I've watched football in 4 different locations this weekend. I've also drunk a lot of beer in the process. Highly entertaining it has been too. Now I am looking forward to a sober and restful evening, with Honduras v France and Argentina vs debutants Bosnia-Herzogovina (sp?).
Saturday started off with a re-union event, which was (obviously) arranged completely around football. Myself, Dunc, Ed, Simon and the Webbs met in the Old Moseley Arms, a pub located on a fairly terrifying back street in a less well to do part of the city. In that pub though was some quality ale, friendly staff and a mighty 80" telly. The barman was a little bemused by the necessity to watch Greece vs Columbia. The game itself confiirmed what we already knew in so much as Greece are poor.
After that, a quick trip back to the place I was staying, a few more beers and the exciting Costa Rica vs Uruguay game, in which Uruguay failed to live up to the hype. Costa Rica came out 3-1 winners to send England's group into disarray. With England themselves losing - the fact that Uruguay lost might yet be a massive help to us. Costa Rica played with a great energy and scored some good goals - a positive theme that is emerging from the tournament as a whole. I'm sure there will be some cagey dull affairs over the next few weeks, but signs so far are that teamd are having a go, and placing little value on draws.
And so to the England game. I taxi'd back towards town and after some slight shennanigans with a locked gate, joined up with my pals at my old school. Quite surreal supping Peroni in the place where I'd normally have daily assembly and be forced to sing hymns. By this time, of course, we'd been boozing for a solid 8 hours - so it was little surprise that Sterlings early shot that snagged the side-netting actually fooled me into thinking he had scored. It took probably a full minute for me to stop dancing around the assembly hall and sheepishly sit back down. There was a real 'distant World Cup' feel about the game, which was being projected onto a massive screen in fairly poor quality and with constant buffering.
I thought we played well, no reason to have a post-mortem afterwards. Either side could have won. Italy did. They were pretty good. It does of course hike the pressure completely onto Thursday's game with Uruguay; and I would definitely bet my house on Suarez becoming fit and doing something truly awful to jeopardise our chances.
Having arrived back at the house at 2am, I was sorely tempted to push on through Japan vs Ivory Coast, and earn some self-awarded smug points, but common sense somehow prevailed and I took myself to bed, safe in the knowledge that I could enjoy a World Cup breakfast.
And so I did. Japan vs Ivory Coast was really entertaining. Both teams quite positive, and after a strong start by Japan, Ivory Coast (with their star-studded line-up) made a real comeback. Two gorgeous crosses were converted in as many minutes to give them the win they deserved.
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