Thursday, 12 June 2014

Group B preview

The first game in Group B (Kick off 13/6 19.00 GMT) sees the holders Spain take on Holland in a repeat of the final from 4 years ago. That final is mostly remembered for being a rough game, in fact 14 yellow and one red card were brandished. The most famous incident is the foul by Dutch Midfielder Nigel de Jong, who forgot he was playing football and thought he was in a Kung Fu demonstration.  Amazingly, de Jong was only booked for the challenge, with the referee later claiming his view of the play was obstructed. See for yourselves and let me know what you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcIicsfW660

Holland have played in 3 world cup finals and lost all of them (74. 78 and 2010) thus giving them the dubious distinction of being the only team to lose 3 finals in different continents. (The Germans have also lost 3 times in 66, 82 and 86, but only in 2 continents and they have won 3 times in 54, 74 and 90 all in Europe)
Brazil on the other hand have won in 3 different continents albeit different ones. Who can work that out.

Spain have undoubtedly been the best team in world football over the past four years and are reigning world and European champions. Under their teddy bear of a manager, the Maquis of Del Bosque (aka Vicente del Bosque) who was elevated to the Spanish nobility after winning the world cup, they managed to utilise the plethora of talent at their disposal to its full potential to finally shake off their under achieving reputation. Another factor is that Del Bosque has managed to quell the internecine strife between the players from Madrid and Barcelona which always hampered the Spanish teams performance in the past

teddy bear

Prediction for this one  A narrow win for Spain

The other 2 teams in this group are Australia and Chile. (kick off 13/6 22.00 GMT) Australians should stick to what they are good at, being nasty to the Aboriginals and drinking. A true Australian sporting record is held by the Tasmanian cricketer David Boon, who once drank 53 cans of beer on a flight from Oz to England. If there was a world sheep shearing competition, then they would be the favourites. Football is a game where physical contact is frowned upon so what is the point of playing that. Stick to Aussie rules football (which I enjoy greatly) and leave real football to the rest of the world.

Chile are dark horses this time round, their record in world cups is not very good, but this time they have some excellent players most notably Alexi (electric) Sanchez. I have inserted a link to a goal he scored this year for Barcelona and it is worth watching. Pay special attention to the commentary by a very excitable man from Newcastle, England. His use of superlatives is jaw dropping. I bet you have never heard of a player being described as running with a lobster down his shorts. Enjoy

Prediction for this one Chile to win

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GANG0qvQ1vo

Tomorrow Groups C and D

3 comments:

  1. Dear Mr Wiggi,

    Do you see the irony of your impish grin holding theAshes trophy whilst writing that teams that dont have a rats arse chance of winning should not show up to a competition. Is your memory of a 5-0 whitewash drubbing in the "sunburnt" country so short or do Poms like to forget their shameful losses quickly so they can be well prepared for the inevitble next won?

    Here is a link to one of of the Mutha countrys finest footballing moments

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_1%E2%80%930_England_(1950_FIFA_World_Cup)

    And here is a montage of the Poms finest penalty efforts

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNMOtzNvMbs

    See for yourself and let me know what you think :-)

    Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!!


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  2. Wiggi,

    Who gets to decide which players are going to be lucky enough to go through life with only one name - like Xavi or Pele - as opposed to two names like the rest of the plebians ?

    Is it some kind of committee made up of people like Rita and Madonna ?

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  3. no matter how many times you see that goal.... so beautiful it makes you cry

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