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My new favorite player and France is in trouble
June 18, 2006Just a day ago while watching Iranian soccer in a hypnotized fashion, I discussed with my friend John about the super coolness of some foreigner possessing an American name.
Like if Japan had a forward named Tom. Or if Ghana’s defender was named Brett.
At that time, I had no idea about Fred. He’s now my favorite player after the Brazilian sub scored his team’s second goal late in a 2-0 win over Australia.
Just a day ago while watching Iranian soccer in a hypnotized fashion, I discussed with my friend John about the super coolness of some foreigner possessing an American name.
Like if Japan had a forward named Tom. Or if Ghana’s defender was named Brett.
At that time, I had no idea about Fred. He’s now my favorite player after the Brazilian sub scored his team’s second goal late in a 2-0 win over Australia.
Now I’m not sure if this was a name given at birth, or if one day he woke up and thought, “Hey, I want to be called Fred.� But it’s still cool. And a lot better than Romaninho or Rotaninyo.
Brazil continues to win despite playing mediocre soccer. That’s a sign of a good team, but if they continue to struggle, the defending champs won’t last long.
And how can you start Ronaldo anymore? I know he’s aiming for the all-time World Cup goal-scoring record, but the guy is as worthless as me while I’m watching the World Cup.
Today he totally whiffed a volley, went offsides a handful of times and looked like he’s rather be eating doughnuts - which, if you look at his chubby figure, is a logical answer - than playing. Surely, Brazil has someone else better on their team.
France finally plays like France, sort of
France finally had a pulse today, and Thierry Henry scored the country’s first WC goal since 1998 in the 9th minute against South Korea.
But the Koreans, despite being outplayed, scored a late goal to tie the game 1-1 and pretty much putting France in a must-win situation next week.
What’s funny about the situation (Yep, never hurts to laugh at the French) is that they should have been ahead 2-0 in the first half. The Korean goalie was standing a yard into the goal when he made a save. Never seen anything like it.
Oh well, they still didn’t get as screwed as the United States did on Saturday. I heard the ref followed the U.S. bus back to the hotel, throwing red cards at unassuming waterboys.
Croatia and Japan also played to a scoreless tie, and both will need a win in their next game to advance. But frankly, after watching them slog around on the field for 90 minutes, I think the world would be a better place if neither did qualify.
Stat of the day: John and I were discussing yesterday morning how only one penalty kick had been called in the first 23 games (And it was a bogus call at that).
Twenty minutes later, Portugal converts a PK. The next game, another penalty kick, although Ghana can’t take advantage of it. And this morning, Croatia is awarded one, which Japan’s goalie saves. That’s three penalty kicks in four games.
Looking ahead: Togo and Switzerland have the early match, and Group F finishes up the second set of games - Saudi Arabia vs. Ukraine and Spain vs. Tunisia.
My quest: These 8 a.m. openers are beginning to take its toll, but there’s a positive to waking up about 3-4 hours later than usual. Breakfast. Who knew something could be so good. I thoroughly enjoyed the sausage and egg burritos the wife and I cooked up today.
Posted by at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
