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Friday, June 11, 2010

Day Off. World Cup. Enough Said.

Tomorrow, the World Cup moves into the second day, with the United States of America taking on England.  There will be no gardening tomorrow.  There will be football.

I do not expect the boys from the US of A to win.  A draw would be a spectacular result.  If (when?) we do lose, I hope it's only by a goal or two, as goal differential is the first tie breaker.  Over the next couple of weeks, we take on Algeria and Slovenia, two teams we should be able to beat.

Now, before anyone screams "UN-AMERICAN!" this is football.  This is reality.  There are no false hopes and winning the World Cup is not the ultimate goal.  This is NOT the National Football League, where the rules are rigged to, at some point, make all teams equal.  There will be teams that will NEVER win.  I don't think the US is one of those.  We will win the World Cup.  Someday.  There are teams that will win consistently, such as the homelands of my ancestors, England and Germany (that made for fun family years in the early 20th century), as well as Brazil and Argentina.  Hopefully, we'll be amongst those.  Someday.

A good result in this World Cup will be to finish second behind England in our group (there are four teams) and then put on a good showing against Germany, our likely second round opponent.  We outplayed Germany in the 2002 quarterfinals, but lost.  Ce la vie.

As you will hopefully remember, I went on a multi-day drinking binge when my beloved Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth.  Fourth, people.  F-ing spectacular the lads were.  Championships are hoped for, but not expected.

England currently has five Spurs playing out of the 23 man roster.  As I tell my friend Pete (he's Irish and a Liverpool fan, but we still like him), Spurs are going to win the World Cup.  Write that down.

5 comments:

  1. Dear Turling, It will come as little surprise to you that my interests do not extend as far as football let alone the World Cup. However, I do hope that you enjoy all the games.

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  2. You're going down, Yankee Doodle! 4-0!

    Mind you, Emile might crock Rooney; it is England after all.

    Me? I'm rooting for the mighty Paraguay!

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  3. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss half of that game today (the latter half :( ), I have to work. My husband's really excited about it, he has pretty much the same view that you do lol. I think he's hoping for some drama, like Rooney headbutting someone....

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  4. Edith, I understand completely, and thank you.

    IG, I think 4-0 is a little optimistic. I don't think England will get more than two, but I don't think the US will get more then 1. However, if the e-mail I sent to Clint Dempsey last night got to him, telling him to punch Rooney straight in the mouth in the first minutes, then all bets are off. As, so will Rooney be.

    Kyna, that's why sick days were invented. It's the World Cup!!!

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  5. I just became a US citizen...but have to say I'm rooting for the english....I have my newcastle cooling in the fridge as we speak. Enjoy the game!

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