Maybe the response wasn’t overwhelming, exactly, but nonetheless when I asked the other day if You the Readers of TWER wanted a World Cup pool, I thought we had enough interest to move forward.
So we are. We’re at ESPN this time, since the Yahoo! edition looked a bit too complicated. (I mean, even I don’t want to go to the effort of picking the score of every game. I’m sure none of you do). The group page is here. Login info:
Group name: TWER World Cup Pool
Group password: wardamnusa
Join or be lame. Soccer knowledge is really not necessary; this is a Cup outside of Europe, so all sorts of crazy things are bound to happen. Pick whoever you want.
Except for North Korea. Those guys don’t have a chance.
And now, since devoting an entire post to the pool seems a little flimsy, here’s five of my favorite underrated goals from the four World Cups I’ve had the privilege of watching. They don’t usually pop up in discussions of “best World Cup goals ever,” but they absolutely should:
5. Tomas Brolin, Sweden vs. Romania, 1994. Cleverest free kick ever?
4. Edmilson, Brazil vs. Costa Rica, 2002. ’02 sucked for great goals, but this one’s still pretty damn amazing.
3. Cuauhuhauahuatemoc Blanco, Mexico vs. Belgium, 1998. I hope Blanco is eaten by scorpions. But this is an incredible finish.
2. Juergen Klinnsmann, Germany vs. South Korea, 1994. I was 15 and spent the rest of the summer trying to teach myself to do this in the backyard. (I failed.)
1. Sunday Oliseh, Nigeria vs. Spain, 1998. Hitting a shot like this off the half-volley just shouldn’t be possible.
North Korea has a chance…if they can get past New Zealand in the quarters.
Joined, submitted, basically made arbitrary choices with absolutely no knowledge of what any of the teams have or are capable of.
I accidentally joined 3 times … could you please kill my other 2 entries? I can’t figure out how to un-join a group on the ESPN site.
Still haven’t had the time to get around to fully reading WBE’s super World Cup preview-guide, but I went ahead and filled out my bracket.
Let’s just hope this turns out better than my bowl predictions… Good news is, it can’t really get much worse than my March Madness bracket…
Jerry I read this article and thought of you for some reason.
With Tongue Firmly In Cheek, I remain yours etc.
Hobbes, if you read that and DIDN’T think of me, I would have been seriously disappointed.
More on North Korea not having a chance … they fired their FIFA-assigned interpreter at the World Cup because he was from South Korea … also fans from North Koreans were not allowed to travel to support the team (of course) … and the Seoul is refusing to allow a live satellite feed of the game to be broadcast in the North. That’s gotta hurt.
Is that Seoul that’s interrupting the feed? I was under the impression Dear Leader had decided live World Cup was too much for his glorious people–since if they see it happen, they can’t make up what happens later.
I’ve read that too … that Dear Leader would show it delayed but only if the North wins. But I’ve also read that South Korea somehow controls satellite television feeds into the North? I need references to back all this up.