World Cup Update

Posted by Chad Orzel on July 5, 2006
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I didn’t get to see much of the World Cup games over the weekend, as we were in Chicago at a friend’s wedding, with drinks and dancing and socializing, and various other things that were more attractive than watching penalty-kick shootouts. A few scattered observations all the same:

  • Appearances: not always decceiving. See Wayne Rooney’s attempt to geld a Portugese player.
  • Some really sweet goals in the recent games. Germany’s two-header against Argentina to tie it up was amazing, and France’s goal against Brazil was pretty sweet as well.
  • By the way: France? Over Brazil?
  • I loved the German keeper’s minimalist celebration after blocking that last shot.
  • For all the bitching about the Italians diving and flopping, the Dive of the Tournament has to go to Odonkor from Germany, who had a play against Argentina where he tried to kick the ball, whiffed completely with no assistance from the defender, and then threw himself on the ground without being touched, drawing a whistle.
  • Of course, lest the Italians get off too easily, what was up with Grosso yesterday? There was one point in the second half where he spent a couple of minutes rolling on the ground like he’d had a foot hacked off, but when they rolled the tape back, they couldn’t find any point in the play where anybody touched him. And then he got up, and jogged off the field. What the hell?
  • I was pulling for the Germans yesterday (two of their young stars were born in Poland, which is as close to an ethnic rooting interest as I could find), but I have to admit, those two goals the Italians scored were pretty sweet. There really wasn’t anything the Germans could do about either one– they were just great shots

So, it’s France-Portugal today. I have no real opinion on either team, other than vaguely rooting for their opponents in the previous round. Here’s hoping for some scoring, though.

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Comments

  1. #1 Dennis
    July 5, 2006

    Appearances: not always decceiving. See Wayne Rooney’s attempt to geld a Portugese player.

    Am I the only one who saw this play differently? I saw him fight for the ball hard (admittedly grabbing the other guy’s leg – technically a foul right there) but the foot in the crotch moment I maintain was an accident. The Portugese player fell, throw Rooney off-balance. He then threw his foot down in an attempt to stay upright. Unfortunately, it happened to be on the opposing player. Definitely a yellow, possibly a red card, but not intentional.

    Re: France vs. Brazil – Brazil came out of the gates looking listless. After France scored, Brazil really turned on the heat, but it was too late. If they had played the way they did in the last 30 minutes of the game for the entire game, I think it would have been a win for Brazil.

  2. #2 Ray
    July 5, 2006

    Brazil have been pretty listless all tournament. Then again, France have been the same in most games.

  3. #3 Chad Orzel
    July 5, 2006

    The Portugese player fell, throw Rooney off-balance. He then threw his foot down in an attempt to stay upright. Unfortunately, it happened to be on the opposing player. Definitely a yellow, possibly a red card, but not intentional.

    It looked to me very much like an annoyed and deliberate stomp.

  4. #4 Dennis
    July 6, 2006

    I guess I’m going to have to go look for replay footage of that incident, because it really did look like to me that he was just fighting for the ball. I’ve got no interest either way, but as a fellow (amateur) player who charges hard for every ball, I really do think it was unintentional. It looked to me like Rooney was scrambling hard (and out-of-control) for the ball.

  5. #5 Roman Werpachowski
    July 6, 2006

    Am I the only one who saw this play differently?

    No, you’re not. Rooney was being deliberately provoked by the Portuguese, IMHO.