We have a report from the fj.life.in-japan Dynamics Officer that chuckers has
exploded. Flight director confirms that:

>>Japan hasn't won a single World Cup match outside Japan as yet. [...]
>
>Well, they have now as the media will proceed to tell us over and over
>again.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The first half performance was a complete snooze-fest -- the only thing that
kept me awake, up until Honda's goal, was the blasted vuvuzelas (aside: I keep
reading that as if it's an anagram for "zulu vulvas"; does this make me a
pervert?). The second half was much more lively, if nothing else but for the
fact that Cameroon's entire strategy for the final ten minutes was "hoof a long
ball into the Japan penalty area and pray that Eto'o can get under it; either
Tulio clears it or someone makes a harrowing shot that is saved by Kawashima;
rinse, repeat". 

And like you said, the morning papers treated it like we'd defeated the alien
invaders in _Independence Day_, but hey -- can you really blame them? For a
nation that *likes* the game so much, there's been so little to cheer for. I'm
happy just to avoid looking like the poor Greeks out there.

>If Japan can hold Denmark 

Possibly. But I won't hold my breath.

>and the Netherlands to draws

Flatly stated: Impossible. The Dutch are favorites to win the entire tournament.

>it *might* have a chance of going to the next stage.

It would be a dream come true to most fans. We can only wait and see.

>Again, I only care about the mathematics behind it.  Interleague baseball is 
>still winding down.

Yeah. The Dragons are under .500. Interleague can't end soon enough, in my
mind...


-- 
The 2-Belo                           [the2beloATmsdDOTbiglobeDOTneDOTjp]
alt.flame  alt.fan.karl-malden.nose  alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk
meow                   a brimful of asha on a 45                    meow
meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow

"If you can't be good, be colorful." -- Pete Conrad