Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

KingCreole, love the new mug over there. And the caption is beautiful...and so, so true.

 

And he completely took the guy out in the process -- which was obviously going to get a card, the way the ref was calling the game. Getting ball first frequently isn't worth a whole lot.

 

Thanks FuerteJ! What a bittersweet day, huh? My voice has five days to recover ... and it's not getting any better right now.

 

Liked The Times' story better.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28749-2231336,00.html

More sportswriters on our side of the pond need to write this way, although many "purists" would tear their few remaining hairs out at the roots because it's not "objective enough."

 

And an addendum...

The more I see Mastroeni's tackle, the more I back off on saying the red card was a bullshit call. That was a really, really bad tackle. I still lean slightly toward yellow, but I'm no longer sure red was the wrong call.

 

Bittersweet, indeed. I'm happy with the result. It's just so nice to see the US show effort, especially after the way it played Monday. As for my voice, it's still there. However, I think my dog might be a tad bit upset with me as, when Beasley sent the ball bounding into the net, I jumped up and screamed, scaring the bejesus outta her.

I honestly don't have a problem with any of the red cards. I just thought the ref made the game too stop-and-starty. Missed several offsides calls that screwed Italy and missed several shirt tugs/dives by Italy that screwed the US. As I said before, there was just no rhythm.

 

I really liked this story. I've got no problem with how it was written. God Save the Queen, or something like that.

 

I love writing and reading football game stories.

 

I frequent other boards with a fair share of foreign fans and they were toasting the Yanks performance as one of the best in the tournament. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I like the praise and respect. Lord knows we need positive cultural ambassadors in these times.

 

Today's ESPN poll says that people are more into the World Cup then the US open and the NBA Finals. This is kind of wierd because the other day, the World Cup was well below the NBA Finals. Do you guys think that the US vs. Italy game attracted people to give more attention towards the World Cup? During the game, they showed a clip of many people watching the game at Times Square.

 

Guess what? Internet polls are not scientific.

 

:'(