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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

sometimes, i wonder why some people get so hyped up over the FIFA World Cup. true, it only comes around once in 4 years, and also is the best chance to practise nationalism (standing by your national team and cheering them on). but how much this event has affected people's lives, that has been widely reported in the media, so i don't see the need to elaborate more.

this year's edition, with germany as host nation, once again saw brazil as the hot favourites. but i caution against pinning your hopes too heavily on them. no one can guarantee that the 0-3 humiliation they suffered against France during the 1998 final will not repeat itself.

so far, after 4 days of intense competition, among the winners are:
-germany, 4-2 winners against costa rica in the opening game of the tournament, but their woeful defence leaves much to be desired.
-england, 1-0 paraguay, apparently sat back after scoring the solitary goal. have to put more emphasis on attacking instead of playing boring football.
-south korea, 2-1 togo. overcame a shaky first half to turn things around, have to improve on overall performace if they wish to progress further.
-and of course, brazil, scrapping to a 1-0 win against tenacious croatia. perhaps the samba boys are just treating this game as a warm-up?

and some of the losers:
-united states. poor thing. never had a chance against the czechs, didn't have that many opportunities. tamed 0-3. hope they'll do better in the next 2 matches. perhaps score some goals?
-ivory coast, 1-2 argentina. the african team most likely to produce an upset. did their best. lost, but still earned the admiration of many worldwide.
-iran, 1-3 mexico. the gulf in standards is obvious there. with the iranian team plagued by injury problems, unlikely to make much of an impact.
-japan, drubbed 1-3 by australia. three heartbreaking goals from 84-92nd minutes denied the land of the rising sun any hope of a surprise result. so close, yet so far. facing a gritty brazilian side next. just hope they will not lose too badly.

not to leave out those encounters that didn't produce a winner:
-france and switzerland played to a goal-less draw. come on, les bleus, this is already the 4th consecutive match without scoring a goal since that embarrassing 1st round exit in 2002. really need to recover that long-lost scoring touch if they hope to reach the quarter-finals at least. fast.
-sweden vs trindad & tobago. down to 10 men, but the latter still put up a spirited fight to deny the swedes from finding the net. commendable. this match also ended without any goals.

those memories. 20:51