Blå och gul

I'm a bit ambivalent about the whole World Cup soccer hysteria in general, and Stockholm Grumpy pretty much sums up how I feel about it. But I will say that now that I'm dating someone who knows more than a little about the game, I certainly appreciate it more than I used to (in sort of a baptism by fire kind of way). It's more interesting to watch it now that I understand some of the technical aspects of football, and I can definitely appreciate some of the aesthetic aspects, namely in the form of Freddie Ljungberg.**

The streets of Stockholm just roared with the yells of very happy Swedes as Freddie scored the winning goal against Paraguay. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that the Swedes were just celebrating having more than two days of warm weather in a row. Similarly, after hearing the moans and groans after the tied game against Trinidad last week, it would have been easy to think that the government had just announced it had cancelled Midsommars, Christmas, and New Year's.

Regardless of the dramatics, seeing Freddie score that goal makes me think that watching soccer may not be so dull after all, and maybe I'd better study the game a bit more closely. I can't help but think of an entirely different meaning for målchans, that is, an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

**A recent survey done by a reputable source (i.e., me) reveals that the Swedish National Soccer Team has a higherper capita number of potential underwear models than any other team participating in the World Cup.