Prom night and other excuses

The wives and girlfriends of the Green Cobra have long known of fast starts and premature finishes. To make amends we offer a lame analogy; does our own fading mirror that of the tournament's play? The group stage gave us Ecuador, six goals (and 24 passes) from Argentina and mighty Shaka Hislop in the 2nd half against Sweden. It gave us Lahm, Frings and the Dutch and the Argentines really trying to score (at least in the 1st half) in a meaningless-ish game. It gave us Australia's ten minutes v. Japan, Bakary Kone's run and goal v. Holland and Lavolpe smoking furiously on the sidelines.

And afterwards? Maxi Rodriguez's goal against Mexico, of course. France's ten minutes against Spain, fair enough. But not much else. Of the 14 elimination games only 3 included goals from both teams. 11 clean sheets could have been off set by spectacular play and end-to-end attacking. Alas. Like the girls that agree to go home with the Green Cobra we can't help ask, "Wasn't something more supposed to happen?"