| PHOTO:
Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay
June 27 - Day 17
CHOKE ARTISTS
I’m taking a wild guess that this is what the
Swiss National Team’s World Cup preparation checklist
probably looked like before the tournament started:
Fitness – check
Team defending – check
Individual defending – check
Creating space – check
Corner kicks, goal kicks - check
Practice penalty kicks – oops…
What the hell happened? Could those penalty
kicks have been any worse? It was especially unbelievable
after Shevchenko opened the door for the Swiss to take
the lead after missing the VERY FIRST penalty kick for
the Ukraine.
Mark Lincir enjoys
just one of the many perks of fame in Germany.
Somebody choked big-time! What must hurt
the most is that the Swiss did not give up a goal during
the run of play in the entire tournament. That’s
a tough way to go home. Now granted they would have
gotten the Italians in the next round and gone home
anyway, but if you’ve ever lost in penalty kicks,
you know that those wounds take a very long time to
heal.
Speaking of defending, if you thought
the Italians wouldn’t go anywhere in this tournament,
you’ve got a lot to learn about this game. You
defend first, and get forward later (you listening Bruce?).
I picked the Italians to get to the final against Brazil
and I’m looking to be in pretty good shape right
now.
Anybody who thinks that it wasn’t
a foul against Lucas Neil is wrong. The play he tried
to make on that ball by going down so early was inexcusably
stupid at that point in a game that big. It was a foul,
no doubt about it.
Today I got up at 4:30 am after flying
home from Germany yesterday. I was very proud of myself
for taking my dog for a pre-dawn walk and being the
only person waltzing through my neighborhood as the
sun was still minutes away from rising. Being up that
early today was a novelty. If it happens again, I’m
going to start freaking out, because I didn’t
know what to do with myself by 11 am.
Farewell from Germany.
I may be back in the States, but this
blog is far from over. Between Baby Bruce and I, we
must have over 1000 pictures to sift through and get
to you. There are still plenty of interviews and anecdotes
to post as well.
Tomorrow: Paying for mayonnaise at McDonald’s
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