Goaltending woes continue; stars fail to impress

World Cup fans saw a little bit of everything today, however, the main stories were the goalkeeping saga and big names failing to make lasting impressions.

Paraguay keeper Justo Villar severely misjudged a corner kick, diving well clear of the ball, thus allowing Italian midfielder Daniele De Rossi to equalize. Paraguay had earlier shocked the Italian side when they went up 1-0 in the first half.

Some players have complained about the balls being used for this tournament, saying the ball is lighter, and easier to kick thus coming at goalkeepers much faster than anticipated. Players have also said the balls are difficult to judge which direction they will go in.

However, this hardly seems to be much of the problem. Whether it is nerves, the noise or some other force, goalies such as England’s Robert Green and Villar have made errors on shots that should have been easily saved. Denmark’s Thomas Sorenson even had trouble collecting the ball a few times, although his didn’t result in a goal for the opposite team. The Danish defenders took care of that.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m simply paying more attention this year, but there seems to be more errors being made by players at a level where simple errors should not be made. Whether it’s missed passes leading to shots on goal, an own goal by a defender or even just lackluster play.

This morning’s game between Netherlands and Denmark was slow, uninteresting and overall unimpressive by the Dutch. I was definitely expecting more out of them, and after a similar lackluster performance from Argentina earlier in the tournament, today’s match simply continued the streak of underachievers.

This was further shown by Italy, during their match against Paraguay. While Italy always fails to impress during the group stage, usually merely scraping through to the next round before picking up their game, many people were expecting more out of the reigning champions.

The third game from today, Japan versus Cameroon, probably ended in complete shock to most fans. Japan, having never won a World Cup game outside of their own country, were not expected to be much of a battle for Cameroon – the African team thought to have the best shot at advancing through the tournament.

Cameroon appeared simply lifeless in the first half, far from the fast, offensive team everyone expected to see. Their defense were scrambling, something that resulted in a Japan goal before the halftime whistle.

While fans had high expectations for Cameroon, led by Samuel Eto’o, the team, as was the case with Italy and Holland, failed to impress on the pitch.

I would say the only real positive to come out of today’s matches was Paraguay and their intense desire to win, for they showed pace, skill and heart throughout most of the match against Italy.