The Sporting Year

12 Blogs of Christmas: #5 When I originally wrote up my proposal for this Twelve Blogs series, I deliberately put my porting review of the year in just after the end of the fourth Ashes test in Melbourne. I thought it might have inspired me to write something about the cricket. How right I was. [...]

Football’s Not Coming Home

“It’s coming home. It’s coming home. It’s coming”…. erm, no it’s not Skinner, Baddiel and The Lightening Seeds, “Three Lions”, 1996 I really wanted England to win the World Cup 2018 bid but, like almost every penalty shoot out before it, the English got humiliated at the last hurdle. The seemingly intense effort that was [...]

1430 Days To Go

“This is a well deserved victory for an exceptional team which thrilled the hearts of all Spaniards. You brought together all Spaniards, made our dreams a reality and projected the name of Spain around the world.” King Juan Carlos of Spain, 12th July 2010 What are we going to do now?  31 days, 64 matches, [...]

The Perfect Octopus

“I think it’s been a decent World Cup, not the best we’ve seen. But what there can be no doubt whatsoever about is that the best footballing team in South Africa have – rightfully – emerged as winners.” Mark Lawrenson, 11th July 2010 There were fourteen yellow cards issued in tonight’s final (one of them [...]

Missing The Meaningless

“It’s not a night for tight defensive play” Jonathan Pearce, BBC, 10th July 2010 Well, I didn’t get to see the 3rd/4th place Play-Off tonight. I’m not sure if I’ve ever watched one of these matches if I’m honest with you as it all seems so futile. Let’s take the teams who were devastated to [...]

Spain 1 – 0 Germany

“Vicente del Bosque’s side won their fourth straight game 1-0″ Boring boring Spain Well, fancy that! Germany lost. Too late to blog. Puyol Matches Played: 62 of 64 Goal Count: 139 Red Cards: 15 Yellow Cards: 240 Best Moment: Puyol’s goal Worst Moment: Germany not performing

Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands

“No one likes semi finals” Clive Tyldsley, ITV, 6th July 2010 (his opening line in tonight’s commentary) We have our first finalist for the World Cup on Sunday night after Netherlands overcame a resilient Uruguay side in a not-quite-as-entertaining-as-it-sounds three-two win. It would be a little disingenuous to say that the first half had very [...]

Busy Doing Nothing

“Suzie got a rise at work today, She found a new sound “Johnny on the Freeway” Virginity blown, the minimum age, Busy doing nothing on another man’s wages.” Francis Dunnery, “American Life In The Summertime”, 1994 I actually sat down for the evening and watched a couple of films last night, which was the first [...]

Supporting Germany

“…a largely disappointing quarter-final tie that nonetheless boasted moments of incredible drama” Paul Fletcher, BBC website, 3rd July 2010 (with a succinct description on tonight’s Spain v Paraguay match) So the other semi-final has been decided thanks to another astonishingly impressive display from the Germans who after seeing off England by four goals to one [...]

Uruguay And Netherlands Through

“What a moment for Asamoah Gyan. What pressure on those shoulders. Asamoah Gyan for Ghana…. Oh, and he’s missed!” BBC Commentary on Ghana’s missed penalty in the last minute of extra time, 2nd July 2010 What a day of World Cup football that was!! The quarter finals got under way with a come from behind [...]