O n May 11 2020, the crypto world experienced the phenomena knows as Bitcoin halving . For those who are still a little looney-toons regarding this phenomena, here's the lowdown . Moral of the story is that, as the Bitcoin supply decreased and it's 21 million market cap slowly approached, it was widely accepted that the low supply and high demand will increase the price of the cryptocurrency back to its previous highs. Basic business right? Wrong! Source: Equity Trust Company BTC prices actually fell and after briefly holding steady, are only just rising above the 10000 USD range. Surprise eh? Well, we are not done yet. Because while the most valuable crypto coin wasn't showing it's expected gains, some other cryptocurrencies shot to outer space. There was no SpaceX rocket nor a Tesla Roadster involved. These "altcoins" bumped up in their market value thanks to the entire underlying system of cryptocurrency: investor speculation. But what exactly are these &q
These are the kinda games which you really want to sit up and watch. The best attack vs the best defence. Statistically, it was supposed to be football nirvana. France vs Uruguay? Psssh...Nah those are the underlying things. They kinda match you only watch the highlights for. The real deal was Brazil vs Belgium. And it delivered. At least for the fans, the lovers of Belgian chocolates, and the creators of Neymar memes. To be more precise it misdelivered for the Brazilians.
It was always going to be a tough game. And Titee..uh sorry... Tite...knew Belgium, with the bullish Lukaku, the fleet-footed Hazard and 'Merlin' De Bruyne were going to present their hardest challenge yet at the World Cup. Mexico? Even Sweden scored 3 goals past the Mexicans. So yes, Belgium was going to be tough. But witnessing the Belgians huffing and puffing their way against a very delightful Japan side, Brazil and their coach knew there were some caldera sized holes to exploit. And exploit they did. But instead of shooting at the target they shot at themselves. Literally
Fernandinho's own goal was absolutely comical. One can only guess what was going on inside the poor man's head. De Bruyne's goal was gobsmackingly beautiful. Alisson and Brazil were caught buckles off, pants down. Even Brazil fans were wondering what in the effing hell happened. You could almost picture Fernandinho "accidentally" injuring De Bruyne during Man City's preseason. But Nah, players are professionals right? Just look at Neymar..
TBH Neymar played decently well. I can't say great, because he seemed to dive back to his roots (get the pun..haha) of playacting. But it was noticeably lesser. Somewhat like lowering the volume down from 50 to 46.
One can't simply put the blame on Tite. Even after the monumentary setback, he made sure Brazil stepped up and laid siege to the Belgian stronghold. And Belgium was very very lucky. After their two goals, Belgium did very little. A spatter of attack in the occasional 20 mins, but it was the Brazilians who were trying shot after shot peppering the Belgian defence. You could almost imagine Martinez praying to the Lord of Its-Not-Your-Day and hoping Thibaut hadn't forgotten to pack his energy bars.
Belgian fans must have felt that volcanic surge of elation that usually follows after winning a lottery, not once, but twice. Japan failed to kill the game and Brazil's finishing was not much better than Torres. And Torres has already won the World Cup. The Belgians should feel very lucky for making it to the semi-finals.
This was an atypical Brazil match. They had beaten good teams on the way here. And even the draw against Switzerland was largely down to lots of Swiss body hugging. They can do little to complain about De Bruyne's goal, but Fernandinho should have done better. The attackers could have done better. Belgium is nowhere close to being proper World Cup winners, needing a bit of magic as well as Fernandinho's head to scrape past the Brazilians. They now march against France for a place in the finals. And while France to were nowhere close to their supposed 'Favourite" status, they have turned a new leaf over since drawing Argentina for the R-16. Their win over Uruguay was a classic match and while the South Americans could say their goalkeeper "pulled-a-Karius" or "Cavani" wasn't playing, the fact remains that Uruguay were well and truly beaten.
Belgium is now against who want to exorcise the Euro 2016 demons. And normally speaking you would expect a tough game but know France would pull through. But please don't bet your money, cuz the fact remains that this world cup is anything but normal. Spain was expected to win, Brazil was expected to win, Germany were expected to defend their title, both Ronaldo and Messi were expected to drag their teams to at least the quarters. None of them remains. The top 3 players in the world are all out, new stars are emerging, Pogba is actually playing well, and Russia is in the quarters. When the lowest-ranked team are in the quarters you know this ain't no normal trophy bruv. So Belgian can win. Not defining humiliating win. But even a scrappy win, seriously lucky win would do as they would then reach the finals. Likely speaking England or Croatia will be there. And if they can make lighting strike 3 times, why not the 4 times as well, eh?
It was always going to be a tough game. And Titee..uh sorry... Tite...knew Belgium, with the bullish Lukaku, the fleet-footed Hazard and 'Merlin' De Bruyne were going to present their hardest challenge yet at the World Cup. Mexico? Even Sweden scored 3 goals past the Mexicans. So yes, Belgium was going to be tough. But witnessing the Belgians huffing and puffing their way against a very delightful Japan side, Brazil and their coach knew there were some caldera sized holes to exploit. And exploit they did. But instead of shooting at the target they shot at themselves. Literally
Fernandinho's own goal was absolutely comical. One can only guess what was going on inside the poor man's head. De Bruyne's goal was gobsmackingly beautiful. Alisson and Brazil were caught buckles off, pants down. Even Brazil fans were wondering what in the effing hell happened. You could almost picture Fernandinho "accidentally" injuring De Bruyne during Man City's preseason. But Nah, players are professionals right? Just look at Neymar..
TBH Neymar played decently well. I can't say great, because he seemed to dive back to his roots (get the pun..haha) of playacting. But it was noticeably lesser. Somewhat like lowering the volume down from 50 to 46.
One can't simply put the blame on Tite. Even after the monumentary setback, he made sure Brazil stepped up and laid siege to the Belgian stronghold. And Belgium was very very lucky. After their two goals, Belgium did very little. A spatter of attack in the occasional 20 mins, but it was the Brazilians who were trying shot after shot peppering the Belgian defence. You could almost imagine Martinez praying to the Lord of Its-Not-Your-Day and hoping Thibaut hadn't forgotten to pack his energy bars.
Belgian fans must have felt that volcanic surge of elation that usually follows after winning a lottery, not once, but twice. Japan failed to kill the game and Brazil's finishing was not much better than Torres. And Torres has already won the World Cup. The Belgians should feel very lucky for making it to the semi-finals.
This was an atypical Brazil match. They had beaten good teams on the way here. And even the draw against Switzerland was largely down to lots of Swiss body hugging. They can do little to complain about De Bruyne's goal, but Fernandinho should have done better. The attackers could have done better. Belgium is nowhere close to being proper World Cup winners, needing a bit of magic as well as Fernandinho's head to scrape past the Brazilians. They now march against France for a place in the finals. And while France to were nowhere close to their supposed 'Favourite" status, they have turned a new leaf over since drawing Argentina for the R-16. Their win over Uruguay was a classic match and while the South Americans could say their goalkeeper "pulled-a-Karius" or "Cavani" wasn't playing, the fact remains that Uruguay were well and truly beaten.
Belgium is now against who want to exorcise the Euro 2016 demons. And normally speaking you would expect a tough game but know France would pull through. But please don't bet your money, cuz the fact remains that this world cup is anything but normal. Spain was expected to win, Brazil was expected to win, Germany were expected to defend their title, both Ronaldo and Messi were expected to drag their teams to at least the quarters. None of them remains. The top 3 players in the world are all out, new stars are emerging, Pogba is actually playing well, and Russia is in the quarters. When the lowest-ranked team are in the quarters you know this ain't no normal trophy bruv. So Belgian can win. Not defining humiliating win. But even a scrappy win, seriously lucky win would do as they would then reach the finals. Likely speaking England or Croatia will be there. And if they can make lighting strike 3 times, why not the 4 times as well, eh?
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