NEW ORLEANS, LA – It’s been awhile since I’ve fulfilled my duties to the greater good of MTM with a column. So here are my thoughts on some of the goings-on going on right now. Forgive any incorrect or outdated information. I wrote this Wednesday before flying to the Big Easy for a Bachelor’s Party. My liver fought this right until the captain said, “Flight Attendants please prepare for take-off.
Many of you know that I am a fan of the Beautiful Game, aka soccer. But, being preoccupied with the Rangers’ run to the finals, I didn’t get excited about the World Cup until it started. Now I’m fully immersed in the tournament. It has, for the most part, been an entertaining tournament so far. And with England, Spain, and Italy all eliminated, I’m a very happy camper.
The only sour spot was this past Sunday when our good ol’ U-S of A came within 30 seconds of unceremoniously dumping Christiano Ronaldo and the rest of the Portuguese squad out of the tournament. But some tired legs for the USA led to Portugal’s equalizer in the 95th minute. At the time of writing, group G still hasn’t been decided.
Late drama was also in the cards during Greece’s Group C decider against Cote d’Ivoire. Giorgios Samaras buried a goal from the penalty spot three minutes into injury time to send Greece to the round of 16 and send the Ivorians home
One thing that was decided a long time ago was that Luis Suarez is an a**hole. If the world didn’t realize that four years ago with his intentional handball in the World Cup that denied Ghana a trip to the semifinals, then they know it now. Suarez practiced his hungry zombie routine for the third time in his career by biting a chunk out of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder. The indiscretion was, unfortunately yet unsurprisingly, missed by the referee and his two assistants. Seconds later Uruguay scored the winner that sent the Eye-tees packing.
https://youtu.be/jXaagM5h5g0
Suarez is one of the top five players in the world right now but he can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble. Aside from the other biting incidents he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra a couple of seasons ago. For that ugly episode he served another lengthy suspension.
Now FIFA will have to come down hard on the Uruguayan. His punishment could be as little as a three match ban or as many as 24 matches. My guess is that it will be in the neighborhood of 8-10 games due to Suarez’s less than exemplary prior record. The suspension is supposed to come today at some point.
Speaking of today, Happy Birthday to Derek Jeter and Short Matt. Guess which would have a better shot at one of the World Cup wives below.
Tune in your Meet The Matts Radio dial(s) tomorrow for the latest on the latest, lately.
P.s… Zack Wheeler didn’t exactly look good last night, did he. JG Clancy’s A’s restored faith in SABR’s everywhere.
