England's World Cup 2010 has finished.

England was beaten out by Germany, 1-4. As I wrote the last article, I thought Germany was a stronger team than England, but I wanted England to win.

The first half ended 1-2. However, it should have been actually 2-2. Due to an umpire's misjudgment, Lampard's goal was disallowed.

This is obviously a goal though...

Oh, my gosh, why isn't that a goal? Lampard

One of my favorite points about England is that they rarely complain against empires. Regarding the misjudgment this time, nobody complained against empires except for Rooney. Usually soccer players complain strenuously, even about a very small thing. The Lampard's shot was OBVIOUSLY a goal. I like such their attitude. It also applies to Germany, Denmark etc. They rarely do simulation too. That's the sportsmanship!! (That's why I don't like Portugal, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, and Italy.)

Many commentators and other people including an England's coach Capello, said that if they ended 2-2 in the first half, the subsequent strategy and deployment were different. Yes, they are right. However, even though considering it, I think Germany have won. I've known that the most weakness of England was defense. In fact, Germany got two goals easily in the latter half.
Each individual in England is excellent, but they don't work as a team. Germany is always great as a team. Always.

At the last World Cup, I tried to choose the awards from my point of view.
Here it is;
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-general-comment-on-2006-world-cup.html

At that time, I chose Lahm of Germany as a new face award. He was still 22 years old back them. But in this World Cup, he is a captain and leading his team. I'm happy with his development.

Lahm's defense is always great, but he is actually very small. 170cm.

So, whenever Germany team hug each other, Lahm is buried among a bunch of his teammates.

Unfortunately, England has to withdraw from the World Cup early. Bummer!

Beckham accompanied the England team in this World Cup.

German Chancellor Merkel and British Prime Minister Cameron watching the game

in Canada where the G20 summits is being held in.

England is...

I've known that it would be hard for England to beat out Germany. But I didn't expected this terrible scores... 1-4. They played really well, but their shots were off target.
I don't have power to write anything...
I'll write about this game after I come back from work.

Anyway, I like Germany too since the last World Cup. So I hope they go on to win.

Very sleepy after taking exams, but!!

Sleepy. I didn't get enough sleep last night. Moreover, since I took exams of 3 subjects today, I'm a bit tired. So I'm very sleepy now.

I think I did quite well on the exams given that I didn't prepare for them enough. From the next time, I think I should be better-prepared. The results will come through about the middle of next month. I hope they will be good.

I came up with some English questions as I wrote this article.
I wonder which is doing better, "do quite well" or "do pretty well."
Is it OK to use "come through" for exam results, like "The results will come through the next month"?

Although I'm very sleepy now, I must not sleep. Because! The can't-miss game, England vs. Germany starts 11:00pm. Just 3 hours to go!
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My fist exams at university tomorrow!

In these days, I'm writing only about the World Cup, but I'm not neglecting to study English. (^.^)
I'm also doing my university studies. It's been about 3 months since I entered university and I'm taking my first exams tomorrow! (Actually it's today though.) Just keep your fingers crossed!!

The knockout stage has begun.

Yesterday, there were the last games in the Group Stage, which is in the Group H.
I wanted Switzerland to advance to the next stage, but they couldn't... They were a really good team and beat out Spain in their first game though. What a pity!

Then, the group stage has finished and the knockout stage has begun.
Here is the bracket:

I hope everyone can play to the fullest! Go for it!!

Denmark's World Cup ended...

Denmark didn't win... (sob)
All Japanese are very excited about Japan's wining and advancing to the next stage though.

By the way, Italy which is the defending champion couldn't advance to the next stage either. They are in the last place in the Group F.
Their play was really dull, as if they were playing in their sleep. They made a lot of unforced errors. I wondered if there was something in the team, like France.

Sleeping until the game Denmark vs. Japan starts.

The game Denmark vs. Japan is starting in about 6 hours. Unless Denmark beat Japan, they can't advance to the next stage. I strongly hope they win. However, I have concerns.

An ace striker Nicklas Bendtner is not perfect because of injury. And a defender Simon Kjaer can't participate in the game, because he got two yellow cards. Actually I'm taking note of him in this World Cup. Although he is still 21 years old (still 21!!!), he is already a pillar of Denmark defense. Many big club teams in Europe pay attention to him. So his absence is really painful for Denmark.

 Simon Kjaer (isn't his tattoo too much?)

The game starts at 3:30am Japan time. Now it's 9:30pm in Japan. I'm going to bed now so that I can get up 3:30am and watch the game! Good night!

England is actually in a harsh situation in the 2nd stage.

In the article before this, I wrote that I was relieved that England could advance the next stage. I also wrote that the US booked a spot in the next stage by a dramatic wining. But today, I realized that the US's dramatic wining drove England into a corner.
Take a look at the following.

Because the US won against Algeria, the US and England placed first and second in the Group C respectively, then England have to face Germany!! Even if they beat Germany, they have to play against Argentina in the next game!!
If the US hadn't gotten a dramatic goal in extra time and ended in a tie, England would have placed first and put the position where the US put for real. These are much easier game!! The US's miracle goal in extra time was extremely worth for the US.

England is gaining their form.

England just finished their third game, and beat out Slovenia. In their first and second games, their performance was bad. However, to my delight, they seem to be gaining their form.

During the game England vs. Slovenia, there was the game the US vs. Algeria which are in the same group C. The score of the US vs. Algeria was 0-0, and if they had ended up 0-0, Slovenia could advance to the next stage. But, the US scored in extra time, and in the end, the US can advance to the next stage instead of Slovenia. How dramatic for the US!! On the other hand, I take pity on Slovenia. They are a really good team and played very well. Almost! I feel that the World Cup is very harsh. I wanted to let 3 teams, England, the US and Slovenia advance to the next stage.

Anyway, I'm relieved that England can advance to the next stage. I hope the same thing happens to Denmark tomorrow.

The girl who silenced the world at the U.N. for 5 minutes

I found that my ex-boss placed the following impressed speech in his website.

Although this great speech was given about 18 years ago, stupid human beings haven't make any changes and the situation keeps getting worse.
I'm one of the stupid human beings though.

Switzerland and Chile are great team.

I watched the game Switzerland vs. Chile yesterday. Some Japanese professional soccer players praised Chile's performance in their first game a great deal, and Switzerland beat out Spain in their first game. So I really looked forward to see their game.

As I had expected, the game was great and both of the team were really excellent!!
Switzerland had to play with 10 players because one player got a red card. In spite of that, Switzerland played really well. Especially, their defense and a goalkeeper were incredibly strong.

I think, the teams which will advance to the next stage in the Group H should be Switzerland and Chile, not Spain.

Oh, now, the game France vs. South Africa started just now. France has a terrible problem now. One player was forcibly returned to France because he insulted his coach in the halftime of their last game. Moreover, all players boycotted the practice before the game in protest. I doubt that they can show a good performance in this situation.

I became a translation volunteer.

As I wrote here before, I started sponsoring a child through a NGO "World Vision."

The World Vision was recruiting translation volunteers, so I applied for it. The translation volunteers translate letters between sponsors and children. To be the volunteer, you have to take a translation test and pass it. I received the test and did it the other day.

It's very hard to translate in two ways. One is that their English grammar is not correct. It's not so big problem. More difficult thing is making out their handwriting. It's really really hard to read their handwriting. So it takes me much time to translate them.

Fortunately, I passed the test, and I sent the World Vision an agreement documents today.

I'm glad that I can do something to help.

Leading teams can't win.

The game Germany vs. Serbia finished just now. Germany lost...
I'm cheering for England and Denmark, but actually I also like Germany. After England was beaten in the last World Cup, I cheered for Germany and they placed 3rd! Many players from the last World Cup are playing this time, so I feel familiarity with the Germany team.

Although they won the first game, which was versus Australia, 4-0, in this time, they lost.
In the latter half, although Germany had a lot of chance to get scores, Lukas Podolski missed shots. He even missed a penalty kick. I can't believe! I'm sure everyone couldn't believe.

In this World Cup, strong teams can't win except for Brazil and Argentina, so far.
France ended in a scoreless tie in their first game, and surprisingly, in their second game versus Mexico, they lost!!
Spain also lost their first game versus Switzerland!!
England, Italy and Portugal ended in a tie in their first game.

I hope England can win the next game. They have to win!

Humid season has come.

Humid. TOO humid. Terrible horrible humid season has come here. I have to put up with incredibly high humidity until mid-September. I'm inpatientimpatient for autumn.

Difficult to pronounce

I'm very bad at pronouncing "S" and "C" sounds in English. Especially I can't say "except" well.

Yesterday, a more difficult word came out. It's "unsolicited."
Although I tried to say it repeatedly, it's almost impossible for me to pronounce. Whew...

Netherlands was stronger than I expected.

The game Denmark vs. Netherlands finished just now. Unfortunately Denmark lost 0-2 (Including an own goal).

Although Netherlands is stronger than Denmark, Denmark was playing really well. Really really well. But, Netherlands was too strong. Arjen Robben didn't participate in the game because of an injury. Given that he joins, Netherlands is definitely one of the favorites in this World Cup.

Oops! England!

The game England vs. the US was very exciting and I enjoyed it, although England couldn't win. It ended in a 1-1 tie.

The US's goal was due to fumbling by a England's goalkeeper Robert Green. He must be very shocked and depressed. I feel sorry for him.

Although the US's shot went straight in front of a keeper...

Oops, fumbling!

Ahhhh, shocked!!

Dejected Robert is consoled by his teammate after the first half.

The official ball of the World Cup 2010 named Jabukani has been very unpopular among players since before the World Cup started, especially among keepers and defenders, because the orbit of the ball changes terribly. (Does the expression of this sentence make sense? I'm not sure how I should say it in English.)
 So it probably caused Robert's mistake. However, he said in the interview that he didn't make any excuse.
I know you are a great goalkeeper, Robert!!

The first schooling

It's been about 2.5 months since I entered 3rd grade of a university. So far so good.

Yesterday, I attended my first schooling. The class was quite good. It was good for me that I got some information about examination from some other students.
I'm attending the class's second day. I's a bit hard to spend all weekend for the class, but students have to get some credits for taking part in classes, although it's a correspondence university.

By the way, it's 3am and I have already woken up, because I'm watching the game England vs. the US from now!

The World Cup will start soon!!

The World Cup is starting tomorrow. I'm very excited as usual.

But I'm very worried about terrible horrible public security. In South Africa, 19,202 people were murdered in 2006. Over 50 people a day!!!!! Also, 52,600 women were raped, there were 218,000 serious injury cases... It is said that stopping at a red light is an outrageous action in South Africa, because people are attacked by robbers during stopping. I can't believe that FIFA selected such a dangerous country as a host.

According to news, in this time, any TV companies in Japan won't send women reporters to the scene. Probably it happened for the first time.

In fact, some foreign journalists were attacked by robbers in South Africa for the last couple of weeks. One of them was attacked during staying at a hotel, although it was the four-star hotel!

I hope nothing happens.

Anyway, my lack of sleep will continue for about a month.

Expression of frequency

I just came up with a question about words which describe frequency, so I looked them up on the Internet.

According to some articles, frequency of each word is as follows;

usually 80%
often/frequently 60%
sometimes 50%
occasionally 40%

I didn't know that frequency of "occasionally" is lower than "sometimes." That's good to know. However what I wanted to know was words less than "occasionally", around 20 - 30%.

How about "once in a while"? I want to know some expressions without using negative words, like "seldom" and "rarely." I wonder if there are any other words.

How long is our new Prime Mister's tenure?

A couple of days after I wrote about our incapable Prime Minister Hatoyama, he announced his resignation.

His tenure was only 9 months. Japanese Prime Misters quit during their term. Their tenure is always very short. I don't think there is such a country of which leader change very often. It's impossible for Japan to secure international trust.

Now, we have new Prime Minister, Naoto Kan. He is very famous for his short temper character, but at least, he has support from the public more than Hatoyama.

However, the Democratic Party is going to conduct the presidential election in September. So his tenure might be only 3 months??






By the way, I looked up the word "tenure" in a dictionary and used it for the first time. I wonder if my usage of it is correct.

Many players were injured just before the World Cup

The teams in the Group E which Japan belongs to are Netherlands, Cameroon and Denmark I'm cheering. Some star players of those teams were recently injured and might not participate in the World Cup.

Netherlands, Arjen Robben, who most of people know as one of the top players in the world, injured his left thigh yesterday during a game against Hungary.

Injured Robben surrounded by his teammates

Regarding Denmark I support, terrible. You can find many articles titled "Denmark full of injured players."
Here is one of the articles:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1228624/index.html#injury+worries+mount+denmark

These are kind of good news for Japanese fans. But for me, I'm worried about Denmark. Hang in there!

Oh my goodness! On my goodness!!

Armando Galarraga of Detroit Tigers nearly pitched a perfect game. Only one more out!!!!!



The article on the Yahoo News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_on_sp_ba_ga_su/bba_indians_tigers

I feel very sorry for Armando. But actually I also feel sorry for the umpire Jim Joyce.
Thinking of his feeling, I really pity him.

A small determination, which is actually big for me

No matter how hard I study English, it's difficult to improve it like people who have lived in an English-speaking country. I have to speak English at work, and almost all Japanese people who speak English fluently in such an environment have lived abroad. Between them and me, there is a robust wall I can't break down.

It's impossible for me to reach their level, but I should close the gap as much as possible.
From today, I never watch TV in Japanese, but in English, except for an hour in the morning. (Allow me to watch it in Japanese only for an hour. I want to know important news or other events in detail.)

The interim report on my job hunting

I have had the final job interview with a company last month, and I'm visiting the company tomorrow again in order to talk with HR director about details of my work experience. They required that. It should be "to explain" rather than "to talk with." I have already had an interview with him though. I'm not up for it so much.

And the other agent contacted me to introduce a new opportunity. I'm going to call her tomorrow to hear more details about that.

Regarding my job hunting, I'm now feeling as if I'm in gloomy gray clouds.