Young Dutch Courage beat Senior Senors!
13/06/14 09:54
Day 2 in the Footcall house...
After the host nation strolled through to win last night with their latest signing "Refereeinho" becoming the star of the show, we were all set for a feast of footie as we entertain three matches in one day.
First up we saw Mexico take on Cameroon in the second Group A match in what was near monsoon like conditions. Just like the Brazil match some controversial refereeing decisions were to plague this game as former Spurs frontman Dos Santos had not one but two perfectly legitimate goals denied, one because the ref was adjusting the nozzle on his invisible spray bottle and one because FIFA approval had not been granted! But the Olympic champions ploughed on regardless and after riding out a narrow escape as Samuel Eto'o clipped the post they got their just desserts when that man Dos Santos had a shot parried only for Peralta to follow up and bury it in the 61st minute. Other chances came and went for both sides but it was the South Americans once again prevailing one nothing.
Hot on the heels of that game came the first match for Group B. We saw defending World Cup holders Spain take on orange army of The Netherlands (except they were playing in blue!) This was a replay of the final from 2010 and this was potentially the tie of the Group Stages. Their last encounter was nothing short of disgraceful as Holland came to disrupt the fortified Spanish defence, we could only hope that we didn't have a repeat of that. Both sides were packed with familiar faces and quality from front to back but Spain had the experience and the Footcall form was tipping this to go their way. From the outset the Spaniards looked confident and they were awarded a penalty within half an hour which Alonso tucked away. At this point the "Tiki Taka" (short passes, Continental style) that they are noted for was looking supreme. However in the 44th Robin Van Persie (RVP) spectacularly dived like a flying fish to head the ball over the oncoming keeper, before gracefully going straight into a swan dive as if he was break dancing to Run DMC down his local rec!
After the interval there was only one team in it, the rampant Dutch lions tore through the Spanish defence time and again. The pace of Arjen opened em up like a tin of beans whilst the power of Van Persie provided the canon fire, it was fast becoming the Robben and Robin show! Holland slotted home another four goals before the final whistle, it finished 5-1: two for Rob, two for Rob and one for de Vrij. It was simply sublime and one of the best matches the world stage has seen for many a year. Spain had no answer for it and were left humiliated like we've never seen before and they must be concerned for their next match. This was definitely one Friday the 13th they'd sooner forget!
Game three of day two saw Chile take on Australia in Group B. Possibly one of the dark horses of this tournament, Chile are an outside bet to do well. And didn't they start well, as they scored two quick goals (12th and 14th) leaving the Aussies more stunned than when we done em at the cricket! The Chileans were looking the business as they were running rings around the Antipodeans with the crowd giving it the "big ole" in the first half! But us Brits know not to write off Australia too soon as they managed to pull one back with a superb leaping header from former Everton hero Tim Cahill. Chile did manage to hold a few more threats and sneak the win 2-1.
And so to the Footcall league...
Quite a few of you had Mexico to win 1-0 including Chris Amos, Clive (not me again?) Gigney, Richard Russell, Darryl Farmer, Jo (Footcall is my life for the next four weeks) Mackenzie, Paul Storey Smith, Christine (Mrs Footcall) Jenner and Jonathan (Don't be like Dave) Hill all picking up three pointers. The Dutch result was astonishing as only SIX people had Holland to win at all, Eric Church, Danny Thompson, Toyah Wood, Sean Ellis, Robert Leon and Jonathan Reeves all collecting a valuable point, I wonder how important that might be in the long term.
The Chile result proved more popular as Peter (the taxi) Mulvey, Andy Booth, Chris and Nick (our favourite New Yorkers) Kotsonis, Paresh Tailor and James Parker who I'm sure would like to dedicate his three points to the memory of his Dad. A good day for the Herberts (Pam and Dave) as they wonder where Les might have gone, whilst riding high top of the table is Spencer (FIFA backed) Collins with two red squares along with Rob Pearson and Craig Amos.
It's getting exciting now and we're only on day two!
Just a reminder that if you are on Facebook please join our Footcall group where we have some lively in-match conversations.
Next up, the big one... England v Italy
Good luck everyone, see you on the other side!
David