This is going to be an early and short update due to my wacky work schedule.

Today’s first game, New Zealand vs Slovakia had a totally epic finish. It was made all the more epic by the fact that New Zealand l, the team responsible for the epicness, was also responsible for a lot of the dullness in the game. Much like their neighbors Australia, they appeared pretty stiff and somewhat uncoordinated. To their credit, this game was the first time they didn’t allow a goal in the first half. They did give one up in the second half, and with their poor offense, it looked as if they were going to lose the match. Then came he epicness. In he last minute of stoppage time, minute 93, Winston Reid scored what I believe was his first World Cup goal to tie it up. I don’t think New Zealand was really expected to do well, but they surprised everyone with that in at the death goal.

I’m watching the Portugal vs Ivory Coast game now and so far its been OK. Neither team has made much progress yet, but he real story thus far has been Ronaldo. He had a blazing shot at goal that just barely missed and he also had some… colorful moments. He’s gone down a bunch, sometimes without even being hit! Granted, he is a target for obvious reasons but some of those falls were a bit mug. The confrontations hat they’ve produced win the other team has gotten him a yellow card along with yellow cards for two Ivory Coast players. Fun fact: it seems whenever they had a close up of any of the player’s faces, it seemed as if they were yelling “fuck off!” Its pretty hilarious. 😀 I fully expected Portugal to dominate this game, so I hope they can generate some real offense during the second half because aside from Ronaldo’s one shot on goal, hey really haven’t pressed the Ivory Coast much.

And now I sign off until tomorrow evening. I’m working till 8:30 tonight and then have to be back there at 5 AM tomorrow, so I wont get to catch up on the games until I get home around 2 PM. At least I have Thursday off. :

Let’s start things off on a non World Cup note. I am so freaking tired. I’m gonna be working 7 straight days, then I get a single day off, then back to work. I had expected to have Wednesday and Thursday off, but now I’m working Wednesday @ 5 AM. BLARP! I’m already pretty tired, so if the next two days aren’t quiet, I don’t know how I’m gonna make it through. Its thrown a kink into my World Cup viewing schedule, which brings me to…

Japan vs Cameroon! At first, I thought that Cameroon would be able to shut down Japan, but after the first few mins it was as if the life went out of them. They were stiff and listless and Japan made them pay. They scored a goal off of a nice breakaway and Cameroon never really recovered. They would send an occasional shot at the goal, but only one or two were scorchers. Cameroon didn’t seem to come back to life until the last ten minutes or so, but it was too little, too late.

I’m watching the Italy vs Paraguay game now, and its pretty good. Paraguay scored a surprising early goal that stunned both he crowd and Italy. Italy managed to recover quickly and picked up a nice goal of heir own. 78 mind in and the game is tense. Both teams are playing well and taking some nice shots on goal. I can’t wait to see how his game ends.

Not only because its exciting, but because I want to sleep!

A quickie post for part 1 with two notable… notes? First, last night after I posted about AUS saying that they might be able to recover, apparently I was full of it. AUS went on to be brutalized 0-4. Like the other two losing teams that day, they also lost a player to a red card, except they lost theirs early in the 2nd half, not in the closing minutes. It was painful to watch. I really expected more from a seasoned team like them.

The other note of interest is in the first game today, NED vs DEN. A hilarious own goal scored by Poulsen has put DEN up by a goal. The game isn’t over yet and both teams are gtting some good looks at goal, so its still anyone’s game, but I just had to note that own goal. I don’t care who you are, that’s some funny shit right there.

Well, I suppose if you’re the NED goalie, you’re probably not amused. He sure didn’t look all that amused when he was glaring at Poulsen. 😉

Wow.

It just keeps getting better.

Today’s goals were probably the most exciting goals of the game. Algeria vs Slovenia was a tight game all the way through and remained scoreless until the 79th minute when Slovenia scored a huge goal to take the lead and make some history: it was their World Cup win. Both teams had some great shots at goal and kept the pressure up throughout the game, but it was all over after that. It’s an important win for Slovenia because it gives them three very important points in their group; a group they share with the US and England. Slovenia and Algeria are both not expected to make it out of their group, so this win really shakes things up for the group since it England and the US ended up in a draw. Of course, Slovenia could get beat by both of those teams when they play them, but at least they had this impressive first win.

The second game, Serbia vs Ghana was also pretty good. Both teams were doing pretty well: trading shots, maintaining a tight defense and the like, but Serbia gave up an epic penalty kick goal and that gives Ghana an important win and a leg up in the group. What a freaking goal it was! Idiot Serbian player Kuzmanovic had an unbelievably foolish and unnecessary handball IN THE PENALTY ZONE giving Ghana a free kick on goal. Gyan lined up for the shot, took a run at the ball, faked the goalie out and kicked the ball in one direction while the goalie dove in the other. Beautiful. I have to say, I really do feel bad for Kuzmanovic despite his foolishness. He looked like he was going to be sick to his stomach when he realized what he’d done and what it would cost his team. I don’t imagine it was a very pleasant post-game discussion in the locker room today.

Fun fact, both of the above games had a player from the loosing team get ejected for collecting two yellow cards and trading em in for a red card. Nice work, guys!

I’m now watching the Germany and Australia game and the hits just don’t stop coming! I’m a little ways into the second half and let me tell you, it’s like Germany picked up right where they left off in 2006. Granted, they were knocked out by France, but they played amazingly throughout that tournament and this game was no different. Klose has an awesome header 7 minutes in, followed by a later goal by another German player who’s name I forget. Australia is getting schooled. I know they have a young team, but I didn’t think they’d be giving up goals that quickly or often, especially when you consider that in the World Cup qualifiers, they didn’t give up more than a single goal in any game. Not sure how this one is going to end, but my guess is that if you’re Australia, its gonna end in tears. I doubt they can come back, but you never know. Off I go to watch the rest of the game!

PS: Fun Fact about Klose: 7 of his 11 World Cup goals have been headers. Ouch!

Wow, some fantastic games today! South Korea ran rings around Greece. I don’t know where Greece thought they were, but it wasn’t the World Cup. I wouldn’t have thought that South Korea would have fared so well considering their ranking, but they schooled the Greeks. South Korea really has to watch their defense though. There were several moments where if the Greeks had brought their A game, South Korea would have given up some really easy goals.

The second game, Argentina vs Nigeria, was mug more of a nail-biter. Both teams played great, but Argentina proved themselves to be quite dangerous. Both teams had some great shots on goal, but Argentina’s goal keeper didn’t let anything by him. Meanwhile, their offense was relentless. It was too much for Nigeria, but not for lack of trying. They played a hell of a game and will also be ones to watch.

I’m watching the second half of the US vs England game now and its been pretty exciting so far. We gave up our typical stupid early goal, which was no surprise. I figured us to lose this game 2 – 0, but its tied up at this point in my DVR recording. I’m certainly startled by this, but in all fairness we should not have gotten that goal. That was a total screw up by the English goalkeeper. I don’t think anyone expected that shot to go in, but the goalie just didn’t maintain controlled of the ball and it went rolling right into the net. He’s gotta be kicking himself for that because its definitely been a morale hosted for the US team. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this turns out, so I’m gonna head back to the game.

BTW, sorry for any typos, my Droid’s autocorrect feature is fairly aggressive and sometimes throws junk in the place of perfectly cromulent words.

So the World Cup started today and when I woke up, I had completely forgotten. This is because I am a genius. I managed to tune in just as the first game started and what a game it was. South Africa, the host team, against Mexico. South Africa had a fantastic goal early in the 2nd half and they had been doing a great job keeping Mexico at bay. It looked like they were going to take it but Mexico scored a stunning goal around 79 mins in and tied it up. That’s not counting an almost goal they didn’t get credit for due to an offsides call. Of course I had to rush to work during the last 10 mins of the game, but it was so worth it. At least I didn’t miss any goals or anything epic. I’m watching the second game now on my DVR (France vs Uruguay) and its scoreless at the half. Man, watching the World Cup was way easier back when I worked nights. After this game, I’m going to bed. I’m planning on waking up at 7 am so I can catch tomorrow morning’s games before work. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to watch as many games as last time, especially with the games that are on at the same time. One thing is for sure, my normal shows are totally going to take a huge hit. But OMG so excited!

Fun fact: this post written entirely on my Droid.