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Serbia ditches those Montenegro bums and can someone please hand out a whoopin
June 11, 2006So Serbia-Montenegro (pretty much the old Yugoslavia) qualifies for the World Cup months ago and then decides that in late July after it’s over, they want to become their own teams.
Serbia can’t trust Montenegro. I don’t blame them — did you see those Montenegroans slumping around the field in that 1-0 loss to Holland Sunday. Despicable.
In a related note, I hear rumblings that Trinidad is slightly ticked off with Tobago and is looking to see if it’s legal to replace them with some guys from Barbados.
In every game but one so far in the 2006 World Cup, the score has either been tied or a one-goal difference with 15 minutes left.
England, Netherlands and Portugal (a 1-0 victor over Angola Sunday) all have scored an early goal and looked quite boring closing out the deal.
I mean, common Portugal. You’ve whipped Angola 11-1 in your last two matches, and yet, only a one-goal win. Lame.
I think my friend John said it best — these favored teams are under such pressure to win, especially their first game, that they get a lead and sit on it.
I expect some big blowouts in the second set of games. England should destroy Trinidad-Barbados.
Bravo for Mexico
Omar Bravo scored twice for Mexico in its 3-1 win over Iran. Two of the Tri Colores’ goals came in the last 14 minutes, I thought this was the best game of the day, and I liked the way Mexico didn’t crawl into a shell (see above) when they took a 2-1 lead.
Iran almost came out with a tie, and answered Mexico’s first goal rather quickly in the first half. It was a little sloppy at times, but four goals are always entertaining.
Speaking of fine performances, how about Holand’s Arjen Robben. He scored his team’s lone tally, ripped another great shot that almost found the net AND dribbled through the entire Serbia-Montenegro (soon to be only Serbia) team Sunday.
Probably the second best individual performance of the World Cup so far (back-up Trinidad and Tobago goalie is first. Man, I hope he’s from Trinidad and not Tobago).
Stat of the day: Holland had never won a World Cup game (0-6-7) when only scoring one goal until today’s 1-0 victory. Also, did you know Mexico has played in more WC games than everybody but Brazil, Germany and Italy?
Looking ahead: It’s the game we’ve all been waiting for — U.S. versus Czech Republic. As I wrote in my newspaper column in Monday’s paper, America is 0-7 in World Cup games played in Europe.
This is a key contest because a loss means an almost must-win situation vs. Italy on Saturday, and that’s not good.
Also playing — Australia takes on Japan at 8 a.m. (yikes - that’s a little early for those two teams) and soccer fans can also watch Group E teams Italy and Ghana at 2 p.m.
My soccer-viewing quest: Eight games down, a mere 56 to go. But I missed Portugal’s goal.
The wife, quite a tolerating woman, had decided I “needed to act like a human� — those were her exact words.
Apparently my body was beginning to make large indentions on the sofa, so we went to Target and Wal-Mart after Mexico’s win.
Missed the first 15 minutes and the lone goal, but that’s OK. I’ll take a happy wife over watching a strike by some Portuguese forward with a girl’s name (Pauleta) any day.
Posted by at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Comments
Well... we were all waiting for a total domination blowout. Sucks that the US was on the receiving end; but you have to respect the czech. Rosicky was the perfect striker. 30 yds, no problem. 1 on 1, no problem. I think the US needs to get back to the basics - LEARN HOW TO PASS!!!
