United States vs. England
In one of the most anticipated American soccer matches in many years, the United States will play England on Saturday in the opening round of the World Cup. Can the Americans pull off a big upset like they did in 1950? Times Columnist George Vecsey and Duncan Irving, contributor to the Goal blog, take sides.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/09/sports/soccer/20100609-worldcup-interactive.html?src=me

2010 FIFA World Cup™: Latest Matches


South Africa 1 : 1 Mexico - Recap



Upcoming matches:

Uruguay vs. France - Jun 11 1:30pm (CT) on ESPN

South Korea vs. Greece - Jun 12 6:30am (CT) on ESPN

Argentina vs. Nigeria - Jun 12 9:00am (CT) on ESPN

England vs. United States - Jun 12 1:30pm (CT) on ABC

Algeria vs. Slovenia - Jun 13 6:30am (CT) on ESPN

Serbia vs. Ghana - Jun 13 9:00am (CT) on ABC

Germany vs. Australia - Jun 13 1:30pm (CT) on ESPN

The articles I could find in a quick search confirmed what I had heard from my Mexican friends and the Mexican press. The Mexican fans really wanted to beat us this time around.

I realize that we did hold Mexico scoreless but a 2-0 victory on home turf leaves me unconvinced. And their captain (a defender) was red carded so our second goal wasn't even against a full team.

I get that our CONCACAF record continues to get better (41 wins out of 51 games) but in my opinion we're just a big fish in a small pond. If we were able to win by a score of something like 2-0 (or better) against a full squad, in Mexico City, against a good Mexican team then I would feel better about the chances the USA has in the World Cup. This Mexican squad has lost 6 of their last 7 matches. I still don't see USA on the same par with the rest of the world's teams this go round.

20th Century teams.

Okay, we´re several years into the 21st century and I´ve been thinking - I would like to see other people´s ideas of a "20th Century Team". Only ONE RULE: The person had to have played on a national team that qualified for World Cup play during the 20th century.

Di me tu idea de un "Equipo Del Siglo 20". Solamente UNA REGLA: La persona tiene que ser algien que jugaba en un equipo nacional que qualifico en el Mundial durante el siglo 20.

The Confederations Cup in 2009 will be something to watch. According to this Wikipedia article, the FIFA Confederations Cup is a "dress rehersal" for the World Cup.

The UEFA Euro 2008 qualification round starts August 16, 2006 (in three weeks)

In current FIFA standings (by points) Brazil is still ranked #1. Funny that they didn't do better in the World Cup... Interesting changes in the top 20 since May '06 include Ukraine up 30 places (from 45th in May to 15th in July). Also entering the top 20 in July are Switzerland, Uruguay, Paraguay and Cote d'Ivoire. Falling fast (but still in the top 20) are USA and Mexico, losing 11 and 14 spots, respectively. Falling out of the top 20 are Sweden, Turkey, Egypt and Greece but the farthest fall from the limelight has to be Japan. They fell from 18th to 49th (ouch)

With 204 "national" teams listed, the biggest gain from May to July was made by Equatorial Guinea... don't worry, I'd never heard of them either. They jumped 59 spots to 95th place. How does a team jump so far so fast, you ask? Well it helps that all 109 teams under them lost points since May while they gained 55 points.

Right now its a nine-way tie for dead last...

I know this fits more the category of "fantasy" but it sure would be great to see these 5 teams play against each other. Its Master Card's 20th Century teams by association. I know its from before the World Cup 1998, so fans of Zidane will be disappointed.

This article makes a compelling argument that the world's sport will never be popular in the USA.

And this article contemplates how the French will ultimately see Zidane after his ignoble exit from the championship game. (give me a break - they'll build statues of him)

Today Italy and France will decide World Cup 2006 and, as a blog I read this morning said, All Good Things Must Come to an End . As the inevitable march of technology continues to make information more and more accessible, I intend to use this blog to keep up with the progress of the different tourneys and competitions leading up to and deciding the participants of World Cup South Africa 2010.

More than posts, I will start this out with links and we can all watch how long the links stay "alive". Tracking links is now an information age indoor sport.

The best and liveliest links will probably be to other blogs.

Here we go, a toast to good soccer (football or futbol) past, present and future.