Point one to USA.
In their only confrontation, at the 2006 World Cup, the USA were defeated 3-1 by Ghana. Point two to Ghana.
In the World Cups 1994-2010, the USA qualified each time, making it to the quarter-finals in 2002 and the final 16 in 1994. Ghana have only qualified in 2006 and 2010, but have made it to the final 16 each time. Point three, just about, to the USA.
By performance at this World Cup, USA have a 1-2-0 record, while Ghana have a 1-1-1 record. Point four to USA.
This suggests the USA will win.
Will my predictions bear out, or will the weight of Africa's support spur Ghana to victory? No teams have any extra disadvantages from disqualified players, so it's all down to the skill of the players.
22/06/2010
Day Twelve: 22/6/2010
France fail as Argentina shine
Here's some goalscorer age stats:
The youngest goalscorer is unchanged from last time: Germany's Mueller, aged only 20. The oldest goalscorer is Mexico's Blanco, who scored a penalty against France aged 37. The mean age of a scorer is 27.2, and the median is 27.5, with a lower quartile of 25 and an upper quartile of 29, suggesting most goalscorers are in their late 20s. Indeed, the age with the most goalscorers is 29.
A fantastic game for South Africa, but disappointingly they failed to get through to the next round of the World Cup as Uruguay only won 1-0 against Mexico - goal difference was the deciding factor. France have shown themselves to be a terrible team – they went through more than 338 minutes of World Cup matches without scoring a single goal – which is two-and-a-half matches from this year's cup, and one-and-a-half matches from last year's cup. So Mexico go through on goal difference (+1) as second in their group.
The referee of the France-South Africa game did not do a fantastic job – the first goal was off the shoulder of South African KHUMALO, and the red card against GOURCUFF that brought France down to 10 men was probably undeserved. There has been a lot of bad refereeing in this tournament so far, but let's hope we have a few good refs to choose from to take the Final.
France head home to face a government enquiry into the mess they've ended up in. The only two previous times they have failed to get into the knockout stages – 1966 and 2002 – they were in Uruguay's group each time, and failed to get more than a single point. South Africa are already at home, so there's no long distance to travel for their players, but they put on a great final performance.
Argentina played Greece as South Korea took on Nigeria in the second pair of games today. There was fantastic play in the South Korea/Nigeria game that kept the other two teams guessing as to who would go through. After missing an easy goal in the second half, Yukubu then scored a penalty his team earned to get them on level terms again with the Asian side. All the players were flagging by the end, and struggling to keep going.
Despite a terrible lack of possession for Greece, they held Argentina off their first goal for 77 minutes before DEMICHELIS finally scored to bring the South American side in the lead. They eventually won 2-0 with some fantastic play. To nobody's surprise, Argentina successfully qualified winners of group B to play against Mexico. South Korea go on to face Uruguay.
Predictions for tomorrow: England and USA to qualify from group C, Germany and Serbia to qualify from group D. I would say Germany and Ghana if they weren't playing each other, and I expect Germany to win this game, and Serbia to beat Australia.
We have two South American, one mid-American and one Asian side through to the next round of the World Cup so far. If my predictions prove correct, then three European and one North American side will join them.
Goals per game: Mean – 2.14, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 3.92, Median – 4, Mode – 2,3, Range – 9
It seems goals are increasing, and the roughness of the games is decreasing.
Here's some goalscorer age stats:
The youngest goalscorer is unchanged from last time: Germany's Mueller, aged only 20. The oldest goalscorer is Mexico's Blanco, who scored a penalty against France aged 37. The mean age of a scorer is 27.2, and the median is 27.5, with a lower quartile of 25 and an upper quartile of 29, suggesting most goalscorers are in their late 20s. Indeed, the age with the most goalscorers is 29.
A fantastic game for South Africa, but disappointingly they failed to get through to the next round of the World Cup as Uruguay only won 1-0 against Mexico - goal difference was the deciding factor. France have shown themselves to be a terrible team – they went through more than 338 minutes of World Cup matches without scoring a single goal – which is two-and-a-half matches from this year's cup, and one-and-a-half matches from last year's cup. So Mexico go through on goal difference (+1) as second in their group.
The referee of the France-South Africa game did not do a fantastic job – the first goal was off the shoulder of South African KHUMALO, and the red card against GOURCUFF that brought France down to 10 men was probably undeserved. There has been a lot of bad refereeing in this tournament so far, but let's hope we have a few good refs to choose from to take the Final.
France head home to face a government enquiry into the mess they've ended up in. The only two previous times they have failed to get into the knockout stages – 1966 and 2002 – they were in Uruguay's group each time, and failed to get more than a single point. South Africa are already at home, so there's no long distance to travel for their players, but they put on a great final performance.
Argentina played Greece as South Korea took on Nigeria in the second pair of games today. There was fantastic play in the South Korea/Nigeria game that kept the other two teams guessing as to who would go through. After missing an easy goal in the second half, Yukubu then scored a penalty his team earned to get them on level terms again with the Asian side. All the players were flagging by the end, and struggling to keep going.
Despite a terrible lack of possession for Greece, they held Argentina off their first goal for 77 minutes before DEMICHELIS finally scored to bring the South American side in the lead. They eventually won 2-0 with some fantastic play. To nobody's surprise, Argentina successfully qualified winners of group B to play against Mexico. South Korea go on to face Uruguay.
Predictions for tomorrow: England and USA to qualify from group C, Germany and Serbia to qualify from group D. I would say Germany and Ghana if they weren't playing each other, and I expect Germany to win this game, and Serbia to beat Australia.
We have two South American, one mid-American and one Asian side through to the next round of the World Cup so far. If my predictions prove correct, then three European and one North American side will join them.
Goals per game: Mean – 2.14, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 3.92, Median – 4, Mode – 2,3, Range – 9
It seems goals are increasing, and the roughness of the games is decreasing.
12/06/2010
Day Two: 12/6/2010
South Korea does well as America goes soccer-crazy
Yes, the Americans have gone crazy. Why? They drew with England. So, they're treating it like a win. Well, they don't know much about football, do they? Okay, so England goalie Robert GREEN slipped up, and I bet he feels terrible. Number of Google hits for “Robert Green goalkeeper”: 1,110,000 (17/6/2010). Number of YouTube videos: 173. Most are from Americans making fun, but a few are older from West Ham fans. Rob Green is a GOOD goalkeeper most of the time. Unfortunately, he also has the horrendous statistic of being the first England goalkeeper to get sent off: in a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine that England lost 1-0. However, he also played in the match England won 5-1 against Croatia that saw them succeed in their qualification attempt. So he has a mixed record.
Let's look at the other matches. The first game was between South Korea and Greece. Both sides have done surprisingly well in previous football tournaments – South Korea got to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup (in South Korea and Japan) and Greece won Euro 2004 in Portugal, shocking the world by defeating the host nation in the final.
The South Korean goalscorers were 29-year-old Manchester United player PARK Ji-Sung, whose nickname is ‘double-hearted oxygen tank’ (source: Fifa.com) and 30-year old LEE Jung-Soo, who plays in Japan. It was a clean game, with only the Greek Vasileios TOROSIDIS getting a yellow.
Second: Argentina versus Nigeria. This match ended up a disappointing 1-0 to Argentina. You'd expect this team to do much better. Of course, England fans aren't upset that they're in bad form, especially with Diego MARADONA coaching the team. Boo! Maradona is known for his 'hand of God' goal that halted a previous World Cup attempt by England.
Gabriel HEINZE is Argentina's 32-year-old goalscorer. Sadly, he has nothing to do with Tomato Ketchup or Baked Beans. Internationally, he's done well, and is the second defender to score in the tournament (along with Mexico's Marquez). In fact, the Marseille player has scored three international goals in his career.
There were only two yellow cards in this game – one to each side.
The final game of the day, as you should know, was England versus USA. Stephen GERRARD scored a fantastic goal after only four minutes: the fastest so far of the tournament. Just before half time, American Clint DEMPSEY got lucky with the goalkeeper to level the scores. There were six yellow cards – three for each team – in this game.
Goals per game: Mean – 1.4, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 2
Cards per game: Mean – 4, Median – 4, Mode – 1,2,4,6,7, Range – 6
Yes, the Americans have gone crazy. Why? They drew with England. So, they're treating it like a win. Well, they don't know much about football, do they? Okay, so England goalie Robert GREEN slipped up, and I bet he feels terrible. Number of Google hits for “Robert Green goalkeeper”: 1,110,000 (17/6/2010). Number of YouTube videos: 173. Most are from Americans making fun, but a few are older from West Ham fans. Rob Green is a GOOD goalkeeper most of the time. Unfortunately, he also has the horrendous statistic of being the first England goalkeeper to get sent off: in a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine that England lost 1-0. However, he also played in the match England won 5-1 against Croatia that saw them succeed in their qualification attempt. So he has a mixed record.
Let's look at the other matches. The first game was between South Korea and Greece. Both sides have done surprisingly well in previous football tournaments – South Korea got to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup (in South Korea and Japan) and Greece won Euro 2004 in Portugal, shocking the world by defeating the host nation in the final.
The South Korean goalscorers were 29-year-old Manchester United player PARK Ji-Sung, whose nickname is ‘double-hearted oxygen tank’ (source: Fifa.com) and 30-year old LEE Jung-Soo, who plays in Japan. It was a clean game, with only the Greek Vasileios TOROSIDIS getting a yellow.
Second: Argentina versus Nigeria. This match ended up a disappointing 1-0 to Argentina. You'd expect this team to do much better. Of course, England fans aren't upset that they're in bad form, especially with Diego MARADONA coaching the team. Boo! Maradona is known for his 'hand of God' goal that halted a previous World Cup attempt by England.
Gabriel HEINZE is Argentina's 32-year-old goalscorer. Sadly, he has nothing to do with Tomato Ketchup or Baked Beans. Internationally, he's done well, and is the second defender to score in the tournament (along with Mexico's Marquez). In fact, the Marseille player has scored three international goals in his career.
There were only two yellow cards in this game – one to each side.
The final game of the day, as you should know, was England versus USA. Stephen GERRARD scored a fantastic goal after only four minutes: the fastest so far of the tournament. Just before half time, American Clint DEMPSEY got lucky with the goalkeeper to level the scores. There were six yellow cards – three for each team – in this game.
Goals per game: Mean – 1.4, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 2
Cards per game: Mean – 4, Median – 4, Mode – 1,2,4,6,7, Range – 6
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