World Cup Update: Joy and Agony
In my previous post, I listed all of the Pacific Islander teams/players in the tournament. Well the tournament has commenced for all my island peeps involved and there are two contrasting stories.
Samoan Tim Cahill, the most skilled and most well-known Islander in the tournament, had a most-agonizing start (and probably end) to his tournament after being sent off with a harsh straight red card on a late tackle he made in Germany’s 4-0 drubbing of Australia. While the red card means he misses Australia’s next tilt with Ghana (6/19, 10:oo AM, ESPN), FIFA could hand down a two-game suspension leaving his fate in the feet of his teammates. Check out the tackle below:
In sharp contrast, New Zealand’s Winston Reid (of Maori descent) had a joyous start to his World Cup campaign. Reid scored a stoppage time equalizer to steal a point from Slovakia. While all teams in Group F are tied with 1 point, New Zealand’s next game is against defending World Champion Italy (6/20, 10:00 AM, ESPN). See the goal below:
Be Pacific 
Tim Cahill’s red card was soooo weak! He better not get a suspension because that’d be a stupid decision by FIFA. In fact, I think Ronaldo deserves a 2-game suspension for all his flops.