These past days have been awesome. Although, I have had very little sleep, I have been enjoying every bit of it, and I owe it all to the football world cup!!! Yeah, the FIFA '06!! TV watching has suddenly been timed starting 1830hrs till 0230 hours, when the last match concludes. 3 matches a day along with skipped dinners and umpteen conversations, discussions and rantings and bitchings. Some troubling observations that I have made.

• Germany is going to be in trouble if it doesn't build up its defense. The first match shed some light into this. They have a tremendous offense. Power wrenching with Frings, Klose and soon to be added Ballack. They will be powerful!! But, they have to get their defense in line. They seemed waddled puppies, completely befundled by Costa Rica of all the people!! Just imagine what they would do against the stronger teams. Here they just had to manage Wanchope!!
• England has chances of taking this world cup. They have one of the strongest mid fields there in play with Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham and Joe Cole. They just need someone to come and convert these playmakers' play into a goal. Rooney should be a good answer if he can get in! Their defense was OK, nothing phenomenal, but still they can hold their stead! Robinson was impressive :-)!
• Ivory Coast creamed Argentina, at least according to me. Don't be fooled by the 1-0 victory of Argentina. It was only one fault of Ivory Coast, else Cote' D'Ivore was easily one of the most impressive teams I have seen. Drogba is a mean bull. He just keeps on and on… It's a pity that they couldn't score a leveler. It's a pity that they are teamed up in one of the toughest groups ever. It's a group where matches are gonna be a treat to watch!
• Croatia… boy o boy!! They are going GOOD! Their match against Brazil was phenomenal. They were going with the ball as if Brazil – the defending champions were a 3rd class club. Beleive me when I say that y'day or rather today's match was shocking. Brazil were behaving like a bunch of baboons, completely disorganized! It was a National Geographic feature more than a World Cup match. They too deserved a leveler for their match against Brazil, despite the fact that they were playing without their captain, who was injured!
• France v Switzerland was one of the most BORING matches I have ever seen. So much so, they actually put me to sleep!!
• Togo – the team with no coach. They bloody mauled the Koreans! It was funny, for towards the end, the Koreans were more than scared to keep possession of the ball. It was a hilarious match. But, the free kick by the Koreans was AWESOME!

So, as I see it, the teams that should qualify are

– England [the team I am rooting for :-D]

[source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5052802.stm ]

– Germany [They have a chance and I am working for a German company ;-)]
– Croatia [Seriously impressive]
– Cote D'Ivore [They DESERVE IT]
– Argentina [awesome game plan]
– Brazil [least fav after today's bungle]!!