Australia 1 - Japan 0
Or so our friend Dave from Australia hopes….
Well the World Cup is well and truly started.
My unemployment continues.
My job search…? Errrmmm. Progressing. Just.
Being 6 hours behind Germany, it seems firms, families shops and even city regions in Santiago have spared no expense in re-arranging schedules, meeting rooms, televisions, whole streets and television time to allow football-loving Chileans to watch each and every game.
On friday morning, I spent an hour in an office I intended to visit for only 5 minutes. On friday afternoon, despite the rain, I joined a crowd of 20 men- most in their lunch hour or on their journey home- outside of a shop with a television in the window…. to watch the Ecuador-Poland match! We shared a strange camaraderie, exchanging quips and laughter, explaining to passers-by who was playing and why it was worth stopping for.
So, as we kick-off (sorry) another week of footie, what games should we be watching for and why
Australia-Japan. They may be a small pacific country with a national debt equal to the GDP of Holland and relatively small men to match, but, despite our friend Dave’s attempts to convince us otherwise, Australia has a battle on its hands. Can the men from a land with Aussie Rules really kick a ball under and between posts rather than just between them?
England - Trinidad&Tobago. Well Sweden got a shock on saturday, drawing 0-0 with T&T. But can the small islands do it again? With Rooney the Loony on the subs bench and Sven smiling again but Beckham bending balls rather than netting them and 30C sun rather than English 15C rain, could mean it will be a rough ride! Using the associated beer taste assessment scale (Carlsberg vs. Carib), watch out England!
USA- anyone. Rachel and myself are really hoping that the USA don’t get a beating against Czech Republic today or against Italy next week. We’d like to see a diplomatic solution to the nuclear weapons crisis forged through a football game- yes, that’s right, a USA-Iran quarter-final!
Brazil-Croatia (tomorrow) should be a cracker as two top teams fight it out.
June 12th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
So, 1 - 0 hey! How about 3 - 1! Awesome game, Oh to be a kangaroO!
June 15th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
A battle on our hands, you said Douglas? Looks like my 1 - 0 suggestion was just too conservative, as the Asian Champions were no match for the might of the green and gold. 3 - 1 in the most nerve racking game of football I’ve seen.
Take note - under the might Guuuuuus Hiddink, we’ve only lost one game, 1 - 0 to Uruguay in front of a hostile Montevidean croud. This was the one Socceroos game that I happened to attend, so by that logic I figure that if I keep away from the other world cup games, we will only continue to win (or at least not lose, in the case of our 1 - 1 “moral victory” against the Oranje in the Netherlands).
Another thing to take note, in recent weeks we’ve beaten both the European Champs (Greece) and the Asian Champs (Japan). Surely the World Champs, that is Brazil, will be the next to fall victim to the mighty unstoppable force that is Australia. All we need to do is learn how to say “fatty boombalada” in Portugese and triple team Ronaldinho. Keep in mind that the last time Australia and Brazil played, we won (Confederations Cup cerca 2003).
I’m predicting 2 - 0… a win to Brazil of course. I might be swelled by nationalist pride, but I’m not stupid.
But bring on the Croats!