Category archives: World Cup
Day 22: Status Quo
It struck me yesterday evening, as I watched the end of an absorbing and mega-tense Germany/Argentina match, that the only team who has previously won the World Cup not present in the last eight is Uruguay. Their failure to reach… continue reading »
Day 20 & 21: Feed Me, I’m Hungry
After gorging on 2-3 matches a day, the 48 hour gap between the end of the second round and the beginning of the quarter-finals always comes as a shock to the system. After the feast comes a brief (but keenly… continue reading »
Day 19: Once More With Feeling…
Though I have (as a seasoned World Cup Watcher) seen the Spanish national team implode – or simply fade away – time and time again (when push came to shove came to crunch), I very nearly had myself convinced that… continue reading »
Day 17 & 18: Stumbling to Glory
Just emerging from the catatonia induced by England’s slow, painful, laboured grind against Ecuador, and asking myself the question that their soul-sucking performances poses: Are England the new Greece? Those fans of the beautiful game traumatised by Greece’s charmless but… continue reading »
Day 16: Martin, Martin, Burning Bright
Is there a pundit (anywhere) who bristles with more edgy intensity than Norn Iron’s own Martin O’Neill? While Eamon Dunphy does walk the “I tells it like it is” walk, you always feel that the reactionary streak is something of… continue reading »
Day 15: And then there were 16
Well that’s it. Time to bid fond farewell to a highly entertaining series of group matches and move on to the ‘business end’ of the tournament. At this juncture it’s hard to look beyond Argentina, Spain or (despite what the… continue reading »
Day 14: Raining on my Parade
A night of high drama…and some deeply irritating ‘feck-arsery’ from RTÉ. The drama centred chiefly on the Australia v Croatia match, which appeared (from what I saw) a ferocious example of what my Da called “Raw Footballâ€?. I hadn’t actually… continue reading »
Day 14: Folly…All is Folly…
For those of you who (like me) agree with Robbie Fowler’s claim that “If England are going to upset the odds and deliver on the biggest stage of all, it will be in spite of Eriksson rather than because of… continue reading »
