The Olympic Games

 I am not a fan of the Olympic Games. It is of course the worst kind of franchise. The IOC skimms all the profits and leavers the cities to pick up the cost.

It has sports which clearly are not as well.

However in this lockdown there is little else to do but to observe it. Before I get to football of course ( by the way the most looked at sporting event is the World Cup followed by the Euros.The Olympics only gets there because of football!!!)

I did enjoy the female 400 m freestyle. Two champions battling it out. What a shame there had to be a winner.

But lets get to basics. i had high hopes for out Olyroos more so after their impressive win over Argentina, We could and should have had 3 or 4 more goals. Arnie then parked the bus against Spain. This is poor strategy for three reasons.

1) Aussie like to win not draw

2) If the Opposition scores you are gone

3) You are more likely to gain yellow cards when you are defending a lot and that is shat occurred.

Not learning any lessons from the Spain  match we again played for a draw against Egypt. they scored and Arnie had to make changes/ yes we were unlucky not to score but you make your own luck. the yellow cards against Spain cost us badly as we lacked quality to replace them.

All in all Arnie makes bad decisions in tournaments which is not a good omen.

The Matildas have played above themselves to make the semi-finals. ( Can I say again that female football is terrible in terms of skill, footwork, creativity etc). I doubt very much if we can beat Sweden Our defence is woeful and I doubt if we can score more goals than Sweden. We do have a chance of a bronxe however.

Finally how good is it that a refugee is in the final of the 800m.

Postscript:

The Matildas were unlucky to lose although Sweden were the better side. They played a lot better than I thought they could and Sweden were not as good as in the group stage.

The Referee had a good game except for ruling our goal not a goal for reasons I still do not understand. I am way more strict than her on the alleged offence and I did not see it. for some unfathomable reason she and the two who lined missed at least 3 perhaps 4 bits of simulation. It is unfathomable because the women's game is so slow and these offences should be picked up with ease.

What is so frustrating about the women's game is twofold. The number of long balls for the forwards to run  onto. As is usually the case the pas is either hit too hard or too soft and this tactic is used way too often. The amount of turnover of the ball by the two sides without anyone pressuring them was to be frank embarrassing.

The young aboriginal girl does show good skill which is also missing from the women's game.