So that happened. The action kicked off yesterday and in the 11th minute, there was the calamity brought about by players who aren’t used to one another. A cross through the Brazil penalty box (and it was a very dangerous cross that could have gotten results in any league against any team) whistled past a Croatian player and two Brazilians before Marcelo deftly flicked it in … to his own net. He hadn’t expected the ball to get to him, what with the ball having to skitter past two teammates to get there. It appeared that both...
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The World Cup Trophy Is Not a Cup, and Many Other Words
Hi everybody! (Stranger danger!) I’m the writer formerly known as Ghost. In the first iteration of this here blog, I mostly stuck to sports and booze, dabbling in the religion and politics beats — which is essentially how I spend my real life as well. There’s a really big sports event about to start in a few hours, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to make the first of possibly many infrequent contributions. I am not good at “blogging” both because I do not post regularly and because when I do,...
Continue reading...Mea Copa: US v Ghana
With this morning’s methodical victory over Good Korea, Uruguay become the Cup’s first Quarterfinalist, and the US’s potential opponent should the Yanks get past Ghana’s Black Stars this afternoon (but more on that later). First we need to take a look at how the teams that got this far did so, and how some teams ended up watching this morning’s action from home. This tournament has been anything but pain-by-numbers, with upsets and intrigue galore. Having a group stage like the one just concluded — outside the first go-round where teams were still adjusting to each other,...
Continue reading...Let the Eagle Soar
The mighty United States today beat Algeria 1-0 with a goal in the 91st minute. Since England beat Slovenia (at the same time) 1-0, it means (based on goals scored) that the mighty United States won their group and advance to the next round (whoo!).
Continue reading...Why the hell are these games on at the same time?
So, it’s been a nice couple of weeks watching World Cup action: three games a day, one at a time. That all changed today. As the group stage enters the half-way point, the schedule abruptly changes. Now, there are two times and four games, requiring all games to be on at the same time as another. The reason? You guessed it: a German non-aggression pact. In 1982, an odd set of circumstances led into the final game of the group stage between West Germany and Austria. Turns out, a German win with a score of 1-0 or...
Continue reading...Mea Copa: Group H, Where H stands for Holy Crap
Here’s how most of my FIFA 2010 games start: Me: I’m really not that good. I don’t play very much. Pick any team you want. (Opponent sitting next to me on the couch flips through teams) Me: No. You can’t pick Spain. Spain is banned. Spain is the most recent Euro Champions. They have several of the most dominant players at their position in the world. Their midfield is likely the greatest to ever show up at a World Cup (this is patently untrue, but for preview’s sake I’m going with it), so much so that they’re...
Continue reading...Mea Copa: Group G, Where G Stands for God-Awful Predictions
Sorry this is so late. Work and not-work (read as soccer and drinking) got way in the way. Group G starts tomorrow at 10, with Cote d’Ivoire and Portugal. Today is two parts: recap of the weekend (and my crap predictions) followed by, obvs., Group G. Enjoy and, as always, mea copa. The easiest way out of this is to say “that’s why they play the games.” And, it’s true. If these things ever went exactly true to form, they’d stop playing them. March Madness doesn’t see four #1 seeds advance to the Final Four; the Super...
Continue reading..."The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
It\’s like bringin a knife to a gunfight, pen to a test Your chest in the line of fire witcha thin-ass vest You bringin them Boyz II Men, HOW them boys gon\’ win? – Jay-Z, The Takeover When I moved to Boston, I lived in East Somerville. It\’s a working class neighborhood full of Brazilians and Portuguese, and in any other soccer story, any other match preview, I might write about the sounds and sights of East Somerville in June 2006. But this is a story about tomorrow\’s match, the first US match of this World Cup,...
Continue reading...Mea Copa: Group F, Where F Stands For Exactly What You Think It Does
Just as yesterday I wrote about teams that find supporters due to reasons outside of nationality, success or other rational sources, so there are teams that foment anger and rage outside their in-game performance. There are folks who will not root for Argentina, Germany, North Korea, the US, and many other countries because of their political or military histories. There are some folks who won’t root for them because of individuals on the team: Cristiano Ronaldo on Portugal is probably the current poster boy for this effect, and personally, it’s Australia and Tim Cahill. There are folks...
Continue reading...Diplomats wager on U.S.-England World Cup Match
Via Laura Rozen at Politico (although she gets the order of the conversation backwards and calls it the UK team), an email exchange between the Philip Breeden at the U.S. Embassy in London and Martin Longden at the U.K. Embassy in D.C. unveils quite the wager (and nerdy trash-talk). Of course you know, England plays the U.S. in their first game in South Africa this weekend, and they’ve decided on a bet: steaks in D.C. if England wins, dinner in a London pub if the U.S. wins; loser pays. On England boasting their long history of football,...
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