Matchday 10 - Samba Superstars

Slovakia 0 - Paraguay 2 (Vera 27, Riveros 86)
Italy 1 (Iaquinta 29p) - New Zealand 1 (Smeltz 7)
Brazil 3 (Fabiano 25, 50, Elano 62) - Cote d'Ivoire 1 (Drogba 79)

Matchday 10 saw Brazil firm into tournament favouritism after a superb 3-1 win over Cote d'Ivoire. New Zealand pulled off one of the great shocks in World Cup history in holding champions Italy to a 1-1 draw, while Paraguay took a stranglehold on qualification with a 2-0 win over Slovakia.

But it is the South American nations that look to have a tight grip on this tournament after Brazil crushed Cote d'Ivoire 3-1 in a superb display of attacking, passing football in the late game. All three goals were superb. The first set up by interplay between Robinho and Kaka and finished by Luis Fabiano. The second was a magnificent piece of individual brilliance by Fabiano (although their may have been a touch of handball about it), while Elano score the third, again thanks to Kaka, just before he went off with what looked to be a serious leg injury. The only downside for the Brazilians (outside the Elano injury) was a late red card to Kaka who was sent off for two bookable offences. However, the second was a result of blatant simulation by Kader Keita who should be ashamed of himself for trying to get a player sent off in a match that was already decided. In fact the whole Ivorian team were disgraceful after going 3-0 down, repeatedly committing petty fouls on the Brazilian players, as they could not stop them illegally. Cote d'Ivoire has a history of dirty play at World Cups having played a spiteful match with the Serbs as well in Germany 2006. Hopefully they do not make it to the knockout stages as there would be nothing worse than seeing them restrict a superior team through fouling. In any case Brazil has already qualified for the second round meaning Kaka will at least get some rest.

Paraguay moved a step closer to advancing from Group F when they clinically despatched Slovakia 2-0 to move to the top of the group. As expected, Paraguay’s golden generation, full of attacking flair and creativity proved too much for the Slovaks to handle, and the first goal was a superb finish from Enrique Vera. However, the group was thrown in to turmoil when New Zealand pulled off a shock 1-1 draw with Italy thanks to an early Shane Smeltz goal. It took a controversial penalty for the Italians to equalise and left both nations on 2 points, 2 behind the Paraguayans. It means Italy will need to win its last group game against the Slovaks to potentially avoid meeting the firing Dutch in the round of 16.

Updated odds to advance – Group F – Italy ($1.20), Paraguay ($1.05), Slovakia ($7), New Zealand ($8). Group G – Brazil (n/a), Portugal* ($1.40), Cote d’Ivoire ($4), North Korea* ($15).

* - Still to play

What We Learned - That this could be a World Cup dominated by the South Americans - Argentina and Brazil are virtually equal favourites to take the tile and Uruguay and Paraguay have also been extremely impressive thus far.

The Falcon’s Spud of the Day – Kader Keita (Cote d’Ivoire) – In a match that was becoming extremely spiteful, especially from the Ivorian side, Keita committed the ultimate injustice when his overreaction to a Kaka push saw the Brazilian superstar sent off for a second yellow card. I hope FIFA bans Keita for simulation but that is unlikely.

Tonight’s Games – The second round of Group matches finishes with Portugal taking on North Korea in Group F. I expect the Portuguese to take advantage of the Ivory Coast’s loss and grab a win here. Group E concludes with group leaders Chile taking on Switzerland while Spain takes on Honduras. I expect a tight draw in the first game while Spain should bounce back from their opening loss with a big win over their Latino rivals.

Suggested Investment – Finally we got another collect on the board with last night’s multi getting up. Both the Iberian teams are pretty short to win tonight so I think a good option would be to back the draw in the Chile – Switzerland game which looks good value at $3+.