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On the Eve of the Finals
Friday, June 09, 2006 It's about time. Germany and Costa Rica kickoff at 11:55 a.m. eastern (ESPN2). We follow it up with Poland-Ecuador and 2:55 p.m. On paper, the tournament opener should be a blowout. Not only are the Germans ridiculously more talented than Costa Rica, but they're playing on their own soil, which is historically a monstrous advantage all by itself. And did I mention Germany has a huge edge in talent? I read somewhere that the guy who'll be marking Miroslav Klose is Michael Umana. Umana couldn't cut it for the Los Angeles Galaxy and had to return to play domestically in Costa Rica. By contrast, Klose scored five goals in the last World Cup. Luckily soccer isn't played on paper. And things aren't all rosy for the Germans, as superstar Michael Ballack was ruled out for this first match because of an injured right calf. Anything less than a resounding victory in this opener will cause a full-blown panic for the host nation, which means this match has plenty of potential to be entertaining. Poland-Ecuador is one of the less appealing matches on tap for the early rounds. In fact, all six games happening over the weekend look better than this one. But it's the World Cup, and you never know which side will come out of nowhere and put on one of the best shows (see Turkey, Korea, Senegal, United States, circa 2002). So, of course, I'll be watching this one hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Enjoy the tournament, readers, and thanks for following along with me these last six months. Whether I've indoctrinated you into U.S. soccer fandom, or just provided you with someone else to disagree with, it's been a ton of fun so far. I'll try to update as often as I can over the next 30 days. Kickoff is here. Let's go Nats.  December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006 | May 2006 | June 2006 | |
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© 2004-2005 by Matt Matros | All Rights Reserved |
