SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer As big of a soccer fan as I am....

I have already called Germany by 2

Well, I was right about Germany getting four goals but I suppose I wasn't expecting Costa Rica to get two. I really hadn't expected them to get one but I figured I'd give them the benefit of the doubt there; Germany is a really fine team.

I'm not so sure about Germany being a fine team. They looked decent going forward but were obviously playing a low class opponent. As for in the back, they were continually exposed for their lack of speed in exchange for the height advantage they held but I am not sure if that is going to be such a huge advantage, especially if they get into the later rounds where they are going to be facing people who have more speed and more than one danger man, like Costa Rica had in Wanchope today.

Point taken. It is true that the height advantage will not be very useful in the later rounds but for now, it's working. I have faith that Germany's coach knows what he has and will be able to adjust accordingly to the later rounds. And, I've heard from a friend that the absence of Michael Ballack changed their lineup around a lot. In any case, I still think they are a good, or "fine" team.

Any opinions on other teams?

I think it not so much changed their lineup a lot, but rather changed the way their team played because of the more defensive outlook they had. Their wingers pushed forward a lot and this gave them a good outlet to give the ball to. I was definitely impressed by Germany, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if they are really good enough to progress much farther then the next round or too.

Which other teams would you like opinions on? I'd be glad to give you mine

Any team, really. How about some perspective from the Poland/Ecuador game or maybe some predictions for the England/Paraguay game coming up tomorrow? I meant that as an open question for anyone who had anything to say about any team to respond to.

Coach P: I'm not sure how I feel about it. It was definitely a questionable play but I think the official was right in calling it a goal. It wasn't the deciding goal of the game and Germany still won so I haven't worried too much about it. However, if that had been the deciding goal, now that would be a different story...

Poland vs Ecuador

Poland looked simply boring. They did not have any sort of way to attack until they bought their subs on at the end and changed to a 4-4-2. I really liked the two subs and I think that the starting forward is obviously a good player but it is hard to play with barely any help, as he had. When they were playing a 4-5-1 they almost played a 4-4-1-1 but the 4 in midfield played extremely defensively and I didn't really think this was effective at all

Ecuador looked like a very strong, athletic team, although I am not sure how well they will fair against Germany. They look like they could be opened up, especially by the height of the midfielders and forwards that the Germans have. Still, I think it was an impressive show by Ecuador and I hope they'll do well in the remainder of their games.

England vs Paraguay - I am very Biased about this game being English, and that is all I am going to say.