World Cup intermission
Yeah, I know this is an MLS- and USMNT-focused blog, but it's the World Cup, it's a month of holidays for the futbol fan, and I've just spent two days in a state of mild-to-critcal frenzy. For reasons in addition to the World Cup, I've had little sleep, terrible food and other stress, to the point where I'm barely able to form cognizant sentences, but I'm going to throw some stuff out there anyway.
First off -- and I know this is piddly but it's been bugging me -- Puma makes the worst kits. All the uniforms made by Puma that I've seen so far look exactly the same and only vary by color. They're ugly. Thank heaven that the USMNT has Nike, because ugh.
I've been watching a good portion of the World Cup on Univision as opposed to ESPN2, not just because I'm taking a Spanish conversation class this month and I'm trying to practice my comprehension, but also because the trappings are better. There's no annoying ticker at the bottom of the screen telling me about sports I don't care about, Univision has nothing but futbol-themed commercials during the half instead of little updates on other sports that I don't care about and, most importantly, from what I can tell, the talking heads on Univision spend the full 90 talking about futbol. Unlike the guy during the Argentina-Ivory Coast match that started using examples from other sports to explain what was going on or chatting about the upcoming NBA Finals. Unlike that same guy who started talking about the FIFA rankings as if they meant something truly significant. Even if the guys on Univision do go off on stupidity like that, I wouldn't really know it, because my Spanish still ain't that good.
Most bizarre moment today -- Alexi Lalas and Co. chatting about the Sweden-T&T game from the Belmont Stakes. And geez, Lalas is a tall guy, I had no idea!
So far all of the matches have been pretty good, from the first amazing gol by Germany to the 2-1, surprisingly hard fought win by Argentina over an Ivory Coast that came back after halftime and started to play some serious soccer. Nothing's gone quite as I've been expecting, with teams that I was sure would be routed ending up playing fairly well, such as Paraguay, which, yes, lost to England but still came back after the single gol for England to just hold it to 1. Great bending assist by Beckham for that own gol from Paraguay (in those awful Puma kits!), by the way. Best game, though for me, surprisingly, has been the Sweden-T&T draw, which I saw noted as a "shocker" by some news outlets. Down by 1 and with a surprise keeper, Trinidad & Tobago really did deserve that 1 point.
And I still love that Addidas commercial with the little kids in Barcelona playing the pickup game with the big stars. Although the great Bud commercial with the fans in the stadium is a good one, too.
Tomorrow my big game would be Mexico-Iran, and I'm trying to decide if I should go to church or skip church and watch the game. Quite honestly I have to wonder where one would be most likely to find a sense of the divine, and I generally find it more consistently on the pitch than anywhere else. And after that it's back to MLS, yay!
Picks for Saturday
Crew vs. Wizards: The battle for second place in the East wages in Columbus tonight, and before last week I would have just gone with KC, despite its wretched performace as of late. Hopefully the Crew is still riding a wave of confidence after beating the Hoops last week, so I'm going to throw my hopes behind Columbus. Go Crew!
New York vs. Houson: New York is hunting for a second win, and they're not going to find it at home against the Dynamo tonight. That's one thing you can say about New York, they're consistent no matter where they play, which ain't saying much. The Dynamo have it tonight.
Picks for Sunday:
FC Dallas vs. Chivas -- Awww, and Chivas was going with such a nice little record there, piling up a couple of wins. Dallas surely isn't going to allow a repeat of last week with a loss to a lower-ranked team at home. My great hope is just that Chivas doesn't let the Hoops romp all over them, so let's say Dallas by 1.
Fire vs. Revs -- You know, I just can't get used to the fact that the Revs have gone to being all that and a bag of chips to less than that and a bag of the generic chips that your mom buys at the dollar store when she's trying to save up for a facial. Of course, the Fire haven't been doing so well lately, either, but I'm actually pulling for them, but I'm thinking this will end in a draw.
Galaxy vs. DC -- A new coach and new coaching staff isn't going to do anything for LA against a team that knows where it's at this season. The Galaxy is playing tired and embarassed at being routed by Chivas on Thursday, so I don't think it'll be much of a trick for DC to pull off a win. The question really will be, how many points will the Black-and-Red rack up?
First off -- and I know this is piddly but it's been bugging me -- Puma makes the worst kits. All the uniforms made by Puma that I've seen so far look exactly the same and only vary by color. They're ugly. Thank heaven that the USMNT has Nike, because ugh.
I've been watching a good portion of the World Cup on Univision as opposed to ESPN2, not just because I'm taking a Spanish conversation class this month and I'm trying to practice my comprehension, but also because the trappings are better. There's no annoying ticker at the bottom of the screen telling me about sports I don't care about, Univision has nothing but futbol-themed commercials during the half instead of little updates on other sports that I don't care about and, most importantly, from what I can tell, the talking heads on Univision spend the full 90 talking about futbol. Unlike the guy during the Argentina-Ivory Coast match that started using examples from other sports to explain what was going on or chatting about the upcoming NBA Finals. Unlike that same guy who started talking about the FIFA rankings as if they meant something truly significant. Even if the guys on Univision do go off on stupidity like that, I wouldn't really know it, because my Spanish still ain't that good.
Most bizarre moment today -- Alexi Lalas and Co. chatting about the Sweden-T&T game from the Belmont Stakes. And geez, Lalas is a tall guy, I had no idea!
So far all of the matches have been pretty good, from the first amazing gol by Germany to the 2-1, surprisingly hard fought win by Argentina over an Ivory Coast that came back after halftime and started to play some serious soccer. Nothing's gone quite as I've been expecting, with teams that I was sure would be routed ending up playing fairly well, such as Paraguay, which, yes, lost to England but still came back after the single gol for England to just hold it to 1. Great bending assist by Beckham for that own gol from Paraguay (in those awful Puma kits!), by the way. Best game, though for me, surprisingly, has been the Sweden-T&T draw, which I saw noted as a "shocker" by some news outlets. Down by 1 and with a surprise keeper, Trinidad & Tobago really did deserve that 1 point.
And I still love that Addidas commercial with the little kids in Barcelona playing the pickup game with the big stars. Although the great Bud commercial with the fans in the stadium is a good one, too.
Tomorrow my big game would be Mexico-Iran, and I'm trying to decide if I should go to church or skip church and watch the game. Quite honestly I have to wonder where one would be most likely to find a sense of the divine, and I generally find it more consistently on the pitch than anywhere else. And after that it's back to MLS, yay!
Picks for Saturday
Crew vs. Wizards: The battle for second place in the East wages in Columbus tonight, and before last week I would have just gone with KC, despite its wretched performace as of late. Hopefully the Crew is still riding a wave of confidence after beating the Hoops last week, so I'm going to throw my hopes behind Columbus. Go Crew!
New York vs. Houson: New York is hunting for a second win, and they're not going to find it at home against the Dynamo tonight. That's one thing you can say about New York, they're consistent no matter where they play, which ain't saying much. The Dynamo have it tonight.
Picks for Sunday:
FC Dallas vs. Chivas -- Awww, and Chivas was going with such a nice little record there, piling up a couple of wins. Dallas surely isn't going to allow a repeat of last week with a loss to a lower-ranked team at home. My great hope is just that Chivas doesn't let the Hoops romp all over them, so let's say Dallas by 1.
Fire vs. Revs -- You know, I just can't get used to the fact that the Revs have gone to being all that and a bag of chips to less than that and a bag of the generic chips that your mom buys at the dollar store when she's trying to save up for a facial. Of course, the Fire haven't been doing so well lately, either, but I'm actually pulling for them, but I'm thinking this will end in a draw.
Galaxy vs. DC -- A new coach and new coaching staff isn't going to do anything for LA against a team that knows where it's at this season. The Galaxy is playing tired and embarassed at being routed by Chivas on Thursday, so I don't think it'll be much of a trick for DC to pull off a win. The question really will be, how many points will the Black-and-Red rack up?
posted by MLS Fangirl @ 3:13 PM
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