Evening Musings

I was busy with a Saturday roadtrip and graduation party to watch any World Cup, but there's one guy in particular that I'm praying for tonight; the Paraguayan defender Carlos Gamarra. He went to deflect a David Beckham corner kick and knocked it into the net; it was the only goal of the game, giving England a 1-0 win.

Yes, it's England, not the UK; the British components field separate teams.

It brings back memories of the 1994 cup, where Colombian defender Andres Escobar deflected one into his own goal in a 2-1 loss to the US. He was killed less than two weeks later by an outraged fan. One can only pray that Gamarra has a kinder fate

The German game was interesting yesterday; the German fans are ticked because they let the Costa Ricans score twice. The insurance goal from Torsten Frings was stunning; he struck from 35 yards out with a screwball that spun hard right in the air into the three hole. They might have to call the next soccer film Bend it Like Frings.

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We might have Tropical Storm Alberto by the end of the weekend; the press is over-hyped at the first Atlantic tropical storm candidate. TD1 is off of Western Cuba and is slated to hit northern Florida well north of Tampa late on Sunday.

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There's a little tropical storm at the other end of Cuba, too. Three jihadis mananged to end their stay at Club Gitmo in a joint suicide. Just in time to push Zarqawi's death out of the headlines and give the Sunday talking heads another subject.

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Here's some fun political theater in Palestinian territory. Abbas has slated a 7/26 referendum on a declaration of independence; the kicker is that it recognizes Israel. Hamas doesn't like the idea, of course.

Comments

[Richard Hall]

I'm glad to know that there's at least one person stateside taking an interest in events in Germany, Mark. You didn't miss much in the England/Paraguay match. England played well in the first half (Beckham's free kick might well have found the net without the deflection) but there were some very strange refereeing decisions and the England team were not what they should have been in the second half. But we got our 3 points, and if we can get another 3 against Trinidad and tobago there's a guaranteed place in the next phase for England. ING--ERR--LAND!!!