Been a brilliant competition lads - good luck to those fighting it out up the top. And come on the Argies!
Man oh man, it's really weird down here in Munich. Most of these guys, including Kaiser Franz himself, are just certain they're going to win. Hope so for my good Wife, but quite honestly I can't be so sure myself. Good luck to Dan Starkey too! Random thoughts, but if they pay too much attention to Messi, he might become the most successful (and most expensive) decoy in the history of this tournament. We'll see. Fascinating Final.
A big well-done to Rainer, and to CityHull, Robbie, excellent performances in a competition that was far too tough for me (would have pulled-up in short order, for sure). Still very interesting for me though, and a big thank you is due Ste doran for running it.
Thanks for the kind words, boys, and big thanks to Ste for initiating the whole thing and for keeping it ticking over so efficiently. (Details of my £1.50-a-day online tipping service for the English football season will be announced shortly). Dull(ish) final, I thought, redeemed by the goal. In the sense that they were the best-equipped squad - particularly in terms of the range of variation available from the bench - the Erichs probably deserved to win the tournament. On the night, I'd say Argentina looked the better side; if Higuain had put away the back-pass one-on-one early, I suspect you'd have seen a different result. And Mascherano's performance deserved a better reward. On the wider issue, does anyone agree that the big losers here have been the UK media (TV and print) ? Underplaying or ignoring the things that mattered, bigging up the things that didn't matter, consistently (step forward A.Shearer and A.Townsend) misunderstanding/misreading the things that were happening in front of them. The actual commentaries were fine, but the punditry was ridiculous. Is Ian Wright actually clinically insane ?
I would just like to say a massive well done to anyone who scored more than 91 points, that is a brilliant achievement!
