Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Ok, that was it. Game, set and match. We just got f**** over by the Portugese in the weirdest match of the whole World Soccer Championship so far. My God what a historic match! In one word: INCREDIBLE! I have never seen anything like this before. Almost 19 16 (!) yellow cards and 4 red cards! 2 for the Portugese and 2 for the Dutch. That never happened ever before. We started off with a big chance right in the first 60 seconds of the match. But then the Portugese scored 1:0 and after that it all went downhill. Just before halftime the Portugese got a red card so we had the advantage of 11 against 10 players. And even after that in the second half we got 11 against 9 players, but still we could not score. We got so many good shots but never had to luck of scoring. Even when they added 6 minutes of extra playtime (the highest so far) we could not win. So yeah, we lost (like I predicted) but it sucks: we played better but still lost. Back to home. It's over.

Another Soccer D-Day today: our national soccer team has to play against Portugal. If we win whe are through to yet another round of finals (1/8th). If we loose (which I predicted a 1-2 loss) then we go home. So far I am number 3 in our soccer pool at work. But I don't hink I will be number 3 on Monday anymore.

Number 3 in the soccer pool


To be continued...

We don't call it "het Oranje legioen" (the Legion of Orange) for nothing :-)

(Stuttgart, Germany Friday, June 16th, before the match against Ivory Coast)

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but when it comes to the World Soccer Cup or the European Soccer Cup, I do get a bit more exited. I guess I'm a bit more chauvinistic than I thought. Last sunday we played against Serbia - Montenegro and won 1:0. Last night we had to play against the Ivory Coast and it was a very exiting match. We scored 2:0 in the first half of the game and it looked like we were going to have a easy match. But just before the break, the Ivory Coast scored a goal as well. And after the break we where definately not in control anymore and they had one chance after another. Holland had to win this match to be sure to go to the next round. But after a thrilling last 20 minutes we won. Our next game is going to be the toughest so far: we play against Argentina this Wednesday the 21st. Off course Argentina has won two World Cups so far and they are considered to be a tough opponent and a big favorite.

The number one favorite (and defending champions) however, are Brazil. They have won the cup the most of any soccer playing countries: 5 times! They always have had world class players, most notable Pelé who was voted the Worlds best soccer player ever (although we Dutch always believe that Johan Cruijff is better). And off course they have world class players this year as well. However: there is some controversy surrounding the biggest star of the Brazil team: Ronaldinho. He seems pretty out of shape and even went to a hospital after the match against Croatia (only a 1:0 victory) because he felt dizzy. His teammate Ronaldo on the other hand seems pretty out of shape: he even went to the hospital after the match against Croatia (only a 1:0 victory) because he felt dizzy.

However, if he is in shape and plays anything like he is used to, Ronaldinho is really briljant. Just take a look at this video and see for yourself.

Ronaldinho, touch of Gold


(The story behind this video is, that Ronaldinho receives a pair of gold shoes from his sponsor Nike for some commercial and he decides to test them right away)

For more prime examples just follow this link to YouTube.

World Soccer Cup or not, today was too beatiful to just sit behind the TV to watch the Dutch soccer team beat Serbia-Montenegro (which they did, but with a mere 1:0). No today I was destined to get out on a boat. Not just a boat, but an old army boat that my friend Sander bought over a year and a half ago. Ever since he bought it he never had the pleasure of enjoying it. He totally missed last summer. So when this week he finally had it working we had to celebrate. And we did! We set sail (well, uhm, not really sail off course) for this - more or less - maiden voyage at about 12:30pm and we didn't return until 6:30pm or so. And if I did not have had any sun lotion with me, I would have looked like a red lobster now. Anyway: here is a short clip of "Das Boot" :-)