I have to confess I watched a northern sport last night - the Red Sox and Washington. Like NASCAR, I am finding it very difficult to get into the southern sport of ice hockey but good for Carolina bringing home the Stanley Cup.
Elsewhere, there are four games on tap:
- Ecuador vs. Germany in Berlin
- Costa Rica vs. Poland at Hanover
- Sweden vs. England at Cologne
- Paraguay vs. Trinidad & Tobago at Kaiserslautern
That last game is the clearly most important of course as the gods may yet put TnT through to the second round. I see Poland losing 17-0 with the players crying like babies at the end. This has been a rotten Cup for Poland and any result against Costa Rica is meaningless for them now. Ecuador has the best chance at pulling off an upset over the hosts. Sweden and England will be the most hyped game with the Swedes actually playing for something and England trying to figure out how it does so poorly against weak teams. I expect the power of the Flea and the Beam of RighteousnessTM from the highest rampart of Flea Towers focused deep into the heart of the city that gave us aftershave will make the difference in a 3-2 victory for blimey even with Sweden having the finest jersey in the tourney once again.
Comments
Flea - June 20, 2006 8:26 AM
'Ware the Beam of RighteousnessTM... it is warming up even as I type these words!!
Mike - June 20, 2006 9:35 AM
Blimey or Blighty?
Alan - June 20, 2006 9:37 AM
Blimey - you got me. Who writes this stuff?
cm - June 20, 2006 9:49 AM
Go TnT!
Flea - June 20, 2006 9:51 AM
Engerland!
Mike - June 20, 2006 10:27 AM
Blighty!!
Alan - June 20, 2006 10:29 AM
Mind your language, young man.
Alan - June 20, 2006 10:32 AM
I think we are both wrong as "blighty" refers to the entire archipelago and not just the southe quadrant. I should have just said "the limies".
Flea - June 20, 2006 11:28 AM
"Blighty is a British English slang term for Great Britain, deriving from the Hindustani word bilāyatī (विलायती), meaning 'foreign'..." Thanks, Wikipedia!
Alan - June 20, 2006 11:51 AM
See! Edit accordingly - but that rule always applies.
Flea - June 20, 2006 12:44 PM
Graham Taylor's tactical analysis of England-Sweden.
sean1967 - June 20, 2006 1:32 PM
um, shhh, ah, go sweden (in all lower case whispery voice).
My pool depends on Togo to go home this week.
Flea - June 20, 2006 1:33 PM
Engerland!
Mike - June 20, 2006 2:20 PM
South Blighty!!
Alan - June 20, 2006 3:00 PM
South-east Blighty perhaps. Wouldn't want to offend the Welsh, you know...
cm - June 20, 2006 3:19 PM
Since when?
Alan - June 20, 2006 5:30 PM
Oh dear:<blockquote class="smalltext"><b>70 mins:</b></a> Henrik Larsson wins a corner for Sweden after springing the offside trap. The camera goes to Wayne Rooney on the England bench, where Rooney is still fuming. Linderoth sends in another corner, where Kim Kallstrom's effort is cleared off the line by Steven Gerrard. England are rubbish.<p>...<p><b>63 mins:</b>Sven-Goran Eriksson is sitting on the bench doing absolutely nothing while his team gets eviscerated before his eyes. Sound familiar? </blockquote>
David Janes - June 20, 2006 5:35 PM
Oh god, the tedium. How do you watch this without immolating yourself to kick up the laugh factor.
Flea - June 20, 2006 6:09 PM
The Guardian asks if they should provide another fan pic. But being rather pro-Swedish most of the time I think this one shall do quite nicely. As shall a 2-2 result, btw. I shall soon be supporting Sweden in their upcoming match with Germany (though not putting any money on the result).
Alan - June 20, 2006 6:23 PM
I just received my flags in the mail from the cottage-to-be-sold out east. My Dutch 1986 cloth flag is a bit faded and beaten but it will do as will my more recent heavy duty Swedish one. David, if you keep in mind that most people are half in the bag it will help you understand - Mancunian Steve provides proof.
gr - June 21, 2006 6:40 PM
Flea: a couple days ago Yahoo posted pictures of 2 (presumably) Swedish women in bikinis making out in the stands at a (presumably) Swedish match. Are you still rooting for England?