World Cuppies

At the end of high school soccer practice, we would play a game called World Cuppies. I can't remember exactly how it went, but for some reason, this hilarious YouTube video made me think of it. More thoughts below on the World Cup so far.

What's with the goalkeepers in this tournament? That miss by the English keeper against the US was something I haven't seen since I refereed "bumblebee soccer" (you know, 6-year-olds running around the field in a swarm). Let's make an exception, of course, for US keeper Tim Howard. That guy has an indestructible Vin Diesel quality, and he could take us a long way (Howard, not Diesel).

Speaking of bumblebees, the non-stop horns you hear at the games are the African vuvuzela. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole." I can't hear any chanting over the (#$*!! bumblebees. By the way, there's an iphone app already, so be prepared to hear vuvuzelas at Starbucks.

Other observations:

Stop complaining about the ball. People are whining because the official World Cup ball might be too light and could be contributing to keepers whiffing or players kicking balls into the upper deck. These teams have had plenty of time to get used to the ball, and everyone's using the same model. As my old coach used to say, when you shoot, make sure your head is over the ball. It still amazes me that World Cup caliber players shoot the ball so high, so often. No wonder the score is 0-0.

The referees have been fantastic. You heard me right. I've seen catastrophic reffing in previous Cups, and so far, the referees have been stellar. Nice work, FIFA!!

Italy will not defend its championship, but do not write them off. Keep pretending Italy is awesome. Otherwise, they are a rattlesnake hiding in the bushes, and they will bite your leg off.

France is an injured bunny. Done.

Watch out for Paraguay. All they've done in qualifying and in their first WC match is beat Brazil, Argentina, and draw with Italy. They are the small country packing the most chance at the Cup. They won't win it, but they could squeak into the quarterfinals.

The US should not underestimate Slovenia Friday. Slovenia played well in its first match, knocking off Algeria. We MUST beat them.

When I was at World Cup 2006, I predicted that Germany would win the 2010 World Cup. They had a young team then, and they're still fairly young, but I will stick with my prediction. Germany looked fantastic drubbing Australia. I have a soccer crush on German striker Lucas Podolski (above). That dude can crush the air out of the ball (and he hits the target). He scored both goals against Sweden in the game I went to in 2006. After the goals, the announcer would say in German, "scoring for Germany, number 10, Lucas...." and the entire stadium would scream PODOLSKI!!!

If you're somehow not a World Cup fan, that kind of thing will make you one.

I'll post more thoughts as they come to me.

Oh, one just occurred to me. How about New Zealand scoring in the final 30 seconds to tie Slovakia?? What a finish. That's New Zealand's first point ever in a World Cup. Go Kiwis!