[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_OA8Vj16DM]
Some select media from today’s World Cup Draw:
The Run of Play goes appropriately cerebral with a philosophical look at the major story lines of each group — and is cautiously optimistic we’ll go through.
The New York Times Goal blog gets all reporty by interviewing five former and current players and coaches, including my own personal hero, number 5 John O’Brien. What the hell is he doing now?
ESPN Soccernet somehow thinks Ruud Gullit is still relevant, and that we care what he thinks about anything.
Landon Donovan tells Reuters he wants to give David Beckham a kick. He’s kidding, he’s kidding.
Run of Play: Even though it’s a short post, it’s gold. The blog gets me salivating with the one on one matchups presented in the first paragraph that pushes the laughs in the predictions of North Korea’s coverage of what will surely be an unceremonious TROUNCING in Group G. And yes, they are appropriately cautious of the US chances for getting through the group stage. However, the partisan in me is brimming with confidence.
Best part of the post: Alan Jacobs comment: I don’t think there *is* a Group of Death this Cup. (I agree.)
New York Times Goal: Carlos Bocanegra, Bruce Arena, Gregg Berhalter, John O’Brien and Benny Feilhaber discuss the USA’s chances for getting out of the group. What’s striking about these guys is how confident they are the US will get through — even daring to suggest the US can beat England. They’re all also really honest about not knowing a damn thing about Algeria and Slovenia. That, of course, has me worried.
Best part of the post: John O’Brien: “I know I’ve been to Eastern Europe and maybe even somewhere close to Slovenia. Then I looked at a map and saw the name Bystrica, and aha, the small town was the location of my first UEFA cup game with Ajax about 10 years ago, so, yes, I know Slovenia well now.”
Runner up: Benny Feilhaber: “North Korea will have a tough time.”
Soccernet: Erstwhile LA Galaxy Skipper and former hero from Holland Ruud Gullit weighs in on the Dutch chances of going through. Of course he thinks they’re very, very good. The real question is: Who the fuck cares? This smacks of a reporter emptying out his notebook to squeeze one more link onto the homepage. I can hear it now, “This guy coached in the US for a couple of weeks, let’s get a few quotes. — I bet we have an image in the CMS somewhere. We can throw it up there.”
Best part of the story: Nothing Ruud Gullit is a douche. Actually, the picture of him wearing a suit jacket over an LA Galaxy t-shirt while watching his team go down the shitter is pretty sweet. As I said: douche.
Reuters: Landon Donovan and David Beckham had an incredibly successful MLS season together this year — probably the most under-reported sports story of the year, given the amount of coverage Beckham’s early failings received, not to mention the amount of attention Donovan’s griping in The Beckham Experiment received. This little wire story is just a amuse bouche of things to come. The Donovan vs. Beckham storyline will be a huge one in the US — especially given the US starts out against England in the group stage. ESPN producers are salivating.
Best part of the story: The tone. Donovan seems genuinely excited to face off against Beckham and having watched them play together this year, I believe him when he says it will be fun. It’s nice to see these two kiss and make up.
Related posts:
- donovan puts this up for goal of the year
- US World Cup qualifying: USA 1 : 0 Cuba
- World Cup qualifying: US 3 : 0 Trinidad and Tobago
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world cup draw: we're smilin'
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_OA8Vj16DM]
Some select media from today’s World Cup Draw:
The Run of Play goes appropriately cerebral with a philosophical look at the major story lines of each group — and is cautiously optimistic we’ll go through.
The New York Times Goal blog gets all reporty by interviewing five former and current players and coaches, including my own personal hero, number 5 John O’Brien. What the hell is he doing now?
ESPN Soccernet somehow thinks Ruud Gullit is still relevant, and that we care what he thinks about anything.
Landon Donovan tells Reuters he wants to give David Beckham a kick. He’s kidding, he’s kidding.
Run of Play: Even though it’s a short post, it’s gold. The blog gets me salivating with the one on one matchups presented in the first paragraph that pushes the laughs in the predictions of North Korea’s coverage of what will surely be an unceremonious TROUNCING in Group G. And yes, they are appropriately cautious of the US chances for getting through the group stage. However, the partisan in me is brimming with confidence.
Best part of the post: Alan Jacobs comment: I don’t think there *is* a Group of Death this Cup. (I agree.)
New York Times Goal: Carlos Bocanegra, Bruce Arena, Gregg Berhalter, John O’Brien and Benny Feilhaber discuss the USA’s chances for getting out of the group. What’s striking about these guys is how confident they are the US will get through — even daring to suggest the US can beat England. They’re all also really honest about not knowing a damn thing about Algeria and Slovenia. That, of course, has me worried.
Best part of the post: John O’Brien: “I know I’ve been to Eastern Europe and maybe even somewhere close to Slovenia. Then I looked at a map and saw the name Bystrica, and aha, the small town was the location of my first UEFA cup game with Ajax about 10 years ago, so, yes, I know Slovenia well now.”
Runner up: Benny Feilhaber: “North Korea will have a tough time.”
Soccernet: Erstwhile LA Galaxy Skipper and former hero from Holland Ruud Gullit weighs in on the Dutch chances of going through. Of course he thinks they’re very, very good. The real question is: Who the fuck cares? This smacks of a reporter emptying out his notebook to squeeze one more link onto the homepage. I can hear it now, “This guy coached in the US for a couple of weeks, let’s get a few quotes. — I bet we have an image in the CMS somewhere. We can throw it up there.”
Best part of the story: Nothing Ruud Gullit is a douche. Actually, the picture of him wearing a suit jacket over an LA Galaxy t-shirt while watching his team go down the shitter is pretty sweet. As I said: douche.
Reuters: Landon Donovan and David Beckham had an incredibly successful MLS season together this year — probably the most under-reported sports story of the year, given the amount of coverage Beckham’s early failings received, not to mention the amount of attention Donovan’s griping in The Beckham Experiment received. This little wire story is just a amuse bouche of things to come. The Donovan vs. Beckham storyline will be a huge one in the US — especially given the US starts out against England in the group stage. ESPN producers are salivating.
Best part of the story: The tone. Donovan seems genuinely excited to face off against Beckham and having watched them play together this year, I believe him when he says it will be fun. It’s nice to see these two kiss and make up.
Related posts:
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.