Six Pack - 20th June

Updated ladder including another big win for Spain (beating Tunisia 3-1), a tie between Italy and USA, England tieing with Sweden 2-2 (J.Cole's goal one of the best of the tournament)and Australia's 2 goal loss to Brazil.

Australia vs Brazil report:

Jimmy and I hit the Alexandra at noon on Sunday to ensure a seat for the game. The Alexandra is the Wandsworth Demons (British Aussie Rules side) local pub, and a fine place to have a few jars. We met Some of the Demons players at the bar, and there were a few guys who hadn't slept from the night out before. When Pete sang "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" from the stair-case to a group of Japanese tourists sitting below, I knew it was going to be a long day.

Pre match entertainment consisted of two events. The first was the Japan v Croatia game, in which we needed Croatia to lose to improve our chances of making the knock out rounds. Sadly this wasn't the case and had one fan screaming "You War Torn Fucks!" at the screen when the result was a draw (He later apologised for his un-sportsman like demeanour). The second event was an Irish Demon named "The Vice" (named because of his bear-hug tackling technique) competing in a self imposed bet.


The bet was that he couldn't drink ten pints of Guinness in one hour. He did, with 15 seconds to spare. 20 standard drinks in under 60 minutes is an impressive feat, even more so when you consider it was done with 5.7 litres of Guinness. That's the equivalent of eating one street's worth of freshly laid tar, I for one was impressed.

Come match time 5PM and the pub was packed full of Australian and Brazilian fans alike. We shared a sense of kinship as we were all wearing green and gold, all liquored up, and all sweating like a Bus Driver's nutsack. The Brazilians are a friendly crowd, and there was no animosity between the fans even when they beat us 2-0. That being said, Ronaldo copped a decent heckling. A darling of previous World Cups, the Brazilian striker has stacked on a few kilos in the last few years and has swapped his role from 'Match Winner' to 'Chubby guy who runs around not doing much'. It was decided that he looked like a mildly obese Jet Li, the equation surprisingly simple:

After the game most of the crowd spilled out on to the pavement to escape the stifling heat of the pub. The Brazilians congratulated us on putting up a decent fight. The Captain of the B-side "Guns" impressed a circle of onlookers with a string of one handed push-ups. I was going to top that with some one-thumbed push ups, but decided not to as I was wearing my good pants and didn't want to get them dirty. All up a very decent day of Sports and Boozery, it's been years since I heard Eddie Murphy's Delirious quoted with such drunken consistency. Goonie Goo Goo indeed.

The Vice and Jimmy after the match, myself lurking in the background. These pictures are from the Wandsworth Demon's web site, for more photos click here.

UPDATE: I have been asked what the winner of the Shoddy Six Pack will actually receive. Is there some kind of trophy that will be presented to the winning team? Well I don't have a trophy or cup, but I did find this in my neighbour's garbage bin:

I'm not entirely sure what it is, I think it might be a Candle holder or something. It's the best I could do at such short notice, and it will be presented to the Inaugural winner of the Shoddy Six Pack in a few weeks time.