soccer10k

I don't know if any of you have heard of a rapper named Murs but... "I know a man's not a man if he has to beat his woman." Amen to that line.

Agreed. I think it's just the shadows in the picture.

Here is the Round of 16 schedule. All games times are listed in Pacific Time. The winners of each game on one day will play eachother in the Quarterfinals (i.e. Germany/Sweden v Argentina/Mexico). Saturday June 24 Germany v Sweden 8 AM on ABC Argentina v Mexico 12 PM on ESPN Sunday June 25 England v Ecuador 8 AM on ABC Portugal v Netherlands 12 PM on ESPN Monday June 26 Italy v Australia 8 AM on ESPN Switzerland v Ukraine 12 PM on ESPN * Tuesday June 27 Brazil v Ghana 8 AM on ESPN Spain v France 12 PM on ESPN * * I'm not comletely sure on which channel these two games are being televised. On soccernet it doesn't list a channel but on ESPN.com's tv listings it says both are on ESPN. EDIT: Here is an actual bracket for the remainder of the tournament so you can see potential games.

I looked online and it appears that South America would host the 2014 World Cup (likely Brazil). I couldn't really find anything after that though.

Final Group G Standings Team W D L P GS GA GD Switzerland 2 1 0 7 4 0 4 France 1 2 0 5 3 1 2 South Korea 1 1 1 4 3 4 -1 Togo 0 0 3 0 1 6 -5 Switzerland and France advance. I'll post Round of 16 matchups and dates later tonight.

10 of the 18 World Cups have been played on European soil so it's likely that the US will (assuming they qualify) play 2 World Cups in Europe by 2026. I agree that Bruce Arena has been extremely important to US soccer in the past but I believe that the phrase is "what have you done for me lately?" Bruce Arena was perfect for the team in the past but I don't think he is right now. While I agree the draw was very tough, I think the main problem was the US's #5 (and #4 at one point) FIFA world ranking. I know it's not their fault that they were ranked higher than they were. But it's the media's fault for misinterpreting this. The media saw the high ranking and assumed that the US was good enough to make it out of this group and made it seem like a foregone conclusion. The media ignored the fact that the FIFA rankings take into account a countries previous 8 years of internation competition. This will be dropped to the previous 4 years in July 2006 though. Had the US been accurately ranked, likely somewhere in the teens and therefore behind Italy, there wouldn't have been nearly as much hype surrounding the team. EDIT: I agree that a 2-8 record wouldn't help a ton, it would be much better than beating up on CONCACAF teams all the time. That doesn't help us either.

It's just FIFA attempting to stick up for it's referees. Just like FIFA saying that the referees have been right in handing out all the yellow cards. It's ridiculous and everybody knows it but FIFA.

Link So they're trying to tell us that a blatent elbow to the face is only worth one more game than a hard slide tackle? Please. FIFA needs to pull their heads out of their rears and learn how to call a game and hand out suspensions. De Rossi shouldn't be available for the rest of the tournament. Written apology or not, he shouldn't be available to play in a World Cup until 2010. As for Mastroeni, that shouldn't have even been a red card let alone a three game suspension. This is such a joke. If the US-Italy match would have been refereed by the same guy that did the Brazil-Japan match, I guarantee the USA would have played the whole second half up a man. Pope wouldn't have received his first yellow and Mastroeni would have only received a yellow. FIFA is full of so much crap it's not even funny. And I am now furious.

Final Group H Standings Team W D L P GS GA GD Spain 3 0 0 9 8 1 7 Ukraine 2 0 1 6 5 4 1 Tunisia 0 1 2 1 3 6 -3 Saudi Arabia 0 1 2 1 2 7 -5 Spain and Ukraine advance. It turns out the Ukraine isn't that weak after all.

Normally I would say, why even fire the manager during a lost season, but in Baker's case we should. If he is allowed to have a couple more months with the young Cubs players, he can only ruin them even more. Hendry needs to fire him as soon as he's made the decision. Obviously if it was up to people on this board Baker would be fired already but we aren't Hendry.

I thought I said something like this earlier in this thread but couldn't find it. But that's beside the point. I couldn't agree with you more on this point. The US team obviously has a problem playing in Europe. So what do you do when you have a problem getting better at something? You practice more. The US can't win in Europe so play more games in Europe. It's a simple solution. I don't care about all that travel from the US and all of that BS. You just tell the players that if they don't agree to show up for a certain number of matches, that they won't be eligible for the next World Cup. I'm sure there will be teams looking to have friendlies right before Euro 2008 so the US should schedule those. Play the role of Morocco to Italy and Germany. The only good team in CONCACAF is Mexico, but playing them all the time isn't going to help because they don't play the same style as the European teams and, since we see them all the time, there are no surprises. Something has to change and it has to change now. I would much rather go 2-8 in friendlies in 2007 with every game played in Europe than go 8-2 and not play any European teams in Europe. It's called gaining experience.

Lots of Bynum and Neifi!!! Oh boy!!! Hopefully that will mean Cedeno on the field as well though. Lineup (in no particular order just the players) 1B Todd Walker 2B Tony Womack 3B Neifi Perez SS Ronny Cedeno LF Freddie Bynum RF Jacque Jones CF Juan Pierre C Hank White DH Phil Nevin

Is there a way I can edit my poll to include this option?

Neifi Perez and Glendon Rusch would be required to make the ASG every single year.

Self explanatory. On one hand we have a Cy Young pitcher. On the other hand we have a rookie pitcher that has made 5 career starts.

Pedro = The Winner

I voted for Slappy for basically the same reason. Neifi doesn't deserve to be traded, he should be DFA so I couldn't vote for him.

Nope. What happened? it's a good example of how incredible soccer can be. And I only saw highlights. It was an excellent game. Brazil finally looked like the team everybody expected them to be. And don't be fooled by Japan's goal, it was their first shot of the game and it came after Brazil had already made the Japanese keeper make a couple good saves. I knew it was all a matter of time before Brazil put a couple in. I didn't expect 4 though. EDIT: Oh yeah, and there were only 2 yellow cards handed out in the entire match. It's amazing what happens when a referee let's the teams play. And believe me, there were a couple hard fouls that other referees would have given cards for but this referee didn't.

When they come sprinting back on the field two minutes are they were rolling around on the ground for two minutes, give them a card. You don't see how impossible that is to enforce? You can't determine how hurt a player is and then do something as serious as card them for it. How about the player cannot come back onto the field for 15 minutes? That would discourage the diving and stretchers. 15 minutes is a little steep for me. I would suggest 5 minutes because that is enough time to give the opposing team the advantage for a little while. I definately wouldn't be opposed to a rule like this though.

Not Wood. Please do not include Wood in the plans for next year. And this is not just directed at you srbin, but everybody, that includes you, Jim Hendry. I'm not necessarily saying to not resign Wood, just don't include him in the plans for next year. We've depended on his health for far too long and it's time to stop. He should be done with the Cubs, but that another thread altogether.

Time to post the games for Friday June 23. We will have the final group stage games for both Groups G and H. Here are the current standings: Group G Team W D L P GS GA GD Switzerland 1 1 0 4 2 1 2 South Korea 1 1 0 4 3 2 1 France 0 2 0 2 1 1 0 Togo 0 0 2 0 1 4 -3 France v Togo 12 PM PT ESPN Switzerland v South Korea 12 PM PT ESPN 2 Switzerland wins the group with a victory or a tie and a France loss or tie but will advance will a loss and a France loss or tie. South Korea wins the group with a victory but will advance with a tie or a loss and a France loss or tie (for both cases). France advances with a victory and either a Switzerland or South Korea loss. Togo has been eliminated. If Switzerland ties South Korea and France wins there will be a three way tie for first place and I have absolutely no idea what would happen. Group H Team W D L P GS GA GD Spain 2 0 0 6 7 1 6 Ukraine 1 0 1 3 4 4 0 Tunisia 0 1 1 1 3 5 -2 Saudi Arabia 0 1 1 1 2 6 -4 Saudi Arabia v Spain 7 AM PT ESPN Ukraine v Tunisia 7 AM PT ESPN 2 Spain has already advance but can win the group with a victory or a tie or a loss and a Ukraine loss or tie. Ukraine can advance with a victory or a tie and a Saudi Arabia loss or tie or with a loss and a Saudi Arabia loss or tie. Tunisia can advance with a victory and a Saudi Arabia loss or tie. Saudi Arabia could advance with a victory and either a Tunisia victory or a Ukraine tie but that would be on goal differential. The winner of Group G will play the runner up of Group H (and vice versa) in the Round of 16.

Final Group F Standings Team W D L P GS GA GD Brazil 3 0 0 9 7 1 6 Australia 1 1 1 4 3 3 0 Croatia 0 2 1 2 3 3 -1 Japan 0 1 2 1 2 7 -5 Brazil and Australia advance.

HAHAHAHA. On Saturday the Cubs will be facing a guy named Boof. Is it his first start? I've heard a lot about him. Nope. Link

Who cares, the confusion was entertaining. I agree. Tommy Smyth is hilarious.

"How many cards can you get unless it's Christmas time or something?" - Tommy Smyth after Simunic got what seemed to be his third yellow card of the match.