Another two bite the dust
I'm new to The Sport Formerly Known as Soccer, but I'm not sure today's events lived up to the whole "beautiful game" deal. In the World Cup pool, I picked both England and Portugal to lose, since I'm told they're both fold artists and I figured at least one of them would take their lumps today. I was wrong on both counts. Which, although bad for my ticket, is good for my soul, since they were both sentimental favorites of mine before play started.
But back to the not-beautiful part. The second half of the Portugal-Netherlands match made Rasheed Wallace look like a model of sportsmanship. Fouls, ejections, dirty play, and oh, the whining. The Dutch were supposed to be a talented team, but their only consistent move on offense was falling to the ground and crying after every missed opportunity -- a play they executed many a time. Kuyt, go fly yourself!
Just like that, either England or Portugal will be in the final four (or whatever they call the semi-finals). Go figure. Scratching my head, I headed down to the kitchen and fixed myself a nice sardine sandwich in honor of the lads from Lusitania.
| Posted at 3:20 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
Gee, some of you may be missing all the excitement in Omaha! The OSU Beavers baseball team is in the finals. They lost the first game yesterday, but came back convincingly and thrillingly today! After being down 5-0 in the fourth inning, the Beavs scored and scored and scored. One point at a time, just like in football, but waaaayyy more fun. Final score tonight: 11-7 Beavers over the North Carolina Tarheels! Yaaay, team!
I love baseball.
BTW, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes have won all seven of their first seven games of the season. Again, the games have been fun - great baseball. The heck with all that non-sportsmanship of soccer, er, futbol. Have you seen the ad: "Still cheering?" about what looks like a female streaker at a soccer match, but... isn't?
The US will go metric before they take up soccer in a big way. Any game that is best known for "soccer moms" isn't going anywhere in this country.
Posted by mac | June 25, 2006 8:00 PM
I wish I were in Lisbon right now.
I'm so glad I'm not in farookin' Omaha.
Posted by Jack Bog | June 25, 2006 9:25 PM
I thought Wayne Rooney was brilliant today. I was hoping he'd get a chance to show what he's shown on Manchester United, and today he lived up to the promise.
Posted by Bill McDonald | June 25, 2006 9:50 PM
re Portugal/Netherlands..everything I have read this afternoon agrees with Jack's analysis. "the ugly(iest) game"....but then the day before with Argentina/Mexico..the beautiful game
Posted by haha | June 25, 2006 9:56 PM
Man, England seems to be having a bad time. they really need to improve their performance if they wanna win.
Posted by faraz | June 25, 2006 11:07 PM
I caught the second half of the England-Ecuador game. It wasn't the prettiest but I agree with Bill Mc in that Wayne Rooney showed how good he really is. He was fun to watch out there on the wing.
I also caught the second half of the Portugal-Netherlands game and I have frankly never seen anything like that in a World Cup game, though I've only been watching World Cup since 1982: Figo head-butting the Dutch player who then did a horrible fake flop; the Dutch not giving the ball back to Portugal after the goalie was injured; Deco retaliating with a vicious tackle; the stupid pushing and shoving after that tackle; and the red card to one of the game's best players, Deco, when he delayed the free kick and was then tackled rugby-style with no ensuing foul on the tackler. Ugly, ugly, ugly. It really makes me look forward to the Brazil-Ghana game later this week.
Posted by hilsy | June 26, 2006 9:24 AM
As for footwork, ball control, great passing, and all the skilz which make a team vulnerable to victory the Brazillians are incomparable from the viewpoint of a novice fan. Are there any other teams which possess similar skilz?
Posted by geno | June 26, 2006 10:48 AM
How 'bout that David Beckham goal, though, huh? That's what I remember most from the games over the weekend, not all those cards -- although it did get kinda entertaining to see how many would be sent off.
I agree with you on the "good for the soul" comment, Jack. I've never played in a bracket on football before, and found myself in the very strange position of rooting for Argentina against Mexico, because I picked 'em to win. Then I realized I set up my predictions in several matches so that if the team I want to win doesn't, there's still consolation in getting points in our contest. So I'm happy either way.
Not sure I like it..... cheering for Argentina in a football game??? Something deeply disturbing to a former Englishwoman there.
Posted by Amanda Fritz | June 26, 2006 11:48 AM
Well? Well? Well????
"I'm so glad I'm not in farookin' Omaha."
Still glad???
Yaay Team!! Way to go! 3-2 over North Carolina in a total nailbiter!!!
Now, go back to sleep and watch futbol in Lisboa.
Posted by mac | June 26, 2006 7:25 PM
Some of us like baseball and futbol, but college baseball? C'mon. It is sort of retro, though—like watching baseball from the pre-steroids era.
The Portugal/Netherlands game was a joke. Ukraine/Switzerland yesterday was almost as bad in a different way. But that's sports, right?
Posted by Libertas | June 27, 2006 11:00 AM