6/17/10 - WOD

For Time:

300 Body Squats
200 Knee Tucks
100 Push Ups
50 Dips (I am headed to the Yale Club, so I am going to do Pull-Ups)
Then 17 Floors (The number of floors in my apartment)

Yoga

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The second round of the World Cup started yesterday. I am writing this post during the early minutes of the South Africa vs. Uruguay game. To be honest, the first round was pretty boring. Yeah, there have been some highlights and great moments:
- New Zealand's last second comeback
- Brazil's two goals were gorgeous. We could debate whether Maicon intended to shoot on target from nearly no angle, but, judging from the way he struck the ball and his reaction I reside in the camp that believes it was on purpose. The second goal was a sublime through ball, the kind that catches a viewer by surprise. Perfect weight, perfect angle, perfect run.
- South Africa's goal and quality result tying Mexico, far exceeding expectations (to be fair, Mexico was much, much better and a bit unlucky to not win. The South African goal did feature a great through ball and superb finish; however, it came against the run of play. South Africa certainly gained confidence after the goal and started to play quite well, but the goal was not deserving).
- The upset of Spain by Switzerland (again, the scoreline is not indicative of the way the game went. I say this realizing that Switzerland's game plan was not to go toe-to-toe with Spain. Their defensive shell was an obvious tactical decision. Nonetheless, Spain did about everything except score).
- Messi: may not have scored but undoubtedly the player of the moment. He seemed to be creating scoring opportunities for himself at will. I thought he was going to have 4 goals in the opening game. His inability to get on the score sheet could be attributed to misfires and not being shut down. If Argentina's defense can improve on that first game performance - it has a long way to go - I think this team can go far.

The fact of the matter is that the World Cup, thus far, has been relatively boring:

- Dearth of goals: perhaps it's the ball. Perhaps it's the lack of chemistry inherent in the nature of putting together a national tea consisting of players tossed together for a couple of months. It appears that teams look scared, as if they are afraid of losing. See Mexico, England, Brazil (though their two goals were quality, their first half performance was dull. Every shot they took was 25-35 yards out and from very poor angles. The goal by Maicon liberated them.)
- Poor goalkeeping: Though I loved that the US scored, the goal let in by Robert Green of England was poor. Dempsey had a good turn, but his shot was as flavorful as oatmeal. The list of poor goalkeeping performances includes Faouzi Chouchi of Algeria and Villar of Paraguay. Off of Italy's corner, Villar flapped at the ball but made no serious attempt to catch or punch it out. De Rossi poked it in, salvaging a point for Italy.
- Ties. Okay, ties are not the end of the world. A 0-0 tie can still be an entertaining match so long as there are some close calls, good passing, clever dribbling, etc. But the manner in which these ties happen is most alarming. They are boring, drab stalemates with fear paralyzing both teams.

Diego Forlan scored the first long-distance strike. About freaking time. This bodes well for the rest of the tournament. More goals. Less fear.