The Mickey McBias report : World Cup : 15th June 2006.
See, I was right ! Late show stuff, which makes it all the more exciting.
Firstly though, congratulations to Ecuador, who are the surprise team of the tournament so far. They were the first team to qualify for the next stage, after brushing aside Costa Rica. This, in turn, put Germany through too.
Later, England booked their place, but left it late. 2 goals in the last 7 minutes saw them defeat a stubborn Trinidad and Tobago, 2-0. Even the English commentator described it as a 'huge embarrassment' with 10 minutes to go, when it was 0-0. But, T & T are a good side. And, they can still qualify, though need a whole lot of luck and things to run for them (and against others) for that to be the case, as Sweden beat Paraguay 1-0 tonight, a last minute goal doing the trick. Sweden are almost there.
So, England will face either Ecuador, or Germany, next. The plot thickens.
A few pundits on TV tonight did question Englands first goal, and a camera angle tonight showed scorer Peter Crouch was able to outjump the defender by so much, by pulling him down using the defenders pony-tail.
This is a very good reason (amongst millions of others) for men not to have pony-tails. It's not big, and it's not clever. You are not girls. Grow up.
Nothing wrong with Englands second goal though, an absolute peach from Gerrard.
And Wayne Rooney returned, although clearly not match fit as yet, after sharing at least some of the pies with Brazil's Ronaldo. Tomorrow, I expect to see wins for Argentina, Holland, and Mexico respectively.
It's been an excellent World Cup so far.
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