So This is Withdrawal

Well, it had to come to an end eventually. For some unknown reason, the World Cup is not able to go on forever, and is all said and done in one month. I guess in the grand scheme of things it's probably a good thing the World Cup is only one month long. For the last month I have breathed, slept, ate, dreamt, and lived the World Cup. I would spend my whole day at work avoiding human contact as well as internet and media contact to avoid hearing the scores of the games so I could rush home after work and watch the 3 games of the day. That takes its toll on a person day after day, week after week. Kind of a strange thing to have to scamper out of a room or cut off conversations with people for fear of some hint of a soccer score being overheard. Now I will say, for the most part I was successful. It took a lot of work and diligence, but I was often able to make it home after a long day of work, sit down in front of the TV, and turn on the games without having any idea what took place earlier in the day.

So, now that it's all over life can get back to normal. It's been a good ride; there has been a lot of drama, controversy, and great football action. Maybe later on there will be some more analysis coming from me but right now I'm still processing what has gone on in the last month. One thing I know for sure, the final game between Spain and The Netherlands left something to be desired. It was a scrappy, cautious, physical game that saw more of ref Howard Webb reaching into his pocket for yellow cards than well-played offensive football. There were a lot of harsh tackles, a lot of acting and diving, and just overall not a lot of free-flowing football. Don't get me wrong, Spain played well and deserved to win, it just wasn't the entertaining game that we all were hoping for .

The fact that in the last week of the tournament and the week after, the bigger news story was Paul the Octopus and his predictions and not what was actually happening on the pitch is an indication of either A)how much North America doesn't really care about football, or B) how uninteresting some of the action was. Probably more so the former, but both are pretty accurate I'd say. Don't forget though, the octopus was a perfect 8 for 8 in his predictions so he's no slouch. If any of us were even 4 out of 8 in those same games, I would be surprised.

The other bit of business I need to cover here is the status of the World Cup beard, or almost-beard. It is now a thing of the past as of Tuesday morning. It was good while it lasted but definitely nice to get rid of  it and get back to a more normal face. You might remember that I had made a bet with a friend when the tournament started that if an African team made it to the final game there would be a facial hair surprise for you. Well, Ghana made a good run but came up just short. Therefore, the facial hair surprise never came to fruition. What you would have seen is Brad making a fool of himself and sporting a handlebar mustache for at least one day in public. Yup, I dodged a bullet there for sure. I do want you to see the finished product before I shaved it all off so here you go. And if this hasn't inspired the guys out there to grow a beard for no apparent reason, then I don't know what will. Wow it's annoying to have my tongue embedded in my cheek like that.

Ghana: The Hope of a Continent

It's been a wild weekend in the World Cup and I figured it was time for an update.  Since my last update about Africa in the World Cup, all but one of the African teams have been shown the door. We've now moved on from the group stage of the tournament to the knockout stage where it is winner goes on and loser goes home. The only African nation to make it to the knockout portion was the Black Stars of Ghana. To add intrigue and interest, Ghana's first opponent in the knockout stage was to be the U.S. of A.

An intriguing matchup, especially as far as I was concerned for a few reasons. First, with my close ties to Africa and the fact that I lived in Ghana for 6 months, I am always backing the African teams and Ghana in particular. In fact, when Ghana defeated Brazil in penalty kicks to win the 2009 Under 20 World Cup, I had to fight back a few tears of joy. Secondly, as much as I love me American friends, I generally cheer against the U.S. sports teams, for reasons that I don't have time to get into here.  You can imagine the build up of emotions I had leading up to the game knowing it was one of my most beloved teams against the U.S. The third reason for intrigue is the fact that Ghana and the U.S. were actually in the same group in the 2006 World Cup, and it was a victory by the Ghanaian's over the U.S. that sent Ghana to the next round and sent the Americans home.

This time around, the result was thankfully the same. The game was only a few minutes old when a turnover and a brilliant solo effort by Kevin Prince Boateng gave Ghana an early lead and gave me a whole lot of hope. The Americans did fight back though and tie the game, causing me a lot of stress and frustration in the process. I'll be honest, when I have so much invested in a game I really have a hard time enjoying it. After 90 tense minutes of action, the game was still tied meaning another half hour was required. Only a few minutes into the extra period, Asamoah Gyan chested down a long ball and sent a screamer past U.S. keeper Tim Howard. It's not sudden death in extra time in soccer so Ghana had to hold on for the rest of the 30 minutes, but hold on they did. When the final whistle blew it was more relief than joy at first for me, but the joy definitely set in as the day went on. Sweet victory to be sure, and one can only imagine the state of celebration that the country of Ghana was in, and might still be in today.

Ghana is the last hope for Africa in this first ever World Cup on African soil and their next hurdle is Uruguay, who they will meet on Friday in the quarter-finals. Another winnable game for Africa's best, but not an easy opponent by any stretch. Uruguay has only conceded 1 goal so far in the tournament and has a dangerous duo up front in Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez who can put the ball in the net with the best of them. It will take Ghana's best effort so far to keep the dream alive, but I am confident they can, the question that remains though is if they will. One thing I know for sure, an entire continent will be behind them.

For those of you that care little about the actual games being played and are more interested in the status of the World Cup beard, here you go. Still not sure if the term "beard" is applicable in this situation.

Day 17

Beards for Africa, An Update

Well, every team in the 2010 World Cup has now played their first game and a few have already played their second so I figured it was time for a couple updates for you guys. First I want to give you a quick update on each of the African teams in the World Cup which I am so closely following, and then I figured a beard update was in order. Since I know some of you just want to see how poorly my beard is coming along, go ahead and scroll to the bottom, take a peak at the picture but then come right back up here to read about the African teams...I'll wait for you.


Alright, did you get your laughs in? Now back to business. Here's a quick blurb on each of the African teams in reverse order, starting with the team that played their first game most recently and so on.

Ivory Coast
The Elephants were possibly the best-looking African side in the first round of games. They played a great game against Portugal and deserved to win but came out with a 0-0 draw. They had the bulk of the chances and looked dangerous in creating opportunities on goal but just couldn't put any of them away. I was happy with the way they played though and have given me confidence that they can advance out of the group stage. Their key game will be when they play Korea DPR. They need to win that game to have any chance of advancing in the tournament.

Cameroon
The Indomitable Lions (one of the best nicknames in the Tournament) ran into a tough and well-prepared Japanese team in their first game and fell 1-0. That being said, Cameroon played quite well and aside from the one short defensive lapse that led to Japan's goal, probably was the better team overall. They are in a tough group though and with games upcoming against Denmark and The Netherlands, it seems to be a long shot for advancement.

Ghana
This is the team I have the biggest connection to. I lived right next to the small country of Ghana for 6.5 years, and lived in it for 6 months. So, naturally I was pretty excited for their opening game against Serbia. I got even more riled up when the pre-game commentators were writing off the Black Stars before the game even started saying that they wouldn't be able to overcome Serbia. You can imagine how proud and happy I was when Ghana pretty much was in control the whole game and scored the winning goal with just a few minutes left to seal a 1-0 victory. With their next game against Australia, who looked pretty bad against Germany, Ghana can all but guarantee their spot in the next round with a victory. The Black Stars are quite possibly Africa's best chance for an African team to go far in the first ever World Cup in Africa.

Algeria
The Desert Foxes have a really cool nickname but are easily the African team I have the least interest in. They lost their first game to Slovenia 1-0 on a really week goal let in by their keeper (not quite as weak as Robert Green's gaff against the U.S. but close) and now are up against it with their two remaining games being against England and the U.S. They may come away with zero points to their name when all is said and done.

Nigeria
Tonight the Super Eagles took one on the chin. In their second game which was against Greece, they scored the opening goal and looked on their way to a crucial victory when soon after one of their players received a red card and was sent off. Being a man short for the rest of the game was too much to handle and they eventually fell 2-1, despite putting up a good fight. Now with 2 losses to open the tournament, they are all but out. They need to win the last game and got a lot of help in order to pull off the miracle.

South Africa
The host team, Bafana Bafana, definitely have their work cut out for them. After an impressive draw with Mexico in their first game, they suffered a defeat in their second game against Uruguay and now need everything to fall just right in order to advance to the next round. Basically they need to beat France and hope that Uruguay lose to Mexico so they have a chance to get through based on goal difference. 




And how about that beard? Well, not sure if that's what you call it but hey, it is what it is, right? It's now the end of Day 7 of the South African World Cup and my beard in support of African football is making progress. I'm almost to the point where it stops becoming annoying and itchy and is just comfortable...at least that's what I keep telling myself.

DAY 7

To Beard or Not To Beard

What better way to get into the World Cup spirit than to bring a little NHL flare into it? I am Canadian after all. One of the most common things to see in the NHL during the months of May and June are the players putting away the shaving gel and razor and letting their faces do the talking, facial hair style. Take a look at some of the fine examples:

This strange and amazingly cool tradition of growing beards in the playoffs was started in the 80's by the New York Islanders. After their run of success ended in the mid-80's the tradition was lost for a while until brought back by the 1995 New Jersey Devils. As time has gone on though, the tradition has been adopted by a few players in the NFL as evidenced by Big Ben and Jake Plummer, and now the fans of the teams often get into the spirit and let the facial locks flow during the post-season. A good evidence of this is my buddy Dave whose beard was unfairly short-lived because his beloved Red Wings were not up to the task in this years playoffs.

By now you are probably wondering what all this has to do with me and the 2010 World Cup. Well, I have decided to take an NHL superstition and bring it to the biggest sporting event in the world. In the hopes of spurring African teams on to victory, I will not allow a blade of any sort to touch my face until the conclusion of the World Cup. Don't get too excited- I'm not incredibly skilled at beard-growing so there won't be much to see, but oh well, that won't stop me from trying. I had a few days head start on the lack of shaving but that's ok because for me the World Cup had pretty much already begun last weekend.

Here's the "beard" on Day 1 of the World Cup:

And if any of you were wondering what reason you would have to cheer for the African teams, let me just say that if an African team makes it all the way to the championship game I will have a special facial hair surprise for you.