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Live Blog

Spain v Portugal, Round of 16: Liveblog/Open Thread

June 29, 2010 — by Suman35

I may not get to this ball..but my hair is still perfect

The final contest of the Round of 16 kicks off at 2:30pm ET–an intra-Iberian matchup involving powerhouses Portugal and Spain. The winner will get slotted into the remaining quarterfinal match, taking on surprise quarterfinalist Paraguay on Saturday.

We’ll be watching the game from the awesome PlayBeautifulNYC popup virtual stadium in Soho/Nolita. We’re not sure if they have wifi–if so, we’ll be liveblogging from there; if not, we’ll try to post to the comment thread from our phones, but we’ll count on you to provide most of the color commentary!

We are 45 minutes from kickoff. Starting lineups and the ever-present comment box after the jump!

Live Blog

Japan v Paraguay, Round of 16: Liveblog/Open Thread

June 29, 2010 — by Suman14

The Japanese Maradona?

[Final Score: Paraguay 0 – Japan 0; Paraguay advances by winning PK shootout 5-3.

Paraguay advances to a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of Spain-Portugal (the last Round of 16 match, to be played later today at 2:30pm ET). Japan goes home, their hopes of representing Asia further in the tournament dashed.]

This is by far the most unexpected matchup of the Round of 16, with neither country having advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup before. Paraguay will be attempting to make the quarterfinals 50% South American (!), with Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil having already advanced over the past 3 days. On the other hand, Japan is trying to become the first Asian side to advance to the quarterfinals since South Korea in 2002.

We’ll again be sporadically liveblogging–we will post scoring plays, details about individual players, and observations about the general run of play. We’ll count on you to provide color via the comments!

We are about 15 minutes from kickoff! Starting lineups and a very welcoming and empty comment box after the jump!

Live Blog

Brazil v Chile: Liveblog/Open Thread

June 28, 2010 — by Suman7

This could very well be the big upset of the tournament, though Brazil have bested the Chilean side 46 times (and lost only 7). Chile have looked strong, however, and Brazil haven’t really put on the flair to which we’re accustomed. Check out these comments about Chile’s quality by the father of total football himself, Johan Cruyff.

Brazil will be happy to have Kaka back from suspension, meaning Baptista will be taking a seat. Chile have Carmona and Fernandez ready, but don’t have the excellent Marco Estrada at their disposal. They’re also without Medel and Ponce — all three to suspension.

We’ll be sporadic on this one, familial responsibilities, etc. Starting lineups and some commentary after the bump! Your comments welcome!

Live Blog

Liveblog/open thread: Netherlands vs Slovakia

June 28, 2010 — by Suman13

"I'm going to score down there"

[Final score: Netherlands 2 – 1 Slovakia (Robben 17′, Sneijder 84′; Vittek 93′)

The Dutch advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1998. They will face the winner of this afternoon’s Brazil-Chile match.]

The 2nd half of the Round of 16 begins this morning with the Netherlands taking on surprising Slovakia.  The Netherlands are heavily favored to win this matchup.  They came into the tournament as a dark horse to go all the way, and they didn’t disappoint (unlike some other European sides) in winning all three of their games in Group E.

Slovakia, on the other hand, shocked the world by eliminating Italy and advancing in 2nd place out of Group F.  They’ll be attempting to pull off another upset in Durban today.

Starting lineups, players to watch, live entries and your comments, all after the jump!

Live BlogUnited States

Liveblog/open thread: #USA v #GHA

June 26, 2010 — by Suman17

[Final score: Ghana 2, USA 1

Ghana advances to the quarterfinals, where they will face Uruguay.  An African team continues on in this the first African World Cup.]

The one we’ve all been waiting for (well, for all of the last 3 days, since The Goal). Again, we won’t be doing min-by-min, play-by-play commentary (for that, we recommend the Guardian or NYT’s Goal blog).

We’re about 20m from kickoff. Starting lineups below, live entries coming up after the jump. We’re going to make a run around the corner to our local Brooklyn bodega for some refreshments, and to look in on the local soccer scene (Scopello, Mullanes, Der Schwarzer Kolner). We should be back on by kickoff..

Live Blog

Liveblog (or open thread?): Uruguay (#uru) v South Korea (#kor)!

June 26, 2010 — by Suman7

And here we go..doesn’t it feel like a whole new tournament is starting today? The past 2 weeks were prologue; the most important time in history is now, the present(*).

All eyes here in the US are looking forward to the 2nd match of the day, USA v Ghana (kickoff 2:30pm ET). But we here at CultFootball HQ are nearly as excited about Uruguay v South Korea. Why? Well, the Korean branch of the CultFootball fam is both numerous and uncompromising in its support of the Reds. And on the other hand, this CultFootballer is, among all the South American teams, partial to Uruguay, for reasons both personal and historical.

We are about 15minutes from kickoff.  Some intro material lifted from the Guardian’s liveblog and then our live entries after the jump!

Live Blog

Liveblogging Chile v Spain

June 25, 2010 — by Sean3

The tournament’s favorites before the start need a win today to ensure their passage to the knockout phases. Spain is sure to come hard and fast, and after that easy victory over the hapless Hondurans they may just have gotten back their swagger. They’ll need it against a Chilean side that has looked confident in their two wins. Will La Roja be able to pierce the usually-solid Spanish defense, or will the star-studded front line of Spain tear apart the South Americans? Chile need at least a point to guarantee advancement – expect all guns a’blazin!

Key men for Spain: every stinkin’ one of them.

Key men for Chile:  Matias Fernandez, and Carlos Carmona. Too bad they’re both suspended with two yellows a piece. Jorge Valdivia (Al Ain, UAE) will stand in for Fernandez, and Rodrigo Millar (Colo Colo, CHI) is probable for the midfielder Carmona.

All the action after the bump!

Live Blog

Liveblogging Brazil v Portugal

June 25, 2010 — by Sean9

In what promises to be the most entertaining match of Group of Death play, the 5-time cup winners take on their mother nation in what is essentially a showcase (as both squads are sure for the next round, unless of course Portugal lose and Ivory Coast win by 9 goals).

Lots of Portuguese being spit about the field, but we expect a pretty and clean game as Brazil are on the verge of finding their flair, while Portugal have quality peppered around the field, plus superstar gay icon Christiano Ronaldo.

We’ll cover the afternoon games as well, but for now, roubaram-me o relógio! Oops, we mean, aqui vamos nós!