We’re rubbish, we haven’t got a chance.

I don’t think it helps the big conference teams as much, because they’ve already got 15 games against P6 schools and a half dozen Q1 wins (or whatever). For a team like St. Mary’s, 3 more tough games might move the needle.

You’re missing the pretty obvious point. Bad as they may be as a group, they’re not (all) terrible and the ones that manage to be decent frequently get screwed over. Any incremental improvement from being a 15th seed to an 11th seed — AS NOTED IN THE ARTICLE — makes these guys many times more likely to get a win.

They really are the Capitals of futbol, aren’t they? It sucks, though I suppose it’s better than being the Bullets of futbol -- that’s gotta be Mexico, right?  No reason why they wouldn’t be good, come from an area known for its love of the sport, famous for doing f.a.

England’s best possible start is most definitely NOT scoring the Early Goal. Just off the top of my head, that’s Croatia, Iceland, Brazil (‘02), Germany (‘96), Germany (‘70) as examples of England going up early — in a few cases VERY early — and then going on to lose. Not to mention that they really tried to give the…

If you only like soccer that gets played on SportsCenter, that was a bad game.

By any reasonable standard, it’s a lose-lose deal for Serie A. Either Ronaldo stays amazing for 4 years, and we have Juventus going for la quottordicesima (is that 14th in Ital-speak???). Or he declines, in which case the league (and their top team) add to their reputation as the last stop before Saudi/China/MLS (and…

Are we all going to pretend not to notice Haisley saying Neymar had a good tournament? Everyone else in the world seems to agree he slows down the team, loses the ball a lot, and failed to notice that the refs weren’t buying his schtick, leading to numerous occasions where he gave up a promising position to roll…

Don’t forget this one. (Vindaloo is a spicy curry, and, stereotypically, what drunk lads order on a night out. Depending on your POV, this is either a piss-take or homage to oafs and hooligans, and/or a piss-take or homage to multicultural Britain):

That clip should have a trigger warning for Liverpool fans. As I saw him lock arms and “not at all intentionally” lean on that shoulder and start to go down I got the Mo Salah flashback...

Trae Young tried to rob the payroll, Randolph!  

Given the Wizards have just acquired Dwight Howard and Jeff Green (but not a time machine), I think it’s clear that DC sports used its 100-year allotment of good luck on the Caps. See you in 2098 when Mitchell Butler IV and Charles Jones Jr. lead us to the promised land!

That’s good!  

Anybody else remember when that one friend of yours got into cigars, in his mid 20s, and then you all spent the next decade having to pretend they weren’t disgusting? Well the hoppy beer thing feels like that to me but with 30-somethings as the prime culprits.  

Hazard and Lukaku have been beasting on opponents all tournament long?

Cristiano, is that you? Look, every “little” team tries to pack the defense and nick a goal. Norn Ireland had a run, Bosnia had a run, T&T had a run, but Iceland is the only one to make a habit out of beating the likes of Croatia, Holland, England, etc. Obviously doing something more than just parking the bus or…

One thing I noticed is he use a more traditional side foot and bent the ball. For the last few years it seems he’s been trying to do the no-spin / knuckle ball on every kick: it looks good when it works, but seems to only work once every 45 times.

Perfectly said. England always try to shoehorn in a seriously over the hill “star”, and as far as I can tell, it’s because no one can stand up to the tabloids and the alleged “white van man” that reads them.

Hodgson’s record at Fulham and Palace show he’s the best manager in English football when it comes to getting respectable performances out of a limited squad. He should have been perfect for England!

This is basically a rolling maul, from rugby. Which makes sense, because based on the dirty nutshots of Draymond, the toughness of Iguadola, the cynical shopping of teams by Durant, and the stupid party tricks of McGee and Young, it would seem half the team already plays rugby!