toonarmy

I guess Rossi was on the bench, because he just came in the game for Gattuso. Should be an interesting rest of the half. US aren't just totally sitting back deep, which is a good thing. Can barely tell they only have 10.

How on earth is that a red card? Unbelievable. As always seemingly against Italy, US goes down a man now.

Keeper almost had it, a little heart breaking for Egypt. Absolutely. Egypt certainly deserved a draw, if not the win, for outplaying Brazil. Played them off the pitch in the second half. Set pieces were their undoing, if not for that, Egypt would have won in a rout. With the way Egypt is playing, if the US shows up, this could be one of the strongest Group of Deaths I've ever seen.

Kaka goal on the pen kick in injury time. Nice finish.

Was about to say that Webb bottled the call again. Took him a while, but got it right.

Egypt's midfield is absolutely dominating right now. Slick passing, looking very strong.

Jesus. Did Newcastle secretly come out for the second half with Brazil kits on? Stunning.

Pretty sure the extent of the damage can be estimated on the basis of probability (i.e. the extent of emotional damage caused, in this case), but the issue of whether racial slurs were used would need to be proven beyond reasonable doubt before it could go any further, just like in a criminal law case. I would guess that the point of bringing the action here isn't really to win the case. I'm sure the lawyers would know that is difficult without proof, and in any case, what would he hope to win monetarily that would really matter to him? I would think the point is to name and shame, causing such relatively wealthy players to lose the only thing that matters to them right now (their reputation), thus discouraging future actions like this. He may not be able to technically win, but he can easily win in the court of public opinion, which could be worth more to him. It wasn't that he was called black or white. He was called (allegedly) a "black monkey". Obviously the point of that statement was for racial abuse, not to point out his skin color. The idea was to get under his skin with these kinds of comments, and there's no place for that. Singling him out is worthwhile, because while yes you are right that it needs to start at the child level, as long as there are adult role models who continue such actions, it will never go away, and the only way to do so is to start and address it one at a time.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=652062&sec=americansabroad&&cc=5901 Shame this kind of thing still goes on, and not even just from the fans.

Nevada Smith's, New York. Drinking myself stone dead to cope with the anxiety.

I'm gonna drink a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive? Nice choice of Eminem lyrics. But I doubt I will even bother sleeping Saturday night. Just stay out hammered until 4 or 5 AM (gotta love New York), worry for a few hours, then had back to the bar and drink myself stupid.

hull off the post. whew.

Bolton have a shot cleared off the line. FUCK.

Hull raping Bolton right now, can't depend on Bolton to do our dirty work. We need to make something happen.

We've started brightly.

I have no idea how you west coast Mags do it. I have a hard enough time getting up and down to the bar by 10 AM here in NY. We absolutely need a point, I have a feeling Hull will get exactly 1 more point from their last two, probably tomorrow. We're obviously likely safe with a win, but I think a draw could certainly easily be enough. Of course, still have to play for the win, same as we played against Boro, but I wouldn't be too upset with a draw (assuming of course that Bolton don't screw the pooch and lose to Hull).

This is one of the reasons I'm ecstatic that Barca are going through. ManU and Barca will have some real firepower, it should be fun with both teams really going for the win, not just sitting back and hoping for penalties. Based on the way Barca play, it's a real joy to watch them. That said, Chelsea were absolutely robbed. Sure, Chelsea played ugly in the first leg, but they did what they set out to do. Second leg, scored a great goal, and then played defense and counterattacking, which based on their personnel, was the right strategy for them. Can't say I enjoy it, but they did the right thing. They had one stonewall penalty not given, and plenty of others that could have been and probably should have been, but that's irrelevant. They only needed one, and the ref absolutely screwed it up (the red card was also a screwup, and had the result gone differently, I'd be arguing that one as well, but as it is, its the penalties that matter). Quite simply, Chelsea executed their gameplan much better than Barca did and should have gone through but for the worst refereeing I've ever seen. But I still love the looks on the faces of those cheating cunts at Chelsea.

That's just the way he runs, due to this condition that forces him to spontaneously mutate from footballer to a cat.

player on barca who impressed me the most today was dani alves (I'm ignoring his overdramatized rolling around and screaming). I know how good messi and the stars are, but alves' crossing is brilliant, good defending on the other end as well.

Henry is seeing stars, might have been knocked out for a few seconds, and now Marquez destroying his knee. Terrible few seconds for Barca.

I know it's been said before, but after watching him again today, have to say that Jo is an absolute waste of space. I've yet to ever see him do a single thing right.

Because it wouldn't be a liverpool match these days without a 4-4 game.

Seems strange to say this, but Arsenal took their only real chance, and Liverpool has had a myriad of great chances, but hasn't been able to finish. Did the teams switch uniforms on me when I wasn't looking?

Stoke 1-0