The Professor and the panel of the Gelding, the Judge, Coutta and Paul Dalligan talk about the Socceroos making the last 16 at the World Cup, the AFL releasing round 1 of their 2023 fixture at the same time as kick-off in the Australia v Argentina match and the AFLW CEO strangely absent during the Grand Final presentations. Paul gives his NRL wrap-up for 2022 and Gelding talks yesterday’s racing at Sandown and gives some tips for today’s Bendigo & Sha Tin race meetings.
Tag Archives: argentina
Friday musing – World Cup, Tour de France………
Well the biggest sporting event in the world, the World Cup has now concluded and I got it wrong with Argentina and Messi failing to ignite. Germany deserved to win in my opinion and the goal from Gotze was an absolute ripper.
We then move towards one of the more low key events being the Commonwealth Games. To me the Commonwealth Games can be equated to the old AFL pre-season competition. It is relevant, but not the main game.
With the impending retirement of Lenny Hayes, the question becomes who will now be a lot of people’s favourite player from an opposition team. Well I have always admired Hayes for the same reasons I admire Jimmy Bartel. They are both extremely skilful players who do not seek out the accolades for themselves and do not try and help the umpires umpire the game. My nomination therefore is Bartel, but I probably had him as my favourite player from another team anyway.
The final comment for the week would be the potential for Richie Porte to “do a Bradbury”. With all the retirements due to injury it would appear that Porte has a very good chance of taking out the Tour de France if he can get over Vincenzo Nibali. For someone who was supposed to be the second man to Chris Froome he has been given the chance and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for him.
Have a great weekend!
Friday musing – World Cup, Brazil, Germany, Argentina & more….
Well the World Cup is coming to a conclusion and my predictions for the quarter finals got the result wrong with the Brazil versus Chile game, but I am betting that Brazil are now thinking they should have lost that game and not faced the humiliation of being trounced 7-1 by Germany. My son’s U12 team lost 5-0 on Sunday and I thought their defence was poor! Well Brazil took it to a new low. I saw the first two goals and went to brush my teeth and missed the next two! An amazing result. Were the Germans that good or the Brazilians that bad? I favour the latter, the goals they conceded were from very poor defence more that inspired play from the Germans. Germany executed very well, but if you take the first goal, how could the Brazilians allow Mueller to sit in the box unattended with no one between him and the goals? The Brazilians are still trying to answer that question.
Now we move onto the final and while Germany will probably start favourite on the back of the rout of Brazil, I think the Argentinians will win with some inspired brilliance from Messi.
As a Bomber supporter I was rapt with the win over Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval last Saturday night, but I was very disappointed that Brendon Goddard was cited by the Match Review Panel and then agreed to take the week on the sidelines. Yes, it was a cheap shot to bump Kane Cornes well off the ball, but he didn’t hit him high and Cornes continued to play the game. Pt Adelaide got the free kick and that is where it should have ended. How many times in games is there bumping, pushing and shoving off the ball with players going to ground trying to milk a free kick? Every game you go to, there is some of this byplay. Will this be set as a precedent? I doubt it, but this decision has certainly robbed the Sunday afternoon fixture against Collingwood of some interest. Goddard has been in great form since Jobe Watson went down and he has shown some real leadership. I can only think he is carrying an injury and thought the week off would do him good, otherwise why would he and the club not challenge the decision?
Speaking of Kane Cornes have you ever noticed that his christian name and surname are both agricultural crops?
Have a great weekend!
Friday musing – World Cup, Wimbledon, Kyrgios & more…..
Well the World Cup continues to dominate the world sporting landscape with the quarter finals coming up this weekend. It is interesting to note that former winners in Germany, Brazil, Argentina and France comprise four of the eight places available and the Dutch are three time finalists, so there is a familiarity about the remaining participants. The real interest may come from those outside the usual suspects with Colombia given a real chance of knocking off the hosts, Costa Rica not without a chance against the Netherlands and Belgium were considered a good outsiders chance coming into the tournament. My tips for the quarter finals are Colombia, Germany, Netherlands and Argentina.
Turning to Wimbledon, I have said in the past that I am not a great fan of watching tennis, but I had to watch the abbreviated replay of Nick Kyrgios knocking off Rafael Nadal. I must say it was pretty exciting to see a young Aussie do that on the world stage and it was a bit of a shame that the scheduling meant he had to front up the next day to play again. After taking the first set he tired and fell away, but it would appear we finally have a junior star translating to the adult stage. It reminded me of Mark Philippoussis knocking off Pete Sampras at the Australian Open, but then losing the next round match. Philippoussis went on to produce some pretty good tennis, but probably did not go as far as his talent suggested he should.
I was bemused during the week to hear Eddie Maguire call for compensation for Collingwood due to the poor drawing fixture against Carlton last Sunday night. He has often trumpeted that Collingwood fans would turn up any time any place to see their team play, but in the space of three weeks they have had two poor drawing matches. The other game against the Bulldogs at Etihad stadium three weeks ago failed to get 28,000 spectators and that was an afternoon fixture under cover! Given Collingwood gets a lot of scheduling favours due to their supporter base, I do not think Eddie would have gleaned much sympathy from any of the other clubs.
Have a great weekend!
Sportzfan Radio 161.1
4 July 2010 161.1 – Daniel wonders whether Gambo feels unsettled having been moved from panel operator after the Professor’s return from Sydney. Daniel also ponders the NBA feeding frenzy with free agents being signed for ridiculous figures including draft bust Darko Milicic getting a $20 million contract when everyone thought he should retire. The Panel considers throwing themselves into the free agency market for a fat contract. Gambo talks about the ‘mono cock’ in formula one racing. Dan Butterly talks basketball with the Knicks potentially going after Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Tony Parker. He says the Knicks fan base want LeBron, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade and won’t be satisfied with anything less. The Gelding talks racing and takes the credit as he and the Sydney Colt combined for 4 winners and 4 placings from 8 selections. Daniel and the Professor discuss the Boomers v ‘Argentina”. Daniel nodded off during the game and wonders whether Brett Brown’s team got anything out of playing a non-representative team of rookies. The Professor raises his idea of an NBL draft again as a means of getting publicity for the League.
Some dare I say "Mouth Watering" ties ahead at World Cup
All in all a promoters dream in the 2010 World Cup – so many games changing so many fortunes all hanging on a knife edge in the 3rd round!
- No bigger than Chile v Spain – a Spanish loss and they are out.
- Italy v Slovakia – Italy must win to get through (NZ v Paraguay to add some smeltz…I’m sorry spice).
- Japan v Denmark – winner through to the next round.
- Germany v Ghana – could the unthinkable happen and Germany not qualify for the round of 16?
- Our Socceroos v Serbia – Aussie win may get us through depending on results, Serbian win sees them into the next round.
- Slovenia v England – a must win for England or one of the tournament favourites is going home! The spice is that if USA win, England must win by more to ensure a place in the next round.
- USA v Algeria – USA an unlikely member of the final 16 but should get through with a win.
- South Korea v Nigeria – Sth Korea will again move on to the round of 16 with a win.
- Greece v Argentina – Greece need to win by more than Sth Korea if they are to go through. A tall order against an undefeated Argentinian team.
- France v the host nation – You would think a France win on paper but has all the team unrest and infighting taken its toll? Besides if Uruguay v Mexico is a draw, this result doesn’t matter.
- Uruguay v Mexico – A winner heads the group whilst the loser may miss out. A draw and both go through.
How good is that 12 out of 16 games with a direct result on the next round.