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One of the common complaints I hear about football is that the game shouldn’t have the “wildcard element” that is the referee. A few bad decisions can turn a game and that has definitely been the case in the last two USA games. From their performance in the first half, I don’t think the USA was going to beat Ghana but the late penalty award made that all the less likely. Its deals a psychological blow that is tough to get over, not to mention of course that now you need two goals rather than one to win. At the beginning of the tournament I thought there was a high standard of refereeing but recently that seems to have changed. As we move to the knockout round, one referee mistake could easily destroy a team’s chances of progressing. But that’s football.

And once again England show why it is so difficult to be a fan. A great first half, nice passing, good attacking and I really thought it would end up 2-0 or 3-0. But of course its England and it has to be hard or its not worth doing. A terrible second half performance and the second Swedish goal was an absolute disgrace in the England defence. When England went 2-1 up you could just tell it wasn’t going to last; I think few other teams have that trait.

On the plus side it is encouraging that we played 45 minutes of good football, which is more than the previous two games. If we can maybe play 60 minutes next game perhaps we will beat Ecuador and then in the following match 75 minutes…. by the final we’ll be a good team. Not sure my poor heart will be able to take it though.

A large number of people here insist on wearing socks with their sandals. At first I thought it was just a couple of people but it seems to be a growing fashion faux-pas epidemic. And now back to our regular programming….

MEMO to England: Watch, review, learn.

I really don’t get it. If this had been Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd. etc the game would have been an easy 4 or 5-0, sit back, relax and watch them take control. But it’s England and therefore it has to be difficult – maybe there is greater glory in winning by fighting? I’d never heard of Aaron Lennon before but I think he was most instrumental in turning up the heat in the second half. The scoreline was flattering to England but a win is a win. I’m worried about how well we will do against either Germany or Ecuador but perhaps by then England will have found their form.

Spain have a reputation for choking on the international stage, not so today. They put on a great display of good football for the entire 90 minutes, even when 3-0 up they kept attacking right to the very end. A great game, and on this showing, a serious contender for top honours has emerged.

Well, one of them anyway… brash consumerism. When I was a kid, heck when I was a salary-earning adult, Dad got a tie for Father’s day, or maybe a tape or CD that he liked. So wtf do I see ads on TV telling me to buy Dad a plasma TV, or a $500 camera?? Kids are being told that they don’t really love their dad if they buy him a cheap shirt?? What a crock.

Oh, anothing that sucks about the USA? Their football team heh heh.

The reason I frequenty l hear why “soccer sucks” is that after 90 minutes of play there needs to be a winner, that somehow the game is boring without any goals. Well, this game was certainly the evidence that disproves that – the constant pressure on the Trinidad defence from the Swedes combined with the speed and flair on the break that the 10-man Trinidad team showed had me on the edge of my seat for a long time. Yeah, 0-0 games can be boring but sometimes they can be like this.

I am kinda worried that England has to play both these teams next.

The highlight of this match for me was my TiVo. I deliberately got up 20 minutes late so there would be some “tape in the bank” so I could fast forward over the half time show. It also meant I could fast forward over the many times one of the Paraguay players rolled around on the grass “hurt”.

Oh yeah, there was a game though not much of one. England need to shape up if they want to win this thing. I’ve never liked the send the ball forward, hope it hits the head of an attacker strategy the national team uses. Give the ball to Joe Cole, let him run with it, take them on and get people into positions. They should play how the Premiership teams play, aggresive attacking.

As with all England games, each one is going to be in doubt until the final whistle.

So we’re under way at last. I watched the first half from home before going to work and thought it was a good start to the tournament. Whilst the result was never really in doubt you have to admire a team that gets very few chances but puts them away when they do. Germany was playing a very dangerous off-side and Costa Rica had a player who looked like he would score when they messed it up, which seemed to almost happen a lot. The Germans didn’t look great, I think they will have to tighten their game up if they are to make it to the finals as I have predicted.

In the meantime I am trying to find a way to watch the games online. The BBC is showing them online but you need a UK IP address to view them and so far I have not found a UK open proxy that worked. Espn360.com is showing the games but you have to be a cable customer of the right company to view them. Fortunately I am back in Brawley…. so this weekend I will set up an ssh server at home and see if I can tunnel in from here and watch the games that way. Failing that, the big screen in the break room here at work.