Just finished watching the Brazil/Croatia game. Certainly the first half was the best half of football in the competition so far - topped with a nice goal by Kaka. Second half wasn't as good - though still better than the France/Switzerland game - the Brazilians looked a little tired. Fair dues to the Croatians for not giving up, though.
Some thoughts. I've given up watching ESPN. I can't stand the inane commentary, lack of half-time analysis, pop-ups onscreen, and continued talk of the USA/Italy game. Univision is the way to go - even the crowd noise seems louder.
I basically watch soccer between 6am and 2pm, and then write for the afternoon, and spend the evening with my family. Hence, the relative lack of posts. And it's not going to get any better. Next week I'm off to Europe (to catch some real soccer commentary!)
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We have as well. I really was not impressed with Brazil at all. They were very sloppy and Ronaldo touched the ball exactly once. France was not up to form either. Of the teams I've seen, Portugal, the Dutch, the Argentines and the Italians have played the best soccer.
Same here. Have fun on the other side.
A colleague and I snuck out to a bar to catch the second half of that game. Really impressive play (though we missed the single goal, of course). But the Croatian uniforms suggested nothing so much as the Big Boy.
I developed a case of full-blown World Cup fever as I watched all six of last weekend's matches. Trying to get my fix during the work week has been a challenge. I can catch a bit of the first match of the day before I go to work, but in the twenty minutes it takes me to get to the office, I've been missing all the good bits, like all three of Australia's goals against Japan on Monday for instance.
For the second match of the day, I have to rely on MatchCast on Yahoo! so I can keep up with the play by play and still get my work done.
I've been catching some of the last match of the day with some co-workers during our lunch hour and we are also getting fed up with ESPN. In fact, Melissa, one of the avid "Fútbol Fans" in the cffice, commented during the match between Brazil and Croatia on how quiet the Brazilian fans were. As a test, she switched the channel to Univision and the roar of the crowd was considerably louder. Plus, a number of us thought it was crass for ESPN to show the U.S. team singing the "The Star Spangled Banner" and then cut to a commercial during the playing of the Croatian national anthem.
Today's match between Brazil and Croatia was the best play I've seen so far though I have to give props to Trinidad and Tobago for holding Sweden to draw. The worst performance so far? Before Monday it was England hands down, but then the U.S. took to the pitch. What a flippin' embarrassment!