Seperation Saturday

Busy weekend on the qualies front. Japan was the first in for the World Cup, good job. They were joined later in the day by South Korea (who I hate), Australia, and Holland. England are on the version and just need a win against Andorra in midweek. Here are some thoughts:

The US fell behind against Honduras and fought back and earned a 2-1 win. I was still not super impressed with this team but they did what they had to and ground out a result. Also, the Landon Donovan pre-penalty production is embarrassing and really needs to stop. In Costa Rica there was so much to criticize I sort of forgot about it, but really do you need to go through those theatrics when you are 3-0 down in the 89th minute? I wonder if he did that before he took penalty kicks at Bayern... oh wait, nevermind. Loser.

I didn't see the Mexico game but by all accounts they were dominated by El Salvador and now sit fifth out of six. It is far from over as Mexico have the majority of their games at home and one away to T&T, but no one expected Mexico to be in such bad shape at this point. Maybe it wasn't all SGE's fault after all. The perception in a lot of places is that Mexico will be in South Africa even if they have to win a play-off against a team from conmebol. I wouldn't be so quick to make that assumption. The team currently sitting in the play-off spot is Uruguay and despite suffering a humiliating 4-0 thumping at the hands of Brazil in Montevideo over the weekend at this moment I would take Uruguay over Mexico in 2-leg play-off. We will see.

Argentina played poorly and were lucky to get a 1-0 result over Colombia. The solid debut of Andujar in goal and a rejuvenated JS Veron providing the odd spark in attack were the only real positives. The team selection and formation were suspect and after 3 competitive matches in charge Diego is an okay 2-1 with a not-s0-awesome goal differential of zero (6 for 6 against). Not off to the start many envisioned. The 3-man backline was overwhelmed (which is not a surprise) and he had to bring on Zanetti to act as a hybrid midfielder/right-back in the second half. The glut of three small, quick strikers didn't produce the myriad chances it did against Venezuela, but really why would it? Jonas was invisible on the flank. I expect a radically different approach for their midweek match in Quito. Mascherano will miss the game due to suspension. Aguero was taken off in the 40th with an injury, but even if it is not serious I expect a different configuration in attack which may leave him on the bench. Heinze played shockingly and really doesn't deserve to start but given the lack of another proven left back in the pool of players called up he might. Still, 3 points is 3 points and Argentina opened up a gap between them and chasing Uruguay. They are on the verge of clinching while Colombia's hopes are dwindling.