The first elimination round ended yesterday afternoon with a disappointing loss by Portugal to Spain, 1-0. Yesterday also saw the first shoot-out of the tournament. After two hours of scoreless soccer the match went to penalties where Paraguay bested Japan 5-3.
There were three teams that stood out in the second round, Holland looked very much in control in their win over Slovakia, Brazil proved that they are the #1 team in the world and Germany, even after all the hype (and controversy) lay a thumping on England.
A couple of thoughts on the England Germany. I was only able to watch the first bit of the game...enough to see Germany go up 2-0. England's defense did not look good, at all. The real hot topic is the disallowed goal that wasn't really a disallowed goal. Wouldn't a goal need to be allowed in order to be disallowed? Either way, the shot that should have been a goal and tied the match going into half time, has caused an uproar in the international soccer community, and rightfully so. But there is nothing we can do about it. They aren't going to institute it for the rest of the tourney. FIFA knows that a mistake was made and that there is technology out there that could have solved the problem but they have their feet planted so deeply in the 1800's that they think that if they institute replay it would soil their squeaky clean game when in fact it would only make it better.
As for the update of our standings, we have had a split in the group. It's either a split or half of you are really good at picking who is going to lose.
Andrew continues to lead the way at 32 points, Jamie is at 31 and is on win away from claiming victory in the first Father/Son battle over Lumpy (23), Steve is 3 points behind at 28. In the second father son battle my dad is edging me 27-26 (but his luck can't hold out!). Jeff remains tied with Al at 25 points even though he hasn't picked a winner in the elimination round. Jim who mocks, is at 24 points.
The remnant of the roster rounds out as follows:
Ryan(22), Dan(21), Kent(21), Pete(21), Brock(20), Mark(19), Elaina(18).
The next matches are coming up on Friday so put your picks in.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
0
Last Days of the Robin
For those of you who have known me through my university days in Edmonton, you know that I worked at the dirty bird, Red Robin, while I finished off my schooling. I was a master server and could sling fries with the best of them! I was also known to step behind the swinging door and chop some veggies and whip up some world famous buzz sauce.
Shortly after moving back to Calgary and before I found meaningful employment with Rockford Developments sweeping out recently dry walled multifamily dwellings and cleaning out by hand mud filled storm drains, I was again fortunate enough to work at the Robin. I felt a little sorry to leave but when all the Red Robin establishments in Calgary closed two weeks after I left that feeling subsided.
Really that has nothing to do with today's update.
By 2:30 mountain time the round robin portion of the tournament will be done and the draw will be set for the first matches of the elimination round.
It has been a hectic week of games with 4 matches being played per day. The only bad thing about the schedule is that there are always two games being played at the same time. How do they expect me to keep track of both games. I only have two monitors and I need to at least try to be a little productive. I can only imagine what the lady across the hall thinks when she hears me cheer loudly at a scoring opportunity. Fortunately for me she usually turns her hearing aid down when she's not on the phone so I can assume that my shout resembles only a faint mouse squeak to her. That would explain why she is constantly jumping on her chair and looking under her desk.
More importantly here are the match-ups as we know them right now:
June 26
Uruguay v. South Korea
USA v. Ghana
June 27
Germany v. England (bring out the riot gear for that one)
Argentina v. Mexico
June 28
Netherlands v. Slovakia
June 29
Paraguay v Japan
It has been a hard fought battle among our ranks. Shareski (25 pts)has come out flying and hasn't looked back. Jeff and Jamie are close behind at 22pts. Jim from Regina, the city that rhymes with fun, started out a little shaky but has managed to move into the upper echelons. But he has not forgotten about the little people he left behind. He made good use of the ESPN message boards and heckled me mercilessly. Steve and Dick round out our top group with 20 points. There is a log jam at 19 points with Lumpy, Dan, Ryan, Kent and Pete. I'm one back of them at 18 and Mark and Brock are one back of me. The Godfrey's are still have hope with Al and Elaina rounding out the group.
So bye bye Round Robin! Elimination round begins Saturday. Make sure you go in and fill out your picks. For our offline friends be sure to e-mail me your picks as soon as possible.
Shortly after moving back to Calgary and before I found meaningful employment with Rockford Developments sweeping out recently dry walled multifamily dwellings and cleaning out by hand mud filled storm drains, I was again fortunate enough to work at the Robin. I felt a little sorry to leave but when all the Red Robin establishments in Calgary closed two weeks after I left that feeling subsided.
Really that has nothing to do with today's update.
By 2:30 mountain time the round robin portion of the tournament will be done and the draw will be set for the first matches of the elimination round.
It has been a hectic week of games with 4 matches being played per day. The only bad thing about the schedule is that there are always two games being played at the same time. How do they expect me to keep track of both games. I only have two monitors and I need to at least try to be a little productive. I can only imagine what the lady across the hall thinks when she hears me cheer loudly at a scoring opportunity. Fortunately for me she usually turns her hearing aid down when she's not on the phone so I can assume that my shout resembles only a faint mouse squeak to her. That would explain why she is constantly jumping on her chair and looking under her desk.
More importantly here are the match-ups as we know them right now:
June 26
Uruguay v. South Korea
USA v. Ghana
June 27
Germany v. England (bring out the riot gear for that one)
Argentina v. Mexico
June 28
Netherlands v. Slovakia
June 29
Paraguay v Japan
It has been a hard fought battle among our ranks. Shareski (25 pts)has come out flying and hasn't looked back. Jeff and Jamie are close behind at 22pts. Jim from Regina, the city that rhymes with fun, started out a little shaky but has managed to move into the upper echelons. But he has not forgotten about the little people he left behind. He made good use of the ESPN message boards and heckled me mercilessly. Steve and Dick round out our top group with 20 points. There is a log jam at 19 points with Lumpy, Dan, Ryan, Kent and Pete. I'm one back of them at 18 and Mark and Brock are one back of me. The Godfrey's are still have hope with Al and Elaina rounding out the group.
So bye bye Round Robin! Elimination round begins Saturday. Make sure you go in and fill out your picks. For our offline friends be sure to e-mail me your picks as soon as possible.
Monday, June 21, 2010
0
After Ten Days
It has been an exciting 10 days of soccer action. There have been a few big upsets and more poor showings than expected.
The biggest of upsets came from Switzerland who beat the reigning European champions, Spain. 1-0. Also being upset was Shareski favorite Germany, losing to Serbia 1-0.
As much as the losses have been shocking there have been quite a few draws that are shocking.
France and Uruguay, England and the US and Algeria, Italy and Paraguay and New Zealand. All games you would expect to be won by the bigger name squad but anything can happen in 90 plus minutes of play.
So here are the current standings as of Sunday June 20.
Andrew Aden Jamie are in the lead with 14 correct matches, Steve and Brock are right behind with 13. There is a bunch up at 12 points with Jim, Jeff, Pete, and Dick. Dan and Kent have 11 points and rounding out the group are Ryan, Mark, Al, Lumpy, Elaina and myself.
More exciting games to come over the next three weeks. We are sure to see some more upsets and at least one blow out (although none will match the 7-0 drubbing that North Korea just got from Portugal).
Keep checking back for updates throughout the week.
J.
The biggest of upsets came from Switzerland who beat the reigning European champions, Spain. 1-0. Also being upset was Shareski favorite Germany, losing to Serbia 1-0.
As much as the losses have been shocking there have been quite a few draws that are shocking.
France and Uruguay, England and the US and Algeria, Italy and Paraguay and New Zealand. All games you would expect to be won by the bigger name squad but anything can happen in 90 plus minutes of play.
So here are the current standings as of Sunday June 20.
Andrew Aden Jamie are in the lead with 14 correct matches, Steve and Brock are right behind with 13. There is a bunch up at 12 points with Jim, Jeff, Pete, and Dick. Dan and Kent have 11 points and rounding out the group are Ryan, Mark, Al, Lumpy, Elaina and myself.
More exciting games to come over the next three weeks. We are sure to see some more upsets and at least one blow out (although none will match the 7-0 drubbing that North Korea just got from Portugal).
Keep checking back for updates throughout the week.
J.
Monday, June 14, 2010
0
I'm just saying...
Anyone who is remotely a sports fan and who doesn't admit to watching a bit of soccer this past weekend is lying! My daughter who is 3 1/2 even wanted to watch soccer over her Sunday morning cartoons. Little does she know that soccer is kind of like an action packed trailer to the, A River Runs Through It . The build up is amazing full of car chases and white water rapids but when actual movie is over, you've sat through 123 minutes of fly fishing.
That's not entirely true. Take for example the first game of the tournament, South Africa vs. Mexico. Now, I had heard that Mexico was one of the more highly touted teams in this years World Cup. But how do you blow your vuvuzela for anyone other than South Africa in the tournament opener in their home town? I have to admit that I was torn. I originally chose Mexico, who I believed was the stronger team, however, I was drawn into watching the pregame festivities and felt drawn to change my pick, which I did with about 4 minutes to game time. Then I started to think about it. Was I picking with my heart or my head (not that my head would have the first clue about any of this soccer stuff)? I rushed back from grabbing my third pregame coffee and managed to change my pick back just in the nick of time.
Now, I don't really remember a whole bunch about World Cup 2006 in Germany other than Italy won and Dino was elated. The one thing I remember clearly was the repetition of the phrase, "playing a possession game". For the uninitiated it's kind of like when you were in grade three and you went out to the big field with a few of your buddies and played keep away. The thing with the big field was that the field was so big you could never get the ball away. So that's kind of what I was expecting (and strangely I was still excited) but was I ever wrong.
Both teams came out flying. Mexico dominated the play and within the first few minutes had several scoring chances. If it wasn't for the S.A. goal keeper the game would have been over after the first 10 minutes. Lucky for us who watched the game was full of action right up to the final whistle. The game ended in a draw, as many others have and will over the course of the tournament, but what a way to start off.
It sounds like I'm slamming soccer, which I'm not. I love watching the World Cup. This is going to sound cheesey but it can give us life lessons. When you're watching the next match have a look and compare it to our lives. We need to be aware of our surroundings and look for opportunities where we might be able to influence the game. We need to be cautious not to jump into a play that may be detrimental or that might lead to oportunites for our competitors. We need to trust that our teammates will be there to help us when we need it. We need to be patient, in some cases very patient. And we need to be in control, because if we're out of control some grown man close by may start flailing on the ground and crying for no good reason.
That's not entirely true. Take for example the first game of the tournament, South Africa vs. Mexico. Now, I had heard that Mexico was one of the more highly touted teams in this years World Cup. But how do you blow your vuvuzela for anyone other than South Africa in the tournament opener in their home town? I have to admit that I was torn. I originally chose Mexico, who I believed was the stronger team, however, I was drawn into watching the pregame festivities and felt drawn to change my pick, which I did with about 4 minutes to game time. Then I started to think about it. Was I picking with my heart or my head (not that my head would have the first clue about any of this soccer stuff)? I rushed back from grabbing my third pregame coffee and managed to change my pick back just in the nick of time.
Now, I don't really remember a whole bunch about World Cup 2006 in Germany other than Italy won and Dino was elated. The one thing I remember clearly was the repetition of the phrase, "playing a possession game". For the uninitiated it's kind of like when you were in grade three and you went out to the big field with a few of your buddies and played keep away. The thing with the big field was that the field was so big you could never get the ball away. So that's kind of what I was expecting (and strangely I was still excited) but was I ever wrong.
Both teams came out flying. Mexico dominated the play and within the first few minutes had several scoring chances. If it wasn't for the S.A. goal keeper the game would have been over after the first 10 minutes. Lucky for us who watched the game was full of action right up to the final whistle. The game ended in a draw, as many others have and will over the course of the tournament, but what a way to start off.
It sounds like I'm slamming soccer, which I'm not. I love watching the World Cup. This is going to sound cheesey but it can give us life lessons. When you're watching the next match have a look and compare it to our lives. We need to be aware of our surroundings and look for opportunities where we might be able to influence the game. We need to be cautious not to jump into a play that may be detrimental or that might lead to oportunites for our competitors. We need to trust that our teammates will be there to help us when we need it. We need to be patient, in some cases very patient. And we need to be in control, because if we're out of control some grown man close by may start flailing on the ground and crying for no good reason.
Friday, June 11, 2010
0
Let the games begin!
A full month of games starts this morning. Actually in about an hour and a half from now the opening ceremonies will be done and Mexico will begin to trounce on the hopes of South African soccer fans across the world. I could be wrong....but I don't really think so.
I have to admit it would be quite exciting to see South Africa come out of their group, slip past Argentina or Greece then face an ailing England squad in the quarters before having to face Brazil or Spain to reach the finals. That would be the feel good story of the year. Unfortunately I think it's a bit of a pipe dream.
I was surprised how many entries we have for this tournament. we have a grand total of 15. 13 online players and 2 offline players. with maybe one or two exceptions you have all said, "I have know clue about soccer." I definitely fall into that boat. The only soccer I watch is Saturday mornings when Morgan is running around with what seems like 500 other kids chasing a ball from field to field in the pouring rain.
So here we go. We'll claim that this is the official Canadian soccer squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Al Godfrey
Andrew Shareski
Brock Burnham
Dan Duggan
Elaina Godfrey
Jamie Lemire
Jeff Grieve
Jim Haney
John Nichols
Kent Macrae
Mark Peters
Mike Lemire
Pete Rowe
Ryan Hall
Steve Stanley
Good luck to everyone. Keep checking back for more updates and feel free to add you comments below.
j.
I have to admit it would be quite exciting to see South Africa come out of their group, slip past Argentina or Greece then face an ailing England squad in the quarters before having to face Brazil or Spain to reach the finals. That would be the feel good story of the year. Unfortunately I think it's a bit of a pipe dream.
I was surprised how many entries we have for this tournament. we have a grand total of 15. 13 online players and 2 offline players. with maybe one or two exceptions you have all said, "I have know clue about soccer." I definitely fall into that boat. The only soccer I watch is Saturday mornings when Morgan is running around with what seems like 500 other kids chasing a ball from field to field in the pouring rain.
So here we go. We'll claim that this is the official Canadian soccer squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Al Godfrey
Andrew Shareski
Brock Burnham
Dan Duggan
Elaina Godfrey
Jamie Lemire
Jeff Grieve
Jim Haney
John Nichols
Kent Macrae
Mark Peters
Mike Lemire
Pete Rowe
Ryan Hall
Steve Stanley
Good luck to everyone. Keep checking back for more updates and feel free to add you comments below.
j.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
0
Three days and counting
Only three days until Mexico and the host South Africa kick off World Cup 2010. I'm sure we've all made our picks and are ready to pull out our team scarves and rally around the tele, cheering our lads and berating the officials with all our might.
But now that you've made your picks, you've put mouse to screen and clicked the win lose or draw button...what now. You're probablly thinking, what if I chose the wrong team, what if North Korea's star striker Jong Tae Se blows a hammy and can't play the second round match against Portugal, what if Thierry Henry pulls a Zizou and gets tossed from the tourney in the first match. Not to worry.
Unlike the NCAA basketball tournament this is not a one shot deal. You have the ability to go in and make changes to your selections right up until the scheduled start time of the game. Just make the change save it and you'll be good to go.
There are 64 games to be played over the next month. I'll try to give updates every few days to keep us on track as to who is leading the charge, who is trailing off the back end, who are the tournament studs and who are the duds.
j.
But now that you've made your picks, you've put mouse to screen and clicked the win lose or draw button...what now. You're probablly thinking, what if I chose the wrong team, what if North Korea's star striker Jong Tae Se blows a hammy and can't play the second round match against Portugal, what if Thierry Henry pulls a Zizou and gets tossed from the tourney in the first match. Not to worry.
Unlike the NCAA basketball tournament this is not a one shot deal. You have the ability to go in and make changes to your selections right up until the scheduled start time of the game. Just make the change save it and you'll be good to go.
There are 64 games to be played over the next month. I'll try to give updates every few days to keep us on track as to who is leading the charge, who is trailing off the back end, who are the tournament studs and who are the duds.
j.
Monday, June 7, 2010
0
World Cup 2010 - South Africa
Just under five days remaining until kick off of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. 32 Teams will be vying for the coveted FIFA World Cup Trophy .
If you have been following European Football at all over the past several weeks you already know that there have been some key injuries to some high profile players (most of which I had never heard of but they are a big deal inthe soccer world).
Spain has three members of their squad who are questionable, Fernando Torres and Xavi, and Cesc Fabregas. England, perhaps the most hyped country in World Cup History, has 13 players who have injuries. Of those 13, 3 are definitely out (Beckham, Owen, Woodgate), 3 are reasonably likely to play(Ferdinand, Zamora, and King), and the remaining 7 range from unlikely to improving.
Perhaps the most unfortunate injury, for both his Country of Ivory Coast and also for the World Cup organizers is Didier Drogba. Ivory Coast was being touted as the best chance Africa has had at getting past the Quarter Finals for the first time. Drogba is the biggest star in African Soccer and losing him for the tournament with a broken arm in a friendly against Japan is an enormous loss.
Other Key injuries to keep in mind as you are making your selection are:
Michael Essien, Ghana
Arjen Robben, Netherlands
Michael Ballack, Germany
John Mikel Obi, Nigeria
Oguchi Onyewu, USA
Kaka, Brasil
Robin Van Persie, Netherlands
William Gallas, France
Martin Skrtel, Slovakia
So there are just a few tidbits for you to ponder while you're making your picks.
If you have been following European Football at all over the past several weeks you already know that there have been some key injuries to some high profile players (most of which I had never heard of but they are a big deal inthe soccer world).
Spain has three members of their squad who are questionable, Fernando Torres and Xavi, and Cesc Fabregas. England, perhaps the most hyped country in World Cup History, has 13 players who have injuries. Of those 13, 3 are definitely out (Beckham, Owen, Woodgate), 3 are reasonably likely to play(Ferdinand, Zamora, and King), and the remaining 7 range from unlikely to improving.
Perhaps the most unfortunate injury, for both his Country of Ivory Coast and also for the World Cup organizers is Didier Drogba. Ivory Coast was being touted as the best chance Africa has had at getting past the Quarter Finals for the first time. Drogba is the biggest star in African Soccer and losing him for the tournament with a broken arm in a friendly against Japan is an enormous loss.
Other Key injuries to keep in mind as you are making your selection are:
Michael Essien, Ghana
Arjen Robben, Netherlands
Michael Ballack, Germany
John Mikel Obi, Nigeria
Oguchi Onyewu, USA
Kaka, Brasil
Robin Van Persie, Netherlands
William Gallas, France
Martin Skrtel, Slovakia
So there are just a few tidbits for you to ponder while you're making your picks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
