Day 6 Analysis

Spain vs. Ukraine
Ukraine looked absolutely terrible in this game. They couldn't keep possession through the midfield, their defense was porous at best, and Spain's defenders almost completely shut down their wing play. It was difficult to tell how Shevchenko was feeling because he never saw the ball. In short, this was an awful start for a team that many people picked as dark horses to make it deep into the tournament. They'll need to scramble now just to make it into the second round. Meanwhile, all the U.S. fans are thinking, "Thank God we're not last anymore!"

Well, at least not until we play Italy on Saturday anyway.

Captain Caveman came to play.

Of course, a good portion of the credit for Ukraine looking so bad has to go to Spain for looking so good. Their entire team had a gem of a game, producing three real goals and few chances for Ukraine. The defense was stout, the attack was frisky, and Raul came on as a sub and looked dangerous, so it was all good news for the perennial underachievers.

Spain can't get full credit for four goals on this day, however, because David Villa's spot kick and the ejection of Vashchuk were completely blown calls on a challenge that a) was committed outside the box, b) did not actually see the player go down until well after he released the shot, and c) could not have been more fair. Ukraine was robbed there, though they were always going to get spanked regardless of whether Vashchuk was on the field or not. Hopefully the suspension from the next game will be overruled on appeal, but somehow I doubt it.

Fun nicknames from today's game (not even made up):
Carlos "Captain Caveman" Puyol
Fernando "El Nino" Torres
Sergey "Radiohead" Rebrov

I only watched the Tunisia vs. Saudi Arabia game in fast forward, but the last 10 minutes of this game were incredibly exciting, and this draw plus Spain's thrashing of Ukraine puts second place in this group completely up for grabs. If Ukraine recovers their form (and they'll need to look like a completely different team if they expect to win any games), they can still make it out, but if not, the second team to make it out of this group is anyone's guess.

Germany vs. Poland

I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti.

Poland came to play on this day and nearly walked out with the result they were looking for. Of course, at least part of that was due to numerous squandered chances by the German attacking force including a double crossbar strike in the final minute of regulation. You could see that Poland was folding after Sobolewski received his red card in the 75th minute, and they were always going to be a little lucky if they held on for the draw after that point, but they almost got there.

Ballack looked fine and fully fit in this game, while Podolsky and Klose proved they will be a very interesting strike force to watch going forward. Podolsky's skill on the ball is almost Brazilian in quality and he's fast. I'd like to see him get more touches in future games, perhaps by dropping a bit deeper into the midfield from time to time, but overall Germany are an unexpectedly fun team to watch. Speaking of fun, Philipp Lahm is my favorite new player to watch. A right-footed left back, he plays solid defense and always seems to be involved in the attack, whether it's via making overlapping runs or simply stepping up for the ball when Germany switch the point of attack. He's also lethal when it comes to crossing the ball, something that far more teams in this tournament wish they were.

It nearly didn't happen, but Germany walked out of today's game as deserved winners and already qualified for the second round. Happy times im Deustchland.