Koman Coulibaly, the hapless ref of that U.S. -Slovenia match that ended in a 2-2 tie on his watch, gets what most people get when they make an unpopular decision on the National stage: a defaced Wikipedia page.

It currently (12:41 pm EST) reads: Coulibaly is a blind clown who makes poor decisions during crucial World Cup matches.

This will be corrected soon, let’s move on. GO ALGERIA GO!

UPDATE (1:05 pm EST):

Now reads…

“Coulibaly took charge of the Group C match between the United States and Slovenia. After conceding two first half goals, the United States fought back to equalize and had scored an apparent third goal to take the lead; however, Coulibaly disallowed the goal, drawing criticism from ESPN commentator (and former US national team player) Alexi Lalas, who described the call as “a disgrace” and “ridiculous,” adding, “It should have been a goal.”Star American midfielder Landon Donovan also expressed his displeasure, stating, “I don’t know how they stole that last goal from us. I’m not sure what the call was. He (the referee) wouldn’t tell us what the call was.”

Preach, Lalas.

We’re in the process of finalizing a plan to watch the South Korea/Argentina game tomorrow morning at 7:30 at Boka on St. Mark’s in NYC. If you’re in the area, and like Korean fried chicken and watching wizardry (Messi) in the a.m. come on down!

From a spectator’s perspective, no slouch in providing on-screen entertainment is Argentine coach, Diego Maradona – he once was a wizard himself, now, it’s more about sideline antics. As good as Messi looks, he hasn’t scored in his last eight International contests, so we don’t know if that’s going to happen. However, you can count on Diego to: A.) look shiny, from mullet to toe B.) pester, badger, annoy and be a general thorn in the side of the refs. (= high comedy)

The Telegraph has posted Diego’s 10 best quotes through the years. They feature his take on Pele (go back to the museum), the 1998 World Cup (The players have all got square feet. They are like Robocops), American politics (I think Bush is a murderer), but one quote just seemed to rise to the forefront…

Diego Maradona on proving the doubters wrong…


“To those who did not believe: now suck my d**k – I’m sorry ladies for my words – and keep on sucking it. I am either white or black. I will never be grey in my life. You treated me as you did. Now keep on sucking d**ks. I am grateful to my players and to the Argentinian people. I thank no one but them. The rest, keep on sucking d**ks.”

Diego, allow me to apologize on behalf of all nerds for Twitter not existing during your trash talking hey-day. However, it’s not too late, see this guy for inspiration: @the_ironsheik.

Photo via SMH.com.au

London-based, English bred mando-rock quartet Mumford & Sons took the stage this past Saturday evening at Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN before a crowd of more than 75,000. After two songs off their absolutely excellent debut album Sigh No More, bandleader Marcus Mumford addressed the crowd:

Congrats on your draw.

It fell in stark contrast to say an ACDC-like Are You Ready?! greeting (source: Jim Breuer), and presumably most of the crowd had not even seen the ENG/USA World Cup game that day that ended in 1-1 tie (a tie is the new win in 2010). Still, it sounded like the crowd liked it.*

*I wasn’t at Bonnaroo, but I got to check out this set thanks to NPR, who archived lots and lots of performances from the festival. So far, based on what I’ve heard Mumford & Sons’ show falls a close second to The Dead Weather.

Photo via Nashville Scene

My mission…

In my discussions with others gearing up for USA vs. ENG on Saturday, I’ve noticed that those who believe that the U.S. can win typically cite one or all of the following three points:

1. The U.S.A. won their qualifying group (which is nice)
2. The U.S.A. beat #1-ranked Spain last year (which is nice)
3. The U.S.A. beat England in the 1950 World Cup

The third has less to do with the current team’s chances, and more to do with being necessarily patriotic, obviously. If you’re not opposed to a little Nationalism, I suggest checking out ESPN’s Outside the Lines report on Joe Gaetjens, the sole goal scorer in that 1950 1-0 victory over the brits. Fair warning: the story takes a turn for the absolute worst after he scored what stands as the biggest goal in U.S. soccer history.

Source: MLive.com

In a new poll commissioned by UK milkshake company Frijj, makers of the chocolate fudge brownie shake, indicate that a percentage of English citizens are ready to make some really rash decisions should England win the 2010 World Cup. According to the exercise in would-be sacrifice, 51% would turn down a night of passionate buggering with the alluring, above pictured, Cheryl Cole. 12% said they would give up sex altogether for a year.

The gauntlet for impetuous World Cup abstinence has been thrown down.

I’m sure we could find some berserk fans on this side of the pond who would give up the same if the U.S. could beat England on that first Saturday of group play.

We’d give up sex.. if team won (Mirror UK)

Ethnocentric World Cup prediction of the day:

The game between the U.S.A. and England on the first Saturday of competition will be as highly regarded as a temperate Super Bowl – say Tampa Bay vs. Oakland in 2002.

The U.S. will triumph 1-0, resulting in, hopefully, a drinking freely in the street event for those of us who choose to get engaged. I’ll probably be here, if you’re in New York and would like to join in the fray.

Too bold?

….

Today indeed marks 100 days from the start of the World Cup. Seems like just yesterday we were talking about the draw ceremony – I learned what the group of death is, but am still not sure why Charlize Theron was part of the selection process?

FIFA President, Joseph F. Blatter marked the day by commending South Africa for their preparation. It full of praise, both literal and metaphorical.

From FIFA.com:

The FIFA World Cup in Africa is a love story – a love story between the African continent and myself which began when I was the technical director of FIFA. It has come a long way in a long time. It has been a road travelled with trust, confidence but with patience as well. When this country was awarded the World Cup, there was a lot of work to do. We had to convince people that one day we would give back something to Africa. Africa has given so much to the world and to the world of football.



I’m very proud and very happy that this love story is coming to the ‘wedding celebration’. We are speaking about 100 days to go, but this all goes back to 17 May 1998 when I was campaigning for the FIFA Presidency for the first time and I said that, ‘We have to bring the World Cup to Africa.’ This is what I mean by having patience, as South Africa did not win the first time in 2000 when it lost by one vote to Germany, but with patience and perseverance you managed to win the right to host the World Cup in 2004.

Check out the rest of Blatter’s remarks here: Blatter: The dream is alive

Photo via FIFA.com

Much like Ron Burgundy thought diversity was an old wooden ship, the soccer populus seems to believe that Group of Death represents the least desirable World Cup group to be placed in for middling soccer countries. False. The Group of Death is a metal band.* Just look at this poster from their Facebook page; the theory checks out…

The Group of Death is actually a soccer inspired rock group. ESPN’s Rob Stone gave them a nice plug, reporting live from NYC soccer bar Nevada Smith’s today during the World Cup draw.. Here’s the description of G.O.D. on Facebook:

The Group of Death is the world’s foremost football (soccer)-inspired heavy metal band. “The Group of Death” is also the nickname given to the toughest group the FIFA World Cup.

All this needs to seem fully legit is some actual tunes, and here it is – check out The Group of Death’s hit single “We Call It Awesome.”

The Group of Death perform a special show tonight at 8 at Nevada Smiths in lower Manhattan.

*The former in the above statement is 100% true, and even casual U.S. soccer fans have to be extremely happy that we didn’t find ourselves in, say, the Ivory Coast or Portugal’s current situation. Happy World Cup Draw Day!

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