World Cup Log - Day 4

Today saw the start of the Dutch campaign, a side who I fancy strongly to win out this year and have backed accordingly. Their first foray was against a resolute Danish side which included the sparky Bendtner up front. A dull first half saw each side cancel each other out before the Dutch sparked in to life somewhat in the second. It took a scrappy og from Agger to get the Dutch ahead on the scoreboard but it had the effect of jolting them in to life. They added a second from Kuyt after an impressive...

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World Cup Log - Day 3

Thank god for the Germans. Many a European has echoed those words in these times of unprecedented crisis off the pitch. On the pitch the Germans treated us to a celebration of attacking football, knocking in four goals in all. We have to qualify this performance by saying Australia looked badly out of their depth, most worryingly for them in defense. Germany's youthful side committed to attack from the outset and goals from Podolski, Klose, Mueller & Cacau secured a comprehensive and impressive...

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World Cup Log - Day 2

Day 2 saw the hype machine oil it's cogs, for it was the day England kicked off their campaign. They played the USA in the evening game but before that there were two early kick offs. Argentina played Nigeria in a lackluster affair. The Argies started brightly and took an early lead with a header from Heinze. They looked fallible at the back however and Nigeria threatened on a number of occasions. They didn't capitalise and Argentina held on for a 1-0 victory, although in truth it could have been...

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World Cup Log - Day 1

Today saw the start of the greatest football festival on the planet, World Cup 2010 was born. This is the first time the tournament has been hosted on the continent of Africa. The vibrancy, noise and colour of the continent should provide the perfect backdrop. Two matches were held on Day 1, the first involving the hosts South Africa playing Mexico. The exuberance of the home support was plain to see and lifted those on the pitch to an effort greater than the sum of their parts. A largely average...

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Synecdoche, New York

Watched Synecdoche, New York last night on TV. It's an interesting movie, a good movie but not the great movie that some critics were creaming themselves over.Ironically a film about a man being overcome with his ambition to stage a great piece of theater should also lead to the Director of this film tripping himself up in the same way. I think he was trying to do too much and whilst a lot of it worked I don't think he pieced it together well enough. You could see some of the same touches that he...

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