Published 4/1/2012 11:46:01 PM by Shane Barrow from soccermogul

Everton slipped past Cortiba of Brazil 1-0.  It was one of those matches that you just shake your head afterwards and think how the heck did that team win that match?  This game was ALL Cortiba.  Everton got a freekick in the first minute and curled a perfect ball in for Ross Barkley to head home.  A perfect start and it left me ready for more.  Unfortunately that was about all we saw from Everon the rest of the day.

I would bet Cortiba had possession 43 of the 45 minutes in the opening half.  I have rarely seen such negative soccer as Everton displayed.  No, not dirty or anything like that.  They played a 4-5-1 formation and would sit 10 guys behind the ball.  The Brazilians would link 10-15 passes together on the attack.  Everton would sit with 10 players within 20 yards of their own goal.  Finally Everton would win a ball and lump it 50 yards downfield.  Cortiba would collect it and come attack again stringing multiple passes together before Everton would just lump it down the field again.  Unfortunately the tactics paid off and Everton were able to escape with a 1-0 victory however undeserved it was.

Luckily we still had Manchester United against FC Dallas to look forward to.  Credit to FC Dallas who came to play and had no intentions of sitting back against their powerful foes.  But I have one word to describe the Manchester United squad.  Professional.  Other than the #10 who was great on the run, they weren't terribly dynamic.  What they were was VERY good at every position on the pitch.  No weaknesses at all.  The Keane brothers were just as good as advertised with William Keane knocking home a nice goal in the 10th minute of play.  His brother headed home the second goal off a corner kick in the second half and Man U were comfortable 2-0 winners.    

Truthfully, I didn't really see anyone with the dynamic attacking players that might be able to break down the organized and skilled Manchester players.  Possibly either the Mexico U20 National Team or Tigres have the dynamic attackers needed.  Otherwise I see nobody else in the field that can take down United if they play at a high level.

Other Super Group games had Dallas Texans upsetting Eintracht Frankfurt.  The Germans led 1-0 at halftime behind a 30 yard blast by Lukas Ehlert.  The Texans rallied in the second half for 3 goals to win 3-1 and shock last year's co-champions.

The Mexican U-20 national team held on to an early lead to defeat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in their Dallas Cup opener Sunday afternoon.  Mexico was up 2-0, and were able to withstand a late charge from the French side.  PSG had several counter opportunities against the aggressive Mexican squad, including two shots on goal in stoppage time, but couldn't equalize late.

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