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So I’m an idiot and Spain ain’t bad
June 14, 2006 hope the five of you that read this blog ignored me today. I told you to actually go to work, mow the yard, get some sun.
I told you it’d be OK to miss a little soccer. I was wrong. I’m an idiot.
Because if you took my advice, you missed three entertaining games and two HUGE last-minute goals.
I hope the five of you that read this blog ignored me today. I told you to actually go to work, mow the yard, get some sun.
I told you it’d be OK to miss a little soccer. I was wrong. I’m an idiot.
Because if you took my advice, you missed three entertaining games and two HUGE last-minute goals.
Here’s what you might have neglected.
A Germany team that was thumping Poland in every place but the scoreboard. The host country had dominated for about 90 minutes but couldn’t score to save their lives.
Then two shots hit the post in a matter of seconds. Finally Oliver Neuville slams one home a minute into injury time.
Plain awesome.
A Spain team with the most impressive performance thus far. Sure, a phantom red card aided them, but their 4-0 whipping of Ukraine was brilliant. The attack was amazingly constant, David Villa scored twice and that fourth goal was one of the prettiest build-ups I’ve ever seen.
You also missed a surprisingly entertaining 2-2 tie between Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The teams traded goals until Saudi took a 2-1 lead in the 84th minute.
Game’s over right? Yeah, about as over as the Mavericks game last night, which I began celebrating with a cold Bud Light with about 6 minutes left and Dallas up by 13. Good call - way to jinx them.
Anyway, Tunisia scored a goal in the 93rd minute on a nice header to forge a tie.
Sorry you missed it — but that’s if you were stupid enough to take my advice. Here’s hoping you’re smarter than that.
My second-round predictions
A: Germany, Ecuador - the Germans iced it away today and Ecuador should tomorrow.
B: England, Paraguay - Sweden will have to recover from its T&T hangover quickly if it wants to crack this lineup.
C: Argentina, Netherlands - I’m not going out on a limb with this one, but Ivory Coast could make some noise if it beats Holland on Friday.
D: Mexico, Portugal - I’m fairly confident these teams are in.
E: Czech, Italy - unless the U.S. can upset the Italians, they’re history.
F: Brazil, Australia - I was way impressed with the Aussies’ mettle, but Croatia could bump them out.
G: South Korea, Switzerland - No France. They’re my one big-name team who I’m saying won’t advance.
H: Spain, Saudi Arabia - The Spaniards are by far the top of this class. The rest is a crapshoot.
Stat of the day: In the last three World Cups before this one, Germany had won its opening game and tied its second match. The Germans were about two minutes from making it four in a row today.
Looking ahead: Ecuador and Costa Rica kick off the morning. I don’t think the magic of Trinidad and Tobago will continue against England, so I’m going to predict a rout here. Paraguay and Sweden are the afternoon match, and the winner will most likely make it out of Group B.
My quest: The cell phone alarm clock has let me down again, so I’m going to have to make a substitution. No biggie, though. I was able to watch the last two games, despite my wife’s car suffering a random flat tire.
Going out on a limb here, but it was probably the best accumulative day of soccer yet.
Posted by at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
