Red Bull Dominate Valencia 26/6/10

The Formula 1 Valencia Grand Prix was tipped to be a hard fought one for the Red Bull team to gain provisional pole but Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber managed to get a Red Bull one-two for tomorrow's Grand Prix. Vettel was fastest in the early morning practice session but it was Renault's Robert Kubica who got the fastest time in Q1. The main drama was Michael Schumacher, who looked out of his depth in Valencia, he managed to pull of a last lap that secured his place in Q2 at BMW Sauber's Koboyashi's expense. Lotus' Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen filled positions 19 and 20. Virgin's Di Grassi and Timo Glock finished in 21st and 22nd this being the first time the Italian debutant qualified ahead of his German teammate. The Cosworth duo, Chandhok and Senna rounded off the casualties of Q1 with the new constructors still finding their feet on the Formula 1 stage.

Q2 saw Sebastian Vettel grab the quickest lap but tenths of a second separated the top six in Q2. Both Toro Rosso's exited at this stage with Buemi finishing 11th and Jaime Alguesuari 17th for tomorrow's race. Koboyashi's Sauber teammate Pedro De La Rosa managed to qualify in 16th with the suffering Michael Schumacher in 15th. The Force India duo will fill the 13th and 14th places on the grid with Adrian Sutil just edging Liuzzi with Schuamacher's Mercedes' teammate Nico Rosberg qualifying in 12th.

Q3 saw a straight out fight between the Red Bulls, McLarens, Ferrari's and Kubica's Renault for the top places on the grid for tomorrow. Unsurprisingly Kubica's teammate Petrov finished 1oth behind the two Williams drivers, Rubens Barrichello (winner of last year's race) and Hulkenburg. Jenson Button could only manage a disappointing seventh as he looked really under the pace after two second places in the last two races. The formula 1 commentators tipped Kubica to 'upset the applecart' but he managed to qualify sixth behind the main contenders. The two Ferrari's just missed out on a top three spot with home hero Fernando Alonso finishing ahead of Felipe Massa in fourth. Winner of the last two races Lewis Hamilton could only manage third as the Red Bulls defied the critics and claimed their fourth one-two in qualification this season, with Vettel edging out Webber who seemed disappointed in himself as he wants to be the man in pole for tomorrow's race, which has limited overtaking on the Spanish street circuit.

Swiss On Their Knees: Switzerland 0-0 Honduras 25/6/10

Switzerland line-up: Benaglio, Lichsteiner, Von Bergen, Huggel (Shaqiri, 78'), Barnetta, Inler (c), Nkufo (Frei, 69'), Grichting, Fernandes (Yakin, HT), Ziegler, Derdiyok
Honduras line-up: Valladares (c), Chavez, Figueroa, Bernardez, Thomas, Nunez (Martinez, 67'), W.Palacios, J.Palacios (Welcome, 78'), Suazo (Turcios, 87'), Sabillon, Alvarez

Switzerland had a great chance to go through to the next round at Chile's expense but couldn't muster up a win against Honduras who failed to even score in the tournament. Neither team looked impressive in the opening encounters but it would be Switzerland who woke up first with decent chances for Barnetta who failed to find the target on numerous times but looked the most dangerous for the Swiss. Honduras made it easy for Switzerland as they lacked shape and looked to have no leadership from Valladares, this allowed Switzerland to attack but they over over played and lost the ball or failed to make Valladares work. Derdiyok was another big culprit in fluffing chances not just in this game but throughout the tournament and they would be left to rue them chances, Nkufo also had chances in this game to break the deadlock but he also made mountains out of molehills in terms of shooting.

The second half didn't really go much better but Honduras thankfully thought they would arrive and begin to play football, they managed to carve a great chance for themselves but Suazo missed the easiest chance of the match as he headed wide. Again Derdiyok missed chances at the other end but Switzerland looked to have a more of an attacking threat with the half-time introduction of Hakan Yakin. Suazo had another great chance and this time got his attempt on target with Benaglio making a brilliant save to deny Honduras the lead, they were creating more attacks as Switzerland desperately searched for that elusive goal which left them open to counter attacks. However both teams continued their woeful shooting with both sets of players wasting glorious opportunities which lead to the 0-0 draw putting both teams out.

Spanish Estrada: Chile 1-2 Spain 25/6/10

Chile line-up: Bravo (c), Ponce, Isla, Snachez (Orellana, 65'), Vidal, Valdivia (Millar, HT), Gonzalez (Paredes, HT), Estrada, Beausejour, Medel, Jara
Spain line-up: Casillas (c), Pique, Puyol, Iniesta, Villa, Xavi, Torres (Fabregas, 55'), Capdevila, Alonso (Martinez, 73'), Ramos, Busquets

With these two Latino teams in contention to not just progress but to also win the group it looked to be a very attacking game with a lot of flair. But it began in a somewhat surprise fashion; Chile were on top for most of the first half with Alexis Sanchez very skillful and dangerous. Meanwhile Andres Iniesta made sure everyone was aware of his comeback with a brilliant performance in midfield. The first chance actually fell for Liverpool's Torres but he looked unhappy all game and duly missed his opportunity. Ex-Liverpool player Mark Gonzalez had an even better chance at the other end but also failed to hit the target. For the first twenty minutes Chile dominated possession and Spain were just looking to catch them on the break with Beausejour also impressing for the Chileans. But just under 25 minutes into the match Spain took a surprise lead with a goal out of the blue; Torres was chasing a loose ball twenty five yards from goal and for some unknown reason goalkeeper Bravo came rushing out to tackle Torres, the ball trickled to David Villa who curled his shot into the empty net for his tenth goal in international competitions. This was a huge blow for Chile but they still looked the better team until ten minutes before half time Spain struck the hammer blow, a beautifully crafted move started by Alonso who then fed David Villa who squared the ball back for Iniesta who planted the ball into the bottom corner. Worse was to follow for Chile as during that swift move Estrada looked to have inadvertently tripped Torres on the edge of the box as their paths crossed, however the referee deemed it deliberate and gave Estrada his second yellow card and thus sent him off.

Chile's coach Bielsa looked to shuffle his pack at half-time with a double substitution and ten man Chile were back in the game two minutes after the restart. One of the substitutes Rodrigo Millar struck the shot which deflected off Pique's back and looped over Casillas to make it 2-1. But unfortunately for Chile their man disadvantage seemed to affect them as they were unable to cut Spain open and produce decent chances, only a few half-chances which Paredes failed to connect with. Spain made sure they bossed the tempo of the game and just dominated possession from there on in and Villa should have put the game beyond Chile but he somehow messed the chances up and Spain went through with the 2-1 win and face their Iberian counterparts Portugal in a tasty looking 2nd round match. As for Chile, Switzerland's inability to win against Honduras secured a place in the 2nd round for the Chileans with an even tastier all South American tie with Brazil.

Final Group Games: Group H

The winner between Spain and Chile is guaranteed to be through and the other will depend on Switzerland's result. If Spain won, they would go through along with either Chile or Switzerland depending on goal difference with all three on six points. If Honduras win or get a draw then Chile would progress with Spain. If Chile win then they get maximum points and if Switzerland win or draw then they would knock Spain out, if Honduras managed a draw it would go on goal difference between the three of them. If Spain and Chile get a draw then Chile progress with Switzerland if they win, Spain if Switzerland draw (because of Spain's better goal difference) or if Honduras win. I think Spain will win the group with a 2-0 victory over Chile and Chile will progress with them as I think Switzerland and Honduras will finish 1-1 in a cagey affair.

Coasting Out: North Korea 0-3 Ivory Coast 25/6/10

North Korea line-up: M.G.Ri, J.H.Cha, J.I.Ri, N.C.Pak, K.C.Ri, Y.N.Ji, T.S.Jong, Y.J.Hong (c), I.G.Mun (K.C.Choe, 67'), C.J.Pak, Y.H.An
Ivory Coast line-up: Barry, Boka, K.Toure, Zokora, Tiote, Gervinho (Dindane, 64'), Drogba (c), Romaric (Doumbia, 79'), Keita (Kalou, 64'), Y.Toure, Eboue



Ivory Coast bowed out of the group of death with a comfortable victory over North Korea. A ten goal swing was never on the cards but the Africans wanted to give the home continent something to celebrate. The Elephants did come out all guns blazing possibly looking for that near impossible goal tally and Keita forced a save out of Ri. Gervinho, who was granted his first World Cup start, impressed and looked dangerous throughout but his ball across the box failed to find any support to slide the ball into the empty net. Boka picked up an assist three minutes later when he played a perfect through ball to Yaya Toure on the edge of the box and he slotted the ball into the corner to give the Ivorians the lead. Romaric nearly doubled their advantage but his shot scraped the outside of the post and went wide. He made up for that by giving Ivory Coast a 2-0 lead thanks to a Drogba masterclass; he managed to hold the ball up before skillfully turning and smacking the ball against the underside of the ball, it bounced out and Romaric was on hand to finish calmly. North Korea's attacking outlet came from one of the surprise players of the tournament in Jong Tae Se, they also looked dangerous from free-kicks but they couldn't find a goal.

North Korea found their feet in the second half and kept hold of possession a lot better and Jong Tae Se continued to threaten for the Koreans. Drogba misguided two headers to miss out on getting Ivory Coast's third and with the Elephants looking for all out attack Jong Tae Se again could have had a goal or two if it weren't for some last ditch defending. Substitute Salomon Kalou notched Ivory Coast's third eight minutes from time with a header from Boka's cross but by that stage everything was settled if it weren't already.

Por Draw: Portugal 0-0 Brazil 25/6/10

Portugal line-up: Eduardo, Alves, Duda (Simao, 54'), Carvalho, Ronaldo, Danny, Pepe (Mendes, 64'), Meireles (Veloso, 84'), Tiago, Costa, Coentrao
Brazil line-up: Juilo Cesar, Maicon, Lucio (c), Juan, Melo (Josue, 44'), Bastos, Gilberto, Luis Fabiano (Grafite, 85'), Alves, Baptista (Ramires, 82'), Nilmar

The Samba beat really wasn't made today in a really poor match that was marred by a first half of yellow cards. Neither team played for the win as Brazil were already through and Portugal needed a point to guarantee their progress which was practically guaranteed already. Brazil set the standard of the game with non-penetrative play and long range shooting which didn't trouble anyone. As for Portugal Ronaldo was playing the lone front man and was very frustrated throughout the match as he received little service and was continually marked by the defence. The only real attacking threat for Portugal came from their left side with Coentrao and Meireles providing a couple of half-decent crosses. the clear cut chance of the game came from Brazil as Nilmar found space in the box before firing against the upright. The first half consisted of seven yellow cards for various offences including diving, late tackles, handball and asking for others to be booked, to be able to list offences really doesn't shed good light onto the game does it?

The second half didn't really fire up either but more space was created as players tired. Ronaldo therefore benefited as he could play off Lucio and forced him into some last ditch defending. Meireles should have won the game for Portugal who somehow fired wide from seven yards and the game petered out from there.

Final Group Games: Group G

This group is very much over despite it being mathematically possible for Ivory Coast to cause an upset. Brazil are already through and North Korea are already out so neither of them have anything to play for really. After Portugal's 7-0 demolition job over North Korea, Ivory Coast need a ten goal swing to go through which is very unlikely to happen and if Portugal get a point then it doesn't matter anyhow. I think Portugal will get that point with a rather hopeful 2-2 display against Brazil while Ivory Coast get a comfortable 3-0 win over North Korea.