My girls stand victorious, with all finishing problems cured. We hope. And I love the Germans as much as the next American (!), but really...did they have to run it up to 11? Really? Of COURSE they did. WWC Champs 2007. I will not eat these words.
Yeah, well, we'll see how that finishing holds up. I will point out that I performed no black-arts rituals for this game, firstly, being out of town, and secondly, why waste valuable mojo on chumps like Argentina? Argentina seems to do pretty well scoring on themselves. Call it a 9-0 victory, to be more fair. (that was a joke, sort of.) My new pet theory about the crazy, crazy way these groups were put together is that it's a plot by FIFA to ensure that Prinz becomes the all-time leading scorer in the WWC. Put her in a group with some pansies like Argentina, let her start off with a hat-trick... sure, why not? In this way they justify her long streak of FIFA PotY. Harrumph.
I must say, I was a little stunned. Knowing we beat them 6:1 in 2003, and having heard that they had "improved", I would have never guessed we'd almost be doubling the tally. What really killed me was one of the American commentators saying: Argentina is better than this score. Comic relief, I guess. Uh ... no team that lets another score 9 or 11 goals is better than the score.
Re: what's that on your face, Germany? (R) Shall we make this the general Germany thread down here? About today's game with England... you know how Rachel Brown occasionally bobbled the ball a bit? Pohlers would've eaten those up like a starving Hessian peasant presented with free knockwurst. Guess my cursed jersey still has some mojo in it...
A snippet of FIFA's post-England game interview with Germans: And if Birgit Prinz ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Heads rolled the last time Birgit Prinz wasn't happy, you may recall from our discussion after the last Algarve Cup (in which they finished 8th out of 8— I know everybody knows that, it's just fun to type it again). Heaven help every other German playing for or associated with that team if they fail to live up to Prinz's standards this time...
That keeper, wow. My sister's pro team in Englands keeper has never made mistakes like that. And what do you get? Endless streams of people saying "Look at her, isn't womens football rubbish?" a shame given the actual quality that has been on offer. The Brazilians have been excellent, Germany and England have looked at ease through the group, and I'm looking forward to England v USA if thats what the draw throws up.