Group H Finales

Resting players in the final game of the first round is common, but I can't recall an occasion when a manager selected an entirely new lineup. There are a few teams that are so deep that they could field two formidable teams. Spain is one of them. So maybe it's not too surprising for them to chose a full substitution of their entire lineup. What was more surprising was seeing these substitutes play in a rather tepid manner. I recall how Brazil's Robinho, and Argentina's Tevez played when giving the opportunity to start. It was clear these guys wanted to convince their managers to give them more game time. I think Tevez might still be running around the pitch. Spain is probably worried about fading in the knockout round, but they certainly faded from this match. Saudi Arabia played well enough to create a few chances, and generate some more respect. For US team fans, consider that each team earned a point. It's true that the US had a better goal differential (by one goal), but the Saudis displayed more creative soccer skills.

Unfortunately, creative soccer skills are still being overshadowed by referees. The FIFA rules of the game mention the "opinion of the referee" when considering whether a player is offside. Calls that are based on the (mis)judgment are frustrating, but situations when the referee simply misses a blatant foul are mind boggling. In the Ukraine v. Tunisia match, the referee missed a blatant hand ball by a Ukranian player during a free kick. Players are told to keep their hands down or to the side when standing in the wall. This player's hand was over his head. How could the referee miss this? This referee also missed Swiss defender Müller's kick/trip of a Togo player in the box. Hmmm...two matches featuring a European team v. an African team and...well, I had mentioned that I sometimes seek patterns to a fault.

Ukraine took a big step forward by defeating Saudi Arabia 4-0, but they took a step backwards today. They seemed content with a draw, which is understandable from a strategic perspective, but gaining the man advantage actually seemed to deflate them. They scored only because of a dubious penalty call; Switzerland remains the only team yet to concede a goal. Ukraine will need to play much better if they hope to continue in the tournament.