World Cup Nonsense

[Nigel]

Sad to hear about Monty's mayhem on the last. The drive off the 18th is usually the downfall of the faint-hearted. Going all the way back to the Open in 1969, finding the short grass is usually enough to separate the Jacklins from the Van de Veldes. Subsequent hacking may be very memorable, as in Jean VdV's case, especially, but usually it does follow calamity of one sort or another from the tee.

Throwing away a major from the middle of the final fairway happens much more rarely. I can't think of any recent perpetrators, with the best example probably being Greg Norman in the Masters of 1986. Everyone remembers Seve dumping it into the water from a great position on 15 to enable Jack to win his final green jacket, but later on I seem to remember Norman missing the 18th green by forty yards right, for not much good reason at all.

Greatly enjoyed the second half of the France - South Korea game, with the ecstatic South Korean crowd being the real stars of the occasion. Attempting to close down the game and hold on to a 1-0 lead, as the French did, is so often a big mistake, and England were extremely lucky to get away with that approach against Paraguay. The Koreans seemed to have no physical strength whatsoever - it was almost like watching kids trying to play in a pub football game. What they were very good at, though, was moving the ball around very quickly with excellent first touch passing. It made the chess-like build-ups of many other teams look very ponderous.

Of other fallen giants, that Italy - USA match also had a lot to offer, despite the ridiculously reduced cast still left on the field for the final whistle. It must have been an eventful first half, with the die of the match really cast right at the moment I turned on when the second American was sent off. And yet, for all of that, the USA just kept rampaging forwards in numbers, looking for a winner, and almost looked like getting it. That group still looks wide open, although I for one would really like to see Ghana make it to the second stage after their great match against the Czechs.