Well, Merry Christmas everyone (It's happening in 2 days time) to you all for the millions spending time at home here in New Zealand, & the billions from all around the world tuning into this Christmas blog special, but news straight out of America a few weeks ago as the former US president Donald Trump (Who is in the middle of a scandal about the raids had taken place that his documents had been seized) in his home at Mar-El-Lago in Florida has announced that he's going to run for president again to challenge the current US president Joe Biden in 2024, but let's hope he doesn't rebound from his 2020 US election defeat against him (And they passed a new law recently therefore stopping another January 6th in the aftermath of the events of early last year where the Capitol insurrection riots had taken place in a last ditch bid to overturn the result of the election in 2020).
And listening to those rock tunes reminds me of my youth days growing up from the 90s until today (And I'm 31 now because of me tuning in to my favourite radio station of Brian FM (But I listen to The Rock FM only on Saturday nights when it's ad free until I go to bed) that I listen every day) but seeing a Football World Cup game on television reminds me of watching a good rugby match on TV when I told Pops about it before & the Football World Cup final is like a title fight of a wrestling match (Which is sorta like a rock concert vibe) at a main event of Wrestlemania (The WWE's flagship premier event) in fact as well as a most important rock concert that a big name band like both the Red Hot Chili Peppers & the Foo Fighters is performing.
And in rugby news such as the Wallabies down Wales in one of the greatest comebacks in rugby history at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff while the current Rugby World Cup holders the Springboks, managed to overcome a red card to dispatch England at Twickenham in London in the last international rugby test of the year in Eddie Jones's last game as coach of the England rugby team.
And there's a cricket related fact as I mentioned in my previous blogs that the only time England (Whose plans of winning this years tournament began after a semifinal loss against New Zealand in last years T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi) had lost a 2022 T20 World Cup match before winning the tournament against Pakistan in the final at the MCG to become the 1st men's national cricket team to become the holders of both the 50 over & 20 over World Cups was against Ireland who had an upset win according to the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern system method but the latest on the cricket as Black Caps player Kane Williamson is moving on from the captaincy in the test format as he deals from an elbow injury which limited him from playing big shots, allowing experienced veteran Tim Southee to take the captaincy in the test format instead of Tom Latham as New Zealand go into both the test & ODI series against Pakistan on Pakistani soil including the Boxing Day test which is happening from the 26th to the 30th of December in Karachi.
And in COVID-19 related news such as there has been a setback in our country of New Zealand which has gone from bad to worse as 40,000 confirmed cases have been reported recently as well as a numerous number of persons passed away (And life is just a little messed up but when will we bring back the restrictions? If there is more than 100,000 (But we're still declaring war on the corona virus here in New Zealand), just like in China that there is a zero COVID-19 framework still in place as peaceful protests had occurred in the country about it still affected by the pandemic since it began in early November 2019 with the 1st confirmed case of the corona virus occurred at a Huanan fish market in Wuhan, 4 months before the world changed/altered (And that would've been that tragic event unfolded throughout my generation but we managed to survive in our country while the UK has sent out a Christmas roll out warning by the National Health Service about the corona virus due to 5,000 or 6,000 confirmed cases being reported with 10,000 likely to end up getting hospitalized by the end of the year if things continue to escalate by picking up the disease & something like India has a vaccination policy in place as well as bringing back the mask mandate rulings since China's opened their borders up with India due to the high amount of confirmed cases) just like the events of the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States of America in 2001 (A year before the establishment & foundation of the Department of Homeland Security in direct response to 9/11, but it's worse than the events of Pearl Harbor in 1941 during World War II when the Americans declared war on the Axis, V-Day in 1945 when World War II ended in Europe & the assassinations of both US President John F Kennedy in 1963 by a gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald who was gunned down by Jack Ruby which resulted security being stepped up at courts nationwide throughout America following that serious incident & American civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr in 1968) as the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic where everything had to be stopped when it started to spread).
And finally here are the results of the 2022 Football World Cup games being played:
Wales 0 - 2 IR Iran (And it was the Iranians who came away with a win by scoring 2 late goals in the aftermath of a red card to Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey for a foul play incident in which he thought was going to get booked according to the video assistant referee)
Qatar 1 - 3 Senegal (And the Senegalese who are without their star talisman of Sadio Mane through a serious injury pushed the host nation to bits)
Netherlands 1 - 1 Ecuador (It was the Dutch who put themselves in front & on track to win the game until Ecuador equalized ending Holland's hopes for another victory before the match had ended in a draw)
England 0 - 0 USA (And I thought England were going to dominate the game but it didn't as the Americans were oh so competitive according to Pops when both sides were held out to a goal less draw meaning that the Americans continue the trend of having never been beaten by the English)
Tunisia 0 - 1 Australia (And it was the Socceroos 1st win at a Football World Cup since 2010 against Serbia in which they tore the Tunisians apart)
Poland 2 - 0 Saudi Arabia (It has all been Poland (Who recovered after that nail biting draw against Mexico) in which they won that contest against the giant killing Saudis who shocked the world which turned the football world upside down with a memorable as well as an historic upset win of the tournament against the Argy Bargies but to steal the game for Saudi Arabia in one of the most victories in the history of sport, not just in the game of football).
France 2 - 1 Denmark (And it was the defending world champions time to shine as they would finally beat Denmark at a Football World Cup for the first time since 1998 to secure a place in the round of 16 with star talisman Kylian Mbappe scoring 2 fantastic goals (Including the match winner from him after Denmark had to equalize) that won them the game)
& Argentina 2 - 0 Mexico (It was the Lionel Messi led Argentina's day as they rebounded from a landmark defeat against Saudi Arabia to down Mexico on that occasion with their aspirations of making the knockout stages, well in truly alive)
UPDATED
Japan 0 - 1 Costa Rica (It was the Costa Ricans day after being annhiliated by the Spanish by 7 goals in the previous game, as they manhandle the Japanese who unable to follow up from their upset win against Germany)
Belgium 0 - 2 Morocco (And another upset was on the cards as Morocco stun Belgium in which they turned the football world upside down compared to Japan pulling the grand daddy of them all, by knocking over Germany but the Saudis shock win over the Argentinians was better because it was the standout for me in the mother of all upsets)
Croatia 4 - 1 Canada (And it was Croatia who recovered after a draw against Morocco to secure a hiding over Canada (Who took the lead in the 1st half before the Croatians overturned a 1 goal deficit to score 4 unanswered goals) to comprehensively win the game)
Spain 1 - 1 Germany (And there was a drawn game between both sides after Spain scored first during the 2nd half with Alvaro Morata before the man who replaced the injured Timo Werner before the tournament of Niclas Fuellkrug who equalized, ending Spain's hopes of a victory (And it was during the 1st half that one of the German defenders of Antonio Ruediger who thought he scored a goal to put them in the lead, only to be denied as the offside line had been breached/broken) allowing Germany to keep hopes of making the knockouts alive)
Cameroon 3 - 3 Serbia (It was a draw at the end after 6 goals had been scored in the match so far (3 from both sides including the Cameroonians who had staged a tremendous fightback)
Korea Republic 2 - 3 Ghana (And it was the Ghanaians night after they scored a match winning goal by staving of elimination in a thriller to put them in front & held on until the end (And one of the coaches of Korea Republic had been shockingly sent off by the referee for illegally saying something in front of the ref after the South Koreans had thought that they could take a corner in their hopes of drawing the game, but they ran out of time)
Brazil 1 - 0 Switzerland (And the Brazilians (Who were without their star talisman Neymar as he is ruled out of this game through injury) finally had a win against the Swiss after a draw had happened between both sides in 2018 to become the 2nd side after the reigning world champions France to reach the knockout stages (Casemiro was the lone goal scorer in the game while there was a goal scored by Vinicius Jr earlier in the 2nd half but the referee had overturned the decision according to the VAR to no goal as a result of an offside by Vinicius (And many thoughts are about the VAR policing the offside line if a goal is scored when the referee is able to check the matter due to the introduction of the automated offside law made by the video assistant referee)
& Portugal 2 - 0 Uruguay (And it was the Portuguese time to shine to become the 3rd team after both France & Brazil to reach the Round of 16 after their victory against Uruguay, exacting revenge from 4 years ago in the Round of 16 game in 2018 including a penalty (In which the referee had to go to the video assistant referee by checking for a possible handball by Uruguay (I thought it wasn't a handball to start with, which was deemed a bit controversial) in which the ref had successfully awarded a penalty which went in the way of Portugal) scored by Bruno Fernandes who got his second goal in the match)
So that is my 476th blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 24th of this year, stay safe & one love, viva Ukraine (And I just wanted to say happy holidays & also wishing you a happy new year so thank you for all of my support covering my blogs this year, bring on 2023! (And my final thoughts on my blog this year before I wrap it up? That's it man! Game over man, game over!).
P.S. And the rugby world is in mourning as former Scottish rugby union player Doddie Weir has passed away after a lengthy battle of MND at age 52 so all thoughts, prayers & condolences got to the family of Doddie Weir, rest in pieces/rest easy (And he joins the likes of numerous celebs who have passed away such as the Australian cricket trio of Rod Marsh, Shane Warne (Who as I mentioned in my previous blogs as the finest cricketer of that generation) & Andrew Symonds, a duo of American Hollywood film stars of Sidney Poitier & William Hurt, a pair of New Zealand rugby union players of Inga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri, American rock star drummer & Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Taylor Hawkins of the famous American rock band, the Foo Fighters (Who are now down to 5 survivors such as Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett & Rami Jaffee), the former Japanese Prime Minister of Shinzo Abe, the former Australian actress who starred with John Travolta in the 1976 movie Grease, Olivia Newton-John, the Tongan rugby player as well as reowned broadcaster Willie Lose, & last but not least, Her Majesty the Queen of Queen Elizabeth II (Who was the longest serving monarch which lasted for 70 years until her son, His Majesty King Charles III had taken over) & now the famous American boxing referee & court judge of Mills Lane who passed away most recently (And I hadn't mentioned that famous Hollywood actor of Italian American Ray Liotta passing away in May).
Doddie Weir
1970 - 2022
And last but not least, I'd like to give a shout-out to one of Pops friends from the Bretagne region in France of Wai Lam, Wai Lam's wife & Clement (Son of Wai Lam) whose staying here at our place from the 20th of December until Christmas eve (Which is the day before the big day known as the real thing which is Christmas (But my favourite part of Christmas is opening the presents just because I feel like a young kid eh, am I right?).
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