Sunday, April 20, 2008

Day 1 Recap

The first day kicked off with opening ceremonies at 1:00, lasting about 45 minutes. The first game, starting a bit after 2:00, featured defending champion Norway taking on Austria.

Norway vs. Austria- 3-0 Norway- Norway started off very slow, and Austria seemed poised to make this one an upset. Austria had some very close chances but just couldn't put any away. Their problem was that they couldn't create any opportunities around the box at all. All they were doing was crossing it in hoping for a header. Norway, a very solid team in the air, eventually got rolling in the second half.

Ireland vs. Serbia- 7-0 Ireland- Ireland dominated every aspect of the game, as they should against a weaker Serbia team. Serbia has the ability to play much better, and they'll make it close against other teams in the group. Serbia plays Nigeria at 3:00 today

Jamaica vs. Northern Ireland- 1-1 tie- This was probably the upset of the night, with Jamaica being quite highly touted and Northern Ireland a basement-dweller. This all changed on Saturday, as Jamaica found themselves an equal. Both teams matched up quite evenly, and you really couldn't say one team deserved it much more than the other. Jamaica will definitely need to pick up their game if they hope to make it out of their group. Northern Ireland takes on Ukraine at 5:00 today.

Germany vs. Botswana- 6-2 Germany- Botswana started off very strong, taking leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Germany buckled down on defence. Germany, a goal scoring machine, broke out and peppered Botswana.

Chile vs. Poland- 4(5?)-2 Chile- Poland played very well, but Chile was just too much for them. Chile's players are very deadly if given the opportunity to shoot the ball, and Poland gave them time. Chile takes on Italy at 6:00 today.

Laos vs. England- 5-0 Laos- Laos dominated England. England was missing their goalie and their mainstay midfielder from last year, Mark Korthius, is not even on the roster this year. Even with England's regular goalie, Laos still would scored just as many. The goals were pretty much unstoppable. England does not look like the team I, nor anyone else, predicted them to be. They looked very sloppy. If I were to redo the rankings right now, I would drop them out of the top 6 easily, possibly further. As for Laos, they look poised to go to the final. England can make amends tonight vs. Portugal at 8.

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Note: Please, someone provide me with quick recaps of the women's games.
Does anyone know what is going on with the WCP Cup website?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

People!

Write a letter to the Leader Post Editor and the Sports Editor Rob Vanstone. I find it incredible that the biggest sporting event in Regina this weekend did not get lick of mention, not a picture, not even scores on Monday morning's paper. I will write my letter, and I hope you join me in doing so. It is a disgrace and insulting.

Anonymous said...

Dude, if you let the Leader-Post know you want coverage of something they will send someone and write a token story about anything. Literally anything. But you have to let them know. They probably should have known about this particular event, but it's not entirely the paper's fault. Whoever is in charge of the tournament should have made sure they knew about it.

Clock Cleaner said...

I contacted the Leader-Post earlier this week. They desperately want to print stories and cover the event, but they need people to send them scores and the names of goal scorers. They have had a very hard time communicating with the organizers.

They've been trying to publish stories for the past week, but aren't getting any information to help them out. If you're willing to find out game scores and scorers, I suggest you e-mail the Leader-Post and help them out.