Posted on 06/15/2014 2:13:58 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
The U.S. soccer team gathered in a meeting room at the team hotel here Thursday afternoon to watch the opening game of a World Cup it won't officially become part of until Monday, when it meets Ghana in the northeastern coastal city of Natal.
And while the Brazil-Croatia opener kept most Brazilians on the edge of their seats, it put American goalkeeper Tim Howard to sleep.
"I dozed off," said Howard,
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I now think Italy is the team to beat.
Argentina and Netherlands look a class above everyone else. England just had sloppy defending.
Chile for Spain and Uruguay for England will not be easy feats. Latin American soccer I think we see is often very physical and hard tackling.
Next game is Portugal Germany. Could be a draw or maybe as most people predict, Germany wins.
We don’t know the origin of the names and one can ask similar for France and Germany,
Offhand I found 2 of the Swiss were born in Macedonia actually:
http://us.soccerway.com/teams/switzerland/switzerland/2201/
http://us.soccerway.com/players/blerim-dzemaili/209/ Born in Macedonia
http://us.soccerway.com/players/admir-mehmedi/44428/ Born in Macedonia
http://us.soccerway.com/players/valon-behrami/206/ Kosovo so probably Albanian, he’s been with Switzerland a few years.
http://us.soccerway.com/players/josip-drmic/115078/ Yugoslav name, born in Swiss.
http://us.soccerway.com/players/mario-gavranovic/83269/
Same as preceding player.
Who knows? Maybe this is an effect of people being forced out because of the war. No idea really.
I just thought it was kind of ironic, since Switzerland is a notoriously tough place to get foreign citizenship.
If France was awarded a penalty for Honduras’ barge on the French player in the box, really, the episode with Gerrard could have been called and pk given to England. But I’m happy to see the refs let them play but they do need to be consistent.
Assuming Germany is the best team in the group, realistically, the US needs for Germany to go ahead and win, any points that Portugal or Ghana get against Germany, will make it that much tougher for the US to advance out of the group.
I read some of those Iran players even got in trouble for being for the “Green” party in Iran. Alright, sports and politics is different and don’t mix but Iran probably is behind a lot of the guerrilas and rebels, violence and what not going on in Iraq.
So, we’ll see about this Iran/Nigeria game tomorrow.
Ironic and Nigeria has their own problems with extremists, Boko haram.
And Spain was suppose to be the best in their group and Uruguay were semi-finalists last time. It really shows how tight it can be.
Netherlands at least in the FIFA rankings really tumbled and are ranked #15 but ELO ratings, they are still way up there, around #6.
Of course, true, Germany is always about the best.
Continuing comment on Iran, this is sports but looks like Iran may be helping the ruling regime in Iraq which would be a good thing actually:
“Iran sends troops into Iraq to aid fight against Isis militants
Tehran hints at cooperation with US to aid Nouri al-Maliki as jihadist group threatens to take Baghdad
Iran has sent 2,000 advance troops to Iraq in the past 48 hours to help tackle a jihadist insurgency, a senior Iraqi official has told the Guardian.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/14/iran-iraq-isis-fight-militants-nouri-maliki
"Former Brazil international Elber says if Steven Gerrard had been wearing a Brazil shirt he would have won a penalty in the second half of England’s 2-1 defeat to Italy.
The England captain was sent crashing to the floor inside the box by Italy defender Gabriel Paletta, but no penalty was given.
Speaking on German television, the ex-Bayern Munich star said: ‘If Gerrard had worn a yellow jersey, he would have gotten a penalty'
England were chasing an equaliser in the 73rd minute when Gerrard was sent crashing to the floor by his former Liverpool teammate, having pushed the ball past the defender.
Despite England players appealing for a penalty the Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers waved play on.
(Pictures at link)
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I think it was close but probably best a penalty kick was not called in that situation. It would have decided the game probably making it a draw. Then, again, Italy will have to be watched in subsequent games if they do that again.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said he feels they are being disrespected, on the eve of their FIFA World Cup opener against Nigeria.
The top-ranked Asian Football Confederation nation in Brazil, Iran are not expected to qualify out of Group F after a disruptive lead-up to the pinnacle tournament.
Queiroz has watched on as they had a friendly against Mozambique cancelled, while further problems arose when only 11 players reported for a training camp, and assistant Majid Salih quit his role just days out from their departure to South America.
Team Melli
Netherlands did look really good, but there have been a lot of surprises. Costa Rica beating Uruguay was amazing.
“I now think Italy is the team to beat.”
I agree that they could go far.
I bet Liverpool’s owners are real nervous, knowing that Uruguay may have no choice but to play Suarez.
Most excellent, thanks for the report pieceofthepuzzle.
Ha-ha you are a pieceofthepuzzle!
Not if they play a good team, all the diving in the world won’t save the Azzurri.
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