What an exciting match! The US team just won a great game against Algeria — disallowed US goal and all! 
I’m not an American or a soccer fan, but I get help but get into the World Cup. The US team is playing their hearts out. Ya gotta love it! With all the chances the US team was creating, you just knew that it was gonna happen for them. But talk about waiting ’til the last minute. Yikes!Â
Now it’s onto the next round. And I always thought soccer was boring. haha
Geno
I love the World Cup. I’m a sucker for international competitions, and I do believe that they are way cooler than professional sports leagues, because I really do like that the players play for their countries and the honor thereof rather than a paycheck or an endorsement contract.
This World Cup is especially cool because it’s the first one since I got a DVR. It’s nice that it’s not in Asia this time like it was in 2002 because that time difference nearly killed me (sure wish I’d have had the DVR then!), and this way I get to sleep in a little before settling onto the couch with a cup of tea and my World Cup iPhone app.
Which is what I did this morning, and I just got done watching South Africa pull out a tie against Mexico. Good result for the home side, and it was a fun game to watch. I remember in the 1998 World Cup the US upset a diving, cheap, dirty–playing Mexican team, and their fans bitched and screamed about how they were cheated, etc. Ever since I have not been a big supporter of the Mexican national team. Before that even though they are our main CONCACAF rivals I never bore them any real ill will. That all changed, so it was nice to see Mexico fail to defeat a much weaker South Africa today, even though they did salvage a draw.
Anyway, here are some random musings about soccer.
1. Celtic first, Celtic last, Celtic overall. C’mon the Hoops. I named the band after them for &%^#$(’s sake!
2. I despise Mike Tirico. He’s a terrible NFL commentator and is even worse at soccer because it’s obvious he knows nothing about the sport. To listen to him grasp at straws for things to contribute during the studio analysis segments is nothing short of excruciating.
3. I hate when American soccer commentators/pundits/ESPN puppets refer to the English Premiership as the “EPL”. No one in the European media uses that acronym, and trying to make it catch on here in the US is like that chick in “Mean Girls” trying to make the word “Fetch” popular. The EPL is about as fetch as Mike Tirico.
4. Enough of those vuvuzela horns already. I know it’s sort of the South African team’s thing, but it’s annoying and reminds me of the MLS and everyone who has co-oped and usurped them to make noise in half-empty stadiums in Columbus and Denver (if I was popular as a blogger the emails would start flying in over this one! But I’m not).
5. Henry sucks and so does the French team. Not even the French like them.
6. This is starting to sound pretty negative, so I’ll look to the positives. USA vs. England tomorrow! Do we have much of a chance? Probably not, but it will be an entertaining game. I’m going to go to a bar and watch all the American fans who root for English club sides now root against their favorite ass-hat players like Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch. Should be fun.
7. American professional soccer and American fans need to develop their own traditions. Like #4, it is sad to see fans and teams steal traditions from other countries/leagues and try to make them their own. Like the DC United supporter’s club knows as a “Barra Brava”. Look that term up on Wikipedia and learn what hooligans those organizations tend to be comprised of in Latin and South America. Lame. Find your own identity, American fans!
Wow this is getting a bit preachy! I’d better sign off, since it’s time for Uruguay/France. Ally McCoist is commentating. Great. Hun jerk haha. Go Uruguay today, and GO USA USA USA TOMORROW!
Adam
