Post-World Cup Blues!?

I woke up this morning with one thing on mind.

I'm going to miss the World Cup.

Never, in twenty tournaments, have I ever felt the Post-World Cup blues. 

It's quite surprising I had that emotion. It wasn't one of my favourite World Cups. 

What it must have been is I'm going to miss the routine I put myself through for the past month (and then some).

One day soon, I'll force myself to rank my favourite World Cups just to see where 2026 is on the list. It's certainly not at the top. On a positive, it's far from the bottom.

I was happy with last night's score of 1-0 to Spain. I suspected the eventual winners would keep it tight (that's their game!). I'm glad I didn't hedge my bets and wager on Lionel Messi to win the golden boot when I was offered 11/1 on Saturday night, once my Kylian Mbappe wager - from earlier this year - looked firm.

Spain not only had the best team at the World Cup.. it also had the best Walkers crisps flavour for this year's tourney.

Terence Donovan Passes Away

I vividly recall first coming across Terence Donovan on TV back in the 90s.

He played the villainous Al Simpson - father of Sophie (Rebekah Elmaloglou) - in Home and Away for a brief period. Then, a year or so later, newspapers began hyping up that 'Jason Donovan's dad has joined Neighbours' which was quite a big deal considering how Jason had become such a gigantic star stemming from his time on the Australian soap.

I didn't make any connection until I saw Doug Willis in Neighbours. It caused me to realise  'Ohhh, he's the guy who played Al Simpson in Home and Away!'

Donovan's Doug Willis character became a regular and was your typical Aussie. The funny and very random thing, for yours truly, about Doug's building business - Willis Construction - is, during this time, there was business local to me also named 'Willis Construction'. It would be hysterical to see the company's van drive around my area as I made my walk to school.

As an aside, I checked to see if Willis Construction is still in business. I'm happy to report it is!

I believe Terry Donovan left Neighbours somewhere close to the mid-nineties. Maybe a little earlier. He made a few brief returns over the years. His last appearances  - as part of a key storyline - saw Doug lose his battle with dementia. 

In a fun wrinkle to Doug's return, his character was involved in scenes with his son - Brad (then played by a different actor) and his wife - Terese. The trivia note is Terese was played by Rebekah Elmaloglou, so Donovan's Neighbours and Home and Away characters were both related to those played by Elmaloglou.

Over the past few years, previous work by Donovan has popped up on my screen. He was in a few episodes of Prisoner Cell Block H when I caught old Prisoner eps last year. I also found him in an Aussie heist movie - 1978's Money Movers - on Talking Pictures TV sometime within the past five years or so.

It was recently announced that Terence Donovan has passed away at the age of ninety.

What I'd Like To See, In England .vs. France...

The World Cup's third place playoff, between England and France, kicks off at 10pm BST this evening and I have one wish for it.

I'd like a few goals from France's Kylian Mbappe.

As I thought I had mentioned weeks ago (I cannot find the post!), I have Mbappe to win the golden boot. He's currently tied with Argentina's Lionel Messi, with eight goals each. However, Messi has four assists to MBappe's three. That tiebreaker means Messi will win the award should neither player score any more goals in their respective outings.

I also require Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane to have a quiet game tonight. Just like a few night ago. Both are hovering underneath Messi and Mbappe with six goals each. I shall respectfully consider them 'in the hunt' until their tournament participation ends this evening.

The Chase Around The World

I'm a fan of The Chase and one of its spinoffs - Beat The Chasers - so I had looked forward to watching the latest programme in the game show's universe: The Chase Around the World.

Episode one aired yesterday evening. I suppose the best reaction I could give is to share what I wrote in my journal before I turned in last night.

It went like this:

23:45 - Have just finished watching the new spinoff of The Chase called The Chase Around the World. It's a cross between The Chase and Race Across the World with six couples starting out and having to answer questions to uncover clues to get to the next round. 
£100,000 is the top prize.
I thought it was okay. I felt bad for the couple (father and daughter) who finished last. However, they were able to beat the chasers (Anne and Mark) at the end. That kept them in the competition

Now that I've had half-a-day to digest it all in, I stick by the notion that it's 'okay' and seems to be inspired by Race Across the World. I suppose it also has a dash of Beat the Chasers thrown in because the final bit, which sees the team which finished last in the race having to compete against two chasers in a battle to remain on the show, has the opposition up against more than one chaser.

I've seen more negative than positive reactions to it today, though. 

With that said, I have one of those 'this is the sort of thing ITV will quickly give up on' vibes from it. Kind of like how the company cancelled the brilliant The Fortune Hotel after two seasons. 

Don't get me started, once again, on the cancellation of Jeopardy UK - another thing ITV dropped after two runs.

So - yes, I will stick with The Chase Across the World. I am all-in knowing it could have a short shelf life.

More Years Of Hurt

Well, that didn't end well did it?

I'm obviously referring to England's 1-2 loss to Argentina, in the World Cup semi finals.

I'll be straight up, though. As soon as they beat Mexico, I envisioned England making it to the final. That feeling increased upon witnessing Spain's 2-0 victory over France on Tuesday night.

Good job my gut instinct was off-kilter. 

Of the losing party, I particularly feel for Thomas Tuchel this morning. I have always respected him as a coach (I suppose that's why my senses were working overtime picturing England in the final) and feel he's unfairly being treated as the scapegoat.

Tuchel's decision to play defensively - after England went 1-0 - would have been applauded had the game ended with that scoreline. 

Instead, England lost. The knives came out. As expected.

Damned if you do, and all that.

Shota Umino Exits G1 Climax 36 Due To Injury

Shota Umino is out of this year's G1 Climax.

New Japan Pro Wrestling broke the news today citing a concussion Umino suffered in his opening night match against Zack Sabre Jr. on Saturday.

It's a shame. Way back in January, I singled out Umino as my pick to win this year's tournament to determine who will be one of the participants of the WrestleKingdom main event of New Japan's first major show of 2027.

Umino was a participant of Block B in the round robin tourney. New Japan has stated that all of Umino's scheduled opponents will receive two points via forfeit wins.

Zack Sabre Jr. had beaten Umino in the night one clash from Chicago.

The Semis

The World Cup semi finals kick off tonight with France and Spain going to battle. That'll be followed by tomorrow night's England .vs. Argentina game.

Going by the betting, France are favourites to get the win over the Spanish. I don't find that surprising. It's a result I would prefer, because I'd like France to win the entire tournament. However, I could see this one going to penalties in a low-scoring game. 

That could be famous last words on my part, but I am imagining Spain's defence being key to this game.

As for England .vs. Argentina - the bookies have England as favourites. This could be a negative-bias on my part, but I feel Argentina should be favoured.

England have pulled out some good results, but they've done so by having their backs to the wall on numerous occasions in the playoff portion of the tournament. That luck, some might call 'resilience', will run out eventually.

Will it?!

With that stated, Argentina came close to being ousted by Egypt and had to take Switzerland to extra time in the quarter finals. 

Maybe the bookies know better than I do.