12/08/14 01:32
Footcall VIII Day 6...
This was is it, the penultimate day of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the final of the football, today the mighty Brazilians took on the South American rivals, Mexico to decide who would take home the gold. And what a festival we have been treated to over the past fortnight, it has been a truly wonderful sporting spectacle and the culmination of seven years hard work by Lord Coe, the rest of his committee and the countless volunteers who have contributed to make it the best games ever! The GLW and I have experienced three events and the whole organisation of at The Excel, at Lord's and Earl's Court were nothing short of incredible. The element that shone through was the enthusiasm of the Olympic staff at each event with tireless cheesy grins from the moment we arrived to the minute left; it was tremendous, and it was clear that the purple uniform really didn't suit some of them but just like Barney the Dinosaur they put on a brave face throughout! For an hour and a half in Earl's Court we became Japanese as we shouted "Go Nippon!" with our new volleyball friends and we take full responsibility for getting them through the quarter finals.
Team GB had us all worried with the slow start to the Games as we saw what we thought were medal certainties slip through the net but our cyclists and rowers kick started our campaign into life and that was just the start. Suddenly we all believed there was a chance we could not only organise a damn fine event but also compete against the bigger boys (and girls). Once the athletics kicked off with Ennis and that man who jumped a long way we were off and running. Then came more medals in the Boxing, Ben "don't make me angry!" Ainslie sailing his little boat, the dancing horse lady, that girl who kicked arse in the Taekwondo all of whom contributed to the British gold rush. Then came Mo Farah conquering the ten thousand and then doing the double tonight with his wonderful gold in the five thousand. Simply amazing... everybody do the Mo-bot! By the way, have you seen where Australia finished on the medal table? The County of Yorkshire are better than them! All this and I forgot to mention the history made by David Rudisha in the 800m and Usain Bolt and his double triple, it has been nothing short of magnificent.
Let's get back to the footie! Wembley Stadium hosted red hot favourites Brazil and Mexico fight it out in the final and things could not have gone any worse for the players in yellow and green as soon after the kickoff the Mexicans managed to win the ball in Brazilian and capitalize on some slack defending and Oribe Peralta tucked the ball in the Brazilian net! Mexico were one nil up and we only had 30 seconds on the clock; the fastest goal in Olympic final history! Whilst the dominant Brazilians pushed on, Mexico rode their luck as they saw chances from Marcello and Leandro and the first half finished one to the good for Mexico.
After the break Fabian Marco nearly extended their lead as he tried an audacious overhead kick which pinged off Brazil's crossbar! But it wasn't long before Mexico actually did double their tally as that man Peralta headed home his second goal from a free kick that saw the Brazilian defenders stand around like innocent bystanders! Two nil up and Mexico were cooking... they were first to the ball and winning the tackles but you just can't count out Brazil until the final whistle. That beast of player, Hulk (so named because his dad was a big Lou Ferrigno fan) did claw one back in injury time. Now it was really tense and in the dying seconds of the match with virtually the last touch of the ball, Hulk crossed in a peach of a ball into the heart of the Mexican 18 yard area. The strikers were all lining up to convert the equalizer and take the match into extra time and it was Oscar who took the responsibility upon himself and his nation. Was he up for it? Was he f***! Rather than a deft little glancing header he powered it over the bar like Tony Adams might have done when clearing his defence in his heyday! Welcome to Stamford Bridge Mr Oscar!
There was no time left and the whistle did blow to send the Mexicans, once again "crazy go nuts" for they were the Olympic 2012 champions. Brazil once again denied the only major trophy to elude their cabinet but surely their time will come in Rio?
And so to the Footcall League...
Almost as amazing as the Olympics have been, it has possibly been eclipsed by the news that Footcall VIII has been won by none other than my ol mate Paul "couldn't think of a team name" Wakefield! After competing in every single Footcall, Paul's seven previous attempts have seen him progressively get worse year on year finishing, 10th, 39th, 11th, 14th, 57th, 88th and 117th but now he's top of the tree and the newest player to be crowned Footcall champion! A magnificent achievement and he recently sent me a text when Paul and I were second and third in the Group Stages to say "It's about time we started to do well, we've had enough practice!" As I pinned my hopes on Egypt to romp home, that decision saw my race run, Paul plumped for Mexico to go for gold. What a shrewd move that proved to be as he was the only Footcaller to pick them and those vital eight points see Wakefield Wanderers leap from fifth straight into the top spot above Leigh who must have been thinking it was in the bag.
This afternoon I made the call to break the good news and I was informed by Paul's wife Emma that it was actually her and their son, Jack, who had done all the predictions and it was just Paul's name on the entry form! This sees Paul pick 10 Hall of Fame points which could have easily been awarded to Emma, who isn't on the list yet or indeed Jack who is in fifth and would have seen him up into third. But it's Paul who will take the glory this time round. Let's hear it for the Wakefield family.
Sadly Leigh dropped to second, Patrick Ferguson claims third, new boy Stewart King finished fourth and Kevin Appleton in fifth and the six points he picked up sees him overtake Mick Mallion in the Hall of Fame. James Vallender finished sixth on his own and then we have a four way tie between Richard Goodwin, Tim Jennings, Graham Weaver and Joanna Mackenzie for seventh. All four players having identical data across four sets of criteria... quite remarkable! All the winners will be notified of their success.
Finally the Vuvuzela award was secured by Leanne (and Sean) Maloney and the very last prize goes to Les Herbert for the most popular team name "Pearce de la Resistonce" both of whom will receive a box of chocolates for their endeavours. See the Footcall home page for a full list of the prize winners.
Another fantastic Footcall draws to a close and I can't thank you enough for taking part. We're just left with another 26m run round the block in the marathon tomorrow and more medal opportunities in the remaining boxing events and then we can wrap it up with the closing ceremony and rumour has it the Spice Girls are making a come back... Yes! I hope they play Wannabe, that's my favourite!
That's it until the World Cup in 2014... see you in Braziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil!
David
08/08/14 01:07
Footcall VIII Day 5...
Just three days on from Super Saturday and Team GB hauls in a truck more medals in the Olympics as we pay tribute to stars of the velodrome in particular Victoria Peddle-ton and Sir Chris Yo-Ho-A-Hoy, both of whom finish their Olympic careers today. They have represented our nation with tremendous credit and proved to be fine role-models and ambassadors whilst elevating their sport to a new level. We've already exceeded our medal tally from Beijing and we've still got a few days to go yet. Rumour has it now that Sir Chris Hoy has the most British gold medals, Sir Steve Redgrave is considering a come back!
But we're not here for bicycle races, we're here for football. Today saw the semi-final matches as Mexico took on Japan in the early kick off. You have to hand it to the Japanese team, their fitness level is unbelievable and after they destroyed Spain one nil (could have easily been seven) they certainly deserved their semi final place and must have been very confident of success. This attitude paid off as they took the lead with an early lead from Yuki Otsu. This left the Mexicans to fight from behind for the first time in the tournament and they hit back in the 31st minute with an equalizer from Marco Fabian. It stayed one all up until half time and after the break Mexico broke the deadlock. Japan's keeper, Gonda, rolled the ball out to midfielder Ohgihara who obviously must have been wondering if he had any Brasso at home for polishing his medal, as his pocket was well and truly picked by Oribe Peralta who launched the ball into the top left corner well out of reach of Gando's dive. Mexico started to look strong now and really imposed themselves on the game. Finally substitute Javier Cortes secured the victory as he made a superb run into the box and slid the ball under the keeper on the rain soaked Wembley and carry his nation into their first ever Olympic final.
The Old Trafford evening match saw gold medal favourites, Brazil, take on Korea. Of course this should have been Great Britain if wasn't for those darn penalty shoot-outs. Do you think we could get Sir Chris take the GB football team on a Go-Ape team building exercise and instil some self belief? Well let's get over it, Korea were here on merit and gonna give it a go against the Brazilians. The Koreans certainly work hard and were unlucky not get one, if not two, penalties (and we know how good they are from the spot). But Brazil rode their luck and with the ingenuity of the likes of Oscar and Neymar there really was only ever going to be one winner in this match. It was Romulo who was first on the score sheet and one nil was the half time score despite Brazil's dominance. Soon into the second half, Leandro Damiao added his name to the list, not once but twice as he scored two goals within seven minutes of each other as he took the credit for some fantastic skills from the boy Neymer. This left Brazil the luxury of playing keep ball for thirty odd minutes with little or no worries from their opposition. This result not only saw them canter into the Wembley final against Mexico but also means they have scored three goals in each of the five games they've played in this competition. Whilst they might have a tougher match on Saturday, they certainly look the business and must be odds on for gold.
And so to the Footcall league...
Well loookee here... we have a new leader! Leigh "The French Coalition" Boardman struck gold today with a perfect eight and sees her name up in lights (well highlighted in red at least) atop the Footcall league. I need to have this clarified with the Footcall historians but I think this is the first time she has been on top. We mustn't overlook Patrick "Getmeoutofhere!" Ferguson who is right up there as well on 33 points and just the Group Stages points separating him from Leigh. Stewart perhaps a Footcall wake up call as he slips to third whilst Paul "we were there at Wembley, did you spot us?" Wakefield races into fifth. Richard "I might just see that ten quid again" Goodwin, Tim "the Seagull" Jennings, Graham "that's what I'm talking about" Weaver and Jo "my Footcall experience is paying off now!" Mackenzie all move into the money bracket with perfect eights today.
Rob "all bought and paid for" Smith, Manoj "good try Roheet, have another go in 2014" Gupta and Dan "can we open a Footcall store on the Las Vegas Strip?" Shroeck, Keith "not giving up yet" Firmston and Maxine "like West Brom avoiding relegation" Coupland also score eight pointers today and have done their Footcall VIII campaign no harm at all.
Leanne "jeeeeeze Sean what have you done?" Maloney is in pole position for the vuvu and could probably order the open top bus now if she would like to!
That'll do for now, just one more game to go and we are done, see you Saturday.
Until then...
Dj
05/08/14 02:51
Footcall VIII Day 4...
What truly unbelievably emotional, exhilarating, joyous, momentous, historic, incredible, heart-warming, tremendous day of British sporting achievement! For those of you who have enjoyed the events of day eight of the London Olympic Games, the fourth of August 2012 will live long in our memories. Wonderful gold medals for Jessica "T" Ennis, Greg "don't call me Mike" Rutherford and Mo "GoMoJo" Farah all lifted the spirit of the nation with amazing performances in the Olympic Stadium. Not forgetting our success in the rowing and in the velodrome, all in all an outstanding day... that is until it comes to British football.
After the despair of losing on penalties to Italy in Euro 2012, once again our hopes were dashed from 12 yards out as Korea overcame Team GB in a tense shootout. After Aaron Ramsey had equalised with a penalty, he was awarded another one which could have seen GBR edge in front and see out normal time the victors. Unfortunately for us the Korean keeper, saved this one and so the match finished one all after 120 minutes and for the second time within a month we were faced with the prospects of pinning the hopes of a nation on a few good men to convert from the spot. Well one thing to note was the quality of the kicking, almost all the penalties were taken with a great skill particularly from the Koreans who certainly looked confident right down the pecking order. Sadly it was Dean Sturridge who cracked under the pressure and his stuttered run up gave the man between the sticks, Lee Bumyoung, to second guess the direction and save. Then finally Sungyueng Ki, the Celtic midfielder, powered it into the top left corner. And from the successes earlier in the evening, the hearts of the GLW and me were broken again right there and then in the Barming branch of Pizza Go Go!
Previously on Super Saturday tournament favourites Brazil came from behind twice against Honduras and eventually triumphed 3-2 as they advanced into the semi finals to face Korea. Mexico had a fantastic match against Senegal which finished two each after the regulation 90 and it took another 30 minutes for the Mexicans to tuck away two more in extra time and win 4-2. The first game of the day saw Japan take the Egyptians to the cleaners with a comprehensive three nil win and they must be the dark horses of this competition who now play Mexico in the semis.
And so to the Footcall league...
Well done to all those who got their Knockout Stages predictions done on time, a brilliant 50 players out of 53 managed it and despite numerous reminders three people let the Footcalling side down which is a shame. Most notably of these would be Bryan "OMG what have I done?" Relf who was unbelievably in second place after a storming Group Stages and as he will score no further points is now dropping faster than Ricardo Blas Jnr going over an Ippon move! Oh dear Bryan, looks like you're gonna have to wait until 2014 to redeem your Footcall pride.
Meanwhile we have a new leader taken over at the top. Stewart "see JT this Footcall game is a piece of p*ss!" King has edged above Kevin whilst James Vallender and Leigh Boardman move into contention as do Patrick Ferguson and Rachel "I don't think they do Footcall in Turkey" Rowland, all of whom scored 6 out of 8 from the four games today.
Sadly the GLW, Christine and me have coincidentally put our faith in an outside bet which has subsequently not paid off and we've perhaps both rued our chances as I'm sure one or two others might have done :-(
Nobody scored a perfect 8 today but other 6 pointers came from Richard Goodwin, Stephen Hills, Steve Russell, Graham Weaver, Tim Jennings, Jo Mackenzie, Nick Stacey Manoj Gupta, Ollie Whitfield, Dan "the man" Shroeck, Spencer Collins, Dave Herbert, Andrew Green, Adam Jones and Keith Firmston.
Final word should go to Leanne "my name is on that vuvuzela" Maloney who was lying in 52nd place after the group stages and is now fighting it out with Maxine "I'm obsessed with all this sport" Coupland for the vuvu award. Both scored four points today so only time will tell if they score any more.
That's it for an immense day of sporting excitement, a year ago our cities were on fire, tonight we have all become one happy nation.
See you Tuesday!
David
02/08/14 01:06
Footcall VIII Day 3...
So the final 8 Group Stage matches were played out today as the chances of qualification into the Knockout Stages beckoned. As if trying to keep up with two or three games going on at once on previous days wasn't hard enough, we had four matches kick off at 5pm today!
The early games of the day saw Brazil demolish poor old New Zealand three zip whilst Egypt beat Belarus three one, and this was their first victory of the tournament which saw them sneak through their group and qualify on the inside rail.
Then came the festival of football. I was primed; I had four browser windows open at the same time displaying all the games at once. Thank goodness my broadband had been upgraded recently to cope with all this added bandwidth! Five o'clock came round and four starting whistles blew simultaneously. This was it, surely an avalanche of goals one after another, I was ready although the thought of it brought me out in a cold sweat. Well you know what, I needn't had worried! In the four matches only one goal was scored by Mexico as they beat Switzerland 1-0. Korea v Gabon, Japan v Honduras and the hapless Spaniards v Morocco all ended goalless! My brother had abandoned his 0-0 prediction game which worked so hopelessly in the Euros and I bet he'd stuck with it!
Finally the evening kickoffs were to decide the fate of Group A. Team GB were not safe by any means but a draw against Uruguay would see them through. Meanwhile the exciting boys from Senegal were challenging UAE to also qualify. Once again GB bossed the match, passing it effortlessly but we always know they are prone to lapses in concentration and with Suarez on the opposing team we knew what a threat that posed. To be fair (as Peter Beardsley used to say) the first half was dire! Very few scoring opportunities and the thought of a gold medal bout in the Fencing (sabre) was just too tempting. It was as I turned over, the GLW notified me that Sturridge had put us one up on the stroke of half time. So back to the football for another 45 minutes of half chances fluffed but we managed to hang to the win and we were in the KOs. On the other side UAE went one ahead on Senegal and looked set for their first win of the competition but ITMA, Mossa Konate to steal the show, bag his fourth goal of London 2012 and pinch a draw. With team Suarez losing this meant team Konate were through along with us. Hoorah!
And so the Footcall league...
This was the Group deciders and with so much football going on it was tough to keep up with the live scoring and just who was doing well in the league. The lead was changing hands over and over, and after the 5pm matches, new boy, Stewart King was standing proudly at the top of the table with what will undoubtedly be the player of the day, Tat Wah Liu coming from nowhere straight up into second. Tat picked up an amazing 10 points before the evening matches was absolutely flying!
The evening games were certainly going to be decisive and at the half way stage this evening, Christine "I can't bear to look" Jenner had jumped ahead of Stewart and Tat right into the number one spot as she was in line for a perfect six. Sadly however this was short lived as it was Konate's equalizer robbed Chris of three vital points and handed them on a plate to none other than Kevin "Hall of Famer" Appleton! The results remained and Kevin has once again topped the Group Stages tree, the big question is, can he stay there for the Knockouts?
Other players to mention must be Footcall veteran (I hope he won't mind me saying that) Bryan Relf is up into joint second alongside Christine and Stewart (not bad for his first go at Footcall). Sadly Tat lost ground and slipped to fifth, Andy Booth has moved into contention along with James Vallender and Leigh Boardman. I'm sure you are all pleased to see me drop like a stone to ninth?
Russell "Granite" Morris had a good day as too did Rachel "the answer is four" Rowland. Les "the man" Herbert picked up a nice three pointer and so did James "I'm not out of this yet" Parker, David "it's a marathon not a sprint" Frost, Robert "the bhoy" McNamara, Joanna "how is it I'm consistently better than Dan?" Mackenzie, Adam "or is it Archie" Jones, Lauren "Dad you promised me a day at the beach and you take me to a sodding granite farm!" Morris and Dan "here I am Jo, don't blame me I'm not match fit" Mackenzie!
I'm going to give the second player of day award to young Oliver Whitfield who was languishing in 53rd place out of 53 players until he scooped a magnificent 6 points today to see him rocket into 38th... way to go Ollie!
We shouldn't overlook the coveted Vuvuzela award for last place. This is being closely contested by Peter "I demand a countback!" Mulvey and Leanne "I knew I shouldn't have left Sean to do the predictions" Maloney. Let's see if they what the Knockouts have in store for them.
Well that's it for the Group Stages and maybe I should at this point mention what we are all playing for as I know for some of you, Footcall is kind of like a little retirement fund!
Group Stages
1st: £30 (Kevin Appleton)
2nd: £20
3rd: £10
4th: £5
As we have three way tie for second, Bryan Relf, Christine Jenner and Stewart King get £11.67 each!
Knockout Stages
1st: £110 & Trophy
2nd: £60
3rd: £50
4th: £40
5th: £30
6th: £20
7th: £10
Last: Vuvuzela Award
Don't forget the five Division winners get free entry into a future Footcall tournament. Along with Kevin, Christine and Stewart, the current Divisions situation would see Patrick Ferguson and James Vallender in line for a bonus.
Ooh ooh, I nearly forgot, there will be a small prize for the most popular team name again.
So we move on to the Knockout Stages. Most of you should know the drill, hopefully we won't have any technical mishaps this time round and you will be able to login and click the Make Knockout Predictions link on screen in your account page. You will have until Saturday at 11am to get these completed in time for the first Knockout match. Read the RULES page on the website for more info.
There will be a massive 24 points available (more than the leader has at the moment) and all you have to do is pick all of the winners for all of the remaining knockout matches. You have to go right through to who you think will win the Gold Medal. Please also vote for your favourite other team nam of the competition as it might be the only prize that player receives.
That's it from me, I look forward to seeing your KO predictions roll in before Saturday.
Until then...
David