LucaAltieri

dat banta.

Let's hope he's better than his dad.

2010 had a spectacular goal from South Africa in the first game. That sticks in the memory as much as anything. Also the entire world simultaneously thinking, "he couldn't score that again even if he tried a thousand times. Enjoy your fifteen minutes."

I'm just saying, it doesn't necessarily distract from the atmosphere. It can add to it.

It depends on what's behind the small stand. Century Link Field has a small stand they call the Hawk's Nest. From the other three sides it gives a great view of the cityscape, space needle, etc.

I was reading about the Aussie coach and his track record, style of play, and forward-thinking mentality. They're obviously still going to be butchered but it will be interesting to see if they actually try and play some decent football.

Wondered how long that would take. Thieving buggers, Brazilians.

Played a pickup game against a Div 2 college player yesterday. More than held our own against him and his mates. I think that says more about the level of college soccer in the US than it does about our particular football ability.

People talk about Belgium having a good squad and being potential dark horses this year. I think Croatia might have an even better team.

Yeah, must just be a shit design. You'd expect it to list something under "my leagues" or something but I just get a blank page.

It must already have me joined. Other leagues have a "join league" button. But there's nothing anywhere showing this as something I'm a member of.

seriously, it's not fucking there!

FFS, this website is shit. Where does one find the option to join the league? I can view it, lists the "Top players of 'Newcastle-Online'", I can "invite friends" but there's nowhere that indicates I'm part of this league or that I can join it. Whoever designed this needs shooting.

How does pre-Pardewed work? ie. wasn't very good to begin with. Haven't seen much of him so reserving judgement. But from the tiny bits I have seen he hasn't seemed overly impressive. Hoping to be wrong, though.

I get the feeling that this one comes pre-'Pardewed'. Still, hope to be proven wrong.

Of course he's being an ass. He's trying to be funny - and some of it is. I can relate to some of it, particularly the part about none of it seeming authentic. Coming from British culture to American culture has that affect. When we go to support our team, the game has 100+ years of history behind it. It's just different in the US. It's like I replied to my mate: His overall tone is a bit harsh but I can sympathize with some of it. One of the points he seems to miss completely is when he's complaining about how American soccer culture doesn't seem authentic. It extends beyond soccer culture and into everything. American culture in general is very malleable. The Tea Party political movement came out of nowhere and was instantly a phenomenon.That doesn't happen in England. Our recent big shake up of political parties that "came from nowhere" took 16 years to develop. Back to soccer, the Sacramento Republic just appeared this season and draw gates of 20k people. When we have teams pop up in the UK start at the bottom of the pyramid (not in MLS like NYC FC) with a tiny fanbase and grow up into big teams with their own organic culture. It takes years. We're a nation rooted in tradition whereas America is a nation that manufactures its own sentiment very quickly. You look at the difference between how the US and the UK memorialize terrorist attacks and such. 9/11 is cause for show, flag waving, expressions of emotion. Our 7/7 bombings are marked quietly and subdued and will take time to become part of our identity. So when he's arguing about how American soccer fans are stealing other cultures instead of developing their own, he's dead wrong. American soccer fans know very well what they want their soccer culture to be and instead of just waiting for it to happen organically and becoming a tradition, like the British do, they take a very pro-active approach in creating the culture that they want. There's nothing more American than that. It's not at the detriment to how you guys feel about the game, either. The vast majority of the soccer fans I know here are completely genuine. I coach the kids, I've been to professional games, I play local league and the occasional pick-up games. Of all the people I've met I can probably count the number of posers on one hand. However, from the point of view of an Englishman there is always going to be a certain amount of snobbery towards American soccer culture because you guys have been awful at it for so long. But the tide is turning, the number of kids over here playing soccer is growing while in the UK it's falling. Before we die the USMNT is going to outrank England, easily. We may even see an American world cup win. We English find that a little annoying and will continue to tease you yanks for the remaining time we can.

Mate of mine (an American) was crying about this on facebook earlier: http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-i-hate-american-soccer-fans-1402012291 I made him feel a little better with my response but it's hard not to agree with some of it.

Arena Pernambuco looking good.

Haven't clicked the the link but if the article doesn't contain the phrase 'tactically dangerous lunatic' I'm not interested. Not quite, but it does contain the phrase "organised chaos." Close enough?

Have there been more top players getting injured in the run up to this world cup than usual? It feels like there have been a load of them.

Hmm, a video of Rachel Riley playing keepy-up in a short dress, or a tactical analysis of Jorge Sampaoli? We're very different men, Leffe.

While we're on the subject of Chile, some of you might enjoy this tactical breakdown of Jorge Sampaoli. http://footballmanageranalysis.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/a-tactical-analysis-of-jorge-sampaoli/

She got down to Brazil, Chile, and Colombia but eliminated Brazil due to the favourites never winning. Eliminated Uruguay and Argentina because they have individual players who score too many goals. Eliminated Germany, Holland and Spain because they won too many games in qualifying. I knew it would be a shit formula but I wasn't quite prepared for how shit.

One over the line. http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m298/europawpw/ooohyeah.gif

Seems more like a young Joe Cole to me. Plenty of confidence for his age, surges forward. Not quite as a skillful as a Gazza.