The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion
Other stuff
>
Five for Friday
message 401:
by
Susan
(new)
Jul 04, 2014 10:06AM
Kids had piano Val, but going to watch the second half. I always have a soft spot for Germany - not sure why really, but I would like them to win.
reply
|
flag
Mod
Val's extraordinary prescience continues unabated
Never mind, Nigeyb. We will see how you get on with your next prediction!
Mod
I'm amazed (though not disappointed) that France didn't do better than they did against Germany. Still with three Arsenal players in the Germany squad (compared with two for France), I would prefer to see them do well and, like you Susan, I have a soft spot for them anyway. I've yet to meet a German I didn't like - not that I've met that many.
Daughter has been monopolising this computer today. She usually uses her laptop, but she had several things to print.Colombia have looked good getting this far and both teams play fast football, so it should be exciting whichever team wins.
An early goal usually makes a match more exciting. We will see.
Mod
Mod
Brazil might win - depends on the ref... I would love Germany to go the whole way and win though.
Three quarter finals played, one to go. Can Costa Rica confound my predictions yet again?This is the first and probably only time in my life that I will say this:
COME ON THE ORANGEMEN!
Mod
Here's my semis predictions...
Brazil v Germany
Netherlands v Argentina
I'm going....
Germany
Holland
I think a Germany vs Argentina final, if there is no dodgy refereeing in the Brazil game.
My prediction from before the tournament was Brazil v Argentina in the final, Argentina to win. Then after watching them all play, I thought both the two European teams looked as if they might upset that and now it could be any of them.I think I ought to stick with my original prediction, but I expect to be wrong. At least I got the correct final four.
Mod
Brazil, despite being a shadow of former Brazil teams, have made it this far, through a combination of generous refereeing and home advantage, and even without Neymar, could well go all the way now.
Argentina are so reliant on Messi but, any team with Messi, can win two consecutive games.
I expect a couple of very cagey semis, possibly both going to extra time and maybe even pens, that or a single goal will decide them.
I would love to see Netherlands win it - if only for their total (and unexpected) destruction of Spain in the opening game. The Van Persie diving lofted header is forever etched in my memory and was the defining goal of the tournament for me (so far).
Brazil have the massive home support which could lift them, but they will miss Neymar. It will be close.I would love Netherlands to win it too.
I think they did.It was not close and Brazil seemed to be missing Silva more than Neymar: they were rarely playing as a team.
I can see them lifting the trophy now. I couldn't believe it - I went to make tea and they scored twice! Going to drop off the kids this morning and watch the highlights.
Bad timing!My daughter was speculating about someone going to the bar or the loo in that five or six minutes, just hearing the noise and wondering what was going on.
"Did I miss seeing a goal?"
"You missed four!"
Mod
And....I got a prediction right. I also predicted Thomas Müller for the first goal. I've got my mojo back.
Bad timing indeed, Val. Never mind - I missed most of the build up as I was doing the bedtime reading too. Oh well, I will come back and watch MOTD in peace. Empty house = heaven! Nigeyb, we never doubted your mojo.
Mod
Turns out it was behind a cushion on the sofa - I found it last night, just before the first goal went in
Would never have predicted that score though. Just sitting down to watch the highlights now.
Susan: Did the highlights feature Brazil at all?Nigey: I think you were luring me into a false sense of security, letting me win the smaller matches and then 'slam' on the big one.
Either that, or I lost my mojo somewhere in my (German) car.
I had to be careful this morning as my neighbour is a (lovely) Brazilian lady. The team just seemed to fall apart, but the fans and the manager reacted with great dignity, I felt, and good sportsmanship.A German/Holland final? That would be good.
Brazil have one more match to play. Can Scolari put some heart back into them or will he change as many of the squad as he can, in the hope that the replacements will go all out to secure places in a future squad?
All teams have matches like that - they go to pieces, they lose badly. It happens. I am sure they will win their last match.
I hope they win their last match too and I hope it is against Argentina, who are their big rivals. It will be some consolation, for the players and manager, if not for the fans.I don't know how tonight's match will go. Argentina looked a bit flakey early on, but have improved as a team and Messi is very good at finding goal-scoring chances, as striker or play-maker. The Netherlands have beaten Argentina several times before and they have some good players and better co-ordinated team play
...but Robin van Persie has a tummy bug.
It ought to have been very exciting watching two very good, evenly matched teams play and both teams were trying to make scoring chances, but I found myself muttering 'Please SOMEBODY score a goal' and 'Oh no, NOT a penalty shoot-out'.
Mod
Not the best semi-final, although I suppose we couldn't expect two like the first. Oddly, I said that the final would be Germany v Argentina, before a ball had been kicked. I hope Germany win and that Holland beat Brazil, although perhaps that won't go down too well...
Mod
Brazil were very ordinary and quite dirty in some of the games and I was pleased to see them get found out. Argentina are a better team but have yet to show they are are worthy of being World Champions. Both Germany and Netherlands have played some great football.
I was very sad to see Netherlands fall at the semi - though they did little on the night to deserve victory. Watching Argentina's celebrations made me feel embarrassed for them (as I would have done if Netherlands had celebrated in that way) - after such a wretched, turgid semi-final the players should be a bit more circumspect. Curiously Germany, after their complete distraction of Brazil, were far more muted, knowing that the job was not finished.
If Sunday's final is to be remembered with any enthusiasm it will need Argentina to show a bit more enterprise and desire to win. Sadly I suspect we might see them playing deep and trying to nick a goal. I hope I'm wrong.
Val wrote: "My prediction from before the tournament was Brazil v Argentina in the final, Argentina to win. Then after watching them all play, I thought both the two European teams looked as if they might upset that..."I hope it is not Argentina who win now.
I will be supporting Germany to thrash Argentina, although I doubt if it will be quite such a rout as the semi-final.
Germany's goal celebrations were quite muted and they did not press for a handball decision the referee missed. I think it was probably out of consideration for the stadium full of stunned Brazilians, not fear of Argentina or the Netherlands.
Perhaps Louis van Gaal should have gone for his substitute-the-goalie-for-the-penalty-shoot-out strategy again, instead of bringing on a fresh striker to try and win the match. I thought the Netherlands were the better team and I would have liked them to win it, but both van Persie and De Jong were obviously not 100% fit and needed to come off and Martins Indi was on a yellow card, so there was a risk of him getting another and the Dutch having to play part of the match with ten men.
I just wish the World Cup was later in the summer, rather than tacked on at the end of the season. I would have seen far more of it had the children finished school, rather than it being in term time. That is, of course, a personal peeve :)
Mod
...most of the clubs have already started pre-season so it's hard to see how the tournament could start later, unless the whole football calendar in Europe was shifted.
The English Prem season kicks off again in just over a month! 16th August to be precise. And the mighty Arsenal have the Charity Shield on 10th August, and a pair of Champs League qualifiers round about that time too.
Imagine when it is held in Qatar (if it still is). I have no idea when they will fit it in if, as they say, they will move it to winter.They could fit the World Cup in last week of July/1st week of August just for me though ;)
So in 2020 we will have a World Cup with teams entirely composed of players who don't play in European leagues, because I can't see those clubs letting their best players go for long enough to train, qualify and compete for their countries.I'm not sure whether the rest of the world would give priority to their domestic leagues or their national teams, but many play in the Northern Hemisphere Winter too and currently have key players with European clubs.
I think the domestic league certainly always takes priority here, which is part of the problem with our national team.
Mod
I am loving this, the opening track to the new Mungo's Hi Fi album of the same name...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BafA6...
Mungo's Hi Fi – Serious Time
Here's one that always sound brilliant, and like they used to say about Martini, anytime anyplace anywhere...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5IUx...
Classics IV – Spooky
Now then, I want you to spell for me New York..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq-kf...
Dillinger – Cokane in My Brain
Another 2014 release that I keep coming back to...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8R5f...
The War on Drugs – Suffering
And finally, one of the greatest songs of all time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVLI...
Lou Reed – Walk on the Wild Side
Have a great weekend.
Enjoy the World Cup final.
Videos here....
http://nigeyb.tumblr.com/post/9143035...
Let's stay on the football theme then.Pele, from the early 90s, Megalomania, a terrific single
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lhAD...
I have no idea what a "toejam football" is but The Beatles made it sound as exciting as the 1966 FA Cup Final (Everton 3 Sheffield Wednesday 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2s...
The Wedding Present, from the George Best album - what an iconic cover sleeve pic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiEIE...
My late acquaintance Michael Marra, telling the tale of how Queens Park, still avowedly amateur, invented modern football by flummoxing the opposition by PASSING the ball to each other instead of adopting the rugby-style run and ruck that prevailed in the game's infant years. RIP Michael.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGx8I...
..and, of course, Dexys Midnight Runners, from the Liverpool gig on the 2003 tour, I think, bombing through My Life In England, in which Kevin pays homage to his heroes Wolves (also supported by Robert Plant) and "The Doog" (Derek Dougan, harder than nails NI striker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAcI...
Have a great and fulfilling weekend, Hamiltonies.
BBC4 is having an '80s retrospective."Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" by Soft Cell
"How Does it Feel?" by New Order
"Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode
"Run to the Sun" and "Sometimes" by Erasure
"Opportunities" by Pet Shop Boys
could all be loosely linked to the World Cup
...and the rest just reminds me there were some good things about that decade.
I still remember the crushing disappointment when someone brought me a Soft Cell album for my birthday when I was at school...
Mod
I like all those bands Val :-)))
The programme also included The Human League, Yazoo and Bronski Beat (and I can't remember who else).
Did anyone catch Alison Moyet on Desert Island Discs a few weeks back? Brilliant radio, and available on podcast.
Mod
Mod
One of the most perfect pop albums of all time...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_(al...
The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society
Books mentioned in this topic
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (other topics)Children of the Revolution: The Glam Rock Story 1970-1975 (other topics)
Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy (other topics)
Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, the Beats, and Drugs (other topics)
The Restless Generation (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dave Thompson (other topics)Simon Reynolds (other topics)
Pete Frame (other topics)
Pete Frame (other topics)
Ali Smith (other topics)
More...
