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The Final Four

The Czechs made it look
easy and now it is the Czechs against the Greeks and the Portuguese against
the Dutch for next Sunday’s final. I think the Portguuese have the best chance
of beating the Czechs but the Greeks are giant-killers and could steal one on 1
July. Given the fact that Liverpool has Owen and Baros, it is stunning that Owen
is not the one warming the bench.

Through

Holland got past Sweden on penalties. Edwin v.d. Sar, the Dutch keeper, was amazing in the penalties, diving the right way every time, stopping one and having at least one near miss. I recall last fall he stoned Arsenal, when playing for his club team Fulham, to a 0-0 draw at Highbury to the admiration of all involved. While Sweden goes home to the akavit and herring, it can take some comfort in having the best kit of any team in the tournament.

While The Netherlands, sporting the Nike uni-look, had a very spiffy crest on their left shoulder blade with both the Swedish and Dutch flags celebrating the game, the Swedish uniform, by Umbro, was style itself. The collar even had a line of yellow on blue with a yellow line up and down at the back forming the Swedish flag. The blue numbers on the yellow also had a yellow line in the middle giving it a real 1976 Montreal Olympics look. Natty.

The TSN commentators kept calling the game a chess match. This is fitba longo for snooze fest. I am hoping tomorrow’s Czechs v. Denmark will be a little more robust.

Have I mentioned…

…that I like fitba. We got smoked last night, I hardly touched the ball, only two subs, a goal went in our net deflected off my arm, three cards were shown in an old timers friendly-type game and I am wracked with pain this morning from sprinting pointlessly over and over into the outside right corner into which no one passes. All in all a blast. And two inches off my gut in three weeks and I looked very natty in my new Ipswich Town jersey which I snagged off eBay for about 35 bucks delivered.

High and Wide


Beckham inadvertantly joins the race for the X-prize

Tough break Engerland. I got to listen to the BBC Live Five audio through the latter end of the afternoon and then zip home to catch the Lampard goal that got you into the penalties. And then there was this a kick like I would have taken in high school. For me the rest is the breaks of a game and getting to penalties is testimony enough. But to miss by twenty feet high and ten feet wide?

Coached the under fives an hour later and the game went on.