The Internet Is Filled With Weird and Wonderful Things

Like this wacky interview on Japanese TV immediately following Manchester United's victory in the FIFA Club World Cup last month, starring bemused but game Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Iron Chef meets Match of the Day.

Footie News

bbc photo gallery: David Beckham enjoys a traditional Maori greeting as he arrives in Wellington, New Zealand, with the LA Galaxy
I always have to ease back into blogging after an absence. Easy topics like soccer.

Damarcus Beasley tore ligaments in his knee last weekend and is probably done for the SPL season. Hope he can rehab himself back into shape again.

Legendary women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance's sexual harassment trial scheduled for April 2008.

The groups for Euro 2008 were drawn this morning: Group C (Italy, France, Holland, Romania) nominated as "Group of Death".

The Guardian (uk) has a gallery of photoshopped pics of what the England players will be doing during Euro 2008.

No surprise here: Kaka wins the Ballon D'Or, Europe's top player; Christiano Ronaldo a distant second.

Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra and their 8-month old twins visit the University of Texas. Cute!

Mia Hamm, Nomar Garciaparra and their 8-month-old daughters, Grace and Ava, with Mack Brown [UT head coach]

Baby Footballers

Must see collections of baby photos of famous footballers. Look for [Fat] Frank Lampard, Stevie G., Thierry Henry and Christiano Ronaldo.

Metric-March: PICSPAM: Footballers...when they were young (Part 1)

Metric-March: PICSPAM: Footballers...when they were young (Part 2)

hat tip to Who Ate All the Pies?

Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi....

Lionel Messi scored a wonder goal last week that must be seen to be believed. He's in my top three young players in the world list (Ronaldo and Kaka being the other two) but Messi is my favorite because he's so little. At Easter, a non-soccer-loving relative asked me if Americans would ever win the World Cup because our best athletes go into other sports. I resisted the snide comeback that the U.S. has already won the World Cup twice as he was clearly asking about the men's team, and told him that soccer is not about size, it's about speed and skill. Some of the greatest soccer players were not very big. The second video below compares Messi's goal to a very similar goal by one of the very best (if not the very best) to ever play the game, Diego Maradona, who I could look down on from my lofty height of 5'4". And Michael Owen (3rd clip) is not so tall either. It's all about speed and skill. Watch and enjoy.

Lionel Messi goal, 4/18/07, Barcelona v. Getafe. The announcer goes wild!

Messi but de fou !!!
Uploaded by mdjw

Lionel Messi goal, 4/18/07, Barcelona v. Getafe

Side-by-side comparison of Messi's goal with Maradona's goal v. England in the 1986 World Cup. Wow.

Comparativa gol de Messi y Maradona
Uploaded by cariacolov

Another great end-to-end goal, Michael Owen for England against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.

But d'Owen
Uploaded by Ant0ine12

Germany - Portugal 3rd Place Game, Today

Christiano Ronaldo's wink after Wayne Rooney's red card made him the #1 enemy of football fans in EnglandUpdate: Apparently ihateronaldo.com has crashed; here's another pic of the now infamous wink

Our long ecstatic month of football comes to an end tomorrow. Today we have the most meaningless game of the tournament, the third place game. Here are a few entertaining links:

My favorite World Cup blog: Who Ate All The Bratwurst?

Which has spawned a Premiership blog: Who Ate All The Pies?

A close second favorite of newly discovered soccer blogs: Footie Girl

Bora Milutinovic, by far the most entertaining US National Team coach, sighted in Germany

An explanation of how Franz Beckenbauer became known as Der Kaiser

I'll be watching said third place game on Univision today, because on returning to the US I found that the commenters at the New York Times blog are correct; Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa are horrible. Even the Wall Street Journal has weighed in with criticism of ESPN's decision to foist upon us announcers who don't know soccer or can't speak intelligently of the beautiful game. A pox on ESPN's house.

Ciao!

Game of the Day

Liverpool-Manchester United. Rafa's resurgent Reds v. Sir Alex's slumping Mancs. England's two best players, Stevie Gerrard and Wayne Rooney. The biggest game of the EPL season to date.

Wish I got Setanta Sports so I could buy this one on pay-per-view.

Match preview from Kopblog: Rafa's Reds to put Man Utd Has-Beens in their place

United Rant: Overview

My prediction: Liverpool 3-1, Liverpool goals by Stevie G., Crouch, Kewell, and Van Nistelrooy for MU. Bonus predictions: yellow cards to Rooney, Ronaldo, and Sussoko.

Update: Man Utd 1-0 Liverpool Unfortunately, the only predictions I made that came true were yellow cards to Rooney and Sussoko. A big wasted opportunity by Liverpool.