I realize not everyone in the US is a fan of soccer, but what one must realize is that this tournament isn't just a tournament.  This is the best of the best and it only happens every 4 years.  This is the World Cup to crown a World Champion!  Not like baseball's World Series where only American teams play, this is countries from all over the world battling it out for bragging rights that will last at least the next 4 years, if not a lifetime.

For me, I have 2 dogs in the fight, well one now, but we'll get to that.  I have my beloved USA team, and of course my roots and the "Bloody English".  Some are saying this is the best English team since 1966 since they won it, I would agree in terms of paper.  But in order to win the cup you need to show up as a team, not an individual.  The US comes in ranked 5th in the World...you heard me correct, 5th.  That's tremendous pressure on a team that is marginal at best, but still one of the best teams the US has ever put together.

Well the US embarassed themselves as well as their fans.  You can say the bogus calls by the officials were the result, but in all honesty Bruce Arena(Head Coach) didn't allow the men to just play the sport.  He tried controlling everything and not using the turnovers the way you should in such an event.  The cup is all about precision, possession, and most of all, LUCK!  But without anyone up front there is no luck to happen, at least not good luck.  So needless to say the US scored one goal, though nice, and went out in the Group Stage.  Maybe 2010 which is what I've been saying for 8 years now.

As for my England boys, they are in the Quarterfinals and play Portugal on Saturday.  They breezed through the Group stage with a 2-0-1 record while playing very un-England like.  Again with the expectations, however a Win is a Win regardless of how it happens.  With Portugal coming up there is a need for everyone on this team to step it up and start playing like a team.  We'll see how that ends, but Portugal scares me on the pitch.

Let's address the card situation in the Cup.  Portugal v. Netherlands saw a record tying 16 yellow cards, which led up to 4 red cards.  This is ridiculous.  Apparently the referee's are trying not to make it fun for the players anymore, eliminating all contact.  That's BS!  Soccer is physical, whether you want to accept it or not, it's more demanding than American Football.  When's the last time you've seen anyone on a football field run over 5 miles during a game?!  But with the referee's making every single call then giving them a yellow card it has eliminated the teams being able to gel together and ultimately eliminates the great games!  Just fed up with it all, however I'm still watching because again it only happens every 4 years.

For those "purists" who say that America was an embarassment and soccer shouldn't even be in the US!  I have this to say to you.  Remember the US men's basketball team and them getting beat by teams that don't deserve to be on the court with them.  How about our "pasttime" sport and baseball.  No one should be able to touch us, yet we had an extremely dissapointing performance in the World Baseball Classic.  So basically it boils down to everyone is no longer scared of the US Athletes.  I'm done ranting now...peace.