Germany wins, Mexico loses, USA still out

Forgive any typos this post may contain: Ryan's laptop screen now appears to only work at a 45-degree angle facing the keyboard. It's tough to see the monitor and type; so much so, that I typed that first sentence entirely without realizing my cursor wasn't in the text box. Anyways.....

I would be remiss not to describe a German game/victory here. Yesterday, Germany beat up on Sweden 2-0 and, I must admit, I'm starting to drink the German kool-aid. They are playing well, have a fantastic forward in Miroslav Klose (an aside: the Germany 2006 fanguide says it's okay to go up to Klose or "Balla" and say "hallo, Miro" without first addressing them with the formal "you," because, "after all, you've already seen them in their short-trousers") and a home crowd before them that's tough to argue against. Joe, lover of all things German and a guy that plans on staying here permanently, gets annoyed by this German "nationalism" because they bag on the US for doing it all the time and reserve theirs for World Cups. You see German flags hanging everywhere all around the country, and the place has a feel-good, ready-to-party vibe going. Put simply: it's great having the host in the quarterfinals of the World Cup because people are literally going nuts about it.

However, thanks to Germany's ugly past, this brings a feeling of unease. A good article, at least one that's a little more researched than mine, can be found here. Incidentally, this was written by Dallas Morning News writer Steve Davis, who we rode with on a train after the US-Czech game in Gelsenkirchen. You're welcome for the extra readers, Steve.

Germany will play Argentina in the quarterfinals on Friday, and the party could end abruptly for Jurgen's boys or carry on to an even serious level. Argentina toppled Mexico in extra time 2-1 last night, meaning zee Germans will face one of the most attractive (not with their looks, see Carlos Tevez) teams in the tournament.

rant alert: Is there anything dumber than extra time in soccer? The Euros tried golden-goal, or sudden death, before parrying it down to silver-goal and then eventually back to "let's bore everyone with 30 minutes between two tired teams no matter what." Argentina scores a fantastic goal a few minutes in, and instead of ending the game on a high note, we have to suffer through 20 more minutes of Mexico playing dirty and ultimately displaying their knack of not wanting to win an important game. I'm tired of Mexico getting hailed as playing wonderfully, but the bottom line is they have no killer instinct and their coach is a chain-smoking Argie who wears jeans and a sportcoat. I mean, who does he think he is? Pat Finley?

Meanwhile, the knives are out for Bruce Arena, with some justification. I doubt Bruce will be back: coaches hardly last one year, let alone eight and two world cups, at the international level and while he's done loads of good, it's probably time for a change. The biggest issue is the USA's offense, which was anemic aside from Clint Dempsey, who was one of the few to bring fearlessness into the game. Everybody is talking about Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who commutes to Germany from Huntington Beach, and it wouldn't be a bad hire: he's experienced in the game, can accept challenges and he's a lot better-looking than Bruce. Then again, the guy I really want is Australia coach Guus Hiddink, but the dirty Russian mob...err, Russian federation has already signed him up after the cup. Is there a better guy at getting crappy soccer nations (Korea, Australia) to A) succeed and B) for fans to go nuts than Guus? Why wouldn't he want the job?

Maybe he's heard the asenine comments from Freddy Adu. Well played by his agents, by the way. Put the 17-year old kid who's mad that he didn't get much of a chance to go to the World Cup in front of everyone after the US lost to his birth country and let Tony Kornheiser fire questions like that at him. If and when Freddy doesn't turn out to be as good as he's been hyped, I think we'll all be able to point at his "representatives" for being total morons.

Hopefully tonight I'll be able to upload some photos so y'all can see. So check back. Go Oranje (Go Holland!)!