Glass Half Full!

Any body would think we had lost! I have purposely left my musings on the England performance till now, as I suspected that they would not be the only favourites to struggle in the first games. I know the Germans kicked some Aussie arse (don't you just love watching our Antipodean cousins get drubbed0 but the rest of the teams performed just as abysmally as the the Three Lions. First up Brazil. Don't you just hate the way all the commentators and pundits fawn all over every move they make? If we had only beaten the lowest ranked team in the tournament via a gaol keeping mistake there would have been Hell on. But no, instead it was a magical piece of Samba skill. My arse, the dog munching goalkeeper should have had his near post covered. And letting a team score, that ranks below the likes of Jordan, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Wales. But at least they won, I suppose. Unlike the World Champions of Italy, held by Paraguay, who only qualify for the finals because they play all there home qualifiers at an altitude that cause opponents to bleed from their ears. The Dagos were hopeless, and if England are as pedestrian as the so called experts would have us believe, the Azurri resemble a gang of Gastropods. Last but not least of course, everybodys favourites, who according to all and sundry, this a competition was supposed to be some kind of coronation, as the swept to an inevitable first title. Until the Swiss beat them one nil. Yes, it is all very pretty, the little triangles and such that they weave, but just ask an Arsenal fan what this counts for when they hand out trophies. Not much. (I fear they might yet suffer from the curse of being Sandros predicament, a la France 2002)

So lets put Englands first outing into some kind of perspective. No it was not good. But do you really want your team to be giving their best showing straight off the bat? If not for the keeper we would have three points, and the fact that the Americans are a far better side that both the North Koreans and Paraguay, and a least the equal of Switzerland. Lets just wait and see how things stand come the end of next week. Hopefully by then I will be able too tune back in to TalkSport, and not have to listen to Crespo bang on that we stand no chance.