I took J. to the airport Friday night for his three week trip to Thailand, meaning the house is empty, i’m somewhat lonely, and $redacted. So yesterday, after sleeping later than I intended to, I stubled out of bed, made coffee, and went up the road to a hike: five miles through Wunderlich Park, across 35, 4.5 miles wandering around Corte Madera Open Space Preserve, and then back. It was heavily wooded, so I didn’t get a sunburn; the top of the peak had a gorgeous view out to the west; there ws an unexpected memorial to the victims of an australian plane crash; and I experienced a horrid muscle cramp on the way down.
After a brief recovery time, I drove to the city, to see Paul McCartney. I’d seen him once before, at Coachella last year, but I didn’t expect this show to compare; to my surprise, it did. Back when I was first learning about music, it was sort of a cliche that Lennon was the talented Beatle and McCartney was a pathetic hack – and I still think that Lennon was a better lyricist – but I’ve come to realize that McCartney really *is* skilled, and probably a better showman. (I was happy; there were songs I hadn’t heard before). I ended up sitting next to the world’s most annoying concert goer for a while, but after I walked out to pee (and buy pretzels – hunger and salt-deprivation were sapping my energy), I moved to an abandoned seat, and ihngs got much better.
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The world cup final sucked; it was a horrible, ugly game without much inspiring soccer, and full of poor play. I made up for it by $redacted. Then I went to play board games with friends, who cooked for me. On the way home I stopped at work, discovering that I could do nothing interesting because several of the tools I rely on had been taken out by a weekend power outage; then I came home, curled up with the internet, some beer, and firefly.
A good weekend, all in all.
Even if I’m lonely and can’t $redacted.
Brazil 2, North Korea 1
If you’d asked me to predict the outcome of this match, I would have predicted a Brazilian blowout; certainly not one of Australia-Fiji scale, but perhaps something similar to 2002′s German Saudi-bashing game.
I would have been wrong.
The first half of the game was surprisingly exciting. Brazil dominated the game, of course, with their offense continually pounding against North Korea’s defensive line; but North Korea’s defensive line held against everything Brazil could throw at them. North Korea’s offense managed a few sallies but nothing interesting; their primary purpose seemed to be to relieve the pressure on the defensive line, now and then.
The second half opened with a continuation of this, until Brazil pulled off a beautiful surprise goal after confusing the goalie into expecting a pass instead of a shot. North Korea’s counter-attack was weak, and Brazil followed up with a second goal. They held back a bit – not playing the defensive stalling game but still not being as aggressive as before – and in the 89th minute, North Korea pulled off a surprise goal that electrified the crowd, leading to an exciting three minutes as everyone wondered: can they pull off the tie?
They couldn’t.
But they played a surprisingly good game and stand a great chance of coming out second in group. Neither of the teams on the pitch this morning look likely to get through their defenses, and Ivory Coast is unlikely to score against Brazil.
[Of special note: both teams were very nice, friendy, and sportsmanlike, joking with each other, helping each other off the pitch, apologizing for the rare foul. After this morning's slugfest, it was a refreshing change, and a reminder that the game can be, and often is, won without being obnoxiously aggressive.]
Ivory Coast 0, Portugal 0
A scoreless draw driven mostly by Ivory Coast’s noticeable lack of skill on offense (the ball kept ending up nowhere near the player it was intended for) combined with their skill on defense. Portugal put in a mediocre performance, seeming unable to get shots on goal and being completely flummoxed by Ivory Coast’s defensive line; Ivory Coast, meanwhile, only really put Portugal under threat during the last five minutes of the game, and otherwise seemed to be playing offense at about the quality level of your average MLS team.
The good news for Ivory Coast is that Drogba was well enough to sub in at the 65th minute; the bad news is that Portugal dominated the game for the next 25 minutes.
The highpoint of the game: Cristiano Ronaldo drawing a yellow card for trying to fight with Guy Demel after Demel fouled him.
Italy 1, Paraguay 1
It continues to be difficult to watch from at work; this one was particularly hard to follow because Mondays are typically my busiest day, with lots of other people’s schedule depending on me getting things done at a set time.
Both teams put on a mediocre performance. Paraguay’s goal was a beautiful header into an empty spot. Italy’s goal was a complete foul up on the part of Paraguay’s keeper. For their goal, and for their tenacity in matching the defending champions, Paraguay deserved the win.
England 1, USA 1.
England came out early strong early and scored a goal in the opening, but the US pressed back, and dominated possession for the rest of the first half … fruitlessly, as they proved unable to convert possession into shots, let alone goals. Meanwhile, the scruffy US defense held off British shots, and our excellent keeper did his job well.
England came out energetic again in the second half, but failed to get through our defense; we got a few shots on goal, and one of them miraculously went in due to what looked like a fumble by England’s keeper. The rest of the game was a ragged tie – not as ragged as the game against Germany in ’02, to be fair, but ragged enough – in which both teams failed to convert weaknesses in the other team’s defense into goals. But this was good; the last half hour or so was some of the most-fun-to-watch soccer i’ve seen of the tournament yet … because both teams were on, full bore, playing hard and just coming up short.
When I was a kid, the US national soccer team was a pathetic joke. I understand that the result – a tie against England – wasn’t surprising. But … man, it’s nice to see the US national soccer team pull of a tie against England, because when I was a kid, that would have been unbelievable.
Argentina 1, Nigeria 0
Boring and frustrating game. Argentina took an early point, and after that:
(a) Nigeria had no offense to speak of.
(b) Argentina alternated between a defensive stalling game and a more aggressive game that they woudl foul up by inaccurate play.
Nigeria deserved the loss, definitely, but it’s not really clear that Argentina deserved the win.
The game offered some amusement, though:
(i) Maradonna appears to be the avatar of the melodramatic Latin.
(b) the crowd shots were amusing: the south african fans were all excited and happy, while the argentine fans looked glum throughout.
France 0, Uruguay 0
It’s harder to watch at work than at home – more distractions, plus a feeling that I should at least be getting some work done. Still, since my manager is watching, too, I have a little bit of protection from criticism. 
The first 70 minutes or so were dull: neither team seemed to be able to get much of an advantage, and neither team seemed to really have the energy or drive to push for a result.
The last 20 minutes, after some substitutions, got interesting: France was pounding Uruguay *hard*, but their defensive line was stout and hardy and held them off. Even after one of Uruguay’s players drew a red card (for raking someone’s leg in a way which could have crippled him), the rest of the team held a firm wall. They gave up on trying to win, of course, and were content to just hold the tie … but the combination of France’s ineffective hammer and Uruguay’s firm wall made for an exciting fifteen minutes of soccer.
It was capped off by a free kick for France, at the 92d minute, which they missed, ensuring the tie.
Uruguay earned the tie with their defense; France needs to find its spirit.
South Africa 1, Mexico 1
Mexico had more raw skill – especially in the first half, Mexico dominated possession, and South Africa kept alternating between moments of brilliance and sloppy, sloppy play where they would give up possession simply because they didn’t have the skill needed to get a man and the ball in the same place.
But South Africa was determined: they kept probing, and every time Mexico showed the slightest weakness, South Africa were on it. Mexico, on the other hand, failed to capitalize on South Africa’s mistakes. And, as the game went on, South Africa made fewer mistakes for Mexico to take advantage of.
South Africa’s goal, right after the start of the second half, was a beautiful thing, and Mexico were completely taken by surprise.
Mexico pushed back, but South Africa’s play had tightened up considerably, and Mexico had a hard time finding an opening. Eventually they did, and tied the game, making for an exciting last ten minutes: both teams pushing for another goal, both teams failing (South Africa coming heartbreakingly close with a shot that rebounded off of the post).
Good game for an opener.
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