Seems appropriate to have a dedicated soccer thread for Soaker to ignore, what what with the Copa America starting tonight and the Euro Championships next week.
The Copa America, for the uninitiated, is a quadrennial tournament to decide the champion of South America. This year they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the tourney by grabbing lots of North American cash bringing its delights to the USA for a special once-in-a-lifetime (unless it makes *a lot* of money) Americas-wide affair.
The ten countries of soccer South America are playing (Guyana is in North America for soccer purposes, Suriname is part of the Netherlands, and French Guyana is part of France), as are six countries from the rest of the hemisphere (USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, and Jamaica). Argentina is your favorite to win it all according to the bookmakers, followed by a less-than-full-strength Brazil, and Chile (the cup holders). Don’t count out Mexico, either, with the home field advantage they will enjoy in every game.
The USA has a tough Group A opener tonight at Levi’s (6:30 pm on Fox Sports 1 and Univision) against the dreamy James (pronounced HA-mez) Rodriguez and his formidable Colombia, followed by tough but winnable games against Costa Rica and Paraguay. I’d say they are about a coin flip to get out of the group. If they don’t, there will be lots of yelling at coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
I’m worried that JK will run out a conservative lineup against Colombia.
Best guess is a 4-3-3, and you know he will be starting Bradley and Jermaine Jones in the midfield. I have no idea what he’s going to do for attackers, aside from Wood and Dempsey starting.
Actually, I wonder if he goes 4-4-2 with Bradley and Jones in the center mid, Dempsey and Wood up top.
I’m afraid he will start Zardes over Bedoya.
Thanks, and go As.
I don’t know soccer nearly enough to have an opinion on Klinsmann, but this Guardian piece yesterday was pretty damning.
I think he gets a lot of hate piled on him that’s unwarranted, but he also does some weird stuff.
He also won a Gold Cup, had an amazing WC Qualifying run, and then got out of the group of death.
Oh and he beat FKing Ghana.
Thanks, and go As.
There’s some truth in there in places, but man does that read like a hit piece by someone with a personal vendetta. I mean…
I definitely expect the 4-3-3, with Jones/Bradley +1. I’ll guess the +1 is Bedoya to start. Beckerman wouldn’t shock me either, though that would be extremely conservative. Nagbe comes in around 65′ no matter what.
Yep. It’s Bedoya in the three-man midfield. Zardes-Dempsey-Wood up front.
I’m so over Zardes.
Thanks, and go As.
He has his positive qualities. Works hard, defends, finds scoring chances. He just has the touch of a brick wall.
Meh. He’s scored goals from others doing great work.
There are a handful of guys I’d rather have in the 18, let alone start.
Thanks, and go As.
i can’t believe i forgot to wear colors today.
I read that as clothes for a second and thought to myself “I thought I was forgetful!!”
I was going to edit it to read clothes …
i edited by getting naked.
I fell in love with Dreamy James in the World Cup. How’s he done since then?
rode the bench a lot. injuries and disfavor from his coaches at real madrid. so either he’s gonna show up out of rhythm and ineffective, or ready to break out with his nat’l side. he didn’t break out at all a year ago in chile.
but this has some to do with who he’s playing with. he’s a great playmaker and we remember him for his awesome striking shots too. but that’s a curse in a way (see tevez at boca 2016), since those are usually the two poles of a scoring play, and he’d need to be in both places at once. falcao wasn’t great in chile and that didn’t help james. falcao’s not there at all this year. so, without him, we’re looking at bacca or cuadrado to finish james’ plays or at least bounce them back to james so he can finish.
I’m still pissed at him for not going to Liverpool.
He scored the 2nd best goal of the tournament!
Thanks, and go As.
Pretty interesting interview here with Klinsmann. It captures a lot about what pisses people off about him, particularly his blaming the players for lacking the proper German mentality all the time.
Not nearly enough people understand that.
I actually really, really like that article.
Thanks, and go As.
What he says isn’t crazy. I just wish he would take some responsibility every now and then rather than blame the players. He’s been in charge for five years now, and while he isn’t with the guys on a daily basis he should have been able to impart some of this to them by now.
Good news for MikeV, and everyone else really. Apparently Brad Friedel is the color man on tonight’s Fox broadcast, relegating Alexi Lalas’ inimitable brand of defensive bullshit to the studio.
For those who aren’t familiar with Big Brad, he is probably the greatest goalkeeper in USA history, and he has the weirdest Brit/American hybrid accent despite having lived nearly his entire life in the USA until joining Liverpool in his late 20s.
Though he rarely played for ‘pool (25 appearances in 3 seasons), and would be most remembered for his time at Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, during which he achieved the record for consecutive Premiership appearances (310).
YAAAS.
Love Brad, Hate Alexi.
Thanks, and go As.
Man, you weren’t kidding about that accent, truly odd.
i’m not sure what channel i’m on, but somebody with an accent is saying my name horribly.
This makes me sad. Can’t blame him for following his heart, but he could have been a USA legend.
That stadium looks awfully empty!
I like to think everyone is either still tailgating or just staying in the shade until kickoff. Ticket sales were reportedly pretty solid.
65K tickets reportedly.
Thanks, and go As.
Its filling in well.
if i had gone without reading what i read this morning, i’d be walking back to my car right now to leave my non-transparent bag, my weapon-grade selfie stick, and my 2nd bottle of water in the trunk, then try again.
Not sure about this Opening Ceremony act.
wait. they are doing goal line tech? or are they trying it out with cameras in place just to see what it’d look like?
the colombian announcers have never experienced a flyby before.
Poop.
Also, why is the commentary ahead of the video, Fox?
It is annoying and odd. Detracts from the pretty plays in particular.
in the colombian feed, the guy talks so damn fast it keeps getting ahead of the video.
Didn’t get out of the first inning here either.
I dig this Colombia team, man. They put crazy pressure on you.
We’re playing pretty well. Pity about the goal.
takes 13 goals to win
Pekerman going to just sit on this lead AV?
Welp
Pretty smart tactics to sit back and then pressure Bradley as he tries to launch our attack. Turnover, cross, penalty.
seemed possession was eroding from colombia. until then.
Argh.
This could get ugly, folks.
Bradley’s having a real stinker.
That’s tremendous goalkeeping by Ospina.
yeah, amazing on that one.
James is jurting.
So Columbia would appear to be much, much better than us.
I would have to agree.
MV: that thing around the 4-minute mark, where cuadrado made his defenders look a little silly with skillz, and then the ball goes across to the other side, chandler picks it up, spins and his guy falls… player’s perspective, how much of that was just randomly what happened, and how much of that was messaging, showing off, and saving face? also, did the colombian fall because he got fooled, or cameron stepped on his ball, or because he was trying to draw a foul?
I don’t specifically remember that sequence. Let me rewatch.
Thanks, and go As.
Looked like pure instinct from Cameron. That Maradona spin move is fairly simple, but can still look flashy. The reality is it’s a great way to use your body to shield the ball from a player and quickly go toward empty space.
To me it looked like the Colombian fell because he was trying for the ball and I think his foot hit Camerons instead of the ball.
Thanks, and go As.
so it wasn’t, “don’t come here thinking you can do flashy moves and make us look bad, because we can do that right back at ya?”
that’s sorta what i wanted it to mean, i guess. like a pitcher plunking someone in the butt for watching home runs.
Not right outside of the 18 like that. FK that move up, and it’s a giveaway and an easy goal against.
Thanks, and go As.
No goals in the Costa Rica – Paraguay game was just what the USA wanted. The door is still wide open to finish ahead of both and advance.
Perfect. Almost too perfect (looks around for cartoon soccer villain with suspicious sack of cash).
Yeah, that was about the best possible result.
Thing is, Jurgen said he would have to juggle lineups around because of the short turnaround between matches.
Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll make the necessary changes. The back line IMO was fine, BUT putting Castillo at LB and moving FabJo to LM would be good. Brooks/Cameron/Yedlin should still be starting.
Dempsey doesn’t work as the CF in a 4-3-3. Bobby Wood doesn’t work out wide, either. Back to 4-4-2 or sit Dempsey.
Thanks, and go As.
Happy birthday!
Hey Thanks!
All I want is Dempsey benched, Pulisic and Nagbe starting, and a W against costa rica tomorrow
Thanks, and go As.
motherfugger.
99% chance messi’s on the bench. the 1% is pure shoulder-shrugging speculation because “he’ll play if he wants to.”
also, i made plans to go whitewater rafting some random sunday without looking at the calendar to see which sunday. guess which one it is!
Huh. ESPN: Copa América tendrÃa a EEUU como sede permanente
Great for the USA, Mexico, and the South American superstars who prefer to play here in the summer. Not so great for South American fans and the smaller Central American/Caribbean/Canadian nations that depend on the Gold Cup for meaningful games.
to my hermano/as: que se jodan.
i’m in.
I missed Mexico-Uruguay. Sounds like it got pretty wild.
If the USA ever plays a match in Montevideo, they are definitely going to blast “O Canada” during the lineups.
Apparently they accidentally played a Pitbull track in the middle of the Chilean anthem last night. AV, can you confirm?
maybe? i don’t know the chilean anthem (other than it seems to require everybody to sing it off key) and it was actually hard to hear the PA while everybody around me was singing off key. but there did seem to be a weird pause in the middle. i thought it was just the way the tune went.
AV: Apparently Univision ran this disclaimer before the game:
that’s decent commentary.
i watched it while listening to records so i missed the commentary explaining what was going on, but yeah. contentious.
godÃn got a badly given card on some gamesmanship during a corner kick, and mexico scored on that kick.
there was (seemingly) an equalizing uruguayan goal that was disallowed because the defender got knocked down, but really his own goalie had knocked him. but i’m not sure the ball actually went in the net or if it was a behind-the-net illusion. probably the second, judging by the light amount of complaining by uruguay.
(the disallowed goal on brazil was pretty weird too.)
The Ecuador goal did look good on super slo-mo, but I thought it had gone out in real time. That was just a very strange play.
The plot thickens.
um, $40 for parking?
where’s the street parking around levi’s??
will be checking for answer in 50 minutes…
Good luck with that.
It’s stupid.
Thanks, and go As.
$50.
whatever. rad time.
awesome!
Thanks, and go As.
AV’s seeing a really fun game. Two excellent attacking teams that are not in love with each other.
good view too. too bad my goals happened on the far side.
I am not a fan of red uniforms, but these Chile kits aren’t half bad.
USA vs. Costa Rica starting NOW on FS1.
and going pretty well so far.
Where was this team the other day against Colombia though
Thanks, and go As.
Quite the beatdown so far. Notwithstanding the great first half, though, in my vast experience (1.5 games) watching the current USMNT I fully share your take on Zardes. He’s kind of an oaf.
At the National Team level, you can’t just work hard and be physical. You have to actually be good, too.
Thanks, and go As.
Playing Colombia, not Costa Rica.
True, but even the energy level is different. Early goals can do that.
Thanks, and go As.
Yeah, they looked a little shaky until that penalty.
In both games they seem way too prone to turnovers in their D end. It was fortunate Costa Rica didn’t cash in those early chances.
Probably rooting for a draw or a Colombia win here against Paraguay, so that a draw in the next game puts the USA through.
An unlikely Paraguay win tonight would greatly complicate things, but it would also make it possible to win the group due to our sweet goal difference. Winning the group would probably mean an easier quarterfinal.
This game is wild.
Still likely that if we advance in 2nd from Group A, we draw Brazil in the quarters.
Thanks, and go As.
I’m OK with that. It’s the Copa America; at some point you have to beat Brazil.
True.
This Brazil is probably the least strong we’ve seen for awhile, too. Still good, but do they seem disinterested.
Also, no Neymar
Thanks, and go As.
I think they’re plenty interested. They’re just playing Dunga ball these days.
that’s the kind of goalie that gets you to the final. and yeah, i checked the groups/bracket before saying that.
He was great. And totally fearless. It had to be a little alarming, though, how stretched Los Cafeteros got in the second half.
Their defensive philosophy seems to mostly be absorbing pressure and then fouling when the ball gets near the penalty area. That’s not sustainable.
I will say, I have done a 180 on Bobby Wood. His first few caps, he really didn’t do a thing for the Ninja Turtles, but he’s seriously gotten better and (IMO) has taken Altidore’s starting spot from him. He wasn’t comfortable as a winger in the 4-3-3, but once he got pushed forward and they went 4-4-2, he was right at home and scored a hell of a goal.
Bradley is so good when he can be a defensive mid sitting just ahead of the back line.
Brooks/Cameron is our best CB pairing. Period, dot, exclamation.
I will still take the defensive hit moving FabJo up to left mid and putting someone like Castillo behind him. That lets Bedoya go back to his more natural right mid and Zardes go back to his natural BENCH.
Dempsey had a really good game, after being basically invisible against Colombia. I am certainly worried that he will keep being inconsistent, he totally disappeared in the Mexico game to determine the Confed Cup berth, too.
Jermaine Jones found the fountain of youth. Dude looks like he’s 27.
Basically the old dudes went dad strength against Costa Rica.
Thanks, and go As.
Win or Draw against Paraguay gets them through.
I think Klins goes super conservative to start. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the exact same lineup again for the 3rd time.
Thanks, and go As.
donaldson. unabler to put his foot on the ball at the crucial moment than you think.
The Euros!
They start today with hosts and betting favorite France taking on Romania (noon, ESPN2).
Your top five to win it all, according to the bookmakers:
France 16/5
Germany/Spain 9/2
England 9/1
Belgium 11/1
If you’re looking for value, I like Italy a bit at 16/1, and Poland at 50/1.
On y va!
There’s a player on Romania named Rat. He just kicked a French dude square in the sternum and complained when he got a card.
Romania’s is a real Rat-to-Chiriches story.
espn led half time with “only once has a euro champ match ended in a tie”
so, my question is, even the interns have never seen soccer?
Do they mean only once has the the opening match of the tournament ended in a tie?
i have no idea, it seemed a) worthless trivia and b) kinda like talking about a no hitter after the top of the first.
A triple and double away from the cycle!!
Messi seems fine.
And they only need to play him for 30 minutes a game!
Have to say it’s pretty neat to see Wales in a major tournament.
Yeah – so much better than the loutish fans, dirge of an anthem, and hapless footie of the English.
If you ignore the shorts, you can pretty much pretend Wales is Liverpool.
is ignore the shorts the new euphemism for picture them naked??
though i’m of the camp that you want to leave a little something for the imagination to play with.
OMG that Ronaldo statue is too funny.
Sounds like there is some really ugly street fighting going on between the English louts and the Russian louts in Marseille.
Mix in the local ultras and the trigger-happy riot police, and it’s an entirely predictable mess.
The pot-bellied, sunburned, shirtless bald Englishman with blood running down his face that they just showed on ESPN may as well be the team’s mascot.
But the fans haven’t been segregated in the stadium itself, which could get ugly.
This Guardian guide to every team and player in the Euros is pretty useful.
I especially like the little designations some of the players get. It’s nice to know ahead of time who the “hard man” is on each team.
TWSS
A fellow named “Jazz Richards” just came on for Wales. I’m falling in love with this team.
These England kits seem designed to make them look nothing like England.
something’s going on. i don’t think colombia even brought yellows.
Yeah, you’re right. Strange.
Roy Hodgson cracks me up. He’s like a Rodney Dangerfield character mixed with a Rowan Atkinson character.
USA starting the same 11 for third straight game. Unambiguous from Klinsmann.
FK footie experts – is the ref in the USA/Paraguay match a little yellow-card happy?
The two on Yedlin were 100% legit. The kid lost his damn mind.
I need to watch again to judge the others fairly. But I’d say the one he gave to Mike Bradley for dissent is pretty lame, when you consider how often players in this tournament have been surrounding refs and berating them with no repercussions.
We are all Costa Rican right now. If they win, the USA wins the group, which would mean facing probably Peru or Ecuador in Seattle instead of Brazil in New Jersey.
Costa Rica has nothing to play for, but Colombia rested its starters so who knows.
So far so good!
Better still!
Everything’s coming up Millhouse.
They did it! That’s an impressive display of pride by the Ticos. Pekerman probably regrets holding James and Cuadrado back.
And Brazil crashes out of the tournament on a late handball goal that Maradona and Henry would have been proud of. Peru wins Group B and will play Colombia.
The USA plays Ecuador on Thursday.
I grew up idolizing Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.
Fuck this version of Brazil. That’s what they get for sending a B team to a tournament.
Dunga needs to go.
Thanks, and go As.
Dunga had some serious Scioscia face going at the end of that one. Just staring into the middle distance, muttering to himself.
Along with all my friends, I spent the summer of 1970 trying to curl free kicks like Rivelino.
Holy crap, just saw the replay. What a spectacularly horrible call.
I want to know what took so long to decide to award the goal when they are not allowed to look at replay (and obviously didn’t sneak a look or they would have waved it off). My guess is that the referee’s intuition told him it was a fishy goal, but that neither he nor his assistants actually saw it hit the hand.
they wanted an experienced opinion, but tulio and diego were busy playing pattycake.
real answer, i think someone caught the replay out the corner of their eye but knew they couldn’t use it to decide, so were hem/hawing to find another reason and just couldn’t.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/13/moscow-football-official-to-violent-fans-well-done-lads-keep-it-up
Really great that they get to host the next World Cup. Spectacular work, FIFA.
Zlatan so good that his opponents finish his crosses for him.
Neymar takes to Instagram to support the Selecao, saying (loosely translated), “Now, a bunch of assholes will show up to talk shit. FK them.”
Judging by the photo at the bottom of that page, Ney has been having a good old time in the USA not playing in this tournament.
Fellaini bleached the ‘fro!?
venezuela’s #20 wants to stand fro to fro with him.
and i don’t mean kewpie doll dude.
That was the platonic ideal of an Italy game. Staunch defending, tactical fouls, and two brilliant counter-punches to win it.
I love Gigi Buffon.
Thanks, and go As.
He’s the best.
ESPN radio deportes: at first it was classic catenaccio. and then they threw away the key.
am i the only one who’s got sepp blatter doing a cover of hot pants stuck in their heads?
hot balls, hey hot balls… smokin!
hot balls, smokin’ hot, hot balls.
UEFA draw over there with the hot balls on.
filthy mcnasty all night long.
get down, i like the hot balls.
hey! i like the hot balls.
So as FKed up as some of their fans are, I don’t think the official English delegation includes an avowed fascist.
I guess the Mexico fans didn’t take the opportunity of the moment of silence for the Orlando victims to think about whether to lay off of the p*to chant.
I sincerely hope they have to play a few games in closed stadiums, and I cuss like a fucking sailor.
It’s just awful.
Thanks, and go As.
assholes.
i’m at +80′ of that game now. was sincerely looking forward to shutting them up. though they seem to get louder the more
impotentfrustrated they are.Ãsland!
Ronaldo, bro, I try to defend you but you do not make it easy sometimes…
Brazil fired Dunga.
Thanks, and go As.
I don’t know who they are going to hire now, but talk about a job where you are going to be under pressure immediately. A home Olympics in less than two months where only gold is acceptable, plus a World Cup qualifying campaign where Brazil is in serious danger of missing out for the first time ever.
tite.
The president of Corinthians says Tite “isn’t stupid enough” to take that job now. I guess we’ll find out.
bah. it’s not like a guaranteed fail.
isn’t there enough talent in the team to make it work to satisfactory levels? they can get out of groups with iran and s africa on theirs. hopefully make it to semis. germany’s taking gold anyway.
in qualifiers, it’s ecuador that’s messing up the program for everybody. i thought we had agreed who the top-5 teams were, and here came ecuador… just rude. but seriously, they gotta start slipping (right?). and uruguay is not gonna stay at the top for long either. just a question of how far down they fall.
Argentina needs to lose by five goals here to give AV another chance to see them Live at Levi’s.
that’s OK. glad to be free of the temptation to lay out $500.
or ~$450 anyway. i heard what you do is park at great mall and ride the train to levi’s.
i keep forgetting to mention. i love this fucking ball! when it’s rolling, it looks like blood is seeping out of deep, dark wounds along the dividing lines. which… right??
I thought of this when they were showing albiceleste fans taking selfies with the ball after it was skied into row ZZ.
EngLOLand
are they welshing on their bet?
no no,
Brexit!
what happened? s’far as i can tell, england got the last lol?
Yep. They went down right before half, equalized right after half, and then won it right at the death.
mLOLs
That is embarrassing, and completely shitty behavior even if within the rules.
Seems like it was a pretty smart move. Never assume time has been called. Kind of one of the key tenets of all sports.
No, in this case time actually HAD been called. That’s the entire reason LA had a free kick, there was a foul and the ref had stopped play.
I can think of countless times a ref has called a free kick back in exactly this situation, because he had not signaled to restart play yet.
Plus, the ref was still talking to the players and the ball was behind him when LA played it. he had no idea what was going on, and really lost control of the game.
Shameful really.
Thanks, and go As.
I mean, generally the rule is that the team that suffered a foul can do a quick restart unless they ask the referee to move the defense back or the ref otherwise stops play, right? There is nothing generally wrong with scoring off of a quick restart where the other team wrongly assumes they have time to set up a wall or whatever. That’s a reason why defending teams in that situation will have someone stand right over the ball, so that the quick restart can’t be taken.
This here was terrible sportsmanship by the Galaxy because their own player was rolling around on the ground injured between the ball and the goal. We want the defending team to relax in that situation so as to not be running around on top of the injured player. It’s insane to me that the ref didn’t immediately stop play, get the guy tended to, and set the spot for a wall.
Generally, yes, but that also assumes the referee is aware of what’s going on.
The referee was literally standing between the ball and the defense still talking to the defenders while everybody was huddled up and around the hurt player, and didn’t even see the play restart. To get super technical, the ball never stopped moving before it was played, so it wasn’t a valid free kick anyway.
Thanks, and go As.
Looks like he stopped it with his foot before playing to his teammate? Hard to tell.
Tangentially, isn’t that dude Villarreal who was down injured supposed to be a big prospect?
Additional tangent: The U.S. Open Cup is pretty awesome.
oh the USOC is badass. I just wish that the MLS clubs would make it more of a priority. USOC winners get a berth into Concacaf Champions League.
Thanks, and go As.
The Gals must have been taking it at least a little seriously if they had Lletget out there against a bunch of patzers.
8-bit low.
8-bit lower.
the cliche is about sports providing an emotional constant no matter what else is happening in life, but it always seems on the days after the yesterdays (a constant for me too i guess) that i find my solace in art.
What are folks doing about the conflicting times of USA v Ecuador and the Warriors game? I can’t decide whether to try to watch simultaneously or to record soccer for watching after.
sports bar.
I assume out of the 20 TVs, 19 will be on basketball but I’ll get one put on the US match.
Thanks, and go As.
It’s a real problem. I’m not going to be in the mood to watch the soccer on delay tonight, because I will either be in a too despondent or too celebratory mood after the warriors. I think I’ll try to watch both at once, and then watch the soccer again if it turns out to be worth it.
Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to set up the second TV tonight. I worry that Mike Breen could randomly spoil the soccer result.
I should probably just watch soccer.
good choice so far.
W00t!
that was a nice one.
and i’m pretty sure GM’s actually watching hoops.
I’m reasonably effectively watching both. I should have made better use of the pause button though to avoid the coinciding halftimes.
The key was muting Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. I don’t need that in my life. Rather listen to Landon Donovan.
Good half!
(of soccer)
Red card(s)!
10 v 10 now.
Two key players now suspended for next game.
i am rooting for ecuador
rainbow captain armband > novelty font (even if the initials are AV)
This is stressful.
ok, i’ve watched 5 minutes of “basketball”
you can’t tell me that the refs are in on some sort of nonsense
This feels like a 20-minute penalty kill.
awesome. we (may) meet again, klinsy.
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That was a flop that would put Anderson Varejao to shame.
shit. puts a hooked fish on a pier to shame.
that’s the one.
Whew. Bring on Argentina.
AV, your feelings on Fernando Fiore?
over the top for the sake of being over the top.
better than Lalas.
Thanks, and go As.
where are you guys catching fiore?
hate him. disgusting slobering lech. and i remember republica deportiva when it was actually sports.
He’s in Fox’s studio for this tournament.
he can’t actually be giving analysis, right? wait. lemme rephrase that. he *can’t* actually give analysis. so i wonder what his role at fox is. clown, i would guess. either ass or bozo the, either way, and i can’t imagine him rising above that. but why, fox, why?
He is trying to give analysis…sort of? He is mostly acting the fool, but occasionally he tries to offer some sort of substantive opinion and it is totally bizarre.
I REALLY like Hercules Gomez, though.
Thanks, and go As.
I like him! Sad he didn’t wear the hipster specs tonight.
Fiore is apparently going to be on Fox through the World Cup. If he’s out there on the field with Lalas before a USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago match, he must be in it for the long haul.
I’m still new to this international soccer thing. Would it be considered gauche for me to root against Argentina purely for the benefit of the US next round? Sorry AV.
much more gauche than gaucho, i’d say…
but don’t worry. common practice. in fact, that’s kinda why yesterday i was rooting for the US.
Pfft. It’s not called Copa Ecuador.
Thanks, and go As.
Who would you be most afraid of in the final?
i don’t know.
mexico maybe, home court and all?
chile because they look stronger than at that first game?
real answer: OUR OWN FUCKING FAILURE TO CLOSE.
called it. OOFFTC
FTWFTL.i realize i saw the game through my lenses (read: nat’l bias, a fat ribeye, and 750 of malbec) (and as good as the table fare was, i’m not watching it again for a less biased look, cause fuck it) but was there any moment in that game, at all, when argentina wasn’t better than chile?
Other than the penalties? No.
It’s weird, but I’ll kind of be pulling for Argentina because I want to see us play them. We’ll lose that game, but that’s the game I wanted out of this tournament. I would like Venezuela to at least tire them out a bit*…
…speaking of that, Argentina got pretty hosed on the scheduling. With the semifinal on Tuesday, the USA will have four days of rest, while Argentina will have only two.
*a second yellow card for Mascherano wouldn’t suck either
* time in the larger picture for kranevitter to start stepping up. i can even see martino resting #14 strategically because of that 2-day thing.
Sending up the elcroata signal to explain what happened in the Croatia match. Pretty crazy scenes.
Something of an explanation here.
Heighten the contradictions!
Sorry, been away for a while.
The federation is in the hand of the criminals (literally, Davor Suker was convicted of stealing gold coins from a Greek plane [how great is that?!] and Mamic is standing trial. He is the mastermind figure running everything that has to do with soccer in Croatia, laundrying money, receiving personal cuts from as good as every player who signs with an international team and so on.
He also runs Dinamo Zagreb, which has won last 50 championships and will win the next 50, so there is also an element of regional resentment – players from the coastal clubs don’t get invited to play in the national team, because he wouldn’t have a cut in the increased value it would create when they sign for an international team. Not that he is popular in Zagreb, either where everybody hates him and there were long standing fan boycotts of Dinamo games, which then expanded on national team games when he appointed himself into the federation.
So, that’s the background. Some of the ultras have dedicated all their energy in getting him out, arrested, killed or preferably all three. Ironically, nobody gets that worked up over the fact that whole of Croatia swims in a diarrhea filled bath tub, but as soon it is Saint Soccer we are talking about.
So that group of fans will do most anything to ruin the joy of the Football Dictator, and that’s what they did there. The fighting in the stands was with other Croatian fans who also resent Mamic and his gang, but not aqs much as to do stupid things like that. There were some “explanations” floating around made by ruling party as how to this was an act of Sabotage by Serbian Croatia haters, but that’s just BS.
can there be a more spanish goal than that spanish goal?
maybe if piqué had touched it too i guess. but damn.
more than spain germany, i want to see spain italy at the final.
Cristiano…
Worst penalty ever!
apparently romero remembered that he’d done a similar soft-center thing at the sudamericana final against huracan.
Touchdown de Chile
the good news, one of my biggest fears got totally smothered and devoured. the bad news, my other biggest fear is twice as big and still hungry.
I won’t be rooting for it, but a re-re-match between you guys in the final would be pretty great television.
Whoa…
twitterers’ row.
my question is, as always, so the fuck what?
its how we live. get with the times
well, these times we all got with? they need to be documented. the pic for history, the grabby headline, historicity. pretty soon we’ll all know everything always. but if we didn’t, we’d wonder what they were doing sitting like that.
however, my analysis is more like, been there done that. 3 junes in a row. ain’t nobody botherin’ to celebrate’ offline till gold.
They only got in the semis. They’re expected to get wildly drunk and stupid?
Spain is rocking some weird ass jerseys.
it’s like they couldn’t keep down their gazpacho.
I believe that Croatia goal sets up an Italy x Spain R16 matchup. Yikes.
too soon! too soon!
soon meaning early, not soon meaning recently.
man, some words really travel.
And the winner gets Germany, and then probably France! There could be someone pretty weird in the final from the other side of the bracket.
wales, belgium, hungary (portugal/iceland) are bunching up over there. go wales.
I should have put a few zloty on Poland at 50-1.
DON’T FORGET POLAND
Poland will always be part of my own personal Coalition of the Willing.
that other side of the bracket is awesome. looks like something out of the 70s. except of course, that bracket alone is 4 times bigger than an entire 70s edition.
You half expect George Best and Ferenc Puskas to be out there running around.
I HATE YOU ALL!
(for two hours.)
Please don’t hurt us too badly. We’re still new at this.
Aaaaaaaah NOT IN THE FACE!!!
maybe av should have been doing the requesting
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
All??
I guess Lavezzi broke his elbow. That was an extremely odd thing he did.
All?
look. i don’t mean to be a racist. but honestly, you all look the same to me.
ASVDAV
That half was uuuuuuugly. I can’t be mad at that Messi free kick though.
that kick was like, ungh.
yet multiple hawt takes on screamer fault the keeper
that’s stupid
they are stupid
guzan took a tiny step to the right (because he was sitting left, guessing right curled around the wall, which was not a bad guess) that made it a tiny bit harder to get to a ball he was never gonna get to. i really don’t know that if he’d taken that same step to the left first that he would have scratched the ball with his fingertips.
color commentator on my channel: is it possible to put it any *more* in the angle [of the posts]?
and look at messi’s face right after it goes in. even he’s going, damn that was sick.
Fernando Fiore described it as hitting the spiderweb in the crook of the goal. Totally unsaveable.
yeah, that’s a common expression. or “where the spiders sleep.”
It was an erotic experience.
an american flag tube top says “i want to be on television”
Univision is always happy to oblige.
Ditto a Colombia jersey tied off just below the bosoms. The wearer was so confident that the jiggle-cam operator would find her that she had inked a message on her belly to Javi back home
also Colombian ladies are ridiculously hot.
Thanks, and go As.
The international feed during the rain delay had some inspiring moving pictures.
Check Albania
I think that was the most overmatched I’ve seen the USA look since the 1990 World Cup. Just brutal.
Not a single shot, on or of target.
Russia v Slovakia: where’s the ball?
Answer: B
Now up to 39 direct free kicks in a row without scoring for CR7.
And the round 40.
Come on you Magyars!
Who’s hungary for goals!
Ãsland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah! And for settling for the draw, Portugal get Croatia instead of England.
Gonna be tough to root for your lads in the next match, I’m afraid.
Go Iceland!
You’re not saying boo, you’re saying Böðvarsson.
oh damn.
refresh the wiki page, AV!
Third place in Group F actually turns out to look pretty sweet for Portugal. They stay out of the murderous half of the bracket, and they even avoid Belgium in the next round.
Apart from the small matter of Croatia …
They will avoid the next round all together
Oh, well
So if I understand the rules correctly, we could have a Wales – Northern Ireland matchup, but only if Sweden beats Belgium by exactly one goal? I may have that screwed up.
No – any Swedish win will knock Turkey out, but the ensuing match-ups don’t depend on the order of the 3rd place teams. They’d get France and No’rn Ireland would get Wales.
Failing that, France get the Six County Holdouts and Wales get Turkey.
But can’t Turkey still advance if they end up with a better GD than Belgium? Both are on three points. The Wales/NI matchup requires the final third place team to be Belgium.
No – but it’s also more complicated than I said.
If Turkey go through then they play Wales; if they don’t then Northern Ireland play Wales.
For Turkey not to go through, the 3rd place team in group E has to have a better record that 3 points, -2 GD, +2 GF.
If neither the Republic of Ireland or Sweden win, then Turkey are through.
If the Republic win then Turkey are out since one of Belgium and Sweden will also have a better record than Turkey.
If the Republic don’t win, then if Sweden win by:
– less than 3 goals then Belgium will have a better GD than Turkey and qualify.
– exactly 3 goals then Belgium will have scored more than Turkey and qualify.
– more than 3 goals then Turkey will have a better GD than Belgium and qualify.
So I think the Wales/NI fixture requires either a Republic win or a Sweden win by 3 or less.
Ah, I was way off. Not least because I had mentally eliminated Southern Ireland a while ago.
Seems like all the day’s goals were used up in the early matches.
Spoke too soon! Good on the Irish.
heard a stat on espn deportes that 1/3 of all goals this tournament have happened at 80 minutes and beyond.
Chile is a merciless killing machine.
Only a storm of Old Testament proportions can stop them.
ok, so i was scared at first. as quick and vertical in the first 20 as they were against mexico. brutal pace that doesn’t have to be perfectly precise because it causes errors in the opponent. but it didn’t last long. like colombia got caught with its boots still untied at the beginning. but then bravo was brought right into the game. so i’m thinking, if it’s not for some forced errors at the beginning and some spectacular saves in the middle, this game goes to overtime, even at 11-10. not saying overtime favors me. just that i’m hoping we’re offensively better than colombia, and if we come out formed from the beginning it’s a better game than last year. the decisive unknown might be, who will get to set the pace it wants?
True. Colombia did get back in the game in the second quarter. But tough to take much out of the second half when they were playing in a rice paddy.
Also, consider that Chile did not have everyone’s favorite drunken Ferrari pilot out there.
did you not get i was speaking purely out of self-appeasment?
If it makes you feel any better, I saw an Andean looking businessman in SF this morning talking on his cell phone with a concerned look on his face. I heard him say “Messi, Higuain…” in serious tones as I walked by.
andean? or trans-andean?
i mean, we’re all andeans. but the second is the geo-centric name my people use for chileans.
wait. is that what chileans call argentines too?? those bastards.
which reminds me… uruguayans, when you’re stuck on a snowy mountain and starving to the point you might eat each other, protip: GO DOWNHILL INSTEAD OF OVER THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE! IT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING SEVERAL DAYS AND SEVERAL HOURS FROM HELP, YOU FUCKING FLATLANDERS!!
you spelled whining wrong.
Sunday’s going to be a busy soccer day!
i’m going to be re-enacting one of the classic seinfeld episodes trying to get to my house from a rafting trip without finding out any results. of course 2016 is more complicated, since 1990s jerry didn’t have a nexus.
anybody know how to make the google in your phone NOT give you all the scores its learned to give you?
Turn it off.
yeah, you are going to have to airplane it home.
You still have a tom tom? or a thomas brothers?
i’m getting picked up! i can leave it home!
because beyond google, some
assholewell-meaning friend might try to congratulate/console me by text or something.Don’t forget the temporary tattoo across your forehead that says?:
“DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE GAME ANYWHERE NEAR ME. OR YOU DIE. HORRIBLY.”
This got to be satire, right?
Welp, final ruined.
Most of the good folk at triple rock agree that shouldn’t have been a foul but it was stupid to argue and get red carded. AV, thoughts?
Stupid tackle when you’re already on a yellow and the ref is clearly an idiot.
Thanks, and go As.
The ref didn’t realize it was the same guy until after he pulled the yellow, it seemed like.
@GM or maybe not
I wonder if the Chile players all went out and got neck tattoos together in some kind of bonding exercise.
AV is going to have a heart attack when he sees that late Chile chance. My goodness.
he is not watching now?
poor guy
rtcomments, e
I forgot about the new extra sub rule. I like that.
Wow, Argentina is getting away with some stuff here.
Mascherano is FKing fantastic. What a player.
And, I almost jinxed him.
or he’ll have a heart attack there
Can’t believe they didn’t score there.
actually, i was having a fried egg.
Oh
My
God
What a save
unbelievable 2 minutes
TWSS
Thanks, and go As.
Kind of odd that both teams had an extra sub and didn’t use it.
Thanks, and go As.
Poor AV having to watch this shit again.
Oh my. Not a great pen there by Vidal.
Oh no. No no no.
wow.
Thanks, and go As.
aguero is fucking ballsy. lol
Thanks, and go As.
oh my
sorry AV :(
Thanks, and go As.
I want to warn him not to watch.
somebody should have warned leo not to watch
Absolutely heartbreaking.
i mean… oof
I don’t know how great a game that was, but the drama and pathos were off the charts.
I thought it was about as good as a 0-0 with two red cards gets. It wasn’t boring by any means, and both teams were going for it.
Messi saying he’s retiring from international play…
:(
he did a lot of running in the last 40 minutes.
I call bullshit.
He will only be 31 for Russia. There’s just no way he won’t play.
Thanks, and go As.
i’m already there, lio. holding the door open for you.
JFC.
Mascherano, Aguero, Higuain, Lavezzi, and Biglia are all supposedly walking away as well.
Thanks, and go As.
Well, he’s already playing (and scoring) for Argentina again. And he has a bleach-blond hairdo for the ocassion.
i can’t totally remember but didn’t he quit the team and come back after every final he lost with argentina?
That business of making the losing team stand around and then individually walk up and get loser medals placed around their necks must be the most humiliating ritual in sports. It’s just pure cruelty.
I usually root against the Italians but after two weeks there I have a soft spot. Plus, they’re not playing their usual boring defensive game, they’re putting it to Spain.
Having a solid LOL at these pissed off England fans.
Especially after all the HURR DURR USA SUCKS CAUSE ARGENTINA KILLED THEM nonsense
Thanks, and go As.
Out of Europe twice in 5 days.
i haven’t asked a random question that i’m not willing to googlesort in a while… here goes.
SEP-IRA… which one, where?
I don’t understand exactly what your question is. Are you asking whether you should have one, or that you have one but don’t know where to put your $?
i don’t have one. i need to have one. i just don’t know which provider (?) to sign up with and what product (?) to buy.
which i’ve googlesorted some and am at either betterment (where all you have to do there is pick your mix of bonds/stocks, which feels like play investing.) or vanguard (and yeah, don’t know which index thingy to go with there, because it’s like real investing).
I love Vanguard! I do almost all my investing with them. Their costs are really low and they have tons of index funds, which is where I focus. They have pretty good tools for determining what sort of mix you’d want based on when you want to retire (80% stocks, 20 % bonds, etc.) and then I picked a range of index funds for diversity (mid-cap, small-cap, 500 index.) etc.
BTW the recent John Oliver piece on retirement fund fees was pretty illuminating if you want an enjoyable way to learn a few things.
thanks!
but who needs john oliver? you had me in stitches at :”when you want to retire.”
The Vanguard guy wrote this book which is wonderfully short, and I found quite compelling/confidence building.
Favorite post-mortem one-liner:
There seems to be an honest-to-god Klinsmann 4 England movement in some corners of the UK sporting press. That would be extremely amusing.
right??
it’s like they’re still jockeying for darwin award position in case the states trump brexit.
The English jürning for Jürgen has yet to die down. Radio silence from him so far, but the betting sites seem to have it down to him and relegation-avoidance specialist Sam Allardyce. Big Sam sounds like the favorite because of his undeniable Englishness, but Klinsi seems to be very much still in the picture.
If the answer is Klinsmann or Alladyce, you’re asking the wrong question.
#UK2016
Welp
i think i realized this morning why i’m so fond of that green top germany used to wear.
see: 30 years ago today; it was a sunday in mexico city.
538 4 #10
ouch. gonna be tougher for quakes.
Meanwhile, our $1.3M per year superstar Swiss/Nigerian international has played a total of 12 games in 2 years and scored ONE goal.
Oh, but they have no problem jacking up Season Ticket prices.
Thanks, and go As.
World’s Longest Outdoor Bar tho
LOBINA.
Largest Outdoor Bar In North America
Granted, it’s awesome, but I want John Doyle fired, Johnny Moore brought back, and Dom Kinnear out. Man I can’t FKing stand his tactics.
Thanks, and go As.
Who’ve you got in the battle of the Po-Po’s?
at the moment, i’ve got surprised.
…i’ve got to keep my mouth shut.
The Po-Po game should really have been 5-0.
har!
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Po-Po pe-pe.
Yn gadael i fynd ar Cymru!
Someone please please please tagline this.
ta-ta, tata.
This is a disappointing uniform combination. One of these teams should be wearing red.
@gm
also disappointing how quickly i internalized black and neon green to signify “mexico.”
couldn’t figure out how they got into the euro league. but i thought it was very kind of the euro league organizers to let mexico come back from a 7-0 disembowelment by setting up a more evenly matched game. still, they’re not really breaking through. even against a goalie + 10 tubes of pepsodent.
damn x2.
so this got rough. real rough. like, now i may have to root for france for two games in a row rough.
but hey, at least my mind’s off the AFA shitstorm(s).
and it could make a good origin story for me to dine on at the retirement home (that i’ll probably mix up with other similar stories bouncing around in my head): “mr AV, you used to be into soccer, but then your country decided to not have any anymore… who’ve you been rooting for all these years?” “well sonny, lemme tell ya. it was the first half, and zito, in his traditional orange jersey, had already given up 6 goals to the germans, so it didn’t look good…”
France x Germany about to kick. I’m fired up for this one.
have they dug trenches yet? or does one of them still think this is winnable with a breakthrough?
weird breakthrough
i’m on radio. did it look legit? they said yes. they also said schwein dove a little earlier than that in the other box.
It was hard to tell whether the ball actually hit his hand, but if it did, it was a clear penalty.
bon / tschüß.
We are all messy
Soccer, striving on blind idiocy since ever…
this strategy of mine to be nowhere near a TV during important soccer games is really paying off this summer.
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BRB, scheduling something/anything else to do for the final week of olys.
also, just caught the rio 16 logo. what the hell is that thing? a tanga floating in the breeze or something?
Ouch. Colombian and Ecuadorian teams in the final, eh? Interesting.
You talking about this?
I see the Cristo Redentor, the Pedra da Gavea, the Arcos da Lapa, my mother…
i always just saw rorschach’s pelvis. and i’ve actually taken the test. to get out of the army. it’s fun being argentine!
but i meant this one:
They could probably sell this design at Good Vibrations. It has a flared base and everything.
lol
oh man. olympic women’s game… on the goal kick, i think the stadium crowd is yelling out “ziiiiii-kaaaaa.”
sorry: oh woman.
and after, the chant is a modified “oh-le, ole-ole-olehhhh.”
it now ends with “zi-ka, ziiii-ka.”
What’s the context here?
not sure! can’t wait to find out as the tournament goes on. my early thoughts are 1) basic angst, 2) highlighting women’s health safety at international event, 3) hope solo is a mosquito.
aaaand my throwaway isn’t that far off.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/08/03/hope-solo-booed-by-brazilian-fans-at-olympics-over-zika-comments/
Oh boy. She is just not the best ambassador for our people.
They even had training on avoiding exactly this.
Meh. At last she didn’t do the Full Donald.