A Time To Make Friends-- Oder Vielliecht Nein?

England v. Ecuador, Stuttgart

A long-held to wish to watch a WC match with N came true last night when we went to an outdoor pavilion in front of a mall that is undergoing furious construction to keep up with the Mallses here in Krung Thep.(The newest and most glorious shopping phenomenon being Siam Paragon.)

I had to shoot and think which made me a bit hyper, but I think we got it all in the can. It started to rain and N and I moved in under the massive tent and then it started to POUR...people on benches in front of us stood up on them. I rumbled with expletives and digits, but then soon realized why as water pooled at our feet, like in a cartoon flood...

As we watched soggily, I did regret we weren't getting to watch Brazil v USA and had a simultaneous thought (since the last USA match was the last I watched--there was something different about this match):

It was actually fairly officiated. Which leads me to....

Portugal v. Holland, Nuremberg

FOUR red cards

SIXTEEN additional bookings

"Jesus Christ may be able to turn the other cheek but Luis Figo isn't Jesus Christ."
- Felipe Scolari

If this is happening to Portugal and Holland, good teams though consistently overrated (POR more than NED), then it take a tiny bit if the sting out of the red mist and spurious penalty and just the general limp-dicked barrage of calls against the US. Okay, there is the fact we could have played better.

Read about this match, though:


Das ist ja unglaublich! Now go say it in Dutch!