Belgium in good Kompany as Algeria scuppered by trip Hazard...
18/06/14 02:24
Day 6 in the Footcall house...
Today saw the matches from Group H which means we will have seen every team in the competition play at least one game. First up was the dark horse team of Belgium take on Algeria. The smart money was on Belgies to dish up goals quick to head home for a nice dish of mussels with frites and mayonnaise on the side. Well the Algerians had other ideas as they won a penalty in the 24th minute and Feghouli scored their first goal in 28 years. It was proving to be a good game but Belgium had pull up their socks and come the second half that's exactly what they did. They were leaving it late before super-sub Marouane Fellani, the former Chelsea midfielder he of the big hair that wouldn't look out of place in the Earth, Wind and Fire! He'd only been a few minutes when the ball skimmed off his big fro, over the outstretched keeper and in off the underside of the bar, I'm convinced it was the electrostatic charge his hair applied to the ball that helped it into the net much like rubbing a balloon on your jumper and sticking it to the ceiling. This was quite a shock for Man U fans as he's not shown any form like this since signing for them. Now it was one all and Belgium pushed on for the winner and ten minutes later Mertens found himself in open space in the goal area and powered it home for the winning goal.
Game two had us drooling at thought of Brazil showing us their class as they took on Mexico in their second group stages game and a rematch of the Olympic final. After the spine-tingling atmosphere of 70 odd thousand singing the Brazilian national anthem long after FIFA had switched the tannoy off we were up and running. Mexico knew not to roll over and have their tummy tickled and they gave as good as they got. Brazil tried to push ahead but they hadn't banked on Guillermo "Gordon Banks" Orchoa proving to be the star of the show as time and again he prevented the golden boys going in front. Even in the closing minutes the Olympic Champions could have nicked a winner but it finished goalless and Brazil have still not lost in their own country for an unbelievable 39 games.
Finally Russia, managed by Fabio Capello (remember him?) went head to head with South Korea. Looking at the team sheets this was going to be a commentators' nightmare but the BBC's Steve Wilson is a safe pair of hands behind the mic. Well funny I should mention a safe pair hands as after an unremarkable first half without a goal Lee Keun-ho hit a speculative shot towards the Russian net. The keeper, Igor Akinfeev, was right behind it ready to catch right? Err fail! Keeper be like, catch the ball. But the save didn't come as the ball wriggled through his fingertips like a live salmon coated in Teflon. It looked like Akinfeev had been to the Robert Green school of goalkeeping and once again it seems history is doomed to repeat itself for Capello. Fortunately this incident occurred early enough for Russia goal machine legend, Aleksandr Kerzhakov as he spun in the six yard area to tuck away an equaliser and save their keeper's blushes. Probably a fair result all in all.
Today was the tale of two keepers and it was indeed the best of times for Mexico and the worst of times for Russia!
And so to the Footcall league...
The big news is... the Belgium result gave me my first three :-) I'm sure you're all delighted about that, I bunting well am! This popular 2-1 result prediction saw a few others pick up red squares including Esther (it's been a long time coming) Eatwell, Simon (and his Mum) Clark, Sara Borges and finally Duncan (out on the) Town and Lauren (Mum I'm catching you now) Morris both lift their sorry teams off the bottom of the league. Sadly our New York contingent of Chris and Nick are now rooted to the foot of the table.
Yet another three for Jo (three in a row) sees her hang to her slender lead as Nick (stop bothering me with Footcall, I've got revision to do) Rowland is now pushing for the top spot. Sean Ellis has made a smart move and finally Dan Shroeck and Matt Green have woken up. Gemma (I love Bolton) Simms and Andrew Bell have snuck up on the inside rail as too has Jonnie Lewis and Dan Nicholls and Thomas Baus. Ever since Iain Baker threw his Footcall toys out his pram he can't stop effing scoring and he's now up into the top ten. John Trent is setting his stall out topside as too is Rob (nice and easy Trigger) Pearson.
Well player of the day award must go to the one and only Emma Wakefield who had been experiencing the Footcall blues as she was at the wrong end of the table but today she finally picked up her first red square but not only that she did it with the prediction of the tournament so far as she guessed (or knew) that the Brazil Mexico game would end without a goal. Astonishing! Well done Em, you've just got to keep this momentum going now.
The Spaniards return tomorrow and they really need a result against Chile.
Until then,
David