The initial games of Prime FC, the U15 girls soccer team we sponsor, are maybe pointing to a season of symmetry. The first weekend’s games kicked off with two 0-0 draws and this weekend we had a 2-1 win and a 2-1 loss. More to come as the season progresses…….

Well the Netherlands climbed a mountain to reach the World Cup final (first time since 1978), coming back from behind to beat Brazil in the quarter-finals and then edging Uruguay in the semi’s.

I climbed my own personal mountain this weekend – High Point in NJ. I was out there camping with the family so I took my bike along. The hill is, of course the highest point in New Jersey (at 1803 feet) and it’s basically just 5 miles straight up – sheer torture. Of course it didn’t help it was 96 degrees that day.

If you like a challenge I’d highly recommend it.

Well, that didn’t go quite to plan.

To be sure the disallowed goal was a terrible call but the fact of the matter is England were outsmarted and outplayed.

Germany deserved the win.
England deserve the sack.

With the USA going out on Saturday too I think my support now has to go the men in orange. Go Netherlands.

First day of the last round of group matches in South Africa and it’s around about this time that football fans the world over turn into mathematical genius’s with an uncanny understanding of statistics and the laws of probability.

For example ” if South AFrica beat France 3-0 and Uruguay beat Mexico by at least 3 clear goals then South Africa will go through to the next round. However if Uruguay and Mexico tie then they both go through and the South African scoreline doesn’t matter”

Of course none of this applies if  :

A) You’re Brazilian – because your team seems to win every game anyway

B) You’re North Korean – because you’re knocked out already

C) You’re English – because we’re praying to a higher power than the God of Mathematics

Typical. Finally a real show-stopper of a game and I left at half-time to come to work when the score was only 1-0. Didn’t think the North Koreans were doing too badly up until that point either.

I was embarrassed by the England performance this afternoon, possibly one of the worst I’ve ever seen, which makes it all the sadder because it was such an important game.  To say we looked lackluster is to discredit the Algerians who at least displayed some flair and ingenuity. We looked lacking in ideas, lacking in direction, lacking in fitness, and lacking in some of the basic skills such as passing and first touch control. Heskey was our best player on the pitch and yet he was the first one substituted in Capello’s mistaken belief that Rooney would suddenly produce some magic after playing inept and insipid  football for the last 2 games.

I say start with Crouch and Heskey against Slovenia and if that’s not working bring on Defoe. No-one should think they are automatically guaranteed a place in the starting lineup Wayne (you take note too Frankie Lampard – another poor display from you in an England shirt).

On one positive note today – all credit to the USA to come back from 2-0 down against Slovenia and as for that disallowed 86th minute goal……
…………They were robbed.

This World Cup is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable in years. First Spain (many people’s tip to go all the way) lose to Switzerland and then France lose to Mexico yesterday (the French have looked rubbish in both their games). Then today an even bigger upset with Germany going down 1-0 to Serbia after they looked so good in their first game. It’s true the referee was a bit card-happy and I don’t think Klose should have been sent off but Podolski did miss a penalty in the second half.

It’s all wide open now.

C’mon England this afternoon