Brazil 3-0 Argentina, five pitch invasions and a Kaká wonder goal

As part of the celebrations for Arsenal’s new Emirates Stadium, the two biggest footballing nations (and rivals!) in South America were invited to play a match there and showcase their talents. Many of the stars were listed to appear (though not Ronaldinho, unfortunately), and it promised to be a great match.





I got to the stadium two hours before kick-off and already the atmosphere was very different to a club game. There was far more of a carnival feeling, with a sea of yellow shirted Brazil fans talking and singing loudly and exchanging lots of friendly banter with the much smaller group of Argentina supporters. The fans were not segregated which, despite the teams’ rivalries, made it seem more like a match between friends.


When the teams were announced and the national anthems started playing the banter stopped temporarily, but Brazil dominated the early exchanges and when they scored the first goal there were loud celebrations and exuberant dancing all round. Midway through the second half, with Brazil two-nil up and in control, a supporter draped in a national flag decided to liven up proceedings by running on to the pitch. He went to hug one of the players, and what followed was a comedy chase round the ground as he tried to evade the guards. He was quite agile, and the crowd cheered every time he managed to escape from the pursuants. Seeing the guards preoccupied, another fella decided to join the first on the pitch, which caused even more chaos. Play resumed a few minutes later, but at the next stop another two fans tried their luck, and in total there were five pitch invasions. When one of them was wrestled to the ground I thought he might need first aid, but he wasn’t hurt and we had little to do throughout the match.




By that time the crowd were becoming restless, but that was all forgotten when Kaká scored a wonder goal. Running the length of the pitch, he escaped from three defenders before slotting in a shot past the keeper. What a goal.

All in all, a fun day.

Weakling

I'm still in the office, and just made a trip to the gents. After completing my assignment, I went to wash my hands. But some dweeb had closed the tap so tightly that I couldn't get it open. I tried for almost a minute! Ended up having to use the sink in the kitchen.

If only

If only research was so easy...

The 'Feynman Problem Solving Algorthithm':

1. Write down the problem
2. Think very hard
3. Write down the answer

Linux woes

No! No! No!

The server on which all my data is stored is being rebooted, but it’s taking way way longer than anticipated, so I haven’t been able to run any scripts for the past two days. Meanwhile, my supervisor is attending a course in Italy and wanted to show my data to a researcher over there. She keeps emailing me asking for data but I can’t do anything till the server is back online.

Feel completely paralysed at the moment.

World Cup Stories

I found the following article in India Today magazine:

"As part of coach Juergen Klinsmann's new-age methods, the German team watched a 10-minute film on the culture of Costa Rica before their opener against the Central Americans. The duration of the film was recommended by the team psychologist who noted that the men under his charge had an attention span of exactly 10 minutes for most things beyond their normal areas of interest."

"The civic authorities who ran extra tram services in Gelsenkirchen to get fans in and out of its World Cup stadium quickly discovered that some fans didn't want to get off - namely the Ecuadoreans, who came to town for the match against Poland and had never travelled in trams before."

"Spain's El Pais newspaper called the England team "flat, grotesque and contaminating" and its striker Peter Crouch a "two-metre asparagus"."

"Even the turf is official: only two varieties of grass are prescribed and allowed to be grown as football turf in World Cup stadia: the lolium perenne (rye/perennial grass) and poa pratensis (blue grass/Kentucky grass)."

"The Ghanian camp includes the mother of one of the players whose express purpose for being in Germany is to cook her son's favourite dish of rice and groundnuts."

World Cup Predictions

I have World Cup fever!

With the tournament kick-off only minutes away, I thought I'd share my predictions for the competition. That way you can chastise me when I get it horribly wrong.

Winners: Netherlands
Golden boot: Fernando Torres (Spain)

What do you reckon?


Next week sees the climax of the Dauphine Libere, an important warm up for the Tour de France. My tip for that was Floyd Landis, but he's still outside the top ten. For the Tour itself, Ivan Basso looks mighty but I'm hoping Jan Ullrich shows just how good he can be.

Talking of cycling, I had a bad an expensive problem on Wednesday. I have cantilever brakes, and cycling back from College my rear brake cable snapped. My supervisor (a bit of a bike expert) recommended I get a new cable professionally fitted, but Halfords have quoted £70 (£4 parts, the rest labour) to do so. Ouch!

Storker