Nigeria were plainly disappointing in World Cup play. Now their president has stepped in to stop all play for the next two years. Ballsy move! Goodluck Jonathan, the apparently ill-named president of Nigeria, has suspended his country's national soccer team from international competition for two years after its poor performance in the World Cup in June. They haven't won a World Cup match since 1998, and President Jonathan has had enough. Investigations will be held!
Crissy's ineffectual performance against what looks again to be the team to beat (plus his general lack of a cutting edge in the group games) saw the old temper rise to the surface for a split second. The interweb is abuzz over his latest act of disrespect: hocking a loogie at the feet of a cameraman, then pushing past reporters while seeming to blame his coach for the loss. Let's all cut him some slack. He's an outrageous talent, and part of that is his belief in himself. If he was humble, he would never be such an explosively exciting (though selfish) player to watch. He's as great as he is bratty, and though you may hate him, you'll still watch him.
Oh Dear Leader, you're such a dog wagging, tail grabber! Editor's note: thanks to some fact checking from our adoring fans, we've discovered that it actually says "Hangook" in the upper left corner, which is in South Korea. This suggests that the video originates south of the DMZ, though it may also have been just playing on a set in Hangook.... We will ever know the truth?!
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! ________________________________________ [liveblog]23[/liveblog] Starting lineups: [not available as of 2pm ET] Spain: Portugal:
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
Today's matches to determine the last quarterfinal pairings see the surprisingly pithy Japan up against a Paraguayan side who looked bland against New Zealand in their final group tie. Paraguay did set Italy on their way out of the tournament (and won their group, by the way), so they're no cream-puffs, and though Man City striker Roque Santa Cruz has seen his mediocre club season follow him into the tournament, he's still their best shot at unlocking the disciplined Japanese defense. Anchoring the attack for Japan is the clever Keisuke Honda, whose free kick against Denmark is one of the top strikes of the tournament. His creative play and silky touch will be key in breaking down a Paraguayan side who conceded only one goal in group play. Spain v Portugal Portugal is Spain's "little sister", both geographically and in footballing quality. The countries share just over 600 miles of border, and have the sort of love-hate relationship
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! ________________________________________ [liveblog]21[/liveblog]
