World Cup!

@Flashman:

It should have been yellow. The “headbutt” was just a note to Muller that Pepe didn’t like being conned. And, it completely destroyed the game as a contest - I didn’t bother watching the 2nd half.

The ‘contest’ was over before Pepe was even carded. The red just took all hope of a miracle away.

The biggest effect of the card will show itself in the game against USA. Coentrão is officially done with the World Cup and Pepe getting himself ejected means Portugal will be without two of their backline starters in their game against US. This is somewhat ameliorated by the fact that the US forwards will also be a scratch (and injured) unit.

Dempsey suffered a broken nose and had trouble breathing after he got kicked in the face. No word on whether he’ll wear a mask or not, but a mask is being considered. And of course Altidore is out for Portugal at the very least. Doctors are hoping he’ll be able to have a fast recovery, but he won’t see the field again until Germany at the very earliest. A banged up backline vs a banged up group of attackers could be the deciding factor in the game. US will likely need multiple goals if it hopes to draw/win.

We know USA has a pretty good defense and Bessler will be good to go vs Portugal. And as a last defense, Howard’s one of the best in the world. But against Ronaldo & Co, it’s a stretch to think a one goal game will be enough for the US to get the result they need.

Qatar as a WC host is a slap in the face to the other countries that were bidding to host. I’m with you all, FIFA needs to be cleaned up of all it’s corruption.

And in other news .  . . The Roos are giving Oranje a tough test. Australia up 2-1 in the 55th and attacking looking for a 3rd goal.

And Spain is eliminated!

Netherlands is moving on which most expected. But Spain isn’t the other team in the group to advance like many expected. Seriously, not many would have picked Netherlands and Chile to be the teams to get through this group. And Spain’s facing a pretty decent shot to end group play against Australia without a point with the way they’re playing. Australia’s showed a lot more fight against both Chile and Netherlands than Spain did. Australia actually played well enough to give themselves a shot in both games, unlike Spain.

Oh geez, Costa Rica advances!

And Italy and Uruguay play each other, winner advances. Uruguay and Costa Rica could be the two teams that come out of this group and who would’ve put money on that before the games started?

It’s actually a beautiful country. I’ve been twice, but it’s been about 10+ years since I was last there.

I highly recommend it as a place to visit sometime if anyone ever considers going to the Caribbean or Central America. Visited some natural hot springs by the volcano Arenal and got to see some mild eruptions at night. Costa Rica gets a lot of rain, so we just happened to see the bright orangish red of the fresh lava flowing down while lightning strikes silhouetted the volcano. It remains one of the coolest sights I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. Other than that, we went on a rainforest tour and saw some waterfall that I forget the name of and stayed at beaches on both the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.

One of the times I visited coincided with the '02 World Cup and needless to say I didn’t get much sleep the night they won a game due to the time difference. I made some friends there as I was there for about a month each time and have kept in reasonable touch with some of them. So needless to say I’m rooting for them to do well and I can only imagine the euphoria that’s flooded the country for advancing.

@wittmann:

I still appreciate the help John Brown.
Thank you Axisandalliesplayer too. Very good post.

Thanks.  :-D

I can only hope it is Italy doing its usual play poorly, then win the World Cup(or at
Least make the semis). I cannot explain our poor play or lack of ideas. I was sitting in stunned anger as I watched our pathetic attempts to equalise.

They have a long way to go and they will have a dogfight on their hands trying to advance past Uruguay. Maybe the Costa Rica game will serve as their wakeup call? It’s a long shot, but I’d be praying to win by 2 and hope England beats Costa Rica by 2 so they can win the group. I’d much rather face Whoever advances as #2 in group C than Colombia. Or maybe since you’re praying for miracles, hope that Colombia somehow doesn’t win their group so Italy doesn’t have to face them if Italy doesn’t win their group. Colombia’s a young team and they also don’t have any WC experience, so they could make mistakes. But they’re talented and have looked impressive. Definitely a side to avoid if possible. For me, I’m partial towards Costa Rica, so I’m hoping they’re the ones that avoid Colombia coming out of group play.  :-D

France did a good job of embarrassing poor old Neutral Switzerland. Was at work, so do not know how well they actually played.
Do they look like possible Cup winners?

They were very dangerous on the attack. It was 5-0 before the Swiss even got on the board. They scored in a variety of ways as well; set pieces, counter attacks, etc. About the only way they didn’t score was from distance. So yes, they look dangerous enough to make a deep run and then it just becomes a question of who catches the breaks when they need them. Still not the favorites IMHO, as I think Germany and Netherlands are ahead of them. But they definitely deserve consideration. I’m only giving Netherlands and Germany the edge as on paper they’ve beaten tougher competition and looked just as impressive if not more impressive than France.