Whose World? What Cup? (Day 14a)

Why am I watching Cameroon v Netherlands and Denmark v Japan?

I really don't know. I suppose I just like the idea of incongruity. In Group E, the Netherlands have already qualified and Cameroon are already out. Probably, the Dutch will get to meet Slovakia, the Italy-slayers and runners-up in Group F. The Dutch national anthem is called The William after William the Silent (yes, irony), Prince of Orange; the Slovak national anthem is called Lightning over the Tatras (whaaaaat? yeah.) The Dutch national anthem was the first full-fledged (words + music) national anthem.

Meanwhile, two whaling nations clash in the murky waters. Whoever wins qualifies from Group E. There will be blood. Incidentally, the Japanese national anthem, Kimi ga yo, has the oldest words of all national anthems in the world; its words date back to the 9th century, although its musical arrangement is much more recent. It became the official national anthem of Japan only in 1869.

This one will be fun. The Danish national anthem has the superscription, "This corner of the earth smiles for me more than any other," in Latin. (Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes angulus ridet.) You could translate that as, "This corner on the ground is smiling for me first." Watch for set pieces.

=====

Little did I know how prescient and yet wrong my last sentence was. The Japanese have obviously come up with a brilliant plan which converts one of their relative weaknesses to an improbable strength. The Danes are taller, but that obstructs their goalkeeper's vision. The hapless and unsighted Sorensen has fallen victim to TWO Japanese free-kicks — one in the left corner and one in the right corner, one over the wall and one around the wall. Danish free-kicks have been easily saved because the Japanese goalkeeper can see them coming.

Meanwhile, the Oranje have ground out a 1-0 lead over Cameroon at half-time. At this rate, the Netherlands will top the group (not unexpected) and the Japanese will be runners-up (also not unexpected, as they were ahead of the Danes on goal difference).

=====

At full-time, the Dutch have topped the group with a gritty 2-1 win over Cameroon, while the Japanese have conceded a penalty and yet run out 3-1 (penalty was saved, but Tomasson managed to score on the rebound) victors. I am a little disturbed by how much schadenfreude I felt at the sight of the Danes being totally outclassed by the nippy (oops, I mean quick and agile) Japanese who seemed to stick to the ball and play it so much better.

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 09a)

Half-time at the Cameroon-Denmark match, and it's 1-1. Danish defending is like their butter cookies: it is slightly bland, and crumbles when you take too many bites. And there are normally too many in the box, but not of the kind you want.

More to the point, the Danes work best when they lash the long ball and run in straight lines or do the simple cross-and-shoot routines. Their short passes are often intercepted by the lower centre-of-gravity Cameroonians. The latter are good all-round, except when excited. Then, they miss the goal they should have scored: they ought to be 4-1 up by now.

Long lanky Scandinavians vs chunky muscular West Africans; what a match-up! But on this performance and all the stuff we've seen so far, I suppose the Netherlands deserve to get through from this group and I can't decide which of the other three undeserving teams will get through to the next round with them.

By the way, has anyone pointed out that Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon are all from the same stretch of coastline on the southern edge of West Africa? Must be the climate.

=====

At this point, old Dennis Rommedahl (31, almost 32) looks like man-of-the-match material. And the Danes are 2-1 up.

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 04)

Well, here I sit as the second half of Denmark-Netherlands commences. I am impressed by the tempo sustained in blistering heat by these tall, hefty Northern Europeans (some of whom used to be Northern Africans, from the look of their statuesque frames and darkly-chiselled features). But it is still 0-0.

Denmark is one of the largest countries on Earth, by virtue of its associate country (as of 2009), Greenland. Greenland, at over 2m square kilometres or about 836,000 square miles, was granted home rule by their Danish overlords in 1979 and became an autonomous nation in 2009. That association makes Denmark the third largest power in North America, and the second largest physical presence in the Arctic Circle next to Russia.

The Netherlands is an agglomeration of trading states, the twelve provinces of the Dutch people. Two of those provinces are called North and South Holland, which is why some people persist (to some Dutch irritation) in called the Netherlands 'Holland'. 50% of its land is less than a metre above sea-level; should global warming raise the oceans, the Netherlands could well become the Sunken Lands.

But as I watch the goings-on in South Africa, they haven't sunk yet. Nor do they seem likely to do so.

=====

Well, 2-0 to the Orangemen in the end. And at half-time in the second match of the day, Japan lead Cameroon 1-0, by the feet of one Honda. A well-placed kickstart, shall we say?