U.S. team itches to get its World Cup started, already gets lesson

latimes.com ^ | June 14, 2014 | Kevin Baxter

[Berlin_Freeper]

I been reminded to keep spoilers out of the header but spoilers do follow in this WC thread. Please keep that in mind over the coming weeks, thank you.

If you like to be pinged once daily for the World Cup, send me email.

[nickcarraway]

The butler did it. Oops.

[Berlin_Freeper]

#	Country	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Costa Rica	1	1	0	0	3	1	2	3
2	Italy	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	3
3	England	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
4	Uruguay	1	0	0	1	1	3	-2	0

[Berlin_Freeper]

What’s happening on the roads of Saudi Arabia?

[Admin Moderator]

We had to remove your response #2 because the material was from a Gannett site.
Gannett Publications allow none of their material on Free Republic.
Please make note. Thanks.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts

[nickcarraway]

Camel jam at the 405.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Ok thank you. I got the list bookmarked.

[Admin Moderator]

No problem and good idea to bookmark it.
Thanks for understanding!

[Berlin_Freeper]

Back to business...

Roy Hodgson: England can progress at World Cup despite Italy defeat
“If you lose the first game you’ve got to win the next two,”

England 1:2 Italy Match Highlights

[Berlin_Freeper]

England loss to Italy need not spell disaster
Now they face Uruguay in Sao Paulo on Thursday knowing the losers are almost certainly on their way out - so what are the issues to ponder for Hodgson and his players?

Hodgson should be hopeful
There is little good news about losing an opening World Cup game and England may yet live to regret the missed chances and sloppy defending that ended in defeat by Italy.

Hodgson, however, was accentuating the positive and was right to do so - while accepting it is tough to put a gloss on a result that instantly puts England on the back foot.

[Berlin_Freeper]

England physio Gary Lewin stretchered off with embarrassing injury in World Cup match against Italy
Lewin is now heading back to England.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Pirlo Conjured Italy's First Goal Of The 2014 World Cup With A Mesmerizing Fake

[Berlin_Freeper]

JUNE 11, 2014 Andrea Pirlo Is Italy’s World Cup Maestro
The Italians refer to Pirlo as l’architetto or il professore — or simply Mozart.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Mario Balotelli powers Italy past England
Mad Mario didn't get mad on Saturday, he got even.

Mario Balotelli, the controversial Italian forward, reminded England fans that he is as brilliant as he is unpredictable as he scored the winner in his team's 2-1 victory at Arena Amazonas.

The World Cup is the kind of stage made for Balotelli, who divided opinion wildly during his three years with Manchester City in the English Premier League before returning to Italy with AC Milan. And he didn't let this opportunity slip.

Watch Balotelli score Italy's second goal with his head

Balotelli revealed their engagement on his Instagram account on Monday

[UncleHambone]

LOL, a world-class paper: “figure out your own kind of piece of mind”

[Geronimo]

I’ll give Rooney credit for a perfect cross to Sturridge for the England goal but three World Cups now and he has still not found the back of the net, come on!

And that corner towards the end of the game? I saw a colemanball last year about Rooney that sums that up, ‘phenomical’...

[Berlin_Freeper]

Mario Balotelli was born in Palermo, Sicily to immigrants from Ghana.[7] The family moved to Bagnolo Mella in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, when he was two.[8]

In 1993, the authorities suggested he be placed into foster care. The Barwuah family gave up the three-year-old boy to an Italian foster family, the Balotellis.[7][9] His foster parents, Silvia (the daughter of Holocaust survivors) and Francesco Balotelli, who are Italian Jews,[10][11][12][13][14] lived in the town of Concesio, Brescia, in northern Italy.[15]

At first, he stayed at the Balotellis during the weekdays, and returned to his biological parents on weekends. But after a while he started to be indifferent towards his biological parents and adopted the surname of the Balotellis, and it was arranged for him to be permanently fostered by the Balotellis.[16]

In June 2012, he dedicated his goals that put Italy in the final of the Euro 2012 football championships to his foster mother Silvia, and rushed over to embrace her as she wept after the win.[7][17]

http://tinyurl.com/pcomzzr

[SES1066]

England physio Gary Lewin stretchered off with embarrassing injury in World Cup match against Italy

So what does a "physio" translate into American (grin)? My spellcheck keeps transmuting it into physic and my best semi-educated guess is that it is something like a physical or conditioning trainer for the team.

Anyway I was rooting for England and sorry that they lost, now on to rooting for USA in their match Monday.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Roy Hodgson defends Wayne Rooney after England loss
"We wanted to get Raheem Sterling around (Andrea) Pirlo because of his agility and that meant moving Wayne Rooney, and I thought he did well," Hodgson said after the Group D encounter at a humid Amazonia Arena.

"He set up the goal for us and worked hard, and did well when we moved him into the centre.

"There's always going to be one player with a big debate around him, but I think it's harsh for people to criticise his performance, because for me he played well."

Wayne Rooney Takes Terrible Corner Kick In 2014 World Cup Loss (Video)
Down a goal in the second half of its 2014 FIFA World Cup match with Italy, England needed something to bounce its way. England could not have been given a much better opportunity when forward Wayne Rooney earned a corner kick late in the game. What happened, however, was far from what his team could have hoped for.