"But a few Dominican fans were spotted waving the hammer and sickle and shouting "Crush the running dog lackey imperialist 3-5-2 with the total football promulgated by our glorious Chairman!"" "One major positive for the USA: midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, known for his speed, stamina, and utter inability to finish, somehow managed two goals. On the other hand, Jovan Kirovski, known for his utter inability to finish, utter inability to finish, and utter inability to finish, got none." "After such a comprehensive victory, everyone was falling over themselves to apologize. So Bora lapped it up for a week, and then, in consummate style, thumbed his nose at the whole lot of them." LOL - great stuff! And thanks for the scoop on Bora!
Classic! "As everyone knew, the game was set for San Antonio because Dominica didn't have a stadium available. But you heard it here first: next time they will. That's because prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica (population about 70,000) signed a deal with a slightly larger country known as the People's Republic of China (population really really a lot). The Chinese agreed to rebuild the Windsor Park stadium (plus some hospitals, roads, and schools, but those don't matter), and all Dominica had to do was boot the Taiwanese embassy out of the country and recognize the PRC as sole representative of the Chinese people. Hey, no problem. As Skerrit very properly reasoned, totalitarian governments come and go, but the World Cup is forever."
I should give myself some rep for coming up with the Ifill scoop. "But someone got the message, because literally the same day as the preview appeared online (thanks, guys), Barbados announced they were going foreign. First they found Mark Boyce, a fullback from Yeovil. Then, only a few days before the match, they made the big swoop: Paul Ifill, midfielder/striker for Milwall, an FA Cup finalist! They even hired a foreign technical director, Reinhard Fabisch. And FA head Ronald Jones announced that immigration was working to get even more UK players into the fold." Too bad it didn't do a thing for Barbados.
Thanks for the kind words. Make sure you guys keep me honest, though--if you spot any mistakes or just foolish things I say, let me know.
Great job as always gobh. A few nit-picky things from Canada v Belize. I didn't think the second leg was that physical. There were maybe more fouls than the first leg, but that was down to a lot of little fouls on DeRosario and a lot of diving from Victor Morales. Mariano got two yellows for persistent infriengement, but both were small fouls. Moody-Orio's yellow for dissent and Hume's first yellow for not having his shirt tucked in were jokes. Hume's red was pretty weak too. There was nothing nasty in the game. Also Canada changed six starters, but really only two guys (DeVos and Radzinski) were playing the same positions in the second game. It was an almost entirely new team for the second leg. Where did you get Slusher and Muschamp's comments from? Channel 7? I never saw those. There was an on-field incident between legs. I'm wondering if that's what Muschamp was talking about. cheers, hobbes
No foolish things, although in light of Sampson's surprise about Lester More it might have been worth pointing out that Miguel Company managed Saprissa before taking over the Cuban team, and his familiarity with the Costa Rican players may have helped in contrast to Sampson's apparent ignorance of the Cuban team.
Where's The Semis Preview? Ohkay,, Petaaaaaaaaaah, let's see you put your mouth where your mouth is....a full preview of the three Semi series NOW! I also want a full prediction of where the venues will be, and the challenges of each match at each venue. No sophormoric "Oracle of Delphi" stuff either, we want the straight goods! You have to be exact, given that the order of finishing in the "Group of Minor Discomfort" and "The Group of Milquetoast" will be easy enough for my three-year-old next-door neighbour to pick. No wimping out, or I'm sikkin' Wendy Testaburger on ya!
The article seems to imply that the Grenada games were the first U.S. qualifiers against a country it had invaded; but even Donald Rumsfeld wouldn't deny that the U.S. invaded Mexico. Nice piece, though.
Re: Where's The Semis Preview? Hey, just because I spend most of my life on the Internet doesn't mean I know anything more about this than you guys! (And beachesl, of course, has forgotten more about Canadian soccer than I suspect I'll ever know.) And I am a ROTTEN predictor. But here goes... I'm nowhere close to an expert on the features of the various sites--I only know the basics. I'd love to see a close analysis of that. I assume Jamaica (the Office), SKN (Warner Park), SVG (Arnos Vale, if I remember the name right), T&T (Hasely Crawford), Panama (Rommel Fernandez), and Guatemala (Mateo Flores) will play all three at their main site. I don't know El Salvador's stadium history; do they play all their games at the Cuscatlan? With the small crowds these days, they might be tempted to play one (probably Panama) at the smaller Magico Gonzalez. Mexico has said they're going to play all three games outside the DF, although whether they'll keep that promise I don't know. As a wild guess, I'd go with the Universitario in Monterrey (loudest fans in the country), Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara (beat the USA for the Olympic spot there), and maybe Corregidora in Queretaro (a sop to the city because they lost their team), but there are lots of other possibilities. Given the easy opposition, they may do some first-time places, like Aguascalientes against Dominica. A nice longshot would be the Luis Pirata Fuentes in Veracruz. Honduras, last I looked, said that they're going to play Guatemala and Canada in the Estadio Olimpico, and Costa Rica in the Nacional. The USA has already announced Foxboro (vs. El Salvador--if I remember right, the USA beat them there in the 1998 Hexagonal), RFK (vs. Panama--because we won't be outnumbered there, like we would be against El Sal), and Columbus (vs. Jamaica, the colder weather in November). Costa Rica may very well use Saprissa for all three, now that the turf has been approved, but the Alajuelense is another possibility. I'd go with the Saprissa myself (it's a real cauldron), but Pinto is used to coaching in Alajuela, so they might get a game there. Canada is your call--I won't embarrass myself by showing how little I know about it. In the group of ordinariness, USA 10 Jamaica 9 Panama 7 El Salvador 5 USA will get three road draws, and home wins against Panama and El Salvador. What they do vs. Jamaica at home in the last game will depend on the standings, but I'll guess a draw. Jamaica will beat Panama and El Salvador at home, and draw with the USA at home. On the road they'll lose to Panama and draw with El Salvador. Panama and El Salvador will split their games, each team winning at home. In the group of pointlessness, Mexico 16 T&T 7 SKN 5 SVG 4 Mexico should get all 18 points, but they'll be held to a draw at T&T because they're bored. SKN will surprise by getting two draws with T&T, but will split their games with SVG, and T&T will beat SVG at home and draw on the road. And, of course, the group of amazingness. Like the rest of us, I haven't a clue, but I'll guess Honduras 11 Costa Rica 8 Canada 8 (out on goal difference, but if it's a coin flip, they'll win) Guatemala 3 Honduras and Costa Rica are close on raw talent, but Suazo is more likely to last the series than Wanchope. I also just have a feeling that CR will struggle. Yallop looks like he's got Canada together, and they'll be tough, but they won't get enough points on the road. Guatemala's midfield doesn't convince me, and since someone has to be last, I'll pick them. Honduras will beat Canada and CR at home, but only draw with Guatemala. On the road, they'll lose at Canada, draw at Costa Rica, and get an upset win at Guatemala. CR will beat Canada and Guatemala at home, lose at Canada, and get a draw at Guatemala. Canada will only draw at home to Guatemala, but also draw with them on the road, and lose their other two road games. And if even half of that is right, I'll be very surprised.
Re: Where's The Semis Preview? Well the first two home dates have already been announced (and tickets are already on sale). August 18th vs. Guatemala at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C. September 4th vs. Honduras at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, AB. I suspect the October 13th game vs. Costa Rica will be at Commonwealth as well, but currently the CSA are weighing their options (hopefully they'll choose the coldest place they can find).
Wasn't sure whether to include them, since I'm not sure whether the "country" being invaded was Canada or England.
Invasions Yeah, but unlike the Mexican and Grenadian invasions, the two against the Canucks were failures! The NAFTA/Globalization invasion was successful though, aided by our own Benedict Arnold, Brian Mulroney.
Re: Where's The Semis Preview? Umm, great, and unexpected! I was joking about wanting it "NOW". I was just saying, in my crude way, that I was looking forward to your usual goodwork on Planet World Cup. If I sounded antsy, it's because I'm really AM antsy about this tough semi group we have to face. I REALLY want to see Canada in the WC again before I die. Cheers.
I got the description of the physical play from either the Toronto Star or www.canada.com. The Slusher and Muschamp quotes were in fact from channel 7, which was by far the best Belize coverage. I wondered what they were talking about. We don't get to see the Canada games south of the border, unfortunately. If I don't actually see the game, I'm limited to newspaper descriptions (and sometimes fan chat rooms, which are usually better), and can't get as much precision as I'd like. For this particular piece, I actually saw only the Mexico, USA, Honduras, and Guatemala games. And if you think that's bad, when I write about Africa I don't see any of the games, and the online coverage is amazingly inconsistent. But that's show biz.
Re: Where's The Semis Preview? For what it's worth, here are my predictions for the semifinals (made them before the 2nd round was played...): Semifinals Group A: 1. United States - 14 2. Jamaica - 11 3. El Salvador - 6 4. Panama - 1 United States defeats Jamaica 2-0 (HW 2-0, AT 0-0) United States defeats El Salvador 4-1 (HW 3-0, AT 1-1) United States defeats Panama 10-0 (HW 7-0, AW 3-0) Jamaica defeats El Salvador 2-1 (HW 1-0, AT 1-1) Jamaica defeats Panama 3-0 (HW 2-0, AW 1-0) El Salvador defeats Panama 3-2 (HW 2-1, AT 1-1) Group B: 1. Honduras - 9 2. Costa Rica - 9 3. Canada - 8 4. Guatemala - 5 Honduras defeats Costa Rica 3-2 (HT 1-1, AW 2-1) Honduras defeats Guatemala 2-1 (HW 1-0, AT 1-1) Costa Rica defeats Guatemala 4-3 (HW 2-1, AT 2-2) Costa Rica defeats Canada 2-1 (HT 1-1, AW 1-0) Canada defeats Honduras 3-2 (HW 2-1, AT 1-1) Guatemala defeats Canada 2-2 (HW 1-0, AL 1-2) Group C: 1. Mexico - 15 2. Trinidad & Tobago - 15 3. St. Vincent / Grenadines - 4 4. St. Kitts & Nevis - 1 Mexico defeats Trinidad & Tobago 6-2 (HW 5-0, AL 1-2) Mexico defeats St. Vincent / Grenadines 10-0 (HW 7-0, AW 3-0) Mexico defeats St. Kitts & Nevis 8-1 (HW 6-1, AW 2-0) Trinidad & Tobago defeats St. Vincent / Grenadines 8-1 (HW 5-1, AW 3-0) Trinidad & Tobago defeats St. Kitts & Nevis 6-2 (HW 4-1, AW 2-1) St. Vincent / Grenadines defeats St. Kitts & Nevis 3-2 (HW 1-0, AT 2-2) *Letters are for the team listed first and indicate; H = home, A = away, W = win, L = loss, T = tie/draw... Example: "Guatemala defeats Canada 2-2 (HW 1-0, AL 1-2)" means Guatemala wins 1-0 at home, and loses 1-2 in Canada. Here is how I did with the 2nd round predictions: Round 2 Group 1: United States defeats Grenada 12-1 (HW 8-0, AW 4-1) Group 2: El Salvador defeats Bermuda 4-2 (HW 4-1, AL 0-1) Group 3: Jamaica defeats Haiti 3-1 (HW 2-0, AT 1-1) Group 4: Panama defeats St. Lucia 4-0 (HW 4-0, AT 0-0) Group 5: Costa Rica defeats Cuba 6-1 (HW 4-1, AW 2-0) Group 6: Guatemala defeats Surinam 5-1 (HW 4-1, AW 1-0) Group 7: Honduras defeats Netherland Antillies 8-2 (HW 5-1, AW 3-1) Group 8: Canada defeats Belize 9-1 (HW 5-0, HW 4-1) Group 9: Mexico defeats Dominica 12-0 (HW 8-0, AW 4-0) Group 10: St. Kitts & Nevis defeats Barbados 5-2 (HW 4-0, AL 1-2) Group 11: Trinidad & Tobago defeats Dominican Republic 8-0 (HW 6-0, AW 2-0) Group 12: St. Vincent / Grenadines defeats Nicaragua 2-0 (HW 2-0, AT 0-0)
Re: Where's The Semis Preview? LOL panama is more of a team than grenada so dont expect a TEN goal performance. Jamaica score I agree, we wont beat el salvador at their place cause our performance away is always bad specially at places like mexico,costa rica and ES. I expect USA to advance easily. As for the 2nd spot even with the awful corruptions going on in El salvador you cant overlook their talent. Right now it seems they will call on some vets to team up with young guys which they need so them and jamaica should fight it out. Panama is new and young , they will be the spoilers.
Re: Where's The Semis Preview? Okay... from a trini man's view point... We (TnT) are like a poor man's Spain, we look good on paper, and we are supposed to do well with the talent we have, but we always seem to disappoint... That said, our coach Bertille St. Clair is back at the helm for a second stint and last time around we got close, his selections have been iffy so far, but I honestly think when we play to potential we can beat any Concacaf team... except Mexico and the U.S. at in Mexico and U.S. we cant do that... I wish we had a WCQ next week because right now we have 2 inform forwards... John and Nixon with Glenn waiting in the wings, as well as Glasgow.... There is no way in hell, we dont beat SKN... no way, really... no way... that was insulting, i forgive u man, but please don't do that again... that is like saying somethin bout my mom...
SVG to go 6-0 and take 18 points. There's a new pop song out that's going up the charts here in the U.S. called "Turn Me On" by Kevin Little. Mr. Little is from St. Vincent, maybe they could get him to do the national anthem or something.