day 4 recap, Villa is lights out

David Villa will probably be the first to credit his teammates for his hat trick today. He owed his thanks to: Torres after he put the first one on a platter for him, Iniesta, who looked uncharacteristically sluggish up to that point (maybe still shaking off that food poisoning) until he played that sweet little through-ball, and Fabregas with a similar trademark past to catch the defense for his third. I thought it was cute of Mr. Villa to go over and give Torres a kiss after the second goal in a show of solidarity. I personally don't think too much of Aragones, but I'll admit that he got it right today in terms of tactics, team selection and the lot. Hidink was livid on the touch lines with his players, but there wasn't much they could do, they were simply outclassed. But with that bad taste in their mouth, I would not like to play the Russians next. That unenviable task falls to the Greeks.

Apart from that cracker of a goal from Ibrahimovic (and good for him), what stands out the most from this match was that first half. How bizarre was it when the Swedes were visibly restraining themselves from chasing the ball into the Greek half, and the Greek defenders (yeah all 5 of them) were content to just pass it back and forth? Adrian Healy appropriately called it a Mexican standoff of sorts, just puzzling from the Greeks. It is too early to count them out, much like with the Italians, but I am extremely discouraged if I'm a Greek supporter right now, and I'm praying lady luck revisits us, because Russia will be playing with a chip on their shoulder no doubt.