WC Show 4 – Round 2 Review
So someone flicked a magic switch between round 1 and round 2 and now there’s more goals and more yellow cards and more simulation than you can poke a stick at. And if New Zealand’s exploits weren’t dramatic enough, there’s the French.
A review of round 2 and a head-hurting review of the final group games.
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2010
22
Jun
- Posted by agoth at 11:20 pm
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Tired this morning after watching England overnight, sat on the edge of my seat most of the night and trying to bite my tongue as the rest of the house was asleep…..now just Germany -> Argentina -> Spain a likely route…..hmmm, one game at a time eh!
Bad luck to Australia overnight to go out (goal difference of -3 so the Germany game but them)
Well, I have finally come down from my high of Donovan’s last minute goal.
It wasn’t the flashiest, best constructed, or most acrobatic…..but it was the right goal at the right moment by the right USA player. With that goal, my best case scenario has come true – the USA and England both getting through to the final 16. Now the USA have a real chance of beating Ghana, but England will have to step it up a notch or two to take out Germany. My prediction – now that England are through, Rooney is going to take charge. England to the semis, at least. Oh…and about time Defoe gets a start!
So France is out. Italy is out. England doesn’t win their group. Is this really the year of South America? Even Chile looks good. CHILE! The final 16 will have Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Asia is represented by Japan and South Korea. North America has Mexico and the USA. Wouldn’t it be a coup if – with Europe’s seeming demise – the Netherlands stole the World Cup out from under everyone?
As for the officiating, one has to believe that a number of “newbie” refs, in a world cup sense, feel the need to establish control early on by showing yellow cards. Sort of a warning to the players. However, that sets a dangerous precedent and before you know it, the ref – trying to be consistent – is giving yellows for everything…which inevitably leads to the double yellow/red card.
And as for North Korea – sometimes an oppressive communist/dictatorship has it’s silver lining. It is true that the North Koreans do not know (or care to recognize) the idea of diving…or “simulating”. In this sense they have a great sense of pride, and good on them. Moreover, it is somewhat against the Japanese (and S Korean, I imagine) code of conduct to be dishonest in sports. It’s too bad not all teams have the same sense of pride.
Thanks again for keeping up with these podcasts. I can only imagine how little sleep you both are getting with life, work, the World Cup and AGOTH to tend to. Luckily for me, on the American East Coast the games now start at the reasonable hours of 10am and 2:30pm. Watching the World Cup is my new job!
Till next time……Bradley
Oh, and I forgot to mention. ESPN is absolutely terrible in their commentary of the world cup, but they have some of the best commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J19-ROSfwY8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27iQdCffxFk
How on earth was Kewell’s handball intentional? The ball was shot at him at 100 miles an hour. He looked like he tried to get his chest on it (in slow motion). Maybe he should have been sent off for not tracking the guy who had the shot, leaving him unmarked at the farpost, while he went to stand on the line.