Happy Teams, Sad Teams, And Me!

I was very much looking forward to the games today.  I love the Netherlands and I think they have a tremendous bunch of players (and a lot of them are pretty cute).  Exhibit A of the cute Dutch is Mark Van Bommel:

Anyway....I knew they were going to show Denmark up.  That's not really how it went!  The Dutch have to be grateful to the Danes for actually scoring one of their goals for them.  That's right.  It was the first own goal of the World Cup.  I love all these firsts!  I'm actually glad they scored because if they hadn't, who knows what would have happened.  The game was dragging on and on.  The own goal wasn't until the second half.  Thank you, Denmark, for getting the game going.....sorry it wasn't for your own team! Thank you, Kuyt for scoring an actual goal (for your own team).  Because of that, the Netherlands won the game 2-0.  It wasn't my favorite game so far but it wasn't the worst either. 

The second game drove me crazy.  Surprise!  Sorry, but these slow-paced teams who can't strike, drive me crazy!  Japan and Cameroon, as suspected, did NOT put on much of a show.  I mean, it was cool when Japan scored (even though I didn't pick them).  And it was cool when Cameroon nailed the heck out of the post in the second half.  They could have drawn.  Oh.  So.  Close.

Finally, my biggest disappointment thus far:  Italy drew against Paraguay.  Seriously.  The guys with the red and white striped socks.  Yeah, that's them.  They didn't look all that great to me (the team, not the socks....but kinda both, I guess).  But apparently they were more prepared than my supposed "Italian stallions."  They looked terrible.  After losing Buffon (my favorite keeper) to a random hamstring injury (that nobody could quite figure out since he didn't do much besides stand there), they just ran out of steam.  But they kinda never had any steam to begin with.

So BLAH.  The Italians (as I predicted) are not as strong as some of the other teams I've seen.  In fact, they would be as likely to win the World Cup as I am to win the lottery.  That saddens my heart to say and I HOPE I have to eat my words.

For now, I will leave you with the top five questions I have about the happenings of this great soccer tournament!

1.  WHO ON EARTH INVENTED THE OFFSIDE RULE?  And could someone please explain it to me in PLAIN, PLAIN English!

2.  If you make an error during a game (ahem.....Rob Green, own goal guy (Daniel Agger), what do the people on your team and in your country say about you????

3.  Why do you wear socks that look like the witch's socks on The Wizard of Oz (Paraguay)?

4.  Who on earth invented the Vuvuzela horns?  They give me a headache.  But.....I kinda wish I'M the one who invented them.  I'd be RICH!

5.  Why are soccer players so dang cute?  In fact, I think Italy could have done WAY better if they had my fake boyfriend (Billy knows all about him, don't worry), Luca Toni on the squad:

You are WELCOME, ladies!!!

There ya have it, folks!  Another day in the World Cup.....happy teams, sad teams, and me!  Until tomorrow......