By “ourselves”, of course, I mean supporters of the English football team. Tonight, in the group stages of the World Cup “soccer” tournament, England’s not-entirely-convincing team takes on the might of Algeria. The English team failed to beat the USA a few days ago, conceding a soft goal due to a horrendous mistake by our goalkeeper. But England were not as terrible as some media commentaries suggest: some players such as Glenn Johnson, Aaron Lennon and Stevie Gerrard were good, in my view.
So far, I have quite enjoyed watching the tournament. I don’t get all that bothered by the endless din of the horns that the South African fans insist on blowing. If it drowns our some of the more moronic chants or even the banalities of the commentators, that is no bad thing. The local fans look as if they are having a great time, although as no doubt Samizdata commentators will point out, they are ultimately also paying for a lot of this razzmatazz. I have not checked all the details, but I assume that the government of South Africa, and hence the taxpayers, are funding some of the cost of all this.
So far, my prediction is that the finalists will probably be drawn from the following: Brazil, Argentina, Germany and possibly England (you’re mad, Ed). France lost big last night to Mexico; Spain, which has been considered among the favourites, was stunningly defeated by Switzerland, which brought a gleam to my pro-tax haven eye. Even so, Spain could and should probably progress to later stages.
As for England, all I can hope is that we don’t give away possession easily, give plenty of the ball to Wayne Rooney, and hope the goalkeeper remembers the old adage – keep the body behind the ball.
Here is what Brian Micklethwait wrote about the previous World Cup, back in 2006. I don’t remember a lot about it as I was getting married at the time.
At least you should beat Algeria handily enough. We’re up against Italy next — I can’t see a last minute (literally) equalizer happening against them.
Bruce: If Paraguay can hold them to a draw, who knows?
I’m in Spain at the moment. The Spanish allowed themselves to get very cocky and confident going into the tournament, and a lot of businesses simply closed for their first game, schools were closed so that the children could go home and watch the glorious victory. After the loss to Switzerland, their media indulged in a bout of self-flaggelation even the English would envy. Assuming they still manage to make the second round, the loss might not be such a bad thing for them: cockiness and overconfidence are never helpful, and they are now gone and they can get on with trying to win the tournament.
I have to say the general mood swings in Europe this week could have been predicted. Countries like Spain and England went in with higher expectations than usual, and Germany were underrrated. After one good performance by Germany and one bad one by each of England, Spain, and Italy, everyone is gritting their teeth and saying “Oh, Lord. Those bloody Germans again”. This is premature too. Spain, England, and Italy are all still in perfectly good positions from which to win the tournament if they are good enough.
Argentina look good though. The prospect of both Messi and Tevez in fine form at the same time is rather scary.
Nils desperandum Bruce, Italy are not a great team, they were incredibly lucky to win the Cup last time.
Well like I keep saying, I am a Rugby man myself, what do I know? But…
Let’s have a quick word about the ball being used.
Every bloody World Cup, some twat comes up with a “New” ball, as if reinventing the wheel is a good idea.
This one seems to go in any direction but the one it is kicked and bounces like buggery.
Some teams(England) have had very little practice with the new ball and are finding it hard to control. Others like Germany, have been using the thing for months, and look who won 4 nil!
I notice that teams are now concentrating on passing along the ground and not going for long balls in the air to compensate for its erratic nature, and having much more success.
Pity they dont go back to using the ones we had as kids. After 50 minutes in the rain and mud, heading one of those was like getting hit by a sack of wet cement. That would sort out the men from the boys!
Prediction? Germany V Argentinia in the final.
RAB: Hmmm. Serbia 1 Germany 0. This is a first round of upsets, indeed. This is not the first time this has happened, though, particularly in venues the top sides are not that familiar with. It happened in Japan/Korea in 2002, too, and in that instance normality reasserted it later and we ended up with a Brazil v Germany final.
I do like the fact that England are blaming the ball and Spain are blaming the goalkeeper’s girlfriend. National stereotypes are asserting themselves beautifully.
It will be interesting to see who if anybody the Germans blame tomorrow. Probably nobody to the same extent, given that the Germans are far less insecure about their football team than most European nations. (They expect it to be good, and generally it is).
After the last World Cup I told myself that I would never again hitch my emotions to the English Football Team and never again watch an England international live (barring semi-final extra times and final second halves, of course).
It is a liberating experience.
God were the Americans robbed. 🙁
That certainly does(Link) seem to be the case, Rob.
Just half watched (i.e. with the sound off and doing other things) the England Algeria game.
It certainly doesn’t look like the torture for England fans (for me it was just mild disappointment) will be lasting very long.
It seemed to me like the pitch as well as the ball was something our guys were quite unused to, unlike the Algerians, who looked better players to me, except when it came to scoring goals, at which both sides were equally hopeless.
I would very much like to know what Sir Clive Woodward, who master-minded Britain’s Rugby World Cup win, whenever it was, and who tried then to get into English soccer management (soccer being his first sporting love as a child) but was frozen out, would say about this England effort so far. My bet is he would say the preparation was terrible.
It was a 0-0 draw, by the way.
It looks as though they are being guided by historical precedents; Insandhlwana, Magersfontein, Colenso, Spionkop spring to mind, with Mboto Gorge lurking in there somewhere.