Soccer, footie, football, futbol

[Miles]

Portugal just schooled North Korea 7-0. Ronaldo finally scores.

[lawgrad91]

The Chileans better hope they play better than they sing. Their rendition of the national anthem sucked.

[Miles]

The Chileans better hope they play better than they sing. Their rendition of the national anthem sucked.

I didn't wanna judge, but yeah, it was atrocious.

[lawgrad91]

I thought Chile got lucky on several points. The red card on the Swiss guy seemed excessive, and that last shot by Switzerland could easily have gone in. But it didn't. Kinda like Butler's last shot....

[bjornolf]

Maybe we should sticky this thread for the duration of the World Cup?

Anyway, thanks to England's continued lack of inspired play I believe Team USA controls their own destiny. All we have to do is beat Algeria and we win the tiebreaker if England beats Slovenia.

True, but the major officiating blunders in the last several minutes of this match were abominable. Foul or offsides? Who cares? Neither are the right call/s. That worthless POS ref ignored obvious WWE moves against our guys in the box (which should have resulted in a PK for us) on the disallowed go-ahead goal AND invented either the offside or foul call on Edu. Plus the hand ball call after the ball hit our player's head/face was another call reminiscent and worthy of a ted valentine/karl hess blunder in one of their typical games.

Did the officials overturn that yellow card? I know they can do that. Cause if not, he misses the next game.

[Miles]

True, but the major officiating blunders in the last several minutes of this match were abominable. Foul or offsides? Who cares? Neither are the right call/s. That worthless POS ref ignored obvious WWE moves against our guys in the box (which should have resulted in a PK for us) on the disallowed go-ahead goal AND invented either the offside or foul call on Edu. Plus the hand ball call after the ball hit our player's head/face was another call reminiscent and worthy of a ted valentine/karl hess blunder in one of their typical games.

Did the officials overturn that yellow card? I know they can do that. Cause if not, he misses the next game.

I'm not sure, but I don't think they have. I remember a report that said Bradley wouldn't pursue anything during the cup, and that the team was focusing on the next game.

Based on the last two games, I'm not sure losing Findley is going to be that big a hit. I think we played our best ball without him.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Portugal just schooled North Korea 7-0. Ronaldo finally scores.

The Illawarra Mercury is the only daily newspaper in Wollongong, the third largest city in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It has been published since 1855, making it one of Australia's oldest newspapers.

To the front page of the Illawarra Mercury, where the region’s multiculturalism is being saluted with a mugshot of a local from each of the World Cup’s 32 participating nation’ More..s.

And can you spot Mr Kim Jong-il?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c43_1277086833

[bjornolf]

Man, ANOTHER joke of a disallowed goal by these refs. AAARGH!

All these soccer fans try to convince us of how great their sport is, and we try to get interested, and then we get screwed. This is just the kind of thing that keeps Americans from embracing soccer. The sport is hurt by its own incompetence.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Bless our hearts!!!!!
Love, Ima

[lawgrad91]

What Ima said! USA! USA! USA!

[Rolvix]

I called a 90th minute goal back in the 60th minute

That was AWESOME!

[devildeac]

Great, great goal. Stoppage time, wins the group, counter-attack and on a rebound.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I swear! This ol' heart of mine can't take many more of these last second miracles! This makes three in a row for the good guys!!! I hope Jay Heaps was on hand to see that one in person.
Love, Ima

[Miles]

Man, ANOTHER joke of a disallowed goal by these refs. AAARGH!

All these soccer fans try to convince us of how great their sport is, and we try to get interested, and then we get screwed. This is just the kind of thing that keeps Americans from embracing soccer. The sport is hurt by its own incompetence.

Speak for yourself. I hardly think the referees are what keep Americans from embracing soccer. If anything, I think the recent drama only helps to build a backstory, something that will help unite American soccer fans.

I think the lack of scoring is a huge hit against soccer, especially for a culture that embraces instant gratification and worships superstars. How can a young sports fan pass up Lebron in favor of Donovan? We're also so far removed from seeing the level of quality players that the rest of the world sees in their league play. Would be pretty sweet for the US to have some mega stars of American blood and to see them play on a regular basis.

Regardless of all that, it certainly was a stressful position to be in again this Cup, like the previous, and the previous and the previous. Glad we pulled it through in a gritty match.

Now if we can just figure out how to manage the back third and put the ball in the net from the 2 or 3, I'll think we can have some fun in the next match.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I watched the WHOLE match online at my office, until the 90th minute, when I had to leave for an appointment. Totally missed the goal only a few seconds later.

Anyways... !!!

[Miles]

I watched the WHOLE match online at my office, until the 90th minute, when I had to leave for an appointment. Totally missed the goal only a few seconds later.

Anyways... !!!

Man thanks for taking one for the team. I'm sorry you missed it live.

Kelly and I were in a sports bar with about a hundred other fans, which was really cool considering it was lunch break. Lots of screaming and yelling. Lots of high fives. Very cool atmosphere. Yaaaaaaaaay USA!

[bjornolf]

Man, ANOTHER joke of a disallowed goal by these refs. AAARGH!

All these soccer fans try to convince us of how great their sport is, and we try to get interested, and then we get screwed. This is just the kind of thing that keeps Americans from embracing soccer. The sport is hurt by its own incompetence.

Speak for yourself. I hardly think the referees are what keep Americans from embracing soccer. If anything, I think the recent drama only helps to build a backstory, something that will help unite American soccer fans.

I think the lack of scoring is a huge hit against soccer, especially for a culture that embraces instant gratification and worships superstars. How can a young sports fan pass up Lebron in favor of Donovan? We're also so far removed from seeing the level of quality players that the rest of the world sees in their league play. Would be pretty sweet for the US to have some mega stars of American blood and to see them play on a regular basis.

Regardless of all that, it certainly was a stressful position to be in again this Cup, like the previous, and the previous and the previous. Glad we pulled it through in a gritty match.

Now if we can just figure out how to manage the back third and put the ball in the net from the 2 or 3, I'll think we can have some fun in the next match.

I have to admit that this is the first World Cup I've really followed, but on the radio the last few days, they've been talking about how we've gotten screwed by the refs in the last three cups with phantom penalties that gave other teams goals, or missed penalties that would have helped. Somebody mentioned something about a handball against Germany a few years back that had a HUGE impact. If the casual US fans end up with the feeling that this just happens to us every time, that's bad for soccer as a whole.

[CathyCA]

I think I'm probably the only person in the world (or the only person out of my FB and CTN friends) who did not watch soccer/futbol this morning.

Does people watch it online or on a TV at work?

[Miles]

I have to admit that this is the first World Cup I've really followed, but on the radio the last few days, they've been talking about how we've gotten screwed by the refs in the last three cups with phantom penalties that gave other teams goals, or missed penalties that would have helped. Somebody mentioned something about a handball against Germany a few years back that had a HUGE impact. If the casual US fans end up with the feeling that this just happens to us every time, that's bad for soccer as a whole.

For real, America has caught some really tough breaks in the past few cups. While it may be true that casual fans will be affected by these calls, it is probably not the reason that fans are turned off by soccer. If you solved the problem of bad calls, soccer fan ship in America wouldn't increase by any meaningful amount. The rest of the world deals with the nuances in the game, why can't we? There are much bigger issues at play here.

How are you enjoying the World Cup? Kelly and I are thinking about a vacation to Brazil for 2014.

[CameronBornAndBred]

On yesterday's game, while the US did get hosed by that call, they also blew LOTS of opportunities. I thought Donovan's quote about his goal being so close that "you can't miss" was pretty funny, becaused they missed from that close all day long, once even on an open net. The score should have been 5-0.