World beaters
USA's Clint Dempsey reacts after scoring their second goal during their Confederations Cup semifinal soccer match against Spain, at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
I’m not going to get cute.
It’s simple.
The U.S. national soccer team beat Spain 2-0 today in the semi-finals of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.
Spain came into the game with a 15-game winning streak, a world record, and a 35-game unbeaten streak.
Goals from 19-year-old Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, 26, shook the undisputed No.1 team in the world to its core.
Spain has arguably the most talented midfield in the world. David Villa and Fernando Torres are the two most sought after strikers in the world. The Catalan defensive duo of Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique are supposedly unshakeable.
But it happened. Spain pressed and unleashed shot after shot, but Tim Howard, the U.S. goalkeeper, kept each of them out. The U.S. defenders, led by Oguchi Onyewu and captain Carlos Bocanegra, put in a valiant effort.
It’s the biggest soccer upset in years.
The U.S. faces the winner of Brazil-South Africa on Sunday.
Iran so far away?
Ali Karimi, left, and Kim Jung-woo battle for the ball in their June 17's World Cup qualifying match. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A lot is said about Iran and the recent controversy about the country’s elections.
Pictures of security officers and protesters fly across our screens day and night. Though it’s a world away, a small understanding of the experience is at our fingertips thanks to the Internet and the instant news cycle.
Several public figures opposed to the current regime have reportedly been detained.
That might be the fate of six Iranian soccer players.
The government took issue with the players wearing green wristbands during a World Cup qualifying match against South Korea on June 17 in Seoul. The captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia, also wore a green captain’s armband.
Green is the color protesters adopted in response to their belief that the government interfered with the election, particularly skewing the results to make sure Mir Hossein Mousavi did not win.
Ali Karimi, Hosein Ka’abi, Vahid Hashemian and Mahdavikia were banned, while none of the team members were given back their passports after returning to Tehran.
Without their passports, the Iranian government can effectively hinder the players from working or traveling should they leave the country.
As of the now, the players have not been detained, but lacking a passport makes it basically impossible to travel and provides a way to enforce the ban on Hashemian and Mahdavikia, both of whom make their living playing for top-flight clubs in Germany.
Kim Dong-jin, left, and Mehdi Mahdavikia jump for the ball during a World Cup qualifying match. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
FIFA, the sport’s ruling body, discourages political expression on the pitch and encourages national federations to impose punishments. The Spanish federation fined French-Malian striker Freddy Kanoute of Sevilla €3,000 in January for revealing a black shirt with the word “Palestine” printed in multiple languages after scoring a goal against Deportivo La Coruña in a Spanish league match..
However, FIFA also has taken action against governments interfering with the sport. Iran was banned from official competition for a little less than a month in 2006 for excessive government interference in the running of the Iranian soccer federation. A similar ban could be imposed should FIFA find the government’s interference in violation of FIFA’s statutes.
Iran played in the 2006 World Cup but failed to qualify in 2010 after finishing fourth in its
World Cup qualifying group.
The Oklahoman’s Sports Writers Were Right
I can admit when I was wrong. And I was. The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Finals in five games.
However, there weren’t flaws in my arguments. The Magic had, to that point, played better when no one believed in them (see Games 2-4). And, with the exception of the first and last games, the Magic were not adversely destroyed by poor matchups against the Lakers. The Orlando Magic were not beat by the Los Angeles Lakers, though the Lakers helped some. The Orlando Magic beat themselves.
I didn’t realize the Magic’s lack of an ability to finish games. If the Magic had the ability to close out when given opportunities, the series would have been 3-1 Magic going into Game 5 in Orlando. In that situation, I would have been right and the Magic would be celebrating.
However, the Magic apparently can’t finish games or capitalize on fourth-quarter closing-seconds opportunities. In nearly identical situations, games 2 and 4 were tied with mere seconds on the clock and the Magic had the ball. Game 2: In-bound to the only person I wouldn’t in-bound the ball to. Lee misses the game-winning layup, Lakers win in overtime. Game 4: With four seconds to work with, the Magic couldn’t get a crucial shot to tie the series up. Lakers win in overtime.
Maybe it was the Magic’s inability to finish games that The Oklahoman’s NBA Finals predictors saw that I didn’t. Maybe it’s because I’m an intern and they’ve been doing what they do a long time. Either way, I was wrong. They were right. And the Magic disappointed me.
Social networking, table for two, please.
Tweeting on Twitter? Taking over the world? Please, no.
Tweet, tweet. Tweet, tweet.
Did you hear something? That sounded an awful a lot like someone screaming in pain from social networking ruthlessly taking over their lives. Oh, it was just someone updating their status about life or sharing a TwitPic of a cute little puppy.
My mistake. But wait, isn’t that kind of the same thing?
As you can probably tell, I’m not exactly the spokesperson for Twitter, or social networking, by any means. I’m generally concerned that intimate relationships/friendships are drastically depleting every single day. With texting, emails, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, AIM, Google Chat and every other form of virtual communication, face-to-face contact is becoming a thing of the past. Funny too this comes from someone who didn’t live that long without a computer-based world, isn’t it? What really got me was an instance that took place a few weeks ago at a bar back home in East Lansing. A friend of mine wanted to approach this girl he knew from a class but couldn’t muster up enough courage to do so. What did he revert to? Texting. After an hour-long conversation via BlackBerry Messenger, he ran into her at the bar and began to talk there. Is this world we’re living in pathetic or simply a means to an “in”?
Girls, is this not creepy? Or is it a way to make things happen?
Sure, it doesn’t always work out that way and it’s not always in regards to picking up someone of the opposite sex. But whatever happened to approaching a girl and getting shot down like old times? That’s the world I want to live in. Ha!
