Quick little predictions

Quarterfinal Predictions as they are now set.

Argentina over Germany
Italy over Ukraine
England over Portugal
Brazil over France.

Mexico made Argentina look weak, but I think Mexico's defense is more proven than Germany's. At least they were tested more.

Ukraine doesn't seem to attack goal, even with one of the best attackers in the world with Shevchelski. Italy will score 1 early, go into defensive mode and then get a late goal off a set piece to win 2-0

England is lucky that two and probably 3 starters for portugal will miss the match, and will win on penalties after a Portuguese goal is disallowed in the final minutes of extra time for a bogus foul call in the 6 yard box. Redemption.

I will never pick against brazil, barring a plane crash, crab epidemic or hostage situation.

Spain vs. France, Brazil vs. African Brazil (Ghana)

A couple of notes.

I didn't see the entire match, but from what I read Brazil didn't seem terribly strong this match, but did have absolute flashes of Brilliance. Ronaldo scored a beautiful goal to go past Gerd Muller as the all time goal scoring leader in World Cup History. The truly amazing thing is that Just Fontaine of France is third on the list, 2 behind Ronaldo, and what took Ronald 4 world cups to accomplish only took Fontaine 1. He had 13 goals in one world cup, for a team that didn't even win it all!

Also, I give lots of credit to the Ghanaian Keeper Kingson, for making a lot of great saves...it could have been worse than 3-0, and I really wish they could have snuck in a consolation goal, just to see them celebrate, and feel better about their performance.

Finally Asamoah Gyan picked up his second yellow card with a clear dive late in the match, I felt bad that he got sent off, but it was a deserved card, and was glad the referee called it.

France vs. Spain, I've seen none of this match. And using my Arsenal theory had to root for spain because they had more current Arsenal stars on their team than the other...even though Henry should count for more than one person I guess. Spain, the team that looked as On Form as any other team besides Argentina and France, a team that looked decidedly off form for a team with so many stars. The result is exactly the opposite as I would have expected. I expected a 3-1 or so game in favor of the Spaniards, but Zidane gets to show us for at least one more match the reason you should shave your head when you are balding. Three goals from a team that was struggling to score all tournament.

Another bit of information that I found interesting...Henry has played with Zidane on 55 occasions. Zidane has assisted on a goal for Henry 0 times. That is amazing that one of the best playmakers and one of the best goal scorers have been on the field together 55 times, and they haven't linked up together, it leads me to believe that there may be some ego problems in that game.

I look forward to the quarterfinals, here are my predictions:

England over a depleted Portugal
Argentina over Germany
Brazil over Spain
Italy over Ukraine

And remember, Friends don't let Friends wear Goalie Pants.

Little bit of a recap of last nights games

1. The penalty call.

I hate to harp on the officiating, but people who get paid to write about this are doing it, so why can't I. The officiating is awful. Sure, Lucas Neill should never have gone to ground, as he stood a better chance defending the ball standing up, but since when is it a foul to lay on the ground. The Italian player then jumped over him, left his left leg on the ground, and fell, on his own accord. Just not a penalty, especially so late in the game. Awful.

2. Penalty Kicks.

In an overwhelmingly unexciting game (besides some great Ukrainian hairstyles), Switzerland and Ukraine went to penalty kicks for the first time in this years world cup. Ukrainian superstar and Filthy new Chelski player Andriy Schevchenko was stopped by the often shaky Swiss keeper Zuberbuhler, but then 3 straight swiss players missed. Two shot the ball about a foot left or right of the center of the net leaving extraordinarily easy saves to make, while the other shot the ball high and hard only for it to hit the bar.

When I played my 2 years of JV soccer at BMHS, we'd have a bit of a penalty kick contest. And the winning team (we'd play the varsity) would have to run less than the losing team. Now I know this doesn't seem as stressful as the world cup, but it certainly was stressful for a fatkid like myself who would rather not have to run 2 miles at the end of practice.

ANYWAY I scored one goal in my two year stint, but when we did this penalty kick shootout vs. the varsity I missed once in 2 years.

And the one I missed was because I tried to do something different, I got cocky. Normally, I would do one of two things...Aim for the inside left post low and hard or aim for the right post low and hard. The one time I tried to trick the goalie by shooting down the middle he saved it.

So why do Penalty takers try to be too tricky? I don't get it.

You are looking at a huge net, from 12 yards, with someone probably not all that much bigger than you to try to stop it. Hit the net!

I will give props to the Switzerland team though, and will paraphrase what Double Deuce friend Alex said. The swiss team did not have a superstar, but they played a strong team game. And this was what led to them finishing the tournament haven giving up a total of 0 goals. Sadly, this led to them not scoring very often, and not performing at the penalty spot, but hey, I give them credit, and look forward to seeing them in 2 years, when some of their young players mature into a solid team when they host with Austria in 2008.

US Soccer Woes

I've come up with many reasons as to why the US Soccer team will always dissapoint and will never become a true power in the world of Soccer.

The first reason is simple, soccer is not as popular here as it is in other countries...Now, I know that more kids play soccer than any other sport in this country, but I believe that is because of convenience. It is easy to play and organize. Very little equipment is needed. It isn't very dangerous. And it's cheap.

But, I feel that there is something ingrained in us as Americans that we don't want to play a sport that is English. I mean, we did a pretty good job kicking them out of the country, screw them, we are going to change their sports around and make them our own...Hence Football (american style) and Baseball (our form of cricket).

Added upon this, when an American athlete reaches high school, it is very rare for them to continue playing soccer because if they are talented athletically, they will generally be pursued by the Football/Basketball/Baseball coaches...and it's very difficult to not want to play one of these high profile sports, where you get all the glory. There was a great quote in the Boston Globe a couple of weeks ago. They were talking about Larry Walker, the Canadian born baseball player. Larry Walker was a very big strong outfielder for many years with the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos. The article stated that if he was born in America he would have never been a baseball player, because the Football coach would have gotten a hold of him, and never let him play baseball. Nomar Garciaparra was an accomplished soccer player...look where he ended up...A baseball player married to a soccer player.

Secondly, those players that slip through the cracks and play soccer at a highly competetive level in America, don't do so until college. And that means that they aren't being evaluated for talent until they are around 20 years of age. In Europe and South America, these same talents would have been noticed when they were 11 or 12, and signed by a pro team to play for their "Academy". By the time these players are of high school age, they are playing on a national level, by the time they are 17 or so, they have probably made their professional debut already. If they are really good, they may be even playing at the world cup level right now.

The closest thing we've gotten to that is Freddy Adu, and he wasn't even born here, he was born in Ghana, who ironically put the nail in the coffin for the US team last week. The US did try in an effort to raise the profile of the sport, which I believe is called "Project 2010". This project is being used to try to train the best young talent in the country and prepare them for a legitimate run out in South Africa four years from now. I applaud them for the effort, but how effective can it be with these players training with eachother for 4 years. INstead of training with the best teams in the world!

Unfortunately I also see as a problem, the league that has helped bring the national team into prominence...The MLS. People were very excited about how the World Cup squad was made up of so many MLS players. As if this was a showing of how strong the league was. As if the New York Red Bull were suddenly going to be challenging Barcelona for the Champions League trophy. This is not the case. I believe the MLS needs to be there to legitimize US soccer, but in the long run, and Bruce Arena agrees, these young players have to find their way over to Europe to play. They aren't going to improve playing against second rate college kids for Real Salt Lake (which is a friggin' crime of a name by the way). But if these same players made it over to Holland or Belgium or Scotland or one of these "Second Tier" European leagues, and were able to get the training, the teaching and the nurturing that they need at a young age, they'll be able to star on the World Stage.

So I propose that the MLS becomes sort of a feeder league. Just like Argentina and Brazil basically. A stepping stone for talented young players to get some training and experience before being sold to European clubs. This Benefits everyone, the player, the team that is buying him, and MLS, as the influx of millions of dollars that comes with selling of international players.

Finally, as Dan pointed out to me, the US players may become the best in the world, but until they are able to attain that x factor, that knowlege of where your teammate is going to be when you are ready to make a pass, that knowledge that if you see your roommate make a run, you may need to slide in behind him for support, The ability to curve your run and speed up perfectly to avoid the offside trape, these things that seem to come so naturally to these world class squads, you probably won't be able to make it anywhere, otherwise you have to totally rely on skill and technical ability, and I'm not sure that is enough to get you there.

So if anyone in US soccer is looking for someone to help with the program, I'm here for you, I'll help out in any way I can, I'll even relocate from my plush Brighton MA 3 bedroom with 2 roommates if it means helping out the sport thrive in the country of my birth.

This One May Be A Long One!

I've got to recap the Group Stage, forecast the 2nd round (I know that some matches have taken place already...but I'll be honest with you on who i WOULD have picked. I'll also go through some highlights of the first four knockout matches, and will give some ideas as to what the US team needs to do to become a force on the world stage.

Allright a little recap of the group stages.

Here is how I thought the groups were going to turn out:

Group A
Winner: Germany (correct)
Second: Poland (incorrect)
Eliminated: Costa Rica
Eliminated: Ecuadoer

Group B
Winner: England (correct)
Second: Sweden (correct)
Eliminated: Trinidad and Tobago
Eliminated: Paraguay

Group C
Winner: Holland (advanced but in second place)
Second: Cote D'Iviore (incorrect)
Eliminated: Argentina
Eliminated: Serbia and Montenegro

Group D
Winner: Mexico (actually finished second but both advanced)
Second: Portugal (actually finished first but both advanced)
Eliminated: Angola
Eliminated: Iran

Group E
Winner: Czech Repbublic(incorrect)
Second: USA (very incorrect)
Eliminated: Ghana
Eliminated: Italy

Group F
Winner: Brazil (correct)
Second: Australia (correct)
Eliminated: Croatia
Eliminated: Japan

Group G:
Winner: France (finished second)
Second: Switzerland (finished first)
Eliminated: Togo
Eliminated: S.Korea

Group H:
Winner: Spain (correct)
Second: Tunisia (incorrect)
Eliminated: Croatia (yeah, I know, I meant Ukraine)
Eliminated: Saudi Arabia

Alright, so I was awful in my predictions...Argentina was probably the best team in the first round, Neither the US nor the Czech Republic made it past the first round. I really picked Tunisia. And Poland, POLAND!!!!

Anyway, there is a reason I'm not on ESPN, although I have to be better than that fucker Dave O'Brien, he's the Joe Morgan of Soccer. I think I'd rather see Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan do these games with Beasley Reese, than to see one more game done by Dave O'brien.

Anyway, So I was off in a lot of my predictions, but the big one is whether or not I could pick the winner, and that team is still alive, actually both teams that I picked to be in the finals are still in it. England hasn't actually played well yet, but they are still advancing, so my predictions look Nostradamus like.

Anyway, A quick recap of the first round, first off there were three at least 3 goalies that wore pants. I think Angola, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador all were cursed by the pants wearing goalies.

My favorite haircuts of the tournament went to Wilhelmson of Sweden. Who looks like some sort of a time warped Ace Of Base fan from 1992.



















And to Loco from Angola who sports a similar haircut to the punk girl who lived in my dorm and would always be writing on herself in the smoking lounge.




















The best performance of the first round had to be Argentina, despite my dislie of many former and current players, I'll admit they had the best group stage performance...devastating offense, good defense, even surprisingly good goaltending.

The Worst performance had to have been the US's, I'm sorry, they were awful.


Biggest Surprise...Ghana.

Biggest Dissapointment...The Officiating. Awful officiating on many, many levels. I mean, there were missed offsides, missed penalties, incorrect penalties, awful dismissals, and even 3 yellow cards to the same player.

Allright, now given who advanced, here's who I would have picked.

Germany vs. Sweden
I have to go with my original pick, even though Germany was much better than Sweden in the group stages (Yes, I was wrong, but I won't rewrite history)

Argentina vs. Mexico

Based on performance, Argentina has to win this one. (yes I was right, although Mexico made us sweat it out....and if it weren't for a wonder goal in extra time, they might have won)

England Vs. Ecuador

Even though I heard that England was going to switch up the formation, in the midde of the tournament, I figure they have to win. Maybe just because the goalie wears pants and face paint...I mean, who does he think he is...Sting? (England won this one, albeit unconvincingly while David Beckham puked on the field)

Holland vs. Portugal.

I gotta pick Holland...perhaps because I hate players on both teams, but Holland has an Arsenal Player on it, and Cristiano Ronaldo is the antichrist. (in arguably the ugliest game I've ever seen, there were like 16 yellow cards and four red cards, the ref lost control and the players went overboard, but either way Portugal was able to win the match...I'm 2 for 4).

Australia vs. Italy.

I'd love to say Australia, I really would, but I think Italy wins this one, by scoring from a free kick then playing 10-0-0 football the rest of the way.

Ghana Vs. Brazil

Poor officiating means that there is no Michael Essien in this match for Ghana, so their best player, and one of the best in the world, gets to sit and watch because a referee wanted to be noticed on tv. Brazil wins this one, pretty easily, although Ghana puts a scare in them with some attacking play.

Spain Vs. France

Spain, I mean, they were able to rest all 11 starters from game 2 in their group stage in game 3, because they were so dominant...ALL 11.

Switzerland vs. Ukraine.

I'm going to go with the Swiss here, because of the Arsenal Factor. Senderos is out, but Johan Djorou is still on the team.

Ok, I promised you a diatribe on why the US team will never win the world cup, but I'm going to hold off on doing that until tomorrow, as I'm tired and I'd rather have something to do instead of work.

But I will leave you with my top three goals of the world cup so far starting with number 3.



number 2



And Number 1.

The Weekend Is Almost Upon Us

The 4 game days have done a number on my sleep schedule and my DVR/DVDR work, but hopefully this weekend, I'll be able to make sure I have watched all the matches and recorded them for prosperity.

One thing I'll say today as the last four group matches are finished the refereeing has been HORRIFIC. Going back to the penalty called on the Croation defender against Spain, and subsequent red card...the entire match that was USA vs. Italy, and countless quick yellow cards that could have changed the course of action for a player and team for the entirety of the tournament.

Then we came up to yesterday. Two matches in particular. USA vs. Ghana and Croatia vs. Australia. First off, it's kinda funny, many players on the Croatian and Australian team could have played for either team on a national level, as there are many Croatian immigrants in Australia. One of these players Croatia's Josep Simunic was involved in a situation that could have been a major, major, major controversy for fifa and the World Cup.

Referee Graham Poll from England, one of the favorites to officiate the Final match, gave Mister Simunic 3 Yellow cards before sending him off post match. Yes, I understand, after 2 yellows you are supposed to be sent off, but it appears Poll didn't realize he had 2, even though Australian Captain Mark Viduka (someone who could have played for Croatia) pointed out to Poll that he had 2. If Croatia had scored a goal, while there was a player that should have been sent off, on the field, and Australia did not advance to the second round...What would have happened?

I'm sure the papers would have been very pleased, as they would have had fodder for weeks. Oh yeah, Poll also missed two clear penalties against Croatia, and also missed Harry Kewell being offside on the tying goal. Great game Graham. Great Game.

Also, German Dentist/Referee Marcus Merck. That may have been the single worst penalty call of all time...Because Onyewu is tall and big, and the guy he's defending isn't, doesn't mean he committed a foul!!! I mean, he stood there, probably was being held by the opposing player, his arms were down, and he moved his head to clear the ball, but I guess that's a foul. Thanks for changing the entire dynamic of the game. Two yellow cards in like the first 3 minutes of the game, and an awful penalty call. That's the way to get noticed.

Allright enough with the refs. Without having seen the final day of group matches I will say this, I think the strongest teams left are:

Germany
Argentina
Brazil
and Spain.

And as loyal reader Dan pointed out...these teams will end up playing eachother in the quarter finals probably, opening the door for teams like England, Holland, Portugal to sneak in there.

It will be interesting from here on out.

Final day of group matches and I will say this, The strongest group was probably Group C with Group E being next. The worst Group had to be group G. Awful.

Enough Slacking Already!

This is the message I get this morning from my most loyal and avid reader Dan. Thank you Dan, I needed a kick in the ass. Last night, I had a perfect opportunity to blog, but instead I sat on the porch, eating lobster, watching the sox and poker and drinking. I couldn't blog with lobster entrails on my hands now could I?

Anyway, The main point of this blog is going to be a preview of the HUGE day of matches involving Group E today.

With The US playing Ghana and Italy playing Czech Republic, it's sure to be an exciting finish to a whirlwind of a group.

I am sadly at work, not wanting to take a sick day, because I took one last week for the US Czech match (what a mistake huh?)....so I'm on STRICT media blackout til 6PM or so when I can get home and watch the match.

First off, let's talk about the possibilities for advancement.

All four teams can qualify...

Italy is in the drivers seat with 4 points already.
Czech and Ghana have 3 each.
and The US has 1.

MEANING there are about a million different combinations of things that can happen. But for US fans, they all revolve around one thing...A US win. Without that, they are all done.

So the easiest possibility is that the US win, and Italy wins.

Done deal.

They can also advance with a series of goal differential possibilities, that I won't get into, because basically it will mean the US needs to score like 5 goals or something, and that just ain't happening...well it shouldn't happen.

Italy, won't want to play Brazil in the first round, so they should be playing for a win. Italy will be without red card villian Davide De Rossi, but the Czechs will be without their top three strikers and defender (Baros, Koller, Lovkenc, and Ujfalusi). I hate to do it, but I'm rooting for the Italians and their dirty filthy ways to pull this one off. I hope every dirty tackle, prayer to the ref and dive go the way of the Azzuri, so that thing will go as smooth as an exlax aided bowel movement for the US.

Because,

The US will face Ghana. Now people will be talking about the US being without Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope, but GHana is without Suspended starters and goal scorers Asamoah Gyan and Mutari. That is big, because the US couldn't afford to sit back and play defensively, so Mastroeni probably wouldn't have played anyway.

I look for a great match from the Black Stars of Ghana today, the hopes of the entire African Continent will be on them to advance. But the hopes of one guy feverishly trying to figure out a way to cut off his work internet connection because he may come across a score is that the US will win, Italy will win, and it will be on to the Samba Boys in the Second round for Sam's Army!

I've Been Slacking

As the title states, I've been slacking, both in the viewing and blogging about this past weekends games. I'll try my best to explain myself. I didn't really get to see the matches from Friday...I followed them on the internet. I did watch Saturday's matches, including the US v. Italy matchup from a bar in Allston Rock City. Which was fun, the US fans in the bar, hurling obscenities at the Italian players and the Referee was really the highlight of the day. That and the tremendous Pressed Cuban sandwich I had.

The US, deserved to win the game in my opinion...The referee took control of the match. 3 Red Cards. OF the three of them, one was for 2 yellows. Eddie Pope should have been substituted at half time, because the way the ref was calling the match, he was bound to get another yellow, and sure enough he did.

David DeRossi received a red card for elbowing the oft-bloodied Brian McBride. This was deserved, and the referee was right in place. Especially with Fifa's edict to cut down on elbowing before the world cup. The Paolo Mastroeni red card was absolute rubbish in my opinion. First of all, he got a piece of the ball, secondly, he did come through and get the player with his studs, which is a foul, and maybe even a card, but it wasn't from behind, it was only a touch late, and he got the ball, so at the worst, it should have been a yellow card. BOO Mr. Referee Man.

You ruined the match...good way to get noticed.

The goal that was disallowed was the correct call. McBride was in an offsides position, even though he never touched the ball, he was in line between the shooter and the goalkeeper, so he did interfere with the play, thus the whistle was blown. The US should have capitalized on any other number of chances, with Donovan's pass to McBride who scuffed the left footed shot being the most outrageous miss.

So Anyway, I'll be back this week with better and more blogs, I'll get back in the swing.

Soon, we will have the last group matches for each group, and will know who is playing in the next round.

So far

The teams who have guaranteed advancement to the second round so far are:

Germany
Ecuador
and England.

I'm pretty sure that Argentina will go through, but I think it is still technically undecided until after the Holland v. Cote D'iviore match.

These teams are eliminated:

Poland
Paraguay
Costa Rica

and for all intents and purposes Serbia and Montenegro.

6/15 I often wonder how I don't have a girlfriend

I'll tell you this, nights like last night, make me wonder why I'm without a girlfriend, I mean, I'm a great catch. How many girls would line up to date a guy who had this for plans on a Beautiful Thursday night/evening:

5:30PM Travel to Boston Common Theater to see sneak preview of the Jack Black film Nacho Libre.

6:00PM Wait in line for 1.5 hours to see free sneak preview of Jack Black's new film Nacho Libre.

7:30PM Finally get into theater to see Jack Black's new film Nacho Libre.

9:07PM Leave theater to travel to train, then bus to the pad in Brighton, which is only about 2 miles away, but it seemed like 20.

10:10PM Fire up the DVR, laptop and ceiling fan. Watch all of the England vs. T&T match.

11:45PM Watch 3 episodes of the second season of the show Entourage.

12:50PM Scan at 4X speed the Ecuador and Costa Rica match.

1:05Am Bed.

For dinner I had movie theater popcorn and a smuggled diet coke.

I tell you, I really fuckin' rule.

So here are some thoughts...

England, really looked weak, as Marcelo said early in the match, you'd expect that after the criticism they took after the paraguay match, they'd come out and try to prove something. But they didn't. With few exceptions (I believe Ashley Cole got forward a few times) they didn't attack the wings, there was very little in the way of attacking through the midfield, and Peter Crouch and Michael Owen looked lost at times. I believe Beckham sent Owen free once or twice, but really, it was kind of boring.

Then the subs came in. First, Aaron Lennon and Wayne Rooney came in. This was the moment that everyone in England was waiting for. Wayne Rooney who earlier broke a bone in his foot, made what some people are calling a miraculous recovery to play in the second game of Englands Group stage. The injection of Rooney for Owen, and Lennon for Carragher (playing for the injured and ineffective Gary Neville) was the spark that was needed. And with the final sub of Stuart Downing for Joe Cole, it was complete. Energy was brought into the side, and they started to play like a favourite to win the whole thing, and started to dominate the 1000 to 1 shot that T and T really are.

A goal by Crouch (no robo dance, he says he's holding that one for a goal in the final)



A goal by Gerrard, and things were back to normal, and if you hadn't seen the game, you'd think England had dominated througout. Although if it wasn't for the acrobatic save of John Terry on a Stern John effort at the end of the first half, this would have been a completely different ballgame.

This morning, I scanned through the Sweden vs. Paraguay match. And I'm very happy to report that Arsenal Midfielder Freddie Lungberg was responsible for the only goal scored on a header. This is even funnier given that Lungberg and captain Olaf Mellborg were involved in what was described as a Training Ground Row by the BBC.

Finally, One amusing note. The sale of Carribean booze and food in Scotland skyrocketed before the match with England. Looks like Scotland is rooting for ABE...Anyone But England in this worldcup. I wonder if Swedish Meatball consumption will go up before next weeks Sweden Match.

Also, I haven't seen any of it, but I did follow the match on the internet. Argentina wiped the floor with Serbia and Montenegro. Beating them 6-0 and drawing a red card on Mateja Kezman. With Ukraine and Serbia getting whitewashed, people must be forgetting about the US Czech Match.

This weekend should be fun...US Vs. Italy being the highlight.

Down with the Azzuri!

Matches 6/14/05

I had to watch most of the matches on 2 or 3X speed, because I was busy last night, and who would have thought a match between Saudi Arabia and Tunisia would be something you'd want to watch, besides to see if one or both of the goalies would wear pants (We weren't dissapointed, the Saudi Goalie did in fact wear pants). Also, the Spanish/Ukraine match was won that seemed to be missable. Of coures there were some fine goals, and some big time controversy that made that one an interesting game as well.

Let's start with Spain vs. Ukraine.

First of all, Coach Luis Aragones, not one to avoid controversy (racist comments directed at Thierry Henry, caught on tape) left Spanish hero Raul out of the starting lineup. Raul is an aging striker, who has seen better days, but to leave him out, was still a difficult decision. Not too long into the match, you realized why he was left out. Xabi Alonso of Liverpool scored the opener off of a free kick, David Villa scored the next two, one off of a deflected free kick, and one off of a DUBIOUS penalty call. And the scoring was rounded out by Fernando Torres (one of the most targeted men in the world for big money transfers). The Torres goal was a sparkling effort by Spanish Skipper Carlos Puyol, who ball handled lovely before laying the ball off to Arsena wunderkind Cesc Fabregas who played it back to Puyol who headed down for Torres who Volleyed expertly into the net.

Check the goal out if you have a chance:



As to the Dubious Penalty. I've never seen a worse penalty rewarded.

1. The pulling of the shirt that occured, probably happened outside the box!

2. It was so minor that Villa still got a shot on, that was saved. The momentum from taking the shot took Villa off his feet, not the nominal shirt/short tug.

The referee literally ruined the defenders world cup, because of the edict Fifa sent down against shirt pulling, I mean, I know they want it called, but have some latitude in your interpretation of the rule:



I believe this was a Horseshit call, a foul? Maybe, a penalty?...probably not, a red card?...CERTAINLY NOT!

Either way, Ukraine did not show up for this match...as far as I could tell at 2-3X the match speed with no commentary, only slowing down to watch big plays. But I know what I read on other sites commentary. And Ukraine are in trouble.

The Ukraine Is Weak!

Newman


Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia

I figured this match would be about as exciting to someone outside of the Arab world as watching paint dry. I guess I was wrong. 4 total goals, 2 in the last 6 or 7 minutes. Goalies with Pants, I mean it seem to have it all.

After Saudi Arabia scored late through Sammi El Jaber, Bolton's Rahdi Jaidi scored very late in the match to salvage the points. I believe I heard it was the first time in 50 years that a Bolton Player scored in the world cup. That's a pretty cool stat.

Finally, the match of the evening. Germany vs. Poland.

It turns out that during the day, German and Polish police were rounding up hard core supsected Hooligans. The Poles apparently went quiet when a couple of dozen were arrested, but their german counterparts were not so friendly, sparking a battle between themselves and riot police. Bottles and chairs were thrown when police moved in and blocked the Hooligans' view of the big screen that is set up for people who don't have tickets to the match. Over a 100 people were arrested. I guess in Germany they can arrest you and keep you for 48 hours if they "suspect" that you will be committing a crime. I guess that will probably be long enough to keep the German and Polish Hooligans away from the match. After reading a few articles a Sports Minister from Germany said that while there had been precautions to stop English, Dutch and Polish hooligan's in particular from entering the country, he was far more worried about the hooligans that resided in the host country itself. Hopefully this will be the end of the troubles, as no one wants to see a smear on the reputation of the greates event in sports.

The match itself was a good one, Poland wasn't able to muster much offense, but they played a strong defensive game into the second half.

Two things then changed the game drastically. First Germany introduced substitutes Odonkor and Neuville. They injected speed and energy into the attack. And then, a player from Poland got sent off for his second booking of the match. A big turn of events, as the Poles were visibly starting to drain, and playing with 10 men only exacerbated that.

Very late in the match, Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack hit the Crossbar within a second or two of eachother, Klose off a header, and Ballack off the rebound. Then Dave O'Brien, the worst announcer of all time said possibly the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. With three minutes of added time to play O'Brien said "Well Germany will certainly not get a chance like that again" as if 3 minutes was really 3 seconds. When you break it down, 3 minutes is really like 3% of the match, which isn't that small of an amount.

Of course, Germany came right down the field on the pace of Odonkor who lashed a cross low into the box for Neuville to slide between two defenders and put the ball into the net for the winning goal.



I hate you Dave O'Brien, Really, I do. I fear that Dave and Marcelo may be the "Lead" broadcast team. I mean, they have done Germany, England and US matches so far. Doesn't that sound like the lead team?

I'll have to figure out a way to get the BBC broadcast or something for the final.

So far, I've been very happy with the World Cup action. There has been many more good games than bad. The only real bad games have been US Vs. CZE and SPA vs. UKR.

Even the low scoring matches have been exciting.

I look forward to England vs. T&T tonight when I get home...for a couple of reasons. One, I want to see if Rooney or Walcott will get some time. Two, the T&T players are calling this their world cup final. They are going to give everything to win this match, it should be fun.

I'll be back to report later!

Why You Need To Root For Croatia!

Also, If you would like to contact me, without posting a comment, I have a new email address set up for the blog.

Here it is:

doubledeuceblog@gmail.com

Feel free to email me with any comments, questions, marriage proposals, stock tips, movie reviews, or words of encouragement you may have!

Joga Bonita, Table Cloths, Playgirl, Hopp Suisse and Barthez

Some crack research (i.e googling) has led me to find out some things about my favorite broadcast tandem of Glenn Davis and Shep Messing. Shep, a Harvard Graduate and Pele's personal choice as goaltender for the NY Cosmos of the old NASL, was also a Playgirl Centerfold. This was very controversial at the time. Apparently this picture is one of the pictures in that spread. Thankfully for us it is cropped as to not show off his Ivy League educated Junk. Looking at this picture I'm not sure if this is Shep Messing or Freddy Mercury. Really I can't tell. The appearance in Playgirl led to fans of visiting teams throwing blow up dolls at Shep when he was in goal for the Cosmos...Gotta love the 70's.


Now To The Matches


I apologize to the fans of S. Korea and Togo, but I didn't watch your match yesterday. Right during the time that I would have been watching your match, the Red Sox decided to play one of the best games of the year, right up to the very end when they lost the game on a walk off grand slam by some dude named Google or Kegel or something like that.

So, I only had time to watch two matches, Switzerland and France and Brazil and Croatia.

I watched Switzerland and France with some friends of mine over in Allston Rock City. Thank you very much for the nice dinner by the way Cynthia, it was a great surprise. Drinking some Stella, watching the match, eating some burritos, I was in for a good night.

Too bad the match itself was pretty boring. It appeared neither team was very strong on the attack. This is especially surprising considering the attacking players that France has. I mean, Thierry Henry is arguably one of the top 2 players in the world, and he could get nothing going. Of course, you can't score if no one can get you the ball, there was absolutely no display of individual runs that Henry is famous for. Switzerland definitely had the best of the chances, with both Senderos and Frei missing from a corner, and Gigaz heading a beautiful cross that Barthez somehow saved. Usually Barthez finds a way to put a ball into his own net, but this time he kept it out. I'm pretty sure that Barthez may have used a reflection off of his shiny bald dome to discombobulate Gigax long enough to cause Gigax to not be able to direct the ball exactly where he wanted to.

France inexplicably did not put on David Trezuguet to help with the attack, instead opting to send on Vikash Dhorasoo, who was the first player of Indian Descent to ever play in a world cup. A 2$ beer will go to the first person who can tell me what makes this even more interesting than it sounds. Dhorasoo almost scored on a great set up from Saha (a second half replacement for the ineffective Frank Ribery) , which would have made Dhorasoo the first ever player of Indian Descent to score a goal in the world cup.

Anyway, with S. Korea defeating Togo earlier 2-1, both Switzerland and France will have some work to do to qualify out of this group. Both should defeat both Korea and Togo, to move on, but it will be a tough hill to climb.

So after Julian Tavarez cemented himself as the person most sox fans want to kill, I threw the old DVR into overdrive and started watching the Brazil vs. Croatia match at about 11:40 pm. Brazil really plays a nice flowing fast paced, attacking one touch kind of game, but I'll still give the advantage to the Table Cloths in the first half. Just look at these jerseys...how can you not root for them?!?! (I've tried several times to post a picture to no avail, so I'll post a seperate blog with their picture so you can feel the brilliance of the Croatian Jersey)

But Kaka was able to get some space and score the only goal of the match. Brazil, didn't dominate like I thought they would, but they were able to soundly secure 3 points...on the way to a potential 6th tournament victory.

Finally, I'd like to ask Fifa...actually plead with fifa that they do something about the following things, as they say they are going to do.

1. If someone requires medical attention on the pitch, don't allow reentry to the match for say...Two Minutes. A lot more people will bounce back up and get into play rather than staying on the ground looking to get a free kick. I know that if the ref calls for the stretcher, the player is required to leave the field, but what good is it, if the ref waves him on immediately after the free kick is taken?

2. Start giving out cards to players in the wall who creep up on the free kick taker. Something, anything. By the time the kick is taken, most walls are about 6 or 7 yards away from the taker, not the required 10.

3. I applaud the effort to penalize players for time wasting, but also, please take into account that players are going to take quick free kicks and kick them right at opposing players in order to get them a card. Refs should have a little tolerance to this, and possibly card the kicker for trying to get the other guy in trouble. That's hardly the spirit of the rule.

4. Find a way to get diving out of the game...forever. Maybe some post match review or something that can fine or suspend players after the fact.

That's it for now. I'll try to post again tonight, or tomorrow. Remember:

A goalie who wears pants, has already given up a goal, in the game of life.

Recap of Match Day 4

First things first. I had a chance to go back and watch the parts of the Cote D'Iviore vs. Argentina match. I'll say this, Argentina gets a lot of credit in my books. They withstood a strong and persistent attack by the Elephants, led of course by Didier Drogba, and were able to score not once but twice to sieze control of the game. Also, I give a lot of crap to the Argentine players, which is based more on past teams, that I didn't like. This game was void of what I used to consider Argentinian poor play. There was no diving, no praying motions towards the referees begging for fouls, and no touching of the opposing player who you just fouled's head in a "please don't give me a card ref, see, I'm touching his head to see if he's all right" kind of way.

They played well, and despite a possible goal missed that could have been played over his own line by a pants wearing goalie, and a penalty that could have been called due to a handball.

So, especially for loyal deuce reader Dan, Argentina gets all the credit I can give them for their performance.

Now on to the recap.

It started off with Australia vs. Japan.

I stayed up late watching Fast Times At Ridgemont High last night. It was on TBS, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to see the breasts of Stacy or Linda if I didn't watch it on DVD...So I put it in, and sat back, and watched it while blogging.

A few comments...why haven't I ordered business cards that say

Pacific Stereo

Ron Johnson

Audio Consultant?

That would be classic.

Also, I know both Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh were of age when they made this movie...but, were the rules different back in 1983? I mean, Stacy Hamilton was a 15 year old, and they were showing her breasts...I'm pretty sure you couldn't get away with that in today's movies.

Finally, what the fuck is Mark Ratner's problem? I'll never be confused for Cassanova or anything, but if a girl brought me into her room, wearing only a robe, and showing me pictures, I certainly wouldn't be making excuses about bringing my sister's car home when we started kissing. Strap one on and get in there Rat!!!!


Ok, back to the subject at hand.

While the worst broadcast team in my opinion is Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa...the best duo is Glen Daviss and Shep Messing. Davis, is the play by play man, and he seems to be excited about doing his job, as well as knowlegeable about the game. And Messing, is great as a color man, knowlegeable, decent stories about his own playing experiences (he played with Pele on the NY Cosmos), and an honesty and excitement about the game that can't be faked.

Finally, Today's matches.

The reason I told you I stayed up late watching Fast Times, is that I was tired after only 3 or 4 hours of sleep, and even though I set my alarm, I couldn't stay awake for the entire Japan vs. Australia match,. I did see most of the second half, and saw the excitement that Tim Cahill and others brought to the final 10 minutes, giving the Socceroos a much deserved 3-1 win.

I was wondering what the announcers were talking about with the referee, but I've seen it since and it was an absolute horseshit no call. 2 players fouled the goalie, one, completely took him out of the play, and yet nothing. No call, No card, just an undeserving goal for the Japanese.

I mean, for that goal to go in, the goalie would either have had to have been fouled, on dope (aloha Mr. Hand) or David Seaman.

Australia played very well in the second half, and Japan missed a lot of opportunities to put the match away. I usually root for The U.S, England, an African Team (Ivory Coast) and a Scandinavian team, but this year I think I'm rooting for Australia to make it farther than expected.

U.S vs Czech Republic.

I was extremely happy to see the U.S finally play in the World Cup. I was looking forward to seeing some of the experienced players like Reyna, Keller and McBride to show how far the US team has come in their careers. But moreso, I was looking for players like Oguchi Onyewu, Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson to burst onto the scene and show the rest of the world that the American team would be able to maintain if not expand their standing on the World Stage.

This did not happen, and in one match the US have basically cut their chances to matching last World Cups successes to Slim and None.

The US came out, knowing that they needed to mark Koller, Nedved and Rosicky, and when all was said and done, they didn't.

Koller scored the first of the match when the defense gave him too much space on the near post. Rosicky scored when Onyewu didn't clear the ball like he had a pair...and Rosicky scored again when no one wanted to tackle him when he was sent in by Nedved. I mean the only thing that made me happy about this game was that Arsenal, my club team of choice is going to have Tomas Rosicky on their team next year.

The best thing of the day was that Bruce Arena, who is often criticized by me for being too loyal to his MLS stars, told the press straight that Beasley and Donovan did not perform...Hopefully, he'll use this to motivate his club, and come out strong against the next guys.

Italy vs. Ghana.

I'll give credit to the Ghanain's Nicknamed the Black Stars, they battled the Italians, and was hurt by lack of finish...But when all was said and done, Italy was too strong...with a surprisingly potent attack, and some strong defense at the back.

The Italians made me realize, it's going to be very difficult to pick up a point, let alone all 3. So the US is goint to have a hard time to advance. They really need to win both their remaining matches because of the poor goal differential they are starting out with. Or they will need the Czechs to lose the remaining matches while the US get a tie and a win. Either way, it's unlikely, and the US may have missed out on an opportunity to turn some of the naysayers out there into believers.

Tomorrow defending champion Brazil battles the Table Cloths of Croatia, South Korea battle the possibly coachless Togo, and Alex Maeder's Swiss play the French.

I'm going back to work, so I'll have to keep Media Blackout on, while watching the games at night. So I don't know if I'll be able to blog until later in the week, but I'll try to keep notes...

So, til later, have fun watching the matches.

Match Report US Vs Czech Republic

Well, so far in the first half the US have conceded two goals to the Czechs. One by 6'8" striker Jan Koller, and one by recent Arsenal signing Tomas Rosicky.

But really all that matters is that if there is ever a movie and you need to cast Pavel Nedved...



Give Swayze a call:

1 Weekend Down

Allright the first weekend of the 2006 FIFA World Cup is in the books. 3 Groups have played their first of 3 round robin games, and there is plenty of stuff to talk about. The DVR has been pushed to the brink, I've been breaking down films, scouting locations for match viewing, and talking world cup pretty much for three days. I've even neglected my other sporting passion, the Red Sox, I figure that they'll understand my absence though.

A couple of notes before my recap of the action:

Generally, I'm fairly happy with the coverage by the ABC/ESPN family of stations. One broadcast team though I give a failing grade to is that of Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa. While the other two teams appear to have both a strong color man...Tommy Smyth and John Harkes, and a Play by Play man who knows soccer and really seem to love the sport, Dave O'Brien seems to be a generic play by play guy, who can describe the action with few errors, but who really doesn't understand the whole story behind what is happening on the pitch. In fact, I don't even believe that he actually cares about the sport, and doesn't know anything about it besides David Beckham and whatever the ABC research team puts on his fact sheet before the match. If only I could get the British Coverage or something, it would be so much better...but I can't complain, I'm going to be watching world class soccer for the next month solid, so I'm happy.

Now to the Recap:

Let's start with Day 1...Group A, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Poland.

I believe I picked Germany and Poland to come out of this group, and I may be regretting this one. While Germany looked great offensively with 4 goals, 2 from 2002 World Cup Hero Miroslav Klose, they also looked AWFUL on defense. One thing I give Tommy Smyth is how much he called Germany out for trying to use the Offside Trap against Paulo Wanchope. Of course, they won the game, but they allowed Costa Rica to score 2 goals. Which should have never ever happened. Germany played without star and Filthy Chelsea signing Michael Ballack, but were able to come through on top 4-2.

Poland vs. Ecuador...

The only thing I heard in the lead up to this game was that Ecuador only wins at 8000 feet above sea level, and that Poland will play well because there will be so many Poles in the crowd due to the proximity of Poland to Germany...In fact it appears that this is the same story the pundits are using for all the countries that Germany invaded during WW2. Although John Cleese tells me not to mention the war, so I'll keep that to myself.

Needless to say, the experts were wrong. Ecuador led by some strong defense, and some quick counterattacking style of play were able to come out victorious with a 2-0 victory...sharing top of the group with Germany...right now the group looks like this.

1.Germany
2. Ecuador
3.Costa Rica
4. Poland

Saturday Morning...Group B Matches. I decided to go over to the other side of the river to watch the England Vs. Paraguay Match at a local pub. I was hesitant to leave the confines of my room, which is already strewn with beer cans and and is starting to have a nice B-O/gaseous odor to it, which is scary, since I"m going to spend most of my days in this room for the next month. So I went to meet some folks over in Somerville, and believe me I'm glad I did. I love being able to not only watch the match, but to be able to make comments "Mystery Science Theater" style. Plus, an excuse to drink beer with breakfast is ok by me!

The audio track was off on the tv set, but you got over that soon enough. what I couldn't get over was the announcer calling David Beckham Michael Beckham, calling England Germany, and clearly calling people the wrong names. David Beckham whipped in a free kick early in the first half, and it was deflected in by a Paraguayan defender for an own goal. You would have thought from the announcers that Beckham had done something other worldly with the free kick, but in reality it was just a well placed inswinging free kick that happened to go off the defenders head and into the net. Also, really can you think of an Own Goal without thinking of the Columbian defender that scored on his own net who was murdered by gangsters who had lost money gambling on the game. His name was Andres Escobar I believe, ironically, he shared a name with the infamous drug cartel. Well, that was it for scoring, and England was able to pull out a relatively uneventful 1-o win.

Sweden vs. Trinidad and Tobago.

Enough was made of T and T's underdog status, the fact that it is the smallest nation ever to qualify for the world cup, and how they were 1000-1 chance to win the cup, that you knew something was going to happen. First off let me tell you, one thing this world cup is lacking is Scandinavian representation. The Swede's are great, and they play a great brand of attacking soccer, that is entertaining to watch, but where are the Danes? The Norwegians?

So anyway, the announcers took 20 minutes to realize that the goalie that was on their list for t and t, wasn't in fact Kelvin Jack, it was Shaka Hislop of West Ham fame. I could understand not realizing that there was a switch, but there were two different goal kicks that took place where the back of Hislop's jersey was clearly available, and his name was clearly state on the back.

Anyway, despite a redcard to SuperRev Avery John, and several clear chances by Swedes Marcus Allbeck, Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, all stopped by man of the match Shaka Hislop...the game ended up 0-0 and the Soca Warriors of T and T came out with what they will consider the best result in the history of the nation.

Here is how the table looks now.

1. England
2. Sweden
2. Trinidad and Tobago
3. Paraguay

Group C.

The first game for this group took place Saturday afternoon, it was between Argentina and The Ivory Coast, or as I will call them, Cote D'Iviore, cause it sounds cooler...anyway, I'll admit I haven't seen the whole match, I was on the way up to NH to go to Rock and Ribfest...I did see the end of the match, and saw a couple of things. One, the Ivory Coasts uniform great... It's bright orange and green, and tremendous. It isn't the Red Table Cloth style of Croatia, but it's damn close. Also, Didier Drogba is awesome, he plays for a filthy team, and has strange hair that looks dirty, but I'd take him on my team anytime. He works hard, and scores, that's all he does.

Finally, the Cote D'Iviore is the closest thing you are going to get to the Cameroon Indomitable Lions teams of the past, flashy, great celebrations, strange hair colors...etc etc etc. Plus they are known as the Elephants. Not quite Indomitable but still, Elephants are pretty cool.

I will watch the game on DVR, but I am pretty sure I can tell what happens. I'm sure there was some diving by the filthy argentines...and maybe some pleading and praying to the referee for a penalty. anyway, they won the game 2- leaving the Cote D'iviore an uphill battle towards the second round.

In the groups other game, played Sunday Morning, Holland battled Serbia and Montenegro. A battle of two of the better European teams from qualifying. Holland featured Arsenal starlet Robin Van Persie, and his pass led to Arjen Robben's goal that was the only goal of the game. Holland may have scored more, but Arjen Robben refused to pass the ball. He would dribble and try to get his shot, even when a pass was clearly the better option. Serbia, played well towards the end, but Holland held on to tie Argentina at the top of the table.

Many people consider this the "Group Of Death" and I'm apt to agree with them. Holland and Argentina are often considered among the top teams in the world...Serbia gave up one goal in the entire qualifying process, and Cote D'Iviore is definitely among the best African teams, with several players that ply their trade in England (Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue were key members of the Champions League finalist Arsenal FC). After the matches here is how the table looked.

1. Argentina
2. Holland
3. Cote D'Iviore
4. Serbia and Montenegro.

The final group that played this weekend was Group D...Featuring two games that had some interesting sublots besides what was going to take place on the pitch.

In the first match Mexico faced Iran. Mexican keeper Osvaldo Sanchez's father passed away, and he went back to mexico for the funeral. In order to make sure that he got back in time, Owners of the teams in the Mexican League (never the people you'd expect to help eachother out) flew Sanchez back and forth across the atlantic.

Secondly, Iran, you may have heard, have been in the headlines recently. It seems Iran's president is a fan of building a nuclear arsenal. He also does not believe the Holocaust happened. He has made statements to that end many times. In fact if he made those comments on german soil, he would be subject to arrest and jail time. So even though he is a huge soccer fan, and he threatened to arrive in Germany for the matches, he decided to stay home...which was probably better for all concerned.

Finally about the match, Mexico played well, as did Iran in teh first half. They traded goals a few minutes apart. But in teh second half, after some substitutions...Mexico widened the gap to a 3-1 victory. It was adctually very nice to see the mexican team surround Sanchez and let him know that they were playin for thememory of his lost father.

In the second game, Angola was battling Portugal. During the match, the announcer was commenting on the Angolan flag. It is Red (in honor of the blood lost in gaining independence) and Black (in honor of the native african peoples). Also on the flag is a machete, which is in honor of the angolan workers. The country that colonized Angola...was in fact Portugal, and the last time these two teams played, so many people from Angola were given red cards for violent conduct, that the referees abandoned the game. No fireworks like that happened...but Portugal had many scoring chances early, with Pauleta finishing one of them. The match remained that score the rest of the way...and Portugal got a valuable 3 points.

here's a look at the table:

1. Mexico
2. Portugal
3. Angola
4. Iran.

Finally, some quick moments from the first three days of action that really piqued my interest. First.

Swedish Midfiielder Christian Wilhelmson, had a tremendous braided rat tail. I mean, it was ferocious, I thought it was Aimee Mann in the Voices Carry video.

Black boots, are no longer available from what I see. I've seen white, Gold, blue, red, silver, green, orange and yellow boots, but no one is wearing black boots. If I was a player on a world cup squad, I'd only wear dark black boots.

Iranian fans seem to bring in some sort of musical instrument, that sounds almost like bagpipes, but not quite. Kind of a weird sound, but good for them.

Mexican Coach Ricardo LaVolpe is a scary looking man.

I hate Alexei Lalas, I know he helped bring the US team to where it is now, but he's such an A-hole.

Finally, here's a bit of a glossary in case you weren't aware of some soccer terms.

boots = cleats or shoes
pitch = field
Skipper= Captain
Gaffer = Manager
Sent Off = Ejected (given a red card, also a combination of two yellows=a red)
booked = warned (given a yellow card)
fit = healthy


More to follow, enjoy the matches.

This Is Awesome

T-Minus 23 Hours and Counting

In just about 23 hours from now, the 8th world cup of my life will be going on. This one is in Germany, and they are playing the first match of the tournament at 9am eastern standard time tomorrow against the Ticos of Costa Rica. All games this year are going to be on either ESPN, ESPN 2, or ABC this year...which is both good and bad, good because I'll understand all of the match commentary, but bad because there was just something about listening to a spanish language broadcaster announce a goal scored by Japan's Junichi Inamoto.

Here are some other names I really want to hear a Spanish Broadcaster say:

Oguchi Onyewu
Tomas Rosicky
Andriy Schevchenko
Emmanuel Adebayor
and finally
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

But I'll make do with the American commentators...on my DVR, and the occasional match day at the pub.

Of course the world cup being in Europe means that the matches will all be played during working hours here in the states...And since I can't take a bunch of vacation time that means I'll have to put myself on Media blackout at work. It will be tough, but I'll be able to persevere, cause I'm a professional.

Anyway, here's my predictions for the tournament...

Group A
Germany
Poland
Costa Rica
Ecuador

First place Germany
Second Place Poland

I don't think Germany is overly strong, and Poland scares me a bit, although they can score, and keep the ball out of the net. But I feel the home country and their neighbors will go through rather easily...Costa Rica could slip into the second slot...but Ecuador goes through without getting a point.
Group B

England
Sweden
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago

First Place England
Second Place Sweden

This is as cut and dry a group as there is. England wins it's first two, as does Sweden, they go into the last game knowing they'll both advance, so they play to a Nil-Nil draw. In order to keep people off yellow cards and get healthy. Rooney doesn't play in the first round, but will be ready for the knockout stages. Trinidad will score one goal, and the goal celebration will be Glorious.

Group C

Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia And Montenegro
The Netherlands

The Netherlands
Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast on the strength of a strong Defense and Didier Drogba heroics shock Argentina and advance. Holland will eventually squander the chance at winning the tournament, but they shall see themselves out of the Group of Death.

Group D
Angola
Iran
Mexico
Portugal

1st Place Mexico
2nd Place Portugal

This group has very little excitment to me. In fact, I'd almost consider skipping these matches.
The excitement will be if Iran's President shows up to the match.

Group E
Czech Republic
Italy
Ghana
USA

1st Place Czech Republic
2nd Place USA

Italy bit by injuries and yellow card suspensions will fall 2 pts shy of the USA for second place. Normally this would be a disgrace for Italy, but because of the match fixing scandal at home, peoople seem to forget the Azzuri are playing...Czech Republic is injured too, but have too much talent not to advance.
Group F
Brazil
Australia
Japan
Croatia

1st Place Brazil
2nd Place Australia

Australia sneaks into second place to everyone's surprise...Tim Cahill will have 5 goals in the first three matches. Brazil coasts through, despite Ronaldo being criticized for being overweight.

Group G
France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo

1st place France
2nd place Switz.

Even though I love Emmanuel Adebayor, as an Arsenal fan, it's easy to see them going pointless, while France and Switzerland move on.

Group H
Spain
Croatia
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia.

1st Place Spain
2nd Place Tunisia

If Groupe E or B are the groups of death, this is the Group of Snooze. Who cares. except for maybe goalies with pants this offers nothing to me!

Second round winners
Sweden
England
France
Spain
Brazil
Czech Rep.
Mexico
Holland

Quarter finals
England
Brazil
France
Holland

England
Brazil

Brazil wins.

Players that will make a big name for themselves

Clint Dempsey
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Oguchi Onyewu
Carlos Tevez
Emmanuel Eboue
Peter Crouch
Joe Cole

Players that will dissapoint
Ruud Van Nistleroy
Hernan Crespo
Zinedane Zidane
Pavel Nedved
Francesco Totti

Am I The Next Big Thing In Poker?

I'll hopefully soon find out. Maybe I can be the new Marc.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 9706703

I know I Said I'd Never Post Here

I've decided that instead of clogging up The Foundation Blog with posts about the likes of Kolo and Yaya Toure, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gianluigi Buffon, and Kaka...I'll post them here.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about , it's the World Cup. Yes, I am the only American that isn't a first or second generation immigrant that is excited about this. I have evereything planned out...I got a DVR so I can record the games, and watch them when I get home from work. I will be on round the clock internet blackout during game times. Meaning, any site that could show me a score of a game, will be blocked! Netflix will probably get a lot of views during the month of June and July.

Anyway, I look forward to bringing you my views, opinions, rants and raves about this years World Cup.