Friday, 3 July 2026

The end of the round of thirty two, David V Goliath, Could the sensational happen?

All three results went as expected last night, and surprise, surprise, the cork boys won after the manager found the cajónes I referred to yesterday and substituted a visibly upset Crybaby.

Today we will finish the last thirty two with three more games. Starting the evening, we can have a plate of Meze, perhaps some Baba Ganoush and some Hummus or and here is where it gets interesting, the choice being indigenous based or modern cuisine. For the indigenous option, we have seared Kangaroo Loin. For the modern one, we will go with some Moreton Bay bugs (it is lobster, not bugs!) I was disappointed not to find another shrimp on the Barbie as an option.

The Socceroos (a stupid name) and the Pharaohs have never played competitive matches against each other.  The Pharaohs were unbeaten in the group stages with draws against the Brussel Sprouts and the Ayatollahs, plus a victory over the All Whites (that is their official moniker) from New Zealand. They were holding on for dear life against the Ayatollahs, and there is no doubt that the boys from the Nile Delta are wholly reliant on the Prince of Egypt Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool striker.

The boys from down under, braved the heat to beat the Turkish baths, lost to the US of A and then conveniently played out a scoreless draw with Paraguay to ensure that both nations would go through. This is a side with no standout players, they are an honest hard working side as one would expect from an Aussie team. This is a hard one to call. I will say, that if the Socceroos can stop the Prince of Egypt, they will go through to the next round where they would be facing the winner of our next game.

The main course tonight features a choice between some Asado with Chimichurri or Cachupa,  a slow cooked stew from the archipelago of Cape Verde.  Messi et al against the Blue Sharks.

One cannot have a more David versus Goliath clash than this. The three times winners and current holders against the upstarts from Cape Verde, who have become the Cinderella of the tournament. No one gave the Blue Sharks any chance of advancing to this stage, but they drew all three of their group games, including an unbelievable scoreless draw with Espana.

Los Gauchos have had an easy time of it to date, they could even afford to rest Messi in their final group game against the Camel train from Petra, although he did come on to score taking his tally to six so far. The Argies may not have a hard looking game, at least on paper until the quarter finals, where they may face the cartel neckties, assuming no surprises occur.

This may be a bridge to far for the Blue Sharks, and as much as we may want it, I think this will be the end of the road for them.

One more game to cover, on offer is some Tres Leches cake from the hills of Colombia or Nkate cake from the West coast of Africa namely Ghana.

The cartel neckties have been going about their business in a an efficient manner, disposing of their first two opponents before drawing with the cork boys in a game they probably should have won, but it was not that important to really win, so they played within themselves.

The Black Stars (after the black star on the national flag) gave both EnGerLand and the boys from Kings landing a fright, but ultimately only had a victory over Panama as they finished in third place. While they should be a tough nut to crack, the cartel neckties should have enough about them to squeeze the black stars out.

So that is it, we have covered all the games in the last thirty two and will now move on to the last sixteen. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

  1. אנחנו עם דוד. כף ורדה תפתיע ותמשיך לשמינית הגמר. זאת תהיה ההפתעה הכי גדולה אי פעם בתולדות המונדיאלים. כן כן

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