<p>Haha, Gloworm, you know I will not root for Spain. While I have rooted for the Madrid teams this year, the Spanish national team clings to the tiki taka Barca style that is truly boring, and especially boring without a talented striker a la Messi. I hope that this year’s winner will be a team that tries to score at all times and believes in the offensive game. Holland is such a team. Unless they drop the old Guardiola style and feed Costa, Spain is not! They might be efficient in stifling the opponent but the game turns into watching paint dry. I will tape the game and FF through most of it! ;)</p>
<p>xiggi, I know you never root for Spain. I went over to Madrid to watch the CL Final on big screen at the stadium, then stayed for the celebrations. </p>
<p>¡Goooooooooool!</p>
<p>Too excited for this. The advertising was spot on this year. Really got the hype up. </p>
<p>That was pretty awful.</p>
<p>Croatia deserved a draw out of their effort but were shafted…</p>
<p>If brasil gets these types of gifts the rest of the way, the other 31 teams might as well go home now.</p>
<p>brazil did not look good and they will have to be much better to make any noise in the tournament… that said, they have time to get better.</p>
<p>very excited for Spain v. Netherlands tomorrow… going to work early (6am) so I can leave in time to get home for kickoff!</p>
<p>I might move permanently to the 6am arrival time for the world cup</p>
<p>Xiggi… U.S. will not be favored to get out of the group, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we do. We are poised to surprise some people, especially if we can kick it up a notch from the Nigeria game. Tim Howard will have to come up big behind our questionable defense though.</p>
<p>Soccer, I would be thrilled if the US did better than expected, and especially thrilled if they moved to meet Belgium in the following round. </p>
<p>Realistically, however, they are outclassed by all the other three teams in their group. Portugal might mess up without Ronaldo but I do not think the US can do much against Germany or Ghana, a team most discount for not knowing how good the Africans really are. </p>
<p>John Oliver explains FIFA to Americans:</p>
<p><a href=“John Oliver Explains The World Cup And FIFA To Americans (VIDEO) | HuffPost UK Comedy”>http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/09/world-cup-brazil-john-oliver_n_5471605.html</a></p>
<p>To me it’s more fun and exciting to listen to the Mexican commentators than from commentators of other countries although I don’t understand what they say. That’s the spirit of soccer.</p>
<p>I wish the Spain-Netherlands match was televised later tonight or was scheduled for tomorrow. This match up should be seen by casual fans who seldom watch soccer. Great header by Van Persie. </p>
<p>Lentos. Viejos. Sin ideas. The end of the tiki taka and San Iker. Too bad it came four years too late. </p>
<p>Brazil will want to win its last group game. </p>
<p>Man of the day: Van Persie</p>
<p>Arjen Robben was pretty good too. Robben and Van Persie have already made the 2014 World Cup Highlight
Video.</p>
<p>Spain and the Miami Heat… Don’t look good.</p>
<p>@coolweather, I watch the World Cup only on Univision because the commentators are just so much more interesting (then again, I am fluent, but their spirit beats any other, regardless)</p>
<p>The commentators on the “local” channels might be more entertaining, but often too partial and chauvinistic. Also, their views about soccer from other countries are often off the mark.</p>
<p>The Mexican coverage on Azteca is pretty dismal, but head and shoulders above the one provided by ESPN’s hired guns for the Mexican games. For instance, Palomo is a former javelin champion with dubious soccer background. </p>
<p>All in all, the best commentators remain the ones who cover the English Premier league regularly. They are usually entertaining and know the games. The Americans are average with a few exceptions. </p>
<p>Go Tim!</p>
<p>Well, xiggi must be muy contento. first match, Mexico had to score 3x before it was allowed. Glad they won.</p>
<p>Second game, awful on Spain’s part. The debate in Spain has been the Del Bosque would stick to the old players, mostly, but what they played today was not the usual style. They certainly looked terrible. Well done to the Dutch. And I don’t think the penalty was a penalty. I do think Casillas was fouled, though. Saying that, I hope David De Gea is in goal for the rest of the games. Also Koke in for Xavi, Juanfran for Azpi, and on and on.</p>
<p>Third game, Chile didn’t walk all over Australia as many expected. Still, it will be very difficult for Spain to advance unless they play a lot better and score lots of goals.</p>
<p>On ESPNDeportes they have been having the games in Portuguese. If you have an understanding of Spanish, you’ll get them. </p>
<p>Four more tomorrow!</p>
<p>I love listen to Mexican commentators, I didn’t understand a thing but I can hear the emotions and the excitement.</p>
<p>Kudos to ABC. They cover 2 games today.
I probably will switch between ABC and Univision during the day.</p>
<p>No Buffon. 
</p>
<p>I still believe Italy will win.</p>