Limited activity on the blogosphere in recent days. A combination of smugness from finally a resolute English performance, an ill advised return to work and a deep coma induced by watching Portugal v Brazil, means I have a lot to catch up on while I watch Uruguay take on the South Koreans.....
Firstly, the roar of the three lions! Good performance all round, with no one really standing out for me, just a very good team performance, although we look so much more of a threat with Defoe up front than poor Emile. Not that he did a huge amount, but he got one chance and took it, and that's going to be key in the later stages... No real comedy moments to recall, the game was too tense, although what seems like a recurring theme for the remainder of the tournament, the pitches are all starting to look like the Springboks have been sneaking under cover of darkness to play a couple of games of egg chasing. Mark my words, if it hasn't happened yet, there will be multiple commentary moments back home making reference to the Wembley pitch.... Also, did not go unnoticed how contrived and difficult it was for the players to arrange a group hug at the end of the game... hopefully we'll get more practice in on the training ground this week.
Next up... Team USA. Incredibly annoying to admit, as they have now made our path to glory a lot harder (seriously - Germany, Argentina, Spain, Brazil... ), but quite easily the most exciting team to follow at this world cup so far. Horribly limited in defence, meaning they are perennially chasing whatever game they're in, have an increasingly suspicious attraction to dodgy refereeing decisions, but they are one of the fittest teams in the tournament who keep going to the final minute, as proved against the Algerians. Pleased for Landon, obvious Everton bias coming out here, but his dead ball deliveries have put more illustrious names to shame - he must have been sent a Jubilani secretly in advance. The biggest plus is it keeps world cup fever very much alive in this country, and also stops the 'experts' droning on about being wronged by the referee (after the Slovenia game it reached English levels of incredulity). Shame they have a tricky game next up and will have the entire African continent cheering against them....
Spare a thought for the Group C losers. Pretty awful way for Slovenia to go out, while little sympathy for Algeria's quest for 3 goalless draws, a hilarious playground shuffle at the end of the game saw a bunch of players give the referee some stick only to retreat as the ref turned away and started reaching to his pocket, leaving the Algerian captain who had done nothing at all, left standing all on his own in front of the ref, who promptly sent him off. The irrelevance of the decision meaning nobody really focused on this horrendous mistaken identity!
Not much to say about Group D really. The first of a few games this week where the top 2 teams played out a result that suited both of them. At least one African nation made it through. Regret that the Australians were so poor in that opening game - could have made the group even more interesting.
Group E. Given the return to work, I skipped Denmark v Japan... a tight, boring slender win for the Vikings I thought. How wrong could I be! Two spanking free kicks and a great performance... and now a very favourable match up with Paraguay in the last 16.... The Dutch have clearly got wind that my money is on them to be top goalscorers in the tournament and have gone all German...
Group F. Super. Super. Slovakia. Brilliant performance against an ageing Italian team who, it seemed, were only told with 10 minutes to go that they were actually in a football game. Altogether now..... "there's only one Italian, there's only one Italian, there's only one Italian staying here, Fabio!! " Special mention to the Kiwis, the homeland was proud of being able to have a solid excuse to drink into the early hours, as evidenced by my chat with a highly inebriated local as he wandered the streets of Auckland at 4am in the morning!
Group G. I missed these games as I was busy actually working. I then saw the "highlights" of the Brazil - Portugal game... Nothing else to say apart from I told you so about Portugal... terrible! Goodbye Sven, enjoy that pay cheque.
Group H. Chile. What a good team. What a crazy team. Completely shot themselves in the foot and the Spaniards were lucky. Again, strange last 20 mins when both teams figured out the chances of Switzerland scoring a goal were about as remote as BP figuring out how to plug the Gulf, and Chile just watched Spain pass it back and forth amongst their defence.
Phew, tired now. 87 mins into the Uruguay game - I continue to be impressed by them, they seem to have the components of a strong tournament team, if not the most flamboyant. Scored a comedy early goal and tried to defend it, but easily stepped up a gear again to score the second - Suarez finally looking like a decent player. Perez in the midfield is an absolute warrior - brilliant... if maybe a bit crazy looking.
Firstly, the roar of the three lions! Good performance all round, with no one really standing out for me, just a very good team performance, although we look so much more of a threat with Defoe up front than poor Emile. Not that he did a huge amount, but he got one chance and took it, and that's going to be key in the later stages... No real comedy moments to recall, the game was too tense, although what seems like a recurring theme for the remainder of the tournament, the pitches are all starting to look like the Springboks have been sneaking under cover of darkness to play a couple of games of egg chasing. Mark my words, if it hasn't happened yet, there will be multiple commentary moments back home making reference to the Wembley pitch.... Also, did not go unnoticed how contrived and difficult it was for the players to arrange a group hug at the end of the game... hopefully we'll get more practice in on the training ground this week.
Next up... Team USA. Incredibly annoying to admit, as they have now made our path to glory a lot harder (seriously - Germany, Argentina, Spain, Brazil... ), but quite easily the most exciting team to follow at this world cup so far. Horribly limited in defence, meaning they are perennially chasing whatever game they're in, have an increasingly suspicious attraction to dodgy refereeing decisions, but they are one of the fittest teams in the tournament who keep going to the final minute, as proved against the Algerians. Pleased for Landon, obvious Everton bias coming out here, but his dead ball deliveries have put more illustrious names to shame - he must have been sent a Jubilani secretly in advance. The biggest plus is it keeps world cup fever very much alive in this country, and also stops the 'experts' droning on about being wronged by the referee (after the Slovenia game it reached English levels of incredulity). Shame they have a tricky game next up and will have the entire African continent cheering against them....
Spare a thought for the Group C losers. Pretty awful way for Slovenia to go out, while little sympathy for Algeria's quest for 3 goalless draws, a hilarious playground shuffle at the end of the game saw a bunch of players give the referee some stick only to retreat as the ref turned away and started reaching to his pocket, leaving the Algerian captain who had done nothing at all, left standing all on his own in front of the ref, who promptly sent him off. The irrelevance of the decision meaning nobody really focused on this horrendous mistaken identity!
Not much to say about Group D really. The first of a few games this week where the top 2 teams played out a result that suited both of them. At least one African nation made it through. Regret that the Australians were so poor in that opening game - could have made the group even more interesting.
Group E. Given the return to work, I skipped Denmark v Japan... a tight, boring slender win for the Vikings I thought. How wrong could I be! Two spanking free kicks and a great performance... and now a very favourable match up with Paraguay in the last 16.... The Dutch have clearly got wind that my money is on them to be top goalscorers in the tournament and have gone all German...
Group F. Super. Super. Slovakia. Brilliant performance against an ageing Italian team who, it seemed, were only told with 10 minutes to go that they were actually in a football game. Altogether now..... "there's only one Italian, there's only one Italian, there's only one Italian staying here, Fabio!! " Special mention to the Kiwis, the homeland was proud of being able to have a solid excuse to drink into the early hours, as evidenced by my chat with a highly inebriated local as he wandered the streets of Auckland at 4am in the morning!
Group G. I missed these games as I was busy actually working. I then saw the "highlights" of the Brazil - Portugal game... Nothing else to say apart from I told you so about Portugal... terrible! Goodbye Sven, enjoy that pay cheque.
Group H. Chile. What a good team. What a crazy team. Completely shot themselves in the foot and the Spaniards were lucky. Again, strange last 20 mins when both teams figured out the chances of Switzerland scoring a goal were about as remote as BP figuring out how to plug the Gulf, and Chile just watched Spain pass it back and forth amongst their defence.
Phew, tired now. 87 mins into the Uruguay game - I continue to be impressed by them, they seem to have the components of a strong tournament team, if not the most flamboyant. Scored a comedy early goal and tried to defend it, but easily stepped up a gear again to score the second - Suarez finally looking like a decent player. Perez in the midfield is an absolute warrior - brilliant... if maybe a bit crazy looking.
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