I won the only legitimate money bet I made on the World Cup. I had an over/under bet of a six goal differential in the Brazil/North Korea match, where I took the under.
I'm sure glad it wasn't for the Argentina/North Korea game.

Portugal?

I take umbrage with the title of that video.

sweet how a country discovers fußball...

just to get an impression what's going on here when this WC happens... officially there were 300.000, most of them are pretty dumb. I've never been there during a match. I think it won't ever happen.

I was hoping to see techno viking in that video.

haven't you seen the two guys on one horse?

To be fair, tough to build momentum for the sport when we've only advanced to the knockout stage, what, two, maybe three times? That's in my PARENTS lifetimes.

Still, I'll be really interested to see what the tv ratings are for this game today. It may be the most watched soccer game in US history. Even non-sports fans I know are into this one.

It is really weird to me how many people who have never given a shit are suddenly talking about this game. Every Cup it gets bigger. I'm really not sure how much I like all the bandwagon jumping. But, it is nice to see some enthusiasm and appreciation for the team. Of course, I still fully expect once the US goes out the interest will plummet and once the cup is over 90% of these sudden fans will not watch another game for another four years. And, if we lose today it will be nothing but people who jumped on the bandwagon leaping right off and talking about how it is a stupid game that we're no good at anyway.

On another note....come on boys. Bring on Ghana. This time it is our turn to send 'em packing. Let's keep this bandwagon rolling for a couple more games anyway.

And so far both South Korea and Uruguay look beatable to me.

nobody, don't treat soccer like we treat our music.

Too late. It's not been easy being a soccer fan in America over the last 30 years or so.

But, I do welcome and am happy about new fans, I am just under no illusion that for the vast majority of them this is a once every four year kinda thing. And in all honesty, if one of every hundred four year fans actually turn into a full time soccer fan it will be well worth it.

Weren't you the one who made the comparison to the Olympics earlier in the thread? I think that's pretty spot on. Even so, this is some incredibly compelling stuff that even casual fans can't help but get wrapped up in. Still, I don't remember this kind of interest even as far back as the last World Cup. I think there has been a steady increase in interest in the States for the sport even if it's not at the Big 4 sports levels. Still, if we can pull this out it'd be great to see how much things can get ratcheted up.





Totally. I'm actually heading to a party just to watch this in an hour. I think that may be a first for me. I'd love Altidore to get a goal.

Also, Suarez's 2nd goal for Uruguay today was just ridiculous.

No, I basically agree. There is increasing interest every four years and some of it is just evolution and the game growing steadily in popularity. ESPN paying a crap load of money for the rights and pimping it all over all their channels and even making guys who have traditionally only mentioned soccer to laugh and talk shit take it seriously has made a huge difference for traditional sports fans as well. And yeah, I was the one with the Olympics comparison and I totally think it is valid. It just kinda weirds me out that even people who I have heard ridicule the game suddenly are taking it seriously. I'm glad, it is just odd.

I've got a gaddamn wedding this afternoon. I'm getting dressed for it and girl is coming over and we will leave as soon as the final whistle goes off. Overtime or not determines if we see the ceremony or just hit the reception.

Agree on that winner for Uruguay, very nice.

Suarez was definitely more involved today than Forlan. Forlan did put in a few nice balls, though.

Ghana looks completely dominant. Gonna have to be a big change in half two.

The US might need a miracle or at least a red card called on the Black Stars to win it.
Sorry about using a CFB analogy, but so far it has been like watching a terribly slow Ohio State team get destroyed by a super fast SEC team in a BCS title game.
I just don't think our horse has what it takes today.

YES!
PK goal by Donovan, great effort by Dempsey to draw the penalty.

Someone tell me why Benny Feilhaber doesn't start?

Insanity.

This is heart stopping stuff.

The overall fitness level of the teams seems to favor the USA at this point, but god damn did Ghana still look fast making runs during the 2nd half.

Dirty bomb time.

FUCK

You just can't make that many bad mistakes in the back. Oddly enough a poor performance by Howard as well.

Two absolutely terrible plays by the defenders in the middle ruined it all.
It would have been nice to have one of those 2nd half chances go in for a goal.
Ghana certainly deserved the victory, although some of their flopping in extra time probably should have drawn a yellow card.

Ghana looked like the stronger team. I didn't understand the long balls US hit in the last 15... in truth we didn't play well. I can totally see Ghana beating Uruguay.

still haven't watched any games.