The Marmot’s Hole

okay, so fu(k that last post of mine. i was asked to write here by the marmot himself, with no restrictions, so that’s what i’ll continue to do:

germany v. poland

dortmund was the site of the hosts’ second match and it was as festive an atmosphere as you could hope to see, one you would expect from a host nation–reminiscent of two certain asian nations from back in ‘02 or something (and, yes, let’s not forget that japan CO-hosted the ‘02 version with korea…)

for this particular match, the barbarians, er, bavarians would be virtually booked a place in the next round if the could keep their pesky polish neighbours at bay, and, to many in attendance and watching around most of the world–not in poland or, say, indonesia, of course–this match was a foregone conclusion in favour of the germans.

germany had looked very good on attack in their first one against costa rica, but a little soft at the back, while poland had looked like warmed shit covered with banana cream sauce in its first one with ecuador. it would only stand to reason that the germans would romp, right?!?!

well, though the teutons’ michael ballack was back from injury patrolling midfield, they didn’t manhandle the polish as easily as was thought they would. in fact, it was obvious nearly from the outset that poland were not the same easy date ecuador had brought to the dance and taken advantage of; no, this time, poland was far more protective of her virtue than she had been in her first dance. to be honest, they were even the more aggressive of the two at times and it was german who often found itself trying to fend off poland’s advances.

the two squads traded close calls with one another for good portions of an entertaining first half before lukas podolski nearly gave germany the lead at the break, except that his lousy finish from five meters had all the quality of a one-legged first-grader.

the second half continued in the same vein as the poles continued to frustrate the german advances. there was very little imagination from either side and the anxious locals in the stadium were starting to show their discomfort with the proceedings. to appease the masses–and to inject some life into his own team–german gaffer jurgen klinsmann substituted david odonkor for arne friedrich about 25 minutes from time. this did seem to put some life in the bavarians and, ten minutes later, poland were reduced to ten men when midfielder radoslaw sobolewski was sent off for his second bookable offense on a marauding miroslav klose.

though the poles were a man down, germany could not breach the poland goal, even with its now-rampant domination and peppering of the poland defense. much too close for comfort for the home crowd, it was not until injury time that germany finally put the poles away.

it was substitute odonkor who provided a nice cross to onrushing fellow sub, oliver neuville, and neuville clinically drove the ball into the net for a hard-fought 1-nil victory that sent germans the world over into party mode. regardless of their difficulty with the poles, germany is now at the brink of 2nd round qualification and the locals were (are still) mad with joy.

as has already been mentioned in the “comments” section of this point in aetherspace, germany is going to be tough to beat for the title with a strong squad and a raucous home nation backing it. should be fun to watch, as it was four years ago.

things i hope not to see today: a rainy surface for england’s match render wayne rooney inactive or re-injured; more trinibago resolute defending, like against the swedes; fried pub food; a sweden win over paraguay; serbinegro’s horrible-looking, pinwheel-like home kits; an argentine win over said serbs; english complaints about the heat.

things i do hope to witness: rooney emerge from trinibago unscathed; more goal celebrations like the togolese did; more koreans watching matches that don’t involve korea; indonesia in the world cup before 2104…