Depression. And falling in love with "Passing Afternoon" by Iron & Wine.
These clouds without linings keep passing me by,
They darken the heavens of my brimstone sky.
They promise me rain but today's all the same,
They only bring pain and let me take the blame.
These names without faces they all tell a lie,
Deceiving the angels whose demons must die;
Their words break my bones with the pall of them all,
They set forth the hope and then plot its downfall.
These ships without heaven keep floating along,
They leave me at bay since my ticket is wrong,
Yet I see some boarders without one at all,
They chase their dreams while my nightmares snowball.
And day after day the desert still grows,
Rain falls all around me but wets just my toes;
Enticing my functions as I do march on,
Too naive to witness the absence of dawn.
These nights without armor keep making me weak,
They darken my heavens, my prospects look bleak;
The messiahs of my mind don't give me a care,
Send clouds without linings to fake that they're there.
The wheels keep on turning, the cycle goes on,
The summer's forever, the monsoon's long gone;
The strings of life whisper the beat of death's drum,
But hope still lies that a change gonna come.
P.S. - Screw the World Cup write-up. Argentina didn't win anyway. Bleh.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By The Numbers: A Statistical, Factual & Trivial Look At South Africa 2010
Firstly, apologies for the delay, but I've been swamped with work lately and the little free time I have been enjoying lately have gone into playing guitar, listening to music or watching House. Plus, interest in World Cup tends to wane very quickly after the thing is over. But whatever, I'm back. I'm too lazy right now to write that formal review thingy, so I'm posting a statistical look at the tournament. Records and such.
- Brazil made a record 19th appearance. They will be breaking the record again in 2014 when they participate for a 20th time as hosts.
- Germany made a record 12th appearance in the top four. They are now the only country to appear in the semifinals of all 3 previous tournaments - 2002, 2006 and 2010.
- Germany and Serbia met for a record equaling 7th time in a World Cup finals match, matching the record held by Brazil vs Sweden.
- Germany and Brazil both made record 16th appearances in the final eight stage.
- Switzerland set a record for most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal, spanning an amazing 16 years. From USA 1994, through Germany 2006, and their first match of 2010.
- Switzerland also equaled Italy's record of most consecutive clean sheets with 5.
- Germany have now played more World Cup finals matches than any other country, with 99.
- Brazil's win over Chile in the Round of 16 was their 67th in tournament history. More than any other country.
- Mexico's loss to Argentina in the Round of 16 was their 24th in tournament history. A record.
- Italy set the drawing record, with their 1-1 result against New Zealand being their 21st draw.
- New Zealand equaled Bolivia, El Salvador & Honduras' record of most World Cup games without a win - 6.
- Robinho scored Brazil's 210th World Cup goal against Holland in the quarters; most number of goals scored by any country.
- Diego Forlan's goal against Germany was the 117th that the Nazis had conceded. Another record.
- The Dutch became the first country to lose a 3rd World Cup Final without having won a tournament. They also became the first country to make a 4th appearance in the top 4 without winning.
- Netherlands also became the first country to win as many as 6 games in a single tournament without winning the cup.
- This was only the 4th instance of the Champion having lost a game. Spain follows the Germany teams of 1954 and 1974 and the Argentina team of 1978. All of them lost 1 match.
- Spain equaled the record for champions with lowest goal difference (+6). Italy had previously achieved this in 1982.
- Spain also set the record for champions having scored fewest goals - 8. They are also the first champions with just 3 goal scorers - David Villa, Andres Iniesta & Carles Puyol.
- Spain equaled the record of champions having conceded the least number of goals. They, Italy '06 & France '98 all conceded just 2.
- Uruguay equaled its own record of having played the most no. of qualifying matches - 20. They had previously done that for the 2002 tournament.
- Germany made a record 15th straight appearance in the top 8 of the tournament, having never failed to do so since 1954.
- Champions Spain qualified for a record 7th consecutive World Cup. From 1986-2010.
- Luxembourg, on the other hand, failed to qualify for a record 18th consecutive tournament, having failed every time since 1934.
- Algeria equaled Bolivia's record of most consecutive matches without scoring with 5. Their record stretches back to Mexico '86.
- David James became the oldest player to debut in a World Cup finals tournament in England's game against Algeria. He was 39 years and 321 days old.
- Miroslav Klose became the first person to score at least 4 goals in 3 different World Cup finals (2002, 2006, 2010)
- Klose also became the 4th person to score twice in 4 matches, after Sandor Kocsis, Just Fontaine & Pele.
- Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Mexico equalled the record for the longest period between a player's 1st and last goals, the record being 12 years. The record is shared wih Pele, Uwe Seeler, Diego Maradona, Michael Laudrup, Henrik Larsson & Sami Al-Jaber
- Asamoah Gyan became the 1st person to miss 2 penalties in his World Cup career with his penalty miss against Uruguay in the quarterfinal
- Iker Casillas became the 1st goalkeeper to save penalties in 2 World Cup finals. He saved Ian Harte's effort in the round of 16 against Ireland in 2002 and stopped Oscar Cardozo of Paraguay from scoring in the quarterfinal this year.
- Carlos Alberto Parreira became the 1st person to appear in 6 tournaments and equalled Bora Milutinovic's record of having coached 5 nations at the finals.
- Otto Rehhagel became the oldest coach to appear in a World Cup finals at 71 years and 317 days
- Referee Oscar Ruiz of Colombia equalled the record for most tournaments, this being his 3rd.
- South Africa became the first host nation to be eliminated at the group stages.
- This was also the first time since 1950 that either Argentina or Brazil failed to win a World Cup hosted outside Europe. Since 1950, Brazil has won Chile '62, Mexico '70, USA '94 and KoreaJapan '02, while Argentina has won Argentina '78 and Mexico '86'.
- Germany became the first country since Brazil in 1970 to score 4 goals in 3 different matches in the same tournament.
- The Final set the record for most bookings with 14.
- With 145 goals, 2010 saw the least number of goals scored for a 64-match World Cup. The 2.27 goals per game is also the 2nd lowest in history after Italy '90's 2.21.
- Thomas Mueller became the first recipient of the Best Young Player Award to win another individual award.
- Japan's win over Cameroon was their first World Cup win on foreign soil.
- This was the first time that both the previous finalists failed to make it past the group stage.
- For the first time since quarterfinals were introduced in 1954, only 3 Europeans made it to the final eight. Ghana became the 3rd African team to appear in the quarterfinals after Cameroon in 1990 & Senegal in 2002. Paraguay made its quarterfinal debut.
- Uruguay reached the semifinals for the first time in 40 years, while Spain reached the semifinals for the first time.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Week (Five) That Was... Whatever.
The World Cup is finally over. There is finally a new World Cup champion and since it isn't United States, I don't give much of a crap. The last 2 matches went down exactly like most people thought they would. The loser's final was a very exciting match and the usual goal-intensive affair that it always is. It really was a great match and it's a shame that teams can no longer play like that when under pressure to win at all costs. Refereeing was also good in this game for once. No wrong offside calls and no unnecessary bookings/sending-offs. Mueller clinched the Golden Boot with a 5th goal and his 3 previous assists put him ahead of both Villa and Sneijder, both of whom failed to score in the borefest the following day. Forlan capped off a great World Cup with a 5th goal as well. Again, a great game of football compared to what was to follow.
What did follow is a prime example of why I dislike European football. When 2 good European nations play it's almost always a boring,drab game of football. The only good thing about the match was the team that did deserve to win, Spain, did win. Netherlands were just disgraceful. Sneijder couldn't find the form of his earlier games, Robben messed up 2 brilliant chances and the rest of the Dutch had forgotten that football isn't a full-contact sport like Rugby, particularly, Nigel de Jong, who turned in his trial for the Dutch karate team for the next Olympic games, slamming his boot into the rib cage of Xabi Alonso, and surprisingly got off with just a yellow card. Speaking of which, there were 14 in this one. A Final record. I literally had to prevent myself from falling asleep throughout the match, but luckily was awake when Iniesta scored the winner after 116 agonizing minutes of fucked up football.
So that's that, the World Cup is over, Spain are the champions, and we can all get on with our lives. I don't know whether to be sad that a World Cup is over, or happy that such a sad one is over. Anyway, a look at the awards...
Champions: Spain (Their best match was against Germany, the only Europeans who played better than them through the rest of the Cup, but among the others, I guess they deserved the trophy, even though most of the time they were too caught up in passing the ball around to remember to score goals)
Runners-Up: Netherlands (Definitely the worst of the 3 Dutch teams to reach the Final; they got lucky with the draw, were surprisingly good in grinding out the win against a low-key Brazil and played well against Uruguay, but when it mattered they couldn't match up)
Third Place: Germany (best team in the cup, saving their worst for their most crucial match cost them dear; Mueller's suspension didn't help)
Fourth Place: Uruguay (the surprise of the tournament, though in all fairness, the only time they played a superior team, they lost, if only by just. Forlan was an inspiration.)
Golden Ball: Diego Forlan (Simply brilliant. I'm happy that he got the award over Sneijder because the latter was very lucky in some of his goals)
Golden Boot: Thomas Mueller (youngest to ever win the honor, has been the revelation of the tournament)
Best Young Player: Thomas Mueller
Golden Glove: Iker Casillas (didn't dominate games like Enyeama for Nigeria nor was he involved in any shootouts, but when it mattered, Casillas showed why currently, he's the best goalkeeper in the world, pulling off some spectacular saves in the final, and conceding a record equalling 2 goals in the entire tournament)
Fair Play Award: Spain
Most Entertaining Team: I don't think FIFA are giving the award this year, but if they did, it has to go to Germany.
Goal Of The Tournament: This one's tough. Toss up between Maicon's goal vs DPR Korea & van Bronckhorst's goal against Uruguay
This isn't the last World Cup related post. I've a couple more planned, including one where I'll do a formal report of the World Cup, devoid of profanities and bias. Till then, later.
What did follow is a prime example of why I dislike European football. When 2 good European nations play it's almost always a boring,drab game of football. The only good thing about the match was the team that did deserve to win, Spain, did win. Netherlands were just disgraceful. Sneijder couldn't find the form of his earlier games, Robben messed up 2 brilliant chances and the rest of the Dutch had forgotten that football isn't a full-contact sport like Rugby, particularly, Nigel de Jong, who turned in his trial for the Dutch karate team for the next Olympic games, slamming his boot into the rib cage of Xabi Alonso, and surprisingly got off with just a yellow card. Speaking of which, there were 14 in this one. A Final record. I literally had to prevent myself from falling asleep throughout the match, but luckily was awake when Iniesta scored the winner after 116 agonizing minutes of fucked up football.
So that's that, the World Cup is over, Spain are the champions, and we can all get on with our lives. I don't know whether to be sad that a World Cup is over, or happy that such a sad one is over. Anyway, a look at the awards...
Champions: Spain (Their best match was against Germany, the only Europeans who played better than them through the rest of the Cup, but among the others, I guess they deserved the trophy, even though most of the time they were too caught up in passing the ball around to remember to score goals)
Runners-Up: Netherlands (Definitely the worst of the 3 Dutch teams to reach the Final; they got lucky with the draw, were surprisingly good in grinding out the win against a low-key Brazil and played well against Uruguay, but when it mattered they couldn't match up)
Third Place: Germany (best team in the cup, saving their worst for their most crucial match cost them dear; Mueller's suspension didn't help)
Fourth Place: Uruguay (the surprise of the tournament, though in all fairness, the only time they played a superior team, they lost, if only by just. Forlan was an inspiration.)
Golden Ball: Diego Forlan (Simply brilliant. I'm happy that he got the award over Sneijder because the latter was very lucky in some of his goals)
Golden Boot: Thomas Mueller (youngest to ever win the honor, has been the revelation of the tournament)
Best Young Player: Thomas Mueller
Golden Glove: Iker Casillas (didn't dominate games like Enyeama for Nigeria nor was he involved in any shootouts, but when it mattered, Casillas showed why currently, he's the best goalkeeper in the world, pulling off some spectacular saves in the final, and conceding a record equalling 2 goals in the entire tournament)
Fair Play Award: Spain
Most Entertaining Team: I don't think FIFA are giving the award this year, but if they did, it has to go to Germany.
Goal Of The Tournament: This one's tough. Toss up between Maicon's goal vs DPR Korea & van Bronckhorst's goal against Uruguay
This isn't the last World Cup related post. I've a couple more planned, including one where I'll do a formal report of the World Cup, devoid of profanities and bias. Till then, later.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The Week (Four) That Was ... $%@##$^&@#%^!!!
Ok firstly, WHAT THE FUCK?! This was SOUTH AMERICA's year! How the hell do we now have to witness an effin' all-European borefest for the final?! I guess this was the World Cup where traditions and patterns didn't just matter... South Africa became the first hosts to be knocked out in the groups, and now Europe will win the World Cup outside Europe for the first time. It's just sad. This has been a sad world cup, fewer goals, fewer moments of magic, Messi being the only superstar that turned up and now an all-European final. The only good thing was that Italy and France both finished bottom of their groups. The quarters and semis were really really painful to watch, save 2 matches...
QUARTERFINALS
NED 2-1 BRA
A surprise to say the least, and not just because Brazil were tournament favorites. The first half saw complete Brazil domination, and we even saw glimpses of the genius that used to be Kaka but everything fell apart in the 2nd half. Sneijder's cross was headed in to his own goal by Felipe Melo (though FIFA awarded the goal to Sneijder) and then 15 mins later, Brazil conceded again from a corner, Sneijder the goalscorer again. Whatever chance Brazil had of getting back was jeopardized when Melo (the antagonist again) decided to stomp down on Robben and get sent off. Brazil pushed and pushed for an equalizer but the lead held and shockingly Brazil were out at the World Cup quarters for a second successive time.
URU 1-1 GHA (Uruguay won 4-2 on pens.)
Match of the round. A close game as expected with two of the most spectacular moments of magic in the entire tournament. First, in first half injury-time when Sulley Muntari, star of 2006, scored from a few yards in front of the center circle (!), with a late spin on the ball catching Muslera completely off guard. But just 10 mins into the second half, and Diego Forlan, the best South American player in the tournament, unleashed arguably the best free kick of the tournament (and God have we had an embarrassingly less number of those) to draw Uruguay level. Extra time ensued, and the biggest moment of drama in probably the entire tournament was reserved for the last minute of 2nd half extra time injury time! Ghana were awarded a free kick and from the goal-mouth melee that followed, Luis Suarez pulled off one of the best saves of the tournament. However, he used his hands and thus was sent off, thereby giving Asamoah Gyan the chance to send Ghana through with a penalty. As fate would have it, Gyan, who had already converted 2 penalties in previous matches, blasted his penalty and Ghana's chances of advancing into the post and into the crowds and penalties ensued, in which Ghanian captain John Mensah and young star Odiyiah missed to give old warhorse Loco Abreu the chance to win it for La Celeste and win he did, a la Antonin Panenka. Cue the wildest Uruguayan celebrations since the Maracanazo and pictures of a sobbing, inconsolable Asamoah Gyan.
ARG 0-4 GER
The biggest what the fuck moment I've seen in the 3 World Cups I've witnessed. Argentina, quite contrary to their past performances, were absolutely dreadful in this match. Romero might as well have been a mannequin in a boutique when Mueller headed in Schweinsteiger's free kick in the 3rd minute while the Argentinian midfield completely failed to break through the fortress that was the Nazi defence. Messi put together some of his usual solo runs but couldn't find the finish in any of those. Higuain was like a ghost in the forward line, failing to take the few chances that he did have and also failing to receive any proper service from the midfield. Maxi Rodriguez and Tevez both disappointed while Di Maria proved to be the only glimmer in a drab midfield display. The defence was even worse as the scoreline suggests, completely falling apart in the second half. The match would best be summarized by saying that Germans didn't deserve to win 4-0 but Argentina did deserve to lose 4-0. And yes, that does make sense. On a historical note, Miroslav Klose has now scored more World Cup goals than Pele and as many as Gerd Muller.
PAR 0-1 ESP
Fucked up refereeing was in full show again as this match, in which Paraguay were definitely at par with, if not better than, Spain, was marred by 2 very poor decisions which would have influenced the game in a very substantial way. First, a legit goal from Nelson Valdez was ruled offside because the dumbfuck linesman failed to notice that the Paraguayan who was offside didn't actually touch the ball. Second, Oscar Cardozo's saved penalty wasn't allowed to be retaken even though Spanish defenders clearly encroached the penalty area before Cardozo released the shot. This is particularly glaring since Xabi Alonso was made to retake a penalty because of the same reason. That he didn't score was somewhat of a serving of justice but that Villa did get the winner again and again with a scrappy goal wasn't. Spain didn't deserve to win this match. Perhaps the fairest result would have been one of the teams exiting on the penalties.
With Argentina out, I really didn't give much of a crap about who won anymore, but I wanted Uruguay to win, being the only South Americans left...
SEMIFINALS
URU 2-3 NED
That didn't happen ofcourse. If you're an Argentinean fan, you'll know how weird it is to support Uruguay but I really did want them to beat the Dutch, but it wasn't to be. This was actually a solid match. Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored what along with Maicon's effort, is one of the goals of the tournament, following which Forlan scored another cracker, this time with his left foot. In the second half, the Dutch got lucky again. Sneijder's weak shot was deflected just about enough to beat the outstretched hands of Muslera and only 3 minutes later, the Uruguayan defence was caught out again, this time via a classy header from Robben. The match seemed to be over but deep into stoppage time, Maxi Pereira got one back for the Uruguayans to throw caution to the wind for the final minute of the game, but the Dutch held on and returned to the World Cup final after 32 years. Europe was now sure to win the tournament. :(
GER 0-1 ESP
After the thrashing of Argentina and the injustice over Paraguay, you'd have expected a different result. But a Mueller-less Germany looked hapless and out of shape. Spain were clearly the better team and played well for the first time in the tournament and got their 3rd consecutive 1-0 win of the tournament. Puyol scored the winner with a great header and thankfully we didn't have to see David Villa scramble the ball into the net for the winner.
There you have it. The most fucked up World Cup I've seen has now reached its climax. I'm pretty sure the 3rd place game (URU-GER) will be better than the final. I'll just see them out of habit and compulsion. I don't give a crap who becomes the 8th team to win the tournament. I'm not making any predictions this time.
The obligatory...
Final call for the week whatever the dates were...
Match Of The Week: Uruguay beating Ghana in the quarters. Drama of epic proportions.
Team Of The Week: Netherlands (for eliminating Brazil and scoring 3 goals in a match for once)
Player Of The Week: Wesley Sneijder (best player in both of Netherlands' games, will probably win Golden Ball)
Goalie Of The Week: Fernando Muslera (pulled off 2 saves in the shootout to push Uruguay into the semis)
Medio Of The Week: Wesley Sneijder
Striker Of The Week: Miroslav Klose (for his date with history) and Diego Forlan
Goal Of The Week: Gio van Bronckhorst vs Uruguay in the semi
Shock Of The Week: Them Nazi sons of bitches beating Argentina 4-0
Moment Of The Week: The last-minute drama in the Uruguay-Ghana quarterfinal! Best of the tournament.
QUARTERFINALS
NED 2-1 BRA
A surprise to say the least, and not just because Brazil were tournament favorites. The first half saw complete Brazil domination, and we even saw glimpses of the genius that used to be Kaka but everything fell apart in the 2nd half. Sneijder's cross was headed in to his own goal by Felipe Melo (though FIFA awarded the goal to Sneijder) and then 15 mins later, Brazil conceded again from a corner, Sneijder the goalscorer again. Whatever chance Brazil had of getting back was jeopardized when Melo (the antagonist again) decided to stomp down on Robben and get sent off. Brazil pushed and pushed for an equalizer but the lead held and shockingly Brazil were out at the World Cup quarters for a second successive time.
URU 1-1 GHA (Uruguay won 4-2 on pens.)
Match of the round. A close game as expected with two of the most spectacular moments of magic in the entire tournament. First, in first half injury-time when Sulley Muntari, star of 2006, scored from a few yards in front of the center circle (!), with a late spin on the ball catching Muslera completely off guard. But just 10 mins into the second half, and Diego Forlan, the best South American player in the tournament, unleashed arguably the best free kick of the tournament (and God have we had an embarrassingly less number of those) to draw Uruguay level. Extra time ensued, and the biggest moment of drama in probably the entire tournament was reserved for the last minute of 2nd half extra time injury time! Ghana were awarded a free kick and from the goal-mouth melee that followed, Luis Suarez pulled off one of the best saves of the tournament. However, he used his hands and thus was sent off, thereby giving Asamoah Gyan the chance to send Ghana through with a penalty. As fate would have it, Gyan, who had already converted 2 penalties in previous matches, blasted his penalty and Ghana's chances of advancing into the post and into the crowds and penalties ensued, in which Ghanian captain John Mensah and young star Odiyiah missed to give old warhorse Loco Abreu the chance to win it for La Celeste and win he did, a la Antonin Panenka. Cue the wildest Uruguayan celebrations since the Maracanazo and pictures of a sobbing, inconsolable Asamoah Gyan.
ARG 0-4 GER
The biggest what the fuck moment I've seen in the 3 World Cups I've witnessed. Argentina, quite contrary to their past performances, were absolutely dreadful in this match. Romero might as well have been a mannequin in a boutique when Mueller headed in Schweinsteiger's free kick in the 3rd minute while the Argentinian midfield completely failed to break through the fortress that was the Nazi defence. Messi put together some of his usual solo runs but couldn't find the finish in any of those. Higuain was like a ghost in the forward line, failing to take the few chances that he did have and also failing to receive any proper service from the midfield. Maxi Rodriguez and Tevez both disappointed while Di Maria proved to be the only glimmer in a drab midfield display. The defence was even worse as the scoreline suggests, completely falling apart in the second half. The match would best be summarized by saying that Germans didn't deserve to win 4-0 but Argentina did deserve to lose 4-0. And yes, that does make sense. On a historical note, Miroslav Klose has now scored more World Cup goals than Pele and as many as Gerd Muller.
PAR 0-1 ESP
Fucked up refereeing was in full show again as this match, in which Paraguay were definitely at par with, if not better than, Spain, was marred by 2 very poor decisions which would have influenced the game in a very substantial way. First, a legit goal from Nelson Valdez was ruled offside because the dumbfuck linesman failed to notice that the Paraguayan who was offside didn't actually touch the ball. Second, Oscar Cardozo's saved penalty wasn't allowed to be retaken even though Spanish defenders clearly encroached the penalty area before Cardozo released the shot. This is particularly glaring since Xabi Alonso was made to retake a penalty because of the same reason. That he didn't score was somewhat of a serving of justice but that Villa did get the winner again and again with a scrappy goal wasn't. Spain didn't deserve to win this match. Perhaps the fairest result would have been one of the teams exiting on the penalties.
With Argentina out, I really didn't give much of a crap about who won anymore, but I wanted Uruguay to win, being the only South Americans left...
SEMIFINALS
URU 2-3 NED
That didn't happen ofcourse. If you're an Argentinean fan, you'll know how weird it is to support Uruguay but I really did want them to beat the Dutch, but it wasn't to be. This was actually a solid match. Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored what along with Maicon's effort, is one of the goals of the tournament, following which Forlan scored another cracker, this time with his left foot. In the second half, the Dutch got lucky again. Sneijder's weak shot was deflected just about enough to beat the outstretched hands of Muslera and only 3 minutes later, the Uruguayan defence was caught out again, this time via a classy header from Robben. The match seemed to be over but deep into stoppage time, Maxi Pereira got one back for the Uruguayans to throw caution to the wind for the final minute of the game, but the Dutch held on and returned to the World Cup final after 32 years. Europe was now sure to win the tournament. :(
GER 0-1 ESP
After the thrashing of Argentina and the injustice over Paraguay, you'd have expected a different result. But a Mueller-less Germany looked hapless and out of shape. Spain were clearly the better team and played well for the first time in the tournament and got their 3rd consecutive 1-0 win of the tournament. Puyol scored the winner with a great header and thankfully we didn't have to see David Villa scramble the ball into the net for the winner.
There you have it. The most fucked up World Cup I've seen has now reached its climax. I'm pretty sure the 3rd place game (URU-GER) will be better than the final. I'll just see them out of habit and compulsion. I don't give a crap who becomes the 8th team to win the tournament. I'm not making any predictions this time.
The obligatory...
Final call for the week whatever the dates were...
Match Of The Week: Uruguay beating Ghana in the quarters. Drama of epic proportions.
Team Of The Week: Netherlands (for eliminating Brazil and scoring 3 goals in a match for once)
Player Of The Week: Wesley Sneijder (best player in both of Netherlands' games, will probably win Golden Ball)
Goalie Of The Week: Fernando Muslera (pulled off 2 saves in the shootout to push Uruguay into the semis)
Medio Of The Week: Wesley Sneijder
Striker Of The Week: Miroslav Klose (for his date with history) and Diego Forlan
Goal Of The Week: Gio van Bronckhorst vs Uruguay in the semi
Shock Of The Week: Them Nazi sons of bitches beating Argentina 4-0
Moment Of The Week: The last-minute drama in the Uruguay-Ghana quarterfinal! Best of the tournament.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Quarter-Freakin'-Finals.
The quarter-finals start today and I'm pretty excited. There are two decent matches and two absolute crackers (hopefully). And thankfully, the crackers are on at 7.30 while the other two are the late-night fixtures. :)
Anyway, a great thing about this year's quarters is that there are FOUR South American teams! And just three European! Which should provide for some attacking football, considering that the 3 Europeans are Germany, Spain and Netherlands. And let's not forget Ghana, still waving the African flag high in the sky. The matches themselves are interesting. Firstly we have a rematch of the 1998 semifinal, i.e., NED-BRA. That match went to penalties and there's every chance this match goes the distance too. We have last World Cup's quarter-final rematch, i.e., ARG-GER, and guess what, that also went to penalties. Then we have URU-GHA, which means that either we have ourselves a first African semi-finalist or we have Uruguay's return to former ways, with their first semifinal appearance in forty years. And finally, we have PAR-ESP, neither of whom has reached a semifinal before. (Spain finished 4th in 1950 but for that edition the final four played a round robin instead of semifinals/final)
So without further ado, predictions...
NED 1-2 BRA
Both are attacking teams that have played defensively in the tournament, but whereas the Dutch continued that in their win over Slovakia, Brazil turned up the style for a fair few minutes against Chile, so I'm tipping Brazil for this one.
URU 2-1 GHA
Luis Suarez has peaked just in time and even though Gyan has been scoring important goals throughout, Uruguay have certainly looked better than the Black Stars and should edge them out in this match.
ARG 2-1 GER
Argentina haven't been properly tested yet and they haven't been as good as Germany was against Australia and England but the Albiceleste have been more consistent than them Nazi fucks, and c'mon, the Gods have to let Argentina get revenge for 2006. They can't possibly lose to Germany on penalties again, can they? 1990, 2006... surely, third time's a charm right? Please?? And Messi'll get his first goal. Hopefully.
PAR 0-2 ESP
Simplest quarterfinal to call, though that doesn't mean Paraguay have no chance. Spain dominated Portugal and Paraguay had a tough time against Japan so they should lose to La Furia Roja. Though it's Spain, where in football, they live to choke.
So, should that happen, semi line-up...
URU vs BRA
ARG vs ESP
Good times!
Ok solidarity time... AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA!
Anyway, a great thing about this year's quarters is that there are FOUR South American teams! And just three European! Which should provide for some attacking football, considering that the 3 Europeans are Germany, Spain and Netherlands. And let's not forget Ghana, still waving the African flag high in the sky. The matches themselves are interesting. Firstly we have a rematch of the 1998 semifinal, i.e., NED-BRA. That match went to penalties and there's every chance this match goes the distance too. We have last World Cup's quarter-final rematch, i.e., ARG-GER, and guess what, that also went to penalties. Then we have URU-GHA, which means that either we have ourselves a first African semi-finalist or we have Uruguay's return to former ways, with their first semifinal appearance in forty years. And finally, we have PAR-ESP, neither of whom has reached a semifinal before. (Spain finished 4th in 1950 but for that edition the final four played a round robin instead of semifinals/final)
So without further ado, predictions...
NED 1-2 BRA
Both are attacking teams that have played defensively in the tournament, but whereas the Dutch continued that in their win over Slovakia, Brazil turned up the style for a fair few minutes against Chile, so I'm tipping Brazil for this one.
URU 2-1 GHA
Luis Suarez has peaked just in time and even though Gyan has been scoring important goals throughout, Uruguay have certainly looked better than the Black Stars and should edge them out in this match.
ARG 2-1 GER
Argentina haven't been properly tested yet and they haven't been as good as Germany was against Australia and England but the Albiceleste have been more consistent than them Nazi fucks, and c'mon, the Gods have to let Argentina get revenge for 2006. They can't possibly lose to Germany on penalties again, can they? 1990, 2006... surely, third time's a charm right? Please?? And Messi'll get his first goal. Hopefully.
PAR 0-2 ESP
Simplest quarterfinal to call, though that doesn't mean Paraguay have no chance. Spain dominated Portugal and Paraguay had a tough time against Japan so they should lose to La Furia Roja. Though it's Spain, where in football, they live to choke.
So, should that happen, semi line-up...
URU vs BRA
ARG vs ESP
Good times!
Ok solidarity time... AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Week (Three) That Was... Bittersweet Symphony.
The pre-quarters turned out to be brutally bittersweet... on the very first day, USA let go of its best chance to reach the semis since 1930 by losing to Ghana in extra time and the very next day, Argentina turned in another good performance to progress through to the quarterfinals. The American defeat was a very saddening affair and I was very gutted when Gyan scored the winner, but the tournament went on, and the following day, Carlos Tevez played the game of his life to knockout the Mexicans. There were glaring problems with both teams which I'm going to give my humble opinions about in a later post, but for the most part, the expected teams went through and there were no major upsets. USA-Ghana was always 50-50 and the only other 50-50 match (PAR-JPN) did go to penalties.
URU 2-1 KOR
This was a decent game to start off the round of 16. Luis Suarez scored both of Uruguay's goal (the second one being a sublime effort from the edge of the penalty area) to ensure that the better team did go through. Korea scored only when Uruguay decided to defend their 1-0 lead instead of attacking. Shows that South American teams just shouldn't play like Italy...
GHA 2-1 USA (a.e.t.) :( :(
USA were always on the backfoot in this match. Boateng (don't know why, but I hate the douchebag) scored as early as the 5th minute and it took a Donovan penalty for USA to equalize but then Gyan scored a decent goal in the 93rd minute which was enough. This was a tight affair and I suppose a win in extra-time is somewhat fair but USA had some glorious opportunities which they wasted with shameless abandon.
GER 4-1 ENG
Probably the game of the round. Germany started explosively, like in their game against Australia, and got 2 early goals courtesy strikers extraordinaire, Klose and Podolski. But England for once, responded positively, and Upson scored in the 32nd minute. And then Lampard scored again in the 37th... wait, no he didn't, because the douche of a linesman failed to notice that the ball had indeed bounced way over the line and he and the douche of a ref disallowed the goal. Which sucked bad, because that would have made it 2-2 and would have completely changed the game, and would have probably provided a much better 2nd half, instead of a one-sided German domination a la Thomas Mueller.
Ok, rant time. Now, I'm no English fan (not in the slightest, I like it whenever they lose) but what happened in this match is just disgraceful. English fans and players will always rue what might have been and the neutrals will always regret what a great match this might have been. Some Germans have gone on to say that this is the comeuppance that England deserved for the Geoff Hurst goal from 1966, but that's kinda bullshit. Firstly, that call was much closer than this one, and it's not that obvious a goal as Lampard's was. Secondly, that was 19-fucking-66! This is 2010! There was no other way to decide whether Hurst's goal was legit or not apart from an on-the-spot decision. Since then, man has landed on the moon, the cellphone has been invented, and a third-grader in Thailand can view satellite images of fucking Staples Center sitting at home, and FIFA won't pause a match for 5 minutes to take a look at a video to determine whether the right decision has been taken or not? A little bit of human error is required? At what cost? At what fucking cost, Sepp Blatter? It's not like football's the first game that's gonna try this. Cricket has had it since the early 90s and it's being used in tennis for the past couple of years. Sure, those aren't free-flowing games like football, but come on, it's not like a match is started instantaneously after a goal. Spending a few minutes watching a video to make the right call is gonna morally fuck up the beautiful game? The only good that will come out of this game is that now, FIFA has to fucking implement video technology for atleast the 2014 tournament if not all the major tournaments in between. And Sepp Blatter's been at the helm too long. He needs to go...
Ok back to the football...
ARG 3-1 MEX :D
This match had another controversial goal as Tevez was in an offside position when he received Messi's ball and eventually scored. But since I've already ranted, and well, Argentina benefited, I'm not that pissed about it. :P
But anyway, Argentina were dominating the match till that point and they deserved the goal and the win. Messi was a little subdued but Tevez was in top form and scored both goals, the second being one of the goals of the tournament. A weird decision of Maradona's was to substitute Tevez for Veron and the game immediately changed pace and allowed Mexico back in the game with a goal, but Argentina hung on for the easy win in the end.
NED 2-1 SVK
Netherlands dominated but not enough to be considered a serious contender. Vittek got a consolation penalty goal with the last touch of the game. Arjen Robben was impressive on his return.
BRA 3-0 CHL
Brazil dominated Chile and turned in a performance to finally show why they are the favorites. Damn.
PAR 0-0 JPN (Paraguay won 5-3 on pens.)
A tight game with neither team having enough to finish the job in the final third. Paraguay probably deserved the win on penalties but Keisuke Honda capped off a perfect World Cup with another Man Of The Match performance.
ESP 1-0 POR
Another potential 'game of the tournament' turned out to be a letdown. Admittedly, this wasn't as pathetic as the Brazil-Portugal match but it was nowhere near what it should have been. Spain dominated possession (61%) and attacked with way more finesse than Portugal. Villa scored the winner while Ronaldo and co. were stone cold in front of goal. Spain deserved it completely.
So there you have it. The World Cup is down to just 8 teams. And well, it is pretty much the cream of the crop. Except Uruguay, Ghana and Paraguay, all the other teams were pretty much expected to make it this far and in all honesty, I think most people thought that some African team would reach the quarters in this edition.
Ok, final call for the week 26th June - 1st July
Match Of The Week: Germany 4-1 England (One of the biggest referee fuck ups in WC history notwithstanding, this game had a tight first half and Germans playing sexy in the second)
Team Of The Week: Germany (returned to 4 goal form against England after their shock defeat to Serbia and unimpressive win over Ghana)
Player Of The Week: Thomas Mueller and Carlos Tevez (Neither was clearly better than the other and both scored 2 goals to spearhead their respective nations into the quarters)
Goalie Of The Week: Another tie. Richard Kingson (for withstanding wave after wave of American attacks) and Eduardo (for limiting Spain to just 1 goal). Actually no goalie really stood out, so shout outs for Sergio Romero and Manuel Neuer.
Medio Of The Week: Thomas Mueller/Mesut Ozil (both have been brilliant for Germany throughout)
Striker Of The Week: Luis Suarez (brace against Korea included a sublime strike)
Goal Of The Week: Luis Suarez's 2nd goal vs Korea/Carlos Tevez's 2nd goal vs Mexico
Shock Of The Week: England losing as badly as they did
Moment Of The Week: Refs ruling out Lampard's legit goal and setting England up for a German shellacking!
URU 2-1 KOR
This was a decent game to start off the round of 16. Luis Suarez scored both of Uruguay's goal (the second one being a sublime effort from the edge of the penalty area) to ensure that the better team did go through. Korea scored only when Uruguay decided to defend their 1-0 lead instead of attacking. Shows that South American teams just shouldn't play like Italy...
GHA 2-1 USA (a.e.t.) :( :(
USA were always on the backfoot in this match. Boateng (don't know why, but I hate the douchebag) scored as early as the 5th minute and it took a Donovan penalty for USA to equalize but then Gyan scored a decent goal in the 93rd minute which was enough. This was a tight affair and I suppose a win in extra-time is somewhat fair but USA had some glorious opportunities which they wasted with shameless abandon.
GER 4-1 ENG
Probably the game of the round. Germany started explosively, like in their game against Australia, and got 2 early goals courtesy strikers extraordinaire, Klose and Podolski. But England for once, responded positively, and Upson scored in the 32nd minute. And then Lampard scored again in the 37th... wait, no he didn't, because the douche of a linesman failed to notice that the ball had indeed bounced way over the line and he and the douche of a ref disallowed the goal. Which sucked bad, because that would have made it 2-2 and would have completely changed the game, and would have probably provided a much better 2nd half, instead of a one-sided German domination a la Thomas Mueller.
Ok, rant time. Now, I'm no English fan (not in the slightest, I like it whenever they lose) but what happened in this match is just disgraceful. English fans and players will always rue what might have been and the neutrals will always regret what a great match this might have been. Some Germans have gone on to say that this is the comeuppance that England deserved for the Geoff Hurst goal from 1966, but that's kinda bullshit. Firstly, that call was much closer than this one, and it's not that obvious a goal as Lampard's was. Secondly, that was 19-fucking-66! This is 2010! There was no other way to decide whether Hurst's goal was legit or not apart from an on-the-spot decision. Since then, man has landed on the moon, the cellphone has been invented, and a third-grader in Thailand can view satellite images of fucking Staples Center sitting at home, and FIFA won't pause a match for 5 minutes to take a look at a video to determine whether the right decision has been taken or not? A little bit of human error is required? At what cost? At what fucking cost, Sepp Blatter? It's not like football's the first game that's gonna try this. Cricket has had it since the early 90s and it's being used in tennis for the past couple of years. Sure, those aren't free-flowing games like football, but come on, it's not like a match is started instantaneously after a goal. Spending a few minutes watching a video to make the right call is gonna morally fuck up the beautiful game? The only good that will come out of this game is that now, FIFA has to fucking implement video technology for atleast the 2014 tournament if not all the major tournaments in between. And Sepp Blatter's been at the helm too long. He needs to go...
Ok back to the football...
ARG 3-1 MEX :D
This match had another controversial goal as Tevez was in an offside position when he received Messi's ball and eventually scored. But since I've already ranted, and well, Argentina benefited, I'm not that pissed about it. :P
But anyway, Argentina were dominating the match till that point and they deserved the goal and the win. Messi was a little subdued but Tevez was in top form and scored both goals, the second being one of the goals of the tournament. A weird decision of Maradona's was to substitute Tevez for Veron and the game immediately changed pace and allowed Mexico back in the game with a goal, but Argentina hung on for the easy win in the end.
NED 2-1 SVK
Netherlands dominated but not enough to be considered a serious contender. Vittek got a consolation penalty goal with the last touch of the game. Arjen Robben was impressive on his return.
BRA 3-0 CHL
Brazil dominated Chile and turned in a performance to finally show why they are the favorites. Damn.
PAR 0-0 JPN (Paraguay won 5-3 on pens.)
A tight game with neither team having enough to finish the job in the final third. Paraguay probably deserved the win on penalties but Keisuke Honda capped off a perfect World Cup with another Man Of The Match performance.
ESP 1-0 POR
Another potential 'game of the tournament' turned out to be a letdown. Admittedly, this wasn't as pathetic as the Brazil-Portugal match but it was nowhere near what it should have been. Spain dominated possession (61%) and attacked with way more finesse than Portugal. Villa scored the winner while Ronaldo and co. were stone cold in front of goal. Spain deserved it completely.
So there you have it. The World Cup is down to just 8 teams. And well, it is pretty much the cream of the crop. Except Uruguay, Ghana and Paraguay, all the other teams were pretty much expected to make it this far and in all honesty, I think most people thought that some African team would reach the quarters in this edition.
Ok, final call for the week 26th June - 1st July
Match Of The Week: Germany 4-1 England (One of the biggest referee fuck ups in WC history notwithstanding, this game had a tight first half and Germans playing sexy in the second)
Team Of The Week: Germany (returned to 4 goal form against England after their shock defeat to Serbia and unimpressive win over Ghana)
Player Of The Week: Thomas Mueller and Carlos Tevez (Neither was clearly better than the other and both scored 2 goals to spearhead their respective nations into the quarters)
Goalie Of The Week: Another tie. Richard Kingson (for withstanding wave after wave of American attacks) and Eduardo (for limiting Spain to just 1 goal). Actually no goalie really stood out, so shout outs for Sergio Romero and Manuel Neuer.
Medio Of The Week: Thomas Mueller/Mesut Ozil (both have been brilliant for Germany throughout)
Striker Of The Week: Luis Suarez (brace against Korea included a sublime strike)
Goal Of The Week: Luis Suarez's 2nd goal vs Korea/Carlos Tevez's 2nd goal vs Mexico
Shock Of The Week: England losing as badly as they did
Moment Of The Week: Refs ruling out Lampard's legit goal and setting England up for a German shellacking!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)