Chile 1-0 Suisse World Cup 2010 Group H

This match was a truly explosive match from the beginning all the way to the end. Plenty of talking points in this match such that I don't even know where to start. Simply amazing, adrenaline pumping match we have just been fortunate enough to witness. I'll start with the breakdown of the two teams fighting it out today at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. This match could be described as a match between a thesis and an anti-thesis. I would describe the Chilean team as the lighter version as the Arsenal team. Lighter at the back that is as this Chilean team doesn't have the kind of defense like what Arsene Wenger's boys are having with bulky guys at the back such as Gallas, Vermaelen, and Sagna. Chile also play in the same way as Arsenal in which they frustrate fans a lot. They dominate a match thoroughly, stringing a lot of beautiful and quick passes but there's one thing lacking from all those moves, goals. They are also very susceptible at the back. On the other hand, their opponents Suisse is a different kind of team altogether. Just look at the Suisse squad form Diego Benaglio, the goalkeeper, all the way to Blaise Nkufo the striker. Every single one of the Swiss player has one thing in common, that they are tall, big, bulky, an muscular. They are like a huge wall. They are extremely secure at the back, that's one thing for sure.

This match is a very crucial match in Group H, especially so for Chile. If they lose this match or being held to a draw, they will be in a real danger of not qualifying to the last 16 as the Swiss will be facing Honduras next while Chile will be facing Spain, who are poised to win their upcoming match against minnows Honduras. The match started in a really explosive fashion with Chile showing their hot and spicy brand of football with their extremely high octane style of play. The Swiss also kept up the tempo as they didn't want to be outdone by the South Americans. The first half an hour was a delight to watch and I dare say that it was even played in a faster tempo than the fabled high octane English Premier League games. However, the referee for this match was one who will not hesitate to blow his whistle and brandish plenty of cards and after players from both sides were booked for silly and simple reasons, The Swiss were outraged when Valon Behrami was sent off at the 30th minute when he elbowed two Chilean players in a row, even when it seemed that the Chilean players fell a bit too easily, but it happens all the time and even the Swiss resorted to this kind of dark arts of the game later on in the match. When the red card was brandished, many fans would have recalled the mighty collapse of Nigeria and Germany when one of their players was red carded. However, it was not to be as Suisse is a mighty defensive team and one player less in the team won't have a significant effect on their defensive wall play.

From this moment onwards, it was all Chilean attack, and that's when the way they play simply has the aura of Arsenal behind it. It was simply vintage Arsenal, a typical way of Arsenal playing the beautiful game. Graceful attacking football, but no finishing and thus no goal to show their dominance in the game, but it was largely thanks to the extreme solidity of the Swiss defense. The aforementioned incident about the Swiss employing some dark arts of the game happened at the 60th minute when there was an altercation between the two sets of players when the Swiss defender von Bergen showed his unprofessional side by falling theatrically onto the ground to get a Chilean player booked or even sent off. However, Chile was finally rewarded (with a slice of good fortune and a controversy) for their plentiful shots on goal when their substitute attacker Paredes was in an offside position to receive a through pass and then he crossed it for Mark Gonzalez to get a free header and head it past Diego Benaglio to finally bring the Swiss wall down. Firstly, Mark Gonzalez is not a player known for his heading ability. Secondly, the Swiss defense was non-existent as the CSKA Moscow player had a free header, and thirdly, the header bounced into the net instead of going over the bar.

However, the Swiss resembled Australia when they played against Ghana when Suisse managed to threaten the Chilean goal so many times at the closing minutes of the game, growing in confidence as Chile continued to miss chances after chances to make it 2-0 and totally kill off the game. However, they held on and Chile has won the game.

What's so interesting about Group H is that it's still pretty much very open. Assuming that Spain beat Honduras as expected in the upcoming match for today and the Swiss also beating Honduras in their penultimate game in the group, and then Chile lose to Spain in their penultimate game in the Group, then the three teams barring Honduras will be left with 6 points and goal difference will play a role in determining which team out of the three will have to fly back home early. Thus, despite two wins out of two, Marcelo Bielsa's boys still have an awful load of work to do when they face Spain. No matter what, they have to win. Things will get very complicated if Suisse and Spain manage to thrash Honduras heavily and all their efforts in winning their first two games in a row will all be wasted if Honduras loses all of their games, and Spain beat Chile in the last game. Basically, this Group turns out to be the most interesting group, even more open than the supposedly Group of Death of the tournament, Group G which has pretty much been concluded on which teams will be knocked out.

Spain 0-1 Suisse World Cup 2010 Group H

It was another 1-0 in World Cup 2010. However, it was such a scintillating and a thrilling match. No, not because I am a Swiss, but because I have to admit that I am some sort of an underdog guy. Spain was totally the overwhelming in this competition such that 19 out of 20 people I asked said that they support Spain and the other one supports Brazil. Congratulations to Switzerland for their first ever win against Spain, and to do it in the World Cup finals game, and not in a meaningless friendly, certainly a great achievement and satisfaction to everyone associated with Switzerland. The Spanish team was actually such a great and extraordinary team on paper. I realized this upon glancing at their squad list prior to kick-off. Picture this, a coalition team of players (although only the Spanish players but yeah) from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and bits and pieces here and there from Valencia, Liverpool and a few other clubs. A totally world beating team on paper. The supposedly red hot Spanish knives were looking forward to slice through and totally melt the Swiss chocolate on display. However, little did they know that the Swiss chocolate in front of them is one which is frozen solid and a frozen chocolate not only difficult to be bitten and eaten, but also can be used as a weapon to throw at someone or beat them up using the chocolate (Don't try these at home, just trying to illustrate the Swiss team for tonight using a chocolate analogy).

The 1-0 scoreline again might baffle anyone who did not watch the match. Spain utterly and totally dominated the match and the Swiss team all the way from the first whistle to the final whistle. Their possession at one time amounted to a whopping 77%, surely one of the highest ever in a World Cup or any competitive match ever. However, biting into a frozen solid chocolate is not an easy task. Blame the Jabulani Ball, blame the altitude, blame the heroic Diego Benaglio, the Swiss keeper, blame anything. But Switzerland amazingly held on to the Spanish onslaught. Switzerland scored the winning goal at the 51st minute through Gelson Fernandes capitalizing from a heap of Spanish bodies of Iker Casillas, Puyol, and Pique strewn all over the penalty area. Just like most of the other matches on this World Cup, one goal is all it takes to win a match and this match turned out to be no exception. Spain then made two attacking substitutions by introducing Fernando Torres and Jesus Navas. The former to add some attacking dimension and also some height in the Spanish attakc and squad in general, while Navas was introduced to reinvent the Spanish midfield as the man he replaced, David Silva seemed to have run out of ideas to break the frozen solid and resolute Swiss chocolate. Nobody would have thought of this as somewhere in the first half when Philipe Senderos had to be substituted as he suffered an injury, he walked off so slowly but to be fair to him he was dejected, but nevertheless, it seemed to be a signal from the Swiss that they were more than happy to hold Spain to a goalless draw. If Switzerland had faced Honduras perhaps, Senderos would have walked off at least a bit faster than that.

As time passed, Spain grew ever more frustrated and at the last 5 minutes of the game, they were so dominating and so frustrated and so overwhelmed with sense of urgency by then that every single Spanish player except for Puyol (which he was about to join the attack soon) and goalkeeper Casillas. Still, the frozen Swiss chocolate won't crack. The 5 minutes of injury time was a bit controversial and when it was announced my mind flew back all the way to when Manchester City was defeated by Manchester United back in the Fall in 2009 due to a crazily lengthy of injury time at Old Trafford as well as the FIFA Seeding system for the World Cup play-off in which there was a conspiracy theory brewing about how FIFA is desperate to see the best teams win and be featured in the World Cup all the way to the latter stages. But, Switzerland held firmly despite the fact that during the 5 minutes, every single player barring Casillas was in the Swiss half of the pitch. It was amazing how the Swiss held on mainly thanks to Diego Benaglio's heroic, in which I am a fan of this player since 2009 and I believe he is the man of the match for this one. Congratulations Switzerland for the major upset in this World Cup. To be fair to Spain, this is just the first match, and they should be able to overcome Honduras and Chile to go through to the last 16. Also, history suggests that teams that start slow in the World Cup tend to do well in the competition. Thus, for all Spain's fans including the aforementioned glory hunters, there's still hope for Spain!

Honduras 0-1 Chile World Cup 2010 Group H

To ordinary fans, this match is only a match to be passed by before the much anticipated first match of the much favored Spain in the World Cup 2010 against Switzerland. However, to the fans of those country as well as the other fans who are more well-versed and knowledgeable in football universe, this match is certainly more than a match between two underdogs making up the numbers in Group H. For Honduras, their World Cup campaign is in fact very crucial in reuniting the country since it was divided and chaotic due to the military coup recently in which their president Manuel Zelaya was forcibly ousted. I read a good and interesting article about this and it would do a world of good for Honduras if they are able to do well in this World Cup. Also, this is their first World Cup finals appearance since Spain 82 and they certainly want to show the world the Honduran brand of football. For their opponents Chile, it is 48 years since their victory in the World Cup finals against Yugoslavia and they certainly want to break that unwanted record, and not forgetting the fact that Chile has somehow been forgotten in world football and they certainly want to return Chile to the footballing map.

The only bad thing about this match was of course the fact that the World Cup 2010 “curse” continues in which goals come at a premium and that one goal would likely to kill a game off and there will be no more goals all the way to the end of the match. That was the case for this match. The result went on Chile's favor and thus congratulations for them for winning a match again in the World Cup finals. Despite the scoreline, Chile deserved the victory as they thoroughly dominated the match. From the first minute, it was able to be seen clearly as Honduras was playing a lone ranger 4-5-1 formation while Chile was playing an attacking 4-4-2 formation, taking the initiatives to attack. Also, the gulf of class was also apparent and thus Chile were the victors. The only thing preventing a flurry of goals was as usual, the Jabulani ball in which so many shots ended up over the bar from Chile (there were not that many shots from Honduras) and also to be fair, the heroics of the Honduran goalkeeper in the second half.

Also, this match caught my attention to two Chilean players. They are the right back Isla, who was a striker initially before being converted, and the 22 year old was the one assisting for the winning goal. His marauding runs from the back was a sight to behold. Another player who was simply amazing is the 21 year old Alexis Sanchez. His runs, dribbles, trickery, and pace were simply irresistible and he simply wreak havoc in the Honduran half of the pitch. The big clubs will surely have taken note of those two names, Isla and Alexis Sanchez! Despite playing against Honduras which is not the best team in the World Cup finals, their skills were there to see, totally in control of the game and Chile's attacks were mostly centered on these two players. We will see how they fare next against Switzerland and the favorites Spain.