6 matches on the weekend

and I'm infused with footy. I managed to watch all 6 games over the weekend and also snuck in the two from Friday. It was glorious. England vs Paraguay was vastly disappointing with England being very flat & lackluster. If this is the best team that England have had in years, thus their best chance at a title, I'm a little (no, a lot) worried. The only reason that England won the game is that Paraguay was even more disappointing than England in terms of pace, depth & skill. Never in the history of the World Cup has a 1-Nil game been decided by an own goal. It’s quite the inauspicious start for the England hopefuls if you ask me. However, they do sit atop the group table because of an impressive Trinidad & Tobago. Now, talk about an entertaining game. This game is one that flies fast in the face of the American view of a good game. No goals! And yes, Americans are that shallow. However, this game was the most spirited & most entertaining game of the weekend. The Swedes, heavy favourites going in, were never able to break down a tenacious & aggressive T&T backline. Freddie Ljungberg (of Arsenal) gave it 110% through the entire game and really worried the outside fullbacks for T&T, but could never quite wear them down. The fact that T&T went down to 10 men on a spurious call from the official only 1 minute into the second half and still held the offensively driven Swedes to a goalless draw is just absolutely brilliant. If they do that to England as well, *heh*, we'll see won't we; but that game’s not until the 15th of June, so England has a bit of time to work up a decent game plan. Group C featured Argentina playing the Ivory Coast & Serbia & Montenegro playing Holland. In both games I wished desperately for the Orange to triumph. In the first game, Argentina vs. Ivory Coast, I was pulling for IC for two reasons. First, I detest Argentina and all their arrogance. Second, there are two Arsenal players on the IC team, and I always want Gunners to do well, whatever their nationality might be. So, sadly, the IC did not win, but they made a good show ad it was an entertaining match. Argentina won 2-1. In the other game, the Netherlands vs. S&M, I always pull for Holland. I have fond memories of Holland from my youth, so they always rate high on my list. They played an enjoyable-to-watch match and came out the winners 1-Nil over a rather hapless Serbia & Montenegro. And finally we move on to Group D where Mexico entertained Iran to the tune of 3-1 and Portugal only just beat Angola 1-Nil. I had counted on Mexico to beat Iran, but had hoped otherwise seeing as how I truly believe that Mexico need to be knocked back a peg or ten because of their amazingly arrogant attitude at the moment. Portugal, however, I expected to leave Angola in the dust. That did not happen; instead Angola pushed & prodded and produced a fine product in a massive fun-to-watch match. This was my favourite game of the weekend, and well worth watching again & again. So, at the end of three days, the groups look like this: Group A: Germany 3 Ecuador 3 (shock!) Costa Rica 0 Poland 0 Group B England 3 (luck) T&T 1 Sweden 1 Paraguay 1 Group C Argentina 3 Netherlands 3 Cote d'Ivoir 0 S&M 0 Group D Mexico 3 Portugal 3 Angola 0 Iran 0 Today we have 2 games from Group E and one game from Group F USA/Czech Republic (E) Italy/Ghana (E) Australia/Japan (F) USA, Italy & Japan will win these games. In the meantime, Wastrel On! (Listening to See What Tomorrow Brings by the Arc Angels)