A Dream Start for Ecuador

Ecuador lead, starlingly over Poland by 1-nil on the 24th minute. A glorious throw by de La Cruz was flicked on by Delgado to the backpost where Tenorio places it gently in the net. It's a funny ol' game isn't it? Delgado had another opportunity on 28 minutes but failed to score. It's nearly the halfway point and anything can happen, but it looks like Ecuador will be walking to the locker room as the unlikely leaders. **Updated** It's half-time, and Ecuador are indeed leading a struggling Poland 1-nil on the strength of a Tenorio goal. **Updated** And that's the final whistle, Ecuador have taken a very precious three points from Poland in the second game of the competition. How many more surprises will we see? Poland mounted a very late high-pressure attack, but only succeeded in striking the woodwork twice in the final four (4) minutes. Wastrel On!

the World Cup Begins

The first game of the 2006 World Cup has finished. It was always going to be a tough game for the valiant Costa Rica, but the expected victors emerged on top. However, the home crowd was given quite a scare by their national team. Germany went up 1-nil within the first 6 or so minutes of the game; but it wasn't long before Paulo Wanchope managed to equalise. Germany's defence seemed rooted as Wanchope scooped up a through pass and slotted it in behind Lehmann. My, but the stadium was shocked and rightfully so. Were I a betting man, I'd have placed money on a clean sheet by Lehmann in this first match. Good thing I'm not much of a gambler. Prior to the break, however, Germany did manage to score a second to give them a 2-1 advantage heading into the locker rooms. Emerging, Costa Rica took the game to the midfield and tried to eliminate the massive possession that Germany enjoyed in the first half. That didn't last overlong as Germany went up 3-1 and Costa Rica had go on the offensive. Paulo Wanchope to the rescue; Costa Rica had but 1 shot and 1 goal to this point, so Wanchope decided to try his hand at a second shot and scored again. 3-2, and who'd have predicted this scoreline?! With 3 minutes left in the game, Germany managed a 4th goal to leave the valiant Costa Rica on the floor, but pleased by their efforts. The stadium, as expected, roared their approval for the team. Six goals in the first game? I think we may be in for a cracker of a tournament. Wastrel On!

A Madness Descends

Once every four years, a madness grips the world in such a fervor that countries close down, enemies embrace and the world very nearly stops turning as collectively people across the world hold their breath. I'm not talking ofthe Olympics, no nothing nearly as pedestrian as that. I'm referring to that sporting event of all sporting events, the World Cup! This year, the event is being held in Germany, a place dear to my heart and only real-world woes & facts prevented my presence. I will have to content myself with watching the woeful coverage as presented by ESPN, ESPN2 & ABC (please may the football gods smile on us and let ESPN broadcast the finals!). I have put together a comprensive list of all the matches here for your use. I've also added in the network that will be televising that match in the U.S. So for your pleasure, knowledge & use, here is a table of some of the best football matches you're ever likely to see.

Wastrel On and Come On the Lions!

(oh, and an addendum now: I'm a programmer by trade and that does include web-design. So, by habit, I write well-structured, man-readable code (HTML in this case). This piece of shit's Blogger programmers have apparently decided that no one is as smart as they are so have added functions to their Publish procedure that inserts a <br /> every time it encounters a line break...even when you're in Edit HTML mode. Chrissus, this table has a lot of structured HTML in it, which means a lot of line-breaks. It just took me nearly three times as long to unstructure my HTML as it did to build the damn thing in the first place. My happy affair with blogger is currently not very happy.So, if you find yourself in a situation where blogger has inserted a shit load of space between your text & your table, it's because of this little feller right here...the innocuous <br />. You'll need to rewrite your code so that there are no line-breaks at all. Cheeky bastard)

Match #	Date/Time	Group	Nation	v	Nation	Venue	TV
Match 1	Jun 9 12:00 ET	A	Germany	v	Costa Rica	Munich	ESPN2
Match 2	Jun 9 15:00 ET	A	Poland	v	Ecuador	Gelsenkirchen	ESPN2
Match 3	Jun 10 09:00 ET	B	England	v	Paraguay	Frankfurt	ABC
Match 4	Jun 10 12:00 ET	B	Trinidad & Tobago	v	Sweden	Dortmund	ABC
Match 5	Jun 10 15:00 ET	C	Argentina	v	Ivory Coast	Hamburg	ESPN2
Match 6	Jun 11 09:00 ET	C	Serbia & Montenegro	v	Netherlands	Leipzig	ESPN2
Match 7	Jun 11 12:00 ET	D	Mexico	v	Iran	Nuremburg	ABC
Match 8	Jun 11 15:00 ET	D	Angola	v	Portugal	Cologne	ESPN2
Match 9	Jun 12 15:00 ET	E	Italy	v	Ghana	Hanover	ESPN2
Match 10	Jun 12 12:00 ET	E	United States	v	Czech Republic	Gelsenkirchen	ESPN2
Match 11	Jun 13 15:00 ET	F	Brazil	v	Croatia	Berlin	ESPN2
Match 12	Jun 12 09:00 ET	F	Australia	v	Japan	Kaiserslautern	ESPN2
Match 13	Jun 13 12:00 ET	G	France	v	Switzerland	Stuttgart	ESPN2
Match 14	Jun 13 09:00 ET	G	South Korea	v	Togo	Frankfurt	ESPN2
Match 15	Jun 14 09:00 ET	H	Spain	v	Ukraine	Leipzig	ESPN2
Match 16	Jun 14 12:00 ET	H	Tunisia	v	Saudi Arabia	Munich	ESPN2
Match 17	Jun 14 15:00 ET	A	Germany	v	Poland	Dortmund	ESPN2
Match 18	Jun 15 09:00 ET	A	Ecuador	v	Costa Rica	Hamburg	ESPN2
Match 19	Jun 15 12:00 ET	B	England	v	Trinidad & Tobago	Nuremburg	ESPN2
Match 20	Jun 15 15:00 ET	B	Sweden	v	Paraguay	Berlin	ESPN
Match 21	Jun 16 09:00 ET	C	Argentina	v	Serbia & Montenegro	Gelsenkirchen	ESPN2
Match 22	Jun 16 12:00 ET	C	Netherlands	v	Ivory Coast	Stuttgart	ESPN2
Match 23	Jun 16 15:00 ET	D	Mexico	v	Angola	Hanover	ESPN
Match 24	Jun 17 09:00 ET	D	Portugal	v	Iran	Frankfurt	ESPN2
Match 25	Jun 17 15:00 ET	E	Italy	v	United States	Kaiserslautern	ABC
Match 26	Jun 17 12:00 ET	E	Ghana	v	Czech Republic	Cologne	ABC
Match 27	Jun 18 12:00 ET	F	Brazil	v	Australia	Munich	ABC
Match 28	Jun 18 09:00 ET	F	Japan	v	Croatia	Nuremburg	ABC
Match 29	Jun 18 15:00 ET	G	France	v	South Korea	Leipzig	ABC
Match 30	Jun 19 09:00 ET	G	Togo	v	Switzerland	Dortmund	ESPN2
Match 31	Jun 19 15:00 ET	H	Spain	v	Tunisia	Stuttgart	ESPN2
Match 32	Jun 19 12:00 ET	H	Saudi Arabia	v	Ukraine	Hamburg	ESPN2
Match 33	Jun 20 10:00 ET	A	Ecuador	v	Germany	Berlin	ESPN
Match 34	Jun 20 10:00 ET	A	Costa Rica	v	Poland	Hanover	ESPN2
Match 35	Jun 20 15:00 ET	B	Sweden	v	England	Cologne	ESPN
Match 36	Jun 20 15:00 ET	B	Paraguay	v	Trinidad & Tobago	Kaiserslautern	ESPN2
Match 37	Jun 21 15:00 ET	C	Netherlands	v	Argentina	Frankfurt	ESPN
Match 38	Jun 21 15:00 ET	C	Ivory Coast	v	Serbia & Montenegro	Munich	ESPN2
Match 39	Jun 21 10:00 ET	D	Portugal	v	Mexico	Gelsenkirchen	ESPN
Match 40	Jun 21 10:00 ET	D	Iran	v	Angola	Leipzig	ESPN2
Match 41	Jun 22 10:00 ET	E	Czech Republic	v	Italy	Hamburg	ESPN2
Match 42	Jun 22 10:00 ET	E	Ghana	v	United States	Nuremburg	ESPN
Match 43	Jun 22 15:00 ET	F	Japan	v	Brazil	Dortmund	ESPN
Match 44	Jun 22 15:00 ET	F	Croatia	v	Australia	Stuttgart	ESPN2
Match 45	Jun 23 15:00 ET	G	Togo	v	France	Cologne	ESPN
Match 46	Jun 23 15:00 ET	G	Switzerland	v	South Korea	Hanover	ESPN2
Match 47	Jun 23 10:00 ET	H	Saudi Arabia	v	Spain	Kaiserslautern	ESPN
Match 48	Jun 23 10:00 ET	H	Ukraine	v	Tunisia	Berlin	ESPN2
Match 49	Jun 24 11:00 ET	1	Winner A	v	Runner-Up B	Munich	TBD
Match 50	Jun 24 15:00 ET	2	Winner C	v	Runner-Up D	Leipzig	TBD
Match 51	Jun 25 11:00 ET	3	Winner B	v	Runner-Up A	Stuttgart	TBD
Match 52	Jun 25 15:00 ET	4	Winner D	v	Runner-Up C	Nuremburg	TBD
Match 53	Jun 26 11:00 ET	5	Winner E	v	Runner-Up F	Kaiserslautern	TBD
Match 54	Jun 26 15:00 ET	6	Winner G	v	Runner-Up H	Cologne	TBD
Match 55	Jun 27 11:00 ET	7	Winner F	v	Runner-Up E	Dortmund	TBD
Match 56	Jun 27 15:00 ET	8	Winner H	v	Runner-Up G	Hanover	TBD
Match 57	Jun 30 11:00 ET	I	Winner Match 1	v	Winner Match 2	Berlin	TBD
Match 58	Jun 30 15:00 ET	II	Winner Match 5	v	Winner Match 6	Hamburg	TBD
Match 59	Jul 1 11:00 ET	III	Winner Match 3	v	Winner Match 4	Gelsenkirchen	TBD
Match 60	Jul 1 15:00 ET	IV	Winner Match 7	v	Winner Match 8	Frankfurt	TBD
Match 61	Jul 4 15:00 ET	a	Winner Match I	v	Winner Match II	Dortmund	TBD
Match 62	Jul 5 15:00 ET	b	Winner Match III	v	Winner Match IV	Munich	TBD
Match 63	Jul 8 15:00 ET		Loser Match a	v	Loser Match b	Stuttgart	TBD
Match 64	Jul 9 14:00 ET		Winner Match a	v	Winner Match b	Berlin	TBD