45 degrees, raining heavily, and a little windy. The Azurri are dominating possession, but with these conditions anything could happen. I'd love to see Paraguay pull off the monumental upset.
choice having South Africa host the World Cup.
the fact that it's kinda fall-type weather (note the parkas and long sleeved shirts during the Nats game)
Well, it should be fall-type weather shouldn't it? South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, so it's essentially late fall, early winter there. That said, I have no idea what the climate is typically supposed to be like in South Africa in June since the the Atlantic and Indian oceans probably play just as big a role in the weather there as the Earth's obliquity to the sun.
With this weather anything is possible. I am thinking a 0-0 draw is in the cards.
I'm watching Italy-Paraguay right now too, and it's looking to be one of the more exciting games so far.
Is anyone else disappointed in the quality of the announcers for these games? I remember the people who did the opener were especially bad. My biggest complaint is that they don't get excited about anything. I expect soccer to have really loud announcers yelling at every "GOOOOOOOLLLLL." Get me some Gus Johnson in here, please.
Watch in on UNivision. At least there is some excitement.
Definately more entertaining, especially if you understand some Spanish. I feel like the Spanish announcers are hired for how long they can shout GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And after the Italians scored the announcer started singing a little in Italian.
They're, for the most part, English announcers. One (maybe two?) Americans. They've been solid if you ask me. Martin Tyler is world class. Efan 'something' - the color commentator of this game - I really like. I also think Derek Rae is excellent.
You'll need to check out Telemundo for the GOOOOOLLLL calls.
Maybe it's just confirmation bias that after the first game, I think all the announcers are bad.
And I switched to Univision for the Paraguay goal. Much better, even if I can't understand them (five years of spanish classes notwithstanding).
Paraguay!!!! 1-0!!!
GOOOOOOAAAAALLLL! Lets hope for the upset!
Wow. What was Italy's D doing?
Being old?
is playing pretty conservative... they're also to busy bitching to the ref whenever they can... so its typical italy soccer...
it's been nothing but bitching at themselves and the ref. Shut your mouth and play.
Italian soccer is not what you should show to a non-fan to try to get them interested in the game.
Nice goal Paraguay
and then a great goal by Paraguay. #5 for Italy - why didn't you jump to head the ball out? Paraguay will play with all kinds of confidence now.
Italy really hasn't had many great scoring chances. No one on their team really worries me either if I'm defending them. Go Paraguay.
Ooh, that looked bad by Cannavaro.
Yeah, for once an Italian was actually hurt.
Oh wait that traitor got what was coming to him, of course they wouldn't take an american with them to south africa. Sweet Justice.
italy had their first guy who looked like he was shot within 1 minute ....
paraguay played really solid, defensive football and were rewarded with that sick header
that goal should force italy to open the game up in the second half, hopefully creating a higher tempo game
Italy is completely dominating possession but can't seem to finish on the offensive end. Paraguay got rewarded for their defense with that great set piece. I expect Italy to come out and put in 2 with how much they were in Paraguays half in the first...
Italy's missing Pirlo, who does a great job unlocking defenses by sitting deep and spraying the ball around. Without him, they're like a stylish version of England, pushing the ball wide and trying to get on crosses.
Wow, they're subbing Buffon!
this is big news both now and later ....
he is great, he must be hurt
Did see the Serbia game? The Serbian defender Neven Subotić came in in the later minutes. He was discovered playing in a park in America and played in our youth system. He could be bigtime and we definitely could use him. I think what he did is way worst than Rossi's
Subotić Wiki Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neven_Suboti%C4%87
Yeah, but did you actually read the page? He did play for our junior teams and was eventually cut. So he went to go play for someone else. Can't hardly blame him.
He was cut because of disagreement with his coach. Some say he left on his own terms though.
I'm not sure if Subotić would have ever been found if it was'nt for the U.S youth system. Rossi's parents put in Parma youth system. This is happens alot in soccer though, look at the French team.
France actually loses far more homegrown talent to other countries (usually African ones) than it gains from foreign-born players. Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o were born in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, respectively, but both grew up in France and learned to play soccer there. Can you imagine how devastating the French team would have been in '06 with those two up front to go with Zidane, Henry, Ribéry, et al?
Only Malouda (French Guyana) and Evra (Senegal, but moved to France at age 6) and a backup goalie on the current squad weren't actually born in France. I think most people just don't associate a bunch of black dudes, many with African sounding names, with being "French." The US team has guys like Holden and Feilhaber who were similarly born abroad, but they seem to blend in and we aren't as surprised to learn that guys with names like Onyewu and Edu are just regular, boring Americans.
France is probably just a little ahead of the curve. European countries in general are becoming more racially-mixed and there are a growing number of players of color all over the continent. England has nearly as many black players but for some reason this gets less mention.
You think he owed the US something? So much so that he should have played for them even though neither of his parents are American and he wasn't even born here? I think it's a noble sentiment when people who were arguably rescued by the US want to represent us in sports, but I don't think they're required to do so. Everybody's experience as an immigrant/refugee here is different.
And while I can't say I didn't take a small amount of joy when Rossi was left out of the Italian team, I don't really blame him for the decision. His parents are Italian, he grew up watching Italian soccer with his Dad and started playing there at a young age. We're also not particularly good at soccer. Re: Subotic, you may remember a lot of weirdly public criticism of him from the U20 coach at the time. And then he wasn't selected for the U20 World Cup squad for specious reasons. Either way, there's no way Subotic's choice to play for Serbia is "worse" than Rossi's similar decision.
Rossi never showed any interest in playing for the U.S. Subotić did and found his way in Europe because of it. I agree with you though that most National teams in Europe are better. Is Serbia? Debatable
please punch pepe in the face!!!
That's some more bad goalkeeping.
Man, I don't care what the announcers are talking about or if they get excited or not.....it's really worth it to hear them say British things like "the world champions are in a spot of bother here."
Not to mention...
"The Paraguayan supporters are going absolutely potty"
this has been the cup of awful keeping
italy gets a green-like goal
1-1
least the italians of the world can breathe again...
I've always enjoyed Pepe's work in Prison Break
I'll be rooting for Japan to lose the rest of their matches. That was a truly pathetic diplay of flailing and diving, exacerbated by a referee who seemed determined to make every call in Japan's favor. For a culture that purportedly puts a high premium on honor, the Japanese were truly disgraceful. They made Drogba look like Jim Brown.
Not to say that Cameroon don't take the blame for the loss - they had a poor performance, even though that laser at the end of the game would have been the goal of the tournament so far.
Man Italy seemed to be dominating the game, only to come out with a tie. They better step it up and Buffon better be alright to come back.
Not impressed. I hope this was the wake-up call.