Sunday, June 11, 2006

Precision is a Biatch

Nostradamus was cunning to have his fat ass covered! Oh well....
The Arg-CIv game was quite close to how I thought it would go. If the Belgian ref hadn't been in Sergeant Schultz mode as Drogba and co got pancaked in Droogish fashion mere feet from the goal, the PK's, ya gotta assume, would have led to at least one more goal and a 2-2 result. Eheu, tweren't ameanta be.
The Sweden vs T&T match, on the other hand, was a beast I had not foreseen. In fact I had explicitly said that a draw would be a major upset, so heavily was Sweden [rightly?] favored. But Football/Calcio/Soccer is a great game for many reasons, and one of them is the chance to see "Braveheart" courage in meaningful play. Hislop was on fire, and the effort put out was astonishing. Sweden coulda won, shoulda won, really shoulda won, but did not. T&T's gain, Sweden's pain, and another error lain.
For tomorrow, emotional stuff dude's.
Portugal contra Angola, Pappy's Country contra Pappy's country. Portugal is a most un-European side in its style of play, without insult a lesser version of Brasil. Angola is a most un-African side, playing controlled and patiently and cohesively as a team throughout the match. A sober son of the wine drinking father. Portugal could win, Portugal should win, really should win, but as today showed--who really knows? Angola has played quite well in prep matches before this WC, losing only 3-2 to Turkey [in Istanbul, impressive] and 1-0 to the USA. Still, Portugal yet smarts over the agony of losing to the contemptible Yanks in the last WC, and are sure to be more concentrated and wary this time round. Predicition: Portugal 2- Angola 1.
Mexico contra Iran. I would very much like to be for Mexico, as it too suffers from the same contempt from Eurosnobbos as does the USA. Regional pride and all that...but the Mexicans, from their manager to their fans websites, are almost uniformly a loathesomely viciously jingoistic lot. All La Raza all the time. As for Iran, the mere accident of life that one can trace one's ancestry to the land of the Azers ain't no cause for indulging in truly retro regional pride....Death to Iran! [metasoccerly speaking, of course ;)]. Anyway, Prediction: Mexico 1-Iran 1, in the most boring WC game so far.
Holland against Serbia. Holland could win, should win, really should win, yet....The Dutch have an extraordinary offensive team, and a master keeper in Van De Sar. Let us hope their defense, though, shows more backbone than the Dutch "Peace" keepers did before Milosevic's serbs at Brezsenika [spelling is way off, so sue me]. The Serbs have some flair, but their cohesiveness is surely in question. After all, how kicks it with their Montenegrin players now that Montenegro has voted to shed the snake? But then, who knows. After all, anarchy and the Balkans have long been blood brothers. Prediction: Holland 2-- Serbia 0.

1 comment:

Arelcao Akleos said...

Editorial comment. It is Scbrenica. Spelling?
Well, Holland wins 1-0. NOt a perfect prediction, but definitely in the + category.