The Dutch and Germans switching places?
Well it will be interesting to see how the Dutch and German teams gel (or not) as the tournament develops. It appears that – at least for now – the Dutch and the Germans have switched places. Holland usually comes out and destroys their early opponents only to meet disappointment somewhere down the line. Germans usually start a bit slower, often being accused of being boring, and sometimes even losing a game in the group stages before going on to win it all. But the Dutch struggled to beat an organized but toothless Danish team, and the Germans absolutely demolished an Australia team that finished top of their group qualifying out of Asia. Has anyone told Lucas Neill how to spring the offside trap? He incorrectly thought he had caught the Germans offside on two of the four goals they scored!!
I think the USA got lucky against England — but so did they. Onweyu was totally caught out following Rooney into no-mans-land and Gerard slipped in behind. It was a little tough on Clark cuz (to me) it appears to Clark that we have won possession, so he temporarily comes off his man … only for the ball to roll to Heskey and now Gerard is a few yards behind him and he has a lot of ground to make up. So, they made a goal out of our mistake, and we made one out of their mistake. But we still got lucky to have 1 point IMHO. On the other hand, Demerit sure shut down Rooney dontcha think?
Don’t look now, but Polish-born German international Miroslav Klose is closing in on Ronaldo’s all-time world cup goal scoring record.
Klose scores number 11 all-time against Austraila (Robert Cianflone)
Klose has 5 goals in each of the last 2 world cups (2002, 2006) where Germany finished 2nd and 3rd, plus a great header against Australia last night for a total of 11. Just a few more and he can tie or break Ronaldo’s record of 15 all-time world cup goals set at Westfalonstadion in Dortmund in 2006. Klose is currently tied for 5th all-time.
ENERGEIA 
I thought that Klose should have had two last night. And I’m thinking that he was bummed when he came out of the game. Instant goal for Cacau, which I’m betting Klose thought might have been his. Too bad he missed the exact same opportunity earlier in the game.
No matter; Klose is the cream of the German forward crop, and I wonder who it will be that replaces him. Where are the Jurgen Klinsmanns? Where are the Gert Muellers – or even the Frank Mills? German forwards are an endangered species if you ask me, and Klose’s timing (if not his finishing off the floor) is brilliant.
I suspect he scores at least two more goals this cup for a total of three (total of 13), to be tied with Just Fontaine (I did NOT have to wiki that…) at 3rd all time. Great place, if you ask me, as he isn’t as great as Ronaldo was, and I like it when the universe makes things fair once in a while.
On the other hand, if Germany go all the way to the finals, and if Germany can somehow win it (against Brazil?), and if Klose is scoring goals all the way, he will pass the record. And maybe, just maybe, Klose will be one of the greatest strikers the World Cup has ever seen. C’mon, USA!!! But after that, I’m rooting for Klose.
Well you have to like his consistency. 5 and 5 is pretty dang good…and he started it off with a goal in the first game. I think one of the world cups (’02 or ’06) I think I remember him scoring all 5 with his head…so I’d say his finishing with his head is a bit better. Maybe his footie skills will catch up.
My take: if he can help lead the Deutschlanders to the finals, then maybe the universe is working for him. But if he scores 6 goals this world cup and breaks the record – only to go out in the quarters or earlier, then I’m bummed. I’d like a true super star that helped his country win the cup (like Gert or Ronaldo) to be the record holder…that’s my take.
Plus, we got to see Ronaldo set the record, so it would be nice if he kept it for a bit longer than 4 years! 🙂