Very Quick Semifinal Predictions

My poor life decision of buying FIFA World Cup South Africa for my PS3 has resulted in an unhealthy addiction to a video game I have not experienced in quite a few years. As a result of said addiction, I really did not have time to fully predict the games like I had hoped to. Regardless, I know you all want to be spoiled as to who will play for the World Championship, so I will tell you what the results will be.

Netherlands 2, Uruguay 1: A Suarez-less Uruguay will spell their doom. Diego Forlan will be able to muster 1 goal and the Uruguayan defense (consisting of Philadelphia's favorite soccer player, the Flyin' Uruguayan Mauricio Victorino) will hold the Dutch in check for the most part, but a break through from Robben and a goal from Dirk Kuyt will be enough to send the Netherlands to the World Cup Finals for the first time since 1978. Click here for a Uruguay-Netherlands live blog

Germany 3, Spain 1: Germany may be without Thomas Muller, but this is one of the most dangerous and exciting counter-attacking teams I have seen in the past 2 World Cups. They are down right nasty and despite his lack of production in club play, Miroslav Klose is a deadly striker when he puts on the German kit. The Germans may be without Muller, but as far as Spain goes, nothing I have seen from them has impressed me that much. They are a passing team and they have done that well, but defensively they have had lapses that their past 2 opponents failed to capitalize on and offensively, the only player that can score is David Villa. The German back line is their weakest point and incredibly they have conceded more shots in their past 2 blowout wins than they actually put on themselves, but they have been good enough to get the job done. And with only 1 of Spain's offensive threats showing up for this World Cup, there is a good chance Germany will be good enough to contain Spain while once again unleashing their deadly counter attack. Villa gets a 6th goal in 2010, but Klose will surpass Ronaldo and Ozil will bury the dagger late in the game to send Germany to the finals to give us a Dutch vs. Deutsch final.

Diego Maradona: Soccer Legend, Argentina Coach, Cigar Smoker

What could possibly be better than Diego Maradona coaching Argentina? Diego Maradona smoking a cigar during a recent training session with Argentina!



It's not everyday that you can make smoking a cigar look hip, but I think Diego somehow managed to pull it off.

Argentina plays Germany tomorrow at 9:30 AM ET on ABC. Germany will no doubt be Argentina's toughest test to date, but with the power of Diego Maradona and His Cigar, Argentina might just be able to get Sergio Romero and that Argentina back line to play the game of their lives and pull off the win and advance to the semifinals to meet the winner of the Paraguay-Spain snoozefest.

2010 Winter Olympics Day 12 Men's Ice Hockey Live Blog

It's the playoff qualification round and you know what that means. In 11 hours, 4 teams will be able to declare they cannot win a gold medal in men's ice hockey. As long as you are not trolling, come join us for the festivities!

#8 Switzerland vs. #9 Belarus 3:00 (USA - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (Winner plays United States)
#6 Canada vs. #11 Germany 7:30 (CNBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk) (Winner plays Russia)
#5 Czech Republic vs. #12 Latvia 10:00 (CNBC - CTV Feed: Peter Loumbardias and Ray Ferraro) (Winner plays Finland)
#7 Slovakia vs. #10 Norway 12:00 (CNBC - Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti) (Winner plays Sweden)

Men's Ice Hockey Qualification Playoffs Schedule

I have updated this information in the "2010 Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Schedule", but I figured I would post it here as well so everybody could see it right away without refreshing a schedule page that I have not updated since the tournament began.

Anyways, here is your exact ice hockey schedule for Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

#8 Switzerland vs. #9 Belarus 3:00 (USA) (Winner plays United States)
#6 Canada vs. #11 Germany 7:30 (CNBC) (Winner plays Russia)
#5 Czech Republic vs. #12 Latvia 10:00 (CNBC) (Winner plays Finland)
#7 Slovakia vs. #10 Norway 12:00 (CNBC) (Winner plays Sweden)

While it is hard to say that any of these games will come close to being as good or as exciting as USA vs. Canada was last night, it could still provide for some interesting games when you consider that all games from here on out are win or go home.

Announcers for each game have not been formally revealed yet, but if I had to take a guess, I would guess Doc and Edzo will be doing the 3 games at Canada Hockey Place and Kenny and Joe will be in UBC Thunderbird Arena for Czech Republic-Latvia.

2010 Winter Olympics Day 9 Men's Ice Hockey Open Thread

Group A: Norway vs. Switzerland 3:00 (MSNBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, SR: Pierre McGuire)
Group B: Latvia vs. Slovakia 7:30 (MSNBC - Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti)
Group C: Germany vs. Belarus 12:00 AM (MSNBC - Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti)

Here are the standings thus far from 1-12 (points are next to the team; goal differential where needed is the number in parentheses).

Finland - 6 (+9)
United States - 6 (+7)
Czech Republic - 6 (+5)
Sweden - 6 (+4)
Canada - 5
Russia - 4
Slovakia - 2
Switzerland - 1
Belarus - 0 (-6)
Germany - 0 (-7)
Latvia - 0 (-9)
Norway - 0 (-13)

Thus if there were not to be a 3rd round of games, the schedule for the elimination would look like this:

Finland, United States, Czech Republic, and Sweden all get byes to the quarterfinals.

In the secondary round quarterfinal qualification games to be held on Tuesday February 23, Canada would play Norway, Russia would play Latvia, Slovakia would play Germany, and Switzerland would battle Belarus.

But as we all know there is a 3rd round with today being the real seedings placer for the lesser teams and tomorrow being the big rivalry day that could give us a few shake-ups in the standings. It should be a fun couple days of hockey especially seeing as once again, Latvia is going to be featured in primetime against Slovakia.

2010 Winter Olympics Day 8 Men's Ice Hockey Open Thread

Group C: Belarus vs. Sweden 3:00 (MSNBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire)
Group B: Czech Republic vs. Latvia 7:30 (CNBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk)
Group C: Finland vs. Germany 12:00 AM (MSNBC)

2010 Winter Olympics Day 6 Men's Ice Hockey Open Thread

Group C: Finland vs. Belarus 3:00 (MSNBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk)
Group C: Sweden vs. Germany 7:30 (CNBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk)
Group B: Czech Republic vs. Slovakia 12:00 AM (CNBC - Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti)

Who's ready for more hockey fun?

I'M BAAAAACK!!!!!!!

As I'm sure you noticed by my various posting in the past few hours, after surviving my first beer, the worst thunderstorm I have ever been in in my life with rain force and wind speed that would make hurricanes quake with fear, walking on the old Nazi Party rally grounds, and one hellacious day at the airport straight out of a bad comedy movie, I have made it back home. And that hellacious day at the airport was today (or yesterday, at this point, seeing as it's currently July 22 and I'm talking about July 21). Top that with the fact that I have literally been up for 23 hours straight and you can imagine how I'm feeling right now. Regardless, I am back and will have some actual sports related posts up tomorrow.

But first, I would like to greatly thank James Craven and 49er16 for their absolutely tremendous work on my blog over the past week and a half. I must say, you guys were awesome! And while I was unable to find an internet cafe in Germany, I did read all of your posts on this site (I'll catch up on your actual blogs tomorrow, so prepare for a bevy of comments) including the live blogs and once again, great work guys! You did me and this blog proud. Oh, and sadly, I was unable to locate any German porn. ;'-( However, I did legally have beer! Oh, by the way, never try Bitburger Beer in your life.

I brought this up in the 1st paragraph, but I want to elaborate on this a bit. It will be my only sports tidbit until I am fully awake and functional later today. As of now, the largest soccer stadiums in the world (notably Estadio Azteca and the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro) do not and probably cannnot hold 200,000 people. That being said, while being showed around Nuremberg, Germany, as I was standing on Nazi Parade grounds, starring at the exact platform where Adolf Hitler stood and made his speeches, with the Frankenstadion in the background (yes, that is the stadium where the U.S.A. lost 2-1 to Ghana in the 06 World Cup and the Battle of Nuremberg took place; just seeing a World Cup soccer stadium in person was enough to get me excited, not to even mention the historical nature of where I was standing), our tour guide told us perhaps one of the most amazing things I have ever heard about sports. The Nazis had a proposed soccer stadium that would have been in Nuremberg, Germany (which was essentially going to serve as the Mecca of Nazi Germany) which would seat 400,000 people! No typo, no sarcasm, no joke. 400,000 people. And for those that do not believe me, here is a picture of that proposed stadium:

Since returning from the trip, I did do a brief search on this proposed stadium and the story checks out. 400,000 people in a stadium. And while one can make the argument that the upper 200,000 seats in that stadium would be pretty much pointless and serve no other purpose to fans other than to see small looking dots that look like people kicking some black and white speck, one has to admire and gape at what they wanted and had it not been for World War 2, which derailed those plans, probably what would have eventually come to be.

All right, I'm officially out of it. I'll read everyone's blogs tomorrow and will most likely have a post or 2 up about some piece(s) of sports news. Although, I think I might think about moving to Europe permantently.......the Phils did not lose a game while I was away!