All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

They train 'em young in Uruguay. They're usually one of the, if not THE, dirtiest team in the world.

 

Hey kingcreole, what web site were you watching a gametracker for the Under-20 World Cup?

 

Gut-wrenching experience to watch the U-20s tonight. They didn't play very well, but were composed enough to go through. Real sweet win considering the punk bitchiness of our opposition. I now have a new team to root against in international circles. My favorite was when the Uruguay player came into the US huddle and picked a scrap after the game. Fuck 'em. They're going home for the second straight night.

It was nice to see a US team win a money game w/o its best stuff. That said, luck was a factor several times, especially with a late own goal and the Uruguay header off the post at the end of regulation. Michael Bradley was IMO a weak link in midfield for much of the game, but couldn't miss a deflected ball in front of goal for the winner. Hey Pastor, Bradley seemed to have enough energy after the 120 minutes, though, didn't he?

Glad I get to see this bunch again this weekend ...

 

The way Uruguay plays is exactly the reason for not going to Copa America. It's true that a lot of the countries in South America boast a rich, honorable tradition in the game. But, let's be honest...many who have long witnessed the decline of the sport in their countries, now play like absolute hacks because there is no other way to do so without getting embarrassed.

South America is full of corruption at every turn in football. From a less than prepared host country to the threat of manipulated referees, it's just not a pleasant place to play at the moment.

 

fifa.com

Click on Tournaments, and on the left-hand side should be a link to the U-20 World Cup. I'm not sure how frequently it's updated as I periodically clicked back and forth, but it seemed to be fairly accurate.

 

Anyone see the Beckham commercial they ran towards the end of the 11 p.m. SportCenter?

They have The Beatles "Hello Goodbye" playing, and showing Real Madrid fans in mourning and U.S. fans celebrating.

I thought it was pretty cool.

 

Yeah, I saw that. It was definitely cool and it looks like they spent some decent coin on it.

 

I liked it a lot. Won't it suck if Beckham just blows in his first game?

 

Watched the U-20s myself.

To be fair, the U.S. had quite a few hard tackles; they certainly were not cowering.

As for Bradley, as the game went on and on, he kept his energy level up. I thought he was a real spark for the U.S. team.

Adu lost the ball numerous times when he tried to take on three guys. He can't just take over every time he gets the ball.

There was some nice extracurricular after the game. Looked like some Uruguay guys were pissed and tried to start something, and Bradley was all too happy to remind them of the score after he got a little pissed. Adu tried to talk to Bradley, but the body language looked like Bradley was bascially saying "Um, Freddy? I'm twice your size, I play in Europe, and I have represented the full national team more times just this year than you have goals per season. So have a nice small glass of STFU."

 

Don't really follow the MLS, but this has to be a fairly decent upset. DC United got ousted from the Open Cup last night by the Harrisburg City Islanders of the USL-2. Of course, the writer here makes it sound like he's never been to a rural part of the country, but disregarding that, it sounds like it would've been a fun game to watch.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071102427.html

 

Yeah, that was a rather "Big City Boy Comes to the Country and Chuckles" lede, wasn't it?

We'uns like our smell of manure in the Lancaster County countryside.

United did it to itself here, started almost none of its regulars -- not even Ben Olsen in his homecoming. Harrisburg, an offensively challenged side even on its own level, will not win USL-2.

 

Hold on with that "own goal."
The truth is that Akpan would have scored there if the defender hadn't kicked it in first, and the defender essentially took out Akpan (would have merited a PK if the ball hadn't already been knocked into the goal). There wasn't much luck on that play. Unless you're counting the use of Danny Szetela's elbow.
Hey, what's the ruling there? The arm is tight to his body, but he did seem to use it to help control.
Akpan surely was not the most useless U.S. player employed Wednesday night.
Gabe Ferrari was barely on the pitch. He made one good play toward the end of extra time, then immediately gave the ball back. Very poor. No business on the field. And please, please, please give us Sarkodie at center back instead of Valentin. He was as much a spectator as I was on Uruguay's goal.