Taxi for Green!
13/06/10 02:08
There is no truth in the rumour that BP just hired England's goalkeeper to stop the oil spill...
Not what you'd call the best of starts to the England WC campaign :-( hopefully my acronym of the World Cup doesn't mean our chances have gone down the pan! We started so well, full of vigour and promise with captain fantastic Gerrard latching on to a Heskey (who doubted him?) pass to tuck the ball in the bottom right corner... SWEET! Well maybe not if you were watching ITV HD as just as the ball crossed into the box, we lost transmission and it cut to an unintentional poxy advert for Hyundai. We couldn't believe our eyes when it came back on with the boys celebrating down by the corner flag! Nice one ITV, your coverage is good as your dodgy commentary. Never mind, we were one nil up and in full control surely this we would be a walk in the park from here?
Not quite, USA are no push over and whilst they are not blessed with international stars (crikey they don't even call it FOOTBALL) they rode out the England pressure and they were rewarded for it. On the 40th minute Fulham winger, Clint Dempsey took a speculative shot that really wasn't going to trouble our man between the sticks, except this is England we are talking about! As the new ball bounced across the surface, Robert Green got down to collect the ball as a matter of routine, he didn't set himself quite fully behind the ball and it pinged off his gloves and slid behind him into the net as he buried his face into the turf. He was distraught with what happened, you could see it and so were we. At least he can call himself a true England keeper now, this ranks alongside Seaman being lobbed from 30 yards, Robinson being bobbled against Croatia, countless Calamity James balls ups and who could forget Scott Carson?
Maybe we can excuse Green because the problem was that this wasn't a Premiership football this was a new World Cup football. This new ball has come in for some criticism from the players because it's light unpredictable nature.
Brace yourselves everyone... RANT ALERT... Why oh why oh why do FIFA insist on introducing a new ball every major tournament? It would seem obvious to me that they should play with exactly the same ball as used in the Premiership and Champions League for the past four years? This is what the quality players are used to, not some 99p Peak Frean's ball from Woolworths... I could buy a better ball down Hastings seafront! FIFA FAIL! RANT OVER!
OK time to regroup! England pushed on but the States hung on and went in at half time all square. Cut to the ITV studio, start off with an apology for the interruption in transmission then over the three amigos of Southgate, Vieira and Keegan. Don't get me started on the quality of Kevin Keegan's punditry, he had the nerve to say our keeper was Green by name and green by nature. I'm sure if he had still been England manager that's exactly what he would have said to Robert in the dressing room! At that moment Adrian Chiles had a look on his face like he was wishing he was back at the BBC.
Second half. You know the deal... lots of huff an puff, golden opportunities spurned (like Heskey one on one with the keeper) but no end product. Game over; one all it remained. It's fair to say that England had the three lions share but let's give America some credit here; kick off was at 1939 but they didn't turn up until 1941, then they stole the show. All seems very familiar doesn't it?
Let's not forget this was game three of the day. Earlier in the afternoon Maradona the Messiah (he paid me to put that) and his band of merry men from South America took on Nigeria. This saw Messi up against Shittu (insert your own joke here) and this really should have been a walk in the park for Argentina. So it appeared when Heinze headed in a corner to go 1-0 up. We thought it would be a barrage of goals from there on as Lionel Messi, possibly the best player in the world, just fired at the man of the match, the Nigerian keeper, Vincent Enyeama. He saved a number of attempts that on any other day would have seen the Argentines romp home comfortably. Well they did hang on just like the buttons on Diego's suit!
The early kick off of the day was between South Korea and Greece. The most successful Asian nation showed how they could pose a threat in this competition. They tucked away two goals against a lack lustre Greek team who will need to pull their socks up if they want to qualify. South Korea could be a team to watch, they are up against Argentina next and could give them a run for their money.
So what have all these results had on the Footcall league?Top boy is still Mr Appleton! Another 3 pointer sees him 2 points clear (I'm sure Mick is delighted for him). Joint second is Mark Brownie Badger and Stephen Run 4 The Hills, well done guys. Other notables include Matthew Rudd and my Mother, Virginia, who I had to talk into taking part for the first time, she won't mind if she qualifies for a prize but don't forget Mum, as you always used to say to me... It's the taking part that counts ;-). Other movers and shakers include the consistent Danny Searle and Paul Harrison. Three pointers include our New York based couple of Chris and Nick, one all was the perfect result for them, Peter Mulvey, Sam Ford and Jonny Hill all picking up valuable points.
That's it for now, over and out!
Dj