A Week In

Match 18: Costa Rica vs. Ecuador. Ecuador came into this match flying high after upsetting Poland in their first match, Costa Rica was also pleased with netting two goals against Germany in its first match, even thought they did lose. This match was never in question; Ecuador came out hard right out of the box, and never looked back. In the eighth minute Luis Valencia took the ball up the pitch and put a cross right on the head of Carlos Tenorio who placed it in the back of the net. The rest of the half saw no goals, but a few dangerous chances for both sides. For Costa Rica game 1 hero Paulo Wanchope just barely missed sliding a cross into goal, but the ball trickled away for a goal kick. Costa Rican manager Alexandre Guimaraes decided to switch tactics and withdrew a defender to insert forward Alvaro Saborio in order to create more offense. The second half saw more domination by Ecuador, in the 54th minute Agustin Delgado chested down a ball from Edison Mendez and blasted the ball in near post, making the score 2-0. The rest of the match saw Ecuador hold most of the possession and control the pitch. Then in 2nd minute of extra time Ecuador struck again when substitute Ivan Kaviedes volleyed home a cross to seal the match. With this victory Ecuador clinched a second round birth along with Germany, the two will play each other on June 20th so see who gets the one seed out of group A............

Match 19: England vs. Trinidad & Tobago. This match was originally billed as the most lopsided match of the cup, when the groups were announced a few months ago. England played very poorly in their 1-0 victory over Paraguay; meanwhile T&T shocked the world when they managed a 0-0 draw against Sweden thanks to veteran keeper Shaka Hislop. Many felt this mach could easily get out of hand with England running T&T off the pitch. This match was not at all lopsided, and England displayed another underwhelming performance. While England was able to hold possession and create many scoring opportunities. Frank Lampard seemed to be buzzing around the top of the box, and creating many open shots that he could never quite finish. England out shot the tiny island nation 23-7, but the match win scoreless into the half, but in the 45th English defender John Terry had to clear a ball of the line in order to preserve the shut-out for the three lions. The second half opened with more of the same uninspired English play, and not long into the half there was a resounding chant of "Rooney" that echoed throughout the stadium, English supporters pleading Sven-Goran Eriksson to put in the young star. Finally in the 58th minute the crowd got its wish when Rooney came on for Owen, who had just missed a golden opportunity to score off a Beckham cross. England then stepped up the tempo with the spark of Rooney, but was still unable to finish. With 10 minutes left it looked as though T&T might just hold on to preserve the draw. However in the 83rd minute England finally took the lead. Peter Crouch was able to leap way above Brent Sancho to blast Beckham's cross into the top of the net, and the English were finally relieved. They seemed to finally find their stride in the closing moments of the game, and in the 91st minute Steven Gerrard was able to seal the match with a cut back and left-footed shot into the corner of the net past a helpless Shaka Hislop. The match came to a conclusion with everyone wondering if England would be able to pick up their play for the next round. If England hopes to go deep, they must step up their play and become more inspired...........

Match 20: Sweden vs. Paraguay. Still smarting from the draw to Trinidad in the first match, Sweden knew that they must get a result against Paraguay to get the full three points going into their closing match with England. Throughout the first half it was clear that Paraguay was going to sit back and play defensively, while Sweden was going to press forward to find their first goal of the tournament. As the match neared halftime Paraguay was relying on the counter-attack for all of its offensive opportunities, and they took a draw into the locker-room. Paraguay came out of the half knowing that they had to score and secure a victory for and chance of advancing to the next round. They had a few early opportunities, but Nelson Valdez was not able to hit the mark. By the 80th minute Sweden was really starting to press hard and avoid another draw. The Swedes were able to dominate the last ten minutes, and finally in the 88th minute Arsenal striker Freddie Ljunberg was able to head in the ball flicked on by Marcus Allback, and Sweden was finally on the board. The match ended moments later, and Sweden was relieved to get a result.