Bob Waldner

What can I say about Luis Suarez that hasn’t already been said?  I mean, this was the third time in the last four years that he’s bitten an opponent during a match.  Not sure how much he can complain about the world labeling him as a sociopath.  He’ll serve a suspension, and then he’ll play again, […]

If you’ve made time to watch the World Cup this year, you’ve been rewarded for it.  Everyone seems to agree that it’s been a great tournament so far – plenty of goals, exciting and competitive games, and some shocking results in the group stage.  The pace has picked up this week, as the first round […]

Half a minute.  That’s all that stood between the U.S. team and progression into the Round of 16.  They just needed to keep Portugal out for another thirty seconds… I probably watched the replay of that closing sequence in Manaus twenty times last night.  When the ball comes to Bradley near the half-way line, all […]

Well, after all that talk, we’ve finally seen some real, live soccer.  And it was… interesting.  Brazil wound up meeting pre-match expectations with a 3-1 win, but that score isn’t indicative of how close the match really was.  Brazil was sweating, for sure, and they’ll know that they’ll need to improve if they want to […]

The time has finally come!  If you’ve developed a strategy to shorten your work days over the next few weeks, today is the day to begin implementing it.  Brazil vs. Croatia kicks off at 4:00 (New York time) this afternoon.  I’m sure your boss (and, hopefully, my boss) will understand. Since today’s preview seems likely to get a bit wordy, […]

Only one day left!  On to Groups E and F! GROUP E Pretend, for a moment, that you don’t know anything about the 2010 World Cup.  Then, say I were to tell you a story that went something like this:  In one of the group-stage games, a coach  addresses his team at half-time, with the score 0-0.  […]

Only two days left until kickoff!  No time to waste – we’re on to Groups C and D today. GROUP C I like Arsene Wenger, and I respect everything that he’s accomplished with Arsenal over the years, but I’m going to pick on him a bit here.  Every time that Arsenal fails to beat the […]

Until now, I’ve kept this blog pretty well focused on my writing, but there are three facts that compel me to move in a different direction today (and I will list them for you, Rafa Benitez-style): Fact #1:  The World Cup kicks off in Brazil this Thursday. Fact #2:  I really, really like soccer. Fact […]