Peter

Very well said.

To put everyone in the mood for the game today, here is Dennis Bergkamp's goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. Bergkamp is my favorite player and the initial reason why I am an Arsenal supporter:

I certainly have no clue about who is going to win.

Re Robben: As some of you know, I am an Arsenal supporter and the Dutch are my "second" team because my wife is Dutch. As a result, I have followed the Netherlands closely since the time I met my wife and like their style of play. With that background, I have said for quite some time that he is one of the few players on the Dutch team that I do not like. I hated his diving for Chelski I hated his repeated diving for Bayern against Arsenal in their two Champions League matches. I am embarrassed when he does his patented flop with his arms outstretched and the grimace on his face as if he has been shot by a big game hunter. The guy is also a black hole. He is the Carmelo Anthony of Bayern Munich. Although talented, he rarely will pass the ball while playing for his club (unlike Ribery). He has been a little better about this in the World Cup. The sad part is that his faults are completely unnecessary. He is a great player. He has been responsible for a lot of what the Dutch have been able to create offensively. Except for him, diving is not the Dutch way (unlike some other teams). As an aside, in case you have not noticed, 99% of the time, his finishing move is to his left (he is left footed). I find it funny that there are so many players/teams that have not seemed to have caught on to this when defending him. Final note: As much as I am supporting the Dutch now that the U.S. is out, there is one other player that I do not like: Robin van Persie. He is both a world class player and world class !@#$. He was an Arsenal player. The club, manager (Arsene Wenger), and supporters stuck with him through several years of injury and an arrest. He ultimately stabbed all in the back and engineered a transfer to one of our bitter rivals: Manchester United. As a result, I have to hold my nose a bit when I am rooting for the Dutch. It is kind of like when I watched the Yankees and A Rod was on the team. Hup Holland Hup!!!

He certainly impressed me.

. . . come out and play.

The future indeed is bright. Jurgen is the right guy to lead this team. As others have mentioned, our weakness is the lack of creative midfielders. Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce one of our future midfielders: Gedion Zelalem. He also plays for my club team Arsenal. He is likely to be world class given what he has shown at such an early age. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gedion_Zelalem

As bummed as I am about the result, I am excited about this team's future. We play with lots of heart and have promising young talent. Jurgen also is the right guy to lead this team forward. I am proud of this team.

Well said. Sully has an agenda against Mario. He still must be pissed off that Mario has his own mini fridge.

I also liked it.

I do not know if these have been mentioned: The Professional Betty Blue

Don't get me started on van Persie. As an Arsenal fan, there is a backstory. In short, the club and supporters stuck with him over many injury filled years and even an arrest where he was accused of rape (it later turned out that it was a consensual affair). He re-paid the loyalty of the club, Arsene Wenger, and the fans by engineering a transfer when he had a year left on his contract. He really stabbed Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, and the supporters in the back. It is a bit complicated, but he is a first class prick - especially now that he is with Man U. Unfortunately, after the U.S., one of my secondary teams is the Netherlands because my wife is Dutch. I have to hold my nose while I root for them.

Clear penalty. He clipped his leg while he was shooting. http://screamer.deadspin.com/greece-advance-after-ivory-coast-concede-stoppage-time-1595589369/+GregHoward1

If you are down to 10 men, it is a pretty good approach if a draw is all you need to go through.

I honestly believe that it would have ended in a draw if the bite had not occurred. If it ended in a draw after being down 10 men, Italy would have gone through and we would not be having this conversation. Nevertheless, I will defer to you given that you follow the team much more closely than I do.

My condolences. Italy was snake bitten. Seriously, I always respected Italy. I hope that Prandelli does not go through with the resignation. It is a shame that Pirlo perhaps ended his World Cup career like this.

Twice.

i am very happy that she is ok (under the circumstances). I dread when my kids are old enough to drive given all the nuts out there that have no business driving.

Whenever there are these threads, there is always someone who jumps in to say how horrible soccer is etc. Why they jump in, who knows. In any event, there are not many things I would rather have been doing than watching that game yesterday - and there certainly was not anything that was actually happening during the game that I rather would have been doing/watching. Notwithstanding the ending, it was a great day for the USMNT.

One team. One nation!

Perhaps. Nevertheless, I much prefer him to Tags (or others) who I know for sure could not give a **** about Buffalo. With Goodell, there is a chance that he sees the value of the Bills in Buffalo. If not, I hope Chuck and Cuomo show him the light.

These two have the uncanny ability to see the dark cloud in the silver lining.

Sometimes, I think the Buffalo News does not want the Bills to stay in Buffalo.

Nice. Well said.

If I were not an Arsenal supporter, Liverpool probably would be my team.