我最近很少用中文寫作了，不過我都沒在閑著。我幫我們教會的報章City News 寫了一篇文章。借po過來這好了。
以下是我的原稿
這個連接是校過搞的
http://www.citynews.sg/index.php/2010/07/world-cup-hits-and-misses/
World Cup Hits And Misses
With the final of the 19th edition World Cup possibly hours away as you read this, this year’s World Cup has thrown up quite a few surprises and shocks.
Shocks and Surprises!
The biggest shock of the World Cup must have been the ignominious exit of reigning world champion Italy. At the end of the first round matches, Italy stats read a big fat ZERO in the win column and bottom of the group table that also consisted of minnow New Zealand which ranked 78th in the world, 73 places below Italy.
Next was the acrimonious nature of France world cup campaign which has baffled many. The team completely imploded with reports of in-fighting and mutiny. Their stats was worse with just a single goal scored in the three group games, winless with only a single point and firmly rooted to the bottom of their group.
How the mighty had fallen, with the two previous world cup finalists failing to get beyond the first stage of the competition. And England weren’t much better, falling at the 2nd hurdle to an embarrassing defeat to arch rival Germany. Almost every Singaporean who was treated to a weekly dose of English Premier League action pledged their allegiance to the England team and was willing them to win the World Cup. But as always, in every major tournament, the overrated and overhyped England team underperformed and underachieved.
Quarterfinals
When the last round of quarter-finals matches concluded on Sunday morning, we could hear a few hearts breaking and many egos taking a real beating as the so-called soccer experts got their predictions horribly wrong.
Many had predicted an all South American final as four out of five of its representatives in the World Cup tournament progressed to the quarter-finals. A Brazil vs Argentina final was many’s dream final but that dream was first torn apart by the Oranje and then completely shattered to pieces by the German machine.
Brazil’s place in the finals was almost like a foregone conclusion even before the 1st knockout stage of the World Cup got under way. Looking at their side of the draw, it presented an almost unobstructed path en route to the final. Uruguay, South Korea, United States, Ghana, Slovakia and Chile were surely no match for the Samba kings. The biggest threat in the form of Netherlands could not possibly have thwarted their dream of a sixth World Cup as reports of in-fighting surfaced from the Netherlands camp just before their quarter-final game. But everybody’s perennial favorite Brazil was unceremoniously dumped out by the Dutch.
And who would have thought the Argentines would be mercilessly thrashed 4-0 by the Germans. Many reasoned at the most it will be a very tight game but with the Argentines edging out the Germans by a single goal. But scenes of celebrations can be seen at local pubs as the Germans put one goal after another past the hapless Argentine goalkeeper. Pity the Argentine supporters who also turned up in numbers as they stared at the TV screen with shock and disbelief. Even the die-hard German fans wouldn’t have dreamed of such a scoreline. The German fans tweeted “Don’t cry for me Argentina!” and one fan tweeted “Don’t cry for me Maradona!”
The sole South-American representative in the semi-finals, Uruguay, was the surprise package as they exceeded even their own expectations by reaching this stage of the World Cup. Heart-breaks for the Ghanaians and all of Africa but ecstasy for the Uruguayans and probably relief for the rest of the South Americans as they became the only South American team left in the World Cup after the Paraguayans was expectedly beaten by the Spanish matadors.
It was a cruel end for the Ghanaians. They were awarded a last minute penalty in extra time after a goal bound shot was handled on the line by a Uruguayan player with the score tied at 1-1. With the chance to make history as no African team in the history of the World Cup had ever progressed to the semi-finals, and with the weight of not only a single country but the entire continent on one man’s shoulders, the penalty taker buckled under pressure and smacked his shot against the crossbar to push the game into penalty shoot-out. The Uruguayans kept their nerves to win the shootout 4-2 and denied Ghana the first World Cup semi-final berth for an African team.
What many soccer experts and supporters had predicted and thought to be a straight forward affair turned out to be a nerve-jangling climax in the Spain versus Paraguay game. Spain was supposed to put Paraguay to the sword with ease after the Paraguayans struggled to beat the Blue Samurai team in the earlier round. But Spanish players were made to sweat for their victory as they only managed to breach the Paraguayan’s defense in the 83rd minute. Although a low scoring affair in this match but full of drama nonetheless as the match will very much be remembered for the one disallowed penalty goal and two failed spot kicks in normal time.
Predictions
Three European teams and one South American team in the semi-finals and the biggest talking point is that Brazil isn’t that South American team. With Brazil and Argentina out of the equation, many are predicting a Germany versus Netherlands final.
“I foresee a Germany versus Netherlands final and Germany to triumph. Uruguay is plagued with injuries and suspensions while the German team is on an all time high morale after resounding victories over Argentina and England.” analyzed Benedict David.
“I am supporting Germany to win the World Cup and my Swiss boss has promised to give us a day off if that happens.” said Christine Jan, a Germany supporter from Taiwan.
Even self professed Spanish fan, Mary Chan is predicting a Germany versus Netherlands final with Germany emerging champion as confidence in Spain is not very high after seeing her beloved team labored to a 1-0 victory over Paraguay.
Simon Ng tweeted on this Twitter, “Germans are fast & furious, always on a lookout for space to maneuver & strike when the defenders were caught off guard! Champion they are!”
It seems like Germany is the overwhelming favorite for the World Cup and based on their performances en route to the semi-finals, who would have thought otherwise. They are the most in-form team at the moment scoring four goals for the third time in the tournament in their previous match.
Nobody is giving the Uruguayans any shot at glory as almost everyone is predicting an all European final. Although there are many Spanish supporters out there but nobody dared bet against the free scoring Germans. But looking at past results in this year’s World Cup, unpredictability seems to be the order of this tournament. So I am not entirely ruling out an Uruguay win although things are not looking good for them with injuries and suspensions decimating the team.
Finals
Such is the unpredictable nature of the games we which has kept many people glued to the TV screens even at unearthly hours, this year’s World Cup has intrigued and at the same time bored many. Goals hasn’t been exactly flowing and it is the lowest scoring World Cup ever at this stage of the game with 133 goals scored in 60 matches, which averaged about 2.21 goals per game.
Even so, many are still burning the nights away, catching every single action of the match game. And you would have heard this phrase often enough “It comes once every four years, how can I miss it”, everything else will take a backseat when the World Cup action unfolds on the TV screen.
With the World Cup final a week away as I write this, I too shall boldly make my predictions and have chosen to do so by going against the flow of everybody’s. It will be a Uruguay versus Spain final and Spain to create their own history by winning the World Cup for the first time.
Enjoy the Finals!
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