In the Women's league, i been rooting for Japan, Canada, and USA, and so far they have all made it to the semifinals! Of course I want USA to win gold, but I am okay with Canada or Japan getting it as well. At the time of this post, Japan is facing France with Japan winning. I'd love to see Japan face off against USA for a rematch from the last World Cup they had with Japan winning it. Maybe this time, USA will beat them, but first they have to get past Canada. Canada's women's team seriously impressed me this year; knocking out Great Britain's Team despite the fact Great Britain had never lost a game in the qualifiers where Canada had and was 3rd in their seeding. Despite their amazing game, I really cannot see them winning the gold. USA has the potential, as does Japan. I suppose if France beats Japan and Canada beats USA, they have a chance then.
In the Men's league, our USA team didn't even qualify! Due to that, I been rooting for Mexico (North American pride), Uruguay (I'm a fan of Luis Suarez), and Japan. Unfortunately, Uruguay got eliminated in the qualifiers, so I changed my cheers to Great Britain. I'd be rooting for them in the beginning too, but I like to limit myself to three teams. Honestly, all the teams were rather impressive this years.
I was greatly surprised with Senegal's team; they were fast and skilled. Mexico only recently eliminated them in the knock out rounds, which was a great match up between the two. Mexico seemed to be the superior in technical play with their passes and plans, while Senegal had the speed and ball stealing to really mess with Mexico. They made it into overtime even, but Mexico broke through with 2 more goals, sealing their win. The thing with their match is the ref was a bit of a dunce. He'd call some plays then ignore others. One huge thing was he gave a Senegal player only a yellow card for high jump kicking a Mexican player. I mean, it may not have been intentional as we was going for a high ball, but that was reckless playing!
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| Taken from a failblog-related site. |
Also in the knock out rounds, Egypt faced Japan where the game was rather sad. I think the Egyptian players were observing Ramadan during the tournament, which means they were fasting during the day and eating only at night. The players were so exhausted in this match up, they were getting hurt left and right. They ran out of substitutes and had to play two men down; one due to a red card (double yellowed, it really wasn't much of a cardable offense) and another being injured. Japan proceeded to win 3-0. I found it rather annoying that a Japan player got upset he didn't get a foul call in his favor during stoppage time. It's like, dude, it wasn't that serious, you're winning the game 3-0, and there's a few minutes left. Get over it!
Brazil facing Honduras started off great, but thanks to ref being ridiculous, Honduras ended up with two men down due to red cards, despite being a strong team. Brazil even seemed to want to argue with the ref on the card, and even hugged or patted the back of the last Honduran to leave the field as if to say, "that blows, sorry bro."
One big surprise upset was South Korea beating Great Britain's team. It came down to shoot outs. As it was, I only caught the beginning of the game before I had to go work out. After a shower and everything, I went to check the scores and found out they were still playing. Turned on the TV just in time to see the last two kicks of the penalty kick shoot out where Britain player Daniel Sturridge missed his shot and Korea's player score, giving Korea the victory. I never would have expect South Korea to do so well, considering when I saw their games, they didn't seem to be anythign special. I say good for them. I also hear a lot of people ragging on Daniel Sturridge for missing his shot, but from the games I've seen, he is an incredible player. You really can't surmise one's skills from penalty shoot outs as that's more about luck and nerves. He just chose the wrong side/goal keeper chose the right side. I think I found another soccer player I'm a fan of, truth be told!
As it stands now, my ideal winners for the leagues are:
Women's league: USA Gold, Japan Silver, Canada Bronze.
Men's League: Mexico Gold, Japan Bronze, South Korea Silver.
I don't want Brazil to win in Men's league. I do liek that most of their players are much more humble than what I saw at the men's world cup, but Neymar on their team is a bit too cocky for my tastes, and over plays his fouls. I'd be fine if Japan got the gold as well, but rather North America get the honor for it. To be honest, if Brazil beats North Korea, I am not sure if Japan or Mexico would be better suited to beat them.
For Women's, I happen to like all the teams, even France's team! I just like the others a little better.
And now to leave you with a rather funny pose of Luis Suarez, which I so helpfully captioned.
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