Spain Wins 1st World Cup

Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 to claim their first World Cup title.   Andres Iniesta scored in the 116th minute to score the game’s only goal.   Fourteen yellow cards and a lack of goals made for a slow game.  I thought both nations deserved a Cup so I was happy either way.  Spain is now the 8th nation to have a Cup under their belt.  The Netherlands had also never won a Cup coming into the final game.  However, this was their 3rd Final appearance.

Congratulations to Spain, and great job to South Africa for putting on such a great tournament!

US Knocked out by Ghana Again…

US fell to Ghana 2-1 in the round of 16 today.  A few of my thoughts on today’s game.  Two early subs, one before half-time and one immediately after shows that coach Bob Bradley made a few poor decisions about his starters.  He didn’t start several of the players that started the only US win against Algeria, which is somewhat questionable.  The first goal US gave up did show that Tim Howard was caught off guard by the near post shot, but it was also a combination of poor defense and giving away position in their own half.  Just in general, US looked like a totally different team in the second half.  You could attribute the slow start to the wrong starters or to US still feeling physically and emotionally drained from the thriller against Algeria only 3 days ago, but the fact is US didn’t show up in the first half, and US has continuously had problems with giving up early leads.  I was pretty disappointed with Jozy Altidore’s performance.  For a world cup team, your forward has got to play better than what he did.  Donovan stepped up, and I thought Dempsey played well in the final game.  It will be interesting to see how the team will form for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Out of 6 African teams, Ghana was the only one to make through the group phase.  I do hope that Ghana goes far in the tournament.  Even though the host nation, South Africa, didn’t make it, many South Africans along with other African nations will be coming together as a continent and pulling for Ghana.  This is the second time Ghana has knocked US out of the World Cup.  Previously in the 2006 World Cup, Ghana prevailed over US 2-1 once again.  If US would have won, they would have advanced out of the group.

The farthest US has advanced in the World Cup is the 2002 World Cup in Japan/S. Korea when they defeated Mexico 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.  In the quarters they faced Germany and lost 1-0.  The US did finish 3rd in the 1930 World Cup, but it was the first cup held, there were only 14 teams in it, and many countries did not participate.

On the bright side, US did make it through the group stage, which many expected but turned out to be quite a struggle.  Furthermore, the World Cup goes on.  I’m sure many Americans will stop watching the World Cup all together just because US is out.  That’s a shame to me.  It’s not just about respecting the sport, but respecting all the other nations in it who are cheering just as passionately for their own teams…

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Spain Falls in First Game…

Spain lost 1-0 to Switzerland today in the World Cup.  Quite a shocker, considering the Spanish are favored by many to take it all this Cup.  It’s hard to say Spain played bad – they dominated possession with 74% and had more shots and shots on goal than the Swiss did.  However, Swiss stuck to their defensive wall, a 4-4-2 formation, and they scored on one of the few opportunities they got.

Biggest surprise of the tourney so far.

Update…

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  It has been a mixture of me not having passion along with me not looking for things to write about.  Here’s a short update for sports.  Trying to get up and running a bit again:

In World Cup news, USA tied England 1-1.  USA’s goal was a mediocre strike from Clint Dempsey, but fortunately for the Americans the English goalkeeper Robert Green fumbled the ball into his own goal.  Green’s misplay will not be forgotten anytime soon, especially since the game ended as a tie.  England came into the tournament unsure of their primary goalie.  That looks like a bad move now.

Rangers are tied for first in the West with the Angels with a record of 35-28.  Pitching has not been a force once again.  While Rich Harden has been disappointing, Colby Lewis has really stepped up as a starter.  Offense has been awesome.  Right now 4 players are hitting over .300.  Vlad, Hamilton, Young, and Andrus are all playing well.  Cruz is still out with a hamstring injury.  I’m ready to see him back up and running.

Colby’s current line:  13G, 84.2 IP, 6-4 record, 81 Ks, 3.30 ERA.

Inter takes 2010 Champions League

On May 22, 2010, Inter defeated Bayern Munich 2 – 0 to take the Cup.  It was their third European cup, the previous one being one in 1965.  Diego Milito stole the night by scoring both of Inter’s goals.  The game was played at Real Madrid’s house in Madrid, Italy.

The Argentinian Milito and the Cameroon Samuel Eto celebrating.

2009-10 Soccer League Tables

La Liga (Spain)			Points	W	D	L
Barcelona			99	31	6	1
Real Madrid			96	31	3	4
Valencia			71	21	8	9
Sevilla			63	19	6	13
Premier League (England)
Chelsea			86	27	5	6
Man U			85	27	4	7
Arsenal			75	23	6	9
Totten.  Hotspur			70	21	7	10
Serie A (Italy)
Inter			82	24	10	4
Juventus			80	24	8	6
Milan			72	20	10	8
Fiorentina			67	19	10	9

Groups Are Set for ’10 South Africa World Cup!

Group A	Group E
South Africa	Netherlands
Mexico	Denmark
Uruguay	Japan
France	Cameroon
Group B	Group F
Argentina	Italy
Nigeria	Paraguay
South Korea	New Zealand
Greece	Slovakia
Group C	Group G
England	Brazil
USA	North Korea
Algeria	Ivory Coast
Slovenia	Portugal
Group D	Group H
Germany	Spain
Australia	Switzerland
Serbia	Honduras
Ghana	Chile


I’m already getting pumped and the tournament is still about 6 months away! The tournament will open on June 11th with South Africa against Mexico.  US got a favorable group.  They will open against England which is tough, but it will be a disappointment if they don’t advance out of the first round.  The “Group of Death” is considered to be Group G with Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, and Portugal.  Spain and Brazil are the top 2 favorites coming into the tournament.

Real Salt Lake Takes MLS Cup

First, props to the Columbus Crew for having the most points overall with 49 in the regular season.  In a typical football league they would have the title.

So the playoff title–L.A. Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, UT).  The Galaxy definitely had the superior record during the regular season, 12-12-6 as opposed to 11-7-12.  The Galaxy were conference champions while Real Salt Lake was the last team of 8 to even qualify for the playoffs.  The Galaxy is well known for their star power of David Beckam and Landon Donovan.  However, Real Salt Lake prevailed in PKs.  There were 2 goals scored in regular time.  In the 41st minute Donovan crossed a ball to Mike Magee who scored the Galaxy’s only goal.  Robbie Findly scored in the 64th minute for RSL to tie the game at 1.  The PKs went 7 rounds, the main story being that Donovan didn’t even put his PK shot on target.  It sailed over the top of the goal.  Congratulations to RSL and their fans.

32 Teams are Set for World Cup!

The final 32 teams for the 2010 World Cup are set. The teams are:

Europe: Holland, England, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia , Greece, Slovenia, Portugal , France.

Asia: Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea.

Africa: South Africa (as hosts), Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria.

South America: Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay.

North/Central America: Mexico, United States, Honduras.

Oceania: New Zealand.

The current FIFA World Rankings can be found at FIFA.com.   The final draw for the Cup is on December 4th.

Henry Cheats Ireland

Yesterday was the final day of qualifying for the World Cup.  Unfortunately, it was a bad day for soccer.  France and Ireland were playing the second leg of their 2 game qualifying playoff.  France had won the first game 1-0 in Dublin so Ireland was forced to outscore the French in the second game in order to advance.  The game was in Paris with 79,145 fans in attendance.

The Irish took a 1-0 lead into extra time.  If they would have kept the 1-0 lead, the advancing team would be decided by penalty kicks.  However, in the 103rd minute William Gallas headed in a goal from a short pass by Thierry Henry.  Before Henry passed the ball, he clearly used his left hand to keep it in bounds.  I have to say that while it was happening in real time it was hard to pick up on. However, several of the Irish players saw it and were begging the refs to call it, particularly the keeper.

I can say that I’ve lost respect for Henry.  He did admit after the game that it was a handball, but that doesn’t excuse his action of doing it.  You play soccer your entire life.  You know when you’re cheating.  Dives, handballs, tugging on jerseys–it is a part of the game.  But how you can do something as deliberately wrong as that when so much is on the line baffles me.  I find it hard to root for France or Barcelona now.  Honestly, it gives me a sick feeling to my stomach.  My sympathy goes out to all the Ireland players and fans.  Like I said, that was a bad day for any true football fan.

Not only that, but immediately before Henry received the ball, there were 2 players offsides on the free kick.  There was no excuse for the line judge to miss that call.  A player cannot be offsides on a corner, throw-in, or goal kick, but this was a free kick.

Many people are demanding instant replay in soccer now.  Just like in baseball, I say no way.  Soccer is unique as a sport in that there is such a tremendous flow in the game.  You don’t start and stop in soccer.  The time keeps running.  Adding instant replay would destroy the game in my opinion.  I say you put one additional official next to each goal.  Having more trained eyes is just going to increase the efficiency of the officiating.  It is the same thing with baseball.  Additional replay is only going to hurt the game.  Make sure the umpires are trained well, and increase the number of them during the postseason.