sethuel1

About how long of an El trip is the Marriot from Wrigley, do you know? Don't take the El the whole way. Get off the blue line at the Addison stop and take the Addison bus to the ballpark. Give yourself 45 minutes to an hour

SKGDSFKJGWERATW12312DFAT!

I have to get ready for a wedding, but I can't miss this extra time....

Agreed. I think he, Gooch, Spector and Gibbs are pretty much the defensive core we can expect in 4 years. Oh, and McBride has hinted he's retiring too. No love for Cherundolo? sure, why not. Add him in there.

Why half-time? Janet Jackson didn't perform? You didn't watch the game, did you?

To play devil's advocate, who else would/should take that band? Also, for a fun exercise, how about separating who we can pretty much guarantee will not be around for South Africa. Keller Reyna McBride Hahnemann Pope? Lewis? Berhalter? Would that make Howard the only keeper with any Caps? Does Thornton(who will be 37 in 2010) have any? Eddie Lewis or McBride would have made better captains. I can tell you for certain that Reyna, McB, Pope, Lewis, Wolff, Berhalter, Bocanegra, and Hahnemann won't be there. I'm not convinced Keller won't have an outside shot at being on the roster. Why wouldn't Bocanegra be there? Agreed. I think he, Gooch, Spector and Gibbs are pretty much the defensive core we can expect in 4 years. Oh, and McBride has hinted he's retiring too.

How about Advocaat (currently Korea's coach)? These Dutch guys know how to work with the kids. He used to coach the Dutch national side, and played in the US before. or a Brazilian, to give us some frickin' creativity. god knows we need it.

Nope. What happened? it's a good example of how incredible soccer can be. And I only saw highlights.

What happens if you take a boot to a delicate region? You're going to be damaged enough to possibly leave the field, but 15 minutes? True true...I like the suggestion above me though. 5 mintues should be a more reasonable time I think. 15 minutes is a bit too harsh, that's a third of the half. I was about to suggest something similar, only instead of the 5/15 minute penalty I was going to suggest the player be removed for the rest of the game, kind of a forced substitution. (Though I don't think that a sub due to injury should count against a team's total for the game.) This world cup is the first soccer I've ever watched, and I must say I find the number of players who spend 25% of the game writhing around in the grass quite annoying. Right now it sits somewhere between pro (American) football and hockey on the list of sports I enjoy watching. Did you watch the Brazil-Japan game today?

Check this picture out: http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/images/bs060617wej35.jpg

I was so pissed off at halftime that my buddy asked me if I was gonna be ok or if I had to leave the bar.

I'll impart some wisdom on Landon Donovan. "get the hell off this team! Go to Europe, learn to play again, then come back and I might give you a roster spot."

I echo most of your sentiments, but want to add a few things. First of all, can anyone defend the coaching decisions of Bruce Arena? I have always been a suporter, but the lineups, the in game decisions and the strategies were all wrong. One forward setups are terrible. You neutralize the skills of McBride by leaving him up there alone. When I look at the good teams in the cup, I notice one thing, they all have one or two very creative, attacking midfielder. We don't have that. Additionally, could we be any less of a threat on set pieces and conversely, could we be any worse at defending them? Not likely. I would love to see Juergen Klinsmann coach this team to South Africa. This will all be for naught, however, if we cannot come up with a more creative attack and get better on set plays. I still have faith in the future of US Soccer (the team and the NSBB poster :) ), but this was embarrassing. Arena tied the hands of Beasley this whole tournament. The first game he played him on his off-wing. The second game he came in as a sub and played admirably. Today he played him in the middle, where Beasley was supposed to hold the ball. Are you kidding me? The guy weighs 120 pounds soaking wet. He gave it a good shot though, and did a pretty good job of tracking back, and a decent job of holding the ball considering his size. Nevertheless, he was completely out of his element. But that's not his fault. he showed some decent heart today, which is a lot more than i can say for.... Donovan is total, total crap. Crap, crap crap. Crappity crappity crap. Super-duper mondo crap. Crap of the nth degree. Massive, have-to-change-my-pants crap. Johnson and Convey were terrible coming in as subs. olson was actually decent. I was surprised. however, his presence today means that John O'Brien is actually deceased. Oh well. Reyna was dispossessed completely legally, and should be smacked in the face for it with a wet hankie. That was a terrible penalty call. I will never again see a german dentist. Ghana are screwed vs. Brazil. Hooray for Australia.

I am going to be standing in line at Ginger's Ale House when it opens an hour before the start of the game. USA! USA! Clap, clap. Clap, clap, clap. Clap, clap, clap, clap, US!

Yes, I agree that the WBC crowds are leaps and bounds ahead of the World Cup crowds. Are you people on crack? The World Cup is the LARGEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD. Everyone in the stands sings, chants and screams for the full 90 minutes, and usually for several hours beforehand and afterward (the winners, anyway) as well. Absolutely nothing compares to a World Cup crowd. Nothing. No comparison. World Cup crowds would drown out the space shuttle liftoff.

I mostly agree with you. A couple things: Amoah is the starting forward that isn't banned. Appiah is the other midfielder you're thinking of. The one that looks like a tank and runs people over. Plays in Turkey. And before that he played for Juve. he's learned well. With Pope and Mastro out, I put Conrad and O'Brien in. Same lineup as before, which is basically a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-3-1. I think. I'm not really sure what we've been playing, to be honest. Unless O'Brien isn't fit, in which case I'd put Eddie Lewis into a midfield role. Unless we think Reyna can play Mastro's ballwinning tough guy role, but I don't think he can. Then again, I don't think Lewis can either. And he's be on the same side as Convey, and we all know how that worked last time. basically I hope O'Brien can play. I do know that we need 4 at the back. I hope to god these suspensions don't mean Berhalter sees the field, because that's simply not acceptable. I miss Gibbs. Ghana is overconfident. We have to hit them early, I totally agree with that.

*Additionally, Scottish men paint their faces blue, wear skirts and roar a lot. From personal experience with Scots, the roaring part actually is true.

Thank you?Somehow, that just doesn't convey what I'm thinking. You're welcome.

You have to explain Scots in terms of the movie Braveheart. otherwise we Americans won't understand.

Thank you?

I will earmark August 2nd. I will earmark it because it's the day after August 1st, which is the 10th anniversary of 70's night at Wrigley Field. I still need to find an outfit, by the way.

Disagree. Owen has not been playing up to snuff the entire time, now that England can call up someone new, they will have a full-time striker. Not disagreeing with you, just curious. Who else do they have as options besides Crouch and Rooney? And what do you mean by "call up" - can they drop Owen from the team and bring in somebody else. They can't. They could've before the tournament started, but now that it has they've only got the roster they have. The 4 forwards thing was really, really, really, really dumb. Especially when 2 of them are already injured and 1 of them is twelve and was obviously not going to get playing time. I thought they could call up another player, with the rule that Owen couldn't play again for the rest of the tourney. I don't think so. Only before the actual games start can you do that, IIRC. Makes it all the more dumb that Walcott is on the roster.

I think this will be my last post in Game Threads for a while. It's just not worth it.

Media travel. Never underestimate the power of hundreds of reporters complaining about something. BS. It's so that an underdog team has a better shot at an upset.

Disagree. Owen has not been playing up to snuff the entire time, now that England can call up someone new, they will have a full-time striker. Not disagreeing with you, just curious. Who else do they have as options besides Crouch and Rooney? And what do you mean by "call up" - can they drop Owen from the team and bring in somebody else. They can't. They could've before the tournament started, but now that it has they've only got the roster they have. The 4 forwards thing was really, really, really, really dumb. Especially when 2 of them are already injured and 1 of them is twelve and was obviously not going to get playing time.