We were creating chances, and in 11 on 12, we would have at least put shots on goal. Not to say we would have scored, but it would have been nice to be given a chance. And Italy don't dive more than the next teams.... The next teams being Chelsea and Arsenal. It was interesting that guys would be stretchered off the field only to come back on seconds later. As for Rover4Ever, I was talking to German fans who said it wouldn't have been red in their league and Italian fans who said the same thing.

We dominated 11 on 12. Without the first (bad) red card, Pope probably isn't playing so reckless to get the second. Tremendous atmosphere, probably the best you'll ever see at a US match. Tickets were going at up to 100 Euro before the match. As for the Italians, are they taking lessons from Arsenal on how to dive? Such a pathetic display by a supposedly world class team. There is a reason we rank above them on the FIFA list and without the ref, today's match would have shown that. (Today's match also showed why people say Keller is one of the best keepers in the world. My favorite was when he punted the ball at the Italian faking injury on the side of the field.) Oh and Philip, thanks for the predictions. With your track record, I see us going through now.

It was a great atmosphere in Nuremberg, though things started to go a tad sour after the first half. I was more worried about the crush of people after the match starting a problem. (For those interested in seeing pics, you can go HERE (Let me know if the link doesn't work).

Saudi Arabia only decided to play for about 20 minutes in the second half. Between the first goal by Tunisia and SA's first, it was dire. Tunisian atmosphere was great, though.

I find it annoying we can't watch it from outside the UK as my DVD purchases, cable fee to BBC for BBC America (plus commercial revenue from said channel), fees from my satellite radio provider for BBC World, etc. probably add up to the cost of a license for the year.

2-1 US if the players respond like they should to Arena's calling them all out. Realistically, 2-1 Italy with Donovan failing in Germany for the 3rd time. As for my addition, I was trying to line up a semi-celeb preview interview, but it will probably have to be put aside until one of the season previews due to his time constraints.

Pot, kettle, France 1998, fighting his teammates instead of the opposition...

Just saw video of the Swedes fighting in practice. Doesn't look like a made up story to me...

Sorry we didn't get the preview done with the board problems. We sucked, but had lots of fun.

They aren't doing any sort of check, unless you have to pick the tickets up. We're regretting spending money on the transfers. (My Aunt has the MasterCard, I only have Visa.) We do have a lot to pick up and got a big hassle the first set (they let us have them finally). Should be interesting the others.

What an atmosphere! By the end of the match, all non-Swedes were T&T fans. The place was rocking! All the T&T shirts are selling out, too.

We got last minute condidtional tickets for this one. Looking forward to a festive atmosphere as we're seeing a lot of Swedes and met up with some Trinidaddies at the train station yesterday. 1-1.

I can't believe I was actually there!!! I'm at the freaking World Cup!!! Ecuador had a great defense, they pretty much stopped most of Poland's attacks quickly. The other side being as Mrs American said - Poland seemed a step too slow.

You so have to pin this topic...

Ah, Bucky, keep up with the Kool-Aid... I guess 30 seconds of F-bombs shows a great maturity. I'm for certain going to make 2 bets on the World Cup. First, Brazil not to make it past the first round (only for the odds) and second, for Rooney to get sent off.

He's not suggesting that, Hughes was...

I think it'll be Rooney sent off for dropping double digit f-bombs on a ref...

Ok, I'm bored and trying to get out of doing my timesheets... I picked a random weekend in October (the weekend of the 15th) last year. 53 games were held in college football, total attendances of 2,177,396 for an average of 41,083. The top attenance was 111,249. Some of the larger schools were on the road (Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State, Penn State, etc.) and it wasn't "rivalry weekend" (just to show I picked at random). Add another 921,607 for 14 pro games (average of 65,829) and there were over 3 million (average of over 46k) that attended live "american football" games that weekend (and that doesn't count non-Division 1a college teams, equivalent to non-league). I'd be interested to see what the average was for the top 6 or 7 "soccer" leagues (would be an equivalent number of games) was for that weekend. The point isn't which is bigger, etc, the point is that you say we can't dismiss a sport just because it isn't big over here, but I say you can't dismiss one just because it is only big over here. Smacks of the same elitism you accuse him of.

I don't blame him. I want to be in my job for a couple years before getting a better paying, more prestigious one (either with my company or another). We can't compete with the "big" clubs on wages or endorsement opportunities.

Who will give me the best odds on Brazil not making it out of the group?

There have been a couple articles lately on how people come up with "worldwide audiences." I'll just say, don't anywhere near trust those numbers. As for Doc's point about the tickets, we sent our applications in the second night and had to wait until extra tickets were made available (ones that FIFA couldn't give away to sponsors - over 60k have been returned) to even only get 2 matches. First of all, if you read, I was comparing the leagues, not the World Cup. A couple years ago when both USC and Auburn went undefeated, they were offered over 50 million to have one game to decide who was better (the NCAA shot it down). The offer was from a company who knew it could make more than that just off of this one game. You have to visit the south and midwest on a Saturday during college football season to truly appreciate the passion. It is on par with soccer worldwide. I could do some research into comparable attendances on a given weekend, but I'm lazy...

I'm also curious how Spurs can activate the clause, since it was for Champions League teams (allegedly).

But popularity is about total numbers, not where those numbers come from...

Just a bit tounge in cheek, probably partially his opinion, just exaggerated. I hear the boring part a lot, or the lack of popularity part (funny that this usually comes from ice hockey fans - a sport that gets no ratings). But, for all you say about the lack of worldwide interest in our sports, Jim, college football probably gets more spectators on a fall weekend than all of the major soccer leagues combined. I can think off the top of my head of about 20 teams who will fill stadiums larger than Old Trafford, and can think of about 5 or 10 that fill over 100,000 each home game.

Don't consider that grumpy, he's been hearing that same criticism for 4 years now, but that same plan worked well in Korea, so why should it be criticized again?