2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

[Saintsfan]

The goal for the United States in 2014 should be seven wins and seven clean sheets. They have four years to find a goalkeeper good enough.

This cant be serious.

And,

Suarez will only get one game for his handball

On the Suarez thing, FIFA copping out again.

I am assuming Will is kidding, either that or enjoying a sojourn on Mars. Teams just don't put 7 clean sheets together. Even in the Premier League or Spanish Liga. Actually the USA's defense looked generally ok in this competition. I would say the big issue is that any team with 2 stars like Dempsey and Donovan then not much else apart from Howard will struggle to create opportunities. The US had one of the top keepers in the competition, and 2 good forward players. The issue is to get the run of the mill guys upto standard. Standards in the MLS need to go up, or more US guys need to go and play in top European leagues.

[WJMorris3]

The goal for the United States in 2014 should be seven wins and seven clean sheets. They have four years to find a goalkeeper good enough.

This cant be serious.

And,

Suarez will only get one game for his handball

On the Suarez thing, FIFA copping out again.

I am assuming Will is kidding, either that or enjoying a sojourn on Mars. Teams just don't put 7 clean sheets together. Even in the Premier League or Spanish Liga. Actually the USA's defense looked generally ok in this competition. I would say the big issue is that any team with 2 stars like Dempsey and Donovan then not much else apart from Howard will struggle to create opportunities. The US had one of the top keepers in the competition, and 2 good forward players. The issue is to get the run of the mill guys upto standard. Standards in the MLS need to go up, or more US guys need to go and play in top European leagues.

Now why would I be kidding? Any capable keeper would have stopped any of the five goals that Howard let in.

[BrySmalls]

Now truthfully...how many of you had Paraguay making it this far to begin with?

*stands by and waits for someone to post picture of dejected Larissa Riquelme*

You rang?

[NEW.ERA]

Might as well start handing out some awards heading into the Semi-Finals.

Golden Boot = David Villa, Spain (If Spain land in the Final he should win this; Klose, Muller and Snijder all within one goal)

Golden Ball = Miroslav Klose, Germany (Right now Villa, Klose, Forlan and Snijder all have a legit shot)

Yashin Award = Iker Casillas, Spain (Maarten Stekelenburg has also shown his worth in this tournament so far)

Best Young Player = Thomas Muller, Germany (Really no one close to him, wearing the number of German legends Gurd Muller and Michael Ballack)

Fair Play Award = Spain (Only 3 Yellow Cards and were already at the Semi-Finals)

Most Entertaining Team = Germany (Like a machine they are)

[Viper]

Having been out all night on Friday and DVR'd both games that day, I made Saturday a WC quarterfinals marathon. And what a marathon it was.

The Selecçao lose their early lead on a fluke goal and the wheels fall off their bus.

Uruguay advances on one of the greatest strokes of luck in the history of organized sports.

Die Mannschaft* not only quickly dispatch one of the highest-scoring sides in the competition, but get a clean sheet.

La Furia Roja nip Paraguay on a late goal after both sides botch back-to-back penalty kicks.

Now we're down to the Final Four and it should be epic.

* Is it just me, or does Germany's nickname come across in English like something out of a bad porno flick?

[LocalVulture]

Of the final four left I'm rooting for the Dutch. Go Holland!

[dwertman]

Might as well start handing out some awards heading into the Semi-Finals.

Golden Boot = David Villa, Spain (If Spain land in the Final he should win this; Klose, Muller and Snijder all within one goal)

Golden Ball = Miroslav Klose, Germany (Right now Villa, Klose, Forlan and Snijder all have a legit shot)

Yashin Award = Iker Casillas, Spain (Maarten Stekelenburg has also shown his worth in this tournament so far)

Best Young Player = Thomas Muller, Germany (Really no one close to him, wearing the number of German legends Gurd Muller and Michael Ballack)

Fair Play Award = Spain (Only 3 Yellow Cards and were already at the Semi-Finals)

Most Entertaining Team = Germany (Like a machine they are)

Maybe i am wrong but I would vote for Stekelenburg right now

[Viper]

Golden Boot = David Villa, Spain (If Spain land in the Final he should win this; Klose, Muller and Snijder all within one goal)

There is a third-place game, you know, so even if Spain falls in the semis Villa will still have one more opportunity to pad his lead (assuming no serious injuries or red cards, of course).

Edit/Update: FIFA has now credited Sneijder with Oranje's first goal in their win over Brazil (it was originally scored as a Brazilian own-goal), which puts him into a tie with Villa.

[NEW.ERA]

Might as well start handing out some awards heading into the Semi-Finals.

Golden Boot = David Villa, Spain (If Spain land in the Final he should win this; Klose, Muller and Snijder all within one goal)

Golden Ball = Miroslav Klose, Germany (Right now Villa, Klose, Forlan and Snijder all have a legit shot)

Yashin Award = Iker Casillas, Spain (Maarten Stekelenburg has also shown his worth in this tournament so far)

Best Young Player = Thomas Muller, Germany (Really no one close to him, wearing the number of German legends Gurd Muller and Michael Ballack)

Fair Play Award = Spain (Only 3 Yellow Cards and were already at the Semi-Finals)

Most Entertaining Team = Germany (Like a machine they are)

Maybe i am wrong but I would vote for Stekelenburg right now

If Spain win it'll be Casillas, If the Dutch win it's Stekelenburg's, If neither win and Germany end up winning it very well could be Manuel Neuer.

Fernando Muslera maybe but I doubt it.

[Saintsfan]

Might as well start handing out some awards heading into the Semi-Finals.

Golden Boot = David Villa, Spain (If Spain land in the Final he should win this; Klose, Muller and Snijder all within one goal)

Golden Ball = Miroslav Klose, Germany (Right now Villa, Klose, Forlan and Snijder all have a legit shot)

Yashin Award = Iker Casillas, Spain (Maarten Stekelenburg has also shown his worth in this tournament so far)

Best Young Player = Thomas Muller, Germany (Really no one close to him, wearing the number of German legends Gurd Muller and Michael Ballack)

Fair Play Award = Spain (Only 3 Yellow Cards and were already at the Semi-Finals)

Most Entertaining Team = Germany (Like a machine they are)

Maybe i am wrong but I would vote for Stekelenburg right now

If Spain win it'll be Casillas, If the Dutch win it's Stekelenburg's, If neither win and Germany end up winning it very well could be Manuel Neuer.

Fernando Muslera maybe but I doubt it.

Muller isn't even the best young player in the German team. Mesut Ozil is.

Casillas hasn't had a great competition. Neuer would be a fair shout for the best goalie, Kingson of Ghana would be another.

[Viper]

ESPN Classic is now showing Team USA's 2002 World Cup win over Mexico. A huge win for US soccer... and best of all, not a single g mn vuvuzela to be heard!

[RedRenesis]

So because the Nigerian government will not back down from its ban of the national team, FIFA is expected to impose its own ban by the end of the day

[NEW.ERA]

Might as well start handing out some awards heading into the Semi-Finals.

Golden Boot = David Villa, Spain (If Spain land in the Final he should win this; Klose, Muller and Snijder all within one goal)

Golden Ball = Miroslav Klose, Germany (Right now Villa, Klose, Forlan and Snijder all have a legit shot)

Yashin Award = Iker Casillas, Spain (Maarten Stekelenburg has also shown his worth in this tournament so far)

Best Young Player = Thomas Muller, Germany (Really no one close to him, wearing the number of German legends Gurd Muller and Michael Ballack)

Fair Play Award = Spain (Only 3 Yellow Cards and were already at the Semi-Finals)

Most Entertaining Team = Germany (Like a machine they are)

Maybe i am wrong but I would vote for Stekelenburg right now

If Spain win it'll be Casillas, If the Dutch win it's Stekelenburg's, If neither win and Germany end up winning it very well could be Manuel Neuer.

Fernando Muslera maybe but I doubt it.

Muller isn't even the best young player in the German team. Mesut Ozil is.

Casillas hasn't had a great competition. Neuer would be a fair shout for the best goalie, Kingson of Ghana would be another.

I'd agree on Ozil if the tournament ended after the group stage. Muller has been the best German player maybe outside of Miroslav Klose in the knockout stages.

Ozil needs to show up against Spain for my opinion to change on him.

[RedRenesis]

Nigeria backs down from national team ban.

[BrySmalls]

Edit/Update: FIFA has now credited Sneijder with Oranje's first goal in their win over Brazil (it was originally scored as a Brazilian own-goal), which puts him into a tie with Villa.

That's rubbish! If the call had stood as correctly called, would that have been Brazil's first own goal in World Cup competition?

[Seadragon76]

Edit/Update: FIFA has now credited Sneijder with Oranje's first goal in their win over Brazil (it was originally scored as a Brazilian own-goal), which puts him into a tie with Villa.

That's rubbish! If the call had stood as correctly called, would that have been Brazil's first own goal in World Cup competition?

It's strange to overturn that ruling, but I guess FIFA felt that Melo didn't have enough contact on the ball to really warrent them to call it an own goal, but it leads to another issue to me: How much contact on the ball do you need for FIFA to say that you made contact with the ball?

[NEW.ERA]

As a Dutch supporter I'm just glad Snijder still has a shot at the Golden Boot.

[Saintsfan]

The goal for the United States in 2014 should be seven wins and seven clean sheets. They have four years to find a goalkeeper good enough.

This cant be serious.

And,

Suarez will only get one game for his handball

On the Suarez thing, FIFA copping out again.

I am assuming Will is kidding, either that or enjoying a sojourn on Mars. Teams just don't put 7 clean sheets together. Even in the Premier League or Spanish Liga. Actually the USA's defense looked generally ok in this competition. I would say the big issue is that any team with 2 stars like Dempsey and Donovan then not much else apart from Howard will struggle to create opportunities. The US had one of the top keepers in the competition, and 2 good forward players. The issue is to get the run of the mill guys upto standard. Standards in the MLS need to go up, or more US guys need to go and play in top European leagues.

Now why would I be kidding? Any capable keeper would have stopped any of the five goals that Howard let in.

I know I shouldn't respond, but come on!!!! Gerrard's goal for England was a well worked move that would have gone past any keeper in the world. Both of Ghana's goals were great strikes that any keeper would have struggled to stop. This is the world cup, expecting the best teams in the world to be able to be stopped in 7 successive games is just madness. Its like claiming that an NFL team should be able to go through the playoffs without conceeding a touchdown.

Howard is one of the top goalkeepers in the world, to be aiming at getting a better keeper than him is frankly stupid. Its like a Chargers fan wanting a better QB than Rivers. Fair enough, you might want one, but its frankly unrealistic to expect to be able to get one. Team USA have far bigger issues than getting a better goalkeeper.

[-kj]

The goal for the United States in 2014 should be seven wins and seven clean sheets. They have four years to find a goalkeeper good enough.

Now why would I be kidding? Any capable keeper would have stopped any of the five goals that Howard let in.

[falcons007]

for some reason im feeling uruguay today