First things first: You’re going to watch this game. You have to watch this game. Even if you haven’t watched a minute of this World Cup, even if you’ve never watched a minute of soccer in your life, even if you think watching a minute of soccer is a waste of a minute, you’re going to watch this game. You’re going to watch it because everyone else is. You’re going to watch it because a Sunday afternoon with friends and beer is only made better by watching strangers run around, developing allegiances to those strangers whose names you’d...
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I’m Sorry Ronaldo, Klose’s For Real: World Cup Recap and Netherlands-Argentina Preview
/taps mic I’m Sorry Ronaldo! Klose’s for reeeeaaaal! Never meant to make your country cry, Die Mannshaft won it sieben-eins. The US conceded six goals in four games. Costa Rica gave up two in five. Germany has let four in over six. Reiging (until Sunday) World Champions Spain saw seven balls roll over the line in their three group stage matches, as did Portugal. It took Algeria and Switzerland a fourth game to reach that total. Only Honduras (eight), Australia and Cameroon (nine each) allowed more than seven goals over the course of this world cup. Those last three teams finished 30th-32nd in the tournament. Yesterday, in capitulating...
Continue reading...When It’s Over: World Cup Recap and Brazil-Germany Preview
Five days. It took me five days after the USMNT lost to Belgium to be able to read any of the many obituaries, encomia and tributes that followed in that match\’s wake. It took me five days before I could begin to think on the accomplishments of the US team and reflect on what had happened. It took me five days to get over it, to move on from it. As I watched the games on Friday and Saturday, as the quarterfinals became the semifinals, I did so not really believing the next game wouldn’t feature Dempsey, Howard, Bradley and Jones. Their...
Continue reading...World Cup Preview: Belgium vs. USMNT
People will say that the US is lucky to be in the Round of 16. They’ll say, as we did, that Pepe, the Portugal centerback, had just as much to do with getting the US to the knockouts as anything any US player did. They’ll note that they faced a weakened Portugal and lost to a German team that really didn’t have much to play for in their match, the score as close as it was because the Germans didn’t need anything more than the 1-0 win they ended up with. They looked anything but convincing against Ghana, switched off at two...
Continue reading...This Is How We Die
We do not choose to die. But we do. It is an inevitability. It is the inevitability. Death comes for us all, some sooner and some later. Some die quietly and peacefully, some fight and rage until the last capitulation. But still we die. Death is not honor, so much as it is science. One can die honorably only in the sense that a flower is honorable when it turns to fruit, as a rock is honorable when worn to sand by the sea . We look at the world as it is spread before us, and know that it is...
Continue reading...It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye, Except to Greece: Weekend World Cup Recap and Monday Preview
Spain, Italy, England, Uruguay. Mexico, Cameroon, Croatia, Australia. Honduras, Ecuador, Japan, Cote D’Ivoire. Bosnia, Iran, Ghana, Portugal. Russia, South Korea, Chile, Greece. Gone. Flights booked, bags packed, tears shed, shirts exchanged. Every one of those teams came with the hope of playing in the Grand Final on July 14, and every one of them was sent home at least two weeks early. Those first four teams up there are former World Champions: Spain and Italy having been the last teams standing at the previous World Cups in 2010 and 2006 respectively, broken at having crashed out so soon. Some countries...
Continue reading...The Knockout Game (not that knockout game): Weekend World Cup Preview
Yesterday was probably the happiest I\’ve ever been after watching my team lose, and J Reed\’s post yesterday in its aftermath summed up my feelings in words better than I could have put together (ed. note: that can\’t possibly be true). Because of the way the group stage is set up, all the US had to do yesterday was not lose badly, and they\’d see themselves through. Ghana helped by losing to Portugal, who needed to make up considerably more goals than the Black Stars would have. The US weathered the first fifteen minutes, which was one wave after...
Continue reading...On Omens and Destiny and Fate: US-Germany Preview
I woke up this morning to find that the air conditioner in my bedroom had leaked inside and bubbled the paint under the window. I took the dog for a walk, hoping to get coffee, and he stepped on my foot and sliced upon my big toe. The first coffee place had a line about 12 deep, and the dog doesn’t have that kind of patience, I was at the second spot for about two minutes, ready to place my order, when I saw him jumping at strangers and heard him barking. Walking home, coffee-less and in pain, wondering...
Continue reading...Mario and Luis(i)
I really thought I was going to be able to talk about Mario Balotelli. I was sure that nothing of any import or excitement would happen in the closing minutes of Italy-Uruguay, as, indeed, there had been nothing worth discussing in the entire second half. Even the red card doled out to Claudio Marchisio at the hour mark was earned, if not deserved. Coming in late and high is stupid, and will get you a yellow most of the time. Coming in late and high when the referee is no more than three yards away is a sign you are no longer interested in playing...
Continue reading...Quick Hits on World Cup Groups C + D
Everything that happened yesterday as pretty much as expected. Brazil and the Netherlands finish top of their groups, joined by Mexico and Chile. Brazil will play Chile and the Dutch will play El Tri, and both of those games should be entertaining as all four teams have gone out to win matches rather than not lose them. Which brings us to today’s matches. We’ll start with Group C, which plays at 4:00. Greece actually have to try to score goals in order to beat Cote D’Ivoire. They should be able to score, but in making the attempt, they won’t...
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