Like It Is

France 2 Togo 0. On one hand you could say that this result was as expected. On the other hand it was not an easy breeze-through as for the whole first half it was goalless. France could not afford this. They needed victory to ensure they would progress from Group G. They got their much needed victory from Viera and Henry in the 55th and 64th minutes. Togo put up a spirited defence which did manage to cause frustration to the French.  So, France, breathing a sigh of relief, are going to meet Switzerland, while Togo are going home.

Switzerland 2 South Korea 0.  With their 100% record of clean sheet wins from their three group games, Switzerland were determined to be winners, ensuring their place in the second round with a ballsy victory against South Korea. Switzerland will now meet the Ukraine in the second round.

Ghana 2 – USA 1. An exciting and physical game and well done Ghana!  The two goals (one a penalty) were superb. The US took too long to get into gear, giving Ghana a chance to keep up the pressure. In the end the American’s couldn’t break down the Ghanian team’s game. I wasn’t surprised at Ghana’s result, given how they played their previous game

It’s homeward bound for the US, while Ghana is now in the final 16 of the World Cup. They meet Brazil next. I suspect that even if Brazil beats them, they won’t be terribly upset because they’ve done so very well in this victory. Brazil are the favourites, but what an upset it would be if Ghana did beat them….

Downtown Toronto, originally uploaded by TownieBrit.

My Totonto. Busy, buzzing, cosmopolitan and on the move. I just love Toronto! It’s more than the Downtown of course, but I remember the “wow!” feeling I had when I took this photo - from the top of the CN Tower. The photo still has big a big “wow!” factor for me… and evidently I’m not the only one!

Ivory Coast 3 Serbia Montenegro 2. From 2 goals down the Ivorians came back from 2 goals down to win a historic, if not stylish match. This is only the second time a team has come back from being 2 goals down to win a match in the World Cup. The first was when West Germany got a 3–2 victory over England in 1970. The number of red and yellow cards made the great entertainment.. and as for the hand balls…let’s not go there. But it’s Ivory Coast’s first win in the World Cup, good for them!

Holland 0 Argentina 0. A goalless draw. Not that much to say about this one, in fact, there was no urgency for either team. Unexceptional. Just two football heavyweights slugging it out. Holland and Portugal will now meet and the winner plays England in the quarter-final if England beats Ecuador.

Sweden 2 England 2. England needed just a draw to go through, and really they were playing for the draw. Why work harder than you need to seemed to be their game plan.  More importantly they will now play Ecuador instead of Germany, which must be a huge relief.  Not too sure they should breathe easy just yet though, given their second half action today.

Buoyed up by a fantastic goal from Joe Cole, England was the dominant team in the first half. But after the break they seemed to get tired and were suddenly all over the place. Total control? Gone. Zero. They were struggling. If they play like they did this second half they won’t even beat Ecuador.

England have never beaten Sweden, not since May 22 1968. Looks like they will never beat them now.

Sweden, coming forward as the underdog in today’s match, will be more than pleased.

Spain 3 Tunisia 1. Ultimately predictable, but it looked in doubt to begin with. Spain overcame the 1–nil deficit with three straight goals. Good try Tunisia, but it’s curtains for you this World Cup.

Switzerland 2 Togo 0. Pretty much as expected. A win or draw against Korea and the Swiss are through to the next round. Switzerland advances with a win or a draw against South Korea.

Now it gets interesting. Bizarre in fact.

Assuming Korea and Switzerland draw, if France wins by 2 goals or more against Togo, France and Switzerland advance out of group G. But if the goal differential is less than 2 in the France – Togo game (and remember Korea and Switzerland have to draw) there are many scenarios. But I will let you work through the possibilities because it is Byzantine – and my head hurts.

Here are the official World Cup 2006 Preliminary Round tie-breakers, in order:

1. Goal differential – Goals scored minus goals allowed
2. Total goals scored – self explanatory
3. Head to head result (what’s important here is France tied Switzerland and France tied Korea, this tie-breaker doesn’t apply)
4. Drawing of straws

Bizarre as it may seem, I’m pretty sure that the results of June 23 could mean France’s World Cup future could be determined by dead grass. We can only hope.

Trust me, it is possible – we’ve done the math. Here’s a hint – assume Korea and Switzerland are 0–0. What would the score of the France game have to be to get a FIFA official to rip apart a broom? – Show your work, bonus points for neatness!

Brazil 2 Australia 0. Ronaldinho struggled to show he was the star that most thought he was, and disappointingly couldn’t quite make it. It wasn’t long before he was replaced by Robino. Brazil managed to get around Australia’s staunch defence with goals from Adriano and Fred. Australia had chances, but couldn’t take advantage of them enough to score the elusive goal. Pity – they deserved to get a goal for the way they played. Not a star game, but one that puts Brazil where they need to be, even though they seemed to stumble to get there.

France 1 Korea 1. France hasn’t managed to change their World Cup fortunes since 1998 when they beat Brazil. France got their first goal and for the first half, looked set to dominate. But then, they seemed to get sloppy in their defending and paid the price when Korea scored the equaliser in the last 10 minutes of the game. After that, France just seemed to be desperately seeking a chance to score another goal, only that resulted in an off-side call. Celebrations for Korea who have come from behind to snatch a point, upsetting expectations once again.

Given all the good players on the French team it is a mystery as to why they were unable to deliver as expected. Personally I think they have yet to learn the most crucial lesson of all – you may have great players, but if you cannot play together as a team, you will lose to a team that can. Korea is now on top of Group G with four points – two more than France, who again look like they might crash out of the World Cup at the group stages.

France doesn’t seem to be able to play well together any more.

People, particularly women who decide not to have children are often faced with a wall of hostility should they reveal their choice publicly. They are, more often than not the subjects of disapproval, angry, venomous reactions from people who cannot accept their choice. So childfree couples often don’t draw attention to themselves. They don’t want to be publicly censured for what is a life choice.

Mothers are the fiercest critics of childfree women. I have often wondered why this is and I think one reason is that you are seen not to be validating their own decisions. If you are a woman who for some reason could not have children and have come to terms with it and are living childfree, the reaction is likely to be different. That, for some reason seems to be acceptable. You probably get a pat on the head and a sympathetic nod. Men tend to be a lot less critical, both of other men and of women who’ve decided not to have children, and for some reason come in for less disapproval from women.

If you are brave enough to say that you don’t have children because you don’t want to have them, or that you feel that parenting is not for you, the reaction is very different. Here are some of the comments you’re likely to get, some from perfect strangers, some from people you know, most comments made within a few moments of meeting you.

1. “Isn’t that selfish of you?”
2. “What’s wrong with you?”
3. “You don’t know what you’re missing”
4. “Who will take care of you when you’re old?”
5. “Who will take care of you when you’re sick?”
6. “But women are programmed to want children, it’s natural.”
7. “You’ll change your mind when you meet the right person.”
8. “It’s natural to want children”
9. “You’re missing out on what life is all about.”
10. “You must feel so unfulfilled.”
11. “But what do you do with your life if you don’t have children?”
12. “It must be so lonely for you.”
13. “Don’t you want to leave your genes behind?”
14. “But raising children is the most important job in the world!”
15. “Aren’t you being irresponsible?”
16. “Who will carry on your name?”
17. “Ah, you chose a career over having children!”
18. “It’s different when they’re your own.”
19. “You must hate children.”
20. “You both have good jobs, you can afford it.”
21. “It’s anti-Christian to decide not to have children”
22. “You’re messing with God’s plan (to procreate)”

At best many of these are huge assumptions, at worst they are intrusive and insulting and actually untrue. So how does a childfree woman respond? In Part II I’ll post some of my own responses. If you’re childfree and you’ve had to face these or similar comments and questions, how have you responded?

USA 1 Italy 1. A draw. Don’t know what was more enthralling in this match, the number of red cards flying round the pitch, the referee being centre stage for all the send offs, or the nine men game. You had this “Whatever next?” feeling right through. The fouls on both sides were pretty sickening though, they deserved being sent off.

I was rooting for the US in this one. Kasey Keller in goal was great! I’d have been happy if they’d won and dispatched Italy but it was a gutsy draw by the USA and they get their point. They do have some work to do on their offensive game if they are going to stay in. I will be rooting for Ghana, but I still hope the US works on their offensive game.