FIFA World Cup 2010: Match Facts for the Weekends Games
On June the 26th, the knock out phase of the World Cup will commence. The first match will be played between Uruguay and South Korea. Uruguay are yet to be beaten by South Korea. In their previous five meetings the Uruguayans have won four times and drawn once with the South Koreans. South Korea are the only Asian team to ever reach the knock out stages twice. Uruguay have not lost any of their last five matches and have only conceded one goal during those five games. South Korea have never beaten a team from South America. More than half of the goals scored by the Koreans have been from set pieces. Luis Suarez is statistically the danger man, having scored fifty three goals in sixty appearances for club and country combined.
The late kick off on the same day will be between Ghana and U.S.A. The first time these two teams met, was in the 2006 World Cup group stage. Which Ghana won two goals to one. Ghana are now the second African nation to reach two knock out rounds back to back, in doing so they have equaled the record the Nigerian team of 1998 set. If Donovan play’s in the game he will beat the U.S record of eleven World Cup appearances by a player, the record was previously held by Stewart Earnest and Cobi Jones. Exactly fifty percent of the goals scored by U.S.A over the last three world cups have come from set pieces. Gyan has scored three of the six goals scored by Ghana, in this World Cup. If the U.S. team is to beat Ghana it will be the first time since 1930 that they have won two matches in a row.
On Sunday, the first match to be played will be between South American giants, Argentina and Mexico. Out of the last twenty five meetings between these two sides, Mexico have won only four and Argentina have won eleven times, the remaining ten matches have been draws. In their last match against Greece, Argentina completed more passes than any team had since the 1966 World Cup, with six hundred and ninety six completed passes. The last time these two teams met in the previous World Cup, Argentina won two goals to one. Argentina are currently undefeated in their last nine World Cup games, this is the longest undefeated spell in the history of the Argentinean squad. Mexico have been knocked out of the second round four times in a row preceding this World Cup.
The last match on Sunday will be between England and Germany. England have only managed to win six of the twenty times they have played against the Germans. The Germans on the other hand have won ten of those matches. All four games between England and Germany played in the World Cup have been draws at the close of the ninety minutes. Frank Lampard has now had thirty three shots at the goal during the World Cup’s without scoring. Germany have managed only one draw out of the last fifteen matches they have played during the World cup. Neither England nor Germany have ever lost a match in the round of sixteen. Fourteen of the last fifteen wins for England have come when they have kept clean sheets. The last time England won a world cup game when their opponent scored first, was in the 1966 world cup against, Germany. Germany have scored twenty seven of the thirty penalties they have take at the World Cup, England on the other hand have scored twelve of the nineteen. The last two times these sides met in significant tournaments, they ended in penalty shoot outs, both of which were won by Germany.
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