Sunday, June 25, 2006

England Through to Quarter Final


Not a stunning performance from England, but Beckham's free kick was enough to get the job done (even though he was visibly suffering from heat exhaustion). Good ol' Becks. The final score was England 1, Ecuador nil. (By the way, if I could have a dollar for every time the ESPN commentators say "Bend it like Beckham" during an England match, I'd be rich.)

Germany have already beaten Sweden (2,0) and Argentina have beaten Mexico(2,1), so Germany and Argentina will be meeting each other in the quarter finals.

Update: Holland-Portugal

One-nil to Portugal, so we'll be playing Portugal in the quarter final. We lost to Portugal in the quarter finals of Euro 2004. Lets hope that this time we can get our own back.

The match itself was characterised by out and out fighting. The referee seemed to have totally lost control at one stage. There was a whopping six minutes of stoppage time at the end of the ninety minutes. By the end, both teams were down to nine men and twelve of the remaining players had yellow cards.

The good news (for England) is that Portugal will be playing us in the quarter final with two men suspended and seven on yellow cards.

Update: Australia-Italy

Italy managed to win in extra time with a perfect penalty (1:0), but in my opinion a penalty should not have been given. I was neutral in this match (although I do like to support the underdog, so was sort-of supporting Australia). I wouldn't have minded whoever got through, but it's always sad to see someone go through on an unjust penalty.

Update: Switzerland-Ukraine

Ukraine are through after a penalty shoot out, so will be playing Italy in the quarter final.

Update: Brazil-Ghana

I didn't watch this match because I'd promised that I'd take the kids to see Just My Luck at the cinema. The weather has been bad lately and they've been going spare being in the house all the time. The score (3-0 to Brazil) tells me that the match was pretty much the expected slaughter. Ren'll be pleased (see comments).

Update: France-Spain

I missed most of this match, but watched the last twenty minutes or so. When I started watching, the score was 1-1, but France managed to come back with two more goals. This means that Brazil and France will be facing each other in the quarter final.

Here's my wallchart.

7 comments:

Lorraine said...

Go England!!!! (Easier to say now that the US is out. Not that I really think we deserve to get the Cup).

Mark Goodacre said...

I've just finished listening to 606 and I couldn't believe how much whinging there was from the callers. Yes, it wasn't pretty, but there were so many positives, like WINNING THE MATCH, for example! And Beckham answered his critics in the best way possible. Alan Green was saying,"But what else did he do?" etc., but when you've scored the deciding goal, that's what you need to do. I'm encouraged.

Viola said...

Binho -- I put your comment through BabelFish to try and figure out what you said. It came up with this:

"the 7 cartoes yellow nao wants to say nothing against vc's... can be against BRAZIL in the half ends if they to pass... I find q I prefer this seleçãozinha English... vc's tao playing nothing"

Perhaps something along the lines of that the seven yellow cards will benefit Brazil if there are more infringements during the quarter final and if Portugal get through to the semi-final against Brazil?

If anyone can translate, that would be useful. Thanks.

Michael said...

I had my friend from Brazil take a look at it. She said it means - "The 7 yellow cards meant nothing against you. But they will be against Brazil if they pass on to the quarter-finals. I prefer to play against your little crappy English team. You (plural) are nothing playing."
Neither she nor I completely understood his purpose, other than that it was a stab at the English team. The word seleçãozinha is a dimunitive form that implies smallness and, according to her, is a pejorative.

Aren't I the bearer of glad tidings?

Anonymous said...

I look forward to watching Brazil tomorrow. I haven't watched a game yet, but I did follow the last one on the internet. This time I want to see them do their magic!

Viola said...

Michael -- thanks for that. It looks like I guessed the first bit correctly and he's quite right, the yellow cards would only benefit Brazil if Portugal play them in the semi finals.

As far as any derogatory remarks about England, all I can say is "Whatever!".

As far as interpreting non-English comments in the future -- I think that I might just delete them. This is not some sort of xenophobic thing, but just because I don't have the time or energy to be bothered with trying to figure out what's being said.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I am pleased with the results but the crowd I was watching it with was not very enthusiastic. I guess they were all pulling for Ghana. Good thing my 3 year old helped me out a bit, although I embarrassed him at first.