OT World Cup Day 6 Open Thread
Everyone recovered sufficiently? What a night for the USMNT. Here we go on Day 6:
Group H
Belgium - Algeria 12pm EDT (ESPN / Univision / Watch ESPN)
Group A
Brazil - Mexico 3pm EDT (ESPN / Univision / Watch ESPN)
Group H
Russia - Korea Republic 6pm EDT (ESPN / Univision / Watch ESPN)
Hmm...Belgium makes some really good beer...think I'm going to have to cheer for them today. Although I can't say I've ever had any Algerian beer, so maybe I'm rushing to judgement here. It's just that I have a hard time seeing Algeria topping what the Belgium produces. The Brazilian and Mexican beer I've had have been equally as crappy, so I don't care who wins that game. I have no idea what South Korean's drink, and the Russians make some decent vodka, but I don't feel like I can make a fair judgement here until I'm more familiar with South Korean drinking habits. Anybody have any input?
Algerians drink Belgian. Check out the tap list here:
guess I'll use my first official post (long time mgoblog reader, first time poster) to defend Brazilian beer! Brazil is going through a huge craft beer revolution now adn there are some really amazing breweries down there. I've found some good Brazilian beer here in Ann Arbor before, notably Cervejaria Colorado's Guanabara (Imperial Russian Stout with dried cane sugar) and Berthô (Double Nut Brown Ale w/ Brazil nuts), as well as Eisenbanh's Dunkel Lager... and there's a bunch of other ones too (Bodebrown collaborated with stone on a kickass Cacao IPA and a way too easy to drink saison from Wäls & Brooklyn Brewing)... cheers!
Here's your first upvote. Don't spend it all in one place.
Huzzah! I've only had the macro lager type stuff from Brazil; you know, the stuff that's from the Brazilian part of ABInBev (the Bev part specifically). Good to know there's a real beer scene. Thank you for the education. Up-vote for you. Also means that I guess I have to cheer for Brazil now. Which hooray! Because I hate Mexico (in soccer at least). I'll have to keep my eye out for those beers you mentioned.
So the first game is easy... Waffles over North African deserts all day.
Second game: Do I reflexively cheer against Mexico, or do I cheer for chaos inducing upset if Brazil loses? If Brazil loses, do the people sacrafice the coach to a river teeming with man eating piranhas? Cause that'd spice things up a bit.
Third game: We are SO anti-Russia still, yes? I mean for what they did to Apollo Creed? And how can you cheer against Korean girl pop groups? Can CRex comment on whether his wife is going Korea-zy? (get it? Crazy? Korea-zy? huh? huh?)
Always cheer against Mexico. If you root for Mexico that is like rooting for OSU or MSU.
Eh, this is kind of one of those can't lose either way games. If Brazil wins, then revel in Mexico's misery. If Mexico pulls it off, revel in watching the world burn...
I ever thought about cheering for Mexico.
I'd say having to have police in riot gear shielding players taking corner kicks is ample reason to dislike a team.
Among other things.
That doesn't mean I dislike Mexico or Mexicans. Just their soccer hooligans and because of them their soccer team.
Plus, sports are more fun when there's a "them" and an "us."
Your detector works well. Just messing with you since you gave no context. I like sports but (until you explained it) I had no idea why watching a game at Azteca would make you not root for Mexico.
Being one of the largest stadiums in the world (should be in the top ten with Michigan, excluding stadium sprawls). Moreover, it's one of the higher stadiums in the world, altitude wise.
Mexico has some really impressive stats defending the place.
But Azteca fans are like Raiders fans that have been up all night binge drinking and decided to start the day out with 'all the meth.'
I was the only white boy on a soccer team in a Battle Creek Mexican soccer league. Their level of competition was around that of a smaller college division. I provoked a several hundred person bleacher clearing brawl by pushing one of their forwards after he took a stab at a ball I had firmly saved.
They get scary competitive about soccer...
Agreed. TJ Oshie!
This is probably not quite thread-worthy, but after Zusi's wonderful corner kick yesterday, this Washington Post ARTICLE is a great read.
A statistical analysis of the value of a corner based largely on EPL stats concludes that what we saw yesterday is a bit rarer occurrence than I would have guessed. Two charts tell most of the story, but the entire article is worth a look:
I read this yesterday...good stuff. I love Opta's data.
If you're interested in analytics, 11tegen11 is a Dutch website, written mostly in English that has some really interesting articles and numbers.
Here's an article on how to define attacking style with this graphic. Sorry--the chart is too big to post here.
Belgium:
Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany (c), Vertonghen, Witsel, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard, Van Buyten, Dembele, Chadli
Algeria:
Mbolhi, Bougherra (c), Ghoulam, Halliche, Feghouli, Medjani, Bentaleb, Soudani, Taider, Mahrez, Mostefa
Check out the talent on Belgium's bench:
Vermaelen
Fellaini
Mirallas
Mignolet
Bossut
Mertens
Defour
Origi
Lombaerts
Januzaj
Vanden Borre
Ciman
Thats nothing; here's a real lineup:
Delirium
Leffe
Chimay
Westmalle
Achel
St. Bernardus
Ommegang
Rochefort
Verhaeghe-Vichte
Duvel
Het Anker
And expat New Belgium
Ommegang is from Upstate New York and you missed:
Orval
Cantillion
Drie Fonteinen
Rodenbach
Now I'm thirsty.
But Ommegang is owned (and partially founded I believe) by Duvel, so by that metric, I am adding Boulovard to Belgium's line-up. And I am also adding Budweiser, Bud Light, Goose Island, Corona, Stella, Skol, and Bass to their line-up.
Yep, Duvel owns Ommegang now and Boulevard. I've got some Tank 7 in the fridge right now. So good. I haven't had any Hennepin yet this summer, which I will rectify ASAP.
Don't forget Busch and Busch Light! BUUUSSSSCCCCHHHHH
Is Ommegang the company that made that terrible Game of Thrones beer?
Is still up on WatchESPN for those who care...
...I was really hoping the World Cup Tonight show from last night would be on.
I wasn't able to make it to watch from midnight-1:30am, but it's actually a really good show. Especially the "LAST CALL" portion where they have a relaxed chat, just kick the shit and talk World Cup soccer.
If anyone can find a replay from last night, I'd love to watch.
Also, I'd like to have the Kiefer Sutherland intro from last nights match (at the 1 minute mark if you watch the WatchESPN.com replay).
are talking during tthe last call segment? i have a hard time imagining that a candid conversation between the international analysts about that usa performance would go over well on an american channel...
That was the worst I've ever seen a US team play possession wise.
And it'll probably remain the worst.
/but who cares.
//three points.
that if you are an american fan wanting to hear former international superstars talk candidly about the game, you don't want to hear a conversation about how unskilled the usa team is at soccer relative to the rest of the competition.
it's very clear that martinez and van nistelrooy are keeping their comments very tame.
my buddy in london was sending me some clips of the bbc commentary, and they were openenly mocking the terrible first touches. and they had a field day making fun of the usa for the long throw-in they had early in the second half
kick.
We deserve the smack talk but, again, we shouldn't really care about it. We'll be better on Sunday (oh man, I hope we are).
http://imgur.com/gallery/oUypcko
and the conversation ended.
For what it's worth, the commentators on the guardian's world cup daily podcast today are very complementary to the US, particularly in the first half. They called Dempsey's goal one of the best of the tournament and Brooks's reaction one of the tournament's best moments.
They did compare the second half to the Alamo, but overall, they complemented the US for remaining very organized in back and frustrating Ghana, giving them very few real chances in the run of play.
I thought ITV had the coverage in Britain.
ITV was also mocking Germany yesterday. They have some fine commentators; they also offer idiocy beyond anything ESPN has on tap over here. Ask your English friend what he thinks of Adrian Chiles.
Ed.: Never mind--I looked it up and they're splitting the coverage. BBC had the US game yesterday.
Turico, Lalas, Ballack, the guy from the Netherlands who's name I slips my mind, the British chic, and then one other person. Usually one of the coaches, although Foudy was on a couple nights ago.
It's pretty cool. Turico just sets the table and they all just sit around and chat about stuff and provide some really good insight. And because Turico isn't an expert he's perfect because he asks GREAT questions that the former players can really answer with insight.
It's that van Nistelroy guy right?
Also, I can't stand Alexi Lalas. I wondered if he was ever a good soccer player, so I'm checking his wikipedia and turns out he is from Birmingham. Didn't know that.
Lalas had some really good years and the '94 World Cup was his breakout (like all the USMNT players). He was the first American to play in Serie A in Italy. He's a huge Red Wings fans and tweets about them a decent amount.
You must be young because "that van Nistelrooy guy" is one of the best strikers in the past 25 years. His years at PSV, United and Real Madrid were just incredible. I like him as a commentator as well.
Damn it, if he's a huge Wings fan I am physically unable to dislike him!
I know nothing about van Nistelrooy's career outside of the World Cup because I hardly watch soccer. From what I've seen, I do agree with you that he's a solid commentator.
I played youth league soccer with Alexi. Needless to say, our soccer paths have diverged slightly since grammar school.
Or Belgium would be even more of a buzzsaw than they already are.
Just ridiculous depth for a country like Belgium. Benteke out? Oh well, we'll just roll Lukaku.
And this isn't even early 2013 Lukaku when his confidence was shot and he missed that penalty against Bayern in the UEFA Super Cup. That loan out to Everton might have been the best thing to happen to him.
Listen to the John Brooks goal and then listen for Taylor Twellman. He looses it and just has an outburst of jibberish.
Then in the 90' he completely stops talking. Ian Drake asks him a question on two seperate occasions and he can't even speak because he's so nervous and wants the final whistle.
That's great, I just went back and watched the goal. You can tell he cut off his own mic mid-scream.
I also love Rimando jumping into Klinsmann's arms.