John Adams

Another underrated thing about MLS, and I speak as a season ticket holder, is the games mostly happen when kids can watch. I think my season ticket package has 2 starts at 7pm or later. Most are afternoon games on Saturdays.

Did they do that at halftime? I know they were in the christmas tree for a while but I missed that switch if it happened at the start of the second half. Whatever they did, the second half was much more dominated by Argentina.

Sorry gatorman.

Right. You can kill time in soccer by not releasing a punt, taking time on a free kick, etc. But not faking an injury.

The color guy had it right. Argentina is trying out the 352 and looked completely out of sorts in the first half using it. When they switched back to the 442, they took over the game. That Bosnia goal was against the run of play in the second half. Messi had an OK game for him but quite a few bad giveaways, obviously neutralized by the great goal and some spectacular play late in the game.

Remember: I'm on your side. The stretcher drama (of course, a Brazilian player) was embarrassing. Even worse that it happened in women's soccer, where they don't do the Italy/Brazil drama queen stuff as much. That's not how it works. Not really interested in explaining it to you. This post plus the 3' thing is just you being gatorman-ish.

Yeah. We haven't heard from her yet but she's a huge soccer fan so no doubt she's having fun.

That late free kick was amazing. Italy was the better team. Excellent play from two very good teams. Seeing them play is the reason that the US cannot win a Cup yet--we couldn't match that style.

My daughter landed in Costa Rica this afternoon at about kick off with her grandparents. We sent her with her Costa Rican jersey. No doubt she landed in a national party. Absolutely deserved and well-earned win. The England-Italy game is fantastic. Great patient chess match. Joe Hart looks as crappy as he did when the US beat them on that junk goal.

And yet, MLS has higher average attendance than the NHL and NBA so there goes that theory. It won't catch football but with the ever declining death spiral of baseball, it will be #2 in attendance in 10-15 years. And the MLS is drawing top talent. You don't know it because you don't follow it but the MLS game is 100x better than it was just 5 years ago. There are MLS players on many World Cup rosters, not just for the US. It's a good league and not the sort of sloppy mess it was when it started up 20 years ago. The real trick is TV. TV soccer faces the challenge of so many leagues, zero commercials (which Americans can't live without), but the kids understand it and it's their #2 most popular sport to watch. It's already on a lot and that increase is not about to decline.

So far in this thread you hate soccer and football. It's like stuckincincy never left. Do you really think the US team hasn't improved since 1996? They are not one of the consistent top 5 teams but are regularly hovering around 10 and there's no sign of that changing. Are they on the cusp of winning a World Cup? No, but they are now a real team and as Magox and others have said, kids like soccer more than any other sport but football now and it's a matter of time before we have a real star player.

ESPN shows all the WC games online. I watched the entire Mexico-Cameroon match at my desk.

Soccer offers something baseball, football, hockey, and basketball never will: No commercials.

Poor showing by Brazil. But now they will stroll through the remainder of the group stage and maybe they will come together more. Neymar was not much of a factor. Struck a poor shot on the goal and PK was not great and should have been saved. Croatia played well enough to win. Spain Netherlands today will be fantastic.

Not that you proposed it Magox, but if we could identify the lazy and shiftless and send them out of the country, I'd be all for it. More seriously, I agree with you: People come here from Mexico and poorer countries because their home countries are a train wreck. Most would work if they could find the work. And we need a better system of letting them come and become productive citizens. Regarding the people already here, I'm a fan of amnesty for non-violent offenders.

Of course he is. Doesn't mean he's not an amazing player and doesn't mean that the highlights from this World Cup won't be dominated by him. But he's no Messi in terms of what Americans would prefer to see. Messi has the crazy skills and refuses to go down when hit.

The Brazilians (and Italians) are drama queens but they can play the game. To borrow from other sports, the Brazilians are like a team of Terrell Owens's and Danny Ainge's. They are annoying as all F%^& but they are really good.

As real as Kyrie Irving version, ie, fake as eff.

The right doesn't have the balls to do immigration reform and it's one of the reasons the presidency keeps slipping away from them. Cantor lost to a nobody because he was disliked, pure and simple. This is a single loss and I don't expect the electorate to buck the historic trend on voting for incumbents.

Let me know who eats the cookie guys.

Cantor is an A1 douche--great win. The more new faces, the better. I was talking to my friend who is a liberal this weekend and we both agree: It's for this reason that Hillary (or Jeb if those rumors are true) is the wrong choice in 2016. People are sick of Clintons and Bushes. The parties would be wise to figure that out.

No need to get defensive Peter. No one is saying your guy is a bad player or even a bad guy. Just a drama queen.

It starts on Thursday. An awesome month of soccer. The USMNT opens on Sunday in a must win match against a team that has haunted them in the past: Ghana. If the US has any chance of getting out of their brutal bracket, they have to beat Ghana then steal a point against Germany or Portugal. I doubt their defense is up to the task though. I always love the style of play difference between countries. The US plays a forward downhill style (that isn't always good). There is no rolling around after soft contact like the Italians or South Americans. The Germans are precise and tough. Brazil and Argentina are like the old LA Lakers: Showtime but the ultimate drama queens. Spain plays the perfect team game with slow possession and build up to attack. Nothing like it--hope the US can pull off a miracle advancement from the bracket.

Here.

Yeah it's poor taste but it's the norm. When there's a mudslide that kills 20 people, someone will be here posting "Ban all mudlsides." People can be dickheads.