Your Bloguero, futbol fanatico that he is, hesitates to write too frequently about the World Cup/Copa Mundial. Why/por que? He is prone to excess. He’s written about World Cup twice: here and here. The point, if there is one: once he gets started, he gets on a roll, doesn’t know when to quit. A brief example of his compulsiveness: at the end of March he decided to write only haiku on Facebook.Today, he has written 226 Haiku. They have not changed the world. But your Bloguero plods on nevertheless. And he digresses fearlessly nevertheless. The digressions aren’t as bad as they used to be (don’t ask about that, please). OK. He will be confessional: he used to forget where he was and just ramble on, without returning to the point. In fact, he forgot the point. Often. He is unaware of any word that describes the failed digression, i.e. the one that doesn’t make it back to the main stream. Maybe it’s called rambling. But again, he digresses, this time about the words to describe the torrent of words, and you know what a dense thicket that can be, don’t you?
What did your Bloguero learn today in the World Cup?
Jump the Portero.
1. Holland aka Netherlands can win the entire thing. They pounded Spain and now they have beaten the Socceroos. Yes, Australia scored. Yes, the Holland defense went to sleep for some of this game. Never mind all of that. Holland is looking very, very strong, and your Bloguero pronounces them “a contender.” By the way, your Bloguero notes that Holland has more than its share of legitimate stars, and that when they are pressed, they will be able to score. Their June 23 game against Chile should be an absolute delight. Do not miss it.
2. Chile sent Spain home. Spain was supposed to be big this year. They were the last World Cup Champion. They looked terrible, and Chile looked powerful. Chile is one of those South America teams that doesn’t play tight defense. Their idea is that if you have awesome defense you just counter attack, attack, ataque. And that works. The other team cannot score when you have possession and you are assaulting their goalkeeper and their defense. This has worked like a charm so far. Count on Chile to advance.
3. Croatia/Croacia shellacked Cameroon/Camerun. They have a lot of great players from various European clubs, and they play well together. Yes, they got hammered by Brazil in the opening game, but so what. That was a media circus. This is futbol. This group is going to be a tough one. The next important game is Mexico v. Croatia. Mexico you will recall beat Cameroon and tied Brazil. Well, guess what? The winner of Mexico-Croatia will advance. The loser? Going home. Don’t miss this game: June 23.
If your Bloguero were organized (needless to say, he is not), he would make some predictions here. He won’t. He will instead now step aside and allow you to fill in all of the lacunae in the comments. For that he is in your debt.