So, that's the 2nd round of the World Cup over and done with and I have to say it was a fairly disappointing round for football fans. Many matches finished up 1-0 and we saw very little of the creativity and attacking flair that was present in the group stage - I guess the stakes have risen considerably now and so teams are naturally more cautious. I was sad to see Ghana and Spain go out after they had contributed so much already to the tournament.
Where do I stand on my predictions? Well, half of them have fallen over. Australia didn't make the quarter finals & Italy got through their group. Still looks possible that we'll have a Germany V England final and I reckon if England can get past Portugal then Brazil will be beaten by us, they are too lax at the back in my opinion. Maybe it's destiny that 40 years on from 1966 a Germany and England final is on the cards!
The fallout from the Australia v Italy game continues with some ludicrous columns in today's press. Firstly, the LA Times reckons it was all a FIFA conspiracy to get Australia out of the tournament (and like all conspiracy theories does not any evidence for it whatsoever) and predictably The Age publishes a 'soccer is a stupid game anyway' piece. Funny how it wasn't a stupid game a few days ago eh?
The guy who writes the piece does have a few good points but his lack of knowledge of the game is there for all to see. Just because there has been some dodgy refereeing in this tournament does not mean the sport itself is a bad one. It simply means that the officiating of the game should be reformed and video technology introduced. That would see the end of the cynical game that the Italians & others play. Football is not without it's faults, what game is, but I guarantee that if Australia had been granted a penalty like that there would be no complaints at all and the author of the piece is gracious enough to admit this in his last sentence...
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