Yeah and It Don't Stop

I said I wasn't going to talk very much about the World Cup today... but I lied.

Why do I feel compelled to talk about the World Cup? It's honestly the most fun I've had in a long time. It dominates every single day, it's my entire morning and "preevning" (for you Big Bang Theory fans) in the most positive way. I'm having a TON of fun watching every single game and checking out the strengths and weaknesses of every team. The passion of the smaller teams snuffing the egos of the big boys. The atmosphere is incredible, unlike any other sporting event in the world. South Africa has the attention of the world which also leads to some interesting stories of the last 20 years since the fall of apartheid. No greater country could have the eye of the world and though their national team is not performing up to snuff the South Africans have everything else on display. It's much too exciting not to talk about.

So the matches today were exciting and emotional. Let's start by looking at the last match of the day, South Africa vs Uruguay. It was a horrifying experience for the host nation as they watched the two time champions walk all over them. Diego Forlan ran the poor Bafana Bafana ragged by scoring two goals, including a penalty that came through a red carded SA goal keeper. Down to ten men the South Africans were unable to stop a third goal against them late in the game while their own supporters streamed out of the stadium. Too bad for the plucky outfit from Jo-burg. Fortunate for Uruguay who looked impressive in their win. Forlan leads the goal count, for now at least. A good showing against Mexico will mean advancement for them. We'll get a better look at Mexico's ability tomorrow against France.

The early game today was Chile defeating a lackluster Honduras. Traditionally the Central American teams never do too well. Honduras didn't seem to have much motivation in this match and were really shown up by a Chilean side that should have put more into the net. The 1-o margin only reflects Chile's inability to get the goals. Not much to say here really. Chile will see some real challenge when they face Switzerland and Spain.

Which brings us to the biggest match of the day. Spain vs Switzerland was a match that everybody thought they had an inside line on. This was supposed to be the most dominant Spain team of all time coming to the world stage and trouncing the opposition. What happened was a surprise to absolutely everybody. Building off the tactics of the United States team that beat Spain in the Confederations Cup last year, Switzerland were able to mastermind a legendary 1-o victory to defeat the European champions. It was a massive upset as Spain were considered a favorite by many experts and analysts. What they didn't consider was that Spain play the same every single time. It's won them 49 of their last 5o matches, but from that one match the Swiss coach brilliantly put together a scheme to drop the giants to their knees and give them a Shining Wizard. Spain will now fall to last place in their group and will really need to pick up their game if they want to get into the knockout round. I'm particularly stunned since David Villa and Fernando Torres are two of the best strikers, and my favorite, in the world.

I'll miss parts of the games tomorrow because I have a damn interview. Luckily I have the ability to record them on my dvr so I can catch them later in the day. Hopefully during the break between the second game and the third game. It'll be France vs Mexico, South Korea vs Argentina in one of my most anticipated matches of the tournament, and Greece vs Nigeria. The match that I'll miss the most of is Argentina vs South Korea featuring my tournament pick and a personal favorite. South Korea is a fun team to watch in all honesty.

I've also started writing a small amount of fantasy fiction so maybe I'll post some snippets up on here. It's nothing too deep, no subtle themes or anything. Just some writing to get my brain into working shape and to write every day. I posted a while ago about ideas and I started realizing that if I didn't turn those ideas into something more, it's just a waste. So I started putting them together into stories. I probably write twice as much in planning than I do in prose but it's a big improvement that I'm writing at all.