USSoccer

Cleveland has a pretty good pass defense (9th in the league). And I don't think the Bears will be able to take Cutler out if he's ineffective. Not an ego thing, but simply because you have to win out to get in. Messing around at QB is a good way to lose. The right choice has to be made at the start of the game. Oh and I agree, Cutler struggling isn't likely in this offense. He didn't struggle when he was healthy. And worst case, you give him the easy throws McCown has had and he does similar. I don't even see why this is an issue. One of the quarterbacks is more talented than the other, and the offense was productive with him. It's not like Cutler can't make those throws, and if turnovers are the issue....look at his INTs this year. The @Detroit game was the only one with picks that were idiotic throws. The others were all tipped or bobbled by a wideout.

You can always put McCown back in if Cutler is ineffective. Which he won't be. And re: turnovers, McCown, in the last 2 weeks, committed a terrible turnover in Minnesota late (and couldn't get a 3rd down conversion to save his life), and had 3 INTs dropped/called back by penalites last night by an absolutely pathetic Dallas defense. When the field gets compact, McCown doesn't have the arm strength to make the necessary throws. And average-and-above defenses aren't going to leave our wideouts uncovered in the end zone like Dallas did. If anyone on the staff really thinks the Bears can sneak in and make a run, you need Cutler back in there. And against Cleveland is the perfect game to let him shake the rust off.

What the hell, by the way, got into Saborio tonight? He could have been tossed twice.

What a game. SKC is lucky that Palmer hit his off the bar; Rimando is an actual soccer player. Neilsen would have tripped over his own feet trying to score.

The Portugal game in Manaus was moved from 2pm to 5pm CDT due to concerns about the heat in the middle of the rainforest.

Basically, Germany are going to win those first two games. We want Germany winning those first two games by as many goals as possible. Getting Portugal into a negative goal difference off the bat will be huge. We want Portugal to go into our game with them needing a win. That game is in a stadium literally in the fricking jungle at 2pm. It's going to be a 90 degrees with 90% humidity, and it'll probably rain. That slows that game down. We have six months to prep for a team that isn't as good as they were four years ago, when we nearly beat them with an exhausted team starting Robbie Findley and Rico Clark. Beat Ghana. Draw Portugal. Go into the 3rd match with 4 points and goal differential on your side and you probably advance so long as Germany doesn't blast us into oblivion-but them winning their first two games means they probably won't be going balls out in the third. That's how we advance. W-D-DontGetCrushed. Against Ghana: Midfield must control tempo. Our backline must make fewer mistakes than theirs. We do that, we win. Against Portugal: Shut Moutinho down. He's the engine. Do that, and you shut down CR7's supply line. He gets frustrated. When he gets frustrated against competent opposition, he tries to win the game 1v10. Keep our shape. Don't get pulled out of position. We do that, we can get a result Against Germany: Don't go into that game needing to win.

This match is on Sunday, June 22nd. Yeah, I screwed that up. Fixed. 6 days between game 1 and 2, and 4 between 2 and 3. That works.

I'm okay with it too. We owe them, and our players know it.

Thankfully our team is used to travelling distances.

Monday 6/16 @ 5pm v Ghana at Estadio das Dunas (Natal) Sunday 6/22 @ 3pm v Portugal at Arena Amazonia (Manuas) Thursday 6/26 @ 12pm v Germany at Arena Pernambuco (Recife) All times CDT

Ghana are slow starters. We can win that opening game. We won't be playing them exhausted or short any players thanks to suspension. We can beat them. And we can draw or beat Portugal. The order is our friend.

Thanks to the scheduling, better than they could have been, but still bad.

Wonderful. Wonderful.

Just watch; we're going to get England and the dream will be complete.

I hate being right. ETA: At least we open against Ghana.

Great. [expletive].

My prediction of Germany and Ghana is 50% complete...

Forget C, now. GIVE ME E.

E or C, please...

Does that lovable tramp travelling through World Cups past have a name?

Swiss group or GTFO

And that settles that. They met in the middle.

He wasn't a no-name rapper from Brooklyn when he did it, but I digress. I don't think he's an idiot, but I think its silly to think him succeeding as a sports agent was some fait accompli. It's a field full of weirdly diverse personalities and agendas, and all sorts of stupidity abounds. It's not as simple as just applying your knowledge from one side of business to another; look how well that's working out for #poortomricketts. That said, Seattle will probably sign Cano anyway, since they're still offering more than anyone else is, and I'm sure their President will have calmed down from his temper tantrum enough to go back to one of their two previous offers.

He was actually not the first artist to do that with Island; U2 did it in 1991 or 1992. That's the same deal, by the way, that the Rolling Stones have had for years, which is why they get massive advances when they change labels every few years, because those labels then get to issue the entire catalog and not just the future releases. So that isn't some sort of amazing thing he did. Very successful artists usually end up owning the rights to their work, because they have the leverage to demand it. Based on the account of events refernced, the $25m for 9 years was already bumped up from their original offer. He came in and overplayed his hand. It has nothing to do with him being a rapper and everything to do with being unqualified to handle this kind of negotiation.