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Live BlogOpen Thread

Liveblog/Open Thread: Tottenham Hotspurs at New York Red Bulls

July 22, 2010 — by Suman — 11

"Are we really in Harrison NJ?"

They’ve just kicked off at Red Bulls Arena in Harrison, NJ.  Well, we’re not in beautiful industrial north Jersey–we haven’t left Brooklyn all day.  But we do have a CultFootball contributor on the scene–an Englishman, and a Spurs fan no less.  We’ll be getting a game report from him at some point in the near future..but in the meantime we’ll be throwing up some real-time commentary from the comfort of our couch(es).

We can’t remember a more anticipated game involving an MLS team–because tonight is Thierry Henry’s debut with the Red Bulls.  The game is being televised on both Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports Espanol..and is also being streamed on the oddly named (but rather slick-looking) video broadcaster Veetle.com.

Below the jump (of after the bump, as some prefer to say)…starting lineups and some occasional liveblogging.

Open ThreadTactics

2nd Semifinal, Germany v Spain: Preview/Open Thread

July 7, 2010 — by Suman — 13

Probable starting lineups (via ZonalMarking.net)

We’re just 90 minutes away from kickoff in the 2nd semifinal, to decide who will play the Netherlands in the final game on Sunday.  This matchup between European powers is highly anticipated; more so than yesterday’s Holland-Uruguay match was, but we can only hope that this one lives up to the expectations and turns out to be as exciting as yesterday’s 3-2 victory for Holland.

What better way to get a preview of today’s match than to revisit the finals of the Euro 2008 tournament, played on June 29, 2008 in Vienna’s  Ernst Happel Stadion, when Germany and Spain clashed with nearly as much as stake as today.  Spain prevailed that day 1-0, off a goal by striker Fernando Torres–whose struggles to score in this World Cup have become something of a story line for followers of the Spanish side.

On the other hand, the striker who has been scoring for Spain in this tournament, David Villa, did not even play in that Euro final, due to injury.  And on the other side, Germany’s revelation in the midfield, the young and dynamic Mesut Ozil, was not on the German squad.

Hence the indispensable Zonal Marking begins their tactical preview of today’s match (from whence we’ve pulled the probably starting lineup chart above):

Live Blog

1st Semifinal, Netherlands v Uruguay: Liveblog/Open Thread

July 6, 2010 — by Suman — 23

"Those Dutch fans just don't make the effort." Photograph: Tony Marshall/Empics Sport

After two more long empty days, the semifinals are upon us!  A mere five minutes until the Netherlands kickoff against Uruguay.

Both teams advanced in dramatic quarterfinal matches on Friday.  The Dutch came back after conceding an early goal to the heavily favored Brazilians to win 2-1, while Uruguay also came back from a goal down to Ghana, eventually winning on penalty kicks (after their star forward preserved a 1-1 tie in the 120th minute with a controversial handball clearance off the Uruguayan goal line).

We’ll be doing a bit of liveblogging during the match, but most of the action will be happening in the comments thread.  Join us for the action!

Final score: Holland 3-2 Uruguay (Van Bronckhorst 18′, Sneijder 70′, Robben 73′ ; Forlan 41′, Pereira 90′)

Live Blog

Brazil vs Netherlands: Liveblog/Open Thread

July 2, 2010 — by Suman — 51

1998 World Cup Semi-Final: Holland's captain Frank De Boer after his team were knocked out by Brazil in a penalty shoot-out

[Note: We’re setting this up as a liveblog, but we’ll probably be too focused on the game to actually do so.  So we’ll treat this one as an open thread.  We’ll be throwing up some in-game comments–please do the same!]

Doesn’t it feel like a whole new, more compressed and more intense tournament starts today? Eight teams remaining, seven games to go (well, eight if you count the 3rd place game–but who really does?), beginning with four quarterfinal matchups–two today (Brazil vs Netherlands followed by Uruguay vs Ghana) and two tomorrow (Argentina vs Germany followed by Spain vs Paraguay).

The first of these may just be the most highly anticipated: Brazil vs Netherlands. What to say about this match? Obviously, this might just be a true classic.

Live Blog

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

June 29, 2010 — by Suman — 35

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 Suman — 14

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 BlogUnited States

Liveblog/open thread: #USA v #GHA

June 26, 2010 — by Suman — 17

[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 Suman — 7

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!

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