Let's go see Raul
World Cup 2006: rain starts play
We were out at the cinema for the first match, and watching a DVD for the second. Hey, it was only Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Togo and Switzerland. I miss my films.
Saudi Arabia 0 Ukraine 4
Suddenly, we have our "dark horses" of the competition.
Togo 0 Switzerland
Ah well. Togo to go.
Spain 3 Tunisia 1
As Jonathan Pearce pointed out from the BBC commentary box, we've had four goals per match in Group H (Spain 4 Ukraine 0; Tunisia 2 Saudi 2; Saudi 0 Ukraine 4), although this one looked like it could be a dogged 1-0 win for Tunisia in the first half, with the North African side energised after their draw with the Arabs, keeping the Spaniards at bay, putting one away in the 8th minute. But that doggedness could only get them so far, and the rains came down hard in the second half, making the pitch slick, causing Ukrainian coach Roger Lemerre to put his unfetching hood up (well, he was 65 yesterday) and ruining the elaborate Hoxton fin of 22-year-old Fernando Torres. This did not dampen his skills though, and with no-first-name Raul on, the two Madrid players pulled Spain's shorts up and eventually, put them back on top, with a Raul goal from three yards after one clumsy deflection too many from Ali Boumnijel, who likes to punch the ball away, volleyball-style, thus putting it back in play. He did some very fine saves too, inbetween shouting his head off at the other Tunisian players. This animated Spanish coach Luis Aragones, who was glimpsed at one stage reading a book. Torres scored two, one a dainty tap off the right side of his right foot, the other a powerful penalty. Spain deserved to win. Tunisia clearly only had one half in them. Hats off to Jonathan Pearce for pronouncing Garcia the Spanish way, with a "th". I doubt Motson does.
Being a coach, doing all the emoting and shouting from the sidelines, especially in middle age, must be a dangerous job. Mind you, better to let it out like the Mediterranean coaches do, than bottle it up for later like Sven. I understand England are playing tomorrow. Our fate also rests with Germany and Equador, who play in the afternoon. It's all a case of do we meeet Germany now or later. Or not.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 10:00 PM
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7 Comments:
i was supporting spain tonight, in our local tapas restaurant (el bareto, leeds). if i hadn't they may have done something terrible to our food, which turned out to be delicious.
when tunisia were 1-up the service was a bit patchy but then improved as spain took the lead and won easily. cue spontaneous spanish dancing of various regional variations and lots of free olives and sangria.
Forgot to mention the Neopolitan pundits on the BBC - Hansen, O'Neill and Wright were in cream, pink and brown shirts, respectively, looking like a big ice cream. (Linker's observation, although Wright trumped it by saying he was vanilla.)
It's worth noting that Togo SHOULD HAVE HAD A PENALTY. It was really sad that they didn't get it, could've gone 1:1 and then who knows. I think three of their supporters, sitting in a row, all had crowns on and I bet they were'nt bought on a stall.
By the way, a lot was made of the foolishness of one of the Tunisian keeper's punches but the ball looked so slippery and the shot so hard that I thought it wasn't so nuts.
The Neopolitan thing was brilliant.
Jonno Pearce might have pronounced Garcia correctly, but he continually pronounced Xavi as "Chavvy" rather than the more correct "Shabby".
Of course, neither is too complimentary!
It will be Ecuador in the next round if we avoid defeat against the cunning Swedes. Its ITV's A team of Tylydsley (has he ever had his name spelt correctly?)and Pleat which doesn't bode well as that combination normally means a dull game.
Thank God Sven has read this blog and taken my advice by selecting Hargreaves as the holding midfielder. Expect Lampard to be attacking in his play and to score at least one goal which I predict will contribute to a 2-0 England win.
My understanding is that, though the majority of Spanish supporters would doubtless opt for the Castilian Garthia, Luis García, as a Catalan, would probably prefer Garsia himself...
I'd like to hear more from P. Dant. This is the kind of local colour I approve of.
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