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the usa made us proud.

the italy v usa match was one for the ages. absolutely enthralling. who would’ve thought that a usa match could be so exciting without them even scoring a goal? italy’s own-goal was the only point they put on the scoreboard. beasley’s goal was nice, but mcbride was completely off-side. the usa were bloodied, beaten, and exausted and at the end of it all, they stood with their heads up and stood tall on that pitch. standing up to a world powerhouse like italy, was a MAJOR accomplishment. italy against the usa in soccer is like the yankees playing a team from the last 4 at the college world series. there’s just no comparison. they’re just two different universes talent-wise. again, the us sports media, is in my opinion, completely out of touch. players that play week in, week out in italy and in europe, like the entire italian side does, playing against a majority of mls players is an absolute joke. the mls is to european club soccer, like a rec league is to a professional team. last summer i watched a pre-season chelsea side dismantle a mid-season dc united side. chelsea ran all over them. dc united came to play, they were into it and made a good showing, but they got ran all over for the better half of 60 minutes. i generally have found the mls to be slow, uninventive, and often a pain to watch. it is undoubtedly getting better, but right now it is nowhere close to european soccer. the mls season is gstill being played RIGHT NOW for goodness sake!!! they’re not even taking the world cup seriously here and puttinga halt on the season. it’s an absolute shame. really the only player with genuine excitement is the youngster freddie adu. he’s a teenager right now so it’s not even worth talking about.

i don’t expect the us to get anything against ghana, i predict ghana to get a similar 2-0 result that they earned against the czech republic, but the us can stand proud with the result the earned against italy. that match is one i’ll tell my kids about.what a cracker of a match!!

absolute class and grit from mcbride.

this was a horrible studs-up challenge. did it deserve a red card? not in my opinion. a solid yellow and a tounge lashing is what i would have given.

what a performance. one for the ages!! keller’s saves were huge. he’s a world class keeper and against italy he showed why.

france also played this weekend and came out like they were making up for a very poor performance against switzerland. henry cleaned up a missed and blocked shot and with a nice finish, put one home.

i thought i’d be getting used to displays like this,

but france decided to allow a late equalizer from south korea’s park ji sung, and with zidane out with two yellow cards, its not looking good for les blues to go through into the next stage.

spain played a brilliant second half against tunisia today. tunisia was brave and daring in the first half and at the interval they led the spanish side 1-0. at the half another brilliant arsenal youngster, cesc fabregas came on at the start of the second half and was instrumental in all three spain goals. he’s only 18 years old folks. he’s young, gifted, plays fantastic in big games and he’s going to be at arsenal for what i hope is a very long time. he’s so young and plays with a calmness that players 10 years his senior often don’t have. a joy to watch play to be sure.

spain is looking strong.

argentina is looking all but unbeatable.

no other teams have thoroughly impressed to this point.

the netherlands look really good for periods of time, especially when van persie or van der vaart are involved. if they start putting it together for a full 90 minutes, look out.

tomorrow there some very interesting match-ups being played.

germany and ecuador square off to see who wins group A and england and sweden meet to see who wins group B. the group B winner gets the group A runner-up, so there is a possible england v germany clash looking for the first match in the round of sixteen.

tomorrow also marks the first matches played simultaneously. should be a fairly exciting day.

on a personal note, my wife is getting really close to full term with the little one that we’ve been blessed with from our wonderful Lord Jesus. officially we have exactly two weeks left, but its starting to feel like it’s coming really soon. the baby is getting progressively lower, while my wife is getting progressively less comfortable. it’s quite scary and exhilarating at the same time. this person is going to come out of my wife, and that person is my kid and i’m their dad. i don’t think i’ll ever fully understand how that works, or what that means. i just accept it and praise God that it has pleased Him for me to take care of one of His little one’s.

all praises be to Him now and always!!