apatheticThankfully, I had my first meeting with my 'work coach' at the Dutch Job Centre equivalent, i.e. the person assigned to help me get back into work mainly by monitoring my applications and determining whether I've done enough to still qualify for benefit (which luckily, after having perused my letters, he considered I had) earlier in the week, and managed to convince him to allow me to follow a training course and workshops which I hope will help me focus better at the job in hand of restoring my confidence and becoming better equipped to reach my objective.
Yesterday, I had what in all likelihood will turn out to have been my last ESWT-treatment, as the ultrasound they took showed that the inflammation in the tendon was significantly reduced, by which I mean it was almost wholly gone, much to my surprise as it still hurts quite a bit. I'm going back in for a final check-up in 3 weeks time, and in the meantime I'm expected to do a set of daily excercises that I had to go and buy dumbells for. They're only small ones, weighing a kilo each, though they feel much heavier in the hand of my bad arm.
Anyway, back to football: I don't think it's wholly down to my depressed state that I'm not overly enthousiastic about the tournament so far. Although many of the supposedly top teams seem to have put in decidedly lacklustre performances, others not rated nearly so high have shown some surprising resilience. I wouldn't have placed any bets on Greece staying in the competition at all at the start of their match against Nigeria, especially after Uche scored so soon after kick-off. But then Kaita got himself sent off, and Greece somehow pulled it out of the bag in the second half. And Switzerland won convincingly against Spain.
Last night's match, between France and Mexico, showed the French side in complete disarray and Mexico walked off the pitch the deserved winners. Now I'm watching Germany-Serbia; I'd had high hopes for Germany but they failed to convince and then Klose got sent off (through a questionable decision by the referee), so...be interesting to see whether they can rally in the second half. They field a good solid squad so they should be able not to concede too many opportunities for the opposing side, even if they are down to 10 men.
ETA: Well, that shows how much I know! Germany never really got back into their stride after the first half, and Serbia beat them fair and square. Luckily, the US against Slovenia proved a far more entertaining match, and I couldn't be happier for the Americans that they managed to draw level from trailing 2-0 behind in the second half. Poor refereeing got them their third goal disallowed, but even so, they've done enough to show the world that they're no longer the footballing lightweights they used to be.
