Balltitude – factor or excuse? Australia v Germany World cup
Eight games gone sixteen teams on display. The point has to be made that, so far, this World Cup hasn’t been particularly thrilling. Too many average teams plodding along. Argentina showed some style and at times played with great fluidity. Apart from that this noggerfest is yet to ignite. One factor/excuse (delete where necessary) is the balltitude. A debilitating combination of altitude and a new ball which makes cohesive play impossible. To be fair though, some of the top sides are yet to play. And, most importantly, a Stoke player will be playing for Denmark so the standard is sure to increase dramatically!!!
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Australia were woeful against Germany. Even allowing for the fact they were up against one of football’s true powerhouses, they were off the pace and looked like overawed rabbits trapped in headlights. Rabbits may not feel overawed when trapped in headlights but that’s how Australia’s looked. I ventured to the pub for an all nighter and half an hour before kick off I bumped into my mate Indecisive Mike who was bristling with excitement because he’ll be flying out to South Africa to attend the games against Ghana and Serbia. It’s always been a dream to go to a World Cup so to be able to go and watch Australia was a special thing. The early exuberance of the large crowd in the pub soon turned to anxiety. One of the moments when it becomes clear that on the football stage Australia are still a small player amongst giants. German competence was enough to overpower their lame tepid resistance. Cahill was unlucky to see red but to place to much emphasis on that would be to hide from the cold hard truths of this flimsy ‘performance’. To their credit they didn’t blame the balltitude.
At the end of the game as the pub emptied and football gave way to the sunrise, I saw a bedraggled Indecisive Mike and wished him a great time in South Africa. I plucked up the courage to ask him why he was known as Indecisive Mike. He explained, “Because I’m indecisive”. Quite.