There are plenty of reasons the first set of World Cup group play matches were the opposite of the beautiful game, but the big one is this: The predominant strategy is to get the jitters out and survive.
With six months between the World Cup draw and the first kick, there’s little that opponents don’t know about one another. Add in a ball that has been harder to put on frame than to catch, and it adds up to barely a goal and a half a match.
But with the second set of games, six-month prep is down to five days, and that means there’s literally no time to lose — get goals (13 in the last four matches) and points or go home.
On Wednesday, Diego Forlán connected twice for Uruguay at the expense of South Africa — too bad, really, as there was nothing more fun than shouting “Tshabalala!” when the host nation’s midfielder scored the tournament’s first goal last week. Then Argentina found another gear Thursday through Gonzalo Higuaín, who put up a hat trick in a 4-1 win over South Korea.
To those not watching, it’s not that Lionel Messi was stifled, either. Despite getting tackled like a workhorse running back, he still had a hand in every Argentinian goal.
Set the alarm clock because the stars have finally come out in South Africa. At this rate, Germany might just hit double digits in the opener of Friday’s great slate.
