I didn’t see it originally, but that goal deflected off a defender.
Still a great shot, however.
He’s the co-owner of a Welsh soccer team, but there are no Canadians or Bosnians on it. Just a star shot I suppose.
Ryan Reynolds is Canadian.
I mean, he’s Canadian, there’s that.
No, he’s just a celeb and it’s fun to see him cheering. I dunno, just something to notice.
Canada has about the best team they’ve ever had. They are seeded 30th. I think their highest seed was 26th. They have beaten Mexico and tied Colombia, a pretty strong team.
Is Canada subpar? They qualified fairly. Today they scored their first World Cup goal. They dominated possession. What they did not do was place a defender at the close post during a corner kick, allowing Bosnia to capitalize on a flawless shot. Canada consistently earned decent opportunities but failed to capitalize, becoming nervous or not expecting a play. But some good individual dribbling, and the last twenty minutes they played pretty well. Their goal was pretty. They need to much improve corner kicks, of which they had many.
Bosnia beat 11th seed Italy to eliminate them. They also looked weak for much of the game. Still, even with a home advantage Canada was slightly lucky to tie them. Canada may well beat Qatar, but Switzerland is a decent team. Should Canada qualify for the next round, they will have had a successful World Cup. Expectations should be kept real. You can’t win games unless you score goals.
Canada’s best male athletes generally play hockey, where the money is; though women’s soccer is better, and we do well in heptathalons and decathlons.
Predictions, US vs. Paraguay?
1 - 1 or 0 - 0.
For some reason I don’t see USA defeating Paraguay, my man Gustavo Alfaro is an expert on parking the bus if the need arises.
Re: Hydration breaks.
From what I see in social networks and hear on the street, consensus in Argentina goes from the death penalty to life in prison with forced labor for the people responsible.
I am not impressed with the list I’m seeing for the opening ceremony in America. Katy Perry? Come on.
I guess that speaks to the quality of adverts in Argentina;) they didn’t show any during the hydration break on ITV in the UK (they did in Ireland apparently)
But yeah everyone agrees it’s bs
So what is the rule on advertising in the stadiums? Only “official sponsors”? I noticed stadiums are expected to take their corporate logos off or cover them.
You can see what Levi’s Stadium did here:
Yeah but that’s always been the case. You have to commit to city-wide enforcement of FIFA branding to host world cup game
The point is the way that Levi’s Stadium got around the rule.
Adverts shmadverts, imagine you are losing 1-0 and have the opposing team on the ropes, you can feel the goal coming… and then HYDRATION BREAK.
It changes the game in ways we viscerally dislike.
Huh. I remember 1994 when Pontiac, Michigan hosted matches. I don’t remember any city-wide stuff.
So Toronto and other major cities are doing city-wide advertising blocks?
That said, Carlos Bilardo would already have 3 strategies to deal with it when needing a goal and 6 to deal with it when needing to “cool” the game.
I hope Scaloni has enough Bilardism in him to take that kind of thing in account.
I’ll lead with the caveat that mandatory breaks are bad. But FIFPRO, the soccer players’ union, was one of the major advocates for expanded breaks. The players want it, it’s the fans that complain.
We need to let go of the idea that players should sacrifice their health for our entertainment. They aren’t gladiators.
Yeah, if hydration breaks were being imposed on players against their will, that would be one thing. But for players to want it and for fans to object, is basically fans saying, “We want you to play dehydrated!!!”
I’m watching the pregame and one of the Fox commentators is Thierry Henry. Who sounds like he smoked a big spliff with the audio guys before work.