It was Niklas Bendtner and friends vs. Samuel Eto'o and pals in a very open game with sloppy defense on both ends of the pitch. Early on Cameroon looked very strong and when Eto'o expertly smashed one past the Danish keeper in the 10th minute, it seemed like Africa had finally won its second victory. But twenty minutes later Niklas Bendtner soured the day on a great sliding goal from an even better pass by Dennis Rommedahl, a scourge on the right wing the whole game long. The goal sent the game into a rolling boil that peaked in two straight minutes of excitement. Three minutes from half, Rommedahl stormed toward the right post, beat his defender with a clever back-foot cut, and was unfortunate to slip but still managed to poke out it out to captain Jon Dahl Tomasson, who eyed the all but open goal greedily but had his shot blocked by the heroic effort of Alex Song. Ten seconds later Achille Emana found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but lacking the courage of a real lion, dished it off to the "mustered" Eto'o, who beat everyone but the post. Not a minute later, Emana zigzagged through three defenders and found himself alone with the keeper again but couldn't shoot it by him. His brilliant but goalless efforts throughout the game summarize this World Cup, which among other things has been sorely lacking in execution. Will the professionals please step up?
After what must have been livid half-time talks by both coaches about the piss-poor performance of their defense, who handed the ball back at their own doorstep on far more than one occasion, I was expecting much better defense in the second half. Thankfully, neither defense could get their shirts on straight and the open play continued. This spelled trouble for Cameroon when the Bendtner-Rommedahl duo switched roles for a second goal (61'). All credit goes to that scourge Rommedahl, however, who cut past his defender from a standstill and curled his shoot in beautifully into the bottom left corner, right across the keeper's face. Despite the ensuing half-hour siege, Cameroon could not score a goal to save their (World Cup) lives.
With this second loss, Cameroon are the first team eliminated from the tournament and the Netherlands are the first team through to the second round. Let's go over it:- The Netherlands (2-0-0) have 6pts after beating Denmark 2-0 and Japan 1-0.
- Cameroon (0-2-0) have 0pts after losing to Japan 1-0 and Denmark 2-1.
- Denmark (1-1-0) and Japan (1-1-0) are tied with 3pts, though Japan has the edge on goal differential (0 vs. -1).
So even if Cameroon beat the Netherlands in their last game (which ain't gonna happen), they will only have 3pts. When Denmark and Japan play, one of them will get 3 more points or they'll each get 1 for the draw. Regardless of the result, Cameroon cannot catch up to second place.
Since, the Netherlands already have 6pts, and either Denmark or Japan will have at most 6, Netherlands are through already.
So what are the Group E teams playing for in this 3rd set of games?
Japan and Denmark are fighting to qualify for the elimination round. For them, this is the elimination round already. Since, Japan have a better goal differential all they need is a tie. Denmark have to win. It's going to be a GREAT game.
The Netherlands are sitting pretty.
- Even with a loss, they can still lose the group, provided that Japan doesn't make up the 3 goal deficit or Denmark the 4 goal deficit.
- With a tie, they win the group with 7 points.
- And with a win (the most likely scenario), they finish group play with a perfect record (3-0-0). The only other team I'd bet on doing this is Argentina (2-0-0) who face a totally-screwed Greek side in their last group match. Brazil has a good chance too, but their competition is considerably steeper (Portugal and Ivory Coast).
FUNNY COMMENTARY:
"He's given it up straight to Bendtner...that's terrible defending on both sides! Who thought up the defensive strategy tonight, Evel Knievel!?"
"Defenders usually get away with a few shirt tugs...the sly ones."
"Yes, the dark arts."
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