Australia were woeful old friend.
The Italians barely deserved to win either. The red card (Materazzi) seemed harsh, but two wrongs and all that . . . the 'penalty' was a poor decision. I've heard pundits for and against it, so I guess it's not cut and dried . . . lets just say Italians know what to do with a defender on the turf in the area in the 95th minute. 'Nuff said.
The match was a master class in exciting attacking football compared with the neutral fare served up tonight. Happily I released the telly to the girlies and followed the 'drama' on the radio . . . sounded like a real snooze-fest. 0-0, extra time . . . 0-0 . . . penalties . . . first two missed . . . in fact the Swiss, desperate to maintain their legendary impartiality, contrived to miss their first three. Ukraine are through but they won't last long.
Ashes? Not sure I remember those . . .
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
It seems churlish to complain about performances when we are through to the quarter finals, but really, it's getting embarrassing. It's reminiscent of Greece at Euro 2004. Yep, they ended up winning the cup, but is there a non-Greek on the planet who can recall a single goal they scored? A single 'moment of magic'? I doubt it.
And that's what I'm getting spooked about. The phantom team of the World Cup. One minute we're preparing for our first game, the next we are in the quarter finals. How did we get there? We seem to be walking through walls. We are moving from one room to another without leaving any lasting impression. Nothing more permanent than the faint whiff of cigarette smoke.
Just days after they took place, I can barely recall anything of note from our four games so far. Gerrard's goal, and Cole's of course. They will bob around in te memory for a good while, but in 6 hours of football, hardly anything else. Lampard's misses (and I don't mean Elen Rives), Ashley Cole's heroic block in the Ecuador game.... Owen's crumpled knee. That's about it. A month from now, even the ink of those memories will have faded.
It's not too late. For England, Italia 90 began in the 119th minute of the second round. We'd been poor in the tournament up till that point, and yet Platt's wonder goal, followed by the struggle against Cameroon and that final, extended defeat in the semis, washed down with Gazza's tears, not to mention our own, left us with the delusion that we'd had a great World Cup.
We may have just 90 minutes to rescue ourselves. We need to find an extraordinary game from somewhere. It's a very English thing, but I'd prefer glorious defeat in the quarters to another pedestrian victory and a pedestrian defeat in the semi. As for the possibility of actually winning the thing, well! I can honestly say that I think I'd get no lasting pleasure from seeing England win the World Cup in this fashion. As a feat, it would a replica of that side who won Euro 2004.
Whoever they were.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Cheer up, lads - it could be worse. We could be supporting Switzerland (erk, I was, actually). As MLCMan says, no goals scored against them, but then again not a single shredicum of attacking flair, either.
Thanks to Sweder for reminding me that I could get Radio 5 Live coverage to go with the BBC pictures. Their discussion of who had or hadn't eaten Bounty bars and extra helpings of fish and chips was rather Brian Johnstonesque, but easily the most diverting aspect of the entire evening.
On a different note, driving through London on a gloriously sunny Sunday morning before the England-Ecuador game, I was really amazed by the number of flags all over the capital. It was great to see Ghana, Portugal and Italy all up there as well as England.
The St George's flag has long been degraded by its associations with fascist tendencies and the National Front, and I'm still not entirely comfortable with it. But for all of that, this is a World Cup summer which I'm sure we'll look back on with some affection, if not in fact for the football played.
What strikes me is the touching depth of devotion shown by pretty much the entire country for their team and the beautiful game, when in fact their team has so far served up nothing much more than unadulterated dross. It must be such a relief to all the players locked up in Berchtesbaden to think of their millions of countrymen cheering them on so forgivingly of their desperate ineptitude.
As Andy says, it's time to deliver. I'm not sure what it will take to make that happen. 'Better opposition,' the pundits all say, but as someone pondered during the Chelsea game, somehow Portugal's Chelsea reserves can manage to play outstandingly when they wear a national shirt, whilst England's Chelsea players fade faster than a Mourinho smile.
I can still remember finishing off a junior school concert with a rousing rendition of the England anthem of 1970, shortly before we watched England throw away their lead against Germany (that was where it all started to go wrong). And even though the New Order song from Italia 1990 is by far the best ever England record, the lyrics from that year in Mexico do ring ever truer as this summer's tournament progresses:
Back home,
They'll be watching and waiting
and cheering every move
Back home,
Though we think we're the greatest
That's what we've got to prove.
I must take issue with Simon Barnes (Times 26.06.06).
He brilliantly compared England's performances in Germany with the circus clown car - bumping along on misshapen wheels as bits and pieces fly off to the sound of whistles and bangs. Beckham, he says, is the Beautiful Clown in the silver suit.
Simon, Simon, Simon.
As chief sportswriter for Murdock's flagship you must know rule number one is to check your facts. Whereas the heavily made-up midgets cavorting around the ring raise good-natured laughter and bring smiles to the audience their counterparts on the hallowed turf are greeted with howls of derision, frenzied nail-chewing and embarrassed, almost apologetic flag-waving.
I share Andy’s view.
I desperately want England to win this World Cup, but not at any price.
Sadly the more the country weeps into its warm lager, lamenting the failure of the Golden Generation to raise anything more significant than their over-hyped profiles and bloated salaries, the less likely they are to deliver.
‘In each game we are getting better and better’ drools Mr Burns, wild-eyed, high on God-knows-what as he leers over the retreating shape of Garth Crooks. He reminds me of the fabulous Herbert Lom as Inspector Dreyfus; all he needs is the winking eye.
‘Every day – giggle – I’m getting better and better! Hm, Hm-Hm!’
I want to be positive. I want to shout from the rooftops that it’s all the intricate ploy of a tactical genius, that Sven’s fooled the world with the ultimate rope-a-dope trick.
And then Planet Rock bursts my bubble as Daltry & Co belt out an ominous warning: ‘We Won’t Get Fooled Again!’
Go on England, prove me wrong.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
England's latest comedy keeper, Paul Robinson, claims nasty German pitches are to blame for his side's dismal form thus far.
"The conditions have made it hard for us," he flapped, failing to connect with his intended point.
"They're not watering [the pitches]. It's slowing our passing game down," he revealed, causing a confused Fiver
to wonder how dry grass slows down 70-yard airborne shanks aimed in the general direction of Wayne Rooney.
Didn't see that one coming . . .
Congratulations to the French (cough, cough), but what on earth happened to Spain??? 30 minutes gone they had the game in their pockets then wham! Ribery scores and all that Spanish self-belief evaporated into the Hamburg sky. Sweet revenge for Thierry Henri perhaps - the look of bewilderment on the face of Aragones would have been a start. Now for a show down with the one man who's failure to perform in this tournament is helping Frank Spencer (aka Lampard) sleep at night - the 'beast' of Barcelona himself, Ronaldinho. Henri owes him one for that night in Paris a few weeks ago . . .
Bad news for Mr Burns.
His Cup Final Secret Weapon appears to have fallen foul of the Baden Baden constabulary . . .
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Erm, certainly not, but anyway, almost every bet I touch falls to pieces. I made the mistake of gloating in an early message about having a spread bet on Rooney's playing minutes, where every minute over 99 earns me £1 a minute. OK, so I've done OK on that one. I think I'm about £100 to the good, with more Rooney to come.
But almost nothing else has gone right.
Today was a perfect example. I've become keen on betting on scoring shirt numbers. Well, it's a bit of fun, isn't it? So this afternoon I decided to go high on numbers for the Brazil-Ghana match. Yes, they won 3-0, but the 3 scorers could only muster a total of 27 in shirt numbers, 3 below the magic number. So I went low on the France-Spain game, convinced that this would be a dour affair. By half time, numbers 23 and 21 had made it 1-1, leaving me £14 down with "a whole half" (as it were) to go. Vieira and Zidane threw another £14 on the fire in the second.
I also went 'high' on 2 games which finished 0-0, and another where numbers 3 and 4 were the only scorers. With 30 being the approximate break-even point for each game, you can work it out.
I know, I know, it's all my stupid fault, but I reasoned that some I'd win, some I'd lose, and all would balance itself out. I don't normally gamble much, but I found it was a good way to add a bit of spice to the less fascinating games, and the habit has persisted through the later rounds.
I've had 6 bets on the numbers of corners in games I was about to watch. I won a whopping £1.80 on the first, but lost on the rest.
Yellow and red cards. I've chanced my arm a few times on these bets. 10 points for a yellow, 25 for a red. Break even point usually around 60. All my troubles would be over if I'd had a bet on the Portugal-Holland game. 4 red cards and 16 yellows. But at least I hadn't bet the other way. I have however had a punt on several others with no success at all. I won't punish myself further by listing them.
I've almost stopped caring whether England win the trophy. It's only Rooney's minutes that matter. Forget the result, just get to the final please boys.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Good news is Rooney's looking like the Energizer Bunny . . . he'll go on for hours if not days. Unless some slimy Portuguese bloke studs him in his poorly treader . . .
Thierry Henri - slimy French cheating person: discuss.
OK, it was an infringement, but Henri has undone years of goodwill in this country by doing a Rivaldo and clutching the wrong part of his body as he hits the dirt like Willem Dafoe in Platoon. The airwaves are crackling with self-righteous indignation tonight.
Bettings a mugs game.
I go to Vegas for the cheap booze and hookers
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Mercifully it's limited to football and even then, only sporadic.
Agree that Monsieur Henry seemed to make an ass of himself, though I didn't see a replay. First sight looked embarrassing for the va-va-voom man. Forgive me if I disagree that he's "undone years of goodwill" though. I suspect that's the ManU fan talking .
Only had half an eye on the TV tonight but it struck me that France are beginning to gather strength after a slow start while Spain have reverted to tournament type after a start that threatened to remodel their reputation.
So.
Argentina v Germany.
Italy v Ukraine.
England v Portugal.
France v Brazil.
Looks pretty tasty.
I'd say Italy will start firm favourites to reach the semis, but the others are almost too close to call.
Argentina - Germany threatens to be a classic though I'm less sure about the entertainment value of the England game.
If I had to stick my neck out, I'd go for Argentina, Italy, Portugal and Brazil to get through, with a final between Brazil and the eventual winners, Argentina.
Where's that betting slip.....?
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
andy Wrote:Forgive me if I disagree that he's "undone years of goodwill" though. I suspect that's the ManU fan talking
Possibly, but it's not all MU Rowdies fans calling in to the radio progs tonight . . . highlights on in a few minutes on the Beeb so I'll take another look. First time 'round it looked ugly, and I'm a big TH* fan . . .
[COLOR="Purple"]OK, seen it again . . . and goodwill or no he's a cheating watsit, no better than Rivaldo.
Yes it was a free kick, but Henri simulated a blow to the face, no question. Shame on him.
If/ when Joe Cole does the same there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth to be sure.
France deserved the win, we move on.[/COLOR]
[SIZE="1"]*Tottenham Hotspur, natch [/SIZE]
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Yes, that was shockingly disappointing, Thierry - and I'll never buy another Renault Clio (er, not that I ever had one in the first place).
Sad as it is to see so much cynicism creeping into the game, or rather stampeding right across it, I do seem to remember seeing Gerrard simulate a free kick in the pre-World Cup game against Uruguay, from which we subsequently scored. How easily even Saints are fallen.
Speaking of heroes, it's time to lighten up with this one. My kids just love it, and I think they're absolutely spot on.
.