Skip to main content

My headline writing career is over before it starts

"Moses departs the Messi!" was going to be my stunning arrival into top-flight journalism, before Rojo popped up with that stunning winner. Maradonna gave it the double bird and like that my dreams (and Nigeria's too) we're in tatters.

What a game though. A thoroughly emotional atmosphere in the stadium, great anthems with Nigeria belting out theirs and the Argentina fans doing likewise whilst their players, to man, gave it the "fully focussed" death-stare. It was obvious we were going to get redemption from the France v Denmark snore draw.

Even Maradonna was pumped, so much so, that I rather suspect he's spent a few days at the Russian training facilities that Stevie has talked of. He was proper rolling!

Messi scored that great goal, and things looked better for the Argies for a while, until Mascherano and his one man calamity  crew gave Nigeria a lifeline. The last 30 minutes was just a breathless exchange  and it was truly anyone's game in the end.

(Edit: totally goofedthe fixtures!) So, more seats are now taken, and France vs Argentina looks a sumptuous clash, with Portugal and Uruguay looking set to be a festival of fouling and diving for sure. Croatia should breeze past Denmark.

Today, Germany and Brazil. It's fun, this.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

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...

Reflections

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...

The. Best. Ever

  As promised in my last post, I left the fawning over Messi to after the final. And just as he had done in EVERY knockout round of the tournament, Messi stood up to be counted, and delivered BIG TIME. Which was very considerate of him to make it very easy to write my final post of 2022 by waxing lyrically about the wonder that is Lionel Messi. Sport in general, and certainly football, is littered with examples of finals being played that struggle to meet the grand expectations bestowed upon it, where two teams nullify each other to the point of it becoming - a still intriguing contest - but more of a chess match. Cagey, tight. No pizzazz.  This was quite simply the best World Cup final of my lifetime. Involving the best player on the planet, playing to the best of his abilities. Dragging his team through to a glorious end. That it also involved his heir apparent who was likely the most miserable recipient of a souvenir match ball at a World Cup is just mind blowing.  It ...