Women’s World Cup Liveblog: Colombia vs. England, Quarter-Finals, August 12

 

Aboriginal rock carving, Grotto Point, Sydney Harbour National Park, Sydney
(Kodachrome slide scanned at 6400)
Photography attributed to Sardaka, ca. 1987
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

12:42 p.m. (Central European Summer Time)

Today, women's soccer fans have already been treated to a suspenseful quarter-final between Australia and France. In the end, after the longest penalty shot phase in this World Cup and fewer than 30 minutes before the next quarter-final, Australia won 7-6.

So Colombia and England are contending to meet the World Cup co-host in the semi-finals in the middle of next week.

Its fans are numerously represented in the stadium in Sydney — the city of over 5 million inhabitants, known as Wangal in the region's Aboriginal language. You may recognize the fans by their yellow t-shirts — and their energetic boos whenever England's team has possession of the ball.

12:44 p.m.

I missed it while typing the last update, but one of Colombia's players has already had to leave the field due to injury. Carolina Arias has been substituted out, Ana Guzman is in.

12:50 p.m.

England's team is looking incredibly fit and their reflexes quick. There's not so a perceptible height difference between the two teams as in other matches, but physically I'd say that Colombia's players — while diligent — are looking marginally slower. Of course this is subjective. Besides it may change in the second half of the game: it's important to pace one's self.

There was loud booing again as Alex Greenwood and other players were passing back and forth to each other in England's half. Now the game has opened up again.

12:54 p.m.

Guzman appears to ignore the ball and to ram her hand into an English player's face, besides body-checking her. Rachel Daly is crouching, clutching her face in pain. No foul, apparently? After talking to two physiotherapists, Daly is playing again.

1:01 p.m.

So far England has had 69% of the ball possession, Colombia 31%, roughly speaking.

Definitely a more eventful game than Japan vs. Sweden yesterday. It's riskier to take one's eyes off the match: steep chances of missing something.

1:15 p.m. ⚽

In another exchange in England's half, which did not look especially dangerous, Leicy Santos hits a long ball into the top of the net. England's goalkeeper stretches out her arm, but doesn't manage to block it and it bounces down again behind the goal line. Colombia 1 - England 0.

1:23 p.m. ⚽

In the added time of 6 minutes, Colombia's players stayed firmly in their own half, trying to prevent England from scoring a counter-goal rather than scoring a second goal of their own.

But their strategy failed after the 7th minute arrived. Goalie Catalina Perez accidentally let go a ball that she had captured in front of her goal, and two of England's players kept it in play, Lauren Hemp rolling it into the net. 1-1. Quite a messy goal, but effective.

End of the first half.

1:45 p.m.

Second half underway again, several corner kicks from England result in no goals. But they are definitely seeing more chances.

1:50 p.m.

More statistics shown on screen: 343 (England) to 151 (Colombia) passes completed.

1:53 p.m.

Loud boos as England prepares to take a free kick. Hemp fires it from nearly at the end line to the front of the net. No goal.

Goalie Catalina Perez is being attended to by medical staff — it’s not clear why.

But now the game has started again.

1:57 p.m. ⚽

Two of England's players manage to run toward the goal together. Alessia Russo finds a makeshift opening and practically rolls it into the net. Colombia 1 - England 2.

1:59 p.m.

Goalie Perez is escorted off the field as the physiotherapists and fellow players look concerned; it seems her eyesight is faltering? Natalia Giraldo will be substituted in.

2:07 p.m.

Lorena Durango almost sinks a strong long-distance goal for Colombia. But England's goalkeeper Mary Earps takes a flying leap and deflects the ball up over the net.

It looks like with Perez's substitution, Colombian players are newly intensely focused on getting another goal. Maybe less certain that the score will remain roughly even.

...And Natalia Giraldo makes her first save.

2:09 p.m.

Both teams are showing their quality and highly justifying their presence in the quarter-finals, I'd say. Not an entirely clean game, but it's good technically and in terms of its energy and of its variety of strategies and skills. No tedious deadlock.

2:11 p.m.

Substitution: Ospina Garcia off, Ivonne Chacon on, for Colombia.

2:18 p.m.

Another player - Chloe Kelly - getting ready on England’s bench.

Daniela Arias is lying on the ground; it looks like she wasn't fouled, though. Physiotherapists have come over.

Alessia Russo, one of England's goalscorers, is substituted off for Kelly in the meantime.

2:21 p.m.

Corner kick for Colombia as Mary Earps captures a ball that had whizzed diagonally to near the net. It doesn’t result in a goal.

2:22 p.m.

Two England players body-sandwich a Colombian player = apparently not a foul.

2:24 p.m.

Eight minutes of added time.

2:26 p.m.

Bethany England is substituted in. Lauren Hemp goes out.

2:29 p.m.

In the 6th minute, Mayra Ramirez fires a ball — past England's goal, but narrowly.

2:32 p.m.

End of game: Colombia still had a few chances, but it wasn't enough for a 2:2. England will be playing Australia in the semi-finals.

Women's World Cup Liveblog: Japan vs. Sweden, Quarter-Finals, August 11

9:34 a.m. (Central European Summer Time)

The scene of Japan's and Sweden's confrontation: Auckland, 8:30 p.m. local time in winter (so well after nightfall), a loud stadium with rhythmic thumping. In this World Cup, the hosts Australia and New Zealand have begun displaying Indigenous names for the cities: in the Māori language, Auckland is known as Tāmaki Makaurau.

Auckland skyline from the Auckland harbor bridge, 20 September 2019
Photography attributed to Jack189417 , 2017.
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The last eight teams to be standing in the women's World Cup are contending for spots in the semi-finals, today and on Saturday. Spain already defeated the Netherlands in an earlier game, 3 a.m. in my time zone. Which leaves Australia, Colombia, England, France, Japan, Spain and Sweden in the running.

Sweden barely defeated the United States in the last round. Their game ran into added extended time with a score of 0-0 and the stalemate was only broken by penalty shots.

Japan, however, defeated Norway 3-1. In its team, Hinata Miyazawa has shot the most goals of any player in the tournament — five — which means that she may win the Golden Boot at the end of the cup.

9:59 a.m.

Both Sweden and Japan have each had a good chance at a goal, now. Sweden has monopolized the ball possession at 64% to Japan's 36% and...

10:02 a.m. ⚽

Sweden has converted a free kick from a larger distance to Japan's goal into their 1-0 score!

10:11 a.m.

It’s a tense game as we head toward the end of the first half — like a chess game that's become so close to the checkmate stage that the players hesitate a long time before advancing a piece.

Conservative passes between Sweden’s players. Japan’s players are challenging their opponents closely, In a sign of their fear of ceding any ground at all, Swedish players are also physically pushing them away.

Another Swedish goal attempt has failed.

10:16 a.m.

End of the first half. Not a very exciting game, admittedly.

But, aside from a little arm-pulling by a Swedish player (the Guardian's statisticians report 2 fouls by Japan, 6 fouls by Sweden) and a few falls, it's been pretty fair and polite.

10:38 a.m. ⚽

As a Japanese player lay injured on the ground, the referee walks off the field to review not a potential foul but a different interaction: there was a handball in front of Japan's goal by Fuka Nagano, who held out her arm to deflect in the row of players — easy to see from the front, harder to see from the side.

Sweden receives a penalty kick, and it goes in the far corner of the net for 2-0.

Japan's goalie looks understandably disappointed.

10:49 a.m.

Japan's been effectively besieging Sweden's goal for the last few minutes, quite a few players forward and near the net.

But after the ball sailed off the field, the ball is back in Swedish hands (or, rather, feet).

10:53 a.m.

A long ball toward Hinata Miyazawa is a little too long and sails off the field. But for a while it looked like she might have a chance at running on Sweden's goal, relatively far ahead of most of Sweden's midfielders and forwards.

10:57 a.m.

Corner kick for Japan!

10:59 a.m.

It ends harmlessly.

For Sweden, captain Kosovare Asllani is switched out, giving off her captain's armband to Magdalena Eriksson. Fridolina Rolfo is also switched out. Madelen Janogy and Lina Hurtig are switched in.

11:03 a.m.

The referee awards an 11-metre penalty kick to Japan after a Swedish player seemingly thrusts an arm into the back of her Japanese opponent.

It doesn't fully make sense after looking at the video replays, however, as there was only fleeting contact with Swedish player (Janogy). The Japanese player appears to have stumbled on her own, after Janogy was further away again.

Either way, Riko Ueki's ball bounces off the top bar of the net. At first it's nail-bitingly unclear if the ball was in or out. But it was out: no goal for Japan.

11:12 a.m.

Japan receives a free kick that no one would dispute: Eriksson had essentially scissored a player who was running toward goal. The free kick does not result in a goal, but..

11:15 a.m. ⚽

Honoka Hayashi scores her first goal in a game where she's representing her country, according to the German TV commentator! 1-2 for Japan.

At first, Sweden's goalie looks injured and is undoubtedly in pain, but she can keep playing.

11:19 a.m.

To catch up on the substitutions:

Aside from Riko Ueki and Jun Endo earlier in the second half, and Hayashi, Kiko Seike has also been switched in.

11:22 a.m.

Another free kick for Japan, but no goal this time.

...

The pressure on Sweden's team to hold onto their advantage seems intense: Japan's team is highly active, and 10 minutes have been added onto the 90 minutes of the match due to injury time etc.

Corner kick for Sweden ends in nothing.

11:26 a.m.

The Swedish team in general is looking passive and exhausted, also committing lots of mistakes in their passes etc.. Nowhere near as strong as in the first half.

11:27 a.m.

The referee blows the whistle: game ended. Japan 1 - Sweden 2.

Canada Reads, Day One: Mexican Gothic Horror

On the first day of the 2023 season of the book competition Canada Reads, a panel of Canadian celebrities voted out a bestselling horror novel by Canadian-Mexican writer Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Photograph by Martin Dee
via Silviamoreno-garcia.com
Licensed for editorial purposes

Mexican Gothic was a runaway success when it appeared in 2020. It tells the story of a rich young woman, Noémi, who is trying to rescue her cousin Catalina, who fears for her life in the mysterious family into which she has married. Instead of an American seaside home or a British estate like Manderley in the classic Daphne Du Maurier novel Rebecca, Moreno-Garcia's novel is set in an uncanny countryside house in 1950s Mexico.

Favourably reviewed by critics in the Guardian, the New Yorker, National Public Radio, and the Washington Post, it has had a wide appeal across borders and has been translated into languages from Arabic to Thai.

Noemí is [...] an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough, smart, and has an indomitable will, and she is not afraid — Synopsis from the author's website

Tasnim Geedi, the TikTok star who entertains over 100,000 followers who enjoy her thirty-second book reviews, paid tribute to the immersive quality of the novel as she championed the book on Canada Reads. She described Mexican Gothic as a fantasy setting where the problems of colonialism can be explored in a distanced way that may appeal to readers who are not ready yet to confront directly Canadian history.

Her fellow panelists and rivals, amongst them Jeopardy! champion Mattea Roach and actor Michael Greyeyes, paid tribute to the author's rich imagination and style.

The Great British Bake Off's Loss of Spice

In the fall of 2014, the television audience Britain was shocked to behold a frustrated amateur baker throw a melted Baked Alaska into a garbage bin, and leave the show he was on in the wake of that incident.

"Raspberry cheesecake" — raspberry cake being an
emblem of the Great British Bake Off
Image by Arria Belli; May 27, 2008
Wikimedia Commons.
Copyright License: (CC BY 2.0)

But in the tranquil realm of The Great British Bake Off, the latest stir is that the show will be moved from BBC 1 to Channel Four in 2017.

Its new host channel, Channel Four, stated, "Channel 4 will become the new home of The Great British Bake Off after signing a new three-year agreement with the producers of the hit show, Love Productions."It also promised that the show would remain "free-to-air."

Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, the comediennes who have spoken the prefaces to each episode and accompanied the bakers, have stated that they are leaving the Great British Bake Off when it is no longer with the BBC. Someone else will have to commiserate with the unfortunate competitors over many an 'underbaked' dumpling and derelict gingerbread house, like Jennifer Saunders or Jo Brand. (The Guardian notes that bets are already being taken.)

Money was at the root of the trouble, since the production company wanted the BBC to quadruple its present payments to keep hosting the show. BBC News reported that Love Productions had asked for £25m per year, whereas the BBC only agreed to £15m per year.

It is an exorbitantly well-enjoyed weekly event. On the first Wednesday of its 7th season — it has run each summer since mid-August 2010 — 10.4 million Britons, between a seventh and a sixth of the population of the United Kingdom, are estimated to have watched it.

***

"Channel 4 to become home of The Great British Bake Off" [Channel Four], September 12, 2016 (Retrieved September 13, 2016)
"Great British Bake Off: BBC loses rights to Channel 4" [BBC News], September 13, 2016 (Retrieved September 13, 2016)
"Great British Bake Off: 10.4 million people tune into most-watched launch episode in show's history," by Patrick Foster [Daily Telegraph] August 25, 2016 (Retrieved September 13, 2016)
"Mel and Sue leaving Bake Off: how social media reacted," by Guardian staff [Guardian] (Retrieved September 14, 2016) (c) Guardian News & Media Ltd
"Great British Bake Off moves to Channel 4 as BBC negotiations collapse over fee," by Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Tara Conlan and Jane Martinson [Guardian]  September 13, 2016 (Retrieved September 14, 2016) (c) Guardian News & Media Ltd

"United Kingdom" [Wikipedia] (Retrieved September 13, 2016)
"The Great British Bake Off" [Wikipedia] (Retrieved September 13, 2016)

France/U.S. State Dinner: The Grub

On February 11th, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama received the French president François Hollande for a state dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C.. Purple irises in honour of the French national emblem were the decorations, alongside glasses with allium heads, and Mary J. Blige sung to entertain the French and American guests. In catering to François Hollande, his dislike* for artichokes (or is it asparagus?) and his predilection for mousse au chocolat are well-known. The menu:

*

First course

American Osetra Caviar

Fingerling Potato Velouté, Quail Eggs, Crisped Chive Potatoes

*

Second course

"The Winter Garden Salad"

Petite Mixed Radish, Baby Carrots, Merlot Lettuce

Red Wine Vinaigrette

*

Cook-at-Home Version:

MINIATURE vegetables in a 'garden,' instead of a terrarium, are also part of British chef Heston Blumenthal's past menus. In the recipe published at the Guardian's website, in 2011, his 'garden' has potting soil of fragmented black olives and grape nuts, a layer underneath of sauce gribiche, and tended lines of asparagus shoots, leafy baby carrots, as well as miniature growths of the longdrawn Chinese cabbage bok choi, etc.

(Radishes, leeks or fennel in miniature will work, too, writes Blumenthal.)

Recipe: "Heston Blumenthal's garden salad with sauce gribiche recipe" ([Theguardian.com], December 14, 2011)

*

What is Merlot lettuce? — Merlot lettuce is a leafy, maroon salad.

'Merlot' [Wild Garden Seed]
*

IN the dinner, the vegetables were nestled on a white sauce, green sprinkles presumably the herbs from the First Lady's garden. Since the summer had been fruitful, as the White House's executive chef Cristeta Comerford explained in a film before the State Dinner, fennels and mustard, onions and capsicum from the White House grounds were kept. Pickled throughout the autumn and winter, these reappeared in the night's repast.

*

THE White House's type of dressing — i.e. a red wine vinaigrette with honey — likewise fits in a salad of satsuma, fennel, chèvre and Belgian endive. Vinegar, pomegranate, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and honey are mixed. (From the UK restaurant Fitzbillies's chef, Rosie Sykes.)

Satsuma, goat's cheese and chicory salad with pomegranate dressing (From: "Why pomegranate is good for you" [The Guardian], by Joanna Blythman and Rosie Sykes (November 2, 2013))
Untitled [The White House: Instagram], February 10, 2014

***

Main Course

Dry-aged Rib Eye Beef

Jasper Hill Farm Blue Cheese, Charred Shallots, Oyster

Mushrooms, Braised Chard

*

THE blue cheese was farmed in Vermont; the oyster mushrooms are a frequent fungus in Europe, North America and elsewhere, growing on decomposing tree trunks or stumps rather than in the soil, and are ribbed on the underside with a grey or white or brown, waved, oyster-shaped cap.

Rib eye beef is taken from the forward-leaning centre of the animal, wedged between the chuck toward the neck and the short loin at the sixth to twelfth ribs, and tucked above the plate at the belly, according to the American style of cuts.

"Bon appetit! White House to throw an all-American state dinner for French president" [Today: NBC], by Danika Fears (Feb. 11, 2014)
"Pleurotus ostreatus" [Wikipedia]
"Rib eye steak" [Wikipedia]
Beef diagram, "File: BeefCutRib.svg" [Wikimedia Commons], Uploaded by JoeSmack, July 25, 2006

***

Dessert

Hawaiian Chocolate-Malted Ganache

Vanilla Ice Cream and Tangerines

This time the petits fours were served on a marbled sugar platter, the triumph of the pastry chefs — a red American rose and a French purple iris — attached to it, and the traditional American treats were maple fudge, amongst others — even cotton candy.

Untitled [The White House: Instagram], February 10, 2014
Cook-at-Home version: "Chocolate Ganache Cake" [Taste of Home]
(Note: 'Originally published as Chocolate Ganache Cake in Light & Tasty February/March 2008, p53')

*****

Further sources:

"Behind the Scenes at the France State Dinner: See the Menu" [White House], by Megan Slack (February 11, 2014) [Read February 13, 2014]

"Behind the Scenes: Inside the Kitchen for the France State Dinner" [YouTube: The White House] (February 11, 2014) [Watched February 13, 2014]

"Presidential chefs swap recipes for world diplomacy" [Reuters], by Vicky Buffery (July 24, 2012)

"Le Club des chefs des chefs: le G20 des cuisiniers reçu par François Hollande" [Huffington Post: France], by Geoffroy Clavel (July 24, 2012)

Pinter-Testing the Paleo Watermelon Cake

Pinterest's 'Everything' screenshot, May 9, 2013

 A MONTH or two ago I finally launched a Pinterest account. For those who do not know what Pinterest is, it's a website where everyone who is registered can assemble picture boards full of photos which link to or simply show recipes, weight loss tips, exercise regimens, survivalist equipment, loving photos of rifles and other firearms, professional posed baby photos, gardening advice, aggressive humour, cartoons, crafts and millions of wedding planning tips. It has been around since March 2010. In 2012 it had some 11.7 million registered users.* Amongst others, the wives of the two candidates in the last U.S. presidential elections, magazines like Martha Stewart Living, and museums from the Prado in Madrid to the Museum of Cinema in Texas run Pinterest accounts.

* "Pinterest" [Wikipedia]

Looking at Pinterest from a serious critical perspective there is a lot that is neither entertaining nor very healthy ('thinspo' in which young girls are encouraged to become thin enough to develop a gap between their thighs, the obsession with weddings, racist 'jokes,' and supposed medical advice which is not reputably sourced, etc.).

It is a climate of haphazard fact-checking. A harmless example: Some 'pins' which often reappear on Pinterest due to popularity are inspiration quotes which are misattributed to arbitrary dead celebrities. For instance, 'Oscar Wilde' : "You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear."

TO REMEDY this empirical Wild West in a small way, I have decided to try out, research and — if necessary — debunk an assortment of Pins. There are many tempting notions, e.g. 'Exercises to increase drainage of lymphatic fluid and get perky boobs,' but let's begin with Paleo recipes.

***

THE 'PIN'

The Paleo Watermelon Cake derives its name from the 'Paleo diet,' which attempts to reestablish the food spectrum common in what used to be called the Stone Age. This time period covers some 2.6 million to 10,000 years ago,* before the advent of broadscale agriculture.

* "Paleolithic" [Wikipedia]

THE OVERVIEW

THE RECIPE I found — through Pinterest — is from the website Paleo Cupboard. The cake's ingredients are a watermelon, coconut milk, vanilla extract, honey, seasonal fruit, and almonds. It asks you to carve the rind off a watermelon so that you have a cylinder, to coat it in coconut whipping cream, and to decorate it with almonds around the sides and with berries or kiwis or other fruit above. So there is no baking involved, and indeed sugar and flour are anathema to the Paleo diet.

Watchdogs on Capitol Hill

There was nothing funny about the 2010 General Services Administration conference in Las Vegas that featured a clown, a mind reader and an overall taxpayer price tag of $820,000.

— Rep. Mike Coffman and Rep. Jackie Speier, March 18, 2013

Opinions may differ on that statement; in fact, more than one 'segment' of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart has made comedic capital out of the GSA's spree. But it is undeniable that the United States has an enormous public debt* and that wasteful spending within the federal government only makes things worse.

* Over $9 trillion according to the 2011 CIA World Factbook, under the definition of public debt as 'the total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country's home currency." [Wikipedia]

***

THIS MONDAY, Reps. Jackie Speier and Mike Coffman wrote an op-ed for Politico to announce a Congressional Watchdog Caucus, which hopes to ease matters for federal employees and others who want to report misuses of funds and other problems within government.

For anyone who wants to report, the route is complex. There is more than one office (or, watchdog) which undertakes investigations and passes on preexisting records to those who request them.