Good evening footy fans, Des Frankly, footy pundit here reporting live from Munchen..... Isn't the World Cup just great? It's the biggest global television event in existence. It dwarfs the Olympics into a very poor second place, the opening game was watched by a worldwide audience of nearly 2 billion people - that's not far off a third of the world's population. Football is the beautiful game - it's also the global communicator - who'd have thought that the severed head of an enemy and two coats of mail could grow and blossom into the global phenomenon it is today....
I've enjoyed pretty much all the games, apart from Brazil v Croatia. The game itself was OK(ish) - but the commentary from creeping John Motson and gushing Mark Lawrenson was just nauseating. Brazil are a good team - but they ain't a great team, Ronaldo and Ronaldhinio are both bloody ugly and their two full backs, Roberto Carlos & Kafu have a collective age of over 70 years.
Motson was having orgasms, Lawro was swooning as some guy in yellow did a bit of playground standard keepy-uppy. Brazil are not invincible, they are old and crusty - for that matter so is Motson. All he seems to do is "oooooooh" and "aaahhhhhh" at every opportunity. He routinely misses the action, gives loads of rubbish info and generally waffles for England.
The team that have most impressed me is the Czech Republic. It was a triumph of footy over sacca as they absolutely murdered the USA pilgrims with a sparkling display of skill and creativity.
Karel Bruckner, the Czech team manager is a brilliant coach and master tactician. He's had the job for years and always sets his teams up to play fast flowing creative football. His resources are limited - virtually all the Czech team are overseas playing for other continental clubs, so bonding sessions, get togethers and golf days are unheard of. But what is most amazing is Bruckner's salary. He gets a rather pathetic 65 grand a year from the Czech football federation. Sven Gormless Errikson on the other hand is paid around that much for one 'working' week. Bruckner has forgotten more about football than Sven will ever know. But not only that, he's a real rarity in footy world – talented, loyal, honourable - and not very greedy either.
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I thought that Croatia were slightly unlucky - the ball just didn't seem to run for them in Brazil's penalty area.
Interesting to note that several players (some from South Korea, Brazil and Croatia) are wearing t-shirts underneath their jerseys.
Beckham said it was too hot in the game against Paraguay! Mrs Toque said 'Doesn't he live in Madrid?'
Good use of the rhetorical question for a Canadian, I thought.
The Czechs looked good, I agree. But for sheer bloody-mindedness you have to hand it to the Aussies who just kept chasing a seemingly lost cause without complaining about the heat.
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