We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Next up - the Italians are coming. What kind of mood will they be in today, with the mounting match-fixing scandal. Some think this will prompt their stars, particularly those at Juve to put themselves in the shop window. I'll definitely have my eye on big striker Luca Toni, who scored an amazing 31 goals in Serie A this season. What about Ghana, with Michael Essien and Steven Appiah? Should be a delicious afternoon morsel.
posted by gatorbob @ 2:51 PM
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
47 Comments:
Here is the line-up for Italy:
1. Gianluigi Buffon
2. Cristian Zaccardo
13. Alessandro Nesta
5. Fabio Cannavaro
3. Fabio Grosso
10. Francesco Totti
20. Simone Perrotta
21. Andrea Pirlo
4. Daniele De Rossi
9. Luca Toni
11. Alberto Gilardino
Looks a pretty strong side. Let's hope they unleash the hounds.
And the Ghana starting line-up:
22. Richard Kingston
15. John Pantsil
4. Samuel Kuffour
5. John Mensah
6. Emmanuel Pappoe
11. Sulley Muntari
8. Michael Essien
10. Stephen Appiah
18. Eric Addo
3. Asamoah Gyan
14. Matthew Amoah
Don't know much about them. Should be fun to watch.
Ah, the best commentary team - Harkesy and JP. Nice one!
Who's the team over in Blighty, Gooner? I hear that Lineker has been receiving a right panning for his pro-Sven positions. Martin O'Neill's having a go at him, right? Do tell.
Good to see the Ghanaians pushing it. They've got nothing to lose, do they? I'd love to see an early goal from them to open the match up and knock the catenaccio out of the Italians.
The Ghana keeper Richard Kingston looks all at sea. The Italians should get some joy from set pieces and crosses, especially with that big bloke Luca Toni in there. Nearly a first goal there.
Yellow card for de Rossi after a nasty tackle on Essien. Good to see the ref getting a handle on this match.
And now the Italians on the attack. Good game, so far.
Clever free kick from Pirlo but Totti balloons it over the bar. Nice haircut for Totti, though.
Ghana has to be happy with seeing off the first twenty minutes without a goal, especially after seeing all of the early goals that have been scored in this WC. If only the US could have done the same....
This Amoah guy seems a real speed merchant - shame that he hasn't been able to time his runs better.
Come on you Black Stars!
A couple of chances already for Toni and he hasn't taken them. He seems a bit tentative with the headers for a big bloke. Strange, that.
The Italians look a bit frustrated already. This could get interesting if Ghana were to score on a breakaway. Any result for the Black Stars here and it opens the group right up.
Okay, that was the Luca Toni I've heard so much about. Took it off his chest and then rifled against the bar. Good stuff.
Looks like Ghana have an injury and substitution coming.
End to end stuff, with Toni and now Asamoah going close. What a game so far!
And now a great run and raking shot from Essien. He's not known for his scoring touch but that was close. Like most African sides, they're playing to their strength - dynamic running and athleticism.
Come on you Black Stars!
Ghana is getting some great chances, but I'd like to see them make Buffon work. Too many of these shots shanked wide or over the top. They may rue those misses.
Wow, crushing shot from Totti and tip over from the wobbly Kingston.
Corner to come.....
Kingston's going walkabout again. Nearly.
I'm really surprised that the Italians haven't shut this one down more tightly. It's as open a match as I've seen them play in years. Very exciting. It could easily go either way, and that's not the Azurri style is it?
Harkesy's sounding like he's either going through puberty or just spent ninety minutes before this match screaming at the telly while the U.S. were getting tonked.
He's already raked Arena over the coals for switching Beasley to the right and playing Lewis and Convey on the left.
Essien is really controlling the midfield and getting forward more than he does for Chelski. I'm surprised because Pirlo's a decent player and he just hasn't been in it.
GOAL: 1-0 Italy; And just when I typed that....Pirlo scores. Great low shot into the right corner. Famous last words.
Shame, that. It may really shut the game down and it was definitely one of the best up until this point. End to end. I hope they'll keep it going.
For some reason, the Italians don't have a Baresi style stopper who is putting his foot on the ball and clogging it up.
Gilardino looks as if he was trying to claim that goal on the replay. Cheeky bugger; he didn't get anywhere near a touch.
Half time: 1-0. All I can say is, bring on some more of the good stuff.
I'm happy to report that the Italians don't look satisfied with the one goal. They're going for more. Gilardino making the keeper work.
I reckon that Gooner Steve is right that Lippi is playing a different style from what we're accustomed to, much more swashbuckling. I'm loving it.
Cracking shot from Essien and Buffon equal to it - great stuff. Essien looks a much more attacking flair player for Ghana than for Chelski. More of the Frank Lampard role.
Totti looks crocked. He's just come back from a broken leg. This doesn't look good. Interesting that a lot of these big teams are suffering the injuries. Down the line this could really improve England's chances.
Totti's off - Camaronese on for him; much more defensive option.
I'm liking what I'm seeing from this Luca Toni geezer. Wouldn't mind having him down the Elland - a little and large pairing with Rob Hulse?
What do you think, would he come to Leeds for a couple of pints and a packet of pork scratchings?
Italy still pushing up even after Totti's withdrawal. I'm impressed - this game is still in the balance.
Camaronesi already in the ref's book. He's a nasty sort. And I don't cotton to that pony tail.
Another chance for Essien, but he's shanked it wide. Shame. I'd love to see Ghana get back into this one.
Come on you Black Stars!
Rash challenge from Asamoah. That could've been a red in other WCs, but here it's only a yellow. Refs so far have been fairly restrained, don't you think? Only one dismissal so far - Avery John in the T&T - Sweden match, and that was for two offenses.
Kingston just redeemed himself for the early floppiness. Great save from Perotta. Phew!
Yeah, here comes my Funniest Name candidate Razak Pimpong. Love it!
Come on, you Pimpong!
And my man Pimpong earns a corner straight away. Asamoah to take...
And it comes to nothing. I haven't seen enough from Appiah today. He's been fairly anonymous.
Another Italian down - de Rossi.
Outrageous dive from a Ghanaian player - the East German judge has given it a 3.4.
In the last five minutes, the Italians have started to back off and defend the lead as I'd expected them to do. To their credit, they resisted the urge for 70 minutes or so. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing them punished for the defensiveness.
A through ball to Gilardino and he's unceremoniously hacked down, only to have the play whistled back for offside. The Italians are doing their nuts.
Okay, Ghana has fifteen minutes left to pull this one out of the fire. Can they do it? I'm going to say "yes."
Ghana completely robbed by the ref. Stone cold penalty for Asamoah after a brilliant run. Refereee!
Hilarious visual of the Italy bench after the Asamoah penalty call, all of them holding up imaginary cards.
Now here comes Del Piero, also shorn by the same barber that got to Totti. Has the Italian camp gone through a lice scare?
GOAL: 2-0 Italy; terrible mixup at the back letting Iaquinta in to round the keeper and slot home easily.
Kuffour is burying his head in the turf.
Looks as if the Italians are coasting to a fairly impressive victory now. This group is going to form so far despite it's trumpeting in the American press as a "Second Group of Death." Italy and the Czechs very strong today.
Essien still battling away, with a header on goal. He's been massively impressive, probably the man of the match, even though he's ending up on the wrong side.
Yellow for Iaquinta; that's silly and may hurt them down the line, especially if Totti is really crocked.
Great time blogging today; the lads at Blogspot seem to have sorted out the problem. A tip of the chapeau to them!
sorry mate. dad and i were watching the match all right, but mom was on the computer.
well here's one thing, the US is the weakest team in this group. all hope of Ghana being mugs is out the window. yeah, their back four are dozier than rio after 4 weeks holiday in montego bay, but they are all that from the midfield up through the attack. i thought essien and appiah were wonderful and that gyan bloke, what a player he is. he learns to finish and he could have a trade you know. seriously, one match has bought him a ticket out of modena where he's currently marooned, you mark my words.
but italy were class and even better than that, not willing to overreach by sitting tight on 1-0 like so many italian teams before. i don't think totti is hurt. rather, i think because he is hurt, and because lippi is confident of his squad, he could be sacrificed when it looked as if Ghana might just loose their composure and hurt someone. toni was good but got very little service. i thought giordello was not as good as i'd seen before. but finally, totti lived up to his acclaim. he was everywhere and bossing it big time.
pirlo's goal was great, but after hearing martin o'neil ranting about how the ghana defense just went to sleep on set plays and back it up with evidence, Pirlo WAS offered an acre of space to tee it up and place it exactly where he wanted.
i thought that iaquinta's goal was undeserved. the way he stayed down after kuffour brought him down was shameful.
i didn't realize it but this is the real group of death. the US look dead already and it is a shame to leave any of italy, the czechs, or ghana going home after this group finishes.
Well, that's the way the U.S. footie media has been presenting it, but I'm not buying. The Czechs and Italians are clearly superior to the other two. Ghana aren't half bad but I don't fancy them against the Czechs and we may even scrape a draw out of them.
Nah, Group C is Grupo del Muerte for sure. It's still really up in the air with all four teams still in it. Looking forward to tomorrow's matches too. It's all good!
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