I normally find football pretty dull compared to basketball where the lead can change back and forth in seconds, but the World Cup is always something worth following as with anything that's the "best of breed".
Being English, I suffer from the typical love-hate relationship with football. While I'd love to see our country win, the scars of previous tournament failures still haunt my optimism, to the point where I get substantially jaded (I was actually cheering for Trinidad and Tobago would you believe - but that's partly because they seemed to have a great sense of fair play.
I'm still amazed that a competition of this level can have its course significantly altered by what is in effect the opinions of the officials. In the technology age that we live in, the "Hand of God" incidents really shouldn't exist any more in this sport, but for whatever reason everyone has to go on suffering the injustices that happen in every single game. I guess it could be considered a part of it perhaps.
Contrast poor Michael Owen who picked up an injury in the first minute of the Sweden game. He chose to roll himself off the pitch. I can't remember who it was but I saw a game recently where someone chose to roll themselves back onto the pitch after an injury in a deliberate attempt to stop the game (to run down the clock...another of my pet hates - why can't they have a live clock that stops when play stops!!!)
So, odd as this may seem, I won't necessarily support England all the way. I tend to pick a favourite based on how well they play in the spirit of the game. I thought the Sweden/England game was an excellent one. The standard of play from both sides was extremely good (except England's second half defense against set pieces but the less said about that the better eh!. Both teams played a very clean game with no silly tackles to mention and certainly no "he creased my shirt when he ran past me so I'm going to roll around on the floor like I've just had my kidneys removed through my ankle" type of behaviour either.
England could have had some better luck in the first half....Sweden certainly deserved better in the second half I think. All in all, a good game and a good result for both sides, especially considering the early loss of Michael Owen for England.
I saw the Brazil vs Australia game, can't say I was that impressed with Brazil but the Aussies certainly put on a very impressive show considering their comparable lack of experience. Haven't they been getting a reputation for being a little hard in the tackles?
Saw some of the USA game (against Italy I think?) where they had 3 sendings off in total. Again neither side really impressed me that much. Watched most of the Holland/Argentina game as well; Holland reminded me of a typical poor England performance I'm afraid to say....Argentina were good in places but then I think they had a lot of their talent resting on the bench as they didn't need to win.
So, England vs Ecuador I think it is? Should be a win for us I think, but it's by no means certain given Englands "ah, the second half, time to go to sleep" attitude and their uncanny ability to lapse from excellent to mediocre in a matter of seconds. I'm also expecting lots of Oscar winning performances for rolling around on the floor too.
Good luck to Sweden against Germany - I think you have a good chance of beating them if you play as well as you did against England. Just don't let it go to penalties
. As long as Brazil don't win, I'm happy.
