The best day of sport ever? Possibly. Who didn’t get up for the humdinger of the New Zealand v England Rugby match, then mowing the grass before settling down to watch England v Sri Lanka from Lords, doing my daughter’s Business Studies homework and then footballing heaven from 5pm. This was going to be a marathon not a sprint and tactics needed to be spot on. Out of the four games, this one promised the least amount of entertainment on paper. Having seen Greece play at two tournaments it would be hard to think how they would change their tactics of parking their big fat Greek bus on the goal line. The positive was a recent arrival of Mythos. Sorry, Colombia but I don’t think you really stood a chance from the first minute on this one.
1. The hairiest team in the world – The Greeks boasted a starting XI featuring all bar two players with facial hair. A good sign or an omen of doom? My ex-boss always said a beard was a sign of laziness. I did point out at the time that Steve Ovett broke the 800m World Record whilst sporting a beard but he wasn’t having any of that. Mind you, he also felt that Coldplay were the most influential band of the 20th century. I rest my case.
2. The second verse syndrome – Interesting to see that some of the national anthems, certainly all the South American ones, have had the second verse added as a “sing along chorus”. No problems with that when the Colombians belt out “Se baña en sangre de héroes la tierra de Colón” but it could be problematic for the England fans when they should be singing “Thy choicest gifts in store, on her be pleased to pour” they will undoubtably just repeat the first verse.
4. Big Sam knows a World Class player when he sees one – Back in 2010 Allardyce came out with a statement that shocked the footballing world. “I’m not suited to Bolton or Blackburn, I would be more suited to Internazionale or Real Madrid,” said Allardyce. “It wouldn’t be a problem to me to go and manage those clubs because I would win the Double or the league every time”Remember In January he signed Colombian scorer Pablo Armero on loan from Napoli but soon replaced by Matt Taylor, sending the Colombian back to Italy with just three starts in four months. Which one is currently playing on the world stage again? But then again, he hadn’t played for Bolton Wanderers had he?
5. Slooooooooow motion – Do we really need those close up shots of players appealing to the referee in extra slow motion, seeing spit fly in all directions and making them look even more dumb than they probably are. Keep it for the controversial incidents, not the picking their nose or shouting at the officials.
Beer World Cup
Despite searching high and low online for the mythical Bogota Beer Company, apparently brewed in the UK, we drew a blank so Greece’s Mythos won hands down…in fact it went down so well we had another.
Col0mbia 0 Greece 2
