Listen to Andrés Cantor call Landon Donovan’s Goal
Even if you don’t know a word of Spanish, Cantor’s signature “GOOOOLLL” is familiar around the world.
Nice win for the USA. I’ll see you Sat at 2 PM!
Clinton, Bocanegra, & Budweiser
Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals
The World Cup Group draft has been drawn and the next round of tickets for the 2006 FIFA World Cup games go on sale Dec. 12th. There are a few surprises and for the USA, as we were drafted into a very tough Group. Every Cup there is one group of the toughest teams, labeled “The Group of Death”. The soccer public is already labeling Group C with Argentina as this years toughest group, however, with the The USA drawn into Group E; up against two of the top European nations in Italy and the Czech Republic as well as one of the legitimate African nations to qualify in Ghana, this is out Group of Death.
Of these four teams in Group E, three are currently in the top 12 of FIFA’s World Rankings. The fourth, Ghana, has been a youth power for years and is finally realizing its potential. Italy has won the World Cup three times. Italy and the Czech Republic’s predecessors, Czechoslovakia, have combined for four World Cup final losses and 50 total World Cup victories. These two teams will have as close of a home field advantage as you can get, having the games based in Germany this year.
The US has failed misserably in European based World Cups, with a 0-6 record and only scoring just three goals in that span. They’ll need to do some extrodinary work to be cometitive this year.
Mark your 2006 Calendars. The U.S. opens the World Cup with a June 12 match against the Czech Republic in Dortmund. Five days later, the U.S. battle Italy in Kaiserslautern. Here is the rest of the draw:
GROUP A
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador
GROUP B
England
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden
GROUP C
Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia and Montenegro
The Netherlands
GROUP D
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal
GROUP E
Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic
GROUP F
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan
GROUP G
France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo
GROUP H
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia
Stay posted here:
Official FIFA World Cup 2006
Fediration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
US-World Spirit
June 30th: Brazil!!! Brazil!!! ohhh Brazil!!
I don’t think any other single sport catches a country’s spirit than the FIFA World Cup. World Cup football is the most watched sport in global athletic competition “The 64 matches were watched by a total television audience estimated at 36 billion, an average of more than 550 million per game. The final alone attracted two billion viewers, roughly a third of the planet.” Brazil took this match up from Germany by a score of 2-0. The three R’s and most notably Ronaldo (scoring 12 goals, a tournament best) took the Brazilan team back to victory.
I watched what I could of the cup this year but being played in Korea it was a little touch to make those 3 am games. I did watch the final match up and was a lil disappointed in Kahn’s mistakes but the better team won this battle. I was very shocked at USA’s run at the title and at the same time disappointed in our country’s lack of support for the team. Both in public and via televised broadcast. This years coverage quite simply sucked. The commentators Jack Edwards and Ty Keough lack the ability to accurately call the strategy, play by play and even terminology of the sport. As one fello blogger put’s it:
A few of the terms/words I’d never before heard used during a game of football:
Generating some offense…
Climbing the ladder… (going up for a header)
Assists (this isn’t basketball/hockey)
Score! (again, this isn’t hockey)
Quinn, playing in the low post…
The red zone (presumably the 18 yard box)
PK (penalty kick, just call it a penalty please)
A foul called on X player (meaning X fouled Y instead of the other way around)
I must agree with many here that even the cutting off of the trophy ceremony was a discrace of the game. You know a network would never do this during the NBA or Super Bowl finals. Read more: The cup on ABC: Gotta Go!
And so where’s the face painted American’s, the red/white/blue fountains, the parties in the streets…huh? do we even care about global sports…humm…guess not…look at the week coverage of the Olympics….guess we’re too busy making money off the stock market…oop…
As far as spirt this is what I’m talking about:
World Cup Links
World Cup home page
Sport’s Illustrated World Cup Coverage
A Brief History of World cup