guapacha.com

The newspaper printed a final article on their Beat the Press competition this weekend. Our subscription ended so I don’t have a scan of the article at the moment. Bottom line is that a Mexican sports writer won the whole thing, and the top member of the public came third. I got the next best public showing, coming in joint fifth with a couple of other sports editors but since no one beat the press, the $100 goes unawarded.

So its all over for another 4 years. A decent game to end on, especially the second half where I strangely found myself wishing for a French victory. Crazy headbutts aside, Zidane was amazing as usual; its a shame he will be remembered more for his sending off than his skill. I hate seeing the final being decided on penalty kicks but we saw 8 perfect penalties (England players take note). I am sure FIFA isn’t reading but can I ask that next time the final be a golden goal decider rather than the kicks?

Not sure what I will do with myself now the end has come. Next World Cup is in 2010 in South Africa, but there is the European Championship in 2008, qualifiers starting in October to keep us all going until then.

Really, I don’t get the need for a third place playoff, and for much of this game I don’t think the players did either. It got better towards the end (perhaps the player remembered their 3rd place bonuses) but mostly it was a waste of 90 minutes of my life. But, as an England supporter, I’m used to that.

Germany coming third definitely puts me down in the Press competition. I’m hoping they will publish a final table with everyone’s points but I think no one will have beaten the editor so no one will be collecting $100.

With the World Cup coming to an end this weekend, plenty of pundits have been giving their thoughts on how to improve on the beautiful game. I thought this guy from the Guardian has some good ideas, as well as plenty of other good options in the comments.

2234Today’s paper has the headline that Sanders is leading the competition. Yes, by some miracle I am currently in first place in the newspaper’s Beat the Press competition, with 33 points. There is certainly no way I can win as the only points available to me are if Germany make the final, all other results get me nothing. Now, if its an Italy v Portugal final then maybe I could still win the $100… but its fun to see my name in the headlines out on top.