An Unlikely Soccer Post

-

 I think it is time to argue about something inconsequential: Euro Cup Semifinals.


This is a big leap for me, because usually [like, 99% of the time] I don't care enough about sports to offer any sort of opinion. With that in mind, don't expect any subtleties in my analysis, because I literally do not have the knowledge base to go to that kind of depth. TBH, consider this analysis more of a vent. I'm venting.

England should not have won the match against Denmark. Sure, going into the game, they were the favored team, but I don't think that showed throughout the ~120 minutes of play. For the first half, Denmark had more shots on goal [and other stats, but I don't remember them exactly, and as I'm a novice in searching for game stats minute-by-minute, I can't find them to quote here]. Damsgaard's free kick was not only the first goal of the game, 30 minutes in, but also extremely good. Sure, England's goal in response was good, but the winning goal that England put in during overtime should be withdrawn because it was a 'penalty kick' on the stupidest, inconsequential 'foul' that even NBC Sports called "questionable (at best)"[and The Guardian said that from a self-initiated email-poll, the penalty against Sterling was a dupe, and "It’s sad if brushing a leg is justification for a penalty these days."]. And in the end, the Danes had to play a man short after a player injury, because they had already used up their allotted 3 subs.

And then there are the fans. Shame on them. Firstly, English fans booed during the Danish national anthem at the beginning of the match. Then, as the Danish keeper Schmeichel [who, BTW, was the "man of the match"--again quoting NBC Sports] was preparing for the incoming winning kick, some idiot shone a laser at his head.

So, yeah, I feel that the refs' calls favored England, that English fans are brutes, and that the English win was undeserved. The Danish in me is outraged.

This isn't just preference from familial relationships, either. Yes, I have some Danish heritage, but I also have [a lot of] English heritage. But when 'relatives' are acting like total gits, it's time to deny your connection.

Relatives? What relatives?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dogsledding: Guest Post

-
Image
 Happy Birthday to Mark, and he wrote this post.  One of the benefits of traveling to snowy northern Norway is that there are a plethora of winter activities to do.   Besides the usual skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling, there are also things more unique to Tromsø, such as reindeer sleigh rides and dogsledding.   We went dogsledding twice during our Norway travels.   This is the story of the first of those adventures.   The dogsledding company of our first experience is located at the Tromsø Golf Club, the northernmost 18-hole golf course in the world.  Buried in snow in the winter, it becomes the perfect place for an amazing dogsledding experience.  The dogsledding company runs shuttle busses from Tromsø city center to the dogsledding camp.  It takes about an hour to get there and the views along the way are spectacular. The noise on arrival was also spectacular.   They have well over 100 dogs there and they all want to talk to each other at full volume. The dogs
Read more

RATS! A Guest Column

-
Image
  On May 10, we began the move into our new apartment.  It is in the same building as our old apartment.  In fact, it is just down the hall on the same floor.  Our lease renewal was coming up on our old apartment and the rent on our old apartment was going up significantly.  If we were going to pay a bunch more for our old apartment, why not get a bigger and refurbished apartment for slightly more than what our new rent was going to be?  The new apartment would still be a one-bedroom, but would have a study and would also have a half-bath by the front door.  The big draw for us is the study, which is too small to be considered a second bedroom but will be big enough to have a crib [because SPOILER! pregnant].  The half-bath is unnecessary (except for if we have guests over who want to use the bathroom without going through our bedroom, but we almost never have guests) and is actually a hindrance as it takes away from kitchen space. Our lease on the old apartment did not run out until t
Read more

Thoughts on Pregnancy

-
Image
 I have hit the 6-month mark in gestation. I'd like to say that means I'm two-thirds of the way done, but actually, * psych! * pregnancy is 10 months, not 9. I don't know why we say pregnancy is 9 months; maybe it averages in all the preemies. So far, I have to say first trimester is the worst. Constant nausea, and too early to tell people why you feel terrible. Mark likes to point out that I never threw up, but nausea is terrible all on its own, so I didn't find that comforting. Second trimester has less nausea, but also less energy. Like, I was running 2-3 miles a day up until 2nd trimester. Now I'm running 1 mile a couple times a week, but as of this week I think even that is going to stop because the 2 times I ran this week left me with such pain in my pelvic area--and that's even with a belly band thing to try to support the extra tummy weight--that changing positions hurt all day. Also, I'm not a fan of the nighttime leg cramps. These are charley-horse
Read more