Will it be Viva Espana tonight? the last thirty two continues

Last Night was not as bad as I feared. EnGerLand were very lucky to turn it around against a resilient DRC side. I have no problem with my going for Senegal, they should have won, but the Brussel Sprouts must be given some credit for not giving up.

That was a dodgy penalty, when VAR takes seven minutes to decide, it seems to me that they are looking for some reason to give the penalty. The US of A were comfortable. My problem with the red card shown to Balogun is that as I mentioned in an earlier post, Messi did a very similar challenge with much more intent, I thought last night it was accidental, and VAR did not even take a second look at the Messi one. It is one rule for Messi and a different one for everyone else. It stinks to be quite honest.

Tonight we will open with either some Tapas or some Vorspeise, the people from the land of the sound of music like to start with soup, and I have picked for you some LeberKnodelsuppe.

The Flamenco dancing Spaniards, do not seem to have woken yet from a long siesta. They were definitely asleep in their opening game against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde, they brushed the oil sheikhs aside with an exciting first half display but then struggled to a narrow victory over Uruguay in a somewhat fractious game.

The Lederhosen boys, lost to Messi et al, beat the mighty camel drivers from Jordan with some difficulty and were involved in a very dodgy 3-3 draw with the Algerians. Nothing to write home about.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Espana has a habit of starting tournaments slowly. If they play to their potential, they should have more than enough to best a rather dull Austrian side They played each other in 1978, back in the days before Espana had become a world force in the game.

 

 

The main course is another all European affair with the other team from the Iberian Peninsula against the men from Kings Landing. You can choose between Polvo a Lagarerio or Pasticada.  as Portugal face Croatia.

As with every game we have covered with the cork boys, the question revolves around what role will CR7 aka crybaby Ronaldo play in the game. After an awful first game, he came back with two goals against Uzbekistan, and all his acolytes were singing hallelujah.

However, in the final game against the cartels from Colombia, he returned to being a peripheral figure. Will the Portuguese manager have the cajónes not to start Crybaby? I very much doubt it.

The Croats also have an aging star, who looked very off the pace in their opening defeat to EnGerLand, but improved in their next two games, Modric plays in midfield and like Messi for the Argies can be compensated for his reduced pace by the players around him.  CR7 as a striker and supposed focal point has a harder time of it because of the position he plays to be fair.

The sides have never faced each other in a world cup, but Portugal definitely has the upper hand in all their competitive meetings to date. This will be another very tight struggle and despite all what I have said, I will go for the Cork boys to float to the top.

For Dessert, we could stay simple and just have some chocolate but let’s be a bit more adventurous and have a choice between Cremeschnitte from the land of the cow bell ringers or some Makroud and Baklava from the largest country in Africa, Algeria.

Switzerland and Algeria have never faced each other in a competitive match. The Swiss won their group, but did not look convincing, highlighted by the fact that they only managed a draw against Qatar.  The Berbers, qualified in third place and as already mentioned were involved in a remarkable game with the Lederhosen, a result which ensured that the Ayatollahs were eliminated and that the Lederhosen would play Espana, rather than the Berbers playing Espana.

The Berbers a former French colony have 12 players who were born in Gaul, but despite one or two stand out players they are not a strong side. The cow bells should be ringing loudly tonight, and the echo of the yodels will be reverberating around the Alps.

This will leave us with one more triple header to preview before the start of the last sixteen on Saturday, which due to logistical reasons, means that I will put out a double header tomorrow.