And so it begins... :)

Today, July 15th, will go down in the books as a mega Crab bludge day.

There is a strong rumour going around that The Crab, got up late, had breakfast just before they shut the dining room, then did his laundry before going back to bed for a mid afternoon 3 hour nap.

NO.

COMMENT.

Today was however Lacrosse Fans(tm) the official opening of the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships with a simple and functional opening ceremony. The teams were announced, they marched on, Official type people gave Official type speeches and the oaths were read out.

Unfortunately standing out in their absence was the Iroquois team, who at this date are still not in Manchester, and then, to the surprise of many, the announcement that German had now been formally raised to the Blue Division in place of the Iroquois and the later curtain riser between England and Germany was now a 'real' game.

Iroquois WHEN (if?) they arrive will now take Germany's place in their division which fortunately does mean that they have a realistic chance of making the final games.

(for those not up with the system of Lacrosse Worlds, teams are placed into divisions based on their international raking. "Elite" nations are in the highest or "Blue" division while the other nations are matched up against nations with similar skill levels and experience. Then, after all the minor round games have been played, the winners of a lower division get the chance to play the lower ranked team from a higher division and, in theory, have a shot at the grand final game. If you think of it in the same sense as a relegation/promotion system then you are not fair off.)

So, Germany gets to run with the big boys in Blue Division. How did they shape up?

Well...

Ummm...

They weren't that great. Final score was England 12 Germany 3.

Having said that, England didn't really impress that greatly either. Both teams showed a large amount of missed passes and other basic skill fails, which, at this level, isn't really what the fans have come to see. Germany were of course playing outside their level and I think took the game as an honoured experience. To be even considered for a spot in blue division is a great honour and shows how well Germany is progressing as a Lacrosse nation.

However the important word here is still 'progressing'. I didn't really think Germany ever looked dangerous in attack, a lot of the shots they had were not even on the cage (an error that would get even us Australian lower club level players seriously yelled at - you either force the goalie to save it or you put the ball in the back of the net. Basic shooting skills) and from my very brief notes, I think that all three of the German goals were from man up plays.

As much as I am deep down a Germanphile and hate to say this, Germany is going to get butchered by USA, Canada and Australia.

England on the other side of the field were a bit more differcult to judge. Chatting to people after the game gave me the 'unofficial' view that the team was holding back on the grounds they have 8 more days of serious hard lacrosse and blowing a hamstring on day one would be a 'bad thing(tm)'. However, even allowing for the fact they were playing at say 70% they still didn't really look completely hot. As mentioned before they dropped the ball on passes a few too many times not to be noticed and there was at least two fast breaks where taking the extra pass would have given them the goal they ended up not getting.

Full day of games tomorrow and a chance to see how the other nations are shaping up. Canada play Japan for what should be a win for the North Americans and USA play Australia which will give us a feel if Australia is a serious Grand Final chance this year.