Wow! With one quick strike Zidane erased a century of Frog Surrender talk. Zidane is already the most blogged and searched item on Technorati. "Headbutt" is climbing fast. Amazing how quick Zidane's head changes the game. Just a few minutes before the headbutt, he headed what appeared to be the winner towards goal. Of course, there was no love-loss between Zidane and Materazzi as you can see by this image from earlier in the game.

Perhaps, that's what led to this?

More later...

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http://www.ihateronaldo.com/
Of all the Ronaldo's, I hate thee the most. In fact "Little Ronaldo," Ronaldinho is the only one worth liking. He's one of the last happy footballers in the world. The guy just always has that smile that says, "I love playing this game."

France v Portugal has kicked off and I'm pleased to see the fans whistling and booing at every Cristiano Ronaldo touch. The announcer surmised that there must be many England fans in the crowd. The truth is the world has grown to hate this talented pretty boy. Here's why:

Watch the object of my hatred in action at my new favorite website.
http://www.ihateronaldo.com/

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If you still doubt the power of blogs, notice that today's New York Times has finally caught up with constant complaining about player's diving ruining the World Cup.  For some reason the author is focused on some stellar acting by Luis Figo when there are far better examples of the power of deceit in what used to be the Beautiful Game  (see every game the Italians play).  I think Ronaldo took about five such dives himself in their loss yesterday.  At least twice, Fatnaldo probably could've scored, or taken a strong shot on goal, if he just stayed on his feed and played with some integrity.

In the first game, we once again were treated to Marcello Balboa's running commentary on the "skill" and "experience" of player's taking dives, or faking injury to "slow down the pace of the game."  Here most of us are hoping for the return of sportsmanship, and former players turned commentators are praising players for their "intelligent play" in flopping at the opportune moment.  Keep it up, and just watch those ratings dive. However, don't expect much action from FIFA, except maybe a Karl Rove-inspired attack on the NY Times for exposing this problem to the light of day while of course, "Helping the terrorists."

For Best Actor in a Diving Film, the Prize Should Be a Card - New York Times

This is my complaint about the way soccer is played today. I love the game, and the World Cup is the greatest sporting event around. But the continual diving or flopping, which has become entrenched, can make acting talent, or lack thereof, as important as soccer skill.

The dives that draw yellow and red cards are not the only ones that matter; the dives that fail to draw the call also take away from the thrill of the sport.

Whatever happened to sportsmanship and winning the right way? I was watching a highlight from the 1970 World Cup in which Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany was fouled hard. What did he do? He got up, helped the defender to his feet and moved on. Wow.

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This was one of those days that epitomized why Americans don't care about soccer.  No surprise, another day, another bad call that cost the "little guys" (Socceroos) their world cup dreams.  The bad refereeing is old news.  With ten games to go, this world cup has already smashed the record for most red and yellow cards in the tournament's history.  However, the story -- or non-story -- today was that over 215 mins. of scoreless soccer was played.  The only balls that "bulged the old onion bag" were those kicked from the penalty spot.  I was trying to be a good worker so I can take a break tomorrow and watch France v Spain, but I was bored by osmosis even with the TV on in the other room.

Switzerland epitomized "The Boring Game" with the dubious distinction of becoming the first team to get knocked out of the tournament without ever giving up a goal (final penalty kicks don't count), and the first team not to score even one penalty during the penalty kick phase of overtime. 

True, this type of dull play may be what drives the interest and ratings down, but my beef is still with the dives players take (especially those Italians).  Today marked the second time I heard an announcer -- Marcello Balboa today -- discuss the "strategy" of taking a dive to get card against your opponent, or to earn a penalty kick.  Italian striker, Fabio Grosso, made a nice move to avoid the initial challenge, but instead of going to goal and possibly scoring (was a tough angle) he went all Greg Louganis.  I mean I haven't seen flopping like that since the old Bill Lambeer Detroit Pistons.

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Now that the first round is over and the round of 16 has just kicked off, it's time for my "First Round Best-Worst" list. I'm going to put my "Best Team" and prediction for this year's World Cup champ up front. I learned from my mistake of not putting my "no weapons in Iraq" prediction in print.

Best Team: Spain. That's right I said it. Forget Brazil, forget, Argentina, forget "star-studded" England. The team with the best chance to throw my prediction is Germany, a team that is playing great and has the oh-so-vital homefield advantage. However, Spain is unbeaten in their last 25 games. They have great goal scorers and a deep bench. The Wojo has spoken.

Worst Team: Togo. In effect, these guys went on strike, because they wanted 195,000 each for playing in the Cup -- more than a small fortune in a country with an average per capita income of less than $1,000. On the topic, I find it disturbing to see the Ivory Coast and Ghana offering their players relatively huge sums of money for winning matches ($20,000 a match for Ghana) How about a new hospital? Brangelina can't build them all.

Best Overused Cliche: "Tiny Trinidad and Tobago." It was fun to watch their run, to see England resort to hair pulling to beat them (the pony tail of God goal?), but thank God we are done hearing "The tiny nation of Trinidad and Tobago...Tiny Trinidad and Tobago with only 1.1 million people." I swear, everytime they touched the ball we heard this, and just look at the google results.

Worst Call: Penalty on Onyewu (USA). The horrible refereeing has been the story of this World Cup. This is the toughest category to pick a winner, errr, loser. One of the worst was a goal clearly scored by France against S. Korea that didn't count. The Keeper stopped the ball, but only after it had crossed the line. France wins 2-1 instead of a 1-1 draw, but still would've finished second in their group. The T&T v England hair pull changed that game dramatically, but Trinidad lost their next game and were headed home. These calls required the ref getting it right based on his vision, the calls against the US were pure judgement calls, and the judgement was horribly biased and wrong. Yes, Maestroni stupidly committed his foul a good 80 yards from the goal, Pope should've known the game was being called tightly and Bocanegro should've just cleared that ball against Ghana, but these calls were game changers and they all went against the US. It's no surprise that the worst call came against the US, the most hated team in the Cup (the world loves to see us lose). This time it's a German official's judgement screwing an American at Nuremberg -- revenge anyone?

Best Hot Girl: Brazilian Girl. Have you noticed that the camera guys and producers love to pick one hot girl to represent the fans of each side? Sure, there's the obligatory shot of the crazy Croatian's setting off flares in the stands, but all the close ups are the hot girls. Guess they're really trying hard to win that American audience this year. Swedish girls kissing do get an honorable mention and I distinctly remember Ukranian girl (couldn't find her pic on the web), but Brazil girl has caused many a teenage boy to reconsider that purity pledge.

Worst World Cup '06 Ritual: Players walking out holding little kids' hands. What the hell is this all about? For some reason it makes me think of the Different Strokes episode where Arnold and his friend get a bath from the weird old guy who owns the bike shope.

Best World Cup '06 Ritual: Continually showing the hot girl (see above).

Best Team Nickname: Socceroos (Australia). "Black Stars" are a pretty cool name for Ghana, but Australia's "Socceroos" wins hands down.

Worst Nickname: USA. We don't really have one. Hmmm, maybe "Shock and Awe," "Operation World Cup Storm," "Nuclear Boys, " or Bush's favorite "Crusaders."

Worst Place in NYC to Watch US Play: My apartment. I watched the Czech game and the first half of the Ghana game there. Bad news.

Best Place in NYC to Watch US Play: Stout NYC. This place was going crazy for US v Italy. This is where the die-hard fans of the New York Red Bulls, and Team USA hang when they can't make the Game. Kind of like the Sam's Army Reserve.

Worst Historical Reference in a Match: Oh, Tommy Smyth.

Best Post-War Match Up: Poland v Germany (see link above). Where's Dennis Miller when we need him.

Worst Match Up of Enemies that Didn't Happen: Serbia and Montenegro v Croatia. Yikes! USA v Iran gets honorable mention.

Best Cinderella Story: Australia. Okay, Ghana, I know...I know, but the Aussies are where the US was a few years ago, they haven't qualified in ages and the sport just isn't that big there. The difference is the team's success is making huge waves in Australia (unlike Team USA) and that comeback aganist Japan was sweeeet! Oh, and see Best Team Nickname. Plus, Russel Crowe is Cinderella Man. They're my adopted team now that the US is packing.

Worst Looking Player: Jan Koller, as mentioned here.

Best Looking Player: Pavel Nedved, dreamy.

Worst Star Player: Ronaldo. Yes, he scored two goals the other day, but he's still Fat Slow Ronaldo. Reminds me of Shawn Kemp in his Trailblazer years.

Best Star Player: Robinho. Man, he's fun to watch. Just give Ronaldo some empanadas and let Robinho start.

Worst Coach: Bruce Arena (USA). Six words for you, Bruce: Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson. Oh, and he should've been playing the Ghana game for four goals, not a 1-0 win and a hope the Italians beat the Czechs. That means a 3-4-3 lineup buddy. Hmmm, but who could be the third forward out there...Eddie Johnson!

Best Coach: Ratomir Dujkovic (Ghana). Notice they have a European coach. Time to send Arena packing.

Best Commentary: Univision. Kind of like falling in love: I don't understand it, but it makes me feel all tingly inside...Or, is that just Brazilian Girl.

Best World Cup Blog: Michael Davies blog for ESPN will make you hate him for being there, but appreciate his beer and sausage induced disasters. Plus, he seems to know a little about soccer.

Worst World Cup Blog: You're reading it!

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Pregame: The big news for me isn't anything about the players, but the TV schedule. ABC and ESPN share the games and I figured ABC would show this big game, but no, God forbid we preempt The Tony Danza show. This stuff only comes along every four years. I mean for the Olympics we have to deal with 24/7 coverage of how some 13 year old's one-legged mother had to get up at 4 AM to take her to gymnastic practice on a rickshaw, but we can't upset middle-America's morning TV schedule for the biggest sport in the world.

After the last game I have a new lucky hat I'll be wearing. Thanks Jess and Darren, I'm hoping the hat works again and carries over to Oregon's football season.

First 10 mins: Lewis gets a complete BS yellow for an incidental handball. Luckily their star Essien also received a yellow. Both teams look flat.

20th min: Except for a corner for each team, nothing much yet. Both teams look like the teams from their first games, not second.

21 min: Reyna makes a horrible -- kid's soccer -- mistake and loses the ball while going down, giving Dramani a direct line to the goal, which he pushes past Keller with ease. Reyna doesn't look good.

26th min: The news comes in that Italy is winning. Looks like this game really is for second place.

34th min: Mcbride heads a great ball down to Donovan who launches it into the stands. This is the difference between the US and the top teams in the world -- Gerrard would stick that in the net everytime. The US just doesn't put great shots on goal enough.

40th min: Reyna off for Ben Olsen. I hate this move. You're playing for everything, ditch the defensive midfielder and bring in Eddie Johnson already!

45th min: I yelled at DaMarcus Beasley for sending the ball in instead of taking it straight to goal, but what do I know. It was a beautiful pass to Dempsey who crushed a one-timer into the back of the net. We're back baby.

46th min: After my "Nuremberg" post you'd think the US would get all the calls today. Not so, perhaps the German referee Markus Merk is taking revenge. He wins the "Asshole of the Day" award after giving a ridiculous penalty on a 50/50 ball foul in the box. Easily the worst call of the Cup and the US gets screwed by the refs once again. The Ghanans are flopping all over, and Essien should have earned a second yellow for his flop in the box earlier.

47th min: Appiah predictably puts the Penalty in the net.

Halftime: Arena has his excuse for the loss after that horrific call, but let's see some offense now. Time to go all out and attack that goal. The US has never come back when being down in a Cup game. Wynalda predicts a US 3-2 win...go lucky hat!

50th min: It's after 11, so I think it's time for a drink or two, or ten. I'll try to add some notes from there. What the hell is Arena thinking? You have 40 mins. to score twice. Bring in Eddie Johnson already!

53rd min: A great ball on a short free kick for the us and somebody (maybe Demspsey) completely whiffs it on what should have been an easy header in front of goal. Just sailed over the top of his haircut. And here comes Ghana flying with a long shot and a nice save by Keller.

61st min: Finally! EJ comes on for defender Cherundolo. They just flahsed the stat that the young Johnson scored 5 goals in his first 3 games with Team USA, begging the question: where's he been for the previous games?

64th min: A dangerous first touch for Johnson. My spirits are rising a bit, or maybe it's that first beer.

66th min: Oh, man! Mcbride just drilled a header straight into the post. They still looked dangerous around goal until a horrible touch by Donovan loses the ball. He hasn't scored in the last 17 games.

68th min: Onyewu (Guch) has a good look off a corner but heads it just over the top of the net. This is much better play...damn, that weak penalty kills. And another bad offside call against the US -- been happening all day.

85th min: Hmm, it's looking bleak. Brian Convey and Eddie Johnson came in this half, but far too late. I said it at the outset and I say it again, the US needs a new coach -- preferably one from outside our borders (Europe?). Donovan makes a great run and finishes with another uninspired pass instead of shot. The guy hasn't scored a goal in a year...he plays for the frickin' LA Galaxy, uugh.

91st min: It's practically over. In these final moments, and all throughout the match, the US team didn't look like they were fighting tooth and nail. They aren't the same team that played Italy on Saturday, and don't give me that "tired" crap. They had 4 days to rest, injuries yes, fatigue no. You should be able to handle 90 mins. of play every few days at this level, unless you're fat Ronaldo.

Games Over: Suddenly, the people who went into work just like a normal Thursday seem to have made the right choice, and didn't miss much. In Ghana, they had a National holiday, but we'll wait four more years to see if Americans will ever care about soccer. I say not until the US makes it as far as the semifinals, or Angelina Jolie leaves Brad Pitt for Brian Mcbride.

The Aussie's are next, and Matt is ready for a Socceroo win (or draw).

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Michael Davies and I are both thinking about the signfigance of Nuremberg for the US v Ghana game.  One of the commentators mentioned the location when talking about Iran's first game, as if the fact that their crazy President isn't exactly first in line at the Holocaust Museum has some relevance on their team's performance.  However, it's a bit different with the US.  I mean we are about 21 and 3 at Nuremberg -- well, more like 19-3-2, which is a pretty good record.  So we have some sort of freaky, morbid homefiled advantage going.  Too soon?

A long walk spoiled

First off, I know it's the elephant in the room, but I wonder what he-who-must-not-be-named would make of this whole World Cup. Nuremberg? Weird.

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So tomorrow's US World Cup game is on at 9:55 AM. So am I an drunk if
I go to a bar that early... No, I just really love America! And if you don't join me (even you west coasters at 6:55) than I have to question who you really want to win the war. As my hero, Anne Coulter, would say, "You traitors!" Get a beer tomorrow morning and support the team... and the troops.

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Through the miracle of phone technology, I'm live-blogging the England game..live from my couch. The attached pic is a great view of Owen Hargreaves getting yellow card--great seats I know.

5th min: What a surprise, Owen is hurt again. Let the complaints about his fitness and toughness begin!

34th min: Joe Cole is damn good. He scores an amazing bending goal from about 30 yards out.

80th min: England dominated the first-half, but now look lucky to escape with a draw after a couple balls off the crossbar and one cleared off the line.

85th min: Gerrard shuts me up with another great goal. This one off his head. Joe Cole sent another great ball in. Damn he's good.

90th min: The Celtic man, Larsson, ties it up with a meaningless goal since Trinidad is losing. Meaningless except for history since England still hasn't beat Sweden in over 30 years.

Match time: England shut up the papers with their first-half play, then blew it all in the second. Look for more angry headlines in the British tabloids. That sweet "Jose +10" commercial is on; makes me wish my Spanish was better.

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Arena to refs: Show us some respect

An animated Arena was waving his arms, yelling and complaining during the match, even being asked to calm down by a Fifa official on the sidelines as he protested what he considered to be Italian players faking injuries.

Italian manager Marcelo Lippi took exception to the complaint but kept his thoughts to himself after the match.

"I have no comment about what Mr Arena says about us," Lippi said. "I have things to say about his people, but I’m not doing it."

Yeah, you better keep your mouth shut.  There's no FAKING on the US side, but it is par for the course with the Italians.  Oh, except for Mcbride, he was totally faking...

Scientists have worked for years trying to figure out why Americans just don't care about soccer....football.  The obvious answer is that we sucked and didn't make the World Cup from 1950-90.  40 years of losing will do that to you.  However, we have the world's largest youth soccer program.  That doesn't always translate into kids sticking with it.  I was one of those genius who wanted to play American Football with the cool kids, "I'll grow up to be about 5'10, 150; football is the way to go!" 

While there are several factors, the one that turns me off the sport is players constantly taking dives.  The Italians are notorious, it's a normal part of the game in South America.  Of course, half the times a player dives in the box trying to get the call, he could have actually scored if he just stayed on his feet.  We are not watching soccer because there aren't enough red and yellow cards for hard fouls, but because there aren't enough for diving.  FIFA aimed to clean up the game by focusing on dangerous tackles from behind, but despite some talk, they've ignored the cheating which often makes the game unbearable for us fair minded Yanks.

It's hard enough for us to get the arbitrary nature of the clock, or ball placement for a free kick, but when plain and simple cheating, like the "Hand of God" goal become celebrated legend, something is wrong with the sport.  If you doubt this characteristic of the American sports watcher, just witness the anger leveled at Barry Bonds and baseball's steroid boys.  Take the melodrama out of soccer...football, and you might find a lot more American's calling in sick in 2010.

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