When composing yesterday’s little ramble I did contemplate sharing with you my very overly optimistic hope that Greece would still manage to qualify, but I didn’t because I really didn’t think that little miracle would happen. I should clearly have more faith in my soothsaying abilities. I’m therefore going to keep very silent about who I would like to see squeak through to the second round today in the hope that this non-mentioning will become a lucky omen…I do this sometimes; the odd bit of clutching at straws.
WHAT IS IT WITH BIG SCREENS? Your team is on the precipice of World Cup exit, it’s going to be another four years before you maybe get this chance again. You’ve got that sick feeling in the out of your stomach..And then, ooh look, your fizzog is on the screen in the stadium. Cue much excitement, stupid grin and waving to the wrong camera. “Sod the result I’ve just been on a big screen.” Well woop-de-effing-do. In what way does that make up for impending defeat/misery??? It’s not a Brasil 2014 phenomena, I’ve seen it on SKY et al for years. If TLF is ever caught committing this foul act while witnessing some football related misery (and I have a feeling there might be quite a lot of that in the coming season) then confiscate my Stella, give Mr TLF control of the remote control and make bacon fries a banned class A substance. It is all I will deserve.
Sorry I know this blog is generally a small and rambling, welcoming port of daily jollity in the shipping lanes of the World Cup, but that screen thing does wind me up. I think I’m also a bit grumpy as I struggle to adjust to the match timings; just not acclimatising to the new regime. That two hour wait between games is messing with my wee heid and can lead to me getting stuck with post match phone-ins…of which more later.
It did occur to me yesterday that I haven’t watched anything other than football since the World Cup started. I mentioned it to Mr TLF whose reply was a rather plaintive, “Yes, I had noticed.” Not so much what he said but how he said it. Possibly he meant something like this from The Guardian TV reviewer, who opened one review with:
“Oh so what treats have they lined up for us non fans of sodding, bastardising, endless, boring football while the rest of the world obsesses about however many men it is kicking a ball around for however long it is and however many times it is before one lot merges the winner and we can all stop caring or pretending to?”
Obvs I don’t share the sentiment but it’s great writing.
Talking of great writing (tongue in cheek segue there) I wasn’t really expecting yesterday’s reference to Dracula the ref, to inspire the lovely Luis in the way that it did. Still it gave people something else to about other than England’s early exit as an outpouring of frothy outrage and indignation poured forth from Moral High Ground Mountain. On these occasions I’m always placing mental bets as to how long before we get the, ‘there’s kids watching this. What a bad example to set.’ Sure enough the strangely attired Glenn Hoddle didn’t disappoint and was there early doors with that little bon mots. I’m not disputing the sentiment, rather that it is a hackneyed tedious angle to drag out for the umpteenth time.
The post match ITV analysis sent me scurrying to the radio where sadly my punishment continued with a 6-0-6, that including ranting from fans and ex-players. JOY. There must be an app that can generate your own random phone-in rant. Just whack in a few things about
“too many foreigners, grassroots football, the way kids are coached , that foreign teams are years ahead of us, players don’t care, they earn too much, too much passion/too little passion, players are too shackled/players are too naïve,more England players should go and play abroad, our players aren’t technical enough, the people at the top are wrong. We need to employ Hoddle/Martinez/Klinnsman/Waddle/Guardiola/insert preferred name.”
The Random Rant-App…coming to a phone near you soon.
And on that grumpy note may your Day 14 be full of delights and if you get hungry, then please note that shoulder of Cellini is off the menu.
Le Grumpy Fox
TODAY’S GAMES
5pm
Bosnia v Iran, Grp F
Nigeria v Argentina, Grp F
9pm
Ecuador v France, Grp E
Honduras v Switzerland, Grp E
RESULTS
Costa Rica 0 England 0
Italy 0 Uruguay 1
Japan 1 Columbia 4
Greece 2 Ivory Coast 1
Phrase of the day – PortugeseJust like a library
Apenas como uma biblioteca
Dish of the day – Time for some desert from Francehttp://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4778/pear-tarte-tatin
Site of the day – Brick by brick goal match highlights..I think they mean lego. They just don’t do product placement.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/series/brick-by-brick