Cup Crazy - 11 June

Time for Brian's pearls of wisdom from Day 3...

Three for Three!
Not to toot my own horn, but I was three for three with my predictions today. I got the winners right in the Mexico-Iran game and the Portugal-Angola game. And I was spot-on in the Netherlands-Serbia and Montenegro game (1-nil to Holland). OK, so none of those were stretches. But after my poor Day 1, I'll take all I can get. To celebrate, I will share with you a pic of my new Dutch lady-friend. She has exactly the kind of spirit we look for here at Bookable Offense. Check the bottom of this post of my predictions for tomorrow.

This Should Shut Up the Mexico City Press
Impressive stuff from the Mexicans today, wouldn't you say? A lot of people (including Bryce, I believe) thought the Iranians would take points off of Mexico today. Things looked dicey for a while as the two teams were level at a goal apiece heading into the second half. But Mexico showed its class in the second half. Their second goal was opportunistic, taking full advantage of a bad turnover by the Iranian defense. And the third goal - a header by Omar Bravo - was a thing of beauty. Following Portugal's lackluster performance today, Mexico very well could win Group D when all is said and done. On a side note, what a classy move by the Iranians in presenting Mexico goalie Oswaldo Sanchez, whose father passed away days ago, with a bouquet of flowers before the game. While many are none too pleased with Iran over their politics, it's important to separate a nation's government from their football team. Three cheers for the Iranians.

Quick Kicks

• Holland's 1-0 victory over Serbia and Montenegro was an outstanding result. As we've discussed here before, the Serbians' defense is one of the best in this tournament. The Dutch have kept the pace with Argentina and are in good shape heading into their contest with Cote d'Ivoire. The Robben kid is a punk, but boy is he good.
• Portugal was pretty uninspiring today. Like England yesterday, the Portuguese will have to be a hell of a lot better if they are going to make some noise in Germany. Still, a win is a win and you have to trust that Big Phil will rally his troops.

Hair of the Day
This award goes to Angola's Loco, who also wins Name of the Day.


Tomorrow's predictions

Australia 1, Japan 1
USA 2, Czech Republic 1 (this is my one and only homer pick)
Italy 2, Ghana 2

I promise, should the US lose tomorrow, no more homer picks!

Photos courtesy of our friends at yahoo.com and fifaworldcup.yahoo.com. Email us at bookableoffense@gmail.com.