Cheeky Monkey

That's all that can be said to describe this boy

Absolutely Hilarious

Enjoy

sadly it has ended

AND HOW IT ENDED!!!
If you were in a hole and you missed the finals, stay in your hole.
This was a RIDUNKULOUS final, especially with Zizou doing his thing

i can't even write coherently about this, it's kinda crazy

Down to eight

Some great games! This is what the World Cup is about. I'll go through them country by country...

England
Still underachieving. You know that Becks is going to get a goal for every ten free kicks that he gets. It's just a risk you have to take... Who is Joe Cole and when did he get so good? I think most people just assumed he'd be good, but he's playing really well. I can even go so far to say that he's been the Brits' most impressive player this WC. ASIDE I saw this posting about talented players and I agree about almost all. I think some more Ghana players could be included. It's telling there are No USA players!

Brasil
My folks are in Brasil and they said the city just shuts down for games. Not like the USA for SuperBowl, but like EVERYONE stops what they are doing. People literally live and die with their national team. Still, I don't think they are playing well. They are playing very selfish and Adriano and Ze Roberto are the first culprits. I don't know how you don't pass the ball square to your teammate. Coaches tell you to go with your first instinct, but they also tell you to make the easy play. They play France next and it'll be interesting to see how they go up against France's experienced defenders. I think it Robinho is in the game then Brasil walks away with a win. If it's Adriano instead then I think you are playing to France's advantage. It's sad to see that Ronaldinho and Kaka can't play well together; but their styles are too different. Kaka plays a calm buildup while 'Dinho goes for the quick movements off the ball. Still, I think they beat France, who will not be able to control the midfield the way they were able to vs. Espana.

Germany
Ok, these guys are not that good. They just have a really good seeding. Who did they play so far that exemplifies a top caliber team. Argentina is going to (hopefully) exploit the German pathetic excuse for a defense. It all comes down to our Villareal midfielder, Juan Roman Riquelme. Who, btw, has been supposedly targeted by Man. Utd. I think it's a mistake along the same lines as Juan Sebastian Veron, another excellent Argentine. I don't think the EPL style of play suits any South American players; at least their attacking players, Gabriel Heinze to be excluded. Why isn't Messi starting? Maybe he's still not match fit? But it's great to see him come off the bench for Argentina, what a great, experienced team!

Who else is worth talking about?

Portugal v. Netherlands
It's sad that they had to play against the Netherlands in that stupid, pathetic, utterly disgusting excuse for World Class futbol. The kick against Cristiano Ronaldo should have been a straight red. It was vicious and it took out one of their main attacking playmakers. FIFA and other leagues need to take notice. What will be the incentive of players to showcase their abilities and talents if they are going to be hacked. I think there should be bans and fines on players who viciously attack other ones. If Ronaldo was in the game it would have been completely different. Sadly, this was the worst football I have ever seen. I'm sad to say that I used to live in Holland and that I admired their strong tradition of football. They played very poorly and then the Portuguese, who I don't really like, played even worse. I think the Figo farce was horrible. That was someone who was entirely too classy to do something like that but the preceding play by the Dutch warranted it. Good form and sportsmanship dictates that you give the ball back to the other team. Heck, put it out of bounds in your half if you want to make it a little less fair. You don't just take the ball back, no excuse for that. It's stupid that Deco got a second yellow, undeserved but he should have known better. Really stupid since he's going to miss out on the England game and I know he'd want to be in it. I think England wins as a result since Ronaldo won't recover in time.

Ok, cannot wait for the games on Friday and Saturday!

Adu for Ghana

I say adieu!


Adu for Ghana?

If he thinks he can play for Ghana in four years, he has another thing coming. His best bet is to play for MLS. The article talks about his motivations to play for Chelsea. Umm, what would you play as? A water boy? You can't make the starting lineup there; we don't even know what position you play? Are you a forward, a midfielder or are a you a Landon Donovan type player? No idea?

Adu, why don't you start first with trying to be the best player on your MLS team - which you are not, then maybe an MLS All Star - which you CLEARLY are not, and THEN we can talk about moving to Chelsea; maybe even the US Men's National Team.

Yes, you are 17, so you are spectacular for your age, but umm, Ronaldo was 18 and in the World Cup, so by those standards you're lagging my friend...

Go to Ghana and ride their bench. I think you're head is getting a little too big for the MLS. I'd love to see how you think you are going to play in the EPL - you're too small...

Stupid. Please don't become 'dumbass', cousin of suckass...

Game Plan for 2010

First, thanks to Peter for a great letter. I forwarded that to quite a few people. Very nice to read what Annan has to say; he's so wise : )

Ok, so I watched the game, like the rest of you, and it was ugly.

Suckass, Suckass, SUCKASS!
Who is Landon Donovan? Why is he in the game? I cannot WAIT to hear his complaints! What could it possibly be? Could he blame anyone except himself? It'll be that Pope and Mastroeni weren't there and he couldn't play as up as much as he wanted. Whatever happened to that burst of speed we always hear about? I guess he'll have the entire MLS season to play against shitty caliber players. If I get to see him this season I will be SURE to boo his ass! He sucks!

DMB
He finally decided to show why the biggest team in the Dutch league decided to buy him. If we could have only had more of that. Sadly, this is where the Mastroeni/Pope excuse comes to play. Those two would have allowed Reyna to control the midfield and battle with Essien (who he regularly battles in the EPL). It would have freed DMB to play his game. But, that steal and pass was amazing! I didn't know where he was going with it, but it was a great play, great job. I'd give him a B- for his WC efforts, we all know that he can do more. Still, he's only 24, so at 28 he can be bigger, stronger and smarter - maybe even playing for Man Utd.

Reyna
Not his fault? Umm, yeah, it was. They teach you in PEE WEE ball to not dribble in the back. And if you do, FOUL THE PLAYER. Never let them get a free shot on goal. Also, they teach you NOT TO PASS TO THE CENTER! Dempsey knows better, he put Reyna in a bad position. Sadly, this is his last WC and I hate to see this be his legacy. Where is Tab Ramos when we need him?!? Who is going to play the holding midfield position for the US now?

2010
Ok, so we are going to qualify for the World Cup, that's not a question. But, under whose leadership? That's whose and not who's : ) I think we make a strong bid for Juergen Klinsmann, the current coach for Germany. He already said that his home is Southern California and it'd be a good situation for him. Ideally, I'd like to have a native english speaker, so that rules out all the South Americans. None of the big league coaches will come to the US to get paid less... Forget Sven from England, he's headed to Real Madrid. Actually, Juventus' coach might go to Real Madrid, courtesy of the Italian Football Scandal, which means Sven might be available to coach.

GHANA
Did you know that Kofi Annan is from Ghana? I didn't know that! We all knew Michael Essien was good. We all knew the African teams were strong and fast. We knew their only weaknesses were their experience and their playing intellect. By that I mean their knowledge of strategies and how to 'play' in a World Cup. But, they were able to get by with their skills and sheer determination. Take NOTHING away from them. They did everything I would want my team to do, they left it all on the field. Good, hard tackles and they played well. They did fall a little too easy, but that's a problem with the entire footballing world, not just Ghana.

CONCLUSIONS
Arena needs to go. I think it's evident we need a more experienced coach. Someone who has actually worked with players from higher levels. I don't think Arena knows how to use players from Europe who play in different systems. Also, the old trick of kicking to McBride and letting him head it in doesn't work. I watch Fulham and McBride only scores with his head. He sets up a lot of his teammates but they play in a 4-4-2 formation. The other striker needs to be there to keep the defense honest. It's really quite simple.

I think that the US players were poorly coached. They did not look hungry in any games. Also, the MLS schedule does not play favorably for US players. As I said, with all other countries' players coming off the heels of their respective leagues, the MLS players are almost 6-8 months without 'real' daily game experience. That was evident in our fitness and also soccer thinking. We need to send more of our players abroad the year before the WC, let them play competitively with other teams, even if it is just to practice.

Lewis played very well, so did Dempsey. Dempsey can look back at his WC the way Donovan did in 2002. But, what steps will he take to go forward. If you are just standing (Donovan) people will pass you by. Hopefully Dempsey, DMB, Convey, Guch, Mastroeni, Cherundolo and Johnson will get their skills to a higher level. We need them to be the CORE of the team. Notable exception, of course, is SUCKASS. Landon Donovan, you are excused from the US Men's National Team.
Brasil won 4-1! Which means everyone is going to say they are going to win. I'd like Ghana's chances vs. Brasil if Essien was playing. They'll lose to Brasil 3-1, sadly.

Blog Change

I added google's adsense - if i get any money, y'all will be the first to hear...
And I tried to change the look...

too depressed to write

at the UN, how we envy the World Cup

I posted this on my blog yesterday and thought I'd share it for this audience too.

My boss (many times removed) offers this quite eloquent and wishful comparison of the World Cup and the United Nations.

How We Envy the World Cup
By Kofi A. Annan

"You may wonder what a Secretary-General of the United Nations is doing writing about football. But in fact, the World Cup makes us in the UN green with envy. As the pinnacle of the only truly global game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the United Nations. You could even say it’s more universal. FIFA has 207 members; we have only 191.

But there are far better reasons to be envious..."

Read the rest here.

USA thoughts

Ok, so I saw that England won 2-0. need to watch the match tonight. i guess that it was a real difference when rooney came on. that man is a firecracker. i think it's his boxing background, he just likes to fight. owen doesn't have that spark he used to have. that and he's just too little. people just bully him out of position.

oh, a good link article, not much real content except for his rankings, he has usa at 20, which is more than fair.

ESPN Article

predictions for italy game?

i think you remove donovan!!! not beasley, remove donovan.
or you take out both of them and bring them in 2nd half after they get ancy on the bench. a tie does us NO good. we need a win.

Diddy loves football? ESPN match schedule

So I guess my boy Rooo paid something like $300K to party with Diddy in nyc. Of course, the next boy wonder, first being michael owen, can't party in nyc cuz he's not 21! stupid stupid englishman! but anyways, diddy was at the beckhams' party raising money for some charity.

Diddy and Rooney

Just so you have the best information available, here is the ESPN link for stateside viewers. Please adjust your times for your location

Link on espn.com
ESPN LINK

I can't wait for the ABC games in HD!

How ridiculous is that going to be!

Thoughts to date...

Bruce Arena is to Landon Donovan as
Sven Goran Ericksson is to David Beckham

Is that a fair statement?
I think so.

I think Reyna is the key to the team. We need the midfielders to play well, all the time and especially in the holding position. God knows LD aka suck ass can't play defense. I wonder how he'll play when he is frustrated with the defensive schemes that Czech, Italy and Ghana are going to throw at him.

I think DMB will emerge as the superstar in this world cup. I think LD will be good, but he won't be special.

I like the Gatorade commercial with the big head players, very good.
The supid xbox thing was overdone. Absolutely not needed, seriously.
If ABC thinks we are going to enjoy this BS commercialization of the game, I'll be watching GOL tv.

I didn't like the Puma commercial, kinda stupid really. Let's see some futbol, not the stupid shoes people. Pretty stupid, especially from a brand that you associate with cool things.