Alhaji Righteous De Ambitious: World Cup 2010 Blog: “There’s No Place Like South America” plus 1 more

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: “There’s No Place Like South America” plus 1 more

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 07:50 AM PDT

So as wonderful as the Women’s World Cup has been, the Copa America has been just epic from the standpoint of a simple question: “Who?”

Was anyone expecting that much the summer after a full Euro season + World Cup year? Nay. Gaslights are all on, have been on, and the needles are about to break off. However, what’s happened is nonetheless astonishing: Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela.

On paper, that should read as the list of teams which have been knocked out before the semis. But no, those are the semifinalists.

They should rename this thing The Great Choke-Off of 2011.

Brazil, Argentina, Chile. All gone, all out. The biggest culprit is Argentina, as the tournament is at home, but Brazil’s fancy tricks with no execution isn’t far behind. All skill, no teams.

In fact, Brazil put on one of the worst penalty showings in the long history of watching football these eyes have ever seen, but the true hero is Nando Muslera, who displayed arguably the greatest save of the year, and you’re a liar, liar, pants on fire if you were watching this game and didn’t leap from your seat in utter disbelief after watching this double walk-on-water.

And thus we were left with the Copa Cinderella 2011. Anyone who put their hard-earned on Uruguay before the tournament should be feeling pretty damn good about themselves at this point.

Everybody’s A Bit Japanese Today

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 07:35 AM PDT

Hope Solo was battered and bruised, but that doesn’t matter when you can’t hit your penalties and you’re going up against the power of flower anyway. Or perhaps radioactively-enhanced athletes. (Good short-term, bad long?)

Japan, as everyone has heard, has won the Women’s World Cup, and it’s a bit of a big deal for them, proving that heart and good juju in the face of national crisis and adversity can bring home titles and fans, as the world – especially America – applauds.

So does this mean the DRC is going to win the 2014 World Cup?