So since I wrote my last blog much has happened. More than one team has unraveled and has gone home. My beloved England disappeared like a bunch of schoolboys on trip to Bognor Regis and the Brazilians yesterday went absolutely haywire. The US Team played magnificently however struggled to get the first goal and that undid them.
Portugal have also gone home, which is OK. I can't stand Ronaldo, he's the Kobe Bryant of footy. You want him on your team but he shows up team mates and he shows up the opposition. As a Manchester United fan he got me a few trophies however I despised his penalty taking stutter step.
So back to the World Cup. The John Madden EA game curse has struck again, that's the one where the player on the cover typically has a disastrous NFL season that year. This time is Nike "writing the future", all the players featured in it went home early. In fact Ronaldinho didn't even make the team! Perhaps that's the curse, so Brazilian witch doctor in the Amazon cursed him and all around him.
The Quarter final games yesterday were crazy, Brazil completely unraveled and became undisciplined and sloppy. That's not how they play but the Dutch upstarts messed with their heads. Its a great thing for the world cup. Its not that Brazil is THE best team, but they are the easy pick. They only similarity are the Yankees. Brazil have great style & tempo, and by them just being there they have the upper hand regardless of how good the team is. They have won 5 world cups because they have a winning culture, which causes teams to panic a little bit when they play them when games really count. I love how ESPN sportscentre referred to the Brilliant orange as "The Dutch... aka the Netherlands... aka Holland" as if people weren't bright enough to make the connection.
Yesterday's Uruguay vs Ghana was amazing. For those that didn't see it, it was back and forward and was going to penalty kicks. In the dying seconds Ghana smashed the ball inside the penalty box 3 times at the goal, each time it was saved. However, the final time Suarez, the Uruguayan centre forward, saved it using his hand on the goal line. Immediately he was sent off and a penalty given to Ghana. Whilst this was happening I told my son, that someone should stick out their hand, worst thing a PK and a red card. My reasoning came true. In regular play 92% of penalties go in, when the game is on the line only 60% hit the back of the neck. Call it nerves, call it whatever you want. When the whistle went I knew he'd miss, and he did. Poor Ghana, they played well and deserved better. Suarez had cheated, but I would have done the same thing.
The only thing I found really suspect was the penalty kick taken by Ghana's captain, Mensah. It just struck me as being too strange when he did less than a one yard run up. That should be investigated. Why would the one person that should carry a team, your captain, do that. It made no sense unless it was deliberate and he was trying to throw the game. Call me crazy, but we've seen similar things over the years. Germany vs Austria comes to mind
