Ruminations: a crystal ball won't do you much good....

My results came out today. On my way to the law school to pick them up, I couldn't believe how calm I was feeling. Somewhere deep inside there was the voice of unreason screaming at me to sort things out and start panicking like any other normal person, but I didn't. I felt the way I had felt when I finished my exams- just numb.
And then I stood infront of the board and forced my eyes to settle on my results.
It said:
ISIBO MINEGA 2i
I was so relieved that I think my jaw was hanging open. I had got exactly what I wanted- an upper second class. After a year of toil and stress, I'd achieved what I set out to do. It felt absolutely fantastic and I was almost giddy with excitement. As I type this, it's been only an hour since I got my results and I still can't quite express what it feels like. I had one A, 3 B's and 2 C's and not suprisingly my worst result was history of English law- a module which was a nightmare from start to finish. A C in that course was virtually a godsend. The big suprise was E.U law because the exam had been very tricky but I somehow did well in it.
I run into Tim and Claudie outside- they had both got 2i as well.
"This is the best feeling in the world" Claudie said.
"I don't know" Tim replied "Personally I prefer sex"
"This is better than sex" Claudie said confidently.
I think I agree with her.

Ghana 2 Czech Republic 0
Holy Christ, this was one hell of a game. The Ghanaians were on fire, but their failure to really kill off the Czechs until that late goal was annoying. How could this be the same Czech team I had praised to high heaven? And how can this be the same Ghanaian team that had looked toothless against Italy? This is why predicting world cup results is a hazardous business. Anything can happen over a frantic ninety minute period and things like experience, talent and history can go right out of the window. I was really impressed that Ghana finally managed to sort out that defence that had looked comical against Italy and in Sully Muntari, Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien and Asamoah Gyan, have players who looked world-class. This really should have been at least 4-0 and if it comes down to goal difference, Ghana will be kicking themselves. Still, what a result. I couldn't help remembering the time I watched Rwanda beat Ghana 1-0 at Stade Amahoro to qualify for the cup of nations. The Czech republic are ranked second in the world and yet Ghana who we beat that day managed to tear them apart. Does this mean Rwanda is the best team on earth? I shall take comfort in this skewed and illogical reasoning since Rwanda's best days on a football pitch look to be far behind them. A departure from reality is all we have left now.
The Italy-US game was also a cracking one and The Sunday times called it 'one of the most surreal games in history'. Italy had del Rossi quite rightly sent off and then the Americans had two red cards (although the second which went to Eddie Pope looked very harsh mainly because his first yellow card was completely unjustified) and they fought so bravely that they fully deserved their draw. The Pope sending off illustrates what has really pissed me off about the tournament- very picky refs. The slightest tackle results in a free-kick and there have been too many outrageous yellow cards. Most of the penalty decisions-like the Spain and Portugal ones- have looked very dodgy indeed. The dodgiest was the one Croatia somehow got against Japan- what on earth was that about? Justice was done when the Croatian missed.Football is a physical sport- that's its nature. If you are going to blow the whistle everytime there is a challenge it just spoils the spectacle completely. Seriously the refs are really- to quote a peculiar English expression I've picked up here- getting on my tits. It's been a fantastic world cup, but the refs are ruining it a bit for me.
-Am I the only one chuckling at France's latest failure? Chuckling isn't even the world- I'm gloating. I think the expression-stolen from the German language- is schandefreude, taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune.
-Weren't Brazil seriously lucky to beat Australia yesterday? For the second match in a row, they looked very ordinary indeed. Ronaldo played better than he did against Croatia but that's not really saying much. Australia were good enough to get a draw but they may have been slightly intimidated.
-Misses of the tournament: I have two in particular- Peter Crouch's acrobatic failure against Trinidad is possibly the worst although this may be because he was over-ambitious trying to volley the ball first time. Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes a close second with his effort against Paraguay- one on one with the goalie, he gently rolled the ball to him. It was comical. Ibrahimovic has looked atrocious for Sweden.
Save of the tournament: A few contenders- The Shaka Hislop one against Sweden would take the bronze so far while the Joao Ricardo one for Angola against Mexico would come second. The best I've seen so far is Kasey Keller's one-hand wondersave from Alessandro Del Piero in the Italy-US game. A special mention should go to Japanese goalie Kawaguchi who made a fantastic save from a Croatian penalty.
-The horrifying news in the media is that Sven is going to pick Owen Hargreaves as England's holding midfielder for the game against Sweden. Why oh why won't he pick Michael Carrick instead? Hargreaves is a decent player at best and all he has over Carrick is experience. Carrick has been amazing for Tottenham all season. It should be no contest, but somehow Sven thinks Hargreaves is going to do the role better. I'm prepared to eat my words if he proves to be outstanding, but I'm not holding my breath.