Well, I do understand the game alright. And it's a strange game. The World No. 1 need a game that they won by the skin of their teeth to come back and start doing the Samba again. The World No. 2, and the side built-up to be the most talented and one of the top contenders for the Cup, need to lose their opening game to a mediocre team to snap out of their complacency (hopefully...we'll find out in a couple of hours).
England, the creators of the game, are squabbling amongst themselves and protesting against the team selection and management tactics of their coach while David Beckham cools his heels on the sidelines looking more edible in his 3-piece suit than any man has ever looked.
The Germans rout their opposition 4-0 one day and lose 0-1 the next, with their star striker sent off by a red card.
The French are refusing to train as a sign of protest against the expulsion of one of their players.
Argentina are looking towards Messi to be the next Diego Maradona and win them the Cup, while someone else from their teams nets the ball the most number of times.
The Italians, the reigning World Champions, have managed 2 goals in their 2 matches so far while the Portugese ripped North Korea apart by a 7-0 win.
The loser, unsporting African team of Cote d'Ivoire who have a rockstar Captain but no footballing skills start cheating when they are outperformed by a team that's way superior to them, while a player who has not a spot on him gets red carded.
You have teams blaming the poor ball for their dismal performance (if they had their way, they'd blame the miserable weather in their country too for their rubbish performance on another continent!) while the makers of the ball say it's the altitude that's doing strange things to the ball. Like making it hop, skip and jump on its own?
And then you have the wretched Vuvuzelas!
But seriously, what's the matter with this World Cup? None of the top teams are showing what they're made of while the minions are yanking the carpet from under the giants' feet. The World Cup takes place once in 4 years and players of most big teams do not look match-fit! The most celebrated strikers such as Wayne Rooney don't have a single goal to their credit even after 2 matches. Coaches are taking bizarre decisions, like dropping Ronaldinho and retaining Robinho who doesn't seem to be able to rise above his desire to prove himself a better play-maker than Kaka. And on top of everything there's poor refereeing - denying legitimate goals to the scoring team, letting some teams get away with fouls and unfair play while punishing others, sometimes even when they aren't at fault. At this rate, I'm dreading a Slovenia vs North Korea final!!
Here's a joke for you courtesy my friend Alex:
Question: How did all the shouting screaming North Korean fans get permission to leave the country?
Answer: They didn't. Kim Jong Il hired chinese actors to play DPRK fans in the stands.
And here's some more eye candy for you...
3 comments:
You have redeemed yourself. Calcutta would be proud of you
Chic, some awesome analysis here, would love to hear what you thought of Argen vs Greece. Bt, you are so right, nonce of the top troopers are making hte effort, i.e. France and Italy, what the heck is going on?
@The Knife - Thank you. I do know more about football than you think I do :)
@Wicked Savior - The Argentina vs Greece match was telecast from 12-2am last night. So were the Brazil and Spain matches before that. After having stayed up two nights in a row, I decided to pass on the Argentina-Greece match. But I heard Greece played 9 players in defense. Which sounds bizarre to me given that they needed to win last night's match, and playing an defensive game usually doesn't win you the match.
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