Oh. My. God. What a finish to Group C. One minute, England are through, top of the table, with a dismal Slovenia undeservedly plodding through to the last 16 on their coat-tails. The US, beset by a mixture of arse luck, some comical finishing and daylight robbery (again!) looked unfortunately on the way out. This was minute 91.
Up stepped Landon Donovan. Of course. Goal. The US go through, top of the table, and Slovenia, having been dismal in not giving England a better game, saw it snatched from their grasp. It's poetic. Slovenia, having just lost a 2-0 lead to the US in the last game, to again get it taken away by the US at the last minute.
You gotta love the game, you gotta love the World Cup.
As for the games, there was a painful feeling of a conspiracy theory against the US for most of their tie. 20th minute, and a pathetic off-side decision against Clint Dempsey. No way in hell was it offside, clear as daylight. Two legitimate goals ruled out in two consecutive games. Shit, that must've hurt. Even more so, with Dempsey hitting the bar in the 56th minute.
That said, the US were just as culpabale of misses themselves. With Jozy Altidore in particular (my earlier remarks on him being a Hull (!) reject still refer) blasting over from 6 yards.
It was, ultimately, wholly deserved. And I must say I celebrated along with the rest of the US team after the game.
England. Well, they're through. Wonder how many out there are again looking towards the final. I suppose looking at the final performances of Slovenia and Algeria, it would have taken an equally dismal overall display by England not to have gotten through themselves. Thank god for them they aren't France.
But there will be worries still. For one, Rooney may not have been Mr Invisible this time round, but his finishing at times was laughable, having missed more than one clear-cut chance. Lampard? Well, he did a Lampard on the international stage impersonation again, i.e. conspicuous in his absence.
So all will be well again in jolly ole England, at least for a couple of days, until they meet Germany!
What larks - England would finish 2nd in what was supposed to be an easy group, and as a result, having to face the only enemy. It will be fun to watch. What I'd give to see it go to penalties!
As for the US, reward in the form of a most winnable tie against Ghana.
The games that brought both Germany and Ghana through were pretty much standard boiler-plate 0-0s until the last 15 minutes or so, when Australia scored one, then another, and suddenly, with Ozil having scored for Germany, there looked the remote possibility of even Australia going through. It was quite amazing stuff. With the whole goal difference story playing out, one more for Germany and Australia would've sealed it, but alas, there was to be no such fairy tale for the footballeroos.
But full marks to them. Excellent show in finishing third after the first demolition by Germany.
Apart from a most decent day of football (mainly in the earlier ties), it occurred to me today that the World Cup is probably the biggest meat market out there today. Of course. everyone's out there trying to play their best, and especially for the lesser known, it's their opportunity to put in a performance worthy of a big-money transfer to the Premier League, La Liga, and wherever else as well.
And where there's a market, there will be "middlemen". In this case, they're called agents. You can just see it, in every dingy street corner, these agents hanging out, scoping out clientele:
"Psst, sir. You want footballer? I have many footballers." "Come, come see. I have photos . You want young? Experienced? Defenders? Strikers? Brazilian? Danish? I have everything. Every price. Come, come..."
"I give you good discount. Best price. Just for today, you buy one French, you get two free. C'mon. You want Patrice Evra? No problem. For you, special price, and I give you Malouda and Anelka for free. Good deal. You cannot find anywhere else."
"No good? Okay, okay, I throw in Govou. Govou! He is not so bad. And I give you free. Free. Come, good deal, no? Usually, I ask $29.99, but price only go down a little bit. I still give you free. Come, buy Evra, you get three free now!"
"Okay, okay. I give you whole French team for $19.99. But no Lloris. Him, I cannot sell. $19.99, okay? Good price. Please!"
On another street corner...
"Hey, you shit, you said you give me Cesc. I see no Cesc. What the #!&%! is happening, man!?"
"I'm sorry. It's very difficult, sir. Them people not even giving me a price. After I give you Villa, you don't have so much money any more, no? It's difficult, man!"
"Shut the $&*#! up. I ask you for an excuse? We had a deal. You give me Cesc by August, or I cut off your huevos, you understand??!"
So we're nearly two weeks done. Time flies. And the fun has finally started.
More tomorrow.
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