What a Messi scorecard? 4-freaking-nil to the Germans

I’ve been right up there with that German octopus whose been predicting the outcomes of the German ties in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final being held in South Africa; however I’ve gone much further by predicting the exit of many other teams, most notably France, England, Italy, Portugal and the mighty Brazilians.

Argentina’s exit at the hands of the Germans may prove to be something of a relief to coach Diego Maradona, whose head was in danger of exploding from an overload of gross arrogance. There was a time when the hand of god helped them, but this time around they were handed what could probably be their most humiliating defeat ever, by Germany.

For a time there, the South American teams gave the world a lot to think about; what with all of them doing so well to progress into the next rounds of the World Cup at the expense of the European, African, American, Oriental, and Australasian teams. Suddenly however, there is going to be a lot of dejected travellers heading back West from South Africa, towards the South Americas. Uruguay is safe for now, having made it through to the semi-finals (no mean feat), but Paraguay face Spain tonight, and I fear they are also headed back home, come tomorrow. What’s happened to the South American Teams? Time enough to reflect after the World Cup is over!

In the interim, let’s celebrate the Netherlands who are still producing the goods; and I’m hoping that the Orange will be giving someone the Blues in the final of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup…

It’s full-time at the FIFA Confederations Cup: USA vs Egypt

Some journalist I’m turning out to be. While posting my half-time report (which lasted well into the second half of the game), I missed two additional goals scored by the USA. So much for predicting that Egypt would equalize.

The final score here at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, USA vs Egypt is three goals to nil. While I was typing the previous line, I’ve just been handed two Game Statistics printouts by one of the many Volunteers who man the Media Centre; one for this match and one for the other match that was played concurrently at the Loftus Stadium in Pretoria between Italy and Brazil, which Brazil also won by three goals to nothing.

These statistics printouts contain a dizzying array of information on various aspects of the matches played. There are statistics on everything from Shots on Goal to Ball Possession to the Fouls Committed by each player to Match Time each player spent on the pitch. I’m not sure who would want such information, but a big up to FIFA for collating and making such information available to journalists. This certainly makes their jobs that much easier.

I could quote a whole string of statistics on the match from these reports, but I’m not going to bore you any further. There was a clear winner, and for that team’s fans, that’s all that matters.