World Cup Update #3

Of the 23 matches played so far, none have captured the world's imagination quite like today's epic clash between England and Argentina. Pre-tournament favourites England went into the match determined to erase the painful memories of 1986 when Argentina cheated their way to the trophy. Underdogs Argentina, on the other hand, were trying to live up to the vast amount of hype that has followed the team and hoping to prove that they are credible contenders for the Jules Rimet Cup. Both teams were playing for their national pride and only a victory would suffice.

Make no mistake, today's game was a grudge match. As the savage Argentinians made tackle after reckless tackle on the noble English players, it became clear that Argentina were trying to gain revenge for their previous humiliation at the hands of the English, 20 years earlier in Port Stanley. England did themselves great credit by continuing to play elegant football, despite seeing their teammates being chopped down by the brutal Argentinian team. Only after Gabriel Batistuta's vicious lunge at Ashley Cole did the England team finally see red (sadly, Batistuta only saw yellow for an offence for which he ought to have been sent off.)

Inspired by previous performances from their fans, England demonstrated their bulldog spirit and gave the Argentinians a taste of their own medicine. England's talismanic captain, David Beckham, was the architect of the English revival. In a dramatic display of skill taken straight from Mortal Kombat, Beckham sailed into the air before landing a telling blow to the nose of Kily Gonzalez. England had won first blood, Argentina were on the ropes and the rest is history.

After today's comprehensive thrashing of Argentina, only a fool would bet against England winning the tournament.

Current world champions France have not enjoyed the same level of success as glorious England. After slumping to a scoreless draw against an unfavoured Uruguay team yesterday, the French have extended their disastrous run of form to a whopping 1426 days! (The last time that the French won a competitive FIFA match was 12 July 1998) I think it's now safe to write off France's hopes of emerging victoriously from this tournament.

Other results:

Group A
Denmark 1 - 1 Senegal

Group B
Spain 3 - 1 Paraguay

Group E
Cameroon 1 - 0 Saudi Arabia

Group F
Sweden 2 - 1 Nigeria

Read the previous installment of World Cup news

	On the Jules Rimet Cup (5.00 / 1) (#1)
	by RobotSlave on Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 04:30:31 PM PST

	I have enjoyed these updates immensely, both for their candor and their advanced analysis. You have rightly asserted that several teams will not take home the Jules Rimet Cup, but have failed to mention the most significant reason for this. The Jules Rimet Cup, designed by Abel Lafleur, was awarded permanently to Brazil in 1970, on the occasion of their third victory in the tournament. Teams today compete for the FIFA World Cup™ Trophy, designed by Silvio Gazzaniga. The Jules Rimet Cup was stolen in 1983, and never recovered (it was also stolen in 1966, on the English watch, but recovered by a dog, presumeably English, named Pickles). A replica of the Jules Rimet Cup is kept by the Brazillian Football Association. The US will not take home the Jules Rimet Cup. Nor will England, or Argentina, or Italy. It simply isn't available, even if Brazil were willing to part with it. The FIFA World Cup™ Trophy is the permanent property of FIFA, though what they decide to do with it in 2038 when it runs out of space in which to engrave names of champions is anyone's guess. © 2002, RobotSlave. You may not reproduce this material, in whole or in part, without written permission of the owner.

	You're shattering all my misconceptions (none / 0) (#2)
	by iat on Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 04:43:53 PM PST

	Next you'll be telling me that England weren't the pre-tournament favourites to win the World Cup. Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

	Nonsense. (none / 0) (#5)
	by RobotSlave on Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 05:07:04 PM PST

	Only an idiot or an American would place long odds on the best side England has fielded in decades. With the "Group of Death" melting before the English onslaught, and the overrated French imploding in Group A, the only thing standing between England and the final is a second-rate Brazillian side, which has already reached the limits of officiating patience with their desperate, cowardly antics. © 2002, RobotSlave. You may not reproduce this material, in whole or in part, without written permission of the owner.

	In 2038,... (none / 0) (#3)
	by The Mad Scientist on Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 04:46:22 PM PST

	...thanks to unixoids and the legacy systems (hint: COBOL), the world will have more interesting sort of troubles to cope with than to care about some cup.

	Nonsense (none / 0) (#4)
	by iat on Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 05:01:38 PM PST

	As a geek (and thus, by definition, someone with a deep-rooted hatred of all forms of phsycial activity due to your puny geek physique and lack of any sporting prowess) you under-rate the importance of sport (particularly football) to the average person. England virtually ground to a halt during the football match today; some other countries declare bank holidays when the national team plays. In contrast, normal people couldn't care less about unixoids (?), legacy systems or COBOL. Therefore, these troubles are NOT interesting. Please stop over-rating your own importance to the world: geeks/techies/hackers/etc are worthless and insignificant. Anyway, there's no real problem with getting names on the cup. They'll either make a new one, or start writing in smaller letters. Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

	Legacy trouble (none / 0) (#6)
	by The Mad Scientist on Fri Jun 7th, 2002 at 05:32:12 PM PST

	The importance of football is grossly overrated. it's real importance is about as high as of chess tournaments, whose coverage in mainstream media is what sports deserve. Infrastructural trouble are "unimportant" until the moment they become apparent. Then they turn out to be quite pervasive. Then billions of dollars have to be invested and even more of code audited. (Good luck without sources.) I just had a debate elsewhere about electromagnetic pulses. Send a decent-sized one over the US, disable all the fancy electronics their economy seems to be so dependent on, and then take some popcorn and watch the spectacle. All the West is life-dependent on technology. Everything technological is run and designed by technicians; the "normal people" are stuck struggling with the fact that the machines work better when switched on. So much about their importance. yes, you can do without. But I somehow don't suppose you want to.

	Get in touch with reality (none / 0) (#8)
	by iat on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 02:21:46 AM PST

	The importance of football is grossly overrated. Nonsense, it gives people something to believe in, distracts them from their problems and prevents them from rioting. If it wasn't for football and other sports, we'd probably see more social unrest. Only a geek with the aforementioned deep-rooted hatred of sport would be ignorant enough not to realise this. Infrastructural trouble are "unimportant" until the moment they become apparent. They're only a problem for technicians/server monkeys/programmers and other menial workers. We pay these menial IT workers to fix the problems before they happen, so that society is never affected by the problems (and let's not forget that many of these problems, such as the Millennium Bug and the 2038 bug, are caused by programmers' laziness and incompetence in the first place). I also imagine that society would face huge problems with disease if we let our rubbish pile up in the streets indefinitely. Fortunately, we employ refuse collectors, so the problem of waste isn't a concern. It's the same with IT workers - you're just another form of refuse collector. I just had a debate elsewhere about electromagnetic pulses. Send a decent-sized one over the US Let's come back to reality for a second. How are you going to send an EM pulse of sufficient intensity to disable electronics over such a large land mass? If someone could achieve such a feat (or was unleashing a dispersed series of pulses across the USA) then America would have other, more serious, problems than the proletariat not being able to use their video recorders - it would be at war and you (the scrawny, clumsy, unfit geeks) would be the cannon fodder. Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

	I'm there. You? (none / 0) (#9)
	by The Mad Scientist on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 05:14:05 AM PST

	Nonsense, it gives people something to believe in, distracts them from their problems and prevents them from rioting. Like, ie, the football hooligans? If it wasn't for football and other sports, we'd probably see more social unrest. And maybe things would get better then. People are too apathetic, maybe football is one of the pacifiers that keeps them so. let's not forget that many of these problems, such as the Millennium Bug and the 2038 bug, are caused by programmers' laziness and incompetence in the first place ...or maybe by having to save memory or being limited with register sizes, because of the state of technology back then? There were times that two bytes of memory were worth of some tradeoffs. How are you going to send an EM pulse of sufficient intensity to disable electronics over such a large land mass? High-altitude (150 miles?) high-yield (couple megatons) thermonuclear blast. Couple of nations have capable intercontinental ballistic missiles now, who knows how many of them "leaked". The missile defense system is at the very beginning stage now and who knows if it will ever work. If someone could achieve such a feat (or was unleashing a dispersed series of pulses across the USA) then America would have other, more serious, problems America has problems. That the plebs doesn't see them doesn't make them go away. than the proletariat not being able to use their video recorders ...and electronic money transfers, and electricity, and water, and everything that is dependent on computer control systems, which is next to everything today... - it would be at war and you (the scrawny, clumsy, unfit geeks) would be the cannon fodder. Or deserters. Hero is a four-letter word, and no nation is worth of sacrificing my life for. Besides, knowledge is power. When things go wrong, every person knowing how things work and how to get the remaining infrastructure functional again becomes very valuable, often mission-critical, asset.

	You are worthless. (none / 0) (#10)
	by iat on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 06:51:44 AM PST

	Like, ie, the football hooligans? From the government's point of view, it's better that the dissatisfied elements of society riot over a rivalry between sporting teams, rather than about poverty, unemployment, taxation or any other real political issues that may threaten their power. High-altitude (150 miles?) high-yield (couple megatons) thermonuclear blast. I'm not convinced until I see the maths. The USA is about 3000 miles from coast to coast (remember that some of the most important centres of population and business are on the East and West coasts). The field strength of the EM pulse will decay with a factor of 1/r^3 from the site of the blast, so the field produced by an explosion over the centre of the land mass will be reduced by a factor of about 3x10^-10 at each coast. I'm unfamiliar with the sort of field strengths produced by nuclear devices, but I doubt you'd have much effect on electronic equipment at either coast (you're welcome to find some figures to prove me wrong). America has* problems. That the plebs doesn't see them doesn't make them go away.* That wasn't my point. My point was that America would almost certainly be at war if people were using nuclear devices to knock out their electronics, and electronic money transfers, VCRs and Playstations wouldn't be a great priority to them. I'll agree with your point about the control systems for the basic utilities though. Or deserters. Hero is a four-letter word, and no nation is worth of sacrificing my life for. Firstly, don't believe that your life is of any importance. To quote Fight Club "You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else." Secondly, it says a lot about how worthless your own nation is that you would be unwilling to risk your life in defence of it. You also demonstrate your own selfishishness and cowardice. Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

	Poland (none / 0) (#11)
	by Anonymous Reader on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 07:28:27 AM PST

	As I understand it, his nation came so close to bankruptcy at some point in the last two decades that his government was unable to purchase paper. It's no surprise that he has no sense of patriotism or citizenship. It's an odd point to ponder, but I often wonder how many poles have considered that their lives would be better if Germany had won the second world war.

	That's an interesting point. (none / 0) (#13)
	by dmg on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 08:10:18 AM PST

	You also need to define 'winning' the war. West Germany and Japan did quite well from their "losing" wwII. "Great" Britain, a nominal "winner" did not come out of it so well. time to give a Newtonian demonstration - of a bullet, its mass and its acceleration. -- MC Hawking

	silly boy (none / 0) (#12)
	by Anonymous Reader on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 07:52:35 AM PST

	People are too apathetic, maybe football is one of the pacifiers that keeps them so. You're confusing sport with technology. There's a world of difference between the thrilling possession of an unadorned, finely tuned, animalistic body and the cheap parlor tricks that keep geeks in bon-bons AND CHARISMATIC FASCISTS IN POWER! I know, if source were open geeks wouldnt be so upholstered and software guided munitions would kill only bad people. Dont you have a bug zapper to fix or something?

	Hey! (none / 0) (#7)
	by First Incision on Sat Jun 8th, 2002 at 12:42:44 AM PST

	I actually recognize the name of a soccer player! Isn't David Beckham married to a Spice Girl? Isn't he famous for kicking "chaps" in the "gonads?" Of course, I also know the name of the American Mia Hamm. Because, frankly, girls kick ass. _ _ Do you suffer from late-night hacking? Ask your doctor about Protonix.

	Shameless vicarious living. (none / 0) (#14)
	by hauntedattics on Sun Jun 9th, 2002 at 07:47:28 AM PST

	I have a friend who played with Mia Hamm on the US women's soccer team in 1995, when they won the World Cup, and in 1996, when they won the Olympic gold medal. I've tried on her gold medal. It's awesome. And heavy. Hey, I figure it's the closest I'm gonna get to sports glory as an ex-ballet dancer.