The Elite will be dancing in the Streets of Tonbridge!
25/06/10 00:58
That's it, 48 games done and the Group Stages are concluded.
In London Marathon terms we're just going round the Isle of Dogs and perhaps there's a sense that the end could be in sight and today saw the decision of Groups G and H and maybe for once, it all went according to how the bookies might have predicted it.
This afternoon saw top ranked team Brazil take on Portugal whilst at the same time the Ivory Coast battled it out with North Korea. The Korean Geordies were washed up and this match saw the bullish Elephants decisively take the three points with a comfortable 3-0 win. The problem was they needed to score a shedload of goals and hope that in the other game Portugal felled the mighty Brazilians like a lumberjack in their rainforest... ooh little bit of politics ladies and gentlemen! Well the truth is the best you could say about the Portugal Brazil game was that it was uneventful. Players run up and down, both teams took half hearted shots from long range, Ronaldo did his usual remonstrating with the ref, plentiful petulant petty bookings and blogger all happened to write home about. I'd love to be able to report that a little JRT ran on the pitch and ran rings rounds the defence body swerved the big number 5 and nosed the ball in the Brazilian goal but that didn't happen and all we had were the grimaces on Dunga's face. He must have been desperate to get on and show Baptista the Beast exactly how to pass the ball. It finished nil nil which saw both teams through. If they get to meet each other again later in the cup this needs to perk up and show us some class.
The evening games saw Chile play Spain whilst the Swiss took on Honduras. The Spanish started promisingly, scored early and managed to get a Chilean player sent off through Torres tripping over his own boot laces in what looked like a Freddie Starr pratfall. Spain scored again and Chile, who look good at times, managed a consolation goal and the match finished 2-1. Switzerland needed to win against the lack lustre Hondurans. They didn't, it finished 0-0, so they went home! Well at least they've got cracking chocolate, lovely scenery and a network rail system that we'd kill for in the UK... ooh a little bit more politics there for ya, sorry, I seem to have gone a bit Ben Elton for some reason! All this meant that Spain (the lucky ones) and Chile qualified for the final two places.
And so to the final Footcall Group Stages league...With his last breath Kevin Appleton (Tonbridge Street Elite) has managed to leapfrog Jon Hill (Pornista FC) to claim top spot and I'm sure he'll be mighty thankful for the 3 pointer he got for the Ivory Coast 3-0 prediction. Other notables throughout the table include Peter Mulvey, Jack Wakefield, Peter Nilsen, Zhaomin Meng and Spencer Collins all of whom had back to back red squares. Even Lyn Rennie managed another one today, whatever next? Simon Dudson, Jake Martin, Robert Hatch and Dean Turney all managed another 3 and player of the day must go to my bruvver, Simon, because he miraculously managed to claim his first exact score which tragically sees him off the bottom of the table to be replaced by Mark Horner. This has left poor old Moomin's are Satin's Slaves, Dave Hope, all on his own as the only player without one single 3 pointer but he did manage 23 ones which is quite impressive, if they'd all been 3s he would be top of the table by a clear 26 points!
So we're done for the Groups and now the real pressure is on, not just for the footballers but the Footcallers too. You have to now predict the teams you think will win the Knockout Stages matches. The last mail I sent out explains everything. You have until 1pm this afternoon to get your entry in.
I suppose this rather topsy turvy cup saw France capitulate, Italy collapse, the USA arrive at the last minute and England left to deal with Germany... does this sound familiar?
Until tomorrow (or should I say, later today).
Dj