Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Day 19 Quarters are all set

Could use a break, too. I realized the other day that I haven't done any walking or hiking since the World Cup started. :)

Maybe I'll even play tomorrow, we'll see.

Japan, I'm so sorry you didn't move on, but you gotta convert your chances. See what happened to the US.

I'm still a little bitter about the Luis Aragonés incident about Thierry Henry so I have trouble rooting for them, but it's still always fun to watch C. Precious Ronaldo pout.

Day 18

Games where pretty predictable today.

The Dutch spent a few minutes of defensive worry in the second half of their game, but still managed to shut down Slovakia. Still it shows a small chink in the armor of their defense. My pick to win is gonna have to be air tight against Brazil.

Chile went down swinging in their fight, but Brazil is a heavyweight to Chile's middleweight.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Day 17 - Ruh row

To the tune of Rule, Britannia!:

O dear England,
her fans too blind to see,
you're the Queen of Mediocrity.

Well, they might be seeing it now. At least we US fans weren't expecting them to win the whole thing. Missed goal call or not, y'all got your ass whooped.

Same with Mexico. I was cheering for ya, but damn, Argentina made you look like an amateur side.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Day 16 - The end for the US

South Korea gave it a go and pushed Uruguay, but in the end the Reds couldn't get it done.

Same with my beloved Yanks. They kept putting themselves behind the eight ball one too many times. I think this experience will make the 2014 team much, much stronger. We need some faster defenders, and an increase in overall team speed. Jozy, brother, work on your finishing.

Bob, take the hint. We played much more offensively in a 4-5-1.

Overall, I'm still proud of the guys.

Well done, Ghana.

It's the simple things

I had to drive to the post office this morning. After I got in the car, I scanned the radio stations for a Spanish broadcast of the Uruguay/South Korea game. I was shocked to stumble across an English broadcast of the game on one of the major sports radio stations. Props to ESPN radio and KNBR 1050 for broadcasting.

I was amused listening to Glenn Davis and Kyle Martino emphasize their own pronunciations of Uruguay (Ooo-rah-gwhy versus Your-a-gway).

Friday, June 25, 2010

Day 15 - Zzzzzz...

Now you know what happens when teams know the score. Brazil/Portugal? What a snoozer!
Spain/Chile? Boring!

At least Ivory Coast and North Korea went down fighting.

Well done.

John Oliver and the folks at The Daily Show do a piece on how they've wiped away the African culture away at this World Cup. Well, almost all of the African culture.

The Disneyfication of the World Cup, as it were.

It's just another instance of how you can't be too black. It scares the white people.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Day 14 - Away Auzzurri

Hahahahahahahaha.
Italy are out. Finito. Andato. Addio.
Not that I'm biased or anything. :)
The U.S. is now officially better than Italy, France, and (for the moment) England.

Good run Kiwis, sorry to see you go.

I think I'm back to the Dutch being my favorites to take the whole thing.

Day 13 - A Lucky Day

As my household watched the US/Algeria game, my partner started to believe the US was cursed.

For the first 90 minutes of that game, I couldn't say I blamed her.

Now the Yanks are through, and face Ghana (and all of Africa) next. I'm interested to see if the boys can get their focus, and beat this team.

Congrats to England and Germany (whew, we don't have to face them until the final), too.

I think the US has a chance to make it to the semis now. Uruguay is playing well and is the team to beat in our quarter of the bracket, and the US needs to finish better, but it's possible.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Day 12

Congrats to Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, and South Korea for making it through. South Africa made Mexico sweat for a bit, but it was nowhere near the excitement of Nigeria/South Korea. Yakubu with the miss of the tournament. Even the penalty he scored moments later won't ever wash the taste of that miss out of his mouth.

As good as it looks for South America, is as bad as it looks for the African teams. I'm rather sad about that.

My focus now is trying to figure out the ways the U.S. can avoid Germany in the round of 16. :)

Monday, June 21, 2010

Day 11

Nothing to see here...move along.

Looks like scores stayed true to form.
Adios mi amigos de Honduras.
(hope I got that right) :)

Portugal...damn. Adios Ivory Coast.

Day 10 - Away Les Bleu

Figures the French would steal the spotlight from the Kiwis.

Great job New Zealand in holding off those other blues.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Day 9 - Yup, Koo-Koo for Cocoa Puffs

Harry it was a handball and a red. Get over it. The rest of your boys still ground out the tie aganist Ghana.

Sorry to see Cameroon crash out like that, but damn, what a game with Denmark. It was like watching Pulp Fiction, or some blacksploitation kung-fu shit. It action just didn't motherfucking stop.

The Dutch still aren't looking like world beaters, but they got the job done. Frankly, that might be what it takes to claim this cup.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Day 8 - The Soccer Gods Must Be Crazy

The only thing certain in this World Cup is that nothing is certain.
Are you kidding me with this stuff?

The US did their Jekyll and Hyde thing again. Someone needs to smack them in the mouth before the game starts.

Sorry Findley, the yellow card sucks, but I have to admit you're not quite ready for prime time. You ever get the ball like that again, in the box with just you and the keeper, you go in hard. Shoot the damn ball. It was like Landon in 2006.

The third games are gonna be interesting.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Day 7

Looking at how Group A and B are shaping up brought up an interesting point. Since Mexico and Uruguay are now tied with 4 points with France and South Africa only having 1 point, all Mexico and Uruguay need to do is tie their final group game and both are through.

However there is one reason for Mexico and Uruguay to be competitive...Argentina. Whoever finishes second in the group will most likely face Argentina in the Round of 16.

For a similar reason the U.S. needs to not just win their next two games, but score as much as possible to win Group C. If things fall into place, they'd avoid Germany, and have a reasonable chance to make it to the semis by avoiding the big dogs.

Day 6

Well done Swiss. It made me flash back to the Confederations' Cup and the upset by the US.

Pity poor South Africa. I personally think the guy dove to get the keeper tossed, but it's still a huge blow for their chances of getting out of the group. Then again France is imploding before our eyes. The France/Mexico match becomes much bigger in determining the outcome of this group.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Saturday June 12th

Me and the girls before England v US.

You see which side we're on.

Day 5

If you had bet me who'd have the bigger goal differential Germany v Australia or Brazil v North Korea, I'd have lost a lot of money. Good on ya, Il Boys for never giving up.


Now that I've seen Italy, the Dutch, Germany, Brazil, England, Portugal, and Argentina, I gotta say the Germans look the strongest thus far. We'll see how Spain does tomorrow.


Congrats Kiwis on getting the point. I apologize for doing the "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi" chant to future ex- Quake Simon Elliott once upon a time. :) Next time though, make sure you check to see if there's a moat around the pitch before you run around like madmen.

C. Precious Ronaldo damn near had the goal of the tournament though.

Day 4

(Yawn) Not much here...
Okay only partially kidding...
Good job Japan.

The Dutch weren't as good as I expected. They were my pre-Cup pick to win. That's changed now (Germany).

The teams are beginning to get use to the ball, finally.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Day (wait, did Germany just score again?) 3

Die Mannschaft whipped it out and smacked it across some Aussie faces today.

My man Dracula's a ref in the World Cup!

I was gonna talk about how good Ghana looked to...
(Germany scored again!)

The U.S. and England better go through after watching that hot mess of the other two teams in the group.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Day 2

I'm not going get any points for soothsaying without any proof, but once I learned yesterday that Jozy was starting against England, I just had the feeling that Findley would start with him up front. Bob likes him some holding forward, speedy forward combo long time.

Damn, I wish Jozy's shot had gone in. The was a great fucking run by him. Hopefully the team got their jitters out with this game.

Thank you Martin Tyler for reigning it in.

I'm happy to see South Korea still doing well as a team. On the flip side, can someone please tell me how the hell Greece won Europe once?

Watching Maradona on the sideline is pure entertainment. That man is all id.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Day 1 thoughts

South Africa/Mexico was a joy to watch. I usually cheer for Mexico against other teams, but because of what South Africa's been through, my heart was going for them. Fun game to watch. Watching Archbishop Tutu dancing after the fabulous goal by Tshabalala was the embodiment of that joy.

I see what they mean about the ball. That thing's lively. Lots of players were skying free kicks and crosses.

Watching Lalas and Ruud together during the breaks of the Uruguay/France game was entertaining in its discomfort. I don't think Lalas looked at Ruud until the post game wrap up (I bet a director pointed it out to Alexi). Read The Beckham Experiment to find out why. :)

Martin Tyler, just call the game, please. The moment you start waxing poetic about stuff other than soccer, it's kind of embarrassing. Your broadcast partner today was just as bad. There was some "African rhythms" comment that was just cringe-worthy.

Uruguay/France was the kind of game that soccer haters point to. I can't blame them here. What a slog of a game.

Gosh, I wonder what's on tomorrow?

;)

Monday, June 7, 2010

I don't normally believe in omens...

...but this one is a little too good to pass up. Nice one Woody!


C'mon U.S.!!!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Gangs in the Bay Area

I noticed it about a week ago. People have started wearing their colors. Hipster on a fixie wearing green and red. South American brothers in Adidas Sambas wearing yellow and green. Chicanos all over the place wearing green and white or black and green. Brits in all whites or all reds.

The mob up has begun, take your sides, choose your loyalty.

Seeing it so out in the open, so in my face, makes me want to stick my chest out. So I do...for my colors.
I know the rolling eyes, the snickers that come with my affiliation. You see, my gang ain't as cool as theirs.
I understand why, but I don't care. They are my people. They are my underdogs, and I'm right there underdogging it with 'em. My colors vary from red to blue to graphite to white, but the shield stays the same.

Time to show your colors.