World Cup Group Play starts Thursday, and US gets a shot at Ghana (the team who knocked us out in 2010) with their first game on Monday the 16th. ... And JOZY's BACK!
Our own coach thinks we're bad haha I laugh because for the last 20 years everyone has been saying soccer is coming to US and that we'll be so good, that all the youth playing will put us on map. And still nothing traveling soccer has become as watered down as traveling baseball and aau basketball. Almost anyone can play now. USA hasn't seed to take a serious step forward in terms of soccer in years IMO
It's not something you just get good at. These other countries have been dedicated to the sport for hundreds of years. If you take a look at the number of Americans playing in the big name Euro and South American pro leagues, it's clear that we're getting better. When we can leave a Landon Donovan at home, it certainly says something about our talent level. We aren't Argentina, Germany, Spain, etc... and we won't be anytime soon. But you don't need your team to be the favorite to win to support them. They've qualified for the last 7 World Cups now, they didn't qualify once between 1954 and 1986. They won their group in 2010 for the first time since 1930. They're currently ranked 13 in the world, and had a 12-game win streak during qualification. And they have some good young talent like Julian Green.
U.S. Soccer is pretty bad, but I hope they play well.....FORZA AZZURRI!!!!! VA BENE!!!!! I love Italia and Germany...and of course Brazil is just magical on the pitch. Rooting for the US in the World Cup would be akin to rooting for Toledo to win the college football national championship. With that said the World Cup is absolutely amazing and one of my favorite sporting events and I miss very little of it.
FiveThirtyEight’s World Cup Predictions FiveThirtyEight (which is awesome if you're a sports nerd BTW) gives USMNT a 35% chance to make it out of their group. If they don't beat Ghana on Monday they can forget it. They need to beat Ghana, and hope to tie Germany or Portugal... Then hope that Ghana manages to beat Portugal. They give Brazil a 45% chance to win it all! My early pick is Argentina. Check out Nike's animated promo:
I don't know, they seemed worried about the last world cup too. VICE did an awesome segment on Brazil and how they're trying to keep the WC tourists away from the true Brazil. Parts of Rio de janeiro look almost as bad as Detroit. No vuvuzelas = WIN!!!!!!!
LOL Wayne Rooney comes up small again...Forza Azzurri!!!!! I hope the US Soccer beats Ghana in a revenge match from 2010
World Cup Soccer in Brazil: come for the action, stay because you’ve been murdered.— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) June 13, 2014
My two kids start soccer camp Monday. The camp is run by high-school-aged kids from the UK... I home they're in good spirits. I'm sure they were pulling for at least a tie with the Italians. Costa Rica will be a tough out. FiveThirtyEight now gives England the same change to make it out of their group as they do the USMNT.
Roger Espinoza becomes first Buckeye in school history to start in World Cup match: http://t.co/McsHNOKtqS #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/sZ1tPUfD7t— Alex Morando (@AlexJMorando) June 16, 2014
So much flopping in the World Cup. I'm watching Germany vs. Portugal and Mueller flopped after being barely hit in the face by Pepe. Pepe got in Mueller's face and head-butted him while Mueller was on the ground. Pepe got a red card.
What a game!!!!!! I loved the stunned faces on Ghana!!! Hopefully Altidore can make it back this weekend, Portugal looks totally disorganized.