Africans, Look-a-Likes and Prediction Competitions

Which Greek player is this?? Who knows?

We're 5 days into to the 2014 World Cup and, as I was saying on Saturday, it's been brilliant. There have been late goals and drama all over the show. We've seen almost everyone play once now, with the exception of Group H; containing, the lightest of "Dark Horses" Belgium (every man and his dog thinks they're going to do well, they can hardly be called dark horses). Can I just say, I don't think Belgium are going to be spectacular, I expect them to progress from their group but that's about it.

Anyway, away from the Belgium talk as I was saying it's been a fantastic tournament so far. England got off to an encouraging start, even if we did lose. We showed a bit of attacking threat against the Italians and made them uncomfortable for periods of the game. The bad sides to our performance were that we were a bit dodgy at the back and there were periods where our midfield couldn't get near Pirlo and Verratti; there was a sense that the Italians had us where they wanted us to be (and they did hit the post & bar and have a shot cleared off the line). I found it to be a thoroughly engrossing game, bring on Uruguay (who, by the way I said would struggle)!

There have been a couple of downsides to this tournament, the first is the game times. I'm not sure if I want more 5pms or 11pms? With the 5pms I basically have to rush home from work and miss the first 10 minutes of the game. Thank god I now work across the road from home, which is purely a lucky coincidence (that wasn't part of the search criteria when I was looking for somewhere to live). The 11pm starts are just as bad. Although I don't miss any of the action, I'm really struggling to stay awake. Speaking of staying awake, I totally messed up the 2am Ivory Coast v Japan game the other day. Not only did I fall asleep during parts of it, but each of my snoozes coincided with the time at which the goals were scored and then I ended up falling asleep on the sofa only to be woken up by the Mrs at 6am, who came it wondering why I hadn't come to bed. Worst was to come, having thought to myself, "Ah, it was a tad ambitious expecting to stay up until quarter to 4. It's not like England were playing..." I then awoke at some point late on Sunday morning to find that the World and his dog had actually  braved it and watched the full 90 minutes!! Even my dad was like, "What? You didn't watch Ivory Coast v Japan? Pfft!" Thank god there's no more 2ams, I couldn't deal with the shame...

The second negative point at this year's tournament has been the performance of the African nations so far. Now I can't speak for the Ivory Coast, as you know I was "catching some Zzzzs", but Cameroon and Nigeria were terrible in their first two games. Cameroon are taking the mick, the players had the cheek to refuse to board their flight to Brazil as they were in the midst of a row over player bonuses. If I was the FA I'd have promised them a huge bonus and then made it performance related! It's an absolute disgrace that a footballer needs to be monetarily coerced into playing for their nation at a World Cup. There are millions of people who'd kill to be professional footballers; then of the professional footballers there are thousands who'd kill to play for their national team, then of the national teams there are hundreds who'd kill to make it to the World Cup! These boys need a reality check! It's not like they're skint or hard up for cash! Especially after that woeful performance against Mexico!

The Nigerian FA could have done us all a favour and sorted out the Cameroon row by donating their players' bonus money to them. Because the Nigerian players certainly won't be earning any bonuses if their performances carry on in the same vein. The Nigerians were awful against Iran and the two teams served up the first (and only so far) 0-0 of the tournament. I hate it when commentators stereotype teams but I have to say the Nigerian performance was very typical of games that you seen in the African Nations cup, players charging forward, miscontrolling the ball so much that every second touch is a lunging tackle, woeful shots from 20+ yards out when a pass to team mates would have been more productive... arrgh!!

Best thing about the Nigeria game was the tweet below (I actually laughed almost to the point of tears):-

As mentioned about a million times before (I just can't get over it) this tournament has been refreshingly entertaining and high scoring. There is one downside to this however. That is that I'm struggling badly in the work Prediction Competition. I am running this years competition with another colleague and the stakes are high (there's £200 up for grabs for the winner!) and as a result I've had a chance to look at everyone else's entries. There I was scoffing at others for their lack of 0-0 draws and 1-0 wins, thinking I'd be around the top of the table and in with a shout for getting some of the cash... Goalfest!! Stupid heat!

You've probably noticed I like a look-a-like, I've had quite a bit of positive feedback for my Paulinho is Sri Lankan shout in my last post and as a result have decided to treat you with a couple more. Let's forget that half the Greek team seem to look like Demitrios Salpangidis (half is an exaggeration, it's more like one other player), does anyone else think that Panagiotis Kone looks like he should be some sort of cape wearing, old school villain. The sort that is the arch enemy of somebody like Sherlock Holmes, twiddles his moustache when he's about to do something "Villainy" and who cackles at the thought of the misery he's about to inflict on his victims... No? Just me?

I have images of him tying a damsel to some railway tracks

Forget that though, more importantly. You may or may not have heard that, David Beckham understudy, David Bentley (he even copied the first 7 characters of his name) retired from football last week and the age of just 29. Never fear, Mr Bentley will still have a steady income coming in as he seems to have taken up a post as part of the Chilean coaching staff (as seen during Friday's game against Australia).

Finally, Colombia have decided to tighten up their defence with the former West Indian cricket captain Darren Sammy. Well that's who I saw playing on Saturday against Salpangidis and that Dastardly Panagiotis Kone.

That's enough for today. Let us all enjoy Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil against Mexico later! Oh and when did we stop taking goal kicks and corners? Pretty much every corner I've seen and been a short one and keepers never seem to boot the ball forward. Why wasn't this fashionable when I used to play Sunday Football, I hate goal kicks!