Whose World? What Cup? (Day 15a)

At half-time, Spain are leading Chile by two goals to nil. I can't decide what's up with the Mexican referee. He seems fairly biased. By which I mean, he is biased in direct proportion to the misdemeanour level of each team. There is no doubt Chile are more violent and less good at the well-timed challenge, so the referee has been overpenalizing them accordingly — one man sent off and something like 16 free kicks against, but only two other yellow cards besides those that got the unfortunate Estrada to take the long walk.

Play has been mixed. Spain were noticeably bad at first, until David Villa's lovely long volley scored. Then they got better. Torres is still a passenger, but one who is drawing markers away. Chile look good, but they seem over-enthusiastic, leading to shots too high or long, and tackles too late or badly aimed.

Meanwhile, the other match is just that. Both teams seem only to be making up the numbers. The Swiss have seemed functional but not more; the Hondurans are... more interested in preventing the Swiss from advancing than playing for a win. Maybe it's all a Spanish conspiracy.

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And so, both Chile and Spain are through. Chile pulled one back. I have to say that Cesc Fabregas looks like an incipient midfield general for his country. He is much better at the one-touch stuff and setting his colleagues up for opportunities than the other talent on display. He is also very hard to keep track of — one doesn't know if he's tracked back as a defensive midfielder, surged forward into the hole, decided to pretend he's a winger, whatever.

There we have it. Brazil play Chile and Portugal play Spain. How very tasty...