world cup reflections

Of late I have allowed myself an extra day off following the end of any holiday I take, which enables me to re-adjust to life at home. A very civilised practice, I must say.

Allow me one or two thoughts on the late World Cup. As we have seen, my prescience does not warrant any particular confidence: I was sure, for instance, that Germany would win, then once they had been defeated I then became convinced it would be Holland's turn at last. But they, like every other casualty of Spain's brilliant campaign, suffered the "death by a thousand passes"

Word on the street (and by this I mean my cleaning ladies) has it that Holland deserved to lose because they "played dirty" and if yellow cards are anything to go by, they are not wrong. Also we all witnessed that horrible foul where one of the Dutch players (I don't recall his name) actually launched a flying drop-kick straight into the chest of an opponent. A heavy blow to the centre of the chest can sometimes stop the heart, so this was an extremely dangerous move, to say nothing of lying somewhere outside the code of practice, not just of football, but of any reasonable human conduct.

BEST GOALS

Carlos Tevez (Argentina vs Mexico)- an amazing strike from nearly 30 yards out that never got above 2 feet in height all the way

Van Bronkhorst (Holland vs Uruguay)- an astonishing goal from nearer 40 yards that rocketed into the back of the net at getting on for 80 MPH

Diego Forlan (Uruguay vs Germany) an incredible side-footed effort that spoke eloquently of his unequalled athleticism and dexterity. He has been rightly chosen as "man of the tournament"

MOST AGONISING MOMENT

Ghana just missing that penalty on the stroke of full time. Just awful.

QUIRKY MOMENT

My wife and I became unaccountably fascinated by the name of the German playmaker Schweinsteiger (apparently it means "pig handler") and in the semi-final we counted the number of times we heard his name mentioned during the match. Answer: 22. Why did we do it? Christ knows.

STRANGEST MOMENT

The Nigerian government, deeply miffed at their team's poor performance, threatens to bar them from international competition. Outraged, FIFA demands they withdraw their ban, or they themselves will, wait for it, ban them from international competition. Wah?