Zeroes and Heroes

Four days of the the tournament in the books and, as usual, goals are at a premium. From the 11 games completed, we have seen a total of 18 goals, including 4 by Germany, 1 each by way of a penalty kick and an own goal, and 3 courtesy of schoolboy-level goalkeeping errors. 9 of the 22 teams have been shut out from scoring for the full 90 minutes. As is also traditional, I am going to draw all sorts of unreasonable conclusions based on a statistically meaningless sample:
1. The 2010 World Cup will be considered the best officiated tournament ever.
2. Australia will not be taking home the trophy.
3. Slovenia will surprise either England or USA but not both.
4. Klose will become the all-time World Cup Finals top scorer.
5. France will rally around Monsieur Domenech to win Group A.
6. Brazil will struggle against North Korea before ultimately prevailing 4-1.
Almost the entire young German team impressed, including relative veterans such as Lahm, Schweinsteiger, and Podolski, but the standout player in the win over Australia was Oezil. (You were right again, Rainer!) Other players who have shone in Round One are Asamoah Gyan, Giovanni dos Santos, Steven Gerrard, Oguche Onyewu, and Simone Pepe.

Oranje hope to claim biggest prize

In 1647, a Dutch vessel, the Haarlem, was wrecked in the present-day Table Bay, which is overlooked by what is now called Cape Town. Fast forward 363 years and the Dutch have yet again arrived on the shores of South Africa. This time, the Oranje have a much different objective in mind, and that is to win the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The Dutch National Team, or "Elftal" have featured in the World Cup many times, having been to the finals in 1974 and 1978, losing to the host country both times. In fact, the only major team trophy the Dutch have ever hoisted was at the European Championship in 1988 (who can forget Van Basten's stunning strike against the USSR). If you really want to review the painful history of the Dutch side in World Cup competitions, go here.

The Dutch hope to answer the World Cup bell for the first time on their old colonial stomping ground (pardon the pun).

Bert Van Marwijk's men have all the talent in the world. That is one thing that has never been debated about the Dutch. Their problem has always been as a collective unit; a national team plagued by infighting and the pouting of too many prima donna's. Van Marwijk hopes he has changed this mentality (or at least put it on the back burner for four crucial weeks in June and July).

The Coach has urged his men to "believe" and that "There is nothing wrong with healthy ambition. We have to have an attitude of 'come on, we can do something'.'' And for all of you who know how blunt the Dutch can be, he also mentions "If you don't believe you can win it then you definitely won't." You can read that article in its entirety here.

So when the tourney kicks off next Friday, lets hope that the Dutch dont get ship wrecked like they have in the past...