Wow!
Well, I'm very glad that the Socceroos proved me wrong. Before the World Cup I said I couldn't see us going further than the group stage, and that we'd likely lose all three games. But Guus Hiddink's squad showed that I severely underestimated them...who else was up at 4.30 to cheer Australia on against Croatia? I know I was! And I found it rather funny that the US coach claimed the Socceroos would just be making up the numbers in the tournament, and yet, which team is on its way back home? Funny, that.
In other fabulous World Cup news, Germany progressed to the quarter finals last night, with an impressive display against Sweden. Lukas Podolski, whose position in the team looked under threat only a week ago, backed up his great outing against Ecuador by netting Germany's two goals, both before the thirteenth minute. Miro Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Michael Ballack and Bernd Schneider all played exceptionally well, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for Henrik Larsson...to finish his international career with a missed penalty was surely not the way he wanted to go out. Truly a legend of the game, with a sad parting shot.
Germany will now play Argentina, who only just squeezed past Mexico 2-1 last night.
The new Eskimo Joe album is very cool.
From the mouths of middle-aged men
The World Cup is still in full swing, but here's a collection of useful quotes from the wordsmiths of the Beautiful Game, to prove that the commentary can be as interesting as the game itself...
"He's the most sexful...ah, successful coach in the last 20 years."
"Aiming for the head of Benitez...if he was 9'4" he might've had a chance..."
"A Russian linesman, not sure if the ball's gone over the line? What will they think of next?"
"So we saw Emerson come off for Gilberto Silva and Ronaldo for Robinho, but now off comes the goalscorer, Adriano, who is replaced...by Fred."
"Here's Viduka with a shot...Mark Viduka!"
"So here's the Socceroos, in the biggest test in Australian football history, up against Japan."
"So now we're underway in the biggest test in Australian football history; Australia versus Brazil."
"Who wins when a crocodile plays a bear? If you play in the water, the crocodile does. If you play on the...uhh..."
"Oooooooooooooooooh! My goodness!"
"That wasn't a great second half for us. When we were down to just ten men it was a losing battle. But in true Serbian fashion, everyone started cheering for Argentina. Every time they scored, we cheered. At the end of the game everyone was jumping around and applauding."
"And Nakazawa passing to Nakata now...lays it off to Alex..."
"So Tim Cahill becomes the first man, as well as the second man, to score for Australia in the World Cup."
"I'm not sure that Senegalese and Malian officials are good for the World Cup...I've got nothing against referees from Mali or Senegal, but surely they're quite inexperienced..."
"Beckenbauer is being helicoptered around the country with beautiful women."
"It's been a half of six yellow cards and no football."
Yes he did
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the late and great Johnny Warren.
He told us so. I hope you were looking down on the Fritz-Walter-Stadion on Monday night, Johnny, because they did you proud.
TIM CAHILL AND JOHN ALOISI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jetzt geht's los!
It's the biggest sporting event in the world. Thirty-two teams duke it out for the glory of the Jules Rimet Trophy. And it has begun in München.
Yes, the FIFA World Cup is back, and it opened last night with Germany against Costa Rica. Anyone who was looking to rule out Germany in the running for the final should take note. There were certain defensive problems, but this was made up for by Jürgen Klinsmann's men, who, without captain Michael Ballack, delighted everyone with a 4-2 win against an experienced South American team. Philipp Lahm, the left back, opened the scoring with a thunderous strike from outside the box within the first seven minutes, but Costa Rica hit back after 12 mins with veteran striker Paulo Wanchope beating German and Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann in a one-on-one after somehow not being called offside in an otherwise well-timed run. Lehmann and the German defence seemed weaker than in past years, which has led to calls for Oliver Kahn to be reinstated for national duty, and for Klinsmann to play a more defensive game. But the attacking style of this new and young Germany continued to excite, and Miroslav Klose put Germany 2-1 up after some magnificent play by Lukas Podolski, Tim Borowski, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Torsten Frings. After half-time, the teams returned to the pitch, and Klose again netted another magnificent goal, this time set up by Lahm on the left, capping off a perfect 28th birthday for the German hero of the 2002 World Cup, and thus leaving him (so far) with seven goals from two World Cups.
Wanchope again tried to spoil the German party with another one-on-one effort against a wrong-footed Lehmann, putting the score at 3-2 and offering hope for the Costa Rica fans that maybe Germany wouldn't have it all their way, and the "old man" of the South American side consistently flew into the attacking half and caused endless worries for the defenders. But the midfield and forward line of the home team held admirably, and not long before the finish, Frings (soon made acting-captain when Bernd Schneider subbed off in the last three minutes) put it beyond all doubt with a lovely curver off a well-sighted Schweinsteiger free kick. Martin Tyler, commentating for SBS (courtesy of ITV), pointed out that, in the ten World Cup opening matches before last night, only nine goals had been scored, and the opener is traditionally a close affair. Well, last night, six were scored, and all were excellent. There could not have been a more perfect start to the XVIIIth World Championship of the Beautiful Game.
Tonight, England takes to the field. We shall see if, as the British press predicts, this is indeed the best chance they've had since their win in 1966...
AFL Footballer = Thug
Dean Brogan, the Port Adelaide footballer, is a disgrace. But so too are the public at large.
The other day, Brogan punched a man in the face at Adelaide Airport, breaking his nose. The reason for this? It seems that the man (Dale Mortimer) was verbally harrassing him. So Brogan hit him.
The public response pages of that illustrious bastion of the media, The Advertiser, are awash with sympathy for the Power player. Dale deserved to have his nose spread across his face. After all, he was saying naughty things to a footballer. How dare he! When asked whether Brogan should have waited for police to interview him, instead of boarding his Melbourne flight, one respondant claimed: "Possibly. But he had a match to play." Another, when asked whether Brogan should be charged with assault, scoffed at this idea, claiming that Dale should've expected to be punched; it's what happens when you give someone lip.
What a thuggish country we are! I don't know about Dean Brogan, but waaaaaaaaay back when I went to primary school, one of the most important things drilled into us was that, if someone called you names, the answer was not to turn around and wallop them. If you couldn't talk it through with them (which was a rather silly idea), you just ignored them. Eventually, they'd stop. Problem solved. And for the most part, it works. But it's not Brogan's reaction that has me shocked. It does happen, and at least he apologised, albeit none to sincerely. But the public have dismayed me a lot this time. And really, I'm not that surprised.
Footballers, it seems, are completely above the law and morality of Australia. They are gods walking among us, tolerating us, and we should be profoundly honoured by their presence. Why did the Bali Bombings make the news? Because some footballers were caught up in it. Seriously, do you remember how many newspaper articles, magazine covers and television stories were dedicated to "Jason McCartney, the hero of Bali" (a hero, apparently, because he got blown up, but survived)? Letters to the editor, on the whole, expressed outrage, not that Balinese and Australian tourists were targeted, but that the bombings occurred during a time when lots of AFL teams took their players on end-of-season trips to Bali. Similarly, an enormous chunk of the coverage of the 2004 tsunami disaster was dedicated to Troy Broadbridge, the Melbourne footballer who was killed. Can anyone remember any of the other Australian victims? Don't be silly, they weren't footballers.
When Leigh Montagna and Stephen Milne, both St Kilda Saints footballers, were accused of rape in March 2004, again the sympathy lay with the sportsmen. In a letter to the Advertiser editor, one correspondent, Margaret Minney, placed the blame upon fashion houses for making provocative clothing, and girls for wearing it. "It's not the boys who are wrong", she claimed, because they had no control over their actions. They were manipulated by the girl who would eventually be raped, because she wore sexy clothes. Thus, she wasn't the victim; they were. While I may agree that some clothing manufacturers are taking the street whore look a bit too far (think Supre), it's completely ridiculous to claim that anyone was responsible other than the perpetrators of the rape. But even then, as in the Wayne Carey affair with the wife of Anthony Stevens, there's another reason: footballers are under a lot of pressure. It's perfectly understandable that they'd rape a girl or commit adultery with their best friend's wife. In the case of Wayne Carey, Andrew Jarman insisted that Carey, as a top-class footballer, was under too much pressure to be blamed, but in the same radio broadcast, accused Kelli Stevens of being "a trollop".
And now, again, we are expected to believe that Dale Mortimer had every right to have his nose broken, because he committed the cardinal sin of insulting a footballer.
Why can't footballers accept responsibility for their actions, and why can't the public accept that AFL players are not flawless, that they make mistakes and do stupid things, and sometimes should be punished for them? After all, they're the same as you and me...
