Dancing Columbians and Brazil thanks the Crossbar

Today was the beginning of knock out round play in the World Cup. Two very good games all including South American teams took place.

Brazil are many people's favorites to win the whole World Cup. They're on home soil where they hardly ever lose and they have giant amounts of talent. Today their World Cup dream almost ended, but thanks to some good play, a friendly crossbar, and an amazing goalie from the MLS they advance to the quarter finals.

Brazil took on Chile in Belo Horizonte on the fist day of knock out play. Chile had been the surprise team in group B knocking out Spain and coming in second in the group behind the Netherlands. Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal have led Chile with some great play. The first half of the game was super exciting and played at a very high pace. The players ran end to end without much midfield play. David Luiz scored the first goal of the game off a corner. It might have been an own goal but for now we'll give the credit to the PSG man. After that the atmosphere in the stadium went crazy, Chile didn't give up though. After a small error by Hulk in his own half the Chileans acted quickly and Sanchez hit the back of the net. That tied the game 1-1 and that's how it would stay until penalty kicks. In the 119th minute Chile fired a shot from just outside the box. The shot had tremendous speed but it was denied by the crossbar. If that ball had hit the back of the net Brazil's World Cup probably would have been over. Julio Cesar has always been one of my favorite goalies, I've loved him since the World Cup in 2010. Sometimes he is criticized for not being as good as he should be. Today he had a great game and saved the first two penalty kicks from Chile. Brazil ended up winning in penalties 3-2.

Neymar didn't score, except in the shootout, but he made some great plays and I think he will cause more trouble in the following matches for Brazil. Fred and Jo, Brazil's strikers, have been pretty horrible so far this tournament. One of them, most likely going to be Fred, really needs to step up if Brazil wants to win the tournament. Chile played very well but just couldn't beat Brazil on Brazil's turf. Sanchez had a great game and Chile ran as hard as they could the whole game. They had a great tournament but meeting Brazil in the round of 16 is a tall order.

In the other Round of 16 game another all South American match took place, Uruguay vs Columbia. With Uruguay coming off the vampire drama I didn't think they would win, and they didn't. Columbia played great and their new star James (pronounced Hamez) Rodriguez played great again. He scored both goals for Columbia as they advanced to play Brazil with a 2-0 win. His first goal should be nominated for goal of the tournament with Tim Cahill's and Robin Van Persie's. He chested a header and with the ball coming down he took it on the full volley, it hit the crossbar and went down into the goal. He's been on great form this tournament and I hope Arsenal is interested in him.

I only had Columbia coming in second in their group then losing to the Italians in the Round of 16. We see how that worked out. I think the Brazil vs Columbia game will be interesting, Brazil should win but Columbia might make it a tough game. By they way, Columbia's celebrations are pretty good, all the dancing and stuff they do.

Come back for more World Cup coverage and fun stuff like that.

"Iron" Robben, the Golden Boy, and Messi the Messiah

This tournament has plenty of star players in it. So far some of the big names have really proved why they are so famous. Neymar, the golden boy, has played well in front of his home country, very well. I've always liked Neymar because he was one of those typical young players that had all the hype about them. Instead of following the trend and not being that good of a player, just being all hype, he actually proved that he could play very well. Plus he's entertaining to watch. I've been a fan of Arjen Robben for awhile ever since I started watching Bayern Munich play a few years ago. He looks like an old man but he's very pacey and has a magical left foot. A left foot that rivals that of Leo Messi. Messi, who as I've stated before is not my favorite player, really needed to have a great World Cup. So far, he has done that pretty well.

All three of those players has helped their country tremendously so far. They will be needed even more in the knockout stages of this tournament.

The Netherlands take on Mexico in the round of 16. I think the Dutch will handle them pretty well,
but Mexico did hold the Brazilians to a 0-0 draw. Arjen Robben has 3 goals and 1 assist so far in the World Cup. Two of his goals came in the dismantling of the former World Champion Spain. One of them was very important because it gave Holland the lead and the second one was a World Class goal as he stormed down the pitch with 99 pace (FIFA 14 reference), made Casillias fall to the ground, and hit a nice shot into the goal. He scored the first goal vs Australia and had the assist to Memphis Depay in the Chile game. Robben has looked very quick and he also got his mind set right for this tournament. He always knows where to be on the field, he's a pretty hard worker and he is a great compliment to Robin Van Persie and Wesley Sneijder. Robben could be up there for player of the tournament so far.

Neymar had all the pressure in the world on him at the beginning of this tournament. After getting down 1-0 to Croatia it had to be him to tie the game up 1-1. He went on to score a penalty in that game after Fred flopped like fish. Neymar also scored 2 very good goals against Cameroon. Brazil needs his pace and trickiness to succeed in this tournament. Although he hasn't bagged
an assist yet, he can pick out a great pass every now and then. After having all of Brazil's hopes placed on him through commercials, advertisements, etc, he has really proved how good he is.

When I have seen Messi play for Barcelona, which is not many times, I was never that impressed with him. I heard he could do some great things and that's why he's been FIFA player of the year so many times. Maybe I just always caught him on TV when he was having a bad game. So far this tournament he scored a great goal against Bosnia from outside of the box after running past a few players, he scored a cracker of a goal to give Argentina 3 points against Iran in stoppage time, and yesterday he scored 2 goals against Nigeria. Many people have Argentina going all the way and lifting the World Cup Trophy in Rio. They won't be able to do it without their star man.

It will be interesting to see how Robben, Neymar, and Messi play in the knock out rounds. All three of their countries have plenty of talent but just wouldn't be complete without them.

Suarez Bites another Chunk

Tuesday was the conclusion of the "Group of Champions". It's called the group of champions because it includes 3 teams that are former champions of the World Cup: Uruguay, Italy, and England. Not one of them topped the group, the small CONCACAF nation of Costa Rica emerged out of what should've been a group of death for them to win the group. Yesterday all they had to do was tie against England to win the group and that's what they did. It didn't look like they played for a tie, it just happened to go their way. I was actually watching the Costa Rica vs England game instead of the Italy game because I wanted to see how Wilshere and Lallana played, along with the fact I just like watching England. Then Ian Darke mentioned that the Uruguayan vampire was at it again. I quickly switched channels to see what was unfolding. Just a few minutes after I switched channels the Atletico Madrid man, Diego Godin, scored what would be the winning goal for Uruguay. Godin scored the goal that gave Atletico the La Liga title, he scored in the champions league final, and has now scored in the World Cup. Italy had taken Balotelli out and they just couldn't hit the back of the net. Some people have accused the Italians of playing for a draw, which would have sent them through. They probably should've tried to be a little more attacking. I like a few players on Italy so it was sad to see them go, but unfortunately after a great game of football the headlines were all on Suarez.

Suarez has bit 2 players in his career, or I guess now that would be 3. Chiellini was the victim this time. Suarez had to save a bite for the world's biggest stage didn't he? But its pretty sad that he did it because Suarez is a World Class player and is one of the best strikers on the planet; this biting incident might get him suspended for the rest of the World Cup. Coming off a great year at Liverpool he would have a major impact in the knock out stages for Uruguay. Not only can he finish chances off, but he can also set up his teammates. On the bright sight, twitter and the rest of the internet have really made the most of their opportunities to create funny pictures dealing with his vampirish act.

It would have been interesting to see how England performed with Theo Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain. Neither of them might have played, but if they did they might have made a difference. Also, it looked to me like Roy Hodgson went the "Liverpool way" instead of playing his best players in the match against Italy, but they could've been his best players.

In group C Greece and the Ivory Coast battled it out to for the opportunity to play in the knock out stages. Greece ended up winning (


to my surprise) and advanced. Columbia won the group pretty convincingly and might be a surprise in this tournament. I didn't get to watch either of the group C games but I heard that Columbia was very dominant over Japan.

Well so far my ESPN World Cup bracket has been pretty bad. I'm ranked 488,720 in the world. Costa Rica and Mexico really messed it up. I think Costa Rica messed everyone's up haha. But come back for more World Cup Coverage.

Orange Greatness and Mexico Advances

Today, unless it rains, I will actually get to go play some soccer. Which is always fun during the World Cup because it really gets you in the soccer mood. Today (yesterday) was the first day of final group matches. We found out who would be advancing from Group A and from Group B. I wrote this intro yesterday and I have only decided to keep it in here to point out that right when I was about to leave to play soccer, it started storming. The weather always does that to me.

In Group B we already knew that Spain and Australia were out, and we knew that Holland and Chile were through, we just didn't know who would finish first in the group. The Netherlands would take on Chile in São Paulo wearing their famous orange kits. It took the Dutch awhile but they finally made the breakthrough in the second half through the sub Leroy Fer. Off a free kick Fer leaped very high and buried it into the net with his head. All the Dutch had to do to win the group was tie, so now it definitely looked like they would at least do that going into the last 13 minutes with a 1-0 lead. It got even better for the men in orange when Arjen Robben sped down the left wing on a counter attack, crossed it into the young super-sub Memphis Depay who tapped it in. Arjen Robben maybe player of the tournament so far. He's had a lot to do with each of the Netherland's goals. He's looked quick and creative with every touch. I've always liked Robben and I'm glad he's having a great World Cup so far, I hope he can carry that form into the knock out stages. I found out about Depay before the tournament started and watched a few of his high light reals on Youtube. I was very impressed with him and I'm glad he has shown up well in the cup so far too. Anyways the Netherlands won the group with a 2-0 win over Chile. They will avoid Brazil unless Brazil makes it to the finals along with the Dutch. Chile will advance and play Brazil in the round of 16.

We knew Spain and Australia were both out of the tournament before their game yesterday so Spain played some of their World Class backups. This would probably be the last game for this generation of Spanish players, or at least the last real competitive game. David Villa, one of Spain's most important players from the last few years of success had an emotional last game in which he scored a cheeky goal. Fernando No-Scores (pronounced no-scorez) also hit the back of the net along with Juan Mata.  Spain won 3-0 but didn't really celebrate after any of their goals after a very disappointing World Cup. They shouldn't be too sad though because 2 Euro championships and 1 World Cup in the last 5 or 6 years is about as amazing as it gets.

The Magical Mexican Ochoa

Well Mexico really proved me wrong, big time. I thought no doubt Croatia would advance in Group A behind Brazil. Brazil did advance in first but instead of Croatia the CONCACAF nation of Mexico advanced. After such a horrible qualifying campaign I did not see them playing so well. They tied Brazil and beat Croatia 3-1 along with a 1-0 win over Cameroon. Chicharito said it himself in an interview after the game, "people think that CONCACAF is easy, but its not". He went on to describe how well Costa Rica and the United States have played this tournament. Mexico will take on the red hot, or orange hot Holland in the round of 16. That's going to be a hard game for the Mexicans.

Come back and read more World Cup coverage.

CONCACAF Looking Strong, MLS not to shabby.

At the beginning of this tournament we probably thought that the North American and Central American teams wouldn't fair to well in Brazil. There would be a chance that Costa Rica, Mexico, the United States, and Honduras wouldn't make it out of their group. All four teams not advancing. The story has been much different. The USA has a chance of advancing out of their "Group of Death", Costa Rica has advanced to the knock out stages, Mexico has it all on the line against Croatia today, and even though Honduras wont advance they haven't just looked horrible.

Ruiz scoring against Italy to propel CR into the knockout stages

Costa Rica was drawn into a group with Uruguay, England, and Italy. The group of champions they called it because everyone besides Costa Rica has lifted the World Cup trophy. What was little Costa Rica going to do in this group, nothing right? Well it turns out they qualified with one game to spare. I always said Costa Rica was a good team when the US played them in qualifying, we just happened to catch them in the snow. I didn't think they were good enough to take down Uruguay and Italy, but they did, and it wasn't a fluke, they just played that good. With help from Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz, and a top class goalie from La Liga, Costa Rica looked very promising in the group stages.

Mexico, although I hate them, has been able to hold on in their group. Today they play Croatia in pretty much a winner takes all match. Brazil should handle Cameroon, so the winner of the Croatia Mexico game will go on to the knock out stages with Brazil. Mexico had a horrible 2013, they barely made it to Brazil, and they went through many coaches. If they make it out of the group stage today I would say that's already a trophy for them, because for awhile it looked like they wouldn't even be here.

During the draw back in December I thought there was no way we could do anything good in our group. For awhile I didn't believe we could get 1 tiny point. Now we have 4, and we should have 6. When Dempsey and Bradley moved back to the MLS I was scared that this might lower their ability to play against world class teams in Brazil. Instead (excluding Ghana for Bradley) both of them have played pretty great so far in the World Cup and both played great in the World Cup warm up matches. In the starting lineup against Portugal we had 5 MLS players taking the pitch. More than I would've ever liked, but they played the best match the National team has ever played. I'm still not a big fan of us trying to "grow" our players in the MLS, but we have clearly made some progress. I hope that David Villa is the start of more world class players coming to America.

The good people at Arseblog have said that the US team has been one of the best teams to watch this year at the World Cup. Our collective team effort is what makes us good, not relying on one individual star.

Overall CONCACAF has proved that we are more than we used to be. We've improved and we should improve over the following years. We still have a long way to go to really win a lot, but for right now I'm pretty happy with how our qualifying nations have performed.

The best match ever for the USA

Well today was a crazy day for the United States men's national team. I believed that we could win after Dempsey's goal. In the end, after being up 2-1 until the 95th minute, we really deserved the 3 points, we came away with 1, but it was truly a great performance.

Well before the match if someone would've asked me would I take a 2-2 draw against Portugal I would've said yes, definitely. I didn't expect us to win or even come close, after all Portugal is ranked 4th by FIFA, 4th in the world that is. After Nani's early goal I thought we were done. There was no way we could come back. An error by one of my favorite US backs, Geoff Cameron, gave Portugal the early lead. Then we played outstanding. Michael Bradley showed up for this game. He made some great passes, looked like he could run around a bit, and made an impact. Zusi looked like he was ready to play. His corners weren't world class like usual tonight but he made some great passes from open play. Kyle Beckerman played some great defense. He never stopped running, in the Amazon jungle that's something that a player could do very easy, stop running. Jermaine Jones, one of my favorite players on the whole US squad played great as usual too. He deserves the title of man of the match 2 games in a row. Clint Dempsey, not used to playing up front by himself, made a nuisance of himself causing the back line of Portugal a few problems. The United States as a whole kept great possession, we made the best chances, and looked like we weren't scared. You know a player who didn't really show up? Ronaldo. Well he didn't show up till the 95th minute, but he didn't make much of an impression the rest of the game. He wasn't totally in the shadows like in the Germany game, but he was still quiet.

The 95th minute goal that crushed the USA

Anyways lets get down to the action. After Nani scored in the 5th minute the US took control. Our break through didn't come until the second half, and it came from none other than Jermaine Jones. What a wonderful strike it was. Off an American corner Portugal could only clear it as far as the top of the box, where Jermaine Jones was standing. Then Jones released a magnificent strike. A hit that rivaled Messi's against Iran. This was an extra injection of momentum that the US needed. Jurgen Klinsmann then brought on a player I like a lot and I think he will do great in the coming years, DeAndre Yedlin. Yedlin usually plays right back but came in at right mid today. He has plenty of speed and is very strong. He plays for Seattle in the MLS and helped set up his Seattle teammate Clint Dempsey for his goal. Yedlin dribbled down the wing with blistering pace, sent it across the box, and after in bounced around for a bit Zusi picked up the ball and sent a pass to the US captain who "stomached" it into the net. This was great! Spectacular! The nation known for hating soccer, the nation who didn't have a hope in this group was ahead of Ronaldo and Portugal. Going into stoppage time it looked like the US would secure their place in the knock out rounds before Germany, but then 5 minutes of stoppage time and the best player in the world (well ask Messi about that) crushed the United States' dreams. Off a Michael Bradley give away Portugal went on the counter in the very last minute of the game and gave the ball to Ronaldo. Ronaldo who hadn't looked like he could deliver a ball all game, put in a world class ball right to the head of his teammate. The European nation had tied it. It was the last play of the game.

All though the US came so close to a win, so very close, they shouldn't be tremendously sad, just really sad. We can take many things from the game. We tied the 4th best team in the world 2-2, we had the better of the game, and we looked great with out Altidore. Tim Howard made a mistake or two, but was still outstanding. Our wing backs looked great and DaMarcus Beasley, playing in his fourth World Cup looked like he was still 20. Geoff Cameron might have been able to do more on the last play but that's being harsh. Yes he didn't really pick up his man but he had just played in Manaus for 95 minutes. It was really just a great ball from Ronaldo. I said before the game that Portugal was one of the best counter attacking teams in the world.

In the end the USA could taste the win, we were oh so close, but we couldn't seal the deal. I thought it was the best game the United States has ever played, or at least the best I've ever seen us play. It was a great performance but we'll have to go into the Germany match playing for something. It should be a spectacular final group stage day. Keep watching the World Cup and keep reading this blog! #ibelieve


More Nil- Nil and Poor England

Well unfortunately I have missed one or two World Cup matches now, but I still have watched almost all of them. The action continued yesterday with some interesting games. England desperately needed a win against Luis Suarez and Uruguay, Greece and Japan both needed a win to catch up with the Ivory Coast and Columbia, and Columbia battled the Ivory coast to top group C.

I like England, I've seen them play in person at their home, Wembley. I know a lot of their players because most of them come from the Premier League, which is really the only league we get to watch over here. Although they have a lot of talent, they can never seem to get the most out of their talent. It happened again, yesterday, in Sao Paulo. Luis Suarez came back and started for his country, he proved why he maybe the best striker in the world at the moment. England didn't have a bad game. They created a lot of chances, but so did Uruguay. In the end it came down to who could finish off their chances and when you have a striker like Suarez, you will almost always win those type of matches. Wayne Rooney did secure his first ever World Cup goal, but it wasn't enough to overcome Uruguay who scored the winning goal in the 85th minute. It came from no other than Luis Suarez who scored both goals for Uruguay. Uruguay got their first win of the tournament after losing to Costa Rica in their first game.

The English press had been placing much of the weight on Wayne Rooney's shoulders. Why? I don't really know, but he didn't perform badly yesterday and he scored a goal. England's defense needs to improve a bit if they want to do some good things. I think their World Cup run is over this year, unless something amazing happens in the following group matches. Look for them in the Euro's in 2 years.

It looks like my prediction of the Ivory Coast winning their group will probably not be right. I didn't realize how good Columbia could be, even without their star striker Falcao. The Ivorians played Columbia well but Columbia came out on top with the 2-1 win. I would like to point out how well the former Arsenal man, current AC Roma member, Gervinho, has played. Defenses have had trouble stopping him and he has two goals so far this World Cup.

Japan and Greece also played yesterday in the other match from Group C. Both teams lost their opening match a greatly needed a win in this match. After Greece got a red card in the 38th minute their goal switched from trying to get 3 points to trying to get 1. That's what they came out with. Japan probably should've won as they had the better of the chances but neither team has an "outstanding" striker so the game ended 0-0. That's the third game that's ended 0-0.

Today Italy plays Costa Rica. Both teams got a win in their first group matches and the Italians will be the favorites but as we/Uruguay knows, the Costa Ricans can pack a punch. Honduras plays Ecuador and the Swiss take on France.