I thought that I might be able to settle down for a week, now that I've got the England game this afternoon and the Uruguay - South Korea match on Saturday. Plane is booked for Cape Town on Monday. Should be a sedentary week, you'd think. Not so. The plan now is to watch the England match and then get up early the next morning in a blind panic in order to follow some of my family's childhood school friends as they go down to a little beach resort near Cape St. Francis (an hour and a half drive west) then stay with them until we have to drive back in a blind panic for Saturday's game. Nothing can ever be relaxing or mellow on this trip, apparently. No time for loafing around and wasting time. Not on HOLIDAY, no sir.
Meanwhile, where was I in terms of the Round of 16? Group C - I've gotta look at a thorough American win, and a slightly tighter English win.
If I were to peg it down to numbers, I've gotta like Bob and Mike Bradley's squad to turn all of that anger and frustration at blatant injustice and vent it all over Algeria. Any ref that interferes with that plan will do so knowing that he will spend the remainder of his officiating career on the Ross ice shelf, adjudicating penguin intramural games. Call it 2-0 with only two minutes of time added on at the end - the shortest stoppage time amount of the tournament.
I think John Terry has taken the fall for a lot of tensions and miscommunications. As a result of his sacrifice, the team and the coach can move on to the next stage of their team-building without anyone else, like, say, Fabio Capello or captain Steven Gerrard, losing face. To mix sports metaphors, I reckon Terry leaned into the strike zone and took one for the team, taking all of the media pressure off Wayne Rooney, Gerrard, and Capello, and letting them do their jobs while he's crucified in the press. After the Wayne Bridge thing, his name is mud anyway, so why not give it all for the sake of the team? I reckon England come out, guns blazing, snag a quick opening goal, poach another late in the first half, and then cough up a catch-up goal around the 58th minute. Some nail-biting toward the end, but I reckon they take it 2-1.
Meanwhile, Ghana take on Germany as Australia battle Serbia. I reckon the Aussie game will have a maximum of two goals scored. Good news for Australia - Tim Cahill is back. I reckon the Aussies are good for a set-play goal from a corner. If Serbia's performance against Germany is anything by which to go, I reckon Serbia take the lead and try to sit on it, Australia get the late equalizer. 1-1 draw.
Germany are just as bitter and steamed as the Americans, but they're just a little less vocal about it. Instead of implying that the refereeing is done by a pack of ignorant, biased monkeys who are too incompetent to cheat using subtly corrupt methods, Joachim Löw just stated that the team will get better before adding very quietly that they will do so whilst winning the game against Ghana. Not exactly bombastic Mark Messier-style stuff, but an understated guarantee nonetheless. No Miroslav Klöse (suspended), but Poldo has something to prove, and we haven't seen Schweinsteiger and Ozil really try to light it up yet. Schweinsteiger seems to think that he should be replacing Ballack, so he's been sitting deeper and trying to coordinate plays instead of just wading in and launching some strikes. I reckon Lahm will encourage him to get his elbows a little dirtier in an effort to create some offence, and will join up in some link play himself on the break. I reckon Germany get a goal from distance, one on the break, and one from swift interplay in the high corner of the offensive 18-yard box. I don't think Ghana can summon more than a goal, but Asamoah Gyan has shown himself to be a game opportunist, so he might poach a first-half goal that amounts to little more than a consolation. Germany 3 - 1 Ghana.
In other parts of the news, I missed photo opportunities with two different monkeys and a nightjar. To be honest, I'd never actually seen a nightjar before, only heard them in Malawi. In an attempt to get some sort of wildlife photography in here, I'll fire in a picture of the two house dogs. If they weren't quite so rowdy, I'd be tempted to pull them in the house and use them for furry sources of warmth late at night.
Erm.. Oh, and at the England game, I'll be sitting in the twelfth row behind the corner flag to the lower left of the main televised pitch area. I'll be wearing a St. George's floppy jester hat, if anyone is looking.
Well, it's bedtime for me, and until I rise, good night England and the colonies.
Cheers,
—mARKUS
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