Argentina Messi'd it up

At lunch, I headed straight to a sports bar and watched the tail end of the Argentina vs. Germany World Cup quarterfinal. What a match!! Both teams played very well and the game completely lived up to the hype.

The referee did a good job overall of calling the match by keeping the card count down and letting the teams play. The players ran their legs off on both sides -- Germany's Ballack really needs oxygen and a good massage about now. The stats will likely show that the game was pretty even especially the shots on goal.

Disclosure: I had an Argentine coach when I played as a kid so I was rooting for them. My real problem has to do with Argentina's coaching. In such a key match in the World Cup, where the heck is Lionel Messi!! In the 72nd minute, they subbed out Riquelme (one of their top players) for Cambiasso. Now I understand some of the reasons -- Riquelme was clearly winded and not attacking and at the time they were up by a goal and defensively minded. Also, you could not have predicted the forced substitution due to injury of your goalkeeper which happened right before the Riquelme substitution. However, you're playing Germany in the World Cup Finals get one of your star players in the game. It's criminal that Argentina is going home right now after a match where Messi didn't play at all and that's all Pekerman's fault!! Okay, I'm done venting.

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to watch the final parts of the game where most of the action took place. It was great to be somewhere where we all were yelling, fussing, clapping, and having a great time rooting for our teams. England plays against a surprising Portugal team tomorrow morning so I hope to get to watch some of it. England is the other team that I support since I like the country so much. I like watching Brazil just because they are so talented but they better start playing up to their potential since they don't have teams like poor Japan to beat up on anymore.