Let's all cheer for the Netherlands with Jeanette B... they're playing in the semi finals ..having beat Guana. I know she and her husband are great soccer fans and Wimbledon fans as well. I understand Wimbledon is on Jeanette's Bucket List... THINK ORANGE! Nancy
JeanetteB: I saw earlier today that the Netherlands beat No. 1 Brazil and immediately thought of you. You must be thrilled; I know I would be. I'll be rooting for the Dutch along with you. I saw a little bit of the men's match at Wimbledon. Are you glad Nadal won that match?
Thanks folks, yes all Holland is colored orange and standing on its head, noise burst out even here in this small town when the game was over last night. We beat Brazil -- unbelievable -- and now have to play Ghana in the semifinals. Every supermarket has been handing out orange gimmicks that you can use to decorate your house or for kids to play with. Orange flags all over the place. Crazy. Neighbor boy Daniel came at his usual time yesterday to mow the lawn but when I said "Don't you want to watch the game?" he scooted off in no time and was back this morning early to mow. Dh watched the game with me and seemed absorbed. But when I got excited -- it was an exciting game -- at the Dutch goals he just looked at me. "Did you see that? Great goal!" "Yup, I saw it" After the game: Me: "That's amazing, we actually won!" DH: "Oh, was it soccer?"
Yes I love WImbledon. Great entertainment. Actually Bev I like Nadal but I was rooting for Murray. Unless you mean the match Nadal played earlier on against the Dutch kid. It would have been great if Robin Haase could have won but he doesn't have the quality yet. Holland doesn't have any very good players, although Thiemo de Bakker made it to the third round and then lost to Tsonga (I think?). I root for my favorites: Federer and Kleisters. Both eliminated too soon this time.
DH stayed up to watch although he had little notion of what was going on. I hardly dared to watch, came here into the office where I could hear the commentary. When it was 3-1 I went in and found that DH had quietly gone to bed. Then I watched the rest. Nerve-wracking. I'll probably watch part of the match tonight to check out the competition.
The madness in the country is ongoing. On the radio this morning there was an interview with the director of an orchestra that played in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam last night -- right across the road from a park where thousands of people were watching the match on a big screen. They were afraid of noise levels in the concert hall but it worked out OK. (Sounded to me like he had the orchestra play a little louder!)
I probably won't see it because I'll be getting DH to bed. Letting him stay up for the game gets him to bed far too late, and he has day care the next day. He stayed up last night and now he's sleeping in, which is lovely today but that won't work on a day care day. The interesting parts of the game will be repeated ad finitum anyway.
JeanetteB, maybe I told you this before, but anyway, about 17 or 18 years ago, when the WorldCup matches were being held here in the US, I was in a grocery store here in Sarasota when a group of five guys walked in, all the same height and dressed alike in sports shorts and shirts. I walked over and asked if they were on some team and they said that yes, they were the soccer team from the Netherlands and were in the preliminary games up in Orlando. They had a day off from playing and wanted to come over to our lovely gulf beach on Siesta Key and had stopped in the grocery store to buy picnic food. I wished them good luck and said I'd be rooting for them. Unfortunately they didn't make it to the finals, but I'll always remember what a nice bunch of young men they were.
The referees have been so unpredictable and have made so many wrong calls, I wonder if the Executives over them has done anything to insure that only the most relliable referees will be officiating at this game. When a team makes a goal, everyone knows it's a goal and the referee calls it back... then it's off the scoreboard. Afterward, they just say, Ooops, sorrreeee. It's so important for the teams, something should be done, especially if it's happened more than once.. I think there have been FOUR major miscalls.... no tellin' how many minor miscalls.
I'm all for instant replay in games this important. I've got my orange shirt laying out and ready for sunday
I was reading today that the FIFA - governing body - says this will be the last world cup set up like it is. They said the players are younger and faster, the ball is faster and the officials are older. Some options are more officials on the field, and assistant referee, and other things. So for the next world cup there should be a big difference. Unfortunately it will not help all the teams that had goals called back or not even seen.
Saw the octopus in Spain choose them to win. We will see!
In the future, I pray they will have initiated the "Instant Replay" to resolve disputed (and very important) play calls, and RULE OUT VIVIZULAS. I cannot imagine sitting through the entire World Cup Series with those "Da**ed noisemakers" blasting away constantly. I can imagine people developing Tinnitis for the rest of their lifetimes after two/three weeks of that.
Too bad, thanks for all the support! We spent a lovely afternoon with our friends at their cottage on a little lake, and she and I swam across the lake and back twice. (It's a long narrow lake, remnant of a river that changed its course). Lovely afternoon and dinner. MUCH more important to me than winning the match. We did watch most of it, DH went to bed at half time. He was exhausted from sitting on the dock shelling peanuts and drinking diet coke. By the way I discovered that shelling peanuts is a good activity for him.