Well, the 2022 Football World Cup final would have to be the greatest finals in history (And one of my memorable moments not involving our own All Whites) when the Argentina side (Who became world champions for the 3rd time, 36 years after their last one in 1986 (That was 8 years after they first successfully became champions of the world in the global game in 1978 when they hosted the tournament), although they kick started their 2022 campaign with defeat against Saudi Arabia during the opening group game in one of by far, the biggest Football World Cup boilovers of all time since France (Who were the defending champions at the time) being upstaged by Senegal in 2002 in akin to the battle between David against Goliath) led by the incomparable Lionel Messi (One of the best footballers in the world during modern times who is now an 8 time winner of FIFA's top men's individual award & at that moment, he finally became a Football World Cup winner for his proud football playing country of Argentina in 2022 especially both as a player & captain, but Frenchman Kylian Mbappe (One of Messi's ex-teammates during his time with Paris Saint-Germain before his high profile move to Major League Soccer club Inter Miami (Owned by former English footballer/soccer player David Beckham) has taken over as one of the world's premier footballers) stunned the defending champions at the time of France (Who miss out on becoming the first side since Brazil in 1962 to retain the Football World Cup 4 years on after becoming world champions in Russia 2018 when they ended a 20 year hoodoo against Croatia in that memorable final for their nation, but the injuries to the French trio of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante & Paul Pogba that opened the door for Messi & co of securing their first Football World Cup championship since 1986 according to the blog that I did last year) on penalties in dramatic fashion at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar (And it was immortalized in the documentary released by Netflix late last year called Captains of the World about all 32 teams competing for a quest of football's ultimate prize, the Football World Cup, & their one main goal/objective for every national football/soccer team competing in the World Cup is to become champion of the world), compared to the 2019 Cricket World Cup final in which the Black Caps (Who later became World Test Champions in 2021 after a memorable win over India (Who had to appear in another WTC final in which they fell short again, that time against Australia before the 2 sides met again at a men's Cricket World Cup final last year at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, which resulted victory to the Australians by 6 wickets (Although they completed their record extending but unprecedented 6th men's CWC championship with 42 balls to spare to still become the best as well as by far, the most successful One Day International side in the world to add to their 1 WTC (Last year), 2 Champions Trophy (In 2006 & 2009) & 1 T20 World Cup (That was in 2021) championships to their name in a nation (Who had dominated the world cricket scene by winning a record 10 ICC sanctioned tournaments, but the West Indies side had once became kings in the world of cricket during the golden heyday halcyon period in both the 70's & 80's) that boasts 26 million people according to the commentary from former Aussie cricket Matthew Hayden following Australia's 1st World Test Championship crown) thanks to a century by Travis Head who top scored 137) in the final at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton, England) came agonizingly close against England in a historic first ever super over, even though we were defeated according to the boundary count back regulation that proved costly in which we should've won the final at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London, England but my most memorable sporting moment would have to be the 2015 Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham also in London in which the last time the All Blacks would gone on to win the tournament (That's the 3rd to add to our titles won at the inaugural one in 1987 & 2011 but 2015 was by far, better than the other 2 previous ones) against our traditional Trans-Tasman foe the Wallabies in one of by far, the greatest Rugby World Cup finals ever of all time (That was 4 years before our gut wrenching defeat in the semi against England in 2019, followed by the Springboks (Who successfully retained the World Cup by becoming the 2nd side to ever do so & become the most successful rugby playing nation in the world with 4 now (They previously won in 1995, 2007 & 2019) by taking over from New Zealand) in the final last year through a costly but controversial red card by our captain Sam Cane for a cheap shot on Springbok centre Jesse Kriel which hurt us not only that was our first loss since against hosts France (Who ended our unbeaten stretch in pool play after several key All Blacks were missing as they were dealt with injuries) in the tournament opener in which we were stunned after top try scorer of last year's RWC of Will Jordan had been given the yellow card for taking a player out in mid-air, in which we had a rough start during the tournament where the French had made rugby history), but my standout America's Cup moment would have to be in 2021 in which we retained the Auld Mug for the 2nd time against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli during race 10 in Auckland in the middle of a pandemic & it was better than the ones that we previously had in 1995 (It was in San Diego, California in the United States where we managed to outsmart & outwit the Dennis Conner led Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht according to the previous blogs that I did), 2000 (In which we became the first foreign syndicate to defend it on home soil in Auckland, New Zealand, against the Louis Vuitton Cup champions of the Prada Challenge from Italy) & 2017 (And it was the time that our painful memories we had in San Francisco back in 2013 had been erased in which we were triumphant against our old foe of Spithill & Oracle Team USA in Bermuda).
And finally there was a Bangladeshi cricketer Mushfiqur Rahim who had been given out for handling the ball which is one of the rarest dismissals you'll ever see in a game of cricket (In a similar fashion to Michael Vaughn (The one who bears hatred towards Indian people & is an outspoken critic of supporting 2 teams such as England & whoever was playing against India compared to me supporting both sides in cricket such as New Zealand & whoever was playing against Australia) for England against India in 2001 while Steve Waugh of Australia did a similar thing, earlier in the same year against the same opponent) in which the Black Caps were appealing to the umpires whether Rahim has gotta go, but one of the umpires had to have look upstairs & after a consultation to the 3rd umpire that the umpire made his final decision to give him out obstructing the field during the 2nd test in Sylhet, Bangladesh & I mean, that is terrible stuff when Bangladesh were gunning for their historic first ever test series win against New Zealand after dominating the 1st test for their 2nd win against us which reached the heights for the Bangladeshis 2 years after they made history in Tauranga, New Zealand when they beat us for the first time in the history of test cricket, but onto a cricket related story that the reason why South Africa (Who were always been chokers every time they lose at a men's Cricket World Cup like against England in 1992 in which they could've won, but there was rain that forced them to score 21 runs off the last delivery, then in 1996 where they won all of the group matches before facing the West Indies in the quarterfinal in which they were defeated not only that there was a selection blunder that Allan Donald should've been picked in which the pitch would have suited the quicks (But they have chosen South African spinner Paul Adams (Whose bowling action resembles a frog in a blender) who gave the nod instead) according to the blog that I did in 2021 as well as in 2003 where South Africa were the hosts that they should've advanced to the Super Six if they beat Sri Lanka, but a Duckworth/Lewis miscalculation meant they tied the Sri Lankans in their last group game at Kingsmead in Durban & in 2015 that the South Africans (Well, before the semi that Kyle Abbott would've been selected instead of the semi-fit Vernon Philander, not only because Abbott was impressive, most impressive with the ball in which they set the South Africans alight during the tournament) would at last, finally win a quarterfinal match against Sri Lanka as they won by 9 wickets by setting up a semifinal showdown with New Zealand in which they had set the co-hosts a record World Cup knockout game chase target in their semifinal at Eden Park – and it might have been bigger had rain not shortened the South African innings – but miscues and the heroics of South African-born Grant Elliott undid them as New Zealand advanced to their first Cricket World Cup final in which we fell short against the co-hosts Australia (Who would not win a men's Cricket World Cup title until 8 years later last year, when they silenced the pro-Indian crowd in Ahmedabad against India in the final with Travis Head (Who was the first player to score a ton in the men's CWC final since Gilchrist (Who top scored 149 during the final) in 2007 against Sri Lanka, & was the catcher when Indian captain Rohit Sharma was out off the bowling of Glenn Maxwell who later hit the winning runs, resulting in a game changer/turning point in the final) providing the heroics as he was being awarded the standout player of the game honours for his 137) on that occasion at the MCG in Melbourne with New Zealand captain at the time of Brendon McCullum bowled out cheaply by the player of the tournament Mitchell Starc, & it was game over when New Zealand continued to lose wickets since Baz was out also according to the previous blogs that I did as they won by 7 wickets) lost to Australia in the 1999 men's Cricket World Cup semifinal in which was one of the greatest matches of all time in the ODI format was the poor running by Allan Donald who didn't make it home (He dropped his bat instead) as he was run out by Mark Waugh who threw the ball to Damien Fleming who rolled it along the pitch to Adam Gilchrist standing over the stumps at the batter's end whilst his teammate on strike of Lance Klusener (Who hit 2 fours in a row since the start of the last over as the South Africans were 205 for the loss of 9, needing a further nine runs to win while the two men at the crease were Klusener who was on strike and Donald at the other end, but Damien Fleming was the bowler as if the match was tied, Australia (Whose captain at the time Steve Waugh labels that the 1999 semi against South Africa (Whose English born coach of the late Bob Woolmer resigned following that defeat) as his best cricket match that he ever played, compared to me that I label about the 2015 Rugby World Cup final between the AB's against Australia, was the best rugby game I have ever watched on TV) would go through to the final to play Pakistan at Lord's through a better net run rate than South Africa's) was trying to hit for the winning run (And the twists, turns and close finish resulted in many observers regarding the match as the perfect One Day International from an entertainment perspective. The record-breaking ODI between Australia and South Africa seven years later, in 2006, continued the close rivalry between the two teams).
So that is my 532nd blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 8th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
P.S. And it's been 2 years since that terrible event had began for which I still cannot post something about it due to a clamp down that is both offensive & objectionable to the people of that country (Led by that lunatic for which I label as a real life Kazuya Mishima (The main villain from the Tekken series, but I got 3 Tekken games now such as Tekken 6 on Xbox 360 console via the Xbox Series X backwards compatibility, Tekken 7 on the PS4 & now Tekken 8 on the PS5) & the Roman Reigns (Who is pro wrestling's equivalent to the former US president of Donald Trump) of the political world while the media labelled that coward as a real life James Bond villain while the Foreign Minister of that evil country (AKA both the Mishima Zaibatsu/G Corporation & the Bloodline of the political world) for which I label as a real life Solo Sikoa (From WWE & one of Roman Reigns's Bloodline stablemates) as well as the male equivalent of Irish assassin Nina Williams from Tekken) who started it since Pops warned me not to post stuff about it back in 2022 (A year before the Israel - Hamas invasion begun on the 7th of October (And the beginning of the Gaza war is similar to the turbulent events of the 24th of February in 2022) which was last year in which the death toll is rising but increasing mainly due to hostages being kept by the Hamas terrorist group organisation, but Gaza now has turned it into hell (And I remember the comments from Carole on Pops emails about her trash talking Leon Benbaruk via email about the Gaza situation being out of control, but the hopes for World War III are under threat due to both horrendous events that just kept going, but I once told Pops what side he is supporting which is either Israel or Palestine on the 17th of February, then Pops replied that he is a critic of Palestine during the Gaza invasion since Carole (Who is part British & part Iraqi according to another story that I remember, but she goes to the Whanganui river traders market every Saturday as part of a pro-Palestinian group about the crisis in Gaza) has Middle Eastern roots) where it continued as the Kiwis stopped watching, right from the thick of it.
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