Soccer Watch

It was a good news, bad news week for the Austin Aztex at House Park: a draw and a loss in league play, followed by a decisive 3-0 win in U.S. Open Cup play, all in a seven-day span. But if the league results were disappointing – a scoreless draw against the Portland Timbers Wednesday and a 2-1 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps Satur­day – the Aztex still played well enough to deserve better, against two teams who are headed up to Major League Soccer next year. And at 7-2-3, the Aztex still have two more wins than anyone else in the league (and two more than their total in 30 games last year). So, yeah, they're in pretty good shape, one-third of the way through a grueling two-game-a-week midsummer stretch.
It was all good news on Tuesday, as the Aztex cruised to a 3-0 win over the DFW Tornados in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup behind two goals from Jamie Watson and the first of the year from Joey Worthen. But the better news may be who was on the field for the Aztex – four starters were seeing their first action of the year, and a fifth was Kieron Bernard, a crucial defender who'd been out for 10 games with a hamstring injury and teamed effectively with little-used Wes Allen in central defense. In Tuesday's Open Cup second round, the Aztex host the Arizona Sahuaros, who qualified through the U.S. Adult Soccer Association, i.e., the same level as the Austin rec league. Make no mistake, though, the Sahuaros are a very good team; this is their third straight year to make the U.S. Open Cup. The payoff for the winner: a third-round date with the MLS Chivas U.S.A., out in Fullerton, California on Tuesday, June 29, 7:30pm. [Ed. note: this has been updated from the print edition.]
Vs. Miami FC Blues: Saturday, June 19, 7:30pm.
Vs. Arizona Sahuaros: Tuesday, June 22, 7:30pm.

The first real upset of the 2010 World Cup didn't come until the final pairing of the opening round, but it was a doozy: overall favorite Spain falling to Switzerland, 1-0, and into some trouble in Group H. Over the next five days, all the teams will play their second games, and then Tuesday through Friday, June 22-25, come the third and final games of the group stage as half the teams get sent home and the others get slotted into the bracket for the knockout round that starts Saturday, June 26. The full schedule is here, and my look at each of the eight first-round groups is below. Meanwhile, here are some observations on the first week of the tournament:

Africa: A lot of hopes and expectations for these teams in the continent's first WC. At 1-4-2, they're off to a slow start, though Ghana and Ivory Coast look promising. South Africa, despite a brave draw with Mexico, looks to be the first host team ever eliminated in the first round.

Goals: Not so many – just 25 in the first 16 games – raises the specter of too many shootouts in the knockout rounds.

Keepers down? Tim Howard (possible broken ribs) will play on Friday, after declining X-rays or other tests. ("I won't be stupid with it," he said. "At least I don't think I will be.") ... Italy's Gigi Buffon, on the other hand, is likely out for good with a herniated disc.

USA-England: Massive pregame hype justified by the goalkeeping blunder of the millennium. Both teams should still advance out of this weak group.

Overall: Germany's 4-0 romp over Australia was the one performance that really stood out, but is Germany really that good, or are the Aussies just that bad? Argentina and Holland impressed as well. Brazil? The best talent but somewhat less than the sum of its parts, and they could be in real trouble in the Group G "Group of Death."

So who's the best team? That would be the ESPN crew, whose coverage – especially the video – has been nothing short of spectacular. And if you hate the buzz of the vuvuzelas, just think how much worse they'd sound if we didn't have the world's most sophisticated sound filtering technology mitigating it for us.

Upcoming: Mexico-France (Thu. 17, 1:30pm) could eliminate one of these powers early. Brazil-Ivory Coast (Sun. 20, 1:30pm) and Brazil-Portugal (Fri. 25, 9am) are must-wins in the Group of Death, and the Chile-Spain finale (Fri. 25, 1:30pm) could be a shock elimination game.

Group A: Despite a brave draw with Mexico, South Africa looks to be the first host team ever eliminated in the first round. Mexico-France (Thu. 17, 1:30pm) could eliminate one of these powers early. Unfancied but organized Uruguay sitting pretty.

B: Argentina pretty well dominated Nigeria, despite the 1-0 score; Africa's top-rated team has an uphill battle to overtake South Korea (2-0 over Greece) in this tough group.

C: Massive pregame hype for USA vs. England justified by the goalkeeping blunder of the millennium. Both teams should still advance out of this weak group.

D: Germany will win this group (see "Overall," above); Ghana 1-0 over Serbia probably decided second place. (C'mon you Aussies, suck it up and salvage something out of this mess.)

E: Holland vs. Japan (Sat. 19, 6:30am) features the two group leaders, but Cam­eroon and Denmark are still dangerous as well; another very balanced group.

F: The Italy vs. Paraguay opener featured the two likely qualifiers out of this weak group; Italy seemed less aged and more creative than I'd feared they would, and Paraguay is a tough nut to crack.

G(OD): Brazil looked like they were toying with North Korea in their "Group of Death" opener, then gave up a late goal to end with just a one-goal margin – possibly critical with that being the first tie-breaker. Now they probably need results against both Ivory Coast (Sun. 20, 1:30pm) and Portugal (Fri. 25, 9am).

H: Switzerland? Who saw that coming? Chile looked very solid against a weak Hon­duras, so the Chile vs. Spain finale (Fri. 25, 1:30pm) could be an elimination game.