Now after the group stages are over, we are in the business end of the world cup. Elimination time !
Some of the big name countries which have not made it through the group stages are Italy, Serbia and France as well as some of the African teams such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast.
Out of all the teams which were eliminated, France is really a sorry sight. They had infighting within the team and the management as well as players who were not motivated to play their best. For Italy, the main reason they are not through to the next round is mainly because they could not beat New Zealand as well as their normally water tight defence did not come to fore. It could be due to the lost of influential keeper Buffon in the first match which hurt them quite a bit. Another problem that Italy suffered is due to in-sufficient creative midfielder who could break down tight defences.
For Serbia, they were not consistent throughout the group stage hence were eliminated.
Two of the second round games have been completed and both Uruguay and Ghana has made it to the quarter final at the expense of South Korea and USA respectively. South Korea were close to eliminating Uruguay as they had two excellent one to one chances with the keeper before Uruguay scored their winning goal. Uruguay seem to be contented to sit back after taking the lead and were lucky to win this game as a team with a better poacher in front of goal would have taken one of the 2 chances on offer. For Ghana, they managed to be the flag bearer for the African continent by beating the USA who unfortunately were not able to come back a second time after their equalizer at 1 -1.
For tonight game, it is a crunch match between two European rivals, England and Germany. There have been many memorable games in the past and should be a high intensity match. This is a match that is difficult to call as we do not know which England team will show up. Germany will play their attacking football against the English. This match should be a cracker. I think it will end up a draw.
Hopefully the games will get more exciting as there is no benefit playing for a draw now.
Sunday 27 June 2010
Saturday 19 June 2010
World Cup 2010 South Africa ( Group Stage)
It is now about the mid-way point in the group stages of the world cup. This world cup has been quite boring in general with the exception of a few games such as matches involving Argentina and Germany. The average goals per game is about 2 goals maximum.
In general, a lot of the teams seem to be happy to sit back on a goal lead and hope to win on the counter. This led to a lot of the games meandering to draw or low scoring games. I wonder if it is due to some of the teams are still adapting to the altitude and weather condition that some of the games are been held.
It seems that the goal keeping errors have been leading to a number of goals. Example are the goal conceded by Robert Green as well as the Japan GK error in the match against Holland. I wonder if it is partially due to the new ball used in this world cup as a lot of the mistakes seem to be due to a misjudgement of the ball trajectory or after bounce.
In general, the European teams have been quite a letdown in terms of their performance especially the big teams. France and England come to mind. France seems to be on a downward slide for a couple of years as now the team looks very disjointed and a lot of infighting within the team. For England, their performance against USA and Algeria has been dismal. It seems that England has lost their qualification form and making it very difficult for themselves to qualify for the next round. For Spain, after their unexpected defeat to Switerland, they will need to buck up else they may not make it to the next round.
A pleasant surprise has been the performance of teams from Asia and Central America. Both Japan and South Korea managed to get their first world cup win on foreign soil. North Korea had a good match against Brazil. Mexico and USA has performed quite well in their 2 games.
Argentina has been playing some of the most gung ho soccer in the tournament. The only worry that they may have is their defence seems not very solid and both Nigeria and South Korea could have caused more grief for them if their finishing was better.
Hopefully as the tournament proceeds to the knock out phase, there will be more excitement and brillant goals and less of goalkeeping errors.
In general, a lot of the teams seem to be happy to sit back on a goal lead and hope to win on the counter. This led to a lot of the games meandering to draw or low scoring games. I wonder if it is due to some of the teams are still adapting to the altitude and weather condition that some of the games are been held.
It seems that the goal keeping errors have been leading to a number of goals. Example are the goal conceded by Robert Green as well as the Japan GK error in the match against Holland. I wonder if it is partially due to the new ball used in this world cup as a lot of the mistakes seem to be due to a misjudgement of the ball trajectory or after bounce.
In general, the European teams have been quite a letdown in terms of their performance especially the big teams. France and England come to mind. France seems to be on a downward slide for a couple of years as now the team looks very disjointed and a lot of infighting within the team. For England, their performance against USA and Algeria has been dismal. It seems that England has lost their qualification form and making it very difficult for themselves to qualify for the next round. For Spain, after their unexpected defeat to Switerland, they will need to buck up else they may not make it to the next round.
A pleasant surprise has been the performance of teams from Asia and Central America. Both Japan and South Korea managed to get their first world cup win on foreign soil. North Korea had a good match against Brazil. Mexico and USA has performed quite well in their 2 games.
Argentina has been playing some of the most gung ho soccer in the tournament. The only worry that they may have is their defence seems not very solid and both Nigeria and South Korea could have caused more grief for them if their finishing was better.
Hopefully as the tournament proceeds to the knock out phase, there will be more excitement and brillant goals and less of goalkeeping errors.
Wednesday 9 June 2010
Dinner at Mellben Seafood
Yesterday I met with some of my ex-colleagues for dinner. We decided to try the famous coffee shop which specialized in the preparation of crab. I understand from my friend that only on weekday that they accept advance booking. For weekend, no booking allowed and the waiting time for a seat is on average 45 minutes to an hour.
The next dish is scallop in yam ring. The yam was done quite well. It managed to maintain some of the moisture hence it is not too dry to the palate. However I found the scallop quite bland in taste.
The following dish is the cereal prawn. The prawn is big in size and fresh and it was fried quite well. However the cereal was a letdown. It was not crispy. To me for cereal prawn the cereal must be crispy and compliment the prawn dish.
The next dish is dou miao stirred fried with mushroom. This was very good. The taste was excellent.
Below is fried mantou. Normal
The next 2 dishes are what the place is famous for which is their crab dishes. We tried 2 types. One is the chilli crab and the other one is cream crab.
We ordered a selection of seafood dishes as well as two crab dishes to try the various style.
The first dish is the fried beancurd which is one of their popular item. The beancurd was quite tasty.
The next dish is scallop in yam ring. The yam was done quite well. It managed to maintain some of the moisture hence it is not too dry to the palate. However I found the scallop quite bland in taste.
The following dish is the cereal prawn. The prawn is big in size and fresh and it was fried quite well. However the cereal was a letdown. It was not crispy. To me for cereal prawn the cereal must be crispy and compliment the prawn dish. The next dish is salted egg spare ribs. This was one of my favourite dish. I found the spare ribs was tasty and the salted egg brought the flavour out. I will order this dish again if I visit the place again.
The next dish is dou miao stirred fried with mushroom. This was very good. The taste was excellent. Below is fried mantou. Normal The next 2 dishes are what the place is famous for which is their crab dishes. We tried 2 types. One is the chilli crab and the other one is cream crab.The first one is the chilli crab which is shown below. I quite like the taste of it. It was a bit spicier than the few I have tried.
The next version is the creamy crab. The sauce is quite well prepared. It was not too creamy.
In general, the food was not bad but will stay off the cereal prawn. It is a place that really need to make advance booking before going over else you have to wait for a seat before waiting for the food.
The next version is the creamy crab. The sauce is quite well prepared. It was not too creamy.In general, the food was not bad but will stay off the cereal prawn. It is a place that really need to make advance booking before going over else you have to wait for a seat before waiting for the food.
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