World Cup Blog: Tears and cheers
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European tensions rose a notch yesterday as England and Germany qualified at the expense of Serbia and Slovenia. In other World Cup news: Bill Clinton picks up an injury during the USA’s final group game, and an Algerian player slaps a female journalist. This thing gets weirder by the day.
Football is a funny old game isn’t it? One minute English fans are calling for the players' heads and now it sounds like they’re going to be sainted for their performance against Slovenia.
The stuttering stars finally put on a performance yesterday at the expense of the Slovenians, who to give them their due, never gave up. Later on in the evening, the mighty Germans nearly broke African hearts by beating the continent’s last hope of World Cup success – Ghana. But because of Serbia’s loss to Australia, the Ghanaians snuck through on goal difference.
Now, old enemies England and Germany will face each other in a mouth-watering second round match on Sunday. And the mind games have already begun. German football icon Franz Beckenbauer said: “The English look a little tired... they are burnt out.”
Classic stuff by the old master, but it matters not a tap. Like everyone else Mr Beckenbauer is completely in the dark about what will happen in this World Cup. I doubt he would have successfully predicted how rubbish France would be, that we would discover the most irritating noise known to man (the vuvuzela) or that Diego Maradona would wear a suit…but that’s the kind of World Cup it has been – unpredictable.
Besides the highs and lows of Europe yesterday, another match that delivered some surprises was Algeria and the United States. I think the States are under the false impression that this World Cup is a Hollywood movie – they always come from behind, or wait until the last minute to score.
Yesterday’s contest was so exciting that one spectator, former President Bill Clinton, says he lost his voice from screaming so much.
After the game, which the US won 1-0 in the 91st minute it is alleged that Algerian player Rafik Saifi slapped a female journalist in the face. According to another journalist who witnessed the incident, the lady returned the favour, at which point Saifi threw a sports drink at her and had to be restrained from attacking her.
So there you have it…Europe is on the brink of war, Bill Clinton caught a serious case of footy fever and Algerians shouldn’t be interviewed after losing a football game. At this World Cup you learn something new every day.
- World Cup blog: Europe looks flat
- World Cup blog: Ireland dons the sombrero
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- World Cup blog: Loud noise and lousy football
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