I’m unable to watch the World Cup at home; reason being that I have an old, old Sony tv, given to me by my uncle. It cannot tune in S band channels. The tv that my parents have died and so this is the only one we can watch stuff on. Since I bought the laptop I can’t afford to get a new tv at the moment. So this tv will have to do but it also means not being able to get ESPN and hence no World Cup.

So I’m not able to watch matches and instead read the scores and reviews the next day in either the papers or online. I am happy to note that the two teams that I usually support – Holland & Argentina – have both won their opening games. Argentina did not look impressive at all but still managed to ward off the challenge by Nigeria. Lionel Messi missing a lot of chances and giving coach Diego Marradona a lot to worry about. They have South Korea & Greece to play in the two remaining group B games.

The Netherlands played yesterday evening Indian Standard time and I was able to catch 20 minutes of the match on tv at the office. Glad to say that the Dutch won 2-0 against Denmark – an own goal by Danish defender Simon Poulsen and an 85th minute goal by Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt. The Dutch will next play Japan and then Cameroon in Group E and I hope they do well and advance past the group stage as toppers.