Day FifteeN….running out of green….

By carlosvaldez, June 24, 2006

Tunisia v
Ukraine..

The Ukrainians went mad in their last game, totally demolishing the sub-standard Saudis with a delightful display of attacking football…Shevchenko was showing signs of match sharpness returning to his lethal boots.
Tunisia have been largely disappointing..Prediction: Shevchenko double 2-0.Ukraine need only a draw, and even then the sorrowful Saudis will need to defy all aspects of football logic to beat the Spaniards to have any chance of progressing….so if that makes any sense to you, Ukraine can make sure of qualification for the second round by gaining a draw or victory from this game…Kalinichenko was the star of the 4-0 drubbing of the Saudis, and he will look to be a sharp thorn in the many vulnerable sides of the Tunisians…..

I like the methods of the Ukrainian coach, who told his players before their last game v Saudis:“if any of you play like you did againstSpain, you will never represent your country again”…Harsh words and probably an illegitimate threat, I mean common sense tells me that to bring down the axe on the international career of a 23 year old may be going a little too far…whether threat or bluff, the team talk worked a treat and spurred the team onto a fierce performance on the pitch…

3- awful defensive error by Jairdi gifts Voronin the ball, but his weak pass doesn’t reach Shevchenko..

8- Jaziri BOOKED for diving in the box….good call.A real shocker of a game from the neutral spectators point of view…

18 BOOKed SVIDERSKy…and he will now miss the next game…

22- Timushek finds himself in the box ,but his powerful drive at the near post in saved well by the 40 year old Tunisian keeper.

37- throw for
Ukraine….

43- Bouazizi BOOked after ref checks the length of the Tunisian captain’s head-hair and finds it to be above regulation length…deserved booking….45- Jaziri gets his second yellow which makes a RED after a silly double foul….

the north Africans are now down to ten men after that waste of space rat Jaziri got himself sent off for two stupid mistakes….
Ukraine have looked anything but impressive, but hopefully the extra man advantage will be turned into some goal-mouth action..

54 sub UKR Rebrov for Vorobeylike the players

the officials are playing for qualification to the next round…the referees and linesmen (for the next stage) will be chosen on the form and quality of what has been seen in the group matches….

64- Tunisian striker makes a meal out of a tackle from behind that clipped his ankles..just outside the box…good position for FK>>Ayari>>slight deflection off Voronin’s outstretched arm..corner>

66-…another corner>> that should have been a penalty for the handball. it was deliberate..

69-Shevchenko is allowed to jog through the Tunisian defence before been blown to the ground by a gust of wind…PENALTY>>>>Shev>>1-0
Ukraine…

Ukraine seem to be made up of 3 kinds of man; one of shoulder length, blonde, wavy hair, another with untrusting eyes and the face of shevchenko, then finally a smaller, more determined beast along the lines of Rebrov…3 moulds ..

Replay shows that Shevchenko dived..

78- Santos TUN SUB for mean-looking Chedli…Santos was born in
Brazil…Ben Saasa for Bouazizi

93- Voronin flashes a shot just past the post….

this match will forever serve as a blight in the history of everyone connected to the sorry events that took place in
Hamburg over the last couple of hours. If a non-football supporter had thought ‘why not give that soccer game a pop, won’t do any harm will it, I mean 30 billion watch it so there must be something to it!!!!…ahh I see, I can watch this Ukraine v Tunis match, both teams apparently fighting to reach the exciting sounding knockout phase..” then proceeded to watch this drivel, I could have no valid grounds for argument if that same non-football supporter surmised after this game that football was indeed ‘bullshit and boring, a bunch of overpaid, passionless wankers…more than disappointing; horrifying’....if given the chance to run my life over again with the bonus of changing certain wasteful periods, then 1200am-0200am AET on 24/6/2006 would be one of those occasions deemed ‘complete waste of existence’….One of the poorest matches ever to be played not just in a world cup tournament, but in general. The only difference between the two teams was a wrongly awarded penalty. Shame on Shevchenko for such an abysmally unsporting but effective dive…..he is going to get mashed if he tries those tricks in the premiership and rightly so..

MOM- the Tunisian keeper, but only because his age was impressive..40

FINAL GROUP H STANDINGS:

Other result-
Spain 1-0 Saudis.(this was the second string Spaniards, not their normal starting xi)

1- Spain> Won 3, +7 GD, 9 points.

2-Ukraine> won 2, lost 1, +1 GD, 6 points.

3-Tunisia> drawn 1, lost 2, -3 GD, 1 point.

4- Saudis> drawn 1, lost 2, -5 GD, 1 point.

South Korea v
Switzerland

Too many possible outcomes of this delicately poised group to mention or even outline at this hour, 436am,..I can understand the French failing to break down the resolute Swiss defence, but not the South Koreans, who have perhaps surprised me a bit, though I feel that the frogs have let me down more…Domenech is to blame…I would expect France to destroy Togo. At the very least: comfortably win. If that happens then both these teams,
Both S Korea and Swiss need to win this match to guarantee progression to the second round…If the french can only draw with Togo, or god forbid, they lose, then S-Korea and Switzerland will both make it to the second round by playing out a bore draw…However the incentive remains to grab this game by the balls and win it thus ensuring qualification…The Korean have scant regard for defence, whereas the Swiss can defend like a youth team version of the Italians. In the attacking stakes, I would say the Koreans have the edge because all of their players are damn quick and love to get forward at pace at every given opportunity, or just for the buzz of running like a wild animal with the world watching…..Alexander Frei is the only canine in a robust but otherwise barren ,Swiss gum…Talking of Italy, it was the south Koreans who put them out of the last world cup.

Prediction>>1-0 Swiss..

Anthem watch>

Swiss> look composed, determined, focussed, calm..Senderos has the face of a butchers dog…A downbeat, sombre, death knell…
Korea>some players with their eyes closed..Suspicious sounding cover of ‘away in a manger’…

The South Korean fans are polite, fun loving and willing to befriend all-comers..exuding/spreading too perfect an image of their people…or can they all be so nice???

Argie ref!!!!resembles dave hedghog from bottom..spudgun is linesman.

SK are physically the largest of the Asian entrants…

2- Lee chum Soo retrieves a lost cause then pings the ball into the box but he can’t find a team-mate…everyone thought the ball had gone dead, apart from Lee Chun of pro evolution fame

8- park Ji sung pops one from 30 yards out, well hit. Keeper gets down on the deck to save comfortably.

10- poor passing between the SK defence is intercepted by Frei who puts in Yakin for one on one with keeper, but before he has chance to shoot a tackle flies in from the side, putting the ball safe for a corner…valiant defending…
Korea winning the 50/50s…

Swiss are getting battered.

This Argie ref has impressed me before and is doing so again this morning.. I recognize his furrowed brow and fierce glare…a man of wisdom for sure.

20 minutes without a booking…Very open game..end 2 end

22 YELLOW for Chu
Park for dragging Barnetta to the turf…Yakin FK>>>>>GOAL Senderos, with blood pouring down his face..powers a perfect header into the corner of the goal….his head followed through and smashed into the Korean defender's face who is also on the touchlines receiving treatment for his wound…two very bloodied players, but the Swiss lead 1-0…..The rush of scoring the goal completely took over Phillip Senderos, and he charged to the bench to celebrate apparently unbothered by the wound on his cheek and blood pouring down his face….a wild, fearsome beast…The Korean victim is given a dressing, which is kept in place by a mesh hair net. covering the head like a hat..

28- both players get back in the action…The Koreans will now be thinking twice before battling for a aerial ball with Senderos, who will undoubtedly take the players head if he can’t reach the ball with his battering ram scalp…

35- Park Jei Jing lies flat out on the grass after clash of heads with Swiss defender….Back alive he comes…revived by sponge on dick…

37- YELLOW for SKA jin JIM who went right through Barnetta who seems to be crying…FK>>>35 yards out..>curling strike easy for the keeper to knock out for a corner>>defended

40-Yakin goes close with flash shot across the face of goal….only a few feet wide of the post…

42–Lee chum Soo forces a corner out of the Swiss keeper, giant Zuberhayer, with a drive from 2 yards..

43- Senderos gives away a foul for crunching Jae Jin, then is sent off the pitch to get his wound covered which has oozed more blood onto his nose and cheeks….an ugly sight…

45- Chuyong finds the ball at his feet, 10 yards from the goat after a scramble in the box, but his snapshot flies wide…

45- Lee chum Soo, receives ball on edge of area, turns, then shoots, good save….. corner>>>>headed clear

47- Frei finds space for a free header in the box, but he fails miserably in his attempt to score….hitting the header 6 yards wide of goal…

An exciting match, with both teams searching high and low for the victory which currently is held hostage by the Swiss after the Senderos smash, bash and grab mission. Korea have had numerous chances to equalize though they were on the rack for a while in the period just after the goal, when their whole team looked a little deflated; the impact of Senderos’ head scoring a goal and bloodying their centre back was too much to bear…but this only lasted for ten minutes, then the Koreans got back on track and started to hammer the Swiss defence…Frei wants a goal but doesn’t seem capable of getting one unless it comes from the penalty spot.‘The meth epidemic’- thank fuck I missed out on that one….amphetamine of any variety is a bad path for me to force my mind, which moves at the speed of darkness even without recreational drugs….

46- HO screws a volley closer to the corner flag than goal….

53- Djourou for hero Senderos SUB SWI

55 BOOKED Yakin for blatant arm-ball….

earlier this evening I exchanged a few words of Italian with one of very few I will concede to as a neo-mentor, a conversation which has lightened the load on my connexion with the lady who lies sound asleep only a few feet away as I tenderly caress these keys into action, silently cursing the fan as it whirrs into action….Why??how can you be hot??I am freezing…and hardly typing at the speed of a man possessed by anything but mis-allocated resources and futile planning….

Work was so horrid that it produced in me a fit akin to a bout of Tourettes; much shouting and cursing the computer and my work load, and a few poorly aimed fist-smashes which could have gone anywhere, the idea was simply to make contact with something.. I was like a cloud full of lightening looking for a piece of high ground to use as a vent to dissipate the sharp, electrical energy from within….The human, more animal with the lady , contact from the post-work period of 10pm-1am levelled me out considerably, and just as well because my spirits were descending to previously unimaginable depths where for a few seconds I was completely out of control…a concern…bur not till it happens again.

Koreans still applying pressure with vast amounts of enthusiasm……to no avail…

69- Wicky BOOKED for SWI after slicing lee chun Soo’s ankles…

71- SUB SWI Yakin off for Margairaz…

77- GOAL….Frei scores for the Swiss….officials call it right….A Korean boot in to intercept a pass, sends the ball through to offside Frei, who rounds the keeper and scores…….Koreans go mental, I can understand why….. linesman had his flag raised..which may have affected the reaction of many of the Koreans….very unlucky..the ref overruled the linesman, but he has followed the laws of the game….

83- Stycher booked for Swiss..Corner>>> finds Lee Chin Gui who shoots hard from 3 yards…..Replay of GOAL shows the keeper stopped Frei first, but defenders had turned to the ref as they had seen the linesman flag!!!very harsh.

88-sub Swiss Behrami off, for Varickty

91- YELLOW Djourou for hacking Angwoun

MOM Zatebahaur, Swiss keeper. Apart from the referee, he was the busiest man on the park…

South Korea will feel understandably aggreived at going out of the finals due to a contentious goal, but that is football I suppose. In game like this one, devid of special players, teams need to make their own luck, which I suppose Switzerland did to a more succesful degree than the Koreans. The second goal for the Swiss killed the Koreans.

FINAL GROUP G STANDINGS

other result:

Frogs 2-0
togo

(henry and viera)

1. Swiss> Won 2, Drawn 1, +4 GD, 7 points.

2. France> Won 1, Drawn 2, +2 GD, 5 points.

3. South Korea> Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 1, -1 GD, 4 points.

4. Togo> Lost 3, -5 GD, 0 points.

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