Skip to main content

Betfair 1 Birchy 0

By
Yet again I have managed to prove that my prediction powers are poor. I thought that in my neutral state of 'supporting football' rather than any particular team that my predictions for the tournament would be super accurate, unclouded by partisan-ship. So confident was I that I had a clever accumulator on the basis that I would get 7 of 8 group winners correct. By the time the third group finished (my first of 6 opportunities to lose the bet) I had lost the bet.

I still have Argentina down to win; and either Giroud (often a sub for France) or Higuain (utterly overshadowed by the brilliant Messi) to be tournament top scorers.

Since I last posted, Greece surprised me completely. Not just by winning their crunch match with Ivory Coast - but by doing so in seemingly cavalier style. They were raining shots in from all distances and seem to have had a genuine shift in style and attitude - one that reflects the overall feel of the tournament; which is that "defences are pretty poor so let's go for it". 

Then onto yesterday's games where France and Ecuador played out a refreshingly dull 0-0 (which allowed me to do something other than focus 100% on footy for once); whilst Switzerland further highlighted my ability to be wrong by dispatching the hapless Honduras.

Which brings me on to today. With two great games in prospect, all eyes focused more on the Suarez verdict - so I was really glad to hear the thud of the book being flung his way. A total ban from all footy until late October, coupled with a 9 game international ban (which will be of indeterminate length, depending on competitive fixtures) means that Suarez will again be able to amass 7 figure sums in wages before kicking a ball in anger next season. Put like that it hardly feels like a punishment, but I presume he will be pretty pissed; and all his team mates will feel like the utter dicks they have been for the past 48-hours with their denials and claims that savagery and cannibalism are part and parcel of the modern game. It's one of the most hate-able parts of football; the 'fair weather morality' that completely dissolves when confronted with a potential competitive disadvantage to ones team.

The tournament, minus the Honduras team and Suarez will certainly lack that murderous edge - but with the football being so brilliant, I don't think it will suffer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am numb

By
The England match left me numbed. Unimpressive, uninspired, lacklustre – however the bottle of champagne I enjoyed with the game certainly took the edge off things. It seems that we, along with France and Italy are suffering some horrendous ‘anti-football’ affliction. If the game was less global then we could put it down to ‘a long hard season in the Premier league’ or ‘the difficulty of being motivated for national team games when the premier league pays so well’; but neither is valid. Neither is this jibulabulani ball business. The teams who pass to each other seem not to suffer. Poor selections and poor play has blighted us, and whilst lots of vitriol heads in the direction of Heskey, we’d do well to remember that the main culprits on Friday were Gerrard and Rooney for having zero patience on the ball and terrible control. Lampard wasn’t much better. At least Barry gave us some sort of stable platform to build from. I expect the introductions of Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe or Peter...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arriving late at the far post...........

By
Well, out from behind a rock I come. Like Batman responding to the spotlight over Gotham, the sight of Alexi Lalas relaxing on ESPN's swanky new World Cup set spouting 'knowledge' of the beautiful game immediately triggered me into action. A personal excitement for me is the returning punditry on this side of the pond of one Roberto Martinez. 4 years ago, I listened to this polite young man with light enthusiasm....now I find myself hanging onto every word from Bobby Brown Shoes. A supremely classy guy, just hoping for the "and Neymar is close to signing, which is phenonemal (Bobby's most used word - quite impressive for a Spanish native) " Sooo, what have I missed so far (Brazil own goal aside).... - Roy Hodgson in old man sunglasses - An amazing lack of planning from team England organizing a friendly in Florida at 5pm in June and being surprised as a thunderstorm - Scapegoating of a key England player (Rooney) before a ball is kicked in anger - Overplay...
2 comments
Read more

The Lalas factor

By
Famous for having a very ginger goatee in 1994. He also managed LA Galaxy, (yes THE galaxy), before getting fired after winning errrm, nothing. A fine CV in which to impart his wisdom. Welcome to ESPN's premier 'soccer' analyst for the next month here in the US. However, I am particularly excited by this development - a stroke of genius by the programming masterminds - in the space of about an hour, he has given me a month's worth of material..... "well, when you think about it, Bob Bradley has done as much as Fabio Capello in his career" "US to win 2-1 on Saturday, I see England getting out of their group but not sure after that" "but what kind of defensive message does this send to the players - I can't agree" (in response to a scarily great tactical suggestion by John Harkes - yes of Sheff Wed fame - to play Landon Donovan, the US' best player, behind the striker to exploit the fact that neither Lampard or Gerrard will ultimately...
Post a Comment
Read more