Well, hey guys & girls (G'day), I am Whetu tuning in to my Kiwiavenger blog, but first of all (And foremost), the final of Euro 2024 is set, it'll be Spain squaring off against England at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany on July 14th, in the aftermath of Spain who became the first side to book a place in the final with victory against Kylian Mbappe's France after being a goal down in the 1st semi which was similar to the Portugal-Czechia & Netherlands-Turkiye games, then England did a similar thing to Spain (Who reach their first final of the European Football Championship since Euro 2012 which was held in both Ukraine & Poland in which they crushed Italy in the final to secure their record tying 3rd Euros championship to date, & have never won it since (They were eliminated by Italy (Who fell to Germany in the quarterfinal at the same tournament, 5 years before becoming champions & 3 years later, they were unable to defend their title this year in which the injury ravaged side were outfoxed against Switzerland (The one who caused the biggest boilover at Euro 2020 which was held in 2021 against tournament favourites France in the round of 16 before being fallen short against Spain on spot kicks in the quarters in which the Swiss have achieved their best result to date at the Euros) in the round of 16) at both Euro 2016 in France during the Round of 16 & at the delayed Euro 2020 in 2021 in the semifinal on penalties) as they crushed the Netherlands to a 2 - 1 win after becoming the 4th side to win a game after being a goal down at this years Euros tournament (And both the Spanish & English sides were down but not out for the count on that occasion).
So it's Spain to play England in the Euro 2024 final at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany on Sunday local time which is Monday morning New Zealand time to decide who will become champion of Europe (Well, who is it going to be? Whether it's the Spanish Armada to party like it's 1964, 2008 & 2012 (Vamos Espanya) or will football finally come home for the English in order to break their 58 year drought of winning men's football tournaments where the English have never won since their home Football World Cup tournament in 1966 (C'mon England! (And they came so close in 2020 which was held in 2021 where they lost to the Italians on spot kicks (And the English should've won on that occasion) which resulted angry England fans who racially abused Bukayo Saka (Who scored the goal of the quarterfinal against Switzerland that tied things up before going into penalties) for missing a penalty during the shootout, meaning that the war on racial hate towards footballers who have African roots like Saka had been declared on social media, with suspensions likely to be handed out to the fans those who discriminate them (And abuse as well as hate & discrimination on social media, is like bullying, therefore that they are trying to prohibit them in the process, I mean oh no, that is terrible I have to say), but will it be Spain skipper Alvaro Morata (It was the late Ferran Olivella who did it in 1964 against the Soviet Union in the final then Iker Casillas not once but twice in 2008 against Germany in the final & 2012 against Italy also in the final) whose hopes of playing in the final had been dealt with injury after the semifinal win against France where a cameraman (Who got clobbered by a steward in pursuit of a fan who illegally charged onto the field to celebrate with the Spanish players) trodded onto Morata's lower leg, therefore injuring the former Chelsea player but if he's ruled out through injury, Dani Carvajal (Who is returning from a 1 game suspension alongside his Spanish teammate Robin le Normand where both Carvajal (One of Jude Bellingham's teammates coincedentally in club level who was part of the Real Madrid club that triumphed in the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund in June this year) & le Normand sat out in Spain's win over France in the semi through a ban after being given another yellow card which resulted in a red card (Carvajal) while le Normand missed the next match for the accumulation of bookings during that controversial quarterfinal encounter against hosts Germany (Who had Toni Kroos who took Pedri out which resulted Kroos being shown a possible yellow card meaning that Pedri's tournament had been cruelly cut short with an injury like that, just like Malcolm Marx at last year's Rugby World Cup where his campaign was done with a serious injury which took him out of the tournament but didn't play in the final against the All Blacks (And the current best first five in the world of Handre Pollard had just called in to replace the unfortunate Marx which boosted South Africa's quest of retaining the RWC) just like All Black Dan Carter (It was Pollard who took over from DC as the best first five in world rugby, while Englishman Jonny Wilkinson was before Dan) did in 2011 where his tournament was over with a serious groin injury, but we did manage to pull it off with a winning penalty goal by Stephen Donald (Who was the fourth choice New Zealand first five in the aftermath of both Carter & Colin Slade getting injured during the tournament as well as Aaron Cruden) against the French in the final colloquially billed as 'The Kick' where it was immortalized by a TV movie, which came out in 2014 about New Zealand winning the Rugby World Cup after 24 long years) including Mikel Merino's goal during extra time that put them through to another semi) would lead the side, or England captain Harry Kane (Who currently plys his trade for Bayern Muenchen in the German Bundesliga competition) to become the European Football Championship winning captain to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy?.
And the AB's team has been named for our second & final test against England at the Garden of Eden at the City of Sails (Where New Zealand have never lost both at the ground & at the city since 1994 against France (Who sealed a dramatic test series victory after one of the French players had scored a winning try billed as 'The Try From the End of the World' which etched in French rugby folklore, then in 1995, a year after the French coup when a boat called Black Magic and a team called New Zealand became the first from outside the United States to win the America's Cup against Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht led by Dennis Conner (And the famous words come from PJ Montgomery, the original voice of the America's Cup that was before Team New Zealand crossed the line to win race 5 "The America's Cup, is now New Zealand's Cup!" (And I remember the one-liner that has certainly repeated on air more often than any other in New Zealand's history according to the Back to back Black Magic book that I've still got in my bedroom somewhere) in San Diego (The city that hosted the America's Cup in 1995 & will play host to a historic first ever international rugby test match between the All Blacks & Fiji at Snapdragon Stadium), California, United States according to the previous blogs that I did), but the most recent test between the 2 countries was this year in the 1st test in Dunedin where the AB's managed to pull off a win against the English by a single point to kick off our international rugby year as well as the Razor era), so here is the starting lineup according to Scott 'Razor' Robertson:
STARTING XV
FORWARD PACK
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)
2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)
3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)
SECOND ROW
4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Captain, Crusaders/Taranaki)
5 (No.5 lock): Patrick Tuipulotu (Blues/Auckland)
LOOSE FORWARDS
6 (Blind side flanker): Samipeni Finau (Chiefs/Waikato)
7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)
8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)
BACK LINE
HALVES
9 (Half-back): Finlay Christie (Blues/Tasman)
10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)
13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)
14 (Right wing): Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Southland)
& 15 (Fullback): Stephen Perofeta (Blues/Taranaki)
& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS
16 (Reserve hooker): Asafo Aumua
17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi
18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell
19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i
20 (Reserve loose forward): Luke Jacobson
21 (Reserve half-back): Cortez Ratima (Who is in line to make his test debut off the pine with Finlay Christie promoted to the run-on XV following TJ Perenara's injury during the 1st test)
22 (Reserve midfielder): Anton Lienert-Brown
& 23 (Reserve back): Beauden Barrett
And the latest in the motor racing especially in F1 such as George Russell in the Mercedes-AMG, has taken victory in Austria which was marred by controversy involving the championship rivals of both Dutchman Max Verstappen (Who won in Spain & is currently the championship leader) & Britain's Lando Norris (Who was the polesitter in Spain, but Max had other ideas during the Grand Prix) taking out each other by going mad at them during the Grand Prix (In which Norris retired from the Grand Prix & Verstappen nursing the car home by finishing in 5th, although he got penalized 10 seconds for an avoidable contact on his championship rival during the race), then the following race in Britain where Russell's teammate, the Ferrari bound driver of 7 time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, has returned to the top step of the podium in Formula One for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021 in front of his adoring home fans in which he secured his 9th win at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone as well as his 104th of his career (He's 13 ahead of the legendary as well as the highly controversial figure of the sport, Michael Schumacher & currently leads the all-time wins list in F1), & then in Indycar where Pato O'Ward edged the 2 time defending series champion & current points leader of Alex Palou (The winner at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca) to take the win in the most recent Indycar race at Mid-Ohio (Which is the home track for the Rahal family, especially Bobby & his son Graham (Who is married to Courtney Force (Daughter of NHRA legend John who was recently hospitalized in a high speed wreck) in Lexington, Ohio even though with the series heading to Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa (Where the race was won by our very own Kiwi who drives for Team Penske of Scott McLaughlin who hasn't taken on the top step in Indycar since Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama), then it's the streets of Toronto, Ontario in the Great White North of Canada, the last before the Olympic break which is coming to suit American television schedules, meanwhile in the Supercars Championship where our own Kiwi Matt Payne went on to win one of the races on the streets of Townsville which is located in Queensland in Australia (Meanwhile Will Brown of Red Bull Ampol Racing is currently leading the championship, but standing in the way is Walkinshaw Andretti United's Chaz Mostert (The 2 time Bathurst 1000 winning driver in both 2014 with Paul 'The Dude' Morris (Dad of current Super2 racer Nash) & in 2021 with Lee Holdsworth) who is Brown's main challenger in terms of the championship when both are at a 2 man horse race at the moment (Compared to Aussie Indycar racer Will Power (The Chaz Mostert & Lando Norris of Indycar) who is Alex Palou's main challenger in terms of the Indycar Series championship (With Palou sharing a similar role to both Will Brown & Max Verstappen).
And finally that I once told Pops that I was stressed out once, but I have revealed that I have rage fit (Except me taking those risperidone medication pills but I can't take off that medication, literally, not only that I'm big (I used to be skinny as a 12 year old when I saw the photo of me & Jans when he was a baby way back then, 21 years ago), then I once told Pops that I was attempting to lose much weight, but somehow I'm a real, massive failure), just like the US president of Joe Biden who is still in his 80's who has fears of getting both Alzheimer's disease as well as dementia when the president who frequently lost his temper & lashed out his White House aides, many of whom have grown fearful of meeting with Biden (Who fears that he might pull out of the presidental race because he may be getting too old if he wants to step down as his bid for re-election is in tatters) alone, especially him being victimized by phone scammers since taking office, though his public remarks suggest a tenuous grasp of reality that would make him especially vulnerable while reports indicate Biden (Who I fear that he might pull out of his re-election bid against the former president Donald Trump even if the US Vice President Kamala Harris wants to replace him by stepping in Biden's shoes, but I don't know why I'm sure she wanted it) is also susceptible to fits of rage, a common symptom of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
So that is my 559th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 35th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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