Now, onto the World Cup. Okay, the USA Paraguay game was the best US soccer game I have ever seen in world cup competition. It was epic. Amazing. They actually look like a well coached team, that moves the ball, attacks well and gets to open space. What a delight.

And the Aussies fucking hate us. Apparently, we got scrappy with them in a friendly a few months back, and they came into it publically saying that they have been waiting their whole lives for this and what not... Not today Aussies.... 

So yeah, US looking good. 

But a TON of the big teams. Spain. Portugal. Even Germany after their second game, so NOT look like they are poised, focused and ready to go....

Now, we must talk about Messi. Hit Hat trick was the single coolest thing I have ever seen in the World Cup... He was untouchable. The fucking GOAT. Ronaldo will lose sleep for years thinking about Messi's game. Not to mention the fact that he scored a 4th goal, but they called him offsides. And even with that technology, they took a quick look and moved on, but one could argue that Messi dropped 4 in the net....

Insane....

Couple other random side notes. HOW THE FUCK IS IRAN playing decent football? How the fuck is the rest of the modern world not rail roading those losers. The fact that their fans are packing out stadiums, IN WAR TIMES, and they are looking good on American soil, is fucking insane.... I hate it... People need to step up.

Honorable mentions: Ivory Coast. Cape Verde and Cusacao..... Doing the damn thing. You boys won't get far, but you get an A for effort. 

Messi got 2 more yesterday.  Nobody on Earth thought he'd miss that penalty kick.  Then he puts 2 more in the goal later.  Most World Cup goals all time. 

I like Haaland the Viking from Norway.  Never heard of him til now. 

I really didn't know squat about the US team til now.  Pretty cool they already won the group and game 3 don't mean diddly.  Coach can rest the whole team if he wants.  I don't wanna see anybody get carded outa the 1st knockout stage game for some bs that don't even matter. 

I hear experts sayin they oughta save Ronaldo for a sub mid game.  The team would flow better without him.  I still like Ronaldo, but not as much as I used to.  Messi is my dude.  The more I learn, the more I like him.  I still want USA to win the Cup, but I'd be totally cool with Argentina repeatin.  Messi wins every award they got. 

Looks like Portugal maybe sorted out playin with Ronaldo.  Gotta give him his props.  Scorin just ONE World Cup goal would be BEYOND the highlight of most people's lives.  He has a goal in SIX World Cups.  Pretty unbelievable shit, even if he's a bit uppity at times.  Kinda like Slater showin kids half his age how to rip.  

Yeah, that was a super impressive game. Their opponents didn't put up much of a fight. Ronaldo should have had 4 goals. He missed some perfectly placed cross by inches, twice. Wide open net.... The entire second half, his team was trying to feed him the ball for a hat trick. Completely forced every time. But you have the luxury when you are up 3 nil, then 4 nil, then 5.....

Then he was looking at the camera saying "I'm Back"..... Should be an incredible tournament. This is hands down, the best world cup I have ever seen. The stars are shining. There are goals galore, and specifically in the US, as a host, I think we have created the best atmosphere I have ever seen. All these foreigners are losing their shit enjoying America. Discovering Buc'cees and the Scotish fans drinking Boston completely dry in one night.... It's pretty cool to see people from all over the world come here, most likely after housing a little hatred for us, and then seeing it and experiencing it and saying, wow, this is fucking cool. I mean, we have even been good hosts to Iran of all people, aside from us making them stay in Tijuana, and return there immediately following every game...

And a lot of this big boy stadiums, like Jerry's World in Texas, are putting perspective on the "Everything is bigger in Texas and everything is bigger in America"... The biggest stadium in the English Premiere league is Man U, and they are at 74k. Cowboys Stadium holds over 100k.....

Anyway, I am excited for all of it. Even though our match tomorrow is pointless. 

The international fans have been super stoked with findin out we can host some games.  I love the Buc-ee's posts from people comin here to Houston.  The Netherlands Orange Bus was here in Galveston.  Fun times.  😎🤙

I'm really enjoyin Braut Haaland from Norway.  Dude is a beast.  Big ol dude that looks like he could run the 800m.  Everyone in the picture is runnin one speed, then Haaland is like a video game.  His own gear just blowin dudes doors off.  Then taps in a goal with a feather touch.  Also just a really likeable human being.  One of them unexpected surprises the World Cup always delivers.  😎🤙

Locals here are pretty stoked that Mexico gets to play all these games in their own epic home stadium.  Copa del Mundo is kinda important for some of my neighbors.  😎🤙

Oh, and Canada fucked up. USA kept home field. Mexico kept home field. Canada got smoked two days ago, and ended up losing home field, so their next game is in Los Angeles. The Canadians screwed the pooch. 

Braut Haaland reminds me of this album cover.  This would make a great surf video soundtrack.  Had it on 8-track.  Single fin days.  😎🤙

Yeah man. I was bummed though, when they played France on Friday, they benched Haaland. And I get it, the result didn't matter, but as a guy possibly in the mix for the Golden boot, I would have thought he would have played. Or at least done what the USA did with Pulisic or what Argentina did with Messi....

Crazy Messi story. So, going into the game Saturday night, it was well known that Messi wasn't starting, but was going to "play at some point".... So, had Messi started, I was going to place a bet for him to score and "anytime goal".... So, the odds went down pretty low when he was listed as not starting, but I placed a bet anyway, assuming that even if he played the second half, he would have pretty good opportunities to score. He played less than 30 minutes at the end of the second half, and sure enough, on a set piece from outside the box, he bent it directly through the wall and put it in the back of the net. The keeper was standing still like a statue. Didn't even have time to react...

That dude is something special. 

And shit, after Canada played like shit, they actually won the first knockout game yesterday. 

Good shit all around....

And man, I don't know if you watched this, but Iran. In their last match, they scored a goal in the 97th minute or some shit, to take the lead and advance to the next round. The striker ripped his shirt off, put sunglasses on and they all cried tears of joy. About 30 seconds later, after a VAR review, the goal was taken back. Offsides. Game over. Tie. Then the Iranian players were crying tears of sorrow.

That said, at that point, they had a 92% chance to advance, mathematically based on the remaining games playing out.... So, Algeria and Austria were playing Saturday night. I believe that both of them were going to advance anyway, so a win or a draw didn't matter. But towards the end, it was 1-1, the 2-1, then 2-2, then Austria scored a third goal with like 2 minutes left in stoppage time... I am on the Argentinian broadcast, and they are like "Wow, as it stands, Iran advances".... Then, with like 5 seconds left in stoppage time, Algeria scores again and ties it 3-3. And in the very moment, Iran was eliminated.... They showed the crowds just moments before that cheering in the streets. Iran! Iran! Iran! And just like that, POOF, they were done.... Back on a plane to Tehran..... And I was fucking thrilled. War or no war, fuck them... I was explaining to my wife what a terrible group of people they are. Humanitarianly. Their treatment of women. All of it.... That is no nation that should ever be cheered for. For ANYTHING. 

Talkin about Canada... I just found it kinda odd that we just had the 1 round of 32 game yesterday.  That game they won, like you said. There's 16 games.  3 a day the next 5 days.  And the one all by itself yesterday.  

Ida liked to see Haaland, but we all pretty much understand the big picture.  You still gotta win FIVE more games.  Not 2 or 3.  No more Fugazi teams either.  Could be extra time, etc.  They ain't really got started yet.

Yeah, I thought that was a scheduling misstep only having the one game yesterday. But it was a good one. I just assumed that it was because most teams need a certain amount of days rest between games. But the math doesn't make sense. There should have been a couple of other squads that were well rested by yesterday.

It's a little weird now, like US played Friday, and they play again on Wednesday. Argentina played Saturday, but plays Tuesday. It won't be a perfect system, but yeah, with everyone in the world hanging around yesterday, I am surprised Fox sports and what not didn't want to scoop up all those ratings. It was up against a weak PGA tournament, and pretty much nothing else on earth, worldwide. 

Yesterday was fun.  I get home after bodysurfin and turn on the Germany game.  The clock is already at 1 oh somethin minutes.  1st extra time.  I'm like OK... This is fun...  That game goes to penalties and Germany is goin home.  Germany.  Alemania.  

Netherlands Orange next game also went all the way to penalties.  Another favorite gone home.  

I didn't really care about the early Brazil game.  Went bodysurfin. 

We got Norway, France, and Mexico all playin today.  No more easy games.  Netherlands and Germany found that out.  😏

Yeah man, last night was CRAZY. And Brazil got lucky as shit for the record. I watched that whole game and Japan out played them and it should have gone to extra time. Brazil got lucky. They have NEVER been eliminated prior to the round of 16. And that stat really doesn't matter, because there has never been a knockout round of 32, so it's a fake stat, but I was all in on Brazil going home....

And on to Germany. I am half German. I have a German last name, so I was donning my Germany Jersey last night for the game and as it went into extra time, I was watching with my son and wife and we all were saying how poorly Germany was playing. And then in PK's, Germany was absolutely terrible. Like, after their second COMPLETE MISS, like shank-a-rooski, I simply said, Germany should not win this game. They are playing like a middle school team. Those stupid fucking hesitation moves and stutter steps. Terrible. Then he faked the goalie out, he fell the wrong way and home boy shanks it 5 yards wide of the frame. Fucking nonsense. I was cheering for Paraguay when they won. The German's will be going home disgraced. They looked like dog shit. 

Then the Netherlands, same deal. They fucked up. These penalty kicks should be AUTOMATIC. I was telling my wife: Aim left or right post, half way up, waist high. Every time. With power, without hesitation, and 98% of the time, when put on goal, that is going in the back of the net. And another Powerhouse goes home for just absolutely laughable penalty kicks. What a joke.... 

But, with every powerhouse that goes home, the path for everyone else becomes more open.... So, the US needs to handle business tomorrow, or none of this matters, but that is another reason I was hoping that Brazil lost. Just get them out of the mix. Period. I want to play Ivory Coast in the damn final =)

That cleat to the skull was pretty gnar in the Netherlands game.  Blood drippin outa dude's hair onto the turf. 

Yeah man. That was wild. And they cleaned him up QUICK. I wasn't able to tell if they replaced his jersey with his own backup jersey (same number) or not. I saw them hand him a new jersey and trotted back out.

When I was a senior in highschool, I was going for the all time record on my soccer team for playing every minute of every game from sophmore-senior year. About mid-way through the final season, we were playing the local powerhouse team, at their field. I was the sweeper, and their star striker and I went up for a 50/50 head ball. He flicked his head backwards and hit me square in the nose. Broken nose. Blood fucking everywhere. Face, jersey. Shorts. I definitely had a concussion, but this was the 90s, so that wasn't a thing. So, I hopped back up, like, let's go... The ref's told my coach that I couldn't play with blood on my jersey or shorts, so they allowed my team to surround me on the 50 yard line in a circle, and my coach made this poor bench riding kid switch his whole uniform with me as we both stripped down to our underwear, as the crowd laughed with "ohhs and ahhs". So, I went from wearing #21 to #22 and finished the game in another dude's jersey and shorts. Poor kid had to just ride the pine in his warm ups. That said, I did get the record, and never sat for one second on the varsity squad. The only other close call was that same season. A cold ass, freezing Maryland Friday night. Ball felt like a block of ice. Like when the other goalie would punt it past mid field, I was sitting there bracing myself, dreading the impact of having to head the ball back over the half way line to clear it. There was only a couple of minutes left in the first half and I ran up to mid field, right in front of our bench to try and block a kick from their right mid fielder. This dude tries to cross it, and I am only about 8 feet away, he drilled me directly in the nuts with a rock hard ball. it bounced down, I cleared it, took about 2 steps and then collapsed. I am just laying in the dirt right in front of my bench while play continues. My coach is like, "You good?". In a high pitched voice, I say "I think so". I laid there for about 15 seconds, then gathered my shit and limped back into play.....

Gotta love the late 90s when young people health was never a concern =)

But yeah, that is one of the more alarming injuries I have seen in the world cup. Speaking of which, I do give the refs a lot of credit for "no-calls" on these international pussies that always flop and cry. Their classic move is, as soon as they get touched, they dive down on the ball and grab it with their hands, basically trying to force the ref to blow the whistle and call a foul. More times than not, I have seen the refs call a hand ball on the offender, and I even saw a yellow card for a player stopping a fast break.... I love it.... That shit is NOT part of the game, and the only time you see it is in world cup, or in the over seas league. There is no place in soccer for that. Let the whistle blow of play on. You don't dive on the ball with your hands like a fucking clown....

There have also been a lot of yellow cards that I consider questionable. A lot of 50/50 challenges, where someone goes for the ball, yes cleats up, but at the last moment, the ball just moves and they end up stepping on a players boot. Unintentional, and they are still giving yellow cards for it....

Even that penalty kick for Agentine (I think it was) when the guy came into the box diving for a header, he was parallel to the ground and about 2 feet off the ground, so the defender just goes 100% for the ball to clear it and stop a goal, but because the guy was diving down towards the ground, the defender made contact with the ball and the strikers head. They gave him a PK. It was a gnarly shot to the head, but in my day, they would refer to that as "a dangerous kick". Usually when you kick way up with your leg, up towards someones face. I have never seen a play with a dive like that, where they call a PK. There was nothing the defender could do but go for the ball. It was 50/50 and the striker chose to use his head and dive into traffic face first. So I would call that an unfortunate call. 

Headers with the ice ball.  Nope. 

I only played soccer in HS gym.  I mentioned in the past they put my 16yr old 130lb ass in the same PE class as all the athletes.  I was a senior but was the smallest dude out there.  Playin against the varsity linebackers and shit. Didn't ever learn how to do headers right.  Every one was like close my eyes at the last second and hope I didn't get knocked out.  

Good thing I could run forever.  Kept me alive, I think.  You can put in some miles.  I read somewhere that elite pros run a 10k during a game.  

Never got drilled in the nuts, bro.  🤯🤣