World Cup!

Wooo! It pays to be in China. I get to watch EVERY MATCH　LIVE! How cool is that? And there's an abundant amount of post and pre match analysis about the teams and all their stats. Plus, cool documentaries and up-to date articles. Its football heaven compared to my cable-less TV in Singapore, albeit all of them are in Chinese. Here are my petty thoughts about some matches that I watched.

1. England VS Paraguay　(1-0)

Seriously. As a partial England fan, I'm thoroughly dissapointed. Gaining 3 points because of an own goal? Whatever happened to the might and ability of the 3 lions? I guess the forwards just can't deliver properly, given whatever chances.

Crouch just can’t seem to please the referee. Beckham proved himself worthy as the team captain. His pinpoint and insightful passing did create millions of chances. Joe Cole was weird that afternoon, not up to his usual standard. Lampard and Gerrard worked really well, offensively and defensively. The problem just lies with the forwards then, if you go with this way of reasoning. Looks like England still can’t really excel without Rooney. Getting dependent, are we?

2. Japan VS Australia (1-3)　

I was rooting for Japan all the way. And I was disappointed yet again. Japan played the gentlemen football – passive in defense and midfield. It was a total tragedy. She was leading until the last 8 minutes when everything just went haywire. Japan just lost their footing in the chaos and let in 3 goals. How idiotic can you get! I was only impressed with Nakamura and Nakata’s performance. Moreover, that goal that Nakamura scored was like a fluke. No. 13 of Japan did a little screening of the Aussie Goalie and the ball went in like very accidentally. Obviously, a foul was made but the ref didn’t make a call. The Aussies also looked and played so much rougher than the Japs. I guess you need to be more offensive and aggressive these days. Kind of reminds me of class captain’s ball.

3. Korea VS Togo (2-1)

Togo was pretty good. I have to admit. They’re really fast when attacking, good in the air, just that their defense is a liability. They were pretty aggressive too. But not good enough. Whereas Korea played like a gentlemen, again, like Japan, in the first half. When they were aggressed against, they didn’t aggress bacl. It was only until the 2^nd half when things began to pick up for them. Anh Jung Huan was on and Korea scored 2 pretty impressive goals. And that blondie on left field was funny! He’s really eye-catching and really fast. I kept lafing at how he stood out from everyone on the field cos he’s the only one without black hair.

But after they lead 2-1, they didn’t attack much anymore. Just passively passing the ball from defender to defender. There was this really frustrating bit where they got a free kick in a very good position and instead of making for goal, they passed it back to the defenders to waste more time. What lousy football! I know it’s a good tatic to prevent Togo from attacking and to prevent anymore fouls, injuries or cards on their side, but it’s just… rubbish! They’re sponsored by Nike sommore. Where’s the Joga Bonito eh？ Beautiful football has gone to the winds. Disguested.