As has been tradition, the inaugural game of the world cup features the host country.
Brazil vs. Croatia caps off the next month of the world's wildest, longest celebration.
I'm not going to go on a diatribe about how I know what will happen based on whatever metrics the analysts have drawn up. Personally, I think Brazil will tie Croatia, eventually crushing Mexico and handily defeating the quick Cameroonians to move past the group stages.
But that's my subjective, non-professional opinion.
What I love about the World Cup is the hype. It gets me going. I'm an active person, but I WANT to sit on a couch or go the bars with my friends and celebrate all day, every day.
Who doesn't?
Hell, my friends in Brazil tell me school is on permanent holiday until Brazil is knocked out of the tournament.
America, you can learn something from these Brazilians.
What I like most, though, is how everyone is re-exposed to the fact that soccer players are perhaps the fittest athletes on the planet. The average midfielder runs over 7 miles (11km) per game. Even LeBron (only) runs 2 miles per 48 minutes.
That's amidst the strategic planning of when and for how long to use explosive bursts of energy, knowing there are only 3 subs per game.
All this makes me want to go out and run 7 miles -- or at least a mile for every beer I expect to consume in the next 24 hours (I'm a lightweight, go easy).
It's similar to March Madness, America's 68-team college basketball tournament, during which I'm compelled to go ball out at the gym. Or alone shooting 1000 buzzer-beaters in my driveway.
Not on Wii Sports, or Sports Rivals or whatever. Digital only goes so far.
So please, take the time to go out and exercise. Your fútbol watching experience will be so much more invigorating; the drunk will be better, the food tastier, the friends more wholesome.
And if you haven't, check out John Leary's rant on how corrupt FIFA has become and will continue to be. Definitely worth the 13 minutes while you shotgun the last of your beers and take the first of many shots of tequila.
Let the games begin.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Wizards, Orioles, and the World Cup
I'll be brutally honest here, after the Wizards' collapse in the playoffs, I haven't really been too into the sporting world.
Sure the NBA Playoffs continued, but watching the Conference Finals -- East or West -- would have been a waste of my time. Spurs vs. Heat has been the storyline the whole season.
This year's path was very familiar. The Heat rolled through the East, while the Spurs got off to a shaky first round start but turned up when it mattered, ending OKC's season in an OT Game 6.
My take on it all? Spurs in 7. Duncan deserves 5, the guy ages slower than an orca whale. LeBron will get his with whoever he ends up with in the coming seasons, but the Spurs are walking with their best snowshoes on thinning ice.
In the MLB, my Orioles are hanging in there, as Baltimore fans have come to (expect?) the last few seasons. The League's most dangerous player -- Nelson Cruz -- drives in runs seemingly every night. Through 55 games, he has 55 RBI and 21 HRs, on pace for 162 and 62, respectively.
And yet, it's not holding my interest.
I'm waiting for the World Cup, where friends are made and memories are forged.
I can vividly the past 3 World Cups; where I was, who I was with, what I had for breakfast. For the USA this year, I'm actually more hopeful than most. The squad plays better when it has nothing to lose, as is the case in the Group of Death this year.
Ghana.
Portugal.
Germany.
Each nation's strengths vastly overpower the USA's weaknesses. But again, I remain hopeful. I'm used to seeing 40% -- sloppy -- possession with maybe a handful of scoring opportunities per match.
This time around, the tides have changed. We generate attacks from the back line and give support to our strikers, rather than leaving them with a 2v6 all game.
We create chances, we just can't finish.
This is a problem I embrace.
Chances are, someone will go LeBron and put these opportunities away, so long as they continue to occur.
Thursday, June 12 marks the start, when host Brazil takes on Croatia. The USA must wait until Monday, June 16 to meet up with Ghana, a tantalizing foe in both 2006 and 2010. Ghana handed the USA a group stage 2-1 defeat in 2006, and punched the Stars & Stripes in the gut and out of the tournament in the 2010 round of 16, again 2-1, in extra time.
I see USA going 1-1-1:
Ghana: 2-0, USA
Portugal: 3-1, Portugal
Germany: 1-1
This next week will be a long one...
Sure the NBA Playoffs continued, but watching the Conference Finals -- East or West -- would have been a waste of my time. Spurs vs. Heat has been the storyline the whole season.
This year's path was very familiar. The Heat rolled through the East, while the Spurs got off to a shaky first round start but turned up when it mattered, ending OKC's season in an OT Game 6.
My take on it all? Spurs in 7. Duncan deserves 5, the guy ages slower than an orca whale. LeBron will get his with whoever he ends up with in the coming seasons, but the Spurs are walking with their best snowshoes on thinning ice.
In the MLB, my Orioles are hanging in there, as Baltimore fans have come to (expect?) the last few seasons. The League's most dangerous player -- Nelson Cruz -- drives in runs seemingly every night. Through 55 games, he has 55 RBI and 21 HRs, on pace for 162 and 62, respectively.
And yet, it's not holding my interest.
I'm waiting for the World Cup, where friends are made and memories are forged.
I can vividly the past 3 World Cups; where I was, who I was with, what I had for breakfast. For the USA this year, I'm actually more hopeful than most. The squad plays better when it has nothing to lose, as is the case in the Group of Death this year.
Ghana.
Portugal.
Germany.
Each nation's strengths vastly overpower the USA's weaknesses. But again, I remain hopeful. I'm used to seeing 40% -- sloppy -- possession with maybe a handful of scoring opportunities per match.
This time around, the tides have changed. We generate attacks from the back line and give support to our strikers, rather than leaving them with a 2v6 all game.
We create chances, we just can't finish.
This is a problem I embrace.
Chances are, someone will go LeBron and put these opportunities away, so long as they continue to occur.
Thursday, June 12 marks the start, when host Brazil takes on Croatia. The USA must wait until Monday, June 16 to meet up with Ghana, a tantalizing foe in both 2006 and 2010. Ghana handed the USA a group stage 2-1 defeat in 2006, and punched the Stars & Stripes in the gut and out of the tournament in the 2010 round of 16, again 2-1, in extra time.
I see USA going 1-1-1:
Ghana: 2-0, USA
Portugal: 3-1, Portugal
Germany: 1-1
This next week will be a long one...
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