Here's the deal: I've fallen seriously behind. Blog-wise.
I'm sitting down to write about a game that I watched an entire week ago. A week is a long time in football. Just ask Carlos Tevez - six days before getting dumped out of the World Cup he was scoring two against Mexico.
I've actually just watched the first semi-final, so I'm now attempting to write about Spain and Portugal while all I can think about is: why on Earth was Clive Tyldesley alone in the commentary box this evening? What happened to Jim Beglin? Food poisoning?
All I can really say about Spain-Portugal is that the furthest East of these two Iberian nations have now been adopted as the team I would like to see win in the wake of England's exit. They are following in the footsteps of Mexico and Japan.
Spain are the first of these teams to win a match after taking refuge under my wing.
And another thing: when did Gerard Pique get so good?
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Slovakia 3-2 Italy
Player of the tournament: David Villa (Spain)
Goal of the tournament: Tevez (Argentina v Mexico) - [2nd goal]
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
PARAGUAY 0-0 JAPAN (PARAGUAY WIN 5-3 ON PENS)
I am not from Paraguay and I am not Japanese. But when this one went to penalties I was an emotional wreck. It almost made me thankful that England were spared this torture.
I love penalties.
Seriously: even though I hate them, I think they're superb.
The pain associated with penalties is acute (for the record: I was supporting Japan here and was heart broken - although my boy Honda put his away very nicely) but that's only because a shoot out arrives at the end of a game that has been tied for two hours! Emotions have already been worn paper-thin by 120 minutes of football. And if you've played for that long and there's no clear winner, how else can you decide the outcome?
Anyone who refers to a penalty shoot out as a "lottery" is an idiot.
A lottery is random: something which requires no skill or application.
A penalty shoot out is a test of precision under pressure.
Tossing a coin is a lottery. And, until 1978, 'heads or tails' was how World Cup matches level after extra time were settled. Thankfully for FIFA this didn't happen very often, although Spain were knocked out of the 1954 tournament in just this way.
Can you imagine that happening today? And to think we felt aggrieved about being comprehensively outplayed last weekend...
England HAVE been involved in a coin toss within living memory. In 1990. Although we weren't directly affected - I just wanted to get your attention - Holland and the Republic of Ireland finished our group with identical records and, for the purposes of deciding who finished second and third, lots were drawn.
Both sides were already going through, so controversy was kept to a minimum, but the fact that Ireland won the 'draw' meant they avoided West Germany in the Second Round and were able to beat Romania.
On penalties.
The Netherlands meanwhile got beat 2-1 by the eventual champions in a game made famous by Frank Rijkaard spitting in Rudi Voller's perm:
England could have been up against Jack Charlton's boys in the semi-final - a game which Ireland almost certainly would have won on penalties.
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Slovakia 3-2 Italy
Player of the tournament: Thomas Muller (Germany)
Goal of the tournament: Tevez (Argentina v Mexico) - [2nd goal]
I love penalties.
Seriously: even though I hate them, I think they're superb.
The pain associated with penalties is acute (for the record: I was supporting Japan here and was heart broken - although my boy Honda put his away very nicely) but that's only because a shoot out arrives at the end of a game that has been tied for two hours! Emotions have already been worn paper-thin by 120 minutes of football. And if you've played for that long and there's no clear winner, how else can you decide the outcome?
Anyone who refers to a penalty shoot out as a "lottery" is an idiot.
A lottery is random: something which requires no skill or application.
A penalty shoot out is a test of precision under pressure.
Tossing a coin is a lottery. And, until 1978, 'heads or tails' was how World Cup matches level after extra time were settled. Thankfully for FIFA this didn't happen very often, although Spain were knocked out of the 1954 tournament in just this way.
Can you imagine that happening today? And to think we felt aggrieved about being comprehensively outplayed last weekend...
England HAVE been involved in a coin toss within living memory. In 1990. Although we weren't directly affected - I just wanted to get your attention - Holland and the Republic of Ireland finished our group with identical records and, for the purposes of deciding who finished second and third, lots were drawn.
Both sides were already going through, so controversy was kept to a minimum, but the fact that Ireland won the 'draw' meant they avoided West Germany in the Second Round and were able to beat Romania.
On penalties.
The Netherlands meanwhile got beat 2-1 by the eventual champions in a game made famous by Frank Rijkaard spitting in Rudi Voller's perm:
England could have been up against Jack Charlton's boys in the semi-final - a game which Ireland almost certainly would have won on penalties.
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Slovakia 3-2 Italy
Player of the tournament: Thomas Muller (Germany)
Goal of the tournament: Tevez (Argentina v Mexico) - [2nd goal]
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