HOLY @?#!&*.
Before the start of World Cup 2014 I
held a certain view of which teams could win this sucker and which teams couldn’t.
My list of those teams that COULD included Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium,
Portugal, and Uruguay.
My list of teams that COULDN'T would pretty much include everyone else, with outside bets including the Netherlands and
maybe Columbia (mostly because my favourite coffee is grown there).
Notice I failed to mention Spain as either a potential winner or a dark horse. That’s not a mistake, I haven’t gone cuckoo-bananas, and I still support
the team. But they have as much a chance of winning this thing as the
Socceroos.
 | ||
| This Spanish team has ZERO chance of winning World Cup 2014. But they look better than the Spanish team we saw yesterday. |
My reasoning is based on HOW FREAKIN’ AWESOME Spain has been. This may
seem like backward thinking, but history has a demonstrated knack for putting
teams back in their place when they attempt to achieve too much. Yesterday’s
match illustrated this perfectly.
I won’t delve into too much detail.
Suffice it to say that the Dutch deserved to win. There were some dubious calls
made by the officiating crew (a phantom foul resulting in a goal for the Dutch,
to name just one), but what ultimately decided this match was the
tentativeness which possessed Spain once they fell behind and the willingness
of l’Oranj to just GO FOR IT.
 |
| "NoooooooOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOoooooooooooo!" |
But the Netherlands didn’t have to be
good, because Spain was just so bad. Nerves? Who knows, but it certainly
appeared that way. It was pure spectacle for Dutch fans, and highway carnage
for fans of La Furia Roja; or should that be La Furia Muerto? With goal difference being
the first tie-breaker and goals scored being the second, Spain is in trouble.
In other news, many kudos go to Mexico
for winning by a score of 1-0 over Cameroon while playing mostly in the rain on
a soggy pitch. It could have easily been 3-0.
And in the most entertaining match of
the day, Chile came out flying and scored two beautiful goals in the first
twenty minutes before Australia made a go of it; the final result of 3-1
deservedly in Chile’s favour. Credit Australia for the effort displayed while playing
from two goals behind, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
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| Matthew Špiranović picks up the assist by screening his keeper as Chile's Alexis Sanchez scores the first goal of the match. |
HIGHFALUTIN PICKS OF THE DAY:
Colombia 2, Greece 0 (coffee beats
kabobs)
Uruguay 3, Costa Rica 0
England 1, Italy 1 (convince me,
England, that you deserve more)
Japan 2, Côte d'Ivoire 1
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