Football for poets

[pallas_athena]

It was all the quidnunc kid's fault.

It was he who, in this MetaFilter thread, proposed a bet on the England/USA World Cup game: loser to write a sonnet in praise of the winner's nation.

Personally, I think he must have been inspired by Insomnia, Muse Of Amazing Ideas That Come To You At Around 4 In The Morning When All You Want To Do Is Sleeeeeep. That's the level of genius we're talking here. This scheme makes football interesting to poets. It also meant the Universe got to behold the beautiful spectacle of Quid grinding out a fourteen-line encomium to the nation that beat his birthplace 4-0.

For the full sonnet duel, including two by me, I refer you to the MetaFilter thread. In the meantime, I'll shamelessly steal Quid's idea and run with it. Who'll bet? Name your match, name the winner, and you're on. Fixtures here.

(Even if you don't usually write poetry, feel free to join in... nobody said it had to be a good sonnet, right?)

Comments

It'll be Munich all over again.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Luckily I'll be in Festal Evensong for St Peter's Day so can only gibber in fear from the sidelines. I offer you this perhaps over-optimistic line in patriotism.

Shall I compare them to Mercedes-Benz?
Just as that auto, so this German team;
Efficiency admired by foes and friends,
Epitomising the Teutonic Dream.

And yet there's some of us who, driving Mercs,
Have noticed recent cracks in this facade;
Malfunctions, errors, unexpected quirks -
5-1 in Munich, Klose's yellow card...

Capello's Morris Minor stuttered through the group,
A rusty banger, difficult to drive,
But flickering headlights still shine through the soup,
Somehow that sputtering engine's still alive;

And if ill fate drives this match to the wire,
One thing's for sure - the penalties are dire.

Re: It'll be Munich all over again.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

I've always been a fan of the 4-4-4-2 formation.

Re: It'll be Munich all over again.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

It has been pointed out that "Morris Minor" doesn't scan.

Replace by "Austin" or "Escort" ad libitum.

Re: It'll be Munich all over again.

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

Re: It'll be Munich all over again.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Food for thought - Paul Allott talking about cricket on the TV noted that there are eleven non-Germans (by ethnicity) in the German football squad. The Turkish-born Ozil is one of their very best players.

Next time people whinge about the makeup of the England cricket team...