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[keep-it-cool]

Two goals in the space of five minutes

[dhruvdeepak]

penalty...goooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllll 3-0 for espagnaaaaaaaa

[keep-it-cool]

4-0 ... these guys are now thru ... with tunisia and saudi arabia to come ... great result for the spanish ... hope they do some justice to the talent that they always seem to have

[justforkix]

Spain will still scrape through with 4-5 pts (as they always do) 

[keep-it-cool]

You think so? I know they have disappointed in the past, but this time they have beaten the other strong team in their group first up. Now, unless they manage to conjure up a loss to the likes of Tunisia and /or Saudi Arabia, they seem to be sitting pretty – at least to qualify for the quarterfinal phase on top of their group.

From there, it all depends on who they face – again, the risk of disappointment cannot be ruled out

[feverpitch]

I have a feeling that those teams who have shown the courage to shed their flopsters are and will prosper in thei WC. Look at Spain without their 'talismanic' and forever underperforming super-striker Raul; or Italy without Del Piero. In fact, the moment these rabbit-killers were introduced as substitutes, the performance of the respective teams fell a few notches. The goal by Torres that Spain scored after Raul came in had absolutely nothing to do with Raul. Argentina have similarly got over their fixation with Ortega and Veron. If they just replace Crespo, who despite his opening game goal, is imho another underperformer — with Tevez or Messi now, they too will prosper even more than now.

On the other hand, Brazil with Ronaldo and France with the biggest minnow-basher of recent times, Thierry Henry, looked like lumbering Titanics. The earlier they get rid of them the better I believe. In fact, France should have had Giuly and Brazil Julio Baptista in their squads. What a pity.

Finally, FIFA is back to its tricks once again, its evident. Ever since 1986, when Jan Cuelemans scored an off-side hattrick against USSR, the east europeans esp russian republics have suffered the most in the hands of FIFA and its referees. After all, the poor 'Asiatics', Asians and Africans can hardly provide the gate receipts or TV viewership that the traditional superpowers can. Therefore it is imperative that they win at any cost. In case of USSR/CIS/Russia/Ukraine, the list of bad decisions is too long to put down in paper. I'll still try:

1. 1986: Off-side hattrick by Jan Cuelemans of Belgium in the 2nd round.
2. 1990: Maradona's 'other' hand-of-god that the world has forgotten. At 0-0 a shot by Mikhailichenko of CIS was punched out from the goalline by Maradona, for neither red card nor penalty. Argentina went on to win 2-0. Argentina and Romania then went on to play a 1-1 draw bwn themselves, which is what they needed exactly, to see to it that CIS were eliminated. I remember having predicted the score two days in advance of the match to my friends. The practice of playing the last matches of a group in WC's simultaneously was initiated after this incident, but the damage was done.
3. 1994: In both the 1st and 2nd matches, at 0-0, Russia were given a red card against Brazil and Sweden. They lost a further man in each match through a further red card and of course lost both matches.
4. And now, this year, Spain were handed a free goal and Ukraine penalised of a defender for a dive that should have seen a red card for Spanish forward Xabi Alonso [I think?]. Not to mention the red card for the Polish defender at 84 mins against hosts Germany yesterday, after which Germany scraped in a goal to win 1-0 in the 93rd min.

I wont even mention the list of bad decisions that have forever hobbled Asian, African and Central American sides against the likes of Germany, Italy etc. It was no wonder then that Spain and Italy protested when poor decisions went against them in their matches against host S Korea in 2002. They are so used to having it their way EVERY time, that it must have been a shock that FIFA had other plans in 2002, what with the Koreans and Japanese hosting the tourney.