Sunday, June 20, 2010

World Cup Days Eight, Nine. I'm really slowing down.

Day Eight results - 0 for 3 again.

Germany 0-1 Serbia
me: Germany 2-1 Serbia. Wrong result, half-wrong score. Shit reffing. Nine cards in the first half. Klose should never have been sent off. The Germans looked good in the first half, but Podolski apparently found his club form for country. Well done to Serbia. They are my dark horse candidate, so...

Slovenia 2-2 USA
me: Slovenia 1-2 USA. Wrong result, half-wrong score. What a great game, though the US really should have won, with a ghost call pulling their third goal back. What was so impressive was that neither team stopped attacking. Compared to the next game, this was so refreshing and exciting.

England 0-0 Algeria
me: England 2-0 Algeria. Wrong result, half-wrong score. What a dire game for England. Only the play of keeper David James was any good. Could this finally put to rest the Gerrard-Lampard-midfield debate? Gerrard was England's best player against the US. Out wide against Algeria he was barely in the game, and Lampard was shit. It must be so frustrating for coach Fabio Capello to watch as pass after pass goes astray. Just for fun, compare the forwards for Spain with the England forwards. It's not a pretty sight.


Day Nine results - finally some results in my favour

Netherlands 1-0 Japan
me: Netherlands 3-1 Japan. Right result, wrong score. What a boring game; worst I've seen so far. The Dutch seem to have forgotten how to attack. Full credit to Japan, who swarmed all over the field pressuring the Dutch at every touch, but a better team would have passed or dribbled through the pressure, while the Dutch were happy enough to just pass it back to the keeper time and time again. I can't remember any of the Dutch starting 11 trying to dribble past an opponent. They've got two wins, neither convincing, and I hope they either find their real form or lose their next game. I had such high hopes for their playing style.

Ghana 1-1 Australia
me: Ghana 1-1 Australia. Right result, right score. A good match that Ghana should have won. Winger Harry Kewell was sent off for stopping a goal with his arm; full credit to the Aussies, who needed a win and kept on attacking. Someone had obviously told the Ghanaians to shoot from distance; too often they did when a pass would have been better. This group is bonkers now, and this sets up a barnstormer of a game between Ghana and Germany.

Cameroon - Denmark
me: Cameroon 1-0 Denmark. I haven't watched the whole game yet. It's 1-0 to Cameroon in the 30th minute, so could be good for me. J-pop says it's a great one, so I'm looking forward to finishing later today.

I'll link to match highlights after the games today; I don't want to inadvertently see a result.


And now a seemingly forgotten segment here: Did you know?

Not available in Europe. Get it? Doesn't make as much sense now that he did well while on loan at Everton last season, but it's still funny.

Did you know that Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy golden boy and the face of the US national team, is known as Landycakes? He really is. Even to his fans. I really don't like him, but I can't remember why. This quote might explain it:
“They are jealous of us, the Mexican players, because we've got a life and they have nothing ... Because of that they despise us. ... Who is going to win this game? The best team. And we know good and well who is the best team between the U.S. and Mexico. We know it well.” - Landon Donovan
That's only slightly unfortunate right now, as the US are struggling to get out of the group stages while Mexico are almost guaranteed to go through.

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