Skip to main content

Day 3 thoughts

By
Not much time here so we're going to have to go with a quick fire round today:
  • Continued my poor run of watching the 7:30am games. Best decision EVER. sounds like a stinker of a game, but a potentially horrible result.... last game frustration as the Slovenians park the bus awaits!
  • Algeria game on Friday promises to be a goalkeeping masterclass.... could be a basketball score...
  • Looks like Ghana for 2nd in Group B, were not spectacular but thought they played well enough sans Essien.
  • Serbia's Nikola Zigic - oh dear. Looks like the love child of Gareth Barry and Peter Crouch, and plays like the latter. Great defensive clearance when it seemed easier to score... Somebody get Alex McLeish a stiff drink
  • Well crap. We just saw the best team in the tournament and its the Germans....

Birchy, I wish I could report more on the reaction of the locals to the 1-1 draw, but I have been confined to the house. Mr Lalas was suitably pleased though, and I have seen many facebook posts about a dodgy goaltender... but that is all for now (probably for the best I am off work right now)

Shock of the Day: Looks like the guy who can't play kick about with his 5 yr old son as his knees are too fooked but can play in a World Cup finals, errr, actually can't. Does anyone else think that Fabio should never ever play poker with 'Arry Redknapp... EVER.

Prediction of the Day: This may be stretching it, but we weren't horrible yesterday, and I think when Barry slots in, we may fall upon our best XI & formation and I expect us to get better as the tournament goes on. I do have no clue who to play centre half though - the lack of pace is frightening

Dutch tomorrow - looking forward to that, the Germans have set the standard now....

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