Succer
I taped the game and wanted it to be a surprise when I watched it. So, I holed myself up in my office all day. No talking to co-workers, for fear someone would let the score slip. No Internet--not just sports web sites, but no news sites, or email or anything else, just in case I saw an unexpected ticker. On the bus ride home, the headphones were turned up loud, so as not to overhear a conversation.
Well, I'm sure you all know how this story ends. Thank you Reyna (who, more than a decade later, is still the best American player) and Johnson, for showing up with some energy. Everybody else--I'm looking at you Donovan, Beasley, Convey, among others--looked like little kids playing against their older brothers.
Yep, I bought into the hype, and what a letdown. But even so, I'm not giving up yet, and I'll be up bright and early on Saturday morning for Italy. Here's hoping some more American players wake up as well.
Use this as a continuation of the Open Thread for the World Cup.
Some suggested topics: who did President Bush want to lose more, Mexico or Iran? England: do they suck worse when they win or when they lose? What exactly is David Hasselhoff's role in this World Cup?
[Given the importance of soccer to me, and this weekend's upcoming match, I'm moving this up. -- AA]
Well, I'm sure you all know how this story ends. Thank you Reyna (who, more than a decade later, is still the best American player) and Johnson, for showing up with some energy. Everybody else--I'm looking at you Donovan, Beasley, Convey, among others--looked like little kids playing against their older brothers.
Yep, I bought into the hype, and what a letdown. But even so, I'm not giving up yet, and I'll be up bright and early on Saturday morning for Italy. Here's hoping some more American players wake up as well.
Use this as a continuation of the Open Thread for the World Cup.
Some suggested topics: who did President Bush want to lose more, Mexico or Iran? England: do they suck worse when they win or when they lose? What exactly is David Hasselhoff's role in this World Cup?
[Given the importance of soccer to me, and this weekend's upcoming match, I'm moving this up. -- AA]
posted by Anonymous at 9:25 AM
20 Comments:
I believe that David Hasselhoff is officially the Grand Poobah thrice removed in this years world cup. Look it up, its a fact
The US defense was horrible!
i too spent all day maintaining a media wall around myself so i could watch the tivo'd game when i got home, only to check my gmail and have the damn score posted in that little news/advertising box right above my mail. Google is evil.
DS was devastated. It was ugly soccer to watch. As he leaves this weekend to attend the german festivities for himself (and the two remaining US games) he hopes he'll bring better luck to the US team.
On that note, DS has this to say to US Soccer supporters. The US team has NEVER lost a game that he attended. Don't worry about how many games DS has gone to -- send positive thoughts to Germany.
Disco Stu,
Did you manage to get the firm to agree to pay you during your World Cup vacation? Did Professor Steele's advice help? Here's the advice in case anyone missed it:
http://boaltalk.blogspot.com/2006/05/open-question-to-professor-steele-or.html#comments
Yes, the US didn't show up, and they looked lazy and uninterested. But give the Czechs some credit - they are good and those two goals were pretty sweet.
I got up this morning at 5 and went to Koreatown (in LA) to watch the Korea - Togo match. Maybe not the most skillful soccer ever, but a lot of fun. The Togo goal was a thing of beauty - a great one-touch trap on a full run and then a screaming shot with defenders hot on his heels. The Korean goals were sweet too.
Be the REDS!
¡BRASIL!
I also spent the day in a bubble and risked coming off to my firm as an ass by putting a sign on my desk announcing my intentions. I was successful in my quarantine only to find myself sitting in front of the TV thinking "I waited four years for THIS?" The US side was absolutely sluggish.
However, I've got to echo 2:47. I haven't watched every game, but I've watched a lot, and the Czechs easily look the best so far. And that includes ¡BRASIL! who looked relatively middle-of-the-road today.
Upside for the US: Their toughest first round game is out of the way, and while Italy looked good, Reyna and co. are more than capable of beating them or tying them, provided they decide to wake up before game time. 6 points are still possible, and 4 might even do the trick depending on goal differential.
2:47 here.
Actually, having watched about a half of the Italy-Ghana match I'm wondering if the US can beat anybody in this group. Those Ghana guys are pretty good. On one play, a forward was isolated on the right corner of the box against an Italian defender; he put on a dizzying series of moves and actually made the Italian fall down with the fakes. Ghana looks fit and hungry - they just have no strikers.
Sorry, but I'm pretty sure the Americans are one and done this year. At this point they need to save face and at least win once.
Other than USA/Italy on Saturday, I'm anxiously awaiting the games next Wednesday of Netherlands vs. Argentina, and Portugal vs. Mexico. That's a lineup worth missing work. I'd seriously be lost without my ReplayTV.
Sorry if sounds a little sexist, but another reason that there needs to be more women in big law is so there is less pressure to know things about sports that you would otherwise have zero interest in...
The Ghana-Czech Republic game was the best game I've seen yet, wow!
So... who's missing work Thursday morning?
TF, I saw that game and was amazed also. I thought Ghana looked pretty good against Italy, but outclassed. But against the Czechs they looked incredible. After seeing such ball skill, I was disappointed to watch the USA game and realize that the Americans don't have much touch or creativity. I am predicting a loss to Ghana, despite their heroic effort to tie Italy.
Both games were a lot of fun. It would be great to see an upstart like Ghana advance, even though I'd like for us to go.
We were totally robbed against Italy!!! Fucking ref. He was from Uruguay, right? I guess this is payback for the Monroe Doctrine.
is it me, or where the blogs and comments from last summer much better than those of this summer? yet further proof that this year's 1Ls pale in comparison to the class of '07.
2:45,
I think lack of interest in blogs actually tends to show the opposite. Just to be clear, the class of '07 is still way better. Just not because it is more blog-addicted.
I suspect the lack of activity on this blog has more to do with the bloggers' lack of postings than anything else.
Back to succer: the US sucks. They just have so much less skill than the other teams. Yes, they probably got robbed by that penalty kick in the 45th minute. But they just have such a hard time putting together a decent attack. And how many times were the defenders caught catching up to a forward who had somehow gotten free?
*sigh* I guess this probably puts a damper on Nike's plan for the US to win a World Cup by 2010. I think they should probably focus on having our team qualify for 2010.
Oh yeah, and it puts the loss to the Czechs in perspective when the team that creamed us 3-nil goes on to lose two games by a combined total of 4-nil. Nice.
The US made a whopping 10 shots on goal. The Aussies had 22. Iran had 20. South Korea had 17. At least we edged out Togo (9) and outright stomped Trinidad & Tobago (7).
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