The Rovers Return

Ghana 1-1 Australia

Brett Emerton played the full 90 minutes as the Aussies put their disappointing 4-0 spanking at the hands of Germany behind them with a solid performance and a good result against Ghana.

A side considered by many to be one of the best African teams at the World Cup, Ghana could have been expected to give Australia a lesson or two, but Australia showed they aren’t at this tournament just to make up the numbers.

They even had the audacity to take the lead, Brett Holman somewhat fortuitously hitting home after Mark Bresciano’s free kick was fumbled by Ghana keeper Richard Kingson.

Unfortunately for Australia, Harry Kewell handled the ball off the line, landing himself with a red card and Ghana with a penalty which Asamoah Gyan scored, precipitating the ridiculously over-exuberant celebrations that also took place in their first game against Serbia.

I’m all for goal celebrations, but only if the goal deserves it, and, in my humble opinion, scoring a penalty does not merit a 25-minute celebration.

Ghana dominated the shot count – often a deceptive figure if you ask me – but it was Australia who had the best chances, their best coming when Luke Wilkshire fired straight at Kingson when through on goal.

A draw was not ideal for Australia, but Brett Emerton and Vince Grella’s side do still harbour hopes of a place in the second round, although that requires them beating Serbia and Ghana beating Germany. Read more »

In only their second appearance in the competition, Rovers captain Ryan Nelsen led his side to a hard fought 1-1 draw against Slovakia – giving the All Whites their first point in the tournament.

It was a solid performance from Nelsen’s side in a game most expected them to lose, but I fear it has raised some false hopes back home.

It was an unfortunately timed game, kicking off at 12:30pm, meaning I didn’t get to see a great deal of it. From what I did see, though, skipper Nelsen performed to his usually high standard. Nothing conspicuous or particularly standout, just a solid defensive display. Read more »

Lars Jacobsen, who played the full game at right back, can feel a little aggrieved that his side didn’t hang on and take anything from the game.

It wasn’t pretty by any means – story of the tournament so far – but Denmark’s impressive, organised defence kept the attacking threat of Robin Van Persie at bay for the first half, and they should have taken the lead when Bendtner headed wide from close range – story of his career so far.

Jacobsen had little to do, but what he did have to do he did with little fuss. A solid display at the back.

However, in the second half, it took about a minute for Denmark’s inexperienced young left back Poulsen somehow managed to head the ball into his own net and, having gone behind, Jacobsen’s side never looked like getting back into it.

They conceded another goal later in the second half to seal defeat and, in a similar situation to Brett Emerton and Australia, will be pleased to have got their most difficult game out of the way and feel confident that they have the potential to get through the group with wins over Cameroon and Japan.

As for Jacobsen, again in the second half he had little to do and looked solid. However, I feel he is more useful when pushing forward, so this defensive display from Denmark didn’t give him his chance to shine as much as he could have.

Hopefully there’s more to see from Jacobsen in the tournament, and his underrated Denmark side.

England fans were left in shock on Saturday night as the unthinkable happened. We didn’t beat the Yanks.

Over-the-top expectations once again meant that the opening to our World Cup campaign is a disaster and all Brits have a sour taste in their mouths.

Yes it was a disappointing result, but with Algeria and Slovenia to play, surely we’ll finish the group with seven points?

Put it this way, if England don’t qualify then they’re definitely not as good as everyone thinks they are.

The States has gone overboard, as you can see from the front cover of the New York Post, pictured.

Back to the match itself, and it was a particularly disappointing display from England. I’m not going in for all this guff about America performing well and holding us to a draw.

We held ourselves to a draw, throwing away two vital points and making qualification that little bit more difficult.

Rob Green made an error. Fact. And I could go back to the Paul Robinson debate again here, but I won’t. I could say something about how Rob Green made more unforced errors than any other English keeper in the Premier League last season. But I won’t. And I definitely won’t mention, again, that Paul Robinson kept more clean sheets than any other English keeper in the Premier League last season. Read more »