World Cup Coverage

All in all this was a wonderful World Cup full of upsets, new and exciting players, amazing finishes and surprisingly quick exits by major sides. Thanks to the players of all the participating countries and ESPN for the fantastic coverage. Ticket to Africa was well done, we could even stand listening to Christopher Sullivan. Good mix of the 4 and good fun listening to Andy Gray.

ESPN's moderators, Bob Ley and Chris Fowler were great! Ex-players/coaches Jurgen Klinsmann, Steve McManaman and Ruud Gullit were all excellent additions which added much to the broadcasts. Lalas was, more often than not, his usual rude annoying self as he battled his feelings of insecurity and inadequacy compared to his fellow announcers. McManaman handled all in a quick thinking, sometimes humorous style when Lalas attacked the English. I think Lalas was "scared" of Gullit so didn't attack the Dutch in the early going, and gave a decent accounting when not trying to be cute!

Going to miss those 4am wake up calls and watching 2 games before heading to work; catching updates of the group stages 3rd games through ESPN360. Thanks for a great World Cup!

The 2010 World Cup Final

Wow...ugly, ugly, ugly. There were a number of games throughout the tournament that warranted another look...but not this one! Two embarrassingly horrible fouls by the Dutch, way too many fouls period, and too many yellows in the first half, led to a real inconsistently refereed game in the second by England's Howard Webb. The one reason I see as Spain's success is their consistent play which would put them in the perfect position to pounce on an opponents mistake...as they did today, and as they did in a number of previous games. Congratulations to them in winning the ultimate football tournament as predicted.

Germany vs Uruguay...3rd place match

By all accounts, from players who have played in this game in the World Cup, it is the hardest game to prepare and get UP for....3rd place...not the final. However, it's still a chance to get something back, recover the spark that got them to the semi's. Naturally I'm cheering my side on...Germany...and hope to see Klose at least tie Ronaldo's current WC record of the most goals. Would like to see Mueller, Oezil,Khadira again, but perhaps the coach will play those that haven't played or played very little..hard to say. At any rate, hope it's a good one!

oh no!

Well, I'm in mourning right at the moment...or....crying in my beer. Which seems appropriate. Anyway...so sad Germany was done in by the Spaniards. So now...besides cheering Germany on in the 3rd place game...I will try to find something orange to wear on Sunday :) I do have to say I'm glad it will be a European team again, and one that hasn't raised the cup before. Wow! Hard to imagine that neither of these 2 fantastic football nations have never reached the ultimate goal...so to speak. Should be another couple great games!

The Semi's--Oh My!

Getting nervous. Looks like a good couple games...Go Germany!!!....Couldn't help myself! Anyway, I think it has been an outrageously excellent World Cup. Push over teams that weren't and said "in your face" to top 10 teams. Ref controversy...where would we be in soccer without it and these were huge. The NIKE ad men going down...Spain's next. Some of the most tense game ties I've ever watched, real nail biting stuff. Glee and happiness on the faces of the players who achieved the unthinkable....it's been great...it's not over...yahoo!

Spain vs Paraguay

Ugh...pretty boring game...weird and inconsistent with pk's, retake or not to retake. Kind of a sad ending for Paraguay who worked really hard. Of course, not the first team to exit after a tough battle.

DEUTSCHLAND!!! JA! JA! JA!

Had us on the edge of our seats and sweating for 3/4 of the game...but then they put those wonderful combos together. Loved it! We'll cry for you Argentina...but not for long!

Addendum: The NIKE Ad Jinx (see below)

Brazil: No Ronaldinho....no more World Cup. Done in by the Netherlands today! The NIKE Jinx is still holding....Spain Beware!

If you didn't read about the jinx...drop below a few posts to review what's happened so far.

FOX Soccer Report: On Air Answer to my Email

I was astounded night before last that FSR actually aired my email question. Was a little annoyed they didn't use the entire text (see below), but it seemed to give them a good talking point. Derek did try to bring Bobby around to the point, and Bobby did say Donovan plays in the attacking center for LA and has more license to go where he wants.....has scored more goals for them. He stated he couldn't answer specifically because Donovan's versatile and plays in several positions for Bradley....ya, but where is he the most lethal, and why doesn't he play there all the time? Anyway, it was pretty cool to get it discussed on air.

"I think Bob Bradley has built the U.S. team around his son Michael; shifting Donovan outside and sometimes Dempsey. Michael Bradley produces very little creativity through the middle, his passing is so so unlike Donovan, who does.
Do you feel Donovan is being played in his most lethal position under Bob Bradley"?

The NIKE Ad Jinx

You've all seen variations of the Nike ad aired for the World Cup right? It's looking more and more like a jinx to the participants....take Rooney for instance, perhaps he is destined for life in the trailer. Au revoir Ribery; he and his team lasted about as long as he did in the ad. No bright lights for Italy's Cannavaro. Ronaldo didn't make his trade mark free kick to keep Portugal in, b-bye Howard and Donovan (sniff, sniff), Drogba and Ivory Coast couldn't get out of the first round....AND.....Wimbledon says goodbye to Federer. So...who's left? Brazil? Well the ad shows Ronaldinho with his ball handling magic...but- he's not there to help his team....maybe that spells doom for Brazil. Spain? Perhaps they'd better get Fabregas on the pitch more or they'll be going home too.

We'll have to wait until the Final to see if the jinx holds up....

World Cup Withdrawal

Wed-June 30-The first break since the start of the World Cup and no live soccer....aaarrgghhhhh. Guess we'll have to watch a game replay and gear up for Friday. Thank you 'On Demand'.

Round of 16: Japan vs Paraguay

Watched this game before work...liked how both teams played going into this one. I was hoping Japan would play the same way they did the Denmark game...taking it to Paraguay...did to some degree, but I think Paraguay was much better on the ball than the Danes.

Both sides had chances but it wasn't a very fluid game. Then it came down to pk's. I wondered why, as he was approaching the ball, Japan would pick a defender, who had never scored for the national team, to be one of the first five. Maybe they'll rue that decision for the next 4 years. I feel bad for him; hit it strong, but leaned back a bit and hit the crossbar. Bummer for Japan. Their goalie almost got to 1 for Paraguay...but the boys in the red and white stripes were perfect and won the match.

Liked both teams, wish Paraguay lots of luck against Spain in the next game.

Okay--more on the US team

Why doesn't someone come out and say what the real problem is with the team under Bradley....he crafted this team around his son Michael. When his wife cried about Michael not being on the national team he put him on, he put him in Michael's favorite position as an attacking center mid and made Donovan and Dempsey move into other supporting positions. He hasn't pulled his kid off since he put him in several years ago.

Yes Michael doesn't seem to do as many hospital tackles as he used to and he hustles. But lets face it, half the time he's hustling because he just gave the ball away and has to get it back. No real vision to distribute the ball...of course we don't have strikers that make slanting runs or come back to the ball...another discussion...or not!

Sure Ricardo Clark gave the ball away in a really bad place in the Ghana game but!!! Michael Bradley dribbled the ball toward Ricardo, drawing the 2 mids from Ghana closer, then passed to Ricardo from a short distance away...and BAM! Ghana got the ball. What a bone head thing to do--and if you watch little Bradley often enough you see he does this a lot...dribble into traffic. Ugh!

So, in the meantime, since little Bradley gets to play where he wants to play, Donovan who in the past and in club is lethal as an attacking center mid or striker, moves wide, as does Dempsey on occasion. As long as Sr. Bradley is coaching the national team the 9 other field players on the pitch will be picked and positioned to compliment his son....incredible! I'm hoping for a change in the coaching and a change in midfield.

Round of 16: England vs Germany

This game was tough for me as a fan because I like both teams. I lived in England and started school there, and have German blood in my veins...so whoever won was who I was going to cheer on...but I was definitely leaning toward Germany. The game didn't disappoint!

The Germans were: tireless, inventive, fluid, fast and their passing was a thing of beauty. I could watch the run by Oezil and subsequent goal by Mueller over and over again. The players anticipate, make diagonal runs, use the width of the pitch...very entertaining!

England: Lampard finally woke up and was in this game. He hadn't been in any of them prior to this game. They were disjointed and the fans back in the UK who know them the best called it--the players just weren't collectively in the tournament. Terry played the martyred ex-Captain causing a rift in the side...to say that wasn't his intent when he had the press conference after game 2 in group stages was ludicrous! besides being total BS. He's let his Chelsea success go to his head!

Gerrard worked his buns off the whole tournament starting from his first goal and can hold his head up; Heskey was a scape goat for much larger problems and if everyone remembers, fed the ball that Gerrard put in the net; the keeper situation has been in question since Seaman retired; Crouch didn't have a chance to prove he can be a problem to defenses; they still didn't fix the Gerrard/Lampard midfield issue (should have sat Lampard down in the early games when he wasn't producing); Dawson, in my humble opinion, would have partnered Terry better in the back than Upson; their wing play was missing despite having 2 of the fastest wide players in the Prem, blog blog blog. I love watching all these blokes play during the season, but this was poor form for them as a whole. Could go on...but they're already depressed.

If I had my way...they wouldn't have had to play each other until farther into the tournament because it is sad England is out. So....Go Deutschland!

Round of 16: The US vs Ghana and then some...

So...I've got to comment on the US game last night. Sad for the US fans and the players. It was a deflating game compared to the exhilaration of the one against Algeria. And maybe that was the problem. The team needed to collectively move on and prepare for the next. But we like to relive past glories...so that's all anyone wanted to talk about.

Let's be honest, our side has no natural strikers unless you move Dempsey and Donovan in as strikers. They don't give up, they will battle to get to the ball. And we have very little depth in most positions except maybe keeper. Our game last night was pedantic, predictable, and while the team had given us thrilling and chilling late game "miracles" in group play, was sadly reminiscent of past years. I think Dempsey played consistently well throughout the tournament; Donovan inspired and did what he could; Tim Howard played well, in fact I think he shined in a position where most keepers from other sides had problems; I think Bocannegra also had a good strong tournament...except for the added time when the goal was scored.

Altidore seems like a nice guy but he was in too long and I think overall, is overrated. He crossed a couple good balls in, but he has NO movement off the ball and what he does is pretty lateral. You could see this when he had the short spell at Hull in UK. No slashing, diagonal runs and he got bumped off a ball similar to the one Gyan finished for Ghana. Obviously, Sr. Bradley was out of ideas on top. But he did pick the side after all, he's got no one to blame for lack of choices but himself....that's another topic.

No one talked about it, but on the scoring run by Gyan, Bocannegra gave him a good bump, but then pulled off and looked into the heavens while Demerit was still trying to run with Gyan. Never saw Bocannegra do something like that....and what happened? Any ideas...anyone hear why? Perhaps if he'd kept running the guy couldn't have pulled the shot off.

This game was probably one that we should have pulled off; but it's not too surprising we didn't. Donovan said "we were a little naive". Hmmmm.....Clark starting instead of Edu maybe? One of those things we'll probably never know. Better luck next time.