ThisDrinkingLife and The World Cup: Japan
Back again for their 5th World Cup on the bounce, Japan disappointed greatly in the last World Cup, when in a relatively doable group with Ivory Coast, Greece and Colombia they came bottom scoring just two goals, one of which was a penalty. And with some pretty dire form in the recent friendlies, and losing to Saudi Arabia and UAE at home in the qualifiers, things dont look so great for this World Cup either.
With the bad form in mind the Japanese FA in their perceived wisdom decided to sack their manager Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, just two months before the games. Akira Nishino is the guy now in charge and I wish him luck but that’s a crazy decision by the Japanese football association.
Keisuke Honda is the main man with the team, a World Class player that gets Japan motoring but I think its time that the other players stepped up a little and gave the 30 year old some help. He can’t do it all on his own.
This is a group that is definitely manageable for Japan. They play Colombia first, knowing if they can get a result in that game they have a fighting chance. Even if they dont, I would still fancy them to give both Poland and Senegal a good game. They wont make it easy for sure, but unfortunately I can only see Colombia and Senegal coming out of this group.
To be fair its not only about Rodríguez, they also have a good squad too. David Ospina is decent enough in goals, Juan Cuadrado is a real work horse in midfield, and Radamel Falcao up front is the type of striker that defenders hate to play against, in your face, strong, and has the ability to smash them in from all angles, albeit he can be lazy enough in games too. But he missed the last World Cup through injury so I am sure he will want to get going this time round. 
Pekerman is coach, a very defensive orientated and tactically inept manager. I do worry if they need a tactical substitution he might make a balls of it, like he did in 2006 when Argentina had Germany on the ropes, but let them back in the game and ended getting knocked out. I haven’t forgiven him for that (I am an Argentina fan) but lets see!
They qualified from an arguably easy enough group that contained Libya, DR Congo and Guinea, avoiding the big teams of Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon or Egypt for example. Ok they went through the campaign unbeaten but it really is hard to say what kind of team Tunisia are. They also didn’t do much in the last African Cup of Nations in 2017, going to out Burkina Faso in the last eight. 
That game in Italy was really a defining moment for the team. They defended stoically for 90 minutes in the San Siro, onslaught after onslaught from the desperate Italians, but in the end they did it. What a result that sent shock waves around the World. The Azzuri wont be going to a World Cup, the first time since 1958. Wow, just wow!
At the moment their squad dont have any star players that stand out, and they are struggling badly for form. But they weren’t expected to get out of their qualifying group ahead of the Dutch, they definitely weren’t expected to knock Italy out, and they are not expected to get up to much this time round either. Team spirit can get you far in world football. The Swedes, I wonder would it be wise to disregard them again!!
Jacobsen had a scientific bent and a keen interest in all things related to chemistry. With this he set up the Carlsberg Laboratory in 1875, which worked on scientific problems related to brewing. It featured a Department of Chemistry and a Department of Physiology. The Carlsberg Laboratory also developed the concept of pH and made advances in protein chemistry. They also did a bit of research into beer production as well!!
The company is a big employer, with 41,000 people working for the company, primarily located in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia. With an annual turnover reaching just under 10 Billion Dollars the company is a major player on the World beer market. 
Initially on the pour get a nice white head, and a clear golden coloured beer. Goes all a bit flat after a while as the head dies a death, not really much of a looker.
But what about the name? Soo. Soors Beer? WTF? But then you realise that the beer is actually from Sursee so it all makes perfect sense, and in actual fact is kind of clever really. It makes even more sense when you learn that the story goes that three men were mulling over a few beers and kind of depressed that they couldn’t drink a local beer from their home town, only sip generic large multinational beers and nothing from Sursee. And like all good beer chat their minds began to wander and definite plans were made to rectify this terrible anomaly by starting their own brewery in the town. Even after all that pub-talk, the idea began to take hold and more concrete plans were put into action. They had serious discussions with beer drinkers, with people in the business, publicans and restaurateurs. A serious business plan was drawn up. And again they sat together over a beer and a eureka moment came: “Soorser beer, we want that!”
On March 12, 2015, Herbert Blum, Alexander Oleschinsky and Karin Wagemann founded Soorser Bier AG with a share capital of CHF 100,000. Over time came more funding and more expertise, and they also offered beer lovers the opportunity to become part of the Soors beer history, ala Brewdog, offering shares to the public. Fortunately for them, the share capital was oversubscribed by 80,000 francs. 390 shareholders, most of them from Sursee, got on board, and the beer chat turned into something real. The brewery was set up and a master brewer with many years experience was hired. On April 22, 2016, less than a year after the founding of Soorser Bier AG, the first brew was prepared from the plant. 
On pour I get a very well carbonated beer that produces a big frothy white head and a cloudy looking, golden yellowish beer.
Looks lovely, and the head maintains throughout.
Was quite carbonated in the pour, resulting in a very large frothy white head, a lot of foam.
Looks nice on pour, a lovely light yellow colour with a good sized white frothy head. Looks good, very inviting. Some good carbonation going on, bubbling away. A hazy look appears after a while. 
First produced way back in 1892, Ozujsko Pivo is the flagship brand produced by Zagrebačka Pivovara (Zagreb Brewery), the largest brewery in the country which has been of Molson Coors Brewing Company since 2013.
The brewery Zagrebačka was founded when the brewers from the upper town of Zagreb realized that they were not able to produce enough beer for the ever-growing and developing city. Panic set in but not to worry as help was at hand. A joint stock company was set up to run Zagrebačka Pivovara on the 19th of May in 1892, with the notion of alleviating this awful situation in the city. The brewery at that time was one of the most modern developments not just in the locale but in the whole city of Zagreb, attracting visitors from all across the city to see the happenings of the new modern premises with its new cooling systems and boilers, and state of the art lightning system, and I suppose to sample the beer as well! Nowadays Zagrebačka has developed into Croatia’s largest brewery and, besides Ožujsko pivo, produces a variety of popular beer brands.
In a very shiny yellowish can, looks a bit cheap. 
For the taste well its nothing that’s going to blow your mind, but its a typical full bodied lager, malty, light and clean, quaffable and not bad. Nice big mouthfuls to enjoy at the start.
There is some slight lacing, and the head maintains well. There is some small amount of sediment buzzing around inside, showing that this beer is alive! 
Oh boy, the smell is strong and typical of a Pilsner. Malty and spicy, perfume aroma as well. Nice.
On the pour was a bit surprised as it was very fizzy, bubbling all over the place, was not exactly expecting that.
A lot of carbonation, very lively on the pour. This resulted in a very frothy head. The colour was dark red. All looking great. Head settled well after a while.
On pour, I get a lot of carbonation, a lot! When it all eventually settled it results in a very big frothy tanned head. The colour is pitch black. All in all its a nice looking beer, very nice appearance. 
Decent enough white frothy head on the pour, a nice pale golden colour, looks ok, a typical Witbeer look. Head maintains very well. Not a bad looker. 
On pour I get a nice white frothy head and a dark golden orange colour. Looks good, very appealing. Some lacing.
Wow, what a fantastic smell. Wow, the vanilla is very prominent on the nose. Also smells like a nice perfume as well. Lovely smell, nice. 
Looks nice enough on the appearance, got a lovely creamy white head and a dark black coloured beer. Some good lacing. Not a bad looking beer.
Founded in 2001. Beginning small, in the centre of the beautiful medieval city of Antwerp, and with a lot of trial and error, but fire in their belly, they started to produce some very tasty beers that seemed popular with the general public. 
Initial taste is hoppy, a very hoppy taste, typical of a Belgian ale, hitting you at the start. Sweet and bitter.
Top marks for appearance, it looked magnificent.
Moktamee is a specialty beer coming in a big 75cl bottle. 
Nice big mouthfuls swilling around, lovely stuff, the barley, the wheat and toasted malts doing the business. 
Keylor Navas and Joel Campbell made names for themselves in the last World Cup and are back again for another adventure. Otherwise they dont really have any other stand out players in the squad. But is that any different to last time round? I certainly didn’t expect them to get up to much in 2014 and they ended up causing shock after shock, so who knows what gems lie in their squad this time round.