Van Basten II

Was about to say something along these lines, he does not seem to belong at International level anymore

We're now back at our regular programmation...

Controversy aside, kudos to England for getting back in the game, didn't think they had that in them. Is this Karma getting back for 1966

England are getting schooled

Don't expect many suprises today, have not seen the winning performance of England but unless the team is on a peaking curve, can't see them get through the Germans. HaHave not seen anything from the Mexicans that would made them a tough match for Argentine but who knows maybe the erratic Maradona will find a way to screw his team up. To his credit, he has a good WC so far, letting the talent of his team do the work.

By the way there is a possibility of having a final four with only South-American teams.

Was about to write Suarez was a bit too much of a goal hog guess he showed me a thing. Was impressed by the way Uruguay was able to changed gears after Korea's goal, then again you have to wonder why they went in reverse in the first place

Two bad calls against Uruguay may have costed them two possible goals, this game is not over yet.

How about some predictions Uruguay-South Corea: Uruguay has played some very good football and you gotta feel this will be the year for Forlan, considering how open this part of the bracket, there might be a suprising semi participation for them, heck originally did not see them get out of the group. USA-Ghana Ghana because we all know that nobody wants to see the US there Seriously, I'll think playing at home will be the telling story but you gotta admire the way the US has played the game so far, they have a joie de vivre in their style however I fear their naïveté will cost them. Ghana in a upset and at a certain point good news for the continent, but don't put the farm on it.

Just looked at my predictions of who would be still there for the second round, although it did not play out exactly as I thought it would be , still managed so far 10 correct predictions out of 14. My failures France, Italy, Danemark and Nigeria, on the other hand my projected finalists are already out. For the record picked Spain and Chile to move on. Don't know if it happened before but all the south-american teams can qualify depending on today's result. So far from Europe 5 teams have qualifiied although two teams can join them yet, which is a good but not great result. As mentionned South America is doing a number with a 4 out of 4 and are going for a perfect 5 Concacaf with two teams qualifying , Honduras still has a very remote chance to join them. Great year for them and they probably can lobby for one more slot. Asia and Oceania have managed to get two teams to the next level. The disaster comes from Africa who has put all its hopes on Ghana. Unless they manage a way to get to the semis (Which is quite plausible considering the lack of experience their oppnent have ) it will be a huge step backwards for African football

Most of the acts you mentionned were part of the Suoni and they were some killer shows, especially the Globe Unity Orchestra, you'll enjoy talking to those guys, they were interesting and friendly people.

Too bad the Portugal-Brazil game is almost devoided of any signification.

Same here

Dick Katz The feeling is mutual

World Saxophone Quartet Selim Sivad Come to think of it Murray does not appear on The gentle side of JC ???

Bill Evans (The complete Bill Evans on Verve ) Hope I got it right.

As I mentionned in the other thread, he was scheduled to play here a few weeks ago with Drake and Parker, it was not meant to be, RIP

Has Lippi done a Domenech ? What a wild game

http://photos.cyberpresse.ca/caricatures#enVedette/0/recherche/Rechercher%20un%20album/0/onglets/51/0/album/8103/198043/

Saw Globe Unity Orchestra last night

Oh, it would be a stunning upset if the U.S. by some miracle won this tournament. I have no illusions there. And that's kind of the point. I don't really care who wins, as long as it's good, clean, fair futbol. -- No more diving, no more feigned expressions of excruciating pain by a nicked player who is magically up and running at full speed minutes later. No more players wrapping their arms around opponents inside the penalty box on a free kick. And no more unaccountable referees. Agreed? Fair sportsmanship, in other words. That might help the game's image here. I still say the 'bashing' has more to do with the cultural peculiarities of the game outlined above than any result. Here's an example: I think the game of rugby is respected in the United States, even though we're no good at it, because it seems to be a sport that is played honestly and ruggedly, without the sort of theatrics that are all too common in soccer. Remember Argentina's "hand of God" goal vs. England in 1986? (Who doesn't?). That goal, I'm sure, was celebrated in Argentina, along with the 2-1 victory over England. And I'm pretty sure that if the United States scored a similar goal, and went on to win the game, it would be viewed with embarrassment. An unfair goal; a game not won honestly. But the result is accepted in Argentina as a proud victory. Seems to be something not right, not just, about that, doesn't there? That's the sort of difference in attitude that I'm getting at which Americans kind of scratch their collective heads over. Does Argentina really want to be proud of a game unfairly won? There is something to be said about that, will write you an answer a bit later when I'm back in a few days and have more time in my hands , great conversation by the way.

There may be some truth to that, but I don't think it's the whole banana by any means. For instance, there is tremendous interest in the United States during the Olympics in sports where the United States is certainly not the dominant power -- gymnastics in the summer and figure skating in the winter. I would bet these two events are by a wide margin the two most-widely viewed events in the United States during summer and winter Olympic Games. But the United States is not the preeminent power in either. Sometimes success is achieved. Sometimes not. And congratulations and admiration are generally offered (corrupt officiating notwithstanding) for the superior performance of whichever country wins. So, no. It's not entirely due to the fact that the United States isn't a power in soccer. And btw, we're ranked 14th in the world (out of 202), so that ain't too shabby. . Well gymnastics and Figure skating, the US used to do well internationally , although they seem to have hit hard times lately, but the whole Olympic thing is mostly nowadays a patriotic propaganda, it has little to do with sports but more about to see our compadre win and boast about it. So it's hard to compare it with a specific sport that you can follow on more than a two week period Regarding your footbal team, it has come a long way and from laughing stock it is not a dark horse and it is now a Concacaf fixture at the World Cup but it is not yet the team that you think that has a strong chance to win it all, to make a comparaison to tennis they are like Robin Soderling prior to this year, they are quite good but have not shown yet they can beat the best. And in a way, until the team is able to achieve this kind of success , the futbol bashers that are plaguing your country will be the main vociferous voices we wiil unfortunately hear.

Nice rationalization but you forgot to mention one thing this is a sport where the US is not a powerhouse, me thinks that you simply can not cope with the fact that you can not be the best at everything , so you elect to act like it is irrelevant. By the way , and it could be said for a lot of nations so I 'm not being accused of singling out your country, but how many sports generate interest where among the top performers they are not US born competitors ? Kudos to the Kiwis, this team grew between the Slovakia game and the one today, the late goal gave them confidence. They played with heart and gusto, can't say the same about the dreadful Azzuris. Didn't think they were so bad against Paraguay, but today they were lifeless . Too bad they still will probably qualify...

Paraguay is turning into maybe the best team of the group, although Slovakia made them look good, anyway this is not the negative team we saw when their star was the keeper Chilavert. Playing the Kiwis next they will a shot for the first place of the group.

Because refs are screwing up only in futbol, if they had more officials like Jim Joyce the game would be so much better