World Cup Day 1 Notes

I watched Ecuador vs Poland thought both teams played well. They impressed me more than the ESPN "classic" replay of USA vs Mexico that was on TV a couple of days ago.

Still, fact remains, the best athlete in the world, would become weak in certain areas of soccer, if he ended up isolated in some place where few play the game well and where playing the game with others who play it well requires an exorbitant investment of time and energy.

Then you have to remember, that you simply cannot expect for example, center-forwards to be as good as fullbacks at what fullbacks do best; or as good as halfbacks at what halfbacks do best, or as good as wing forwards at what wing forwards do best. A wing halfback or wing forward is going to be especially good at certain things compared to a center halfback or center forward
and vice versa; watching say a center forward critically noting the things wing forwards and halfbacks and fullbacks do better than him, is watching with a jaundiced eye. Likewise watching say a center halfback noting the aspects in which wing half-backs, forwards and fullbacks excel that center halfback is to watch hyper-critically and unrealistically.

Formations Used Day 1 World Cup

ecuador
4 4 2

poland
4 5 1
4 4 2
4 3 3

germany
4 4 2

costa rica
4 4 2

Looks like grandstanding around, switching between several formations backfires--Ecuador upset Poland 2-0.

I would guess in most of these formations the wing halfbacks are like wing forwards who hang back a little.