Having been rained on in Vancouver, misted over in Malibu, sat on the runway because of thunderstorms in Washington, and now thoroughly drenched in the deluges of Cape Town, a conspiracy theory about precipitation is beginning to emerge. We leave in the morning for Port Elizabeth, and I've just been informed by my Auntie Jennie that the rainstorms currently wracking the Western Cape are moving east at about the same pace as, say, a bus leaving Cape Town in that direction. Looks to be a bit of a damp vacation, with some humid matches with soggy pitches. The venues at altitude (Bloemfontein and northward) should be okay, but the coastal stuff is loking kinda wet. I'm not used to this sort of thing, since my last African expedition was at altitude, and winter was the dry season.
Tremendous newspaper reporting in Cape Town. Here's the description of Robert Green's goaltending gaffe from the Sunday Times:
"As Jabulani dawdled happily over the England goalline, Green's universe crumpled into a small, mortifying hole.
He'll get over it — all keepers have to. But he has carved his name into an ever-lengthening hall of English goalkeeping shame, and probably also won himself a grim holiday on Capello's bench.The Italians must have been rude to his charges because England re-emerged in a filthy mood. They pinned the Americans to the wall, in the way that a hoodie-clad yob would do to a spelling-bee champion."
In any event, before I run too far behind, here are some quick notes on the games that have been played in the World Cup thus far.
- South Africa probably ought to have just barely edged Mexico, but in this instance, fate intervened and a drunk-driver killed Nelson Mandela's 13 year-old grand daughter the night before, preventing Madiba from attending the match and providing that tremendous intangible advantage that only a frail 90-year old man can. Katlego Mphela should and will get better and not miss such obvious goalscoring opportunities in future.
- Uruguay and France demonstrated why I want these teams to finish third and fourth. Uruguay are dependent on getting the ball to Forlán and Luis Suarez, and France are a pack of undisciplined individuals led by an impetuous Patrice Evra. Both teams dive, foul, and behave badly in order to substitute for team cohesion.
- Everyone fails to rate Park Ji-Sung because Alex Ferguson uses him only when it's a gibbous moon with an "r" in the month, but he's a fast, hard-working player with some great dribbling skills. South Korea become the first team to score more than one goal in the first win of the 2010 World Cup. If I haven't mentioned it before, Alexi Lalas is a muppet for thinking that Greece are some sort of ultra-secret elite force that will surprise everyone and make it to the quarter-finals.
- Nigeria and Argentina post a surprisingly low score in a very free-flowing game with plenty of opportunities at both ends. Entertaining, athletic, and skillful, with Argentina coming away with a deserved win in the end.
- Frank Lampard should be replaced in the squad by something - anything - don't care. Hell, play with 10 men and give him a holiday on the bench. People say that Stevie Gerrard cannot replicate his club form at international level. Those people obviously don't remember the last World Cup, and they probably didn't see this game either. Robert Green embarrasses himself in the same way that every England goaltender since Shilton has a tendency to do. Odd. England produced Clemence, Banks, Foulkes... why has the production line dried up?
That's all for now. I'll try and catch up later tonight. Must run now and meet people before doing things. Cheers, all.
—mARKUS
No comments:
Post a Comment