Bohemian rhapsody.

Boring soccer talk, skip if you wish.

The result of the Australia VS Japan match last night will probably remain my perfect example of 'anything can happen in soccer' forever. For the whole of yesterday I was 100% confident that the Japs were going to kick butt, the Aussies were not going to win the match and that all three of us (Piggy, myself and Sponk) were going to win our bets. I intentionally screamed my lungs out when the Japanese scored their first goal, to intentionally make a point that I wasn't rooting for Australia. Up until the 84th minute I was sitting back on the couch with my chips and coke (err... my ultimate weaknesses), very satisfied that this time I was going to win quite a bit of money (AUD $56) from the Japanese victory (even though the Japanese first goal was rather controversial and a bit 'kelong'). Didn't like the Australian commentator and absolutely abhored his super biased commentaries - "I am not sure if Kawaguchi even had a touch of that ball." ... WTF.

And then bloody hell the Socceroos scored their first goal in the 84th minute (who would have thought?!), which really threw me off. My money-making hopes were dashed and I started praying hard for the nihonjins to score another goal to make it 2-1. But the Socceroos scored another (!!!), and another (!!!!!!!)... all within that few minutes. I can't even remember how much abuse I have hurled at the TV last night. The end result was a very disappointing 3-1, and a very very unexpected one at that.

It doesn't take a soccer expert to tell that the Japs played a bad game. Kawaguchi had some saves in the first half which were really impressive, but I thought he kinda lost that zest in the second half. And even though I was super happy about that Japanese goal, it didn't feel like a real one all in all. The Nippon team was off-form last night, and the fact that they lost to Australia didn't help one bit. Japan has two matches to go before their fate is sealed, but I doubt a miracle will happen.

Bye bye money, bye bye Japan, bye bye Nakata & Kawaguchi...

Brazil plays against Croatia tonight. It's time for Ronaldo to help me recoup my losses.

X X X

"In my private life, I do find that I want silence. This surprises me. In this business, sometimes you can only find that silence by going away by yourself. I like to run and swim. I like my solitude. I've even been known to put a pillow over my head to find that silence that's so beautiful." -- Gael Garcia Bernal.