some seriously defensive playing
Here follows some very brief commentary on some of the matches.
Go New Zealand! Congrats on your tie with Slovakia. You can do it!
Brazil-DPRK was some of the funniest shit I have seen at the World Cup. I'm neutral on North Korea (...that's not a phrase I ever expected to write) and I do feel a bit bad that they have absolutely no fans and all the commentators were being really harsh in a way that triggered my Canadianness. The North Korean team was obviously incredibly determined to put in a good showing and they definitely did. Their defense was insane. There was no ball they would not throw themselves on. Ri, their keeper, worked his position so well it was almost unreal.
I was watching with a friend who was cheering for Brazil (his is a south american/iberian cocktail that seems to be very popular) and our commentary pretty much went:
me: How? How?
him: I wish I knew. Oh, how I wish I knew.
every five minutes.
Honduras tried, did they ever, but they were just hopelessly outmatched in every area. What I can say for them is that they didn't retreat to a defensive position and hunker down (like some teams Switzerland out there). If that was what v Chile looked like, then I am not excited to see what will happen to them when they face Spain and Switzerland. :(
Spain-Switzerland was a very frustrating match to watch. I can only imagine what it was like to play. The swiss were cockblocking Spain something fierce. Every time Spain got anywhere near the Swiss goal they'd be surrounded by white shirts all up in their space. And Spain were at the Swiss end pretty much the whole time. Which is why it was so weird that Switzerland scored. I really don't know how that happened. I mean, aside from truly terrible Spanish defending. Seriously. Well, it was a good goal, aside from the part where the Spanish player got his face stomped on and spent the rest of the match bleeding freely from the temple.
By the end of that match I just wanted the ref to blow the whistle because I couldn't take watching Spain bounce the ball off a Swiss player's shins one more time.
I just could not get into the Uruguay-South Africa match. I'm trying to cheer for you South Africa, and you are making it hard. Um. What to say? Tschabalala's hair tie pleases me greatly, with it's little South African flag and coordinated colours. I was completely unengaged, thinking about sandwiches and then the keeper (Khune) got red-carded. wtf. And it wasn't even an awesome keeper red card like Turkey got back in 2008.
Random General World Cup Commentary
National Anthems: I think Uruguay and Paraguay got short shrift in the anthem department, those are pretty bad, I can't lie. Also very similar. I was really weirded out when the Australian team all put their hands on their hearts and turned to face their flag while they sang. I'm way more used to some portion of the players singing while another chunk attempt to stare stoically into the middle distance. This show of patriotism unsettled me a little. That show was topped by the North Korean player (I should have written his name down) who sobbed the entire way through his anthem. He cried, guys. Real tears! He couldn't even sing he was so choked up.
I agree with the commentator (seriously, I need to pay more attention when they announce the name) re: the ball: "it's round and it rolls but otherwise no one's quite happy with it." Also, aiming would be a good idea.
This entry was originally posted at http://phnelt.dreamwidth.org/24429.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Go New Zealand! Congrats on your tie with Slovakia. You can do it!
Brazil-DPRK was some of the funniest shit I have seen at the World Cup. I'm neutral on North Korea (...that's not a phrase I ever expected to write) and I do feel a bit bad that they have absolutely no fans and all the commentators were being really harsh in a way that triggered my Canadianness. The North Korean team was obviously incredibly determined to put in a good showing and they definitely did. Their defense was insane. There was no ball they would not throw themselves on. Ri, their keeper, worked his position so well it was almost unreal.
I was watching with a friend who was cheering for Brazil (his is a south american/iberian cocktail that seems to be very popular) and our commentary pretty much went:
me: How? How?
him: I wish I knew. Oh, how I wish I knew.
every five minutes.
Honduras tried, did they ever, but they were just hopelessly outmatched in every area. What I can say for them is that they didn't retreat to a defensive position and hunker down (like some teams Switzerland out there). If that was what v Chile looked like, then I am not excited to see what will happen to them when they face Spain and Switzerland. :(
Spain-Switzerland was a very frustrating match to watch. I can only imagine what it was like to play. The swiss were cockblocking Spain something fierce. Every time Spain got anywhere near the Swiss goal they'd be surrounded by white shirts all up in their space. And Spain were at the Swiss end pretty much the whole time. Which is why it was so weird that Switzerland scored. I really don't know how that happened. I mean, aside from truly terrible Spanish defending. Seriously. Well, it was a good goal, aside from the part where the Spanish player got his face stomped on and spent the rest of the match bleeding freely from the temple.
By the end of that match I just wanted the ref to blow the whistle because I couldn't take watching Spain bounce the ball off a Swiss player's shins one more time.
I just could not get into the Uruguay-South Africa match. I'm trying to cheer for you South Africa, and you are making it hard. Um. What to say? Tschabalala's hair tie pleases me greatly, with it's little South African flag and coordinated colours. I was completely unengaged, thinking about sandwiches and then the keeper (Khune) got red-carded. wtf. And it wasn't even an awesome keeper red card like Turkey got back in 2008.
Random General World Cup Commentary
National Anthems: I think Uruguay and Paraguay got short shrift in the anthem department, those are pretty bad, I can't lie. Also very similar. I was really weirded out when the Australian team all put their hands on their hearts and turned to face their flag while they sang. I'm way more used to some portion of the players singing while another chunk attempt to stare stoically into the middle distance. This show of patriotism unsettled me a little. That show was topped by the North Korean player (I should have written his name down) who sobbed the entire way through his anthem. He cried, guys. Real tears! He couldn't even sing he was so choked up.
I agree with the commentator (seriously, I need to pay more attention when they announce the name) re: the ball: "it's round and it rolls but otherwise no one's quite happy with it." Also, aiming would be a good idea.
This entry was originally posted at http://phnelt.dreamwidth.org/24429.html. Please comment there using OpenID.