So not the best weekend then. New Zealand lost to a rag-tag bunch of misfits who banded together under a common goal and wore mismatched socks. In a different sport we lost to a team that hasn't been home for a while now. And our pool has the current World Champ in it!
My pool prediction didn't come to pass, and I owe Graeme Edgeler a beer, but I still think we did alright. We ran Italy close earlier this year and Slovakia and Paraguay could possibly stoop to our level. You know I think we might have a chance.
And as we've noted here before, football's low scores are what makes it the sport that has the highest percentage of "upsets" (defined as a team beating another with a significantly higher win/loss ratio). Though I can't help but feel sorry for North Korea (Brazil, Cote de Ivoire, Portugal). I'm sure their newspapers will blame the draw on the US or something.
Australia's pool will be pretty close (Germany, Ghana, Serbia) but they've got to like their chances of progressing.
Now this post is intentionally on popular sports so that no one will complain when I write about Roller Derby next…