D Humbled by The Letter B

Scroll down a bit and you'll see that The Letter D made an impressive start to The Alphabet World Cup, defeating The Letter C 2-1. I have been following the World Cup from two perspectives, one as an obsessive football fan and the second as a studier of surnames. After each round of games I complete a fixture list, adding up the goals scored by each letter and seeing how they get on against each other. These last few days, The Letter D have been involved in a pulsating clash. Here's what happened:

The Letter D 2 (Donovan 48, Drogba 79) The Letter B 4 (Birsa 13, Bendtner 33, Blanco 79 (pen), Bradley 82)

The D Team: Dikgacoi, Di Maria, Demel, Danny, Diaby, De Jong, Duda, Dempsey, Donovan, Drogba, Dindane. 

The Letter B secured qualification to the knock-out stages of The World Cup with a free-flowing attacking display of football. The difficult-to-keep-out-of-orbit jabulani was expertly dispatched into the top corner by Slovenia midfielder Valter Birsa, when he found space 25-yards from goal to open the scoring. Critics pointed to The Letter D's unusual tactics of playing without a goalkeeper, but news from the camp suggests that, despite criticism and apparent disharmony amongst goal-keepers beginning with the letter D, they will continue with this tactic in their final group game.

  The Letter D were given a huge helping hand by the referee when Valon Behrami was harshly sent off for throwing an elbow in the direction of two Letter D defenders, but replays suggest that the elbow-chin connection was unintentional. The B Team quickly recovered however, with Nicklas Bendtner sliding in from close range to double their lead.

  After the break The Letter D pulled a goal back when Landon Donovan smashed the ball past Miso Brecko from a tight angle. The game was teetering on a cliche when an incredible four minutes of football produced three goals. Didier Drogba, playing with a broken arm, guided a header into the bottom corner just seconds before the referee punished Angel Di Maria for a rashly clattering veteran striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who became the oldest player to score this tournament when, after dusting himself down, he guided the ball into the bottom corner from the penalty spot.

  Michael Bradley's powerful half-volley into the roof of the net in the 82nd minute finished the game as a contest and left The Letter D in a nerve-jangling position leading into the final game. The Letter A's 1-0 victory over the Letter C, thanks to a goal from Hugo Almeida, means that The D Team will only progress if their win their final game against C.

  Elsewhere in The Alphabet World Cup, The Letter H narrowly beat The Letter F 5-4 in a thrilling encounter with Gonzalo Higuain scoring the first World Cup hat-trick since 2002, when Pauleta hit three goals. Incidentally, it has been 72 years since a player with a surname beginning with the letter D has scored a hat-trick: Leonidas Da Silva (pictured) was the man, scoring three against Poland. Oh, for a such a prolific D in the modern game. 

Group ABCD

1. The Letter B: 6 points, +3 goal difference

2. The Letter A: 3 pts, 0 gd

3. The Letter D: 3 pts, -1 gd

4. The Letter C, 0 pts, -2 gd