After the veritable feast we had yesterday, do you still have room for more? Brazil scrapped through, I did warn you that Ze Shermans were not very good, so well done to Paraguay even if VAR helped them out big time.
Although the Fez Heads did not need VAR, somebody
should check if they slipped the Oranjeboom a Micky Finn before those
penalties. The last two by "Pitbull" timber and smalltown boy
Summerville were scandalous.
Today we can start with some Ivorian amuse gueules, let
us go with some Alloco, or if you prefer and I know I do, some Gravlaks. Yes,
it is the Pianists from Cote D'Ivoire against the Vikings of Norway. Another
intriguing clash between Africa and Europe.
These two sides have never faced each other in a
competitive international match so there is no clip to share with you.
According to the legends, a Viking expedition led by
Leif Erikson reached the North American continent nearly 500 years before
Columbus did making them the first Europeans to do so (of course not
discounting (Asterix in America).
a 1000 years earlier?
I do not think the Vikings ever reached as far as the
West coach of Africa, but if they had done, I am convinced it would not have
been a good outcome for the local inhabitants. They will be singing in the halls of Valhalla tonight.
For the main course, it will be a choice between Coq Au
Vin or Cassoulet served with some Lyonnaise Potatoes or some Kottbullar
(probably from IKEA) with Raagmunk.
One of the things I associate with the land of nearly
one hundred thousand lakes is its functionality, think IKEA furnishings or Volvo
cars. Compare that with the home of the Michelin star system which actually
started as a gimmick to do with tires but never mind that, or the three
musketeers and one thinks of flamboyance and daring do.
This in my eyes is a good way to look at their
respective football teams. Over the past thirty years, Les Bleus have
been entertaining us with free flowing attacking football, that even as a born
Englishman who has an innate distrust of anything French has to admit has been
fun to watch.
The Swedish Meatballs, meanwhile, have had some good
attacking players but have never really threatened to set the world alight
with their football. Some of you may remember the Swedish team of 1994 one of who's star was Thomas Brolin, in the end it turned out he was rather too fond of the meatbals.
Surprisingly enough, they have never faced each other
in a World cup tournament, they did play each other in Euro 2012 and Les Bleus
lost that game, but that was when a repeat of the French revolution was taking
place within the Les Bleus camp.
As we saw last night, nothing is guaranteed in
football, but I feel the Frogs will enjoy splashing in the Swedish lakes to set
up a clash with Paraguay.
For dessert, we need to pick between some Churros or
some Espumilla and for those not sure of where we are. it is the Sombreros
against the place where Darwin formulated his theory of Evolution, Ecuador and
for Darwin the Galapagos Islands.
By the time the game is played tonight, it will be a
moonlit night in old Mexico and as the tourists wander between some old adobe
haciendas near the Azteca stadium, they may well hear the plaintive cries of
many young Mexican girls.
They have played once before back in 2002, but the blue
footed boobys have come a long way since then.
Those who have been following since the beginning will
remember that I wrote Ecuador will be very difficult to beat, but will struggle
to score, which was borne out when they drew with the mighty Curacao. However,
they beat Ze Shermans in a must win game which is a great result even in the
light of Ze Shermans subsequent defeat to Paraguay, so they will come into this
game full of confidence.
The Sombreros, on the other hand, have not yet been
tested, and were drawn in a ridiculously easy group. So, the fact that they have won all three games,
especially as they are a host nation with all that entails, does not add up to
that much.
This is not going to be a walk in the park, I am predicting
a cagey affair, and I will buck the trend and plump for the blue boobys to fly
on to the next round.
I will end today with returning to a feature of last night’s
penalty dramas, and with a shout out to my eldest son and his thoughts on what went
on. His take was that European footballers are over thinking penalties, all
these mincing little steps as they approach the ball, the stop start nature of
the run ups, all done in an effort to confuse the goalie, where all they are
really doing is confusing themselves.
I am not saying taking a penalty is easy but if one runs up and kicks as hard as one can in
the right direction, one should score. Of course you could blast it over the
bar, but it is much harder for a keeper to save a powerful shot even if they get
a hand to it.
Au revoir until tomorrow, when we will have three more
games including of course EnGerLand.
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