Life...and other afflictions

The rantings and uninteresting events of my life

Saturday, July 10, 2004

So what's been happening? Well, after Euro 2004 fever was over, I spent most of my time revising for my exams. Well, tried to anyway. Got kinda distracted by TV and loads of other things.

But now, there's only 1 exam left. Still, there's lots of stress because this is the subject I know least about and well, there's also another huge assignment to be done before school closes.

Damn. No peace.

Monday, July 05, 2004

Oh oh...Greece beat Portugal 1-0. It was a rather boring final...until you see Ronaldo and some of the Portuguese players crying. So much rests on one game. It's like your heart breaks man. There were several missed chances...some quite pretty even, but only the shots that go in count. That's the reality of the thing. I thought Portugal was better actually, but the whole thing collapsed for them once the Greeks scored the first goal. Why? Because Greece is a super defensive team. If you take a good, close look at the match, you will see that to one or two Portuguese players, there are like 9 Greeks. They're all over the place! You see only dots of red among swathes of white. I don't suppose the Greek team is really all that lousy. Their problem is that they don't have any big stars, like say Figo. And the other problem, or so I heard, was that lots of good Greek players boycott the national team's matches. The leagues they play in are more important to them.

Rudi Voeller has resigned. So sad! I wish they'd reject his resignation. I don't think he's a bad coach. I think it's the whole team's problems. I mean sure, the coach can motivate and train, but if the raw material he gets is like shit, then even the best coach in the world can't make the team win. Well, now Germany's on the search for a new coach. They wanted Otto Rehhagel, the Greek team's German coach. But he has a contract with the Greek team till 2006. And now that Greece has won, I seriously doubt that they'll give him up. Some other coaches were asked, but all have rejected the offer so far. I don't think anyone really wants the job, esp since Germany's host country for World Cup 2006...they're expected to put in a fantastic showing. And you know, if they get kicked out in the group stages like in Euro 2004, it'd be damn paiseh! They also thought of asking Lothar Matthaeus, my fave ex-player, now coach of Hungary's national team. But he has a contract too. He's only 42 now. That's probably quite young for a national coach. I don't have any info on this...but in any case, during Euro 2004, Rudi Voeller was actually the youngest coach in the tournament. You've easily got 70+ year olds coaching the teams. Otto Rehhagel is 65. Rudi Voeller is whoa..44 years old! So he's lots younger than he looks I guess. Anyway, another one of those people who's supposed to be his successor was involved in some drug scandal, which is why Rudi Voeller stayed on as coach for longer (he was only asked to be coach for a year), although, note, he does not have a coaching license! But now, they're saying that the public is more forgiving, so the drug scandal doesn't mean much. Hmm. Fraglich.

Haha, so much for soccer news. Unfortunately there is nothing more to watch and I have to go back to revising for the exams. What I haven't done quite successfully, sad to say. Sigh. Sad.