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Wow! First!! Anyway this world cup won't be a boring one because the matches have been quite exciting with some good attacking football, only the finishing hasn't been that good.

"Fifa believes it had been set aside for performers taking part in the opening ceremony who then watched from other VIP areas"

"...the average attendance as a proportion of capacity so far is 93 per cent"


An utter discrace. And for contrasting, twined, yet calmituous reasons. If there were was room in other 'VIP' areas for these honourable guests, why the need to allocate these seats to them in the first place?

Rather, would the approximate 'centripetal needs'(assuming we all should cooperate) of the heiarachy, organisers, hosts, domestic and international fans and other interested parties, be not better served by selling (or even handing out)these tickets to those willing to do anything to have the previlage of enjoying a live game of world-cup football, rather than a prima-donna whose reasons for attendance likly include egoism and greed?

Teutonmic? Are you taking the mic?

It's all Germany's fault. They should have scored at least three more vs Australia, especially after the ref gifted them Cahill's red card.

Nothing wrong with this year's world cup. I don't want to see 8-0 scores lines. I don't want to see 8-7 either. I see plenty of that playing 5 a side on Friday lunch time.
If you want to see plenty of scoring go watch the NBA. The NHL will do. Sometimes..

David,

Decent blog as always. Just on your goals per game point I think that there is another side to this. With the stakes being so high for teams to make it to the next stage of the competition I actually think that we saw teams going out not to loose their first game rather than win it. With the format being as it is to loose your first game seriously puts you on the back foot, look at Serbia now, seriously under pressure to win both of their next games, whereas a draw gets you moving while getting the nerves out of the system. I think, and hope, that we'll find that from the second round of games in the group stages those teams who have got the draw will now be a bit more attacking minded and go for the win so goals will flow more freely.

What an excellent and insightful article. I was especially amazed at your ability to add up the number of goals and divide by the total number of games played. Very impressive!

Im not sure I agree with what is being suggested here,I think it should also have been taken into account that the following teams have yet to play in the tournament. Brazil/Spain/Portugal/Holland - some of the more attacking teams... so Im sure more goals will follow.....

Last night Germany were exceptional and it was good to see such a display of attacking football.

what bothers me though is to hear France blaming the Vuvuzela for their poor performance??? How then did Germany manage to play so well?? Also i see pundits are now blaming the ball for Green's howler..... I have seen numerous replays and can see no deviation at all????? (this culture of blame is ridiculous, you either adapt and play or you leave the tournament)

Finally if the ball is as bad as some say that it is (I cant say watching all games so far that I have spotted anything different) then WHY are there not many more goals being scored?????

Thank God! at least the world cup trophy has been stolen as was in the case in England in 1966.

Always feel a bit short changed by this blog.

What's this latest one told us? The average number of goals after three days of matches and the fact Fifa may have got the attendances wrong.

Goal averages aren't particularly important, but exciting games are. Having watched pretty much all the action so far, the only games that really captured me were the opener and last night's Germany - Australia game.

It's too early to draw any conclusions though, really, as only half of the teams have played, and we're yet to see the likes of Holland, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

I watched about 15 minutes of Germany v Australia ,due to being out at a party and what struckme was Germany were passing the ball along the ground all the way up the pitch -why cant England do this ? All we saw on Saturday was one or two passes across the goal mouth from defender to defender then a boot up field which mostly got headed or kicked back how do we hope to beat the good sides if we dont keep possession -I'm sorry but I dont see any progress !
AlanW14

I think it's the pink shoes. Rooney doesnt look very manly wearing those, does he? They're nice for Christiano Ronaldo, but in general footballers should stick to proper black ones. ;-)

Der Mannschaft demonstrated clinical efficiency against the Australian Socceroos. Good goals by Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Muller and Cacau. The men from Down Under will need to create a lot more thunder in their remaining encounters. Best wishes.


Dr. Cajetan Coelho

So far here, there have been 13 goals at an average of 1.625 per match. To put all those statistics into perspective, the overall average in Japan and South Korea was 2.5 while in Germany it was 2.3.
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What a stupid and pointless premise. So far the games we have seen have been between fairly well matched teams, which is why there have been fewer goals.

Even the attendance statistics are particularly stupid. Comparing what is a predicted tournament average of 97% from a sample of games that included some of the matches that have generated the least ticket sales (S Korea v Greece, Algeria v Slovenia) is just more lazy journalism.

It's never silly money backing the Germans, last night they were ruthlessly good and incredibly impressive.

I watched about 15 minutes of Germany v Australia ,due to being out at a party and what struckme was Germany were passing the ball along the ground all the way up the pitch -why cant England do this ? All we saw on Saturday was one or two passes across the goal mouth from defender to defender then a boot up field which mostly got headed or kicked back how do we hope to beat the good sides if we dont keep possession -I'm sorry but I dont see any progress !
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I would suggest than any decent team playing against the Aussies last night would have looked good, England included.

I blame the ball, A lot of good chances have been blazed over the bar because the ball is very light.

It was great to see the Germans play the way they did... they have certainly set the tone for the rest of the tournament... This year's is going to close and well fought i feel.

14 DrCajetanCoelho wrote:
Der Mannschaft demonstrated clinical efficiency
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Stop with the old stereotypes, Dr.
Apart from it being offensive, it's also completely wrong in this case, and has been since the days of Klinsmann.

What they demonstrated was youthful exuberance and energy, excellent passing and possession, some dodgy defending, some good finishing, as well as some poor finishing. They could have had more, but then, against a better team, they probably would have shipped a couple of goals as well.

Impressive against mediocre opposition, but let's wait until they play a better team, or even just a more disciplined team. I hope they do well, but I think a young team like that may not have what it takes to go all the way. Yet.

But just think what Oezil and Co will be like in 4 years time in Brazil. Add some experience and steel to this group of interestingly 'un-German' German youngsters and you have a recipe for real success, meaning the potential to win the world cup in Brazil in 2014.

On the other hand, I watched some of these youngsters (Oezil, Khedira, etc) demolish England 4:0 at the Euro U21s, and they showed great maturity then, so who knows - they might just go all the way after all.

Good game though, and the vuvuzela wasn't overwhelming. I could hear the crowd roar and all.

I think its far too early to be commenting on a lack of goals.. plenty of the top teams have yet to play (spain,brazil,netherlands etc). And to be fair their have been plenty of chances in games just some poor finishing up to now. Argentina certainly could of had a hatful.

Germany were really impressive attacking wise. They looked incredibly balanced and moved the ball quickly. I feel we could really learn from the way they play, the player with the ball always has an option within ten yards of him, and once they give it their movement is fast and clever. simple isn't it?

We simply can't play like that with a 442, drop heskey and get the 5 in midfield!

#18. exiledportfan wrote: "I blame the ball, A lot of good chances have been blazed over the bar because the ball is very light."

Bullocks, the difference in mass between the balls is minimalistic at best e.g. the current ball is heavier the previous World Cup ball by 4 grams. The real reason why so many balls are blazed over is because most games are played at height and with thinner air the ball carries further.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

The problem is very poor scheduling.

Nothing else.

The first 1.30 kick off was South Korea v Greece. That was hardly going to set the world on fire was it?

The next day? Slovenia v Algeria. Same again.

And there is another tomorrow; New Zealand v Slovakia.

These games should have been scheduled for the final group matches. Not as first games in their respective groups.

Agree with Les #8 Brazil/Spain/Portugal/Holland still to come so goal tally might go up. Anyway it all depends on fixture match-ups and if Germany want to hit 8...4...!

Empty seats are a big concern and should not be allowed considering the cost of tournament. There has been reports that Fifa have been filling grounds with 'emergency back-up supporters' from the local communities placed on stand-by if grounds aren't full, which isn't a bad thing. The Greece/Korea game in Port Elizabeth noticeably filled up after half-time. Shocking to see empty seats at England's game though!

If all tickets are pre-sold does that simply mean people are paying and not turning up for whatever reason - aren't games sold-out beforehand?

akaTommySmith wrote:

"Always feel a bit short changed by this blog.

What's this latest one told us? The average number of goals after three days of matches and the fact Fifa may have got the attendances wrong."

Do you buy the Sun by any chance? :-) Nice to have a bit of the big picture, the trends, the organisation, a bit of insight.

It's all Germany's fault. They should have scored at least three more vs Australia, especially after the ref gifted them Cahill's red card.

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As Keegan and Vierra said the refs have been consistent and was right to send off Cayhill. If we had this standard of refereering the EPL with the cowardly from behind studs showing tackle that Cahill made, resulting a red card there would be far fewer injuries and broken legs and perhaps English born players would concentrate on improving their skills more.

I thought that Harry Kewell played very well.
He is our star player!
Harry, where are you Harry?

I hope I'm not the only one who's thinking that this is a case of counting chickens before they've hatched. It's really unfortunate that journalists have to speculate on potential disappointments (I remember a blog with this sort of undertone when the F1 season kicked off, and look how good it is now!), especially since most of them are forced to eat their words.

I'm also in agreement with Les at post #8 - it's only the first round of games, and there are still some very expansive and exciting teams to come - Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, Spain and Portugal are all still yet to play, so I'm sure that this will lead to many more goals.

Therefore, let's just enjoy the football - the games that have been played so far have been good to watch (though I have cringed at a couple of the goals in Group C) and I've really enjoyed getting behind teams that I would have never otherwise thought to do. It's a great experience for any football fans, and it would be stupid not to expect that to continue.

The reasons for Germany beating Australia includes not only the inadequacy of the australians but also,and largely,because the german players have been using the jabulani ball for more than a year. once the makers-addidas-had bit approved it got approval to be used in the bundesliga.
The above reason is why,unlike the other matches,there were no problems with german players controlling the ball or over measuring their passes.
In such a fine line tournament little things like that matter and you can trust the germans for their attention to details but the bad news is that by the 2nd week other teams will have gotten used to the ball leading me to predict a last 16 or quarter final exit for the germans.

If i am wrong i promise to walk to berlin naked.

Germany were awsome! I hope they make it to the final with another major team! England excluded!

There are a number of factors to consider. Like the altitude. A lighter ball? And that many of the better teams are yet to play. Given that most of the games have been played in the rarefied air a number of teams have been battling with getting their passes in correctly. Experience has shown that in those conditions the ball can travel up to 30% further and faster than at sea level. There is also the performance effect on the players themselves, running about at altitude especially if you are not used to those conditions can be very tiring. The Germany-Australia game however was played at sea-level and the ball performance would have been closer to what both teams would have been familiar with. And even if the ball is lighter, these players are professionals and should adjust.

Having said that the German performance was awesome.

The problem is very poor scheduling.

Nothing else.

The first 1.30 kick off was South Korea v Greece. That was hardly going to set the world on fire was it?

The next day? Slovenia v Algeria. Same again.

And there is another tomorrow; New Zealand v Slovakia.

These games should have been scheduled for the final group matches. Not as first games in their respective groups.

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What? Scheduling those last could well mean that they were meaningless, at least putting them up first makes them matter.

Shocking to see empty seats at England's game though!

If all tickets are pre-sold does that simply mean people are paying and not turning up for whatever reason - aren't games sold-out beforehand?
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Common misconception, just because people are not in their seats does not mean that they are not at the ground.

Lots of people who buy deals qwill be watching from a lounge or bar instead of taking up their seats for the entire match.

I don't think it is fair to talk about goals (or the lack thereof) in the first round until Holland, Portugal, Ivory Coast, Spain and Brazil have played.

Of the traditionally strong, high-scoring teams, only Argentina and France have played so far, and the former came up against a goalkeeper in inspired form and France have a madman in charge*, who has the tactical-nous of a pineapple...

(*This could, and maybe should, be applied to Argentina too)

I'm not sure about FIFA and their official crowd figures. All I see is depressingly empty stadiums. Whether this is down to greed of the organisers or just lack of interest, it is a disgrace.

The World Cup must go to countries which can fill stadiums.

All these knee jerk assertions after not even 1 round of games is completely irrational, but it happens every domestic season and every World Cup. Yes, very impressive performance from the Germans but you win nothing at Christmas as someone once said. Interesting point from #12, alan wright, about Germany playing all along the ground, similar to Argentina, and reaping the rewards. A lot of airborne passes are flying out of play directly, or after bouncing high or fast, and even then when they stay in play are often taking a long time to control. Is it a coincidence that Germany have already been using this German made ball all season?

I dont agree ,hackerjack ,we played inept football and Australia would have made us look slow and dont forget you have to score goals ,and not fumble them into the net ,I'm sorry but this team are nowhere near as good as the 1970 team .
ALan Wright .

I'm a referee in the french amateur league. I know that referee's (and everyone else) have bad days - but at this level i expect good quality managing if games. The mexican referee that was in charge of the Australia/germany game was, in my opinion, very poor.

Thats why England should host 2018 World Cup because there wouldn't be an empty seat for any game at all whether it be a great match up or a poor group game

Lets hope we get 2018!!

I think it is significant that I believe Germany were playing at sea level. I'm not going to bother watching any of those altitude games where the ball is always flying over the bar. They should have used one of those old lace up balls for the games at altitude!

Whatever about France's performances and the Vuvuzela's impact, I'd like to blame the Vuvuzela for my poor performance in watching the games.

I find the constant drone a complete turn-off.

Lets be honest, the World Cup in the early stages is as boring as the qualifying stages of the Champions League, as with the Champions League, there are TOO many countries taking part.

Football may be a global sport but frankly Asia, Australasia and Africa remain the weak links. Maybe this tournament might bring the African nations on but that remains to be seen, Asia has hardly moved forward since 2002.

In a silly kind of way, if Africa fails to deliver on the field here, and with Australia opting for 2022, Fifa may adopt a safety first attititude, Brazil in 2014 will have atmosphere and tradition behind it, if they opt for Australia in 2022 (then all continents will have held the competition) they may consider it better to opt for England in 2018

Mind you if they do that, can you imagine 6 years of our press saying how we are going to beat the world !!! Prefer to hear those b!!!!! vivizulas than have to put up with our xenophobic press.

Having said that, if we did get 2018, why can we not think long term, build a team through Brazil 2014/ france 2016. the problem with us now is that we are still looking to the "Golden Generation" who have failed and will continue to do so.

The likes of Joe Hart should be in the team, he is the future. Build with a group of 20 year olds, accept the failures, maybe even not qualify but build with the goal of winning not the next 1 or 2 tournaments but maybe France 2016 or dare I say England 2018.

Of course the xenophobic press would not like that but do you build a club side overnight ? No, even more so with the national side given how few times players are together. You never know in the next 6 years, we may find strikers that score, goalies that save and that rarity, a left footed attacking player !!!!!!!!

This is certainly a different German team to previous teams, that is mostly down to a certain Mesut Ozil, what a player he looks, he is double the player of our so called superstars Lampard and Gerrard and he is 21!

Germany played impressive - period. The suggestions this circumstances happened because they played at sea level are ridiculous. Maybe they will not go all the way... but who cares? It was a great game to watch FINALLY!

From what I've seen so far, it looks like a better world cup than the last two. We've seen some great skills from Messi and some good attacking play from Germany. The England game was quite entertaining as well. Of the big teams only France have disappointed so far.

The opening round is usually quite dull anyway. The interesting matches only start in the last 16.

Holland should be 3 up at least by now if this match was at sea level and that ball wasn't flying around like one of those 50p balls at the seaside. Argentina would also have thrashed Nigeria.

Bring back Robbo!!!

I agree with 48 - Robbo and me are from the same area in boro and i love the way he says it how it is unlike these la-dee-da bloggers who beat around the bush and always show bias, yes Phil McDumpty you are the worst

Germany played some lovely football and have some really talented youngsters coming up through the ranks. I don't understand why people never really gave this side a chance because they have been very succesful over the past 10 years with performances and some attacking football. 2006 showd the fluent football they can play and the talent they have avaliable. Anyway its good now that people see them for the side they really are and the football they play.

From a statistical perspective, the author ought to have used the median and not the mean in the article. This would mitigate the effect of outliers like Germany on the statistic.

Can I just say that the Punditry for the games on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and ITV Are really bad. Really wish Martin o Neil and Gordon strachan were there. Living in Ireland and having watched the England v usa game the difference was amazing. On RTE (Irish national channel) souness and co slated England and how bad they were while on Itv the 3 guys were saying different..I pity adrian chiles having viera, Keegan as they dont contribute anything while shearer..jeez

I honestly cannot believe that professional footballers (and poor pundits like JRedknapp) are blaming the football for below par performances.
Its a ball, its round, made of leather and got air in it. Pretty much the same as every other year.
As for those blaming it for Greens error, do me a favour! The ball didnt move!
Plus werent we told that before the comp started that the ball was a nightmare for keepers? Is that why we've seen so many low scoring games?
Cant have it both ways.

Also the stats for the first 8 games mean nothing unless you supply a list of the fixtures. The first game in a group situation is usually cagey as defeat makes qualification an uphill task. Goals only come in large amounts in David v Goliath clashes (Germany v UAE as mentioned earlier) In this World Cup the ties so far have been fairly even contests with the exception of Germany v Aus and that only got stretched due to Cahills dismissal.
Lets make a judgement at the finish of the tournament?

It is blatanty obvious that playing within the ball for most of the season is a huge competitive advantage.
Argentina, USA, and Germany have been using the Adidas Jabulani during last seasons league programs. Feedback from German internationals and club sides are given a high priority within Adidas. If you are integral in the development process of the ball then you are able to push the prototype in any desired direction.
If England were smart, then they would have been getting involved in the development process by offering their players services for feedback. Using the ball in all practices and friendly internationals should have been the minimum engagement. They should have mandidated the ball for all FA competitions, and then pressured the premier league into using the ball during last season. I suspect that would have give our players at least the chance to be as competent as the germans with the ball.

Let's not jump to conclusions just yet. I've watched every minute of the competition so far, (apart from the first half of the opening match) and apart from perhaps Germany v Australia and Serbia v Ghana, one team has always set out to cancel out or counter the other.

We haven't seen the expansive internatonal game afforded by a clash of nominally aggressive teams with differing tactics yet. That will come, possibly with the Portugal v Ivory Coast match-up or with Bielsa's strict 3-3-1-3; but surely it will come with the knock-out stages, and I am licking my lips at the prospect...

I've found some of the refereeing very frustrating thus far. Every 50-50 seems to go the way of the defender and many of the refs are too eager to give a foul in the first place, killing the flow of the game. I know it's a tough job, and the consequences of a wrong decision can be severe, but referees can have a big influence on the pace of a game if they exercised
some discretion as regards minor incidents.

I also wish FIFA would clamp down on time wasting - in all its forms. The last few minutes of these tournament matches are rendered meaningless with the procession of pointless substitutions and labouring over every set-piece. At the very least they should outlaw subs during injury time.

the fact that the goals per game is yes that the fact the likes of Spain/Brazil/Portugal/Holland have not played however whats more Greece and USA are very much defensive countries, South Africa were like a bag of nerves in the first half of their game which I am not surprised by considering they are hosting Africa's first world cup and also did no-one watch the Argentina vs Nigeria game? if it wasn't for the Nigerian keeper they would have easily have lost by about 6-0, 7-0 8-0. and yes the world cup is full talent and i don't think that a football match or a tournament should be judged by the goals per game ratio.

# 50 kebablips

Thank you for a fair and sound evaluation.

Some people here obviously are deeply infected with the jealousy virus when it comes to Germany, no matter how well this team performs.

They will be in for more trouble in the near future.

And the two of us for more happiness.

# 50 kebablips

You're so right.

Amazing how wide-spread the viruses of envy and rejection are when it comes to German football, even when it is as superb as last night.

There will be more to come: Our young ones have enormous talent, high ambitions, and the traditional fighting spirit. And there are quite a few high-clibre men among the subs, too.

England better try to become number one in their group - otherwise they face Germany in the second round, and in that case Capello should visit a capella and pray. ;-)

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Is it true Germany has had access to the Jabulani ball since February? While other teams have only recently received it to practice with?

Isn't that unfair and outrageous?

Doesn't that betray a massive conflict of interest between FIFA and tournament and Germany sponsor Adidas?

Just asking because I know very little about how the new ball was introduced to all the qualified teams...

Germany looked really good... How much of that was due to Australia's ineptitude?

Cahill was unfairly sent off--a yellow would have been appropriate. The direct red was an injustice (game would not have changed much though...)

Germany is always a good well-organized team. I doubt goals will come so easily in future games though, especially in elimination play.

Congrats for now however. Hats off to Lahm's captaincy, he is a talented and classy player and always fun to watch.