06-24-2010, 01:48 AM
Yay!......the 'sleeping soccer colossus' seems to be awakening !! 
Meanwhile, despite a gallant pride-salvaging win by Oz over Serbia, the 4-0 drubbing by Germany means for Oz, the World Cup is over, and they and Ghana go through, thanks to the vagaries of the system....though arguably both Oz and Serbia are better ! Oh well, at least there were none of those ridiculous 'penalty shootouts' - they will come later! All that effort, and then it comes down to the equivalent of the toss of a coin !
Luckily, Australian fans can switch support to the 'other' Australasian team a.k.a. "New Zealand" ! Doin' pretty well for a country of just a few million !!
On a more serious note, disturbing reports continue to emerge of the "Bread and Circuses" ( without the bread) approach of South Africa's government. Watched a doco of some god-forsaken town which has had a huge stadium erected for mega-millions, just for this event, and when its over the town/city won't have any use for it. Meanwhile just outside its gates, children whose unemployed parents could never afford a ticket play in the dirt with a football made of wound-up rags, and the local orphanage ( right next door!) is starved of funds and its children go hungry.....
Meanwhile, despite a gallant pride-salvaging win by Oz over Serbia, the 4-0 drubbing by Germany means for Oz, the World Cup is over, and they and Ghana go through, thanks to the vagaries of the system....though arguably both Oz and Serbia are better ! Oh well, at least there were none of those ridiculous 'penalty shootouts' - they will come later! All that effort, and then it comes down to the equivalent of the toss of a coin !
Luckily, Australian fans can switch support to the 'other' Australasian team a.k.a. "New Zealand" ! Doin' pretty well for a country of just a few million !!
On a more serious note, disturbing reports continue to emerge of the "Bread and Circuses" ( without the bread) approach of South Africa's government. Watched a doco of some god-forsaken town which has had a huge stadium erected for mega-millions, just for this event, and when its over the town/city won't have any use for it. Meanwhile just outside its gates, children whose unemployed parents could never afford a ticket play in the dirt with a football made of wound-up rags, and the local orphanage ( right next door!) is starved of funds and its children go hungry.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
