Skip to main content

First sleep fail

By
Last night my World Cup survival plan fell gloriously into place. I had been weighing up options of how to motivate myself to stay awake for what is, in truth, a fairly uninspiring line up of 11pm kickoffs during this week. The night owls get rewarded with:

  • Ghana vs USA
  • Russia vs South Korea
  • Cameroon vs Croatia
  • Japan vs Greece
  • Honduras vs Ecuador

Even as a nut-job football fan I can see that this is a "purists selection" at best, and with the travails of work looming each morning, the prospect of just 5 or so hours sleep off the back of each of these is not a pleasant one.

Luckily my state of enforced rehabilitation (after the exertions of Saturday) meant that I was physically unable to watch Argentina vs Bosnia & Herzegovina live. Instead (after watching the first goal), I formed the plan which will now form the routine. Watch the late game, recorded, at 6:30am. This opens up the glorious option to watch every match yet still achieve 8 hours sleep, and get to work on time. Brilliant. No idea why I didn't think of this initially. Also, what an amazing way to start the day!

On to last night. Argentina got going with a Messi inspired victory, and Bosnia & Herzegovina confirmed my thoughts that they will likely progress, as they held their own and might, just might have snatched a draw late on.

France too were impressive, with Benzema smashing in a couple of goals and them coasting to a 3-0 win. Honduras provided violent entertainment which I expect is set to continue throughout the tournament.

Tonight I have watched Germany completely take Portugal apart. Even without a striker, they managed to re-deploy midfielder Thomas Muller and laugh Germanically as he bagged a hat-trick. Portugal really let themselves down, Pepe getting a red card for head-butting Muller after he had the gall to fall over after being punched in the face.  I feel for Ronaldo, surrounded by underachieving and bad tempered team mates. 

Now onto Iran vs Nigeria - which is surely the battle for 3rd place in Group F....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Stunning games and goals

By
Last night's games really lived up to their billing. Brazil and Chile was a great game - both teams going at it, the threat of goals ever-present and the threat of red cards also seemingly high. Chile looked the better team on balance, but the home advantage seemed to lift Brazil and they always carried a threat. The theme of course; one which is endemic across the tournament, is that neither defence looked very strong. In the end, the width of the post denied Chile in the shoot-out, as had the crossbar in the final minute of extra time. A really crappy way to go out of the tournament, but they can be proud of their efforts. Few will be disappointed to see Brazil still in the tournament, as things always go a bit flat once the hosts bow out. I'll also enjoy those anthems carrying on. If anything sums up England's utter failure in big competitions of late, it is the passionless mumblings we do in the anthems, which sets the tone for the game afterwards. The second game o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflections

By
So another World Cup is coming to a close, and while recriminations, inquests and debriefs will continue - the distraction will stop and life goes on. Sometimes, almost guaranteed, that means dealing with heartbreak along the way. I for one hope Mr and Mrs Birchy have had their share and, the future has in store many more good times to balance out the tough. Wishing you both strength at this tough time. There's no great segue to get us back to the footie, but I talked about distraction and here is my distracting run down on all things Brazil, team by team, with omissions of those that didn't leave an impression :  Africa: Algeria weren't bad at all. Great game v Sth Korea and gave the Germans a run for their money. The rest made the squabbles for win bonuses the height of irony... Asia: Sth  Korea: pelted with toffees upon arrival home. Need I say more. I've forgotten what Japan did United States of Australia: plucky effort team, sum of parts blah blah..., could run all...
Post a Comment
Read more