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World Cup Final
The World Cup final is over; some ludicrous number of people watched some team beat the other team. The next tournament will be held in Germany in 2006. If you haven't watched the game for whatever reason, obviously you might want to avoid clicking through (or reading any other news site, or talking to anyone...). Neither of those two links should be a spoiler, though.
And for those that did click through, the final standings are up, as are lots and lots of reports about the game.
They were knocked out by Germany in the quarter-finals if I remember correctly.
They changed the rules.
tlhf
xxx
The names on the back on their shirts are actually "nicknames" they have chosen. In general Brazilians have four names which they then choose a shorter moniker, much like the slashdot readers. Pele bears no resemblense to his full name, Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
The 'world series' has nothing to do the the
world. It was originally sponsored by the
(long dead) newspaper called the New York World.
That's easy to explain... here in Brazil people are called by their first name, calling somebody by it's last name is unusual (it happens mostly when there are two people with the same first name, so one is "elected" to being called for his last name...). :-)
So all these players are known here by their first name... it would be very confusing for the Brazillian public see in the player's shirts their last names... even for foreigners, since almost nobody knows Ronaldo's last name (I know... but I forgot
Penalty kicks are taken from 36 feet out. If you don't guess you end up just standing there. You really only have enough time to react and move your hands arms or legs a little bit in the time it takes for a goal to be scored. Basically you pick an area of the goal, try to get there, and hope you get hit. If its nearly at you, maybe you can move your limbs the extra few inches to make the save.
The goalkeeping in this world cup has been superb. Several of the games that have ended up 1-0 or 2-0 have been nothing short of spectacular with plenty of chances. The only thing holding the score down in some cases has been the goalkeeping.
Kahn in particular has had a great tournament, and while some may criticize his bobble that would be a bit harsh after the saves he did make in the final. Rivaldo did take a wicked shot that forced that drop.
Brazil's keeper was also out of his mind to make his save on the free kick in the first half.
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ESPN had different announcers and commentators from the guys on ABC today. They were much better, just like their hockey games with Gary Thorne, Bill Clement and Darren Pang are much better than when a series goes to ABC and John Davidson.
Also, the ESPN/ABC broadcasts lagged Univision by 3-4 seconds, which provided a nice replay feature -- you could quickly switch to the English broadcast to see a play again.
Anyway, yeah, I've been watching Univision. The only thing I miss is the explanations for the fouls ("una falta! mumble mumble mumble...") and cards.
Interestingly, while the ESPN crew all agreed that the hand ball by Germany against the US was a correct non-call, the Univision announcers were foaming at the mouth that there should have been a penalty kick.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Can we settle this once and for all, Germany automatically qualify (as hosts in 2006), Brazil don't. Read the official FIFA announcement here.
I never apologise, I'm sorry but that's just the way I am - Homer
The most beautiful of the whole thing is the ideal of "FIFA Fair Play". No morons!
Also, you call them "Germany".
We call them "Alemanha".
They call themselves "Deutchland".
Anyway, thanks to the one who wrote "Brasil". It is often silly for a Brazilian to see the writing "Brazil".
- Please, ignore everything written above.
Alow me to pick a nit: the World Cup is not the same as the World Championship. The World Championship is played every year in Japan, matching the best club in South America against the best club in Europe. Therefore, the World Cup Champion is a national team that wins the World Cup, the World Champion is a club that wins the World Championship.