Spain 1 Netherlands 0 (aet)
2010 World Cup Final
Sunday 11 July 2010 | Soccer City Stadium | Johannesburg, South Africa
Spain joined 'the club' on Sunday, leaving the Dutch still longing for a smoking jacket and ascot.
Continue reading "The badge now has a star" »
Spain 1 Germany 0
2010 World Cup Semi Finals
Wednesday 7 July 2010 | Moses Mabhida Stadium | Durban, South Africa
Spain stuck to their guns - constructed with velvet handles and cold steel barrels - while Germany never got their game on. It resulted in a win for La Roja that could be described as perfection.
Continue reading "Spanish perfection" »
Holland 3 Uruguay 2
2010 World Cup Semi Finals
Tuesday 6 July 2010 | Green Point Stadium | Cape Town, South Africa
This one didn't have the Shakespearean drama of the two previous quarter-final matches - Uruguay v Ghana and Spain v Paraguay - but it was well-played nontheless. This evenly-played match between two sides of high quality with discipline featured two captains, each scoring on thunderstrikes from long distances, of sides desperately trying to reach their third World Cup final.
Continue reading "Trying to make the third time a Dutch charm" »
Spain 1 Paraguay 0
2010 World Cup Quarter Finals
Saturday 3 July 2010 | Ellis Park Stadium | Johannesburg, South Africa
Two minutes of madness and two moments of brilliance is what will go forth from this match in the annals of World Cup history.
When Paraguayan forward Oscar Cardozo stood over the ball at the penalty spot in the 57th minute of a scoreless contest, no one could have predicted the sheer chaotic madness that was about to fill the following two minutes. The two moments of brilliance that occurred much later in the match were more predictable, but no less amazing in this memorable match.
Continue reading "Patience, madness and brilliance" »
Germany 4 Argentina 0
2010 World Cup Quarter Finals
Saturday 3 July 2010 | Cape Town Stadium | Cape Town, South Africa
Germany's squad came into this World Cup as boys. They now go forth to the semi-finals as men.
The Argentinians went the way of the English, exposed as being not good enough for this stage of the biggest tournament in the world. The Germans sliced and carved apart Maradona's Men in the second half by defending like a steel wall and then sending waves of black-shirted jungen toward goal.
Continue reading "Deutsch Freude" »
Uruguay 1 Ghana 1 (aet, 4-2 pen)
2010 World Cup Quarter Finals
Friday 2 July 2010 | Soccer City | Johannesburg, South Africa
Nothing is easy on the continent of Africa. This match reinforced that fact to the entire world of sport.
Continue reading "Death by cruel and unusual punishment" »
Holland 2 Brazil 1
2010 World Cup Quarter Finals
Friday 2 July 2010 | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium | Port Elizabeth, South Africa
It was a simple, almost harmless, if not hopeful floater that Wesley Sneijder offered to the Brazilian goalmouth in the 53rd minute. The problem for Brazil was that, in attempting to clear, goalkeeper Julio Cesar collided with his teammate Felipe Melo and the ball just barely glanced off of the back of Melo’s head into the goal.
Continue reading "Dunga's Brazil is dead" »
Spain 1 Portugal 0
2010 World Cup Round of 16
Tuesday 29 June 2010 | Green Point Stadium | Cape Town, South Africa
Portugal had given up only three goals in their last 16 matches (11 wins and 5 draws), and none in this World Cup. Spain had won 14 of their 15 since the loss to the United States in the 2009 Confederations Cup.
To say the least, this was a tasty matchup.
Continue reading "Connoisseur's delight" »
Ghana 2 United States 1 (aet)
2010 World Cup Round of 16
Saturday 26 June 2010 | Royal Bafokeng Stadium | Rustenburg, South Africa
The United States ran out of late-stage heroics Saturday in Rustenburg. They gave a performance high on effort but low on quality when it counted.
Continue reading "The aftermath of reliance on brute force" »
Celtic 0 Arsenal 2
2009-10 UEFA Champions League, Playoff Round
Tuesday 18 August 2009 | Celtic Park | Glasgow, Scotland
Since watching European football over the years, I've developed my favorite venues based solely on the feeling I get while watching matches on television.
Continue reading "A European night north of Hadrian’s Wall" »
Mexico 2 USA 1
2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification, CONCACAF Fourth Round
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Estadio Azteca | Mexico City, Mexico
After our B-side got soundly pounded and embarrassed 5-0 by our southern neighbor in the final of the Gold Cup last month in New Jersey, our Country's best today made the trip down to the Ninth Circle of World Cup Qualifying Hell – Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Continue reading "What were you expecting, revenge?" »
Oh, the carnage! Material was plentiful for future notes to be posted on the visitor’s dressing room bulletin board prior to the next meeting of Chelsea and Manchester United on Sunday November 8 at Stamford Bridge.
Can’t wait.
Continue reading "FA Community Shield postscript" »
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 2 (4-1 pen)
England FA Community Shield
Sunday 9 August 2009 | Wembley Stadium | London, England
I was out to dinner with the Misses late last night after watching Julie and Julia, a new Hollywood release about a young woman's use of her idolization of Julia Child to get out of her personal rut, and I was thinking to myself – are you going to get up at a quarter-to-seven to watch another dreadfully tepid pre-season football match known as the FA Community Shield?
Continue reading "Be safe - always tape... but know what you're doing" »
The final of Confederations Cup, generally relegated to just a dress rehearsal for the host country for the following year’s World Cup, turned out to be an improbable matchup involving a USA squad that not only got out of their Group in the most improbable of circumstances, but shocked the world by defeating the number one ranked team in the world, Spain, in the semi-finals to advance to have the privilege of playing the world’s most successful team.
Continue reading "When is a big lead not enough? When you play Brazil" »