Well, I didn’t see that coming. Nathan got grumpy when Theo got a player of the day certificate and he didn’t.
Oh yeah, and the Netherlands beating Holland 5-1. Didn’t see that happening either.
I love the first couple of weeks of any World Cup. There are loads of games on every day and some of them are pretty good, too. It’s before we get to the business end and teams are generally playing to win rather than not to lose. Today was a great example of that.
The Mexico versus Cameroon game was too early to get up for, but I was ready to go for the World Cup final replay and I had the boys up with me. They were a little bit interested, which is progress. We watched the game up until Robben made it 2-1, a bit against the run of play, then we had to shoot away to Matamata mini-kickers for a couple of hours (the boys’ first step on the road to greatness).
It was impossible to hide from the final score, so I didn’t get to see the carnage ‘live’, but it was recorded and I got to it a bit later. Before that, however, I had to deal with one grumpy kid after his brother got a cardboard certificate and a McDonalds voucher. The lesson for next time is to make sure both boys get their player of the day burgers on the same day. Rookie mistake and almost unforgivable…
After a decent session down at the club, with all the usual smiling faces and football enthusiasm, we made it home to play catch up on the Chile versus Australia game. A horrible start for our Aussie cousins, a stirring comeback, then a cruel finish. Just another game of football, then.
As much as it’s fun to watch the Ockers lose (at anything) I kinda want them to do well, if only for the sport of football across the ditch. They have a couple of sports that are pumped up beyond belief over there and that brings with it a media fuelled superiority complex that has no right to exist anywhere. League and Aussie Rules are decent sports and fun to watch, but that’s really about it. Another good run in the World Cup will help to chip that away. Realistically, of course, they don’t have any chance of that happening this time, so good performances is all they have to hope for.
After that match was out of the way it was on to the last half hour of the day’s main game. The Dutch had pace, power and were far more direct than the crumbling Spanish contraption and they probably struck a proper blow against tiki-taka. On their second half form about the only thing the Dutch appear to need to work on is their player/manager high fives after scoring. I also enjoyed watching one of the Dutchies freaking out when the ref sprayed his little white line on his fancy boots.
Maybe this World Cup will signal the next change in the way the game is successfully played at the top level? The goals are flying in, which is a good start. It’s too early to tell, of course, but Del Bosque’s mob sure has a lot of work to do to get back from this. A good kick up the arse (modern technical coaching terminology that) would be a decent place to start. Expect a few changes for their next match.
Score picking update
I got two of yesterday’s results horribly wrong, but did manage to pick the Chile v Oz score in the BFWCSPC*, so two out of four has me streaking ahead of my hapless rivals. Will this run continue? Stay tuned.
Picks for day 3
Colombia 2-1 Greece, Ivory Coast 2-0 Japan, Uruguay 3-0 Costa Rica, England 1-2 Italy.
*Barlow Family World Cup Score Picking Competition.