Another 1-1 draw today at the World Cup – but at least one decent upset, at well. A few notes from the fourth day of World Cup 2010:

HOLLAND 2:0 DENMARK

This match was at 6:30 this morning, so I taped it, then rushed home to watch it after work. In 2006, the Dutch were far and away my favorite team to watch, playing more or less entirely like the Germans did last night. Tie game? Attack! Up two goals? Attack! Behind? ATTACK HARDER!

Maybe I went into the match with my expectations too high, or maybe the Danes were just organized enough to disrupt the Oranje, but this one wasn’t particularly great. Holland scored via an own goal and a rebound off the post – a far cry from the super-exciting soccer that I expected. Holland certainly looked good, even dominating for stretches, but nothing like the team I remember from four years ago.

Then again, last time around they fizzled out, so maybe that’s a good sign for them.

JAPAN 1:0 CAMEROON

Allow me to sum up the Cameroonian offensive strategy:

  1. Line up four players along the edge of the opposition penalty area.
  2. If one of the other seven players should get hold of the ball, boot it in the general direction of the first four.

By the middle of the second half, I was wondering things like, “Do they have passing in Africa?” and “They know that they can kick the ball along the ground and nothing bad will happen, right?” Frustrating to watch, especially from a team nicknamed the “Indomitable Lions,” which is the greatest nickname ever.

As for Japan, they got a goal from a guy named Honda, which sounds like something out of a game designed by mid-80s American Nintendo game designers.

DESIGNER 1: What should we call the Japanese players for our game, Nintendo World Soccer?
DESIGNER 2: (dismissively) How about Honda, Honda, Toyota, Sushi, um… Yokozuna?

Much was made out of this being Japan’s first World Cup win outside Japanese soil. I thought this was cute. Then I remembered that the USA has a grand total of five, two of them in 1930. Then I stopped feeling superior.

ITALY 1:1 PARAGUAY

To be honest, I love cheering against Italy. They’re well-known divers and cheats, they tend to play boring and defensive soccer – and they won last time, so this makes it more fun. And so I was quite pleased when Antolin Alcaraz rose highest to head Paraguay into the first-half lead.

Of course, after that, Italy dominated the game, and they certainly deserved Daniele de Rossi’s equalizer in the second half – even if de Rossi was the jerk who tried to elbow Brian McBride‘s nose up into his brain in 2006. Italy may be the oldest team in the tournament, but they’re not tired yet, and though some are still predicting they won’t get out of Group F, it’s pretty inconceivable that they wouldn’t make it to the knockout round. They will find a way. It will be dive-filled and argument-with-the-referee filled and it will not be fun to watch, but this is the Italian way.