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Digicel’s John Barnes shares his thoughts on June 16 World Cup matches

Jun 17, 2010 Sports

We had the biggest upset of the World Cup so far today with Spain losing their match against Switzerland 1-0. Spain is the favorite to win this World Cup and there was a lot expected from them in today’s match. They were very good in midfield, passed the ball well and completely dominated possession, but Switzerland’s defense was excellent – they showed great determination and were very organized.
When Spain brought Torres on in attack they looked dangerous, so I would expect him to start the next match. I also expected them to have shaken off the cobwebs and gone through to the next round, but this has obviously made it more difficult for them.  It will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure and the potential backlash of a passionate nation that had anticipated so much.
In the same group, Chile beat Honduras 1-0. Chile – under their coach, Bielsa – have one of the best attacking sides in the World Cup, as well as strength at the back. Alexis Sanchez looked an exciting prospect on the right wing – he is reportedly a target for a number of the top European Clubs.
Honduras – while they have strength in the midfield with Palacios – were disappointing. Once Chile went one goal up, they had to try and equalize which is not one of their strengths.
Honduras showed great confidence in their World Cup Qualifying matches – particularly the match they played against Mexico – but they seemed to lack confidence and looked a little disorganized today. They seemed completely out of synch and didn’t look to attack – I actually think they felt inferior against a South American opponent. In my opinion, they went into the game looking for a 0-0 draw. I have seen them do better than this, but they didn’t show it today.
The last match today was between South Africa and Uruguay. Unfortunately, South Africa lost 3-0 which is a shame as we want the host nation to do well and go through to the next round. If South Africa doesn’t go through, it will be the first time ever that a host nation hasn’t gone through. In saying that though, they still have a chance to beat France. At the moment, Uruguay has the most points in this group so they are in the driving seat.
The match between France and Mexico tomorrow could go a long way to deciding South Africa’s fate.  Either way, they will want to perform well in their final match against France.
One thing I have to mention about this World Cup is the drop in the amount of goals being scored. Typically at this stage of the tournament, there would have been 35 plus goals scored. So far though, there have only been 25 goals scored.
This is all down to the new football. FIFA has made the ball lighter thinking that it would help score more goals, but it’s had the opposite effect. Free kicks from a long range with a lighter ball are making the ball more difficult to control and they are not hitting the mark, which has resulted in the quality of goals scored not being as high.

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