Back... and it's World Cup time!!
Yup, and while I was away, there have been disappointing but also some very heartening happenings.
On the happy front, the cup loss (and I dare say to a large extent) made up our Captain Magnifique's mind to stay - did he say "I'll never play [professionally] in Spain" and that he'll end his superb career at Arsenal? ;-) - and we signed a certain Tomas Rosicky (more on him later, I promise!) for the usual "undisclosed sum" (of around £8million, according to some) from B Dortmund.
And of course, the 18th World Cup Finals finally kicked off in Germany over the last weekend. 5.5 out of the 8 groups have played their first game at the time of writing and so far, as expected of a Finals hosted in Europe, there has not been too major an upset - although Ecuador and Trinidad & Tobago may beg to differ.
Whether it be lack of good fortune, the brillance of the opposition, or underestimating opponents/inadequacies on their own part, Poland and Sweden failed to pick anything up from their openers against Ecuador and T&T respectively, despite pre-game expectations of relatively easy wins. Poland seem to have rather glaring scoring problems, while Sweden failed to break down a 10-men Carribbean side for an entire half despite hitting the posts more than once.
Other European teams have had much better luck - none more so than our dear Engerland, who like the Pols and the Swedes could not score. The difference is, they managed to win. An early own-goal from Paraguay from a Beckham freekick was the highlight of a dour game and proved everyone who thinks "England can't create without Rooney" right.
Somehow, I'm not too astonished by the lack of scoring prowess of all three of these European teams. Sweden's fortunes depend too much on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's form and he hasn't been enjoying himself too much at Juve this season. Freddie and Larsson? Well, it makes me sad to say this for Freddie but, I think their best days have come and gone. For Poland.... urm... not sure who they have and it's not just the long and difficult-to-spell names. Their "main" striker is from Celtic, eh? Don't mean to put down the Scottish league but... well, let's just say if you ain't playing in Spain, Italy, England, France, Germany, Holland... Anyway, their manager's final selections have come under much fire back home and their pre-tournament form would not have made their group-mates too bothered - and it shows. As for England... they have for a fully-fit, "in-form" striker... urm, Crouch? 'Nuff said.
Semifinalist-hopefuls Portugal and the Oranje helmed by my fav legend Marco van Basten also navigated Round 1 successfully with narrow 1-0 victories, although with - unsurprisingly - slightly much more panache than the English.
Meanwhile, other pre-tournament favourites managed to keep their end of the bargain.
Ballack-less Germany succeeded in setting an excellent example as host for the rest in the opening game, sparkling the tournament alight with a scintillating 4-2 victory over Costa Rica. Two of their goals were pure gems, particularly the last by Torsten Frings.
Argentina also looked comfortable in their 2-1 win over the Toure brothers and the Ivory Coast, although the Africans could prove tougher to beat for others in Group of Death I.
Over in GoD II, the Czech Republic made the US of A look more like a lower-50 FIFA ranker (just as most of us suspected) with a 3-0 spanking - the best winning margin so far. And doesn't our latest £million signing look just smashing with his twin beauties? Absolutely gorgeous! Another crystal-ball deal by Arsene, it would seem. Way to go, Tomas, and keep it up!
My fav team Italy also started off nicely with a rather relaxed 2-0 victory over unknown entities Ghana, despite pre-game gloom over key injuries and the Serie-A fiasco. Go Azzurri, GO!!
So, we have defending champs Brazil, Titi and co., and perennial dark horses Spain (with Cesc!) still to kick off their WC Finals... will we see a few more upsets? Probably. But an educated guess, from the matches so far and past stats of WCs played in Europe, is that there would not be too many.... despite the old adage of the ball being a sphere. Good for you punters out there, right? ;)
And here are my hopes/predictions for the final 16 and beyond.... must admit that for the Azzurri the decision was made more by the heart than the mind (and Japan too, to a much lesser degree). Ukraine could very well end all African aspirations and make it with Spain, but I would prefer at least 1 African team through.
Hopefully, it'll be an Italy-Brazil final with the the Azzurri getting their revenge for USA '94.
Well, I'm a football fan, and for us more than anything, hope springs eternal!
So we failed to bring back the European holy grail to London despite a very gallant effort with 10-men, a substitute keeper and a team with an average age of 20 in belting rain against one of the most well-put-together squads in the world... but it was our first try and a daxxxx good first try at that.
On the happy front, the cup loss (and I dare say to a large extent) made up our Captain Magnifique's mind to stay - did he say "I'll never play [professionally] in Spain" and that he'll end his superb career at Arsenal? ;-) - and we signed a certain Tomas Rosicky (more on him later, I promise!) for the usual "undisclosed sum" (of around £8million, according to some) from B Dortmund.
And of course, the 18th World Cup Finals finally kicked off in Germany over the last weekend. 5.5 out of the 8 groups have played their first game at the time of writing and so far, as expected of a Finals hosted in Europe, there has not been too major an upset - although Ecuador and Trinidad & Tobago may beg to differ.
Whether it be lack of good fortune, the brillance of the opposition, or underestimating opponents/inadequacies on their own part, Poland and Sweden failed to pick anything up from their openers against Ecuador and T&T respectively, despite pre-game expectations of relatively easy wins. Poland seem to have rather glaring scoring problems, while Sweden failed to break down a 10-men Carribbean side for an entire half despite hitting the posts more than once.
Other European teams have had much better luck - none more so than our dear Engerland, who like the Pols and the Swedes could not score. The difference is, they managed to win. An early own-goal from Paraguay from a Beckham freekick was the highlight of a dour game and proved everyone who thinks "England can't create without Rooney" right.
Somehow, I'm not too astonished by the lack of scoring prowess of all three of these European teams. Sweden's fortunes depend too much on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's form and he hasn't been enjoying himself too much at Juve this season. Freddie and Larsson? Well, it makes me sad to say this for Freddie but, I think their best days have come and gone. For Poland.... urm... not sure who they have and it's not just the long and difficult-to-spell names. Their "main" striker is from Celtic, eh? Don't mean to put down the Scottish league but... well, let's just say if you ain't playing in Spain, Italy, England, France, Germany, Holland... Anyway, their manager's final selections have come under much fire back home and their pre-tournament form would not have made their group-mates too bothered - and it shows. As for England... they have for a fully-fit, "in-form" striker... urm, Crouch? 'Nuff said.
Semifinalist-hopefuls Portugal and the Oranje helmed by my fav legend Marco van Basten also navigated Round 1 successfully with narrow 1-0 victories, although with - unsurprisingly - slightly much more panache than the English.
Meanwhile, other pre-tournament favourites managed to keep their end of the bargain.
Ballack-less Germany succeeded in setting an excellent example as host for the rest in the opening game, sparkling the tournament alight with a scintillating 4-2 victory over Costa Rica. Two of their goals were pure gems, particularly the last by Torsten Frings.
Argentina also looked comfortable in their 2-1 win over the Toure brothers and the Ivory Coast, although the Africans could prove tougher to beat for others in Group of Death I.
Over in GoD II, the Czech Republic made the US of A look more like a lower-50 FIFA ranker (just as most of us suspected) with a 3-0 spanking - the best winning margin so far. And doesn't our latest £million signing look just smashing with his twin beauties? Absolutely gorgeous! Another crystal-ball deal by Arsene, it would seem. Way to go, Tomas, and keep it up!
My fav team Italy also started off nicely with a rather relaxed 2-0 victory over unknown entities Ghana, despite pre-game gloom over key injuries and the Serie-A fiasco. Go Azzurri, GO!!
So, we have defending champs Brazil, Titi and co., and perennial dark horses Spain (with Cesc!) still to kick off their WC Finals... will we see a few more upsets? Probably. But an educated guess, from the matches so far and past stats of WCs played in Europe, is that there would not be too many.... despite the old adage of the ball being a sphere. Good for you punters out there, right? ;)
And here are my hopes/predictions for the final 16 and beyond.... must admit that for the Azzurri the decision was made more by the heart than the mind (and Japan too, to a much lesser degree). Ukraine could very well end all African aspirations and make it with Spain, but I would prefer at least 1 African team through.
Hopefully, it'll be an Italy-Brazil final with the the Azzurri getting their revenge for USA '94.
Well, I'm a football fan, and for us more than anything, hope springs eternal!
posted by snowcalla @ 5:10 pm (UTC+8)
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