Poker, Football, and everything sports

Ok we are officially through one third of the group stage in the World Cup. Today I'm going to break down my top 10 surprise results, both good and bad so far. Starting with 10 and going to the top, I will start with the pleasant surprises.

10. Germany dominates Australia- Alot of people thought that Germany was a weaker team this year, and one that if the USA could beat if they met in the 2nd round. That might still be the case, but I think few expected Germany to look like the best team in the world cup so far with a 4-0 destruction of Australia

9. United States ties England: This would be higher if alot of people, myself included, didn't expect it. I thought the US had a great shot at tying or beating England, who hasn't been playing well recently. If you look at my previous post, I break down how this result means that their upcoming match against Slovenia is the biggest in US soccer history.

8. South Africa ties Mexico- What a great way to start the world cup. The host team comes in as heavy underdogs against the favored Mexican team and almost pulls off a monumental upset. Despite just getting a tie, the South Africans still have a great shot at getting into the 2nd round starting today with Uruguay.

7. Italy looks sluggish in defense of title: Italy fell behind early against Paraguay, and needed a 2nd half goal to muster a point from the match. All eyes are on their leader in goal Buffon. If he is hurt for longer then the group stage, look for an early exit for the champs.

6. France falters again: France had a great shot at shooting out to a big lead in this group if they could have beaten Uruguay. That chance doubled when Uruguay lost a man in the 75th minute, and yet the France attack could barely muster 1 or 2 good chances. It looks like France is indeed as bad as many thought they were.

5. Ghana rises above Serbia- Few gave Ghana a serious shot at getting out of the group after their captain Essien went down with a knee injury. But Ghana played a great game against Serbia, and benefited greatly from a mental error that lead to a penalty kick that they put away in world class form. Ghana is now in the drivers seat for the #2 spot in the group behind Germany.

4. Ivory Coast ties Portugal: This result was overlooked in my opinion, and it was a great result for the African power house, who has had nothing but bad luck in their two world cup appearances. Combine their back to back group of death draws, and the broken arm heard round the world, and the Ivory Coast has now put themselves in the unlikely situation to make the 2nd round if they can beat Portugal in the goal differential tie break. I for one will be pulling mightily for them.

3. Cameroon lays an egg against Japan: Many people, myself included, pegged Cameroon to be Africa's best shot at a good run, but they look lackluster, confused, and down right awful against a Japan team that they had no business losing to. And with the Netherlands still coming up, it looks like it might be a very disappointing 2010 world cup for this solid team.

2. New Zealand shocks Slovakia with no time left: This is what the world cup is all about. This is a clip we will see for years to come. A team that wasn't expected to even get a point somehow comes up with a goal in the very last minute of the game to pull out a tie. And the yellow card for the celebration is just classic. But thats what the world cup does to players and a whole country. For 2 hours, all their problems go away, and sports is all that is on their minds. Love it.

1. Spain chokes......again: Well you read it here first in my overall predictions. I wasn't extremely high on this Spain squad, as I had them out in the quarterfinals. And today it look justified as the most high scoring team in the cup got as many goals as I did while I did lying in bed: 0. Now Spain is far from out of this group, and in all likelihood, they will advance. But they HAVE to win both of the next two games by big margins, because if they grab the 2nd seed, they will have a date with Brazil in the 2nd round in the next installment of Clash of the Titans.

Well there's my list. What do you guys think? Did I miss any big results? Lemme know. Thanks for reading.