Argentina - the best so far
Posted by DavidM in Argentina, World Cup | 14 June 2006
All the teams have now played and we've seen some exceed expectations and others start very poorly.
Of the big names, Germany looked okay but not special, plenty has been said about England's performance, France were awful and Brazil didn't really get started.
The team that stood out for me was Argentina. Their passing was crisp and controlled, their movement was excellent and they made great chances. I know they are always a big team but I hadn't seriously considered this could be their year but so far they have looked the most complete team.
And they weren't playing poor quality opposition. The Ivory Coast is regarded as the strongest of the African nations in the tournament and worked Argentina hard.
Many teams underperform in the first game due to nerves, lack of time playing together and so on. It will be interesting to see who improves over their remaining group games, but on the evidence so far I'll be reversing my prediction of a Brazil victory over Argentina in the final.
Comments
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I strongly disagree about the French thing (and I'm not saying this because it's my homeland). Abidal id good defending on his side of the pitch. Ribery may be young and a bit inexperieced, but he plays a heck of a lot better than most young bucks. So I say, "Vive la France!"
