Yesterday marks a sad day in the 2010 World Cup as the United States Soccer team fell short of a victory against their rival Ghana in the second round game.  The US fought hard to tie up the game after Ghana took the lead in the first half by scoring a goal within the first 5 minutes of the game.  Unfortunately as the two teams faced off in over time hours it was the Ghanan National team that came out victorious with another goal against the Americans.  The game was not without drama just like all the other games played by the underdog team. 

Granted the US played well however, faced against a better rival like Ghana, lost.  The US team has definitely come a long way but the question remains: "when will the US be a better team?"  A question which will only be answered with time.  Hopefully the lose towards Ghana will serve as a reference from which the US team can improve. 

I am however very proud of the US soccer teams efforts in the World Cup and their dedication, and I look forward to the future of US soccer.  Next World Cup will be better and I think we can expect to see great things from the US.

Until then I leave the US National Soccer team with this song by Hector Lavoe called "Todo Tiene Su Final"

A Peruvian hacker managed to hack the website of Argentine national soccer coach (well not really, I don't think he knows anything about coaching) Diego Maradona (or Maradroga as he is often referred to), following the close match between Peru (1) - Argentina (2), which took place last Saturday.

On the Website (www.diegomaradona.com)the hacker who referred to himself as the "Elite Peruvian" posted a large photo of Maradona from his younger years crying with the following phrase: "we made you cry".  In the background Peruvian folkloric music could be heard with another dedication to the coach stating:

Below the phrase the Peruvian national soccer team is displayed along with one of Peru's most famous if not patriotic and protected by law quotes of all time:

It's unfortunate that Peru was unable to beat Argentina in the match last Saturday and many seem to blaim the Bolivian referree for the bad call that was made.  In my opinion the extra-time should have never lasted as long as it did (5 minutes).  All I can say is that Argentina barely escaped being eliminated from the finals and I am sure Maradona felt the pressure.  With Peru out of the way the Argentine Soccer team needed to beat 5th place Uruguay which they did on Wednesday in Montevideo (1-0), Fortunately qualifying them for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.





How exactly did Maradona respond to all of his opponents and critics in his latest press conference that followed the match with Uruguay, simple by eloquently telling them all to go and suck it!  Yup, he told them not ONCE, not TWICE, but told them THREE times to blow him.   In his defense, he did excuse himself to the ladies present in the room (Maradona always the gentlemen).  You have to admit like him or hate him the guys got balls to such a statment, he backs up his comments by saying:

"I'm black or I'm white, but I will never be grey in my life, Eh!" 

Clearly that statement should have absolved him of his remarks, right!  Well some folks did'nt seem to think so, some would go as far as to say that they were offended by what he had to say.  Needless to say there were some journalists and others who did'nt like what Maradona had to say and even sent complaints to FIFA pleading that he should be suspended for such remarks or at the least censored.

I'm curious as to how his speech would have played out had he lost to Uruguay?

For those of you interested in seeing the video, the comments are made at around 1:38.



**Coach Maradona's website has since been restored to it's original state.
*** Photo: Screengrab taken from www.sophos.com; Graham Cluley's blog