Tag Archive: world cup

Diving back into things

June 13, 2014 Adam Thomas

Heyo!  Welcome back to theheadrush everyone! It has been too long since we posted and what better time than now, after one of the best days in sports?

World Cup

For starters, I love how people get so pumped up for the World Cup and then the first game has a controversial call and everybody is like “See, THIS is why I hate soccer!” and they just lose interest. Every article I’ve read about the Brazil/Croatia game has had a comment like this at the bottom: “This is why I can’t get into soccer. You wouldn’t see flopping like this in the NBA, MLB, NFL or NHL.” Oh really?

Dwyane Wade was just fined $10,000 for FLOPPING in the NBA finals. His sole role at this point in his career is to get on the court and feign getting elbowed in the throat by Manu Ginobli. Lynn Swann flopped all over the field whenever George Atkinson breathed on him back in the 70’s. And surely in baseball, a batter has never had a pitch hit the bottom of their bat and pretended that it hit them just so they could get a free walk up to first.

There is diving in every sport (I was going to make a Sidney Crosby joke, but then I remembered I don’t watch hockey enough to comment on it with authority, but that dude looks like he flops all the time).

The only difference is that in soccer, diving has dire consequences.

It’d be like if the NBA gave Wade 50 points for flopping instead of fining him afterwards. That is how much the Brazil decision swung the game yesterday. Make no mistake about it, Croatia was hanging with Brazil big time up until that goal.

However, let’s also be real about this for a second: Brazil was playing the opening game of the World Cup which–if you haven’t heard–is being played in Brazil. The chances of there NOT being a controversial call that went in favor of Brazil and against Croatia had to be 100,000 to 1. At some point during that game, Croatia was going to get boned. If you didn’t know that going in, well…I don’t know what to tell you. That’s just the way it is. And on a side note, not to get all Alexi Lalas on you all, but the keeper probably should’ve saved that PK. Not that it’s an easy thing to do (understatement, it’s probably one of the hardest things to do in sports) but he guessed right and got his hands on it.

Now, with all that being said, if that was America playing against Ghana and one of the Americans flopped like a fish and were awarded a penalty kick, how awesome would that be? It’s gotta feel nice to watch your team get rewarded a PK for having a player do absolutely nothing other than act as if they just shot off a gun like Owen Wilson on a quail hunt.

For the record, I would like to congratulate myself for correctly predicting Brazil 3-1 over Croatia in the Yahoo Sports soccer pick em. Way to go, self.

My picks for today?

Mexico 1–Cameroon 1

Spain 0–Netherlands 0

Chile 4–Australia 1 (poor Australia)

On to the NBA…

How great is it to watch the Heat get rolled up on by the Spurs? Man, they are getting destroyed.

And the cramp game was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Lebron is just so freaking WEIRD! He is fantastic and a great player (one of the best ever) but he’s a weirdo.

I also loved how quick everyone either A.) Came to his defense with jabs at the twitterverse like “I didn’t realize how many people on Twitter knew what it was like to play in the NBA finals with cramps” SNARK! or B.) proclaimed Lebron to be a sissy.

I just think he is a head case and a weirdo, and that’s why he is hard to cheer for. I was seriously almost on the Lebandwagon, but after the cramp game, forget it. He is just lame.

The Spurs better win game 5 though, otherwise this thing is going 7.

Comment

Dem Soccah Goals Dem

February 23, 2011 Randy Neil

Amidst all the crazy things happening in the NBA, something monumental has happened in the world of Soccer. The under 17 United States Men’s Soccer Team beat El Salvador to get into the 2011 Fifa Under 17 World Cup!!

I have no idea what that means!! This video is just pretty funny. The guy commentating is a very nice sounding Haitian man who sounds very excited to be a part of this. They score two goals in the first 10 minutes, and spoiler alert, US go ahead in the 95th and 111th minute. The Salvador’s don’t like this, and they beat up our goalie at the 114th minute. Good times.

The fish flop at 0:14 is pretty classic too.

Comment

US Soccer Signs Another Foreign Star

July 14, 2010 Randy Neil

altSo, it seems as though the Major League Soccer has become the grazing pasture when former international stars are put out to stud, so to speak.  Earlier today, Thierry Henry signed a contract with MLS’s New York Red Bulls after being cut from Barcelona for scoring a meager 4 goals last year. 

Henry has an incredibly impressive resume with Barcelona and his former club team Arsenal.  Aside from winning two Premier League Championships in 04′ and 07′, he also was awarded 6 different trophies in 2009 including the Champions League.  With the international French team, he won one World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000.  Whew.

Thierry Henry’s most recent endeavors have not been met with the same amount of success though, sadly.  The controversial ‘handball’ incident that prevented Ireland from being in the World Cup this year was pretty much all Henry’s fault, when he used his hand to guide the ball to his feet to score a goal.

His lackluster season with Barcelona also contributed to him being cut, so he has seeked refuge where it seems more and more players are finding these days, the MLS.  

Good for American soccer, good for him I suppose, so I look at it as a positive.  He’s still a great soccer player with a resume that can’t be taken lightly.  We still care about soccer in America right?

Thierry Henry is set to make his debut with the Red Bulls on July 22. 

Comment

A Weekend in Recap

July 12, 2010 Randy Neil

altWow, it’s been a crazy weekend.  Lebronathon is coming to a close now that he has officially announced his new team and pissed everyone but Miamians off.  The World Cup Finals were played yesterday, Spain outdiving the Netherlands, and the MLB All-Star break has officially started.  

I’m not going to talk about Lebron, mostly due to the fact that everyone else already has, and I think my partner summed it up about as well as one could.  I will say this though:  Lebron, get your ass a speech coach man.  Your were mumbling and stumbling all over the place.  Even your big official announcement sentence had pauses and stutters.  That ain’t ballin’ son…. that ain’t ballin’ indeed. 

Aside from the media circus that was, the Phillies decided to host a circus of their own, having 3 extra-inning walk off wins, and a sweep of the Reds.  It’s a nice way to enter the All-Star break (47-40) as baseball takes a pause from the daily grind.

Baseball is like the long-term relationship where you are constantly guilty of taking the significant other for granted, but totally miss them when they’re gone.  Baseball seems like it’s always on, and makes for great background noise, but we all know if you had a chance, you’d bang football much more often.  They seem more exciting, but clearly won’t give you the long term love and support baseball does.  Football is just for sex, which is why I’ve patended a new sexual position called the ‘Jerry Jones.’ 

So, if the MLB was a relationship, then this is the fun vacation getaway.  The point where you and baseball try to spice up your marriage.  The Home-Run Derby starts tonight with some pretty good names, but sadly, no Phillies.  No Chase Utley to talk shit on LA fans.  Still, the show must go on, and if I had to pick a winner, I’d go with Hanley Ramirez.  He has the least amount of HRs going into the derby with 13, so my pick has pure logic behind it.  It’s NOT going to be Matt Holiday with 26 total homers.  NOT.

altSoccer, your foreign lover, is going to end it’s very sweet and sensual affair that only comes but once every four years.  The World Cup has ended, and your ultimate victor is Spain.  They only scored 8 goals the entire elimination round, which usually doesn’t add up to an exciting final, but they definately kept it interesting.  I was very surprised at how well these two teams actually matched up.  At first I thought Spain would just be a dominate force the entire match, and although they did handle possession better, the Netherlands had a pretty good defense for Spain’s attacks, and had a pretty good amount of shots on goal as well. 

Since I’m a FIFA 2010 whore for the PS3, I always go to the Match Facts.  Spain, although having more shots total, only had 4 shots on goal.  How many did the Netherlands have?  4.  During the match I remember my feelings changing from “Oh wow these teams are pretty evenly matched” to “Oh man this is totally going to turn into a game where someone is going to sneak a goal in the last minutes after an incredibly even power struggle, and I will feel unfulfilled.”  Boy was I right.  Spain ended up faking more injuries and eventually all the yellow cards caught up to the Dutch.  It was bland, it was expected, and I’m not feeling satisfied.  It’s almost funny to think that our style of soccer play (US) represents our media and sports expectations, in that it’s very hectic and nail-biting.  Maybe I’m just a piece of shit American and I can’t see the glory in this…

Either way, I’m about to Jerry Jones this bitch, so I gotta roll…. until next time…

6 Comments