1) About the US vs Belgium game
Tim Howard has shown that he is one of the greatest USA athletes, along the lines of Micheal Phelps, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, Mia Hamm, Hope Solo, Tiger Woods, and Micheal Jordan.
Tim Howard broke the record for the most saves with 16 goals blocked. That means without Tim Howard's talents, Belgium could have scored 18 times, since Belgium actually made 2 goals
The problem for the USA team was that Belgium was even allowed 18 opportunities to score.
Belgium had much better control of the ball, and much better defensive strategy. They just overwhelmed the USA team, requiring Tim Howard to do all of the work.
On another bright side, USA soccer rookie Julian Green scored a goal in the game. That guy has a bright future.
2) Ann Coulter attacks
4 years ago, Right-Wing pundit Glenn Beck said that nobody in the US cares about soccer. He ended up feeling embarrassed when US TV ratings for the World Cup broke records.
Well, at least Glenn Beck feels embarrassed when proven wrong,
Ann Coulter however, feels no embarrassment about her useless cliches that only sounds clever to the uninformed.
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-25.html
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-07-02.html
She says that the increased ratings for USA soccer matches is no match for NFL games. She didn't bother to mention that USA matches in the World Cup this year got more viewers than the recent NBA Finals or the so-called "World Series" (a stupid name for a baseball championship for a league that has only 1 team outside the USA). When I mean more viewers, I mean more viewers in the USA!
That's right, more USA people watched USA vs Portugal than watched the Spurs smashed the Heat in the NBA Finals.
Ann Coulter than say soccer is a game for softies, that nobody gets hurt and therefore not a real sport. Ann Coulter is all talk, no action!
I like see how Ann Coulter would react from getting kneed in the vertebrae, which is what Brazil's Neymar suffered.
Ann Coulter actually ran from a pie being thrown at her, so she has no business calling soccer (a contact sport, just like basketball) a "soft sport"
Ann Coulter mocked soccer players given a water break during a game. She said NFL players play in hot & humid conditions in places like Miami and New Orleans.
I know one place that is even more hot and humid than Miami and New Orleans --- Brazil!
Not only that, soccer players play BOTH defense and offense!
When's the last time Peyton Manning played defense? When's the last time Tom Brady played defense?
Oh wait a minute, you mean QBs take a water break when their team's defense is on the field? Who would've thought?
Ann Coulter even questioned a sportswriter Mike Wise's manhood for (gasp) disagreeing with her!
As Camille Paglia said about Ann Coulter's doing the same to John Edwards
http://instapundit.com/archives2/003322.php
John Edwards got publicity for the wrong reason two weeks ago when Ann Coulter bizarrely called him a "faggot" at the Conservative Political Action Conference.... [S]atirists who play on gender themes need some whiff of self-knowledge, or they look ridiculous. Is Coulter truly oblivious to her gender weirdness? It's no coincidence that words like "tranny" and "transvestite" clog the anti-Coulter blogs.
To add insult to injury, Ann Coulter also said
If more "Americans" are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer.Notice that Ann Coulter didn't say "No American whose ancestors were here before 1492" because as of you know, Ann Coulter thinks a "real American" is a descendant of Northern Europeans who came after 1492 and before 1892.
But there is one USA World Cup player whose ancestors were in America before 1492.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/01/6525394/wondolowski-a-hero-to-the-native.html
USA soccer
Some of his ancestors are more American than Ann Coulter
CARNEGIE, Oklahoma -- Chris Wondolowski,the son of a Native American mother, has emerged as a football star over the past few years and made Oklahoma's tightly knit group of 12,000 Kiowa people care about a sport that never mattered to them before.
So the chatter at the Kiowa Tribal Complex was a bit unusual Monday afternoon.more
Brent Bear, Keith Vasquez and Steve Quoetone went back and forth about the United States soccer team. Among the questions: Could the U.S. handle Belgium's star-studded lineup in Tuesday's World Cup knockout stage showdown? Would Jurgen Klinsmann use more of an attacking style or sit back?
There is no downplaying Wondolowski's impact on the towns of Carnegie, Hobart, Lawton and Anadarko, in the southwest part of Oklahoma where most Kiowa live. Native American athletes rarely make it in big-time sports, and certainly not in soccer.
"I know there are a lot of kids that are willing to try the sport because there is a connection," Wondolowski's mother, Janis Hoyt, said.
Members of the tribe cheered loudly and waved American flags during a watch party as the U.S. played to a draw against Portugal during group stage action. They exploded into cheers when he subbed into the match in the 87th minute.
Though Wondolowski grew up in California, his mother, who is half Kiowa and half Cherokee, took him back to Oklahoma regularly to help him maintain a connection with his many relatives there. He received his Kiowa name, Bau Daigh, when he was 13 years old. It means "Warrior coming over the hill." He has the name on a tattoo on his right ribcage.
Ann Coulter also thinks the greater attention given in the USA to the World Cup is some type of liberal conspiracy.
Actually, it's more like US Americans don't want to feel left out when it comes to paying attention to the most popular single-sport tournament in the world!
And while the US pretty much conquered international basketball (and individual sports like swimming, track, skating, etc.) we like the challenge of watching the USA face against the soccer-powers, hoping that one day, we can be THE soccer power, to be THE truly most dominant sports power.
3) impact on Brazil
Hosting the World Cup, as well as the 2016 Summer Olympics was supposed to show the world the new Brazil, the rising economic power, as well as the ultimate place to party!
Since Brazil won the rights to host those tournaments, economic growth has slowed a bit, making it hard to properly fund all projects in time.
FIFA demanded FIFA-quality stadiums. Well, the Brazilian public demanded top-quality schools, top quality hospitals, top-quality roads, and a whole bunch of things more important than a stadium.
And to make room for "FIFA quality facilities", people were forced out of their homes through eminent domain.
This brought out a lot of protests on the street, for which the Brazilian police reacted with militaristic equipment.
This goes to show that Brazil, while a rising economic power, still has a way to go when it comes to respecting human rights.
The days where repression gets overlooked for a sake of a sports tournament (like what happened in Mexico City in 1968) is over in the day of the Internet, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and smartphones.
The 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts have already been decided, with Russia and Qatar being the hosts. Russia is already being scrutnized for its LGBT policy as well its dealings with Ukraine and Georgia. Qatar is notorious for its abuses of imported labor.
There already demands that the Olympics to not reward future hosting rights to countries that violate LGBT rights, in reaction to the 2014 Winter Olympics being hosted in Sochi, Russia.
The same level of worldwide public scrutiny will be more intense when FIFA reward World Cup hosting rights in the future.
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This World Cup was also supposed to be Brazil's time to shine as a sports power. Brazil was expected to win it all at home.
Things were going smooth until Neymar got injured. Though Brazil defeated Colombia in the same game Neymar got injured, they lost badly to Germany 7-1. That's worst than Germany's defeating USA 2-1. Brazil then lost the 3rd place game to Netherlands.
4) Miscellaneous thoughts
- Colombia's group dancing after each goal added some spice to the games. Each country should do a dance. USA soccer team should have its own version of the touchdown dances you commonly see at NFL games.
-- The Championship game -- Germany defeated Argentina in extra time.
After the game when the teams go up the stands and accept their medals, you can see the fans extend their hands to the players. Of course there is a whole line of security guards there too.
Argentina players looked all sullen and refuse to shake their fans hands. Looks like poor sportsmanship to me. The fans paid big money to be at the game, at least shake as many hands as you can, even if you lost.
The German players shaked their fan's hands.
