Month: August 2023

2023 Rugby World Cup: Preposterous Pool Play

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Sports

Welcome back! I’m glad I didn’t scare you off from last week’s 2023 Rugby World Cup introduction blog, though it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that good, either.

In keeping with celebrating the Rugby World Cup that starts next month, I’m dedicating some blogs to discuss the tournament, purely because I love rugby.

Credit: World Rugby

After my intimidating intellectual introduction to the 2023 Rugby World Cup last week, this blog will focus on some of the most important pool games. To refresh our wonderful memories on the matter, the draw looks like this:

Pool A: New Zealand, France, Italy, Uruguay, and Namibia.

Pool B: South Africa (defending world champions), Ireland, Scotland, Tonga, and Romania.

Pool C: Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia, and Portugal.

Pool D: England, Japan, Argentina, Samoa, and Chile.

Before I discuss some of these pool games, let’s establish two key things:

1.) Every single pool game is important and deserves your attention, regardless of the two teams smashing each other.

2.) A lot of people like myself, will be following and supporting their team throughout the pool games. I’ll be watching the four New Zealand pool games live, even at stupid o’clock.

Having said those two things, because of my decades of one-eyed bias, I believe that eight pool games will dictate and impact the quarter-finals. To put it another way, these are the key games throughout the four pools. I’m not listing by importance, but the order in which they’ll be played. Also since the games will be played in France, the kick-off times are at local time.

1st Key Game: Pool A

New Zealand vs France (opening game): 8th September at 9.15 pm

The opening game will feature The All Blacks vs. Les Bleus and it will be dangerous. The All Blacks have been performing very well this year, though Saturday’s game against South Africa is something I’m still trying to process, to be honest. On the other boot, I think France is the second-best team on the planet, currently. The last time these two teams played, France won 40-25.

By hosting the World Cup, the French are going to be playing in front of their fans, so they’ll be extremely difficult to beat. They are such an excellent side, especially with their captain, Antoine Dupont, arguably the best player in the world.

In all honesty, the winner of this game will win Pool A, with the loser being the runner-up. The problem here is that whether it’s France/New Zealand or New Zealand/France, they will be facing the winner and runner-up of Pool B in the quarter-finals. That is a mind-numbing prospect. Do I know who is going to win this game? No, but there’s no way I’m missing it.

2nd Key Game: Pool D

England vs Argentina: 9th September at 9.00 pm

At this Rugby World Cup, there are two pools of death: Pool B and Pool D, with both pools having three possible contenders each.

The last time England played Argentina, it was the South American team that won 30-29. In my humble opinion, Argentina has made huge gains over the last 15 years. They can wear down and defeat anybody in the world, but they do struggle with an 80-minute performance.

England’s had some mixed results over the last two years. Adding in the factors of a new coach, a string of defeats, and some key suspensions leading into the World Cup, this clash will be highly important, considering the other team they will need to contend with.

3rd Key Game: Pool B

South Africa vs Scotland: 10th September at 5.45 pm

This is the first key game from Pool B. South Africa, the three-time and current world champions, are up against Scotland the Brave. The last time Scotland defeated South Africa was in 2010 at Murrayfield; this was before the MCU had taken over the world.

Scotland has won six games this year, so they have been progressing quite well; however their magical fullback, Stuart Hogg retired earlier in the year to the shock of many, including myself. In saying that, Scotland still has game-winning players like Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe.

South Africa has been doing what South African teams are famous are: producing monsters that dominate and grind teams into submission. These two teams have not played against each other for two years, so both teams will be fielding their top sides to deal with the carnage.

4th Key Game: Pool D

England vs Japan: 17th September at 9.00 pm

Regardless of what happens between England and Argentina, if England wants to progress to the quarter-finals, they will need to go through Japan. Maybe 10-15 years ago, nobody would have rated Japan at a Rugby World Cup. They’re easily the best team in Asia, but they were always a Tier 2 nation at best.

Over time, they have beaten teams like Canada, Tonga, the United States, Samoa, Fiji, Georgia, Argentina, and Romania. Then Japan rolled Wales in 2013, and Italy in 2014; however they had never won a Rugby World Cup game. That changed at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, when they defeated South Africa 34-32, to achieve their first-ever win at the tournament.

Since then, Japan has drawn against France and defeated both Ireland and Scotland at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in front of home fans. The last two years have been difficult for them, but the self-belief is there for the Brave Blossoms, so England vs. Japan will be very interesting.

5th Key Game: Pool B

South Africa vs Ireland: 23rd September at 9.00 pm

The current world champions playing the world’s number-one-ranked team in a pool match seems insane, but it’s true. Over the last 10 years, Ireland has slowly become a powerhouse in world rugby, and within the last three years, they have become the team to beat and the number-one-ranked team in the world.

Ireland’s work at the breakdown, coupled with set pieces, line breaks, and the ability to problem solve out of terrible situations, are the envy of the world. They are currently on an 11-game winning streak, but that will be put to the test against South Africa.

The South Africans have won the World Cup three times, with Ireland never progressing past the quarter-finals. Having said that, Ireland is going into the World Cup as one of the favourites to win it, and they will be desperate to do it. They are an amazing team, but they will need to overcome South Africa to get there. What a game that’s going to be!

6th Key Game: Pool C

Wales vs Australia: 28th September at 9.00 pm

Even though Fiji’s win against England in the weekend was impressive, I still believe the biggest game in Pool C is Wales vs. Australia. Both teams are very similar: they have endured some mixed performances against Tier 1 and 2 nations over the last three years, and they are both rebuilding, as well as having ex-coaches returning, in the forms of Warren Gatland and Eddie Jones, respectfully.

I get the feeling that this game will be more about the coaches than the players. Both Gatland and Jones are under massive pressure, because of their mixed results. They have been touted as the saviours of their team’s woes, so they will need the players to prove to their home countries, that they are still the right person for the job.

There’s a lot of history between Wales and Australia, so this game will be brutal.

7th Key Game: Pool B

Ireland vs Scotland: 7th October at 9.00 pm

Just like England and Japan, if Ireland wants to progress out of their pool, they need to go through Scotland. Currently, history is against Scotland, with Ireland winning the previous eight games. But the thing is, this is the World Cup and anything can happen.

Ireland would be quietly confident about this game, but we have no idea the condition of their players after the South African game. For all we know, half of the forwards could be injured, with some of the backs could be sitting on red cards.

On paper, Ireland should win this, but Scotland will not go quietly into the night. From the Scottish point of view, Ireland is in their way to reaching the quarter-finals, so they will start their A-side to battle them. This game will be crazy!

8th Key Game: Pool D

Japan vs Argentina: 8th October at 1.00 pm

Out of all of the key pool games, this could be the most explosive. Whatever team loses this game, could be going home. Yes, it does depend on England’s results against Japan and Argentina. I mean if England lost both games, then some of the pressure would have been let off for this game. However, if England wins against both Japan and Argentina, then this game will be utter carnage.

Both teams will need to be firing at full strength, and a draw may save one team, but doom the other. This game will feature the top team in South America vs. the top team in Asia, with a potential quarter-final berth as the prize.

It would also be remiss of me, not to mention the dangers Italy, Tonga, Georgia, Fiji, and Samoa will represent in pool games. They will be desperate to impress as well, along with the other remaining teams.

What pool games will you be watching? Have I missed any key pool games? Like always, please let me know.

This blog got away from me, like Bugs Bunny from Elmer Fudd. I was going to talk about rugby’s scoring system, so I promise to do it next week.

I need to get in some extra hours of sleep because I’m going to be losing a lot of it, through watching games and anxiety. Damn it, I just felt another hair turn grey.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. This entire project is pure hubris, but it means a lot to me. Don’t forget to walk your dog; read a banned book; and please understand that releasing your mugshot on your social media account, is an own goal. I’ll see you next week.

2023 Rugby World Cup: What is it all about?

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Sports1 Comment

When I came up with the idea of Some Geek Told Me during the first lockdown, one of the main reasons was to discuss different things that interest me, like popular culture, science, salt and vinegar chips, and the list could go on and on.

I’ve discussed many important topics on my blog like my socks, my favourite Saga covers, the order in which children should watch the Star Wars movies, and how my wife is weird. However, there is one topic I have mentioned in passing, but I have never taken the time to enlighten the world on it. This gets corrected this month.

I love rugby. I mean it, I love it. I’m a New Zealander, so I have to by default, but I still love it. Firstly, I know for some strange reason, some people in the world either don’t like rugby or don’t care about it. I’ve said this before, but no one is perfect.1

That being the case, I’m going to talk about the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Few things in this world make me feel fear and excitement like a Rugby World Cup; apart from eating some random chips at a party. Will they be Salt and Vinegar or Sour Cream and Chives or something else? I live on the edge. Aerosmith doesn’t have anything on me.

Every four years relative to their trophy, the world’s best rugby teams compete to be world champions. In 2022, the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup was held 2 and the next one will be in 2025. For the men’s trophy, it actually starts next month; with various emotions already flooding into me. Anxiety, hope, fear, happiness, depression, excitement, apathy, and jubilation. They’re fighting for control of my mind because I want my country to win, and I can’t do anything about it.

The Rugby World Cup, aka The Webb Ellis Cup. This is named after William Webb Ellis, which according to legend says that he is credited for creating rugby union, by picking up the ball and running with it, during a football game in 1823. Credit: World Rugby.

Host

This year’s tournament will run from 8th September to 28th October 2023, but because of the differences in time zones, it’ll be 9th September to 29th October for me. 3

The host country is France, and they have held the tournament before; 1991 with eight games (co-host), 1999 with eight games (co-host), and 2007 with 42 games as the main host. France will host all 48 games, over 51 days, covering nine cities.

They are:

  • Paris: Stade de France. Capacity: 80,023. Will host the second and fourth quarter-finals, both semi-finals, the bronze play-off match, and the final.
  • Marseille: Stade Vélodrome. Capacity: 67,847. Will host the first and third quarter-finals,
  • Lyon: OL Stadium. Capacity: 58,883.
  • Lille: Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Capacity: 50,096.
  • Bordeaux: Stade de Bordeaux. Capacity: 42,060.
  • Saint-Étienne: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Capacity: 42,152.
  • Nice: Stade de Nice. Capacity: 35,983.
  • Nantes: Stade de la Beaujoire. Capacity: 35,520.
  • Toulouse: Stade de Toulouse. Capacity: 33,103.

Teams

There are 20 teams across four pools. The draw looks like this:

Pool A: New Zealand, France, Italy, Uruguay, and Namibia.

Pool B: South Africa (defending world champions), Ireland, Scotland, Tonga, and Romania.

Pool C: Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia, and Portugal.

Pool D: England, Japan, Argentina, Samoa, and Chile.

Previous Winners

After the first edition in 1987, there have been only four countries that have won the Rugby World Cup:

New Zealand: 1987, 2011, and 2015

South Africa: 1995, 2007, and 2019

Australia: 1991 and 1999

England: 2003

So why should you care about the Rugby World Cup? Hang on, here’s a better question, why do I care about it?

Nothing, and I mean nothing, brings me more quadrennial stress than the Rugby World Cup! For my elevated stress levels, this event is more dangerous to me than my job, children and my wife combine. This is my wife’s third Rugby World Cup with me, and I’m already annoying her, with only 18 days from the start of the tournament. And it’s slowly going to get worse. I’m terrible.

Why do I do this to myself? Easy, I love rugby, I love my country and I want them to win. But as past World Cups have shown, how you deal with victory, is just as important as how you deal with heartbreak.

Case in point, it’s a life lesson I’ve been explaining to UMC1 and UMC2. With any team sport, and especially World Cups, you want your team to do well because you love them. You support and follow them because they’re your team. When they win, you love them because they’re winning. And if they lose, that’s when you need to love them even more.

I’m an All Blacks fan. I always have been and I always will be. I’ve ridden the highs with them, as well as suffered and stressed about the lows. This Rugby World Cup is going to be extremely competitive and tight; particularly with the phenomenal way Ireland and France are currently playing. Although that is another blog for another week.

Rugby is a wonderful sport, with crazy rules and outstanding players. From the scoring system, the dark arts of the front row, the lexicon, and players’ positions, rugby is simply amazing.

If this is your first Rugby World Cup, then welcome. If you’re a returning fan, then it’s great to see you again. If you’re interested in watching the games, please do so. If nothing else, they will give you an excuse to complain about forward passes, hands in the ruck, collapsing scrums, offsides, head-high tackles, and whether the referee is actually watching the game or not.

I can’t wait, though my blood pressure can. I can feel individual hairs on my head slowly turning grey, just thinking about the Rugby World Cup. Good times.

Will you be watching the Rugby World Cup? Who are you supporting? Who do you think will win? Please let me know. Next week, I’m going to discuss which pool games to look out for, because they will have the biggest impact on the quarter-finals, as well as discussing the scoring system for any rugby novices. This only happens every four years, so I’m making the most of it. Sorry, not sorry.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m also on Twitter and Mastodon, where I post about history, geography, movies, politics, music, sports, comics, and anything else that can hold my attention. Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, block Elon Musk, and I’ll see you next week.

1.) Dear single people, please remember that.

2.) Thanks COVID-19, once again.

3.) Can any Flat Earther explain time zones?

Tour of the Solar System: The Moon

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

Just when you thought it was over, it’s back. The Solar System’s worst tour has returned for another scheduled stop. Yes, it’s Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System! This is the seventh stop of the tour, so if you want to get caught up, now’s the chance.

1.) Introduction

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

For today’s thrilling chapter, we will be stopping by Earth’s BFF1; the Moon. Many cultures have their own stories and myths concerning the Moon, so we will just be sticking to the cold, hard data that Spock, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes would appreciate.

Sweet? Ok then, strap yourself in for lunacy.2

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Let’s discuss the oliphaunt in the room, shall we? Her name is Angela, and after surviving the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, she has a lot of time to think about things. She told me one of these things is the Moon’s name. The name of Earth’s only moon is …..the Moon. I have stated this before, but scientists are extremely important and world-changing people, but some of them suck at naming things.

Angela and I love the concept that the Moon is named after a moon. It’s a moon, so let’s call it the Moon! Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and even Pluto have moons, and every one has a real name. Some of them have badarse names like Deimos, Themisto, Hyperion, Oberon, Proteus, and Hydra. This means a collection of people would have discovered these moons, and given them truly creative and imaginative names, from various genres of literature.

But for our one and only moon, the best name humanity could come up with was the Moon. Yes, it has nicknames for informal occasions like Luna and Selene; but we could have called it Brightnail, Paroan, Vengeance, Merchant of the Void, Moony McMoon Face, or even Dave, however, we thought the Moon was a lot more edgier and hardcore.

It’s a wonder that Earth isn’t just called Planet.

The age of the Moon is certainly under debate in scientific circles. From what I understand, the Moon is estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old, but new research dates the Moon to be 4.425 billion years old. I heard some astrophysicists, astronomers, and astrogeologists, will enter a death match competition to determine the correct age; and the winners will have bragging rights and the globally accepted age of the Moon. It’ll be a battle royale involving reflecting telescopes, spectrometers, rovers, and satellites.

Another hot theory that’s up for discussion, is the origin of the Moon. I mean, why does the Earth have a moon? How did it get there? And since jumping over it, has the location of the cow been discovered?

One of the leading theories concerning the origin of the Moon, does not involve radioactive spiders, being struck by lightning and doused in chemicals, or being forged by the Dark Lord on his dark throne. The theory involves a hypothetical proto-planet, Theia, cruising around the Solar System before slamming into Earth. The debris from the collision was ejected into space, where over a huge amount of time, it coalesced and eventually formed the Moon.

I also could be stating the obvious here, that even though the Moon is a moon, the Moon has no moons, as well as being like Sauron; ringless.3

The Moon has a radius of 1,740 kilometres (1,080 miles) and a diameter of 3,475 kilometers (2,159 miles). This makes it the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, but also the most massive in relation to the planet that it orbits. I’m sure that would build up the Moon’s self-esteem if it heard that.

The average distance of the Moon to Earth is about 384,400 km (238,855 miles). On a cosmic scale, this distance seems extremely tiny, but it’s not. Like many other planets and moons in the solar system, the Moon’s orbit of the Earth is elliptical. When the Moon is at the furthest point away for us,4 you could fit Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Eris in between Earth and the Moon.

The Moon orbits the Earth about once every 27 days, which is roughly where we get the measurement of the months. So as the Earth rotates, so does the Moon. This is fascinating, as the Moon is tidally locked or in a synchronous rotation with the Earth. This means that our closest neighbour is spinning or rotating at the same rate as us, which causes the same side of the Moon to be always facing Earth.

It’s a common misconception that the Moon has a dark side; I’m looking at you, Pink Floyd! There is no dark side of the Moon, because the side we can’t see, is still bathed in sunlight. It’s actually known as the far side.

Video on Synchronous Rotation by astrogirlwest

Because the Moon orbits the Earth, different sections of the Moon are in darkness and sunlight, at different times of the month. This is known as the Moon’s phases, and it’s all about observing the Moon’s illumination from our perspective. It looks like the Moon is actually changing its shape, but it’s really not.

Do you remember my comment about the Earth and the Moon being BFFs at the start? Well, the Moon is actually moving away from the Earth, at the rate of about 4 cm per year. In hundreds of thousands of years; if not millions, the Moon will be a lot further away and the sky would look a lot different.

Depending on where you live in the world, people can also observe the Moon from different orientations. If you live in the southern hemisphere, you would see the Moon upside down compared to people in the northern hemisphere. If you’re on the equator, you could see various orientations throughout the day.

Against popular belief to some Flat Earthers and Space deniers, the Moon is not a projection or hologram. As for the Moon being a light source, the Moon indeed gives off light, but it does not produce or create light. Moonlight is actually sunlight that is reflected off the surface of the Moon.

This brings us to the Moon’s atmosphere. The Moon has little to no atmosphere; so it’s pretty weak. It offers no protection against radiation from the Sun, unlike the Earth. As for surface temperatures, they can vary a lot. While the Moon is facing full sunlight, temperatures can hit 127 °C (260 °F), however when in darkness, the Moon’s temperature can drop to -173 °C (-280 °F).

Basically, if you’re unlucky enough to be standing on the surface of the Moon without wearing a spacesuit, you’ll be dead in under three minutes. Sorry.

I’m running out of time and there’s so much more to discuss about the Moon, like the craters, the tidal effect, the gravitational and magnetic fields, the ice, and the lack of cheese! I would love to rant about these, but because time runs in one direction in this universe, I’ll talk about the exploration of the Moon instead.

To date, only 12 members of our species have walked on the Moon, but with the Artemis space missions, that is going to change. NASA is going back to the Moon, with Artemis 1 having already launched last year. Artemis 2 (lunar flyby) is scheduled for November 2024, with Artemis 3 (lunar landing) in 2026, and Artemis 4 is on track for September 2028. This also includes the launch of the Lunar Gateway in 2025, unless something stupid happens.

I wasn’t born between 1969-1972, which was the era humans walked on the Moon, so I can’t wait to sit with UMC1 and UMC2, to watch the Artemis missions and a lunar landing!

Alright, that’s it for me. I hope you’re still enjoying the tour, even though the view is quite miserable. Please let me know your thoughts on the tour if you feel up for it.

This coming week, we have the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with Spain vs Sweden, and Australia vs England; as well as the final on Sunday. I’ll be watching them, will you?

I have a tremendous announcement concerning the next four weeks of blogs. This could be a train wreck in slow motion, but I’m going to be writing about the Rugby World Cup, which starts on 8th September. I love rugby, so to my non-rugby following audience, I’m sorry but I’ll try to make this fun for you! 5

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals and final, and I’ll see you next week.

1.) They won’t really be together forever, but it does sound nice.

2.) I couldn’t resist that pun. Sorry, not sorry.

3.) That’s two Sauron references in two precious paragraphs.

4.) This is called apogee. When the Moon is at its closest point to Earth, this is called perigee.

5.) Nothing ages me faster and makes me more anxious than the Rugby World Cup. It takes me four years to recover from each one.

Inside a stadium on a cold winter’s night

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Children, Sports

I want to talk about the FIFA Women’s World Cup again. Why? It’s funny that you should ask that, because I got to attend a game at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, aka Dunedin Stadium.

Let’s back this up briefly, and I’ll try to explain. As the amazing followers of Some Geek Told Me would know, I love the beautiful game. When I discovered my proud little country would co-host the FIFA Women’s World Cup, I knew I had to go to a game.

Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand

And so the football gods smiled at me, because I uncovered a surprise. Not only were games going to be played in Dunedin (the closest venue to me), but New Zealand would be playing Switzerland there, for their final pool game.

I talked to my family about going, and the truth was exposed. Yes, they all wanted to go to Dunedin, but only UMC1 wanted to go to the game. And with that, the die was cast.

It took a while, but I managed to purchase two tickets for the UMC1 and myself. Hot damn I was happy! I was going to a FIFA World Cup game! For over nine months, I had small bouts of geekasms.

Outside Forsyth Barr Stadium, before the game.

Fast forward to 29th July, when we left to travel to Dunedin on Saturday. We were all pretty stoked to be going, but UMC1 and I were amped up to 11. Of course, travelling with two children is always interesting to be polite.

When we finally arrived in Dunedin, I made sure I pointed out the stadium to UMC1. His response was to roll his eyes; which is standard now, but he was doing it with a smile.

Let’s move on to the next day for the game.

I had read about some free buses were being used to transport people from the Octagon in the CBD to the stadium. Obviously, this was going to be the best way to get to the game, and after discovering there was a FIFA double-decker bus being used…well, UMC1 and I both declared that was the bus for us!

Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk to the Octagon, but we missed the FIFA bus by 25 seconds. That was a great start! After waiting for 15 minutes for another bus, we got on one, though we did promise each other that we would try to find the FIFA bus on the return trip.

After the bus dropped us off, we had another 10 minute walk to the stadium, and once we got there, it was crazy. UMC1 was concerned that the game had already started, but we had 45 minutes to spare. Once we went through security, I asked UMC1 the biggest question of the night: Did he want to eat before the game started or at half-time? He selected to eat at half-time, because he just wanted to find our seats; he was afraid someone would steal them!

Forsyth Barr Stadium is unique for a few reasons. Firstly, it can seat 28,000 people, but secondly, it’s the only fully roofed, natural grass stadium in the world. This makes it an intimate experience to be seated there. We were seated in line with the goal box and got to see both teams do their training routines, but we were closer to the Swiss team.

New Zealand TV sports celebrities were there to ramp up the crowd, with singing and dancing. I noticed UMC1 started gingerly at first, then he was singing, stomping, and clapping along with everybody else, which was astonishing.

Eventually, the teams were ready and after the national anthems, they got underway. New Zealand was playing left to right, from our perspective. UMC1 quickly noticed that every time the Swiss goalkeeper received a back pass, the crowd shouted, “WWWWWHHHHOOOOAAAA!” Every single time. UMC1 thought this was hilarious!

When New Zealand hit the post in the first half, UMC1 got angry at the referee. His argument was that if the post wasn’t there, then the ball would have gone in. It’s difficult to argue with a passionate 8 year old.

My wife often mentions that I’m not very observant. This is relevant because as I was watching the ball, the referee would stop the game. I’d be curious to know what had happened, only to discover a player was lying on the field and I didn’t even notice them.

Half-time came around, so it was time to pay for some overpriced food. UMC1 wanted some hot chips and ice cream. This was because everybody knows it’s not football without hot chips and ice cream.

After purchasing the food, we were just sitting down as the players were running back onto the field. The second half started with the Swiss goalkeeper still getting hassled with every back pass.

As the game got on, everybody was becoming more vocal. The people behind us mentioned that Norway had destroyed the Philippines in the other pool match, which meant New Zealand could not afford to draw the game; they needed to win to qualify for the Round of 16.

Things were looking desperate, so the New Zealand goalkeeper kept moving into the Swiss goalbox for corners. As you probably already know, the full-time score was 0-0; which meant Switzerland and Norway were through to the Round of 16, so New Zealand and the Philippines were out.

It’s interesting to note that both Switzerland and Norway lost their Round of 16 matches to Spain and Japan, respectively.

While we were walking out of the stadium, UMC1 was sad, but not angry. I was proud of him because I was just annoyed! Anyway, UMC1’s night improved when we managed to find the FIFA double-decker bus and found two seats, on the top level no less!

Even though it wasn’t the result we wanted, UMC1 and I had fun together; even though he threw me under the bus to my wife about not dancing in the stadium. Seriously mate, where are your priorities?! It’s been over a week now, and he’s still talking about the whole experience; the food, the bus, the noise of the stadium, and the game.

We’re still following the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and I’ll be watching as many knock-out matches as I can; especially the semi-finals and final. And speaking of World Cups, the Rugby World Cup starts on 8th September (9th September for me) to 28th October (29th October for me). I’ll be doing some badly written blogs and posts about it soon, so for my non-rugby followers and subscribers, I’m very sorry.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m also on Twitter and Mastodon, where I spout about various things. All cool stuff, mind you. Sometimes. Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch some FIFA Women’s World Cup football, and I’ll see you next week.