Footcall VIII is up and running...
27/07/14 02:01
Footcall VIII Day 1...
Well here we are once again all ready to do battle once more on the hallowed Footcall turf. Maybe this Footcall was one for the purists and I must say I'm thoroughly delighted with a turnout of 53 players even if one or two of you have turned up in your trainers rather than your footy boots! For those of your who don't know, the Olympic Football tournament is made up of 16 teams where the teams comprise of a minimum of eight players 23 years old or younger with just three players over 23. I'm not sure who set this age limit but some of them look as if they have come straight from university, barely had any time get some product in their hair before taking to the pitch. Some of them looked a bit worried cos they might have a late finish and it's a school day tomorrow!
We we need to remember this is a showcase for the beautiful game and our chance to see some of the nations that don't get many opportunities to play in big tournament, especially not one as big as the Olympics. I'm sure one or two of us might even struggle to point to these countries on a map, does anyone know where on earth Gabon actually is? (Christine you can put your hand down now). Of course because of these variables and new parameters, this is where you, the Footcallers, might feel you're at a disadvantage but may I remind you that a four year old won the last Footcall :-) but let's face it, if you can write a number in a box then that's all the qualifications you need to take part and we all have as a good a chance as one another, unless of course you're name is Simon Jenner and you're a master of coming last!
Throw into the mix the format of eight games over three days in one long 10 hour footballing marathon, we have what will undoubtedly be the quickest Footcall in history. You'll have little time to bask in the glory of any success because this train ain't stopping and there's another match straight up as soon as one finishes. In fact there were several games going on simultaneously and there can play havoc on trying to keep tabs on the live scoring I can tell you. Because of the overwhelming amount football going on, I shall try and focus on the Footcallers rather than the matches. Of course, the home nation is represented by Great Britain and the team would be made up of players from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We're one big happy family now although Stuart Pearce the manager has opted to leave out any Scottish and Northern Irish (probably some historical thing going back to that match in Euro 96). Our team was led out by captain Ryan Giggs with Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards the other two over 23s. The big news was the exclusion of David Beckham and despite all that work he did campaigning for the Olympics to come to London, he must have thought his name would be first on the team sheet. Well Psycho Pearce had other ideas and he obviously felt David would be better off schmoosing in the hospitality Pimm's tent with Lord Coe and other IOC dignitaries. Shame really but at least he has provided a few good team names from you lot!
We have had one cock up already as Welshman, Joe Allen the Swansea City central midfielder was listed as being English in the programme for Team GB's first match with Senegal. Classic! At least they correctly displayed the Union flag before the match unlike the North Korean women's team who decided to walk off when the South Korean flag was shown on the big screen! What a mistaker-to-maker! Didn't anyone tell the IOC they're not best buddies? I can't believe anything else can go wrong, can you?
And so to the Footcall league...
Game one ended Honduras 1 v Morocco 1 and only two Footcallers had predicted this score, Andrew Green and some called David Jenner! Yep I was top of the Footcall table, I knew it was good idea to do this all again even if I am a "Glutton for Punishment!" I quickly printed this out A3 and put it in my Footcall scrapbook ;-) A few of you picked up one pointers here and game two didn't see anyone collect any three pointers.
Game three was Spain v Japan and coming off the back of their Euro success, we all had Spain to dish up proper good in this one but we were all in for one big shock. Japan managed to beat the Spanish one nil and I watched that match it would not be too flattering to say that Japan could have easily scored half a dozen, they out stripped the Spaniards for pace time and again and must surely be one of the dark horses for the gold medal. Of course it's too late to change your predictions now. Absolutely nobody scored a single point for this match!
Game four saw a collection of red squares from Les Herbert, Bryan Relf, Christine "Oh no not again" Jenner, Tim "Mr Footcall" Jennings, Paul "the Wanderer" Wakefield and Rob Smith.
Game five saw Robert McNamara and James Parker make great strides up the table for their correct guesses.
Game six saw Brazil beat Egypt and after going three nil up the Brazilians were somewhat lucky to finish the match with a win as the Egyptians fought back well scoring twice but eventually ran out of time to get the equalizer. Bryan "I'm on holiday" Relf was the only player to get this score therefore takes the best prediction of the day award.
Game seven (are you keeping up with this?) finished one nil to Belarus and Patrick "slightly sunburnt" Ferguson, James "where's Nick and Nikki?" Vallender, Richard "might just see that tenner again" Goodwin and Footcall new comer Lauren "I'm catching you Dad" Morris all collected their first red square.
Finally this football marathon was capped off with Team GB taking on Senegal which saw Craig Bellamy put GB in front after 20 minutes but in an almost England-esque style let it slip and let Moussa Konate beat the offside trap and chip the ball past the oncoming Jack Butland in the 79th minute. It finished one all which was good for me as it gave me my second red box. Other three pointers include, Les "What another one" Herbert, Nick "just moving into the contention" Stacey, Neil "this is my time to shine" Jefferis, Graham "Hee Bee" Weaver and Matt "Get in!" Clark. Well would you believe it, look in joint 7th place suffering from vertigo and no doubt a sense of an impending nose bleed it's my bruv, Simon who has possibly scuppered his chances of third straight vuvuzela as he got a result dead right!
Talking of the "vuvu" award we have two players fighting it out at the bottom of the table, Stephen "Sharon did you pick my scores?" Hills and Spencer "Oh dear, I remember being at the other end of the table three weeks ago!" Collins.
So I shall sign off with the man of the match and laying claim as the greatest Footcaller of all time, Mr Kevin "in the bag" Appleton is flying high once again and with a no show from Mr Mallion he must surely be thinking of the bigger prize and the glory of going top of the Footcall Hall of Fame. He managed to predict three perfect scores with three more one pointers to give him 12 points and a four point lead over me and Les. Well there is still a long way to go, let's see if he maintains his cracking start.
Sunday sees yet another eight matches, so hang on to your hats, it could be all change come Monday morning.
Until then...
David