Gonzo

Have you been using Vaseline again?

I was only joking about the BMW. I am a modest bloke and never try to show off, like some of the Thais from Bangkok. They arrive here on weekends in their cheap condos and their flash cars, they bought with a mortgage from their bank. I am glad when we leave early on Wednesday morning, before the hordes from Bangkok arrive for the long holiday weekend. There are always lots of big trucks on Highway 36, probably carrying goods from the industrial areas around Rayong to the wharves in Laem Chabang. The truck drivers, unlike so many of the other idiotic car drivers, especially the mini bus d

I feel sorry for Mark Cavendish for coming off his bike and badly injuring his shoulder. The great sprinter is now out of this years Tour de France. I cringed when I saw the replay on TV today. It is great that the first five stages were given to England, probably in recognition that Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome have won the Tour in 2012 an in 2013.. I watched the last 50 kilometres of the second stage from York to Sheffield this evening, which was won by the Italian Nibali. Chris Froome put in a strong performance and will again be a strong contender, when the Tour de France will move to

Remember the Godfather movies. They mafiosi used black American made Ford Fairlane sedans. In 1972 I bought an imported second-hand one from an old bloke who hardly had ever used it. I bought the car from him when he was no longer able to drive. Until not so long ago, we had no speed limits on the Stuart Highway all the way down to Alice Springs, except in the built up areas and there aren't many in the Northern Territory. The NT is also still the only place in Australia where they allow road trains with three trailers. That makes some road trains more than a hundred metres long. When yo

Yes, but they had a very good goal keeper making lots of good saves. I thought he might be able to save a penalty during the penalty shoot out, but it was not to be. A goal keeper is one of the most important positions in a football team. There was some very good goal keeping so far. Hitting the goal posts twice is not being unfortunate. It is just another opportunity missed. Just my opinion.

We walked past the Soi 5 Immigration office last Thursday morning. There were no people waiting outside Immigration and there were plenty of places to park a car. it is probably due to people watching the World Cup and sleeping in. There are big Buddhist holidays coming up next Friday 11.July, which will end on the following Monday on 14. July. People should be aware of this.

It has spoiled my day now, to see Costa Rica loose in such an unfortunate way. Arjen Robben should have been red carded for taking all those dives to get free kicks for his team. Like Team USA, Costa Rica nearly won when they had some very good chances near the end of the game.

Little Costa Rica held Holland goalless in the first half. Their goal keeper made quite a few good saves. Arjen Robben is without a doubt a top player, but takes a lot of dives. He does not do that when he plays at Bayern. The referees would give him quite a few yellow cards, if he did that in the Bundesliga. Robben would then spend a lot of time sitting on the bench under coach Pep Guardiola.

The Tour de France is finally underway. Young Marcel Kittel will take over from Cavendish altogether soon as the best sprinter. He won the first stage in England. http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2014/us/stage-1.html

Sometimes, when I watch a football game like the one that just finished, I wished they would start thinking about starting up a proper Rollerball competition.

An even less exciting second half. Argentina played it save. 1:0 is enough to get to the semi finals. Ask Germany. I will try to have a nap before the Netherlands - Costa Rica game, which could be difficult after two cups of coffee.

Good clean game between Argentina and Belgium in the first half with Higuaine scoring a good early goal after 8 minutes. Good save by Romero after 25 min. and Messi missed with with a good free kick after a foul on him after 38 min. from just outside the penalty box, which went over the corner bar by a small margin. Di Mario had to come off with a calf injury after 32 minutes. Reminds me of the Germany-France game with Argentina leading 1:0 at half time. Further goals could be hard to come by between the two teams defending well and playing good technical football.

I would not put money on a Germany-Brazil final. Watching Brazil yesterday was like watching Brazil-Chile again. The referee was like the Japanese referee in the Chile game and favoured Brazil for most of the time. I dont know why the second goal Columbia scored was disallowed. I would like to see another replay. Bad luck for Brazil to lo lose Nyamar to a back injury for the rest of the WC. Germany played much better last night than they played against Algeria. Joachim Löw made the right changes when he strengthened the defence by putting Phillip Lahm into his preferred position as right

As far as I am concerned, this is the worst side Brazil fielded, since I first watched them play against Sweden in a World Cup in 1958, which they won with a 17-year old Pele making his debut with a fantastic performance and then went on to be the best player in the world for a very long time. In the first half tonight, Brazil's Silva scored a lucky goal after 7 minutes from a corner, after a bad defensive error from a Columbian defender.

France could start with Lloris, Debuchy, Evra, Varane, Sakho, Cabaye, Valbuena, Benzema, Griezmann, Matuidi, Progba. Looks like Germany will have to play against more Algerians again. Karim Benzema will be the danger man.

It looks like Germany will start with Manuel Neuer, Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Höwedes, Sebastian Schweinsteiger, Sammi Khedira, Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos, Memet Özil and Miroslav Klose. We will know in half an hour's time.

They sound very much alike. No wonder his wife left him, with his hatred of football and always comparing it with American football, an entirely different sport. Indonesians love football, just like they do in Thailand and just about in every other country in the world. He is obsessed with his hatred of football, but seems to watch every game in this World Cup and I wonder why.

And I always thought you were a Manchester United supporter.

I was sitting outside my room in the Melasti Beach Inn on Kuta Beach Road, waxing my surf board in August 1977, when the news came through that Elvis Presley had died. Certain things stay on your mind forever. I am not sure, if soccer fanatic Mr Lasvegas was kicking a ball around with little kids from Bali at the same time. http://youtu.be/uWqax9iHfRU

Maybe it's time to get rid of Jose Mourinho.

All right then. I will consider buying new tyres (tires) when the car is five years old, one year from now.

It was great to have a day off from football (soccer) yesterday. It gave us a chance to make some overdue travel preparations in Pattaya, instead of watching the football all night long and then mostly hibernating during the day, eating rubbish meals from the 7/11 from across the road. I have never seen so little traffic like yesterday morning on Third Road, Pattaya Nua and then Sukhumvit. Half of Thailand must have watched the football and slept all morning. A lot of places we went to had half their staff missing, taking the day off. Team USA’s 19-year old youngster, Julian Green came on

Your absence from the "proper football" thread until now has been greatly missed. The 207 countries from the FIFA confederation are wrong. American football is the best "football" game by a country mile and it's a shame most kids cannot afford to play the game, as it is too costly how to learn how to play the game. Brazil spent 12 billion dollars on the World Cup. I have been to Bali more than 50 times. It was my home away from home for many years. I only saw very few very young kids kicking a football around. Most local youngsters and visitors are mostly into surfing. Are you still shuffling

And Argentina as well and Arjen Robben from the Netherlands!