Change of plans, guys!

Ok. So, I'm not REALLY in Germany. Well, I was. But everytime I tried to get out of the airport, they demanded something called a visa. No, not the credit card, because I showed that to them and got dirty stares for it. How dare they!! Like I would try to bribe them just for some stupid football tournament???? (Oh I SO WOULD!!!)

So, I'm home, in Muscat. And it's depressing. Exciting yet depressing. Home's not the same anymore and will never be. That's the life I've to live. It's inspired me to write a whole lot of depressing poems though. (Look out, RA.) I'll post them some time later.

Right now, there are only 2 things on my mind - FIFA and my cousin's wedding.

FIFA is awesome! (Gautam, you stupid fool. How is football boring??????) I hate the French and the English. I'm still rooting for Portugal to beat the Beckham team. Poor little cute Deco. I hope the other ruthless Portugese kill the Englishmen on the field, if not by tactic, then literally! They seemed to show some good WWE potential out there on that field!

All of you who doubted Ronaldo for even one second, go eat your hats. He is BACK in form. And has broken the record of 14 FIFA goals. That too in Germany. Ironic.

As for my cousin's wedding, I'm SO excited that I can't imagine how she must feel. I have yet to meet the groom, so if I don't give the green signal, he's in big trouble! I usually think marriages are a BIG BORE, but when someone so close to you is tieing the knot, it is exciting as hell!!!

So, anyway, I'm coming to India tomorrow - Madras and Bangalore, to be specific. So, if anyone is around there and wants to chat or meet up, leave me your numbers!!!

See you on the other side of the Arabian Sea.

GGWCF - So, the question of the day is...

... how many people actually did NOT get carded in the Portugal-Netherlands match???

(Gosh. That's the dirtiest match we've had thus far, eh? But, what a match. WHAT a match!)

I AM IN GERMANY!!! WOOHOO!!!

Okaz guzs. Zou are going to have to excuse mz spelling errors, because the Germans apparentlz think it's more important to have a Z on their first line as opposed to a Y. Anzwazs, I'm presentlz eating some reallz zummz football-shaped cookies!!! Let's see if I can catch a couple of matches or so. Look out for me on TV, okaz???

P.S. - I'm also sporting a football brooch to show mz passion! Let the games begin.

GGWCF - It's obvious that MEN came up with the rules to football!

I'm not even going to bother to do a proper organized recap piece today because I'm pissed!!! Seriously, in which bloody world is it fair to pit 10 weak players against 11 good ones? Okay, forget their relative strengths. 10 versus 11? That's just lame, man. L-A-M-E!

And even the fouls are so questionable. I agree that the referee cannot be perfect, but sometimes it's so pissing off to see a player be given a yellow card because he bumped into the back of the opposing player while running. I know you sports guys aren't really all brain up there; so for your information, it's called INERTIA. (You probably never took physics though, so I don't blame you for not knowing.)

It's also amazing to see the player bumped into instantly fall to the ground crutching his ankle\wrist\crotch. No doubt that it hurts, but being a professional footballer, you'd think they'd develop some level of tolerance to pain, right? Even mosquitoes learnt to become resistant to DDT!!!!

Yeah yeah. So, it goes both ways. But it's not time to be doing probability here. It's about how a single mistake can make or break a team. And that's what happened today. When Poland lost Sobolewski, they lost their morale too. I don't think they came into this game thinking they could beat Germany, or even tie with them. But when they had managed that for 75 minutes, I'm sure they thought they could somehow pull off a draw with Germany. And that in itself would have been quite an achievement for them. But that referee just had to go and screw it all up. The minute the Poles were down to 10, Germany basically had a psychological advantage from there on.

Today, I am disappointed in the game. And I hate the Germans.

Auf Wiedersehen.

GGWCF - Superpower-LESS!!!

June 12th

Match 1:

The winners - Australia (3)
The losers - Japan (1)
The game - I didn't watch this match. However, considering that the score at half-time was 0-1 with the goal in Japan's name, it can only mean that the Australians played a damn good game in the second half!

Match 2:

The winners - Czech Republic (3)
The losers - U.S.A. (0)
The game - Oh. What a game. It was a delightful one for anyone who is a CZE supporter! Or a U.S.A. hater such as moi. Every goal that was scored filled me with such joy that I wonder how the Czech Republicans must have felt. The Americans were the clear favourites going into the game. But the scoreboard told a different story altogether.
Men that matter - Rosicky scored 2 goals. He is also a 4/5 on the qutometer. I don't know about men on the American side because I don't really go for losers. Or maybe I'm just racist. Bah.

Now for the remaining recaps.

June 10th

Match 1:

The winners - Paraguay (0)
The losers - England (1)
The game - Yes. Technically, England won the points for the match. But it was hardly something to be proud of. "The best English side yet", the commentator reports. What they do on field could hardly be more of a contradiction. That one goal they got was sheer luck because the Paraguans were feeling a bit like deer-caught-in-headlights for the first few minutes of the game. But after the first quarter, the Paraguans were clearly the better team.
Men that matter - Owen (ENG) is a cutie (4/5 q.r.). But he did jack shit in the game. Beckham (ENG) is for those of you born in the 50s. Seriously. Valdez (PAR) has cute dimples (3/5 q.r.).

Match 2:

The winners - Trinidad & Tobago (0) and Sweden (0)
The game - I only watched it in bits and pieces but for a team that's participating at their first World Cup, T&T sure did a good job of not letting Sweden score.

Match 3:

The winners - Argentina (2)
The losers - Cote d'Ivoire (1)
The game - I did not watch this game. I did expect Argentina to win. What I didn't expect was Cote d'Ivoire to score.

June 11th

Match 1:

The winners - Netherlands (1)
The losers - Serbia & Montenegro (0)
The game - I did not watch this game. I just have one question though. How in the world is SCG a suitable acronym for Serbia & Montenegro???

Match 2:

The winners - Mexico (3)
The losers - Iran (1)
The game - I did not watch this game. But I have been told to regret that I didn't.

Match 3:

The winners - Portugal (1)
The losers - Angola (0)
The game - This pretty much looked like a recap of the ENG-PAR match. Portugal get lucky with an early goal and then pretty much suck through the rest of the game. The funny thing is that the Angolans weren't even all that good. They really need to work on their scoring-a-goal-in-the-vicinity-of-the-net skills. So, basically, it seems that either the Portugese were just being way too casual since it's just a Round 1 match, or they really aren't that good a team.
Men that matter - Loco (ANG) is following the footsteps of Beckham and Ronaldo of setting new hairstyle trends. A 1/5 q.r. though.

The Girl's Guide to World Cup Football - Introduction

Yes. This is a post about football. But since it is being written by a girl, it can actually be understood by the masses. You will not read about throw-ins, corner-kicks or the off-side. You will also not read about forwards or wingers. Though you may read about cute guys who happen to be forwards or wingers. What you will definitely read about are the winners, the losers and the cute guys on each team. So, if you are a self-proclaimed football expert, you might as well sod off.

A few basic things to know before you read on.
1. A football field is usually green. The colour of the green depends on the type of grass and the angle of sunlight rays falling on it.
2. A football game is played between 2 teams of 11 players each. So, excluding the goalkeeper, there should be 20 men running around the field. There are times when there may be say 19 men only. Do not be confused. Someone has just left the field to pee. Okay, not really. There are technical reasons behind that; nothing to break your head over, really. You can be rest assured that the 20th man will be back!
3. A football game is 90 minutes long. Therefore, half-time is at 45 minutes. However, extra time is sometimes added on by the referees for fun. After all, more time, more excitement.
4. A cute-o-meter a.s.a. (also spelt as, for further reference) qutometer should be self-explanatory. This has nothing to do with the official game of football, per se.

So, to recap what has happened uptil now...

June 9th

Match 1:

The winners - Germany (4)
The runners-up - Costa Rica (2)
The game - What a GREAT way to start the FIFA World Cup. It was honestly one of those you-can't-take-your-eyes-off-the-screen-for-a-second matches! Trust me. I was trying to make a sandwich to eat while watching the match, but I couldn't get to it till half-time. There were 2 goals scored (1 each) in the first 10ish minutes. And even though the Germans were clearly the better team, the Costa Ricans were in no way losers. This game made the 4-year wait worth it.
The men that matter -
1. Klose (Ger) - Scored 2 out of 4 goals for his team. Scores 2 out of 5 on my qutometer. But then again, I just don't really like blondes.
2. Frings (Ger) - Scored 1 goal but with great style. And that counts!!! 1/5 on my qutometer, though.
3. Ballack (Ger) - 4/5 on my qutometer! He's as cute as a button. (How the hell did this phrase originate???) So, you can keep gushing about him, and the guys will pretty much nod their heads in agreement, because he also happens to be a class player.
4. Wanchope (Crc) - Apart from having a really cool last name, he scored both of Costa Rica's goals. 2/5 qutometer reading (q.r.).

Match 2:

The game - I did not watch this game. All I know is that Poland shouldn't have lost 0-2 to Ecuador.

To be continued...

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!

GO BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He ate us!

Po-tay-to. Po-taa-to.

Same difference.

Go figure.