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My Travels with the Curse of Maracanã [Soccer Caucus]
nytimes.com ^
| June 07, 2014
| Christoph Niemann
Posted on 06/07/2014 12:44:20 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
In anticipation of the World Cup, we sent the magazine’s contributing illustrator, Christoph Niemann, to Brazil in search of the soul of soccer. What he found instead is a curse that still hangs over the country, decades after the highly favored home team lost in the final game of the 1950 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. In this animated storybook, Niemann meets this curse — and befriends him — and does his part to unmake that goal that has haunted Brazil for 64 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: worldcup2014
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To: dfwgator; kevkrom; 1rudeboy; BeadCounter; C19fan; corkoman; cartan; St_Thomas_Aquinas; ...
To: Berlin_Freeper
Results from yesterday’s warm-up games:
June 6 in Foxboro, Mass.
Portugal vs. Mexico 1-0
June 6 in Harrison, Calif.
Greece vs. Bolivia 2-1
June 6 in Salvador
Croatia vs. Australia 1-0
June 6 in Sao Paulo
Brazil vs. Serbia 1-0
June 6 in Moscow
Russia vs. Morocco 2-0
June 6 in Tampa, Fla.
Japan vs. Zambia 4-3
June 6 in Mainz
Germany vs. Armenia 6-1
To: Berlin_Freeper
To: Berlin_Freeper
Germany vs. Armenia: Final score 6-1, Klose breaks goalscoring record in big win If you need a demonstration that football is indeed a game of two halves, look no further than Germany's 6-1 demolition of Armenia in their final World Cup preparation match. The first half was a dull, goalless affair notable only for German star Marco Reus being worryingly carried off with an ankle injury, then after the restart, the hosts sprung to life to smash their visitors.
To: Berlin_Freeper
Injuries to marquee players likely to be ‘party pooper’ at FIFA World Cup Football fans around the world got a major scare when Borussia Dortmund’s talented German midfielder Marco Reus, who was Germany's Footballer of the Year in 2012 and a member of UEFA's 2013 team of the year, exited his national team’s friendly match against Armenia on Friday night after turning his ankle.
“We do not have good news,” is the start of the message that the German federation posted on their Facebook page after the match, sparking rumours that he might not be able to recover on time before the World Cup, and this shocker has given another major heart in the mouth moment for the football fans around the world.
Marco Reus | Borussia Dortmund | The Ultimate Skills, Goals | 1080p HD - YouTube
Why Germany can win the World Cup
Germany have been hit by an injury crisis at the worst possible time, the latest being the ankle injury suffered on Friday night by Marco Reus. However, just as Rene Adler and Michael Ballack's injuries on the eve of World Cup 2010 opened the door to Manuel Neuer and Sami Khedira, there is a new, eager bunch ready to seize their chances. In the place of Reus could come Julian Draxler, who is ready to come of age.
7
posted on
06/07/2014 1:36:31 AM PDT
by
moose07
(the truth will out ,one day. .............................................)
To: Berlin_Freeper
Brazil vs. Serbia: Final score 1-0, Selecao unimpressive Brazil were able to field their first team side for the first time on Friday, and they didn't exactly look like a team firing on all cylinders ahead of their World Cup opener. They pulled out a 1-0 win over Serbia in Sao Paulo, but they were seriously made to work for it and were not particularly sharp.
While Brazil had more possession, they gave the ball away cheaply on numerous occasions and struggled to contain the Serbia counter-attack.
Brazil was struggling and fans were jeering the team
To: Berlin_Freeper
Mexico 0-1 Portugal: El Tri head to Brazil with second straight defeat Just as Mexico thought it was going to the World Cup on a positive note, Portugal defender Bruno Alves scored on a header in stoppage time to hand El Tri a 1-0 loss at Gillette Stadium on Friday.
Coming off the first loss of the Miguel Herrera era, a 1-0 defeat to Bosnia on Tuesday, Mexico appeared to be headed to an exciting draw against FIFA's fourth-ranked team.
But there was just one minute too many in the game for Mexico, as the North Americans were stunned when Alves scored on a header off a free kick in the 93rd.
“It was an extraordinary game,” said Mexico coach Miguel Herrera, who seemed upbeat despite the loss to a Portugal team playing without its biggest star, Cristiano Ronaldo (leg injury).
“The game demonstrated and the team demonstrated that they can do big things but we have to finish our attacks,” he said. “But, we can’t lose a game in the last minute. When you are dominating in a game you can’t lose a game in the last 30 seconds.”
Bento worried by 'struggling' Portugal
"We struggled, mainly at the beginning, with Mexico's attacks," said Bento, whose side face Germany in their World Cup opener on June 16, followed by USA and Ghana in a very competitive Group G.
"It's going to be a balanced group with four strong teams so it's going to be very difficult for us, but we will fight to the end to achieve our first goal, which is to reach the knockout phase. We still have a few mistakes that we need to correct before the World Cup."
To: Berlin_Freeper
Japan rally to punish Zambia( Updated with all the the Goals video) Zambia squandered a 2-1 lead to collapse 4-3 in a seven goal thriller against World Cup-bound Japan in Florida this morning at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Patrice Beaumelle’s sides were looking comfortable and cruising to a potential 2-1 win until period of madness in the last 16 minutes of the second half in which fans were treated to a four-goal exchange of fire.
To: Berlin_Freeper
Russia 2-0 Morocco: Yuri Zhirkov scores stunning volley as Fabio Capello's men win final friendly before World CupGoals from Vasili Berezutskiy and Yuri Zhirkov gave Russia the perfect World Cup send-off as they beat Morocco 2-0 in front of their home fans on Friday in their final warm-up game before departing for Brazil.
The evening did not start well for Fabio Capello's side, as Denis Glushakov was injured in the warm-up after pulling a muscle and was replaced in the starting lineup by Igor Denisov.
Fellow midfielder Roman Shirokov was still unable to start and faces a race against time to recover from injury before the World Cup gets underway.
To: Berlin_Freeper
Greece edges Bolivia 2-1 in World Cup prepPanagiotis Kone ended Greece's nearly four-game goalless streak in the first half to help the European side beat Bolivia 2-1 in their last friendly before heading to Brazil for the World Cup.
Kone's goal in the 21st minute was Greece's first in 358 minutes since Konstantinos Mitroglou's score in a 1-1 draw against Romania in November.
Greece lost 2-0 to South Korea in March and drew 0-0 against Portugal and Nigeria in the past week.
Konstantinos Katsouranis added a 54th-minute second as the Greeks ended a four-game winless streak before a crowd of 11,024 at Red Bull Arena.
To: Berlin_Freeper
Socceroos fall to CroatiaA Nikica Jelavic goal in the second half proved the difference in a match that never scaled great heights but showed that the Socceroos could compete with a top-class opponent.
Australia was compact throughout but a concern is the team's inability to threaten in front of goal, ahead of its World Cup meeting with Chile next weekend.
To: Berlin_Freeper
today’s games:
June 7 in Jacksonville, Fla.
USA vs. Nigeria (USA! USA! USA!)
June 7 in Buenos Aires
Argentina vs. Slovenia
June 7 in Brussels
Belgium vs. Tunisia
June 7 in Miami Gardens, Fla.
England-Honduras
June 7 in Landover, Md.
Spain vs. El Salvador
June 7 in Foxboro, Mass.
Costa Rica vs. Ireland
More on these matches later.
Apparently I still have a small Life...
To: Berlin_Freeper
I hate The Macarena too, but I don’t know if I’d call it a curse.
15
posted on
06/07/2014 4:28:24 AM PDT
by
McGarrett
(Book'em Danno)
To: Berlin_Freeper
My family and I will be at the USA vs Nigeria match today. This is our first live soccer match ever.
GO USA!
16
posted on
06/07/2014 4:40:15 AM PDT
by
Carlucci
To: Berlin_Freeper
Soccer Caucus... That’s hilarious!
17
posted on
06/07/2014 5:02:28 AM PDT
by
kevkrom
(I'm not an unreasonable man... well, actually, I am. But hear me out anyway.)
To: Carlucci
Congratulations, sounds like a good match, USA vs. the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
I’m surprised maybe one has not even gone to a kids match to watch.
To: Berlin_Freeper
I think Brazil is in trouble.
Suffice it to say, the power has shifted largely to Europe. Brazil use to look like the team to beat always, now not so much. But their team is always nonetheless very good. It still takes a Herculean effort to knock them out of a World Cup. For the record, since 1986, France defeated them 3 times, Netherlands were able to survive them in 2010.
Some time ago, Nigeria became my adopted African team of course, there is no way I'm for them against the USA but in the African Cup of Nations, I can usually cheer them on. They use to be called early in their nationhood, the "Green Eagles" but that really doesn't make sense, so now for some time, they have been called the "Super Eagles".
Their group has Argentina, Iran and Bosnia-Herzogovina. So really a good match up.
At the 1998 World Cup, Nigeria defeated Spain in the group stage. Nigeria will have their coach Keshi this time who is pretty good. The Super Eagles have now been to a few World Cups, They lost to Argentina in 1994 and 2002. Be great to see them avenge one of those earlier defeats. Obviously, Nigeria has a lot of problems with internal warfare, warlords, terrorists and this may well hold the country back though I think the team itself has had Christians and Muslims on it.
Yet, I will always cheer on the Yanks. Sounds like a great game to go to starting a little bit late this afternoon, 6 EST, ESPN it looks like in Jacksonville but check yourlocal listings. Sam's army will be there, our USA fan supporters.
All week, I've seen ESPN has been ramping up the USA men's team. We will see. I would not be as pessimistic as some though I do see advancing out of our group seems to be a longshot. It would appear if the USA can advance out of group G, 1st or 2nd, we would play a team in Group H, that is the group of Belgium, Russia, Algeria and Korea. So that would be what awaits IF, the big IF. I just remembered, we, the USA, did defeat Portugal in 2002, 2002 is probably the best world cup we have had.
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