World Cup 2010

[smakawhat]

this is basicaly the time of year I go into can't walk away from tv mode...

[Thousand Made-Up Loves]

The good news for you Guiseppe is that Lippi, like all Italian coaches, let you play well into your 30's so you might get to two World Cups in your lifetime, otherwise you've got one shot at glory.

Italy Cuts Guisseppe Rossi

Oh, and by the way - you can piss off.  You could have been the David Beckham of American soccer and played in 4 World Cups.  You missed your chance at being a hero.

Bwahahah. How does that taste? Now he can go back to auditioning for Jersey Shore.

[sweetcell]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/world-cup-step-closer-to-airin.html?hpid=newswell

it seems that USA vs England in Dupont Circle will happen after all

awesome.  i'm meeting a bunch of friends in the dupont area to watch the morning games.  will stumble on over to the circle for ENG-USA.

this is basicaly the time of year I go into can't walk away from tv mode...

innovation for me this year: i have a DVR.  last WC, i caught what i could live and watched a few replays at the lucky bar at night (i'd go in to seclusion until i made it to the replay, remaining unaware of the score was never easy).  i ended up not watching many games because of work & life conflicts.  but now... i can time shift the WC.  for 15 days i'll be coming home to 4 or 6 hours of recorded games, assuming i don't catch any of it live.  as if i don't sleep enough already.

[vansmack]

Turns out SONAR is happening in Barcelona while we're there.  Might interfere with my soccer watching.

[vansmack]

I've got $10 that says he's faking it....

Didier Drogba Breaks Arm in friendly with Japan

[vansmack]

And I've got $10 that says he's not faking it:

Rio Ferdinand hurts knee, out of World Cup

[hutch]

What a bummer about Drogba and Ferdinand...

I'm increasingly skeptical about the value of these friendlies..glad Argentina doesn't have any

I don't know that one can fake a broken arm or what have you.

[vansmack]

what a bummer that drogba is out... rio ferdinand probably too

I have to say that playing "friendlies" before the start of WC is idiotic.. At least Maradona got that right.

Well, Rio was hurt in training and anyone who watched United this season probably knows that he brought this with him - he was the definition of fragile this season.

Playing as many friendlies as Mexico is a mistake, playing as few as Argentina, also a mistake.  Playing Wayne Rooney for over 60 minutes in any friendly also a mistake, but I don't think playing 2-3 warmups spread out over a month is idiotic, especially when the players are spread out over a few continents during the league.

Drogba was simply unlucky, or, as I'm predicting, he's faking it.

[godsshoeshine]

cant believe i'm going to say this but i hope he's faking it too. was pretty pumped to see what he could do this time around

man argentina cant do anything right. i mean, i kind of secondarily root for them because they have jonas but even thats hard

[hutch]

what a bummer that drogba is out... rio ferdinand probably too

I have to say that playing "friendlies" before the start of WC is idiotic.. At least Maradona got that right.

Well, Rio was hurt in training and anyone who watched United this season probably knows that he brought this with him - he was the definition of fragile this season.

Playing as many friendlies as Mexico is a mistake, playing as few as Argentina, also a mistake.  Playing Wayne Rooney for over 60 minutes in any friendly also a mistake, but I don't think playing 2-3 warmups spread out over a month is idiotic, especially when the players are spread out over a few continents during the league.

Drogba was simply unlucky, or, as I'm predicting, he's faking it.

Maybe you are right.

I hate to lose all these players... Ballack, Essien, Drogba, Beckham, etc.

I was about to post and I see a comment that says "Argentina can't do anything right"

I think it makes sense for Argentina not to bother with these friendlies... I think for the teams with the real talent friendlies are a waste of time and risky.. I also like the fact Maradona's keeping his cards close.. if I was him I would surprise everyone an hour or two before Nigeria... Maradona is working on creating a group and motivating the team...I'm fine with that...

 

ALso I should think it would not be that hard to root for Argentina given we consistently provide some of the more exciting soccer:

1994 Best game of World Cup; Romania vs Argentina
1998 Three excellent games featuring Argentina: Croatia, England and Netherlands
2002 ok this one we did not do much I'm afraid
2006 The game against Serbia, Mexico, I forget what else

I guess all I'm saying is since about 1990 we've been providing some of the more exciting action.


Oh and ARgentina has the top goal scorer in Spain and best player in the world, the second top goal scorer in Spain, Milito and Tevez..

Come on! If you like futbol you could do worse than root for Argentina.. unless you're still bitter about the Hand of God or something...

[godsshoeshine]

i didnt mean historically hard to root for. just the maradona-era decision making is hard to go along with. of course they have awesome players, i said i kinda sorta root for the because they have one of my favorite players for my club

[vansmack]

I was about to post about how you conveniently left out the hand of god game, but then you corrected your post, so I'll let it slide.

[vansmack]

I've got $10 that says he's faking it....

Didier Drogba Breaks Arm in friendly with Japan

@georgina_turner: Drogba has opted for surgery, may yet be fit for CIV vs PORT opener in 10 days. Can't imagine Chelsea are thrilled about that.

[hutch]

i didnt mean historically hard to root for. just the maradona-era decision making is hard to go along with. of course they have awesome players, i said i kinda sorta root for the because they have one of my favorite players for my club

Yes I understand that..

Believe me if it was up to me Maradona would not even be in South Africa much less managing or what have you...

The Hand of God goal, Vansmack, is so overhyped.. Of course he should not have done that but why is it that only in England and the US people focus so much on the hand of god goal and so little on the second goal..

Moreover, people seem to think that if there had been no hand of god goal then England would have won? Thats ludicrous... We don't know who would have won but what we do know is that ARgentina had the best team that World Cup...Again, I wish he had not done that.. I wish Simeone in 2002 had not gotten Beckham sent off but every nation brings a part of its culture to the way they play.. Unfortunately, ARgentina is a corrupt country going nowhere where people have to lie, cheat and sell their children to survive.. this is part of the culture and is reflected on the pitch (thats actually the only reason I could see for people not wanting Argentina to do well: that the Argentina team while very talented can at times "cheat" or what have you..we're certainly not England in that respect but Argentina the nation is not England the nation)

The only reason England scored at all is arguably because once ARgentina was up it did its classic "we're up, time to sit back and wait" mistake which is unfortunately part of the culture (just like against Germany in 86 final, against Germany in 2006, etc.).. If ARgentina kept attacking instead of trying to guard the games history would be a lot different but we or the Argentina team is what it is..

Sorry for haste reply but my baby is mugging me

Having said all of the above there are classier players and less classy players on Argentina's team.

[vansmack]

I'm not interested in having a discussion about it because I really don't care.  I just thought it was funny that originally, you completely ignored it.

And judging by the 5 paragraphs you wrote about it, it's not just England and America that care.