News World Cup 2010 Group H

Group H
Spain coach wary of Portugal threat
Monday, 28 June 2010 10:14
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque is talking up the chances of Portugal ahead of their last sixteen clash in the World Cup. He is just talking, Portugal are not good enough, but with all the questions thrown at each team these days, you have to accept you are going to get some blarney.
"We've seen how they controlled the game against Brazil, hitting them on the counter-attack," Del Bosque said.

Chile coach mad as a hatter, well almost
Saturday, 26 June 2010 20:44
Chile coach, Marcelo Bielsa, has insisted that his side are determined to pull off a shock and beat Brazil in the last sixteen knock-out stage when they meet on Monday.
Now, we're far from sane ourselves and calling someone mad would be like us throwing stones in a glass house, but we are going to call this man mad - or an evil genius with a cunning plan.

Torres complains about new adidas ball
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 12:19
We are starting to think this ball really does have something wrong with it and it isn't just because Fernando Torres Liverpool's Number Nine is talking about it today. We really do think we've seen too many missed shots for it to be a coincidence any longer.
Torres played last night and missed one or two opportunities and while he has the perfect excuse, in so much he is just coming back from knee surgery, he is laying the blame directly at the feet of the ball, if the ball did have feet.
"Personally speaking, I am very happy to have played but we need to practice a bit more with this Jabulani because we are having a bit of bother with it," said Torres.
Torres isn't the first to complain about the ball and we suspect he won't be the last and we expect this to run and run for a long time to come.
Spain who arrived in South Africa as tournament favourites are now behind Brazil and Argentina in the bookies pecking order.

Spain 2 Honduras 0: Spain cruise to three points
Monday, 21 June 2010 21:27
Two goals from David Villa were enough for Spain to cruise to victory in this match and pick up their first points of the World Cup. We say cruise, because they looked like they had more if they needed it, they just didn't.
The first was a well worked goal by Villa and came just after a bright start from Honduras. Villa picks up the ball on the left, takes it into the box and he bends it round the keeper from the edge of the box - it looked good and he has good feet.

Chile 1 Switzerland 0: Ten man Swiss still have hope
Monday, 21 June 2010 17:18
Chile were the favourites and they played like them too; flowing football, always looking to attack and quick. The extra man didn't hurt and why is part of me not surprised it happened?
So, Switzerland had to play for an hour with ten men and on reflection, they did admirably well. Up until the 74th minute that was when they went 1-0 down.

Chile v Switzerland, World Cup Group H, Match 31
Monday, 21 June 2010 11:29
This game has 'great match' written all over it, which means that now I have written that, it will be a boring 1-1 draw. It should be a great game because they both have three points and getting to six after two games is probably more than they had hoped for.
Getting to six points is also a big step closer to qualification and while you have to fancy the second team to qualify form this group was always thought to be between Switzerland and Chile - Spain could still lose or drop points to Honduras later.

Senderos out of World Cup 2010 qualifying games
Thursday, 17 June 2010 20:22
Switzerland's defender Philippe Senderos has been ruled out for the next two World Cup games after injuring his ankle in the game against Spain, the team's spokesman Marco von Ah said today.
Senderos limped off in the first half on a very special night - beating Spain, but that result does mean there is still a chance he will play again in the World Cup.

Spain who? Switzerland beat Spain 1-0
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 17:03
Well, that was a shock. Spain lose to Switzerland and Iker Casillas is beaten twice - only the post saving Spain from losing 2-0. You would think they will still qualify, but will they?
I'm not as convinced as I was - in fact I'd say that even if they did qualify, if they found today hard the last 16 and quarter finals are going to be like climbing Mount Everest in comparison.

Chile beat Honduras - best game of World Cup so far?
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:30
That was a good game. The result was as predicted but that match wasn't. The first half was very good with Chile attacking as soon as they got the ball - no waiting around and Honduras countered well - a joy to watch. Can I have some more please?
The second half started a little slower but that was to be expected as Chile were 1-0 and they were not going to play the same way when they had what they needed - but they didn't give up completely and that was refreshing.