Tuesday 27 June 2006

Of refereeing debacles and a quiet milestone

Should have posted this a couple of days back maybe, but since then the instances have piled up ending with Italy's 1 - 0 win over Australia through a last second penalty, literally. I'm not overly a fan of the 'socceroos' as they call themselves, but it's terrible to see any team exit the World Cup because of a wrong decision. That was so not a foul!Then there was yesterday's Portugal - Netherlands match with 4 expulsions! A Group of 16 match with only 9 players in each team! What are you kidding me?!!!! Good thing I didn't stay up, but I still can't believe Portugal won with just 38% of possession :(. Even last night's other match between Ukraine and the Swiss wasn't free from questionable decisions. But what a cracker!! Looks like everytime I stay up for the 12:30 (IST) match it goes into extra time :). I was hoping Ukraine would win actually. But that chip shot in the shootout was altogether too much :D! In the end it was down to these two men:
Shovkovsky saved,Zuberbuehler didn't.
It must be hard to exit the World Cup despite having not conceeded a single goal! As for the first two matches in this round, Germany proved once again to be simply too strong! That was perhaps the least hard fought match this round! Mexico's opening goal against Argentina almost gave me a heart attack!! Crespo struck soon after of course, to level scores, but those four minutes in between were absolute torture!!
Then for all of eighty minutes the teams played fiercely, but the scoreline remained. A minute or so into stoppage time at the end of the second half Leo Messi scored. Yes, he scored, because the offside call was plain wrong! But redemption was not far away, when 8 minutes into the first extra-time Maxi Rodgriguez scored a truly outstanding goal!It's becoming a habit with this Argentina team, scoring dazzling goals :). But the next match has me seriously worried. With the exception of maybe Spain, no other team has looked as solid as the Germans. I have my fingers tightly crossed.
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On a more 'daily-log' note, this morning saw the end of a year that has brought more by way of fascinating new experiences for me than the better part of the rest of my life :). Some absolutely fabulous, some not quite so... fabulous :P. Till a year back, I had never stepped outside of this country. That hardly holds true now :). The best part by far have been the people I keep running into. For a month, a couple of weeks, and then we go our different ways, probably to never meet again. What never ceases to surprise me though, is the wide variety of nationalities attributed to me, South African and Arab being the newest in an ever increasing list :D.

Feeling: reminiscent
Listening to: Bon Jovi - It's my life

3 comments:

  1. Enjoy your experiences and make the most of it.. and I am sure you will have many more to come.. :)
    Yes the games are getting interesting by the day.. Italian football team is a pain in the ass.. They somehow scrape through and manage to go up there even with substandard attack and soild defense.. I feel very bad for the Ozzies but they had their chances and at this level if you get a chance u must score.. It doesnt matter even if you 99% possession and didnt score.. At the end of the day scoring and winning is all that matters.. German Machine Football Juggernaut is rolling on.. So I expect a high intense Ger Vs Arg thilling encounter and replay of 90 Finals.. Infact Klinsmann was a member of the winning team :).. What I dont want to see is Italy Vs Germany.. What a bore that would be... But this German team is somewat different.. They attack most of the time and thats good...

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  2. Couldn't help agreeing more about this past one year...it has been more eventful than any other..

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  3. @ sriram: I have my fingers tightly crossed for Friday :)

    @ hema: if u skip the travelling the world on a ship bit.. I think my freshie yr came close :P

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