England 1-0 Paraguay

It was ugly. Sloppy at times. Uninspired. It was, to be fair, BORING. But, results-wise, England's quest for the cup got off to a good start. As any fan knows, they haven't won an opening match in a major tournament since 1998. So this was what we needed. Teams winning their first game have proceeded to the knockout stages 80% of the time in the previous two world cups. With this in mind, one can only hope Sven will play a little more of an open game against Trinidad and Tobago, now he's won this crucial tie.

Soemtime around the 60th minute, the guy sitting next to me at the pub said England was "locked down." To me, it seemed like a longer time than that. It was like an Italy catenaccio-fest, playing for 1-0. Not very interesting, but it got the job done.

Now for some comments on the ABC coverage. In a word, it was brutal. Dave O'Brien, a baseball announcer, did lots of "research" to prepare himself for the assignment. This was painfully obvious. He endlessly bludgeoned his audience with the fruits of his labor. He sounded like a baseball announcer, filling down time with tidbits of trivia, but this is football! There is no down time!! Pay attention! (And it's pronounced Sven YOOR-an Erikkson, not GOR-an! )

Marcelo Balboa is just as guilty. Stop rambling! Talk about the action! And talk less!

Even the barmaid at the Irish pub I was at noticed how annoying the commentary was. We were all wishing we could have had Tommy Smyth and his "old onion bag" clichés. At least he gets it.

Well, on to T&T and hopefully more goals...