it's espn's continuing quest to get every recently retired athlete into their studio for some reason.

Didn't need that "traitor" Rossi in there though.

Agreed. FUCK. THAT. DOUCHE.




That said, what he did was pretty fucking impressive. When he was 18 and I heard he wouldn't play for US b/c he wanted to play for Italy I laughed and thought what an idiot he was, like Italy is gonna take some kid from New Jersey to play on the Azzuri.

He definitely made me eat my words.

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I had a little hope when Ireland equalized but they were disorganized on defense from the start. And the only way they would have a chance of advancing would be to have a composed and organized defense and turtle up.

France v England today. How much average horseshit from Liverpool's squad will see the pitch today for England?

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

I'm in a Euro 2012 pool at work (8 people get two teams through random draw, winner take all: $160). They did the draw on Friday and today I found out my teams are Denmark and France.

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doubt you'll win, but you could've done a lot worse.


fyi, I ran into Bernie Harrigan down by the lake Saturday, we were talking about you.

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I'm not thinking I will win either, but it makes for more fun.
Bernie's a good guy. I feel like whenever I'm in Chicago a member of the Harrigan clan makes an appearance.

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Just something awesome about hearing 10's of thousands of fans singing God Save the Queen.

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Team Cutler.

I think Clint Dempsey is a world class talent. He finished 4th in the Premier League in scoring and is the first American to score 50 goals in the Premier League. I would love to see what he could do at a club like say, Arsenal.

If you go strictly by what they have done in a U.S. shirt. As much a I hate to say it, Landon Donovan is probably the greatest player the U.S. has produce.

If you go by total body of work (club and country) then I think Dempsey deserves consideration. I also think Tim Howard should also be in the team picture.

The bigget knock on Donovan is that he hasn't proven himself in an elite league. MLS isn't an elite league. It's a very good league. Dempsey and Howard have proven themselves in probably one of the best leagues in the world.

Donovan has had a couple of good loan spells at Everton. But, I think if he left the Galaxy and played and did well in the Premier League for a couple of seasons. That would go a long way to cementing his legecy as the greatest soccer payer the USA has produced,

I think Tim Howard is the most overrated goalkeeper in all of soccer. He never comes up with the big save. He barely comes up with good saves ever. Kasey Keller was a better GK than Howard.

Pretty sweeping statement about Howard. I don't think many people in the US media shower him with plaudits. That kind of knob slobbering is usually reserved for Donovan. He's a good keeper. Who is better than him in the Premier League? Cech maybe. Reina had a shitty season for Liverpool this year. Friedel is ok. DeGea is young. Same with Sczcesny.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

gif of the day:

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that's funny, when it happened during the game I rewound it to show it to my gf.

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Lots of people criticizing England for parking the bus against France. Who cares. They got a result with inferior talent. It's strategy. Now, if they play like that against Sweden and Ukraine...maybe something could be said. England should be able to boss those sides.

Poland v Russia this afternoon. Centuries of hatred, intermittent wars for the last 500 years, Lech Walesa rumored to be in attendance. Looking forward to it.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Hey Holland,

Your flight is now boarding. Next stop, Amsterdam.

That 2nd goal was a failure of literally 5 players. Yikes.

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Team Cutler.

Hard to stomach a WC runner up and then not even advancing in the Euro. Pissed off.

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Lalas & Ballack clearly hate it each other.

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Team Cutler.

Not quite dead yet!!!

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Not necessarily. What happens if they beat Portugal and Germany beats Denmark? Three teams would be tied with 3 pts. First tie breaker is head to head which wouldn't work in a 3 way tie so I assume next tie breaker is goal differential. Don't remember the scores offhand, but weren't they all 1 goal games?

Could very well come down to Netherlands vs Portugal.

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Shakes, yes they are all 1 goal games, then you go to goals scored and it is there where Portugal and Denmark's 3-2 game puts them both in the driver's seat over the Dutch.

They need to beat Portugal by 2 and hope Germany does not lay down just to elminate them.

I personally do not think they will beat Portugal, let alone by 2.

Ergo, bye-bye.

i haven't really been able to watch the holland games so i'm a little surprised that they've been this flat. perhaps a little overanxious? they're in dire straits.

i'm pulling for germany anyway.

Holland has been very Liverpool-ish. Lots of chances but they cannot finish. RVP has been awful and their back 2 are useless.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

It does seem that way doesn't it? They have no chemistry and both sound like douchebags. Ballack is getting better after the first day when he was looking down and reading his analysis off of a screen.


Pirlo just scored on a free kick. Croatia is rocking the classic red checkered shirts.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

I can't stand Lalas.... it would appear that Ballack shares my opinion.

I would say those are the best shirts in international football, but the blue ones they wore last game were pretty fucking sweet too.

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While I did like the kits worn by the Portugese yesterday I would agree that "The Golden Blouse" for Euro2012 goes to the Croats!

I love me some italian restaurant tablecloth blouses.

Germany cant just lay down and die. I think that if they lose by 2 and Portugal wins Germany would be eliminated. Germany should be trying to win the game.

It aint over till its over.... Even though I declared it over for them after the Denmark loss

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Hank,

I meant play for a draw. goalless if need be, which they should be able to do without much strain.