shawThings.net : a collection of shaw things ...

A quick review of the third round of games (ie. every team's third and final group game).

At any other time, this would have been a marvellous result. Unfortunately today it was not enough. Cahill and Holman gave us a glimmer of hope mid-way through the second half, but in the end we fell short and our tournament is over.

The Doctor is treating Amy to make up for losing Rory (despite her failing to remember him). At the Musee d'Orsay, the Doctor spots a face in one of Van Gogh's paintings. Believing it to be evil he takes Amy back to 1890 to meet Vincent Van Gogh and find out what the face belongs to. Thus begins a witty, yet poignant, episode about sadness, depression and one of the world's greatest ever painters. I really liked this episode; it's well worth a second look.

A quick review of the second round of games (ie. every team's second group game).

The big question was: would the real Australia turn up and display the grit, determination and talent we know they have. The answer, despite us not getting the result we needed, was a resounding yes.

A quick review of the first round of games (ie. every team's first group game).

Our tournament got off to the worst possible start. We were thrashed 0-4 by the Germans and Tim Cahill was given an undeserved red card and will miss our next match.

A fairly straight-forward episode, but with effectively two endings: one where the Doctor saves the day in the usual way and a second where the cracks re-appear with devastating effect.

The Doctor, Rory and Amy burst out of the TARDIS expecting to be in Rio. Unfortunately they're in a little town in Wales in the year 2020. So begins a reasonably traditional Doctor Who story featuring an old enemy: the Silurians.

You don't take a lot from friendlies, but it's nice to win. Losing 1-3 is not a disaster for the same reason, but you'd rather not lose like this in your last warm-up match before a big tournament. By all accounts, the USA played well and deserved their win. They're also rated a better side than Denmark, putting our last friendly in perspective.