Dutch Oranje, Lance's yellow

I received a call from my good friend Moises ‘Loloy’ Soriaga the other day and there was something in his voice that wasn’t right.

I learned that his wife, Minda Primero-Soriaga passed away last July 4 at the age of 69. Her body now lies at the Soriaga residence in Basak, Mandaue City.

The interment is on Saturday at the Fatima Catholic Cemetery in Pagsabungan, Mandaue City after the 8 a.m. mass at the Fatima Parish.

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The Netherlands pulled past gritty Uruguay in a beautiful match early yesterday morning. 

Well, maybe the Netherlands got away with an off-side when they scored their second goal, but overall the game between the Oranje and the Celeste was fairly clean.

Although the Dutch were the odds on favorites to win the match, Uruguay proved so much tougher than expected and I would say that I could not help but cheer the first time the Celeste scored a goal to tie the count at 1-all.

Unfortunately, fortunes changed when the second and third goals came within minutes apart and the last ditch efforts were not enough to overcome the two-goal deficit as Uruguay only managed to sneak in one more.

We shall already know the finalists by the time you are holding this newspaper as Germany and Spain are playing at dawn today (RP time).

Will it be the Germans in the finals or will Spain score an upset? I’ll be up very early to watch the game live and I’m sure many would be doing the same.

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I wear a yellow baller band, not because I supported the ‘yellow candidate’ in the elections, but because my support to the Livestrong Foundation of Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong, although many times alleged to have used performance enhancing drugs to win seven straight titles in the Tour de France, remains one of my most favorite athletes of all time.

His triumph against cancer and his continuing battle against the menace through his foundation are awe inspiring feats.

Lance is now gunning for an eighth TdF crown, but it seems his campaign this year has not started quite well.

Whether Lance wins or not he has already accomplished so much and has nothing more to prove.

I just hope that all talk about doping would also come to a close soon.

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MILESTONES: I’d like to wish one outstanding ball player and friend, Joel Chan, a happy birthday.

Advance greetings go to my aunt, who is also very much like a mother to me, Eva Frasco Quiñones as she turns another year older tomorrow.

The same goes to Candy Canga-Picar, Arlene Densing and my mistah Rene Honasan.

Congratulations also to the newly-inducted president of the Rotary Club of Cebu Fuente Jesse Baring, who is following the footsteps of my good friend Rady Abarintos, who recently scored a hole-in-one.

The same goes to the newly inducted honorary members of the club including my former student Rochelle ‘Raki’ Vega.

More power to all of you! — THE FREEMAN