I love soccer.  I generally refer to it as futebol and chide my friends (I live in the heart of Jets and Giants territory) that I follow the sport where they actually touch the ball with their feet.  :-)

Anyway, most of you – most everyone – knows the name Pele.  The greatest soccer player of all time with an amazing life story, even more so after becoming “Pele”.  Since the first Pele so many have been the “next” one.  Fact is, there have been some amazing “historical” players, and two of them have been Brasilian as well – Ronoldo and Ronoladinho.  But, there’s also Christiano Ronoldo, and Messi, my goodness, Messi is amazing.

Just my opinion, and as good as the others have been (and they have been amazing), Messi is in a league by himself.  Until very recently.

If you’ve not seen Neymar, or even if you have, this highlight reel is a must.  If you have any appreciation for the sport, watch this young man (born in 1992!).

And please don’t think everyone can play like this.  Watch how he manipulates the ball and the opposing player.  Watch how many defenders he leaves in the dust.  What how he handles the ball with his feet.  Only a few people have ever show the kind of grace of play Neymar has, especially at 19.  There is no doubt he is one of the greatest living players.  THE greatest?  [Shrug} Time will tell, but its going to be an amazing and entertaining ride.

This is why it is called the beautiful sport.

We ARE a soccer nation. That is the title of a blog post from the folks writing US World Cup Blog

http://usa.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/we-are-a-soccer-nation.html

They were cheering in the West Wing.  It seems like such a surprise, but it shouldn’t bet, really.  This is OUR National team!!

No doubt, we left the World Cup earlier than any of us has hoped.  It was VERY disappointing, especially in the aftermath of how we won that last game.  But the fact is, we have nothing to be shamed about with our play, we are one of the top 16 best teams in the world.

France did not last as long as we did.
Italy did not last as long as we did

England, Mexico, Paraguay, Chile, Slovakia and Spain lasted the same stretch of time in the tournament as we did.
Our full tournament goal differential (goals we scored minus goals scored against us) was 0.  Thats right, we scored as many goals as were scored against us,

Portugal’s GD is +2
Japan’s GD  is +1
USA’s GD is 0
Chile’s GD is -1
Mexico’s GD  is -1
England’s GD is -2
Slovakia’s GD is -2
South Korea’s GD is -2

So, if this competition is supposed to measure the best teams in the world (at this moment) – Uruguay, Ghana, Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, Brasil, Japan, and Portugal represent the top 8.  If we use goal differential to determine the order for the next 8 (as seen above), this puts the USA as the 11th best team in the world – not too shabby. (btw, FIFA ranked the USA #14 before the World Cup, so we could well end up at 11th afterward.

A few other interesting Round of 16 facts:

• The USA is the only team that won its group that was eliminated
• Chili and Portugal are the only team not to score a goal at all
• No teams are left representing the North American are Asia regions
• South America (four teams) is better represented in the final 8 than Europe (3 teams).  In fact, there is a scenario where the final four teams are all from South America.

Ok,s o, I don’t pretend to know a lot about world soccer.  As fans go, I’m a relatively new one – having only followed the sport for the last 12 years or so.  So my predictions are based on gut instinct.  I also reserve the right to change these as the World Cup goes on!  LOL  If I do make changes, I guess it will be interesting to see if my first/guy instinct was more or less right than my changes.

All this aside, there is a reason they play the games and the World Cup is always known for a few surprises.  We shall see what we shall see.

Group Matches, listed 1st and 2nd
A – Uruguay and Mexico
B – Argentina and Korea Republic
C – England and USA
D – Germany and Australia
E – Cameroon and Japan
F – Italy and Paraguay
G – Brasil and Portugal
H – Spain and Chile

Round of 16
Uruguay over Korea Republic
England over Australia
USA over Germany
Argentina over Mexico
Paraguay over Cameroon
Brasil over Chili
Italy over Japan
Spain over Portugal

Quarter-Finals
Brasil over Paraguay
England over Uruguay
Argentina over USA
Spain over Italy

Semi-Finals
Brasil over England
Spain over Argentina

3/4 Place
Argentina over England

Final
Brasil over Spain

The first game the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) will play during the upcoming World Cup will be a doozy!  They are pitted against England, which makes their first game probably one of the most important (at least mentally).

My prediction for the game is a 2-1 win for the USMNT.  A colleague at work thinks its going to be a 2-0 win for England.  I decided to see if any others in my social network were willing to go on the record and make a prediction, I’ll add them here if they are.

PREDICTIONS

AJ K. 2-1 USA

Milos T. 2-0 England

Sava S. 3-2 England

Alan B. 2-1 USA

Kirk M. 0-0

ArcticHole (via Twitter) 2-2

Elvira H. 2-2

Red Bull New York just announced that they will be showing both the US vs England game on the 12th and the Brasil v Portugal game on the 25th at the new and amazing Red Bull Arena and admission is FREE.  Come support our National Team.  If you are interested in meeting up, let me know.

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Red Bull New York announced today that it will host two free match viewing events at Red Bull Arena for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup. Fans are invited to the Bulls’ Corner and Red Bull Arena Club Lounge on Saturday, June 12 for the Group C match between the United States and England. In addition, on Friday, June 25, Red Bull Arena will show the Group G match between Brazil and Portugal on the video boards inside the Arena, as well as in the Bulls’ Corner and Club Lounge.

On Friday, June 25, Red Bull Arena will show the Group G match between Brazil and Portugal on the video boards inside the arena, as well as in the Bulls’ Corner and Club lounge. The match is slated for a 10:00 AM kickoff. The event is open to the public, and admission is free, but all fans will need a ticket to enter the stadium. Tickets are free and can be secured starting Monday, June 14 by logging ontowww.newyorkredbulls.com and clicking on “Tickets” on the menu bar.

In addition, fans are invited to test their World Cup predictions against Juan Pablo Angel, Mike Petke and the entire Red Bulls roster by entering the Red Bulls Fantasy Cup Challenge. Fans will compete for three prizes, with the grand prize being a $500 gift certificate to the Bullshop at Red Bull Arena. The second place winner will receive a signed New York Red Bulls jersey, and the third place winner will bring home a ball signed by Red Bulls players. Fans can enter by CLICKING HERE or on the Red Bulls Fantasy Cup Challenge link on the front page. The deadline for entering the contest is Thursday, June 10 at midnight.

There was a terrible car crash just outside Washington DC yesterday.  One person died.  The other person in the car, Charlie Davies, spent five hours in surgery.  He had a lacerated bladder, a fractured tibia and femur, as well as several other injuries.

Did you see this on the news?  Probably not.  Had this been ANY OTHER COUNTRY in the world, this would have been the lead story, front page, something everyone would have been talking about.

You see, Charlie Davies is one of the stand out young stars of the US Men’s National Soccer Team.  Charlie is good enough that he plays in Europe and has recently made several appearances for the USMNT in the Confederations Cup, CONCACAF, and World Cup qualifying games.  In fact, the USMNT just qualified for the World Cup on Saturday.  They’ve, once again, made it into the elite 32 teams that play in the World Cup.  Not every team gets to play – not even normally good teams, with superstars, get to play (Argentina could miss out this year, for instance.)  So, this is a big deal, globally.

The near apathy for soccer (football or futebol to the rest of the world) in this country astounds me.  We are the ONLY country in the world that treats this sport this way.  One of our other national greats, Jozy Altidore, who played for the Red Bulls for a short time before being drafted to Europe for the, then, highest transfer fee ever paid for an American player, was refused a cab (in Washington DC) the other day because the driver didn’t think Jozy looked like he could pay the fare.  Jozy is black.  Think that had anything to do with it?

Back to Charlie, please pray for him, he needs all the good and positive energy we can give him right now.

Not that Joe had much say, but this is very touch news to handle.

Ives is reporting that Joe Vide has signed with the dreaded DC United!!!!

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/07/gallardo-and-pe.html

My beloved Red Bulls have had a terrible run.  With Reyna being perpetually injured, Angel having nerve/hamsting problems, and Jozy heading to Europe, its been tough times for those of us who are die hard.

Osorio (coach) has recently added four (4!!!) South American players and hopes to add another, which should be a great shot in the arm – although it will mean that some of our “family” will be leaving, since room needs to be made on the group of 18.

Earlier this year, during the expansion draft, it hurt ALL of us to see a real team favorite, and up-and-coming player, get drafted.  Joe Vide is explosive, fast, and a great thinker – always  looking for the next play.  Well, we may see him in a Red Bull kit again.  This just in from Ives site.

The San Jose Earthquakes waived former Red Bulls midfielder Joe Vide on Monday, a disappointing turn of events for a player who showed so much promise for the Red Bulls last year. I would not be at all surprised to see Vide training with the Red Bulls shortly. One of his biggest advocates during his time with the Red Bulls was current assistant Richie Williams, and since the club is still looking for midfield help, don’t be surprised to see the Red Bulls take a look.

If this happens, there will be much rejoicing.