It’s been a long day of Internationals, capped off for me by attending the Canada-Costa Rica game. And trust me, I have a few things to say about that show, but before I get to it…The really good news for today is that England won 3-0 over Russia and even managed to emerge after 90 minutes without injury. Moreover, the scorer leading the way for England was none-other-than oft-injured Michael Owen. Now, I’ve been a fan of Owen since I watched him blow past countless midfielders and defenders in World Cup 1998 but in recent years I’ve watched him with my hands slightly covering my eyes while readying myself to see his get his career ending injury. Thankfully, for him and all his fans, it looks like the miracle-working knee surgeon Owen visited after World Cup 2006 has done a great job. I’ll try to add video of his goals later on.
On to the Canada game that took place tonight. I’m not sure where to start, so perhaps I’ll go with some random thoughts as a lead in….
- Thank you to the girl sitting behind me: Your shrill voice made the hairs on the back of my next stand up and the garbage and burps coming out of your mouth made me cringe and wince. As a reference, and more applicable to Torontonians than anyone else, her voice was somewhere along the lines of Sugarbaybee of KISS 92 fame, mixed with Sarah Silverman content. Oh, but unfunny…
- Can it legitimately be argued that Canada should not have been more aggressive in the first half? I’d like to hear someone try. I felt like I was watching Mexico (from this classic Simpsons clip) except Canada was playing much nearer their goal.
- I missed the Costa Rica goal as I was trying to find one of those nice Canada scarfs. It’s getting cold down at BMO Field. Lesson learnt.
- Dwayne De Rosario’s goal was beautiful. He was clearly the man of the match and often had his way down the sides. Come home Dwayne, Toronto FC needs you.
- Lars Hirschfeld looks badass. Good luck to him against Chelsea, those bums..
- 9,325 fans in the stands? Are you kidding me Toronto? We can surely do better than that. Dwayne thought it’d sell out; you all let him down unless you were there.
- Oh, and Tomasz Radzinski is none too happy either - “Knowing that Toronto FC gets a full house every game and the national team comes with the best Canada has to offer and we only get eight or nine thousands fans, it was disappointing.”
- The ref lost control of the game midway through the second half, by my estimate. It might have been earlier than that, however. Feel free to correct me.
- Rob Friend, a Canadian’s Peter Crouch? Just wondering…
Lastly, and feel free to call me biased, but Costa Rica’s performance was disgusting. Number 21, Windell Gabriels (I had to Wikipedia the name,) spent a good 15 minutes rolling around on the pitch alone. They milked every opportunity to waste time and throw off the rhythm of the Canadian attack, without actually trying to play the sport itself. Miraculous recoveries are the result of ridiculous dives, and the Costa Ricans proved to be professionals in that regard. 21 and 11 looked like they were a good 20-30 pounds beyond match fit, so I can understand why they wanted the pace to be more accommodating - I can understand, I just can’t back it. They deserved a lot more booing than 9,325 had in them.
