World Cup Fever part 5

I wasn't too disappointed that England lost 4-1 to Germany because I had expected that England would at best, draw or at worst, lose to the Germans maybe by a goal or 2 goals worse come to worst. But i hadn't expected England to be so badly beaten. For the record, the final tally should have read Germany 4, England 2 - Frank Lampard's goal post hitter went right across that white goal post line and it IS a goal. The linesman and referee can both kiss my yellow ass for not seeing the obvious. Anyway, England's world cup hopes once again relegated to the rubbish bin of history. Let's hope that they start preparing NOW for the next world cup which is in 4 years' time and should be time plenty for them to assemble a decent national squad.

Which begs the question: England's decline as a footballing nation and in other fields of sports/non-sporting endeavour - is it irreversible?
When i was a student in England, my international friends, notably the French and German, spoke about how England, unlike Germany, was shackled by its historical ties. By virtue of its colonial past, the 19th century industrial revolution, etc England was mired in ways that Germany was not. England's infrastructure, like its national football squad today, was old and tired. Germany's was young and re-built out of the ashes of the second world war. England was obligated to care for its former colonies, Germany had almost no colonies save for a thumb-sized plot somewhere in central/southern Africa. England had a LOT of traditions (the Queen/King, the aristocracy, the old conventions) to live up to, less so Germany. England was caught up in its past, Germany was only too willing to forget its past or wish that parts of its past never happened. Would England, "the land of the setting sun" as some Japanese commentators put it, ever regain its former glory and retake its place as the world leader in sports, industry, science and the arts? Probably not.

World Cup Fever Part 4

What a night for USA and England, allies in arms and comrades in football.
I was watching England's match against Slovenia while Dad watched USA vs Algeria in the next room. England's one and only goal by the man-of-the-hour Jermain Defoe put the red-garbed Lions back into the world cup running only 23 minutes into the first half. I was hoping for a second goal to boost the Lions even further but despite an opportunity given to Lampard shortly after Defoe's knee-socked goal and several decent tries by Wayne Rooney, it wasn't to be. Rooney played well and he made some solid attempts but his wings were clipped tonight by Someone Upstairs (?). Both Rooney and Defoe were substituted in the second half, probably to save them for the next match. 1-0 against Slovenia is not impressive and England needs to get its act together if it has any hopes of even reaching the quarter semi finals for this world cup. Decent goalkeeping tonight by England goalie David James.

As for the USA, well what can i say? a brilliant goal in stoppage time by the Captain of the non-footballing nation swept Algeria's world cup hopes into the metaphorical stadium gutters. The poor Algerian Captain got a red card and was sent off for rowing with the referee towards the end of the match. But the USA goal was good stuff, it was no fluke. Into the next 16 USA goes! Not bad USA, not bad at all.

World Cup fever, Part 3

Well i finally found out that Astro DOES telecast live world cup matches on their channel 810 (for Malaysia) without astro viewers having to subscribe to extra channels. I couldn't find this month's Astro magazine (I can never find it, someone has always recycled it prematurely or something) and it was by word of mouth that i came to know about Astro's world cup live channels. Anyway, last night i watched the Korea Republic v Argentina live match (final score: Korea Rep 1, Argentina 4). In the dying minutes of the 1st half of that match Korea Rep suddenly caught the Argentine defenders unawares and lobbed in a quick goal. But the Argentines came back in full force in second half to lob in 2 more goals to make it a total of 4 goals to show that theirs was no fluke.

Then i woke up early this morning and watched the highlights of mexico v france (final score: mexico 2, france 0). If it's any consolation to fans of France, the 1st goal looked suspiciously like an off-side let off by the referee while the 2nd goal was a penalty shot awarded over a bad luck tackle by France's Eric Abidal. Luck was on Mexico's side and a goal's a goal, so...

World Cup fever, part 2

I was watching world cup again last sunday on tv, this time the repeat telecast of the match between Spain and Poland. Spain played superbly, knocking in goal after goal after goal. At the 67th minute when Spain was 5-0 up against Poland (the final score was Spain 6, Poland 0), the cameras zoomed in on the Polish coach. If a picture could speak a thousand words, then "agonized", "worried", "looks of consternation", "grim-faced" came to mind. Spain is looking very sharp indeed. Wonder how they'd stack up against the samba boys (Brazil)?

World Cup fever

I've just watched the game between Brazil and Tanzania in which the samba boys won hands down 5-1 against the Tanza boys. It was a nice game. Watching my favourite team brazil is sheer pleasure. Their prowess in football is the stuff of legends. They dance with the ball. I'm hoping the yellow jersey and blue shorts will win this world cup. I don't usually watch football except for the world cup, but even kaki bangkus such as myself can enjoy a good game of football once a while. And the world cup is that once-in-a-while occasion to kick back and just relax and watch the 20 men run up and down the green field and display their athletic and sporting agility as i sit on an armchair with a hot glass of coffee/milk tea in hand. Curiously, the only other team i would root for is England but i don't think they're going to walk away with the world cup. I don't even dream of England repeating their 1966 feat, not by a long shot or unless they're extraordinarily lucky. Everytime they come up against germany or arch-rivals argentina, i'm sad to say, they fail to shine. So England, unless you can prove me a punk-ass, i'm not putting my hopes in you. But in Samba we trust. Go Samba Go!