World Cup : WTF?
Why the face?
Well, it has been a strange one so far, entertaining, but strange. Just about 30 minutes ago, the Netherlands produced an upset defeating Brazil 2-1. i’m not certain the last time Brazil didn’t make the semi-finals, but it’s been a while. To be honest, the result could have gone the other way. The Brazilians who scored early were the stronger team in the first half. They should have put a few more away because when they came back after the break, they were not the same team They were weaker, and increasingly so. Sloppy and ragged by the end of te match, Brazil didn’t deserve to advance. And this shouldn’t take anything away from the Dutch team who came out fighting and played very well.
Alas, my own team, England went home last weekend. After two fairly disappointing games, England showed a bit of spirit to defeat Slovenia 1-0. However, when it came to Germany, they were seriously outclassed. 4-1 doesn’t accurately reflect the game’s play,. but the Germans were faster, they played like a team, and the goals they scored were absolutely beautiful; textbook goals.
That said, I can’t finish this post without commenting on the disallowed goal by Frank Lampart.
I was watching the game with a friend, nd as the goal was disallowed, I said in mock commentator voice, it’s like 1966 all over again.” Seconds later, the commentator said exactly the same thing. Obviously, we were both reading from the big book of sport clichés.
There’s no need to complain or maintain it was a goal, everyone admits it was. I was dismayed by the comments of German goalkeeper who said after the match,
“I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realized it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over.
So, you cheated. Of course, Germany deserved to win, but it leaves a sour taste. My thought was that the keeper hadn’t seem where the ball landed and thought he was lucky, however his comments remind me of those by Thierry Henry who handled the ball in France’s match against Ireland, and admitted, “I will be honest, it was a handball. But I’m not the ref. I played it, the ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”
Moral: Cheating is OK, just don’t get caught.
Of course, maybe some karmic justice caught up with the French and was responsible for the shambles this year. The icing on the cake being France coach Raymond Domenech’s refusal to shake hands with South Africa’s Carlos Alberto Parreira.
The beautiful game continues.
Notes from Underground 