You know... just when I was beginning to thing that the standard of officialdom in the Eurovision Soccer Contest was 'ok', along comes Roberto Rosetti and Howard Webb to set the record straight – I've already covered the Webb debacle in the previous post – but it is worth bearing in mind these two officials as the tournament progresses as they are likely to change the dynamic of the match. So - think carefully before putting your cash down...
I got the Russia Vs. Greece game correct alas I didn't put any cash down... I also predicted the Turkey Vs. Czech Republic outcome (I don't know how they won as I only saw the first half and they were taking a beating) – again, no cash so no bet (see previous posts somewhere).
...This makes me a sad panda...
Let's look back at the Russia v Greece game... Roberto Rosetti gave the Russians absolutely everything. His linesmen gave Greece absolutely nothing (including the legitimate goal they scored). The words 'flag happy' spring to mind – I even think that the talking heads in the studio mentioned it – it was that obvious. For a laugh, it's worth googling "Rosetti" and "corruption" with "football" just to see what you come up with...?
The wiki for Rosetti is a laugh too with this quote:
"Rosetti also officiated at the Champions's League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on April 30, 2008, earning the praise of UK television and radio commentators for his control of the game."
Ha ha... let's forget for a moment that commentators talk 99% shit and read that again carefully... Oh yeah!
Wait just a minute... Chelsea, Abramovic, Russia! Eee gads!
As I said – watch out for these two boys (along with their henchmen), as they are the 'hit men' of this competition and are likely to get selected at the last minute to officiate on matches where "a job" needs doing.
In case you were wondering – we live in an energy economy and Russia has all the gas... so it's best to keep them sweet... you dig?
Suggested chant for the Russians: "Stand up, if you've got all the gas, Stand up, if you've got all the gas, Stand up..."
I must apologise for not posting over the weekend... I was busy – it was Fathers day and all that bollocks – Sophia made me a nice card with stickers on it and a picture of me carrying her on my shoulders... so the card industry who invented this day in the first place did not profit from it – which is the way it should be... in fact never buy any card ever - make them, it's nice. The only reason people seem to celebrate anything these days is if there is some fucking industry built up around it and ramming it down our necks.
I spoke to the boys this morning about father's day, what they did, etc – I didn't get my dad a card as he fucked off when I was 4 - I still see him... but y'know, dhjackal has a similar patriarchal experience but he bought his old man a card anyway... Iraqi_Ali casually informed us that his dad was executed when he was 4... but added, in an attempt to fill the stunned silence:
"No, it's ok – most peoples dad's I know where executed so it's no big deal..."
It's just a question of what you are used to I suppose... where you come from and where you are going. He loves England, like it's the 'golden country'; he can leave at anytime – where as I was born into this place and it pisses me right off.
It makes you wonder though, how many fathers day cards the Baghdad branch of WHSmith sold this year? Maybe that was the reason behind the occupation?
Iraqi_Ali has many stories to tell – he told us once that in Iraq you can get a boiled sheep head for breakfast and you just pick off the face meat and drink the soup. I asked him if you ate the eyes and he told me that if you ate the eyes it was a grave insult to your host and you would probably get shot – apparently it's a round-about way of insinuating that you are banging his missus and daughters at the same time. I suspect he's taking the piss.
*ARSENAL NEWS*
Today is fixtures day! It's the day when all the randomised fixtures come out – I wouldn't bother with them too much though as there didn't seem to be much in the way of Grand Slam Sunday's or Showdown Saturday's – so Sky, Setanta and the bookies will probably get their heads together to rearrange a few things in order to get maximum control/profit.
Our first match is West Brom at home... which is going to be interesting as they will be out to kick the shit out of us. It's going to be a good marker to see how the rest of our season might go... I wonder who's officiating that one?
RIGHT – onto tonight's fixtures, let's look at the group:
Group B
P GD PTS
1 Croatia 2 2 6
2 Germany 2 1 3
3 Austria 2 -1 1
4 Poland 2 -2 1
Austria v Germany @ Vienna
Well – who's reffing? Oh – it's Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez... I don't know much about him, is he any good? Let's ask one of my Scottish colleagues:
DogFace: "What's Gonzales like as a ref?"
ObsessiveC: "Him... he's a fucking cock-riding cunt! If he sets foot in Scotland he's a fucking dead man!"
Ok – that clears that one up, Gonzales – I would avoid Scotland as a possible holiday destination for the foreseeable future. I reckon, barring a dodgy penalty in the last 10 minutes, a draw all the way. For a laugh google: "Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez" and see what comes up - I did, and I laughed!
Poland v Croatia @ Klagenfurt
Well... I would say Poland as Croatia have already qualified and will field a 'B' squad with instructions not to break a sweat. Poland has a GD of -2 so there might be some goals here... Croatia will not want to be embarrassed though and will probably put 10 behind the ball and shut up shop.
Good luck!
