Still not quite believing it
1) Jonothan Wilson -- tactical mastermind of the Guardian's sportblog -- has written a nice little summary of the Spain-Germany match here
The goal, when it did come, was most un-Spanish in nature: a left-wing corner taken by Xavi and met by a thumping header from an unmarked Carles Puyol. Bastian Schweinsteiger howled at the sky and little wonder; after all the diligent closing of space he and his teammates had done, to be undone by poor marking at a set-play must have seemed almost unbearably trivial, like a soldier surviving a war only to be run over as he tried to cross a road on his return home.
2) Barney Ronay -- a not-so-tactical mastermind of the Guardian's sportblog -- has complained that Spain are boring and tedious to watch. As one of the comments put it, there's just no winning with some people. Play pretty and lose (like Arsenal), you are weak. Play pretty and win (like Spain), you are boring. Play ugly and lose (like England), you are incompetent. Play ugly and win (like Inter), you are destroying the soul of football. What do people want instead? And am I the only one who thinks that absolutely no one in the English media would be complaining if it were England who were choking the life out of games by dominating posession? (AS IF, England. AS IF.)
3) I finally read the sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep last night. It was not worth it.
The goal, when it did come, was most un-Spanish in nature: a left-wing corner taken by Xavi and met by a thumping header from an unmarked Carles Puyol. Bastian Schweinsteiger howled at the sky and little wonder; after all the diligent closing of space he and his teammates had done, to be undone by poor marking at a set-play must have seemed almost unbearably trivial, like a soldier surviving a war only to be run over as he tried to cross a road on his return home.
2) Barney Ronay -- a not-so-tactical mastermind of the Guardian's sportblog -- has complained that Spain are boring and tedious to watch. As one of the comments put it, there's just no winning with some people. Play pretty and lose (like Arsenal), you are weak. Play pretty and win (like Spain), you are boring. Play ugly and lose (like England), you are incompetent. Play ugly and win (like Inter), you are destroying the soul of football. What do people want instead? And am I the only one who thinks that absolutely no one in the English media would be complaining if it were England who were choking the life out of games by dominating posession? (AS IF, England. AS IF.)
3) I finally read the sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep last night. It was not worth it.