.
Team USA stunned the experts who were expecting a quick exit from their Death Draw in the first round of the Brazil World Cup by losing their final match against Germany yet winning a spot in the next Knockout Round of 16 along with Germany and host Brazil among others.
By Futbol standards it was a great game with the final score 1-0 Germany after 94 minutes of play. So if there are 10 players on each team I guess that means it took 1880 minutes of accumulated play to get one goal. (That is in man-minutes).
In the end, it didn't matter that the USA lost because Portugal won and therefore the USA goes to the next round appropriately called the Knockout round. It is called the Knockout Round because if you lose this time you really do go home. Of course home might be nice for a team like the USA who had to travel to Brazil for the tournament and then travel over 9,000 miles in Brazil to play just three games.
For some odd reason the four stadiums were each built in different time zones or countries or something so the 600,000 fans from outside the country would not be partying in the same town every night. The host city is the capitol called Brasilia which was just built in 1960 because it was either in the center of the country or far away from the rowdy towns like Rio de Janeiro. Still the biggest crowds are in Rio.
Over 150,000 Americans traveled to the World Cup and adopted the nickname "Outlaws" perhaps to fit in with the local syndicates. For the most part the rest of the world is mad that Brazil got the World Cup, the next Olympics, and Rio just hosted the 2011 Military World Games and the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Party on as they say and no one can party like the lovely people of Brazil.
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Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Staggering Seismic Jolt and Ensuing Tsunami stun Wimbledon in UK
.
In what was without
question one of the most chaotic days in professional tennis history, yesterday
at Wimbledon in London there was more carnage
and casualties than at any time since King Henry VIII put a revolving door on
the prison in the Tower
of London and began
beheading wives and opponents.
LONDON (Reuters) - Wimbledon
king Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova endured jolting second-round losses to
opponents outside the world top 100 in a freakishly dramatic 'Wednesday
Wipeout' that saw seven players withdraw injured and the draw shredded.
England — Wimbledon
went wobbly on Wednesday.
It started with a rash of withdrawals. It ended with a rash of upsets. By the time it was over, it felt like the tournament had slipped off its axis.
"The whole day ... has been bizarre," said theUSA 's Sloane Stephens, who survived
and advfanced. "I don't know what's going on."
All told, it produced one of the most extraordinary days inWimbledon
history.
Twelve seeds fell, including seven former No. 1s — none more shocking than defending champion Roger Federer.
Playing last on Centre Court, the seven-time Wimbledon winner lost in the second round to 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), snapping his run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals that began here in 2004.
It was his worst defeat at a major since losing to No. 154 Mario Ancic inWimbledon 's
first round in 2002, and the earliest loss for a defending champion since
Lleyton Hewitt exited in the first round to Ivo Karlovic the same year.
"It's always a disappointment losing any match around the world, and particularly here," Federer said.
Federer had plenty of company. No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, No. 3 Maria Sharapova, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 12 Ana Ivanovic joined him by failing to reach the third round.
The men lost No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Marin Cilic and No. 18 John Isner, plus Hewitt. Together, players with a combined 26 major singles titles were sent packing.
Perhaps it was an omen when Isner, the top-seeded American, pulled up lame three points into the day's opening slate of matches. The nearly 6-10 player felt a sharp pain in his knee when he came down on his serve against Adrian Mannarino. A game later at 1-1, he was forced to quit.
"I just landed and something happened," added Isner, who speculated it might be a tendon tear. "Severe pain. I mean, it hurt."
Three hours into the day, five players had retired mid-match or pulled out, including Azarenka (bone bruise), Cilic (left knee), 2006 quarterfinalist Radek Stepanek (left hamstring) and Steve Darcis (right shoulder), who upset Rafael Nadal in the first round.
They were joined by two-timeWimbledon semifinalist Tsonga, who
threw in the towel because of a troublesome knee trailing Ernests Gulbis
trailing 6-3, 3-6, 3-6.
"I tried, but no chance for me to beat a guy like this without my legs," said Tsonga, who was the seventh player to retire — the highest number on a single day at a Grand Slam event in Open era history, according to the International Tennis Federation.
AP - Associated Press
LONDON - Seven-time champion Roger Federer was stunned by
116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round of Wimbledon
on Wednesday, his earliest loss in a Grand Slam tournament in 10 years.
SB Nation
Seven former No. 1s fell atWimbledon on Wednesday, one of the most
ridiculous, destructive days at a slam in tennis' long history. Victoria
Azarenka couldn't go at all. Caroline Wozniacki slipped and fell, then fell
again. Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic were blown off the court. Lleyton
Hewitt was outhustled and outhit. Maria Sharapova slipped repeatedly, tweaked
her hip, then was taken down by an opponent who wouldn't buckle.
Of those six, only Sharapova was a true surprise. We could at least envision those losses taking place.
But how in the world were
we supposed to see Roger Federer's loss coming? Federer had made 36 consecutive
slam quarterfinals, pulling rabbits out of his hat on multiple occasions
(including at Wimbledon last year, when he fell two sets behind Julien
Benneteau in the third round), but he had no answer for the serve-and-volley
game of Sergiy Stakhovsky. The No. 116 player in the world, a lanky 27-year old
from Kiev, Ukraine, Stakhovsky ended one of the more incredible streaks in
sports with a 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 win over the seven-time Wimbledon champion.
Federer served well and showed some fire, but his return game has slowly
disintegrated over the last couple of years, and Stakhovsky took full
advantage. With a game straight out of 1986, Stakhovsky frustrated and
eventually defeated the all-time slams leader.
The last time Federer lost before the third round of a slam was at the 2003 French Open. He lost two tiebreakers and was swept by Luis Horna in the first round and responded with his first of 17 slam titles.Wimbledon was the
most likely place for Federer to pick up an 18th, and that opportunity is now
gone. We always rush to proclaim a once-amazing athlete done!, over!, but while
Federer probably has quite a bit of elite tennis left in him, he probably
doesn't have as much. We've assumed his mortality for a few years now, and
today we saw proof that it exists.
The carnage of this incredible Wednesday atWimbledon will be felt
for the rest of the fortnight. Azarenka and Sharapova were easily the two
players with the best shot of preventing Serena Williams from winning her sixth
Wimbledon title, even if their odds weren't
great. In all, seven of the top-13 women's seeds failed to reach the third
round, and we're only halfway through the second round.
.
In a single day at the
revered Championship at Wimbledon saw seven
former world number one seeded players go down in defeat and seven other tennis
stars go down with injuries and withdraw.
Never have such a staggering seismic jolt and ensuing tsunami reached
so far inland as what happened in a single day in jolly old England .
June 26 is a day of infamy
in the UK as it was the same
day the Beatles released their new album "A Hard Days Night" 49 years
ago and the same day UK
subject Elizabeth Taylor got her fifth
divorce from fellow UK
subject Richard Burton 39 years ago.
Here in the colonies it was the day Elvis Presley performed his final
concert in 1977.
Following are quotes from
a number of stunned tennis reporters on the day of June 26 when darkness
descended on the 2013 Wimbledon Championships.
By Martyn Herman
Reuters
News Service
Second seed Victoria
Azarenka, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and even Steve Darcis, man-of-the-moment
after his opening day victory over Spaniard Rafa Nadal, were among the
casualties as the medical bulletins piled up.
With title contenders
dropping like flies, some before even striking a ball in anger, home favorite
Andy Murray must be licking his lips after avoiding the scrapheap with an
incident-free second round win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun.
By Douglas Robson USA Today SportsWed Jun 26, 2013 4:58 PM
WIMBLEDON, It started with a rash of withdrawals. It ended with a rash of upsets. By the time it was over, it felt like the tournament had slipped off its axis.
"The whole day ... has been bizarre," said the
All told, it produced one of the most extraordinary days in
Twelve seeds fell, including seven former No. 1s — none more shocking than defending champion Roger Federer.
Playing last on Centre Court, the seven-time Wimbledon winner lost in the second round to 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), snapping his run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals that began here in 2004.
It was his worst defeat at a major since losing to No. 154 Mario Ancic in
"It's always a disappointment losing any match around the world, and particularly here," Federer said.
Federer had plenty of company. No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, No. 3 Maria Sharapova, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 12 Ana Ivanovic joined him by failing to reach the third round.
The men lost No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Marin Cilic and No. 18 John Isner, plus Hewitt. Together, players with a combined 26 major singles titles were sent packing.
Perhaps it was an omen when Isner, the top-seeded American, pulled up lame three points into the day's opening slate of matches. The nearly 6-10 player felt a sharp pain in his knee when he came down on his serve against Adrian Mannarino. A game later at 1-1, he was forced to quit.
"I just landed and something happened," added Isner, who speculated it might be a tendon tear. "Severe pain. I mean, it hurt."
Three hours into the day, five players had retired mid-match or pulled out, including Azarenka (bone bruise), Cilic (left knee), 2006 quarterfinalist Radek Stepanek (left hamstring) and Steve Darcis (right shoulder), who upset Rafael Nadal in the first round.
They were joined by two-time
"I tried, but no chance for me to beat a guy like this without my legs," said Tsonga, who was the seventh player to retire — the highest number on a single day at a Grand Slam event in Open era history, according to the International Tennis Federation.
AP - Associated Press
updated 4:55 p.m. ET June
26, 2013
The 27-year-old Ukrainian
outplayed Federer on Centre Court, serving and volleying his way to a 6-7 (5),
7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory that stands out as one of the biggest upsets in
Grand Slam history.
"Magic,"
Stakhovsky said. "I couldn't play any better today."
The result capped a
chaotic day at Wimbledon when seven players
were forced out by injuries, and former champion Maria Sharapova fell in the
second round to a qualifier.
Federer's loss ended his
record streak of reaching at least the quarterfinals at 36 consecutive Grand
Slam tournaments, a run that began at Wimbledon
in 2004, shortly after a third-round exit at that year's French Open.
The owner of a record 17
major championships, Federer hadn't been beaten in the second round or earlier
since a first-round defeat at the 2003 French Open.
Federer's shocking defeat was his earliest at the All England Club since a
first-round loss in 2002 to No. 154-ranked Mario Ancic. Stakhovsky is the
lowest-ranked player to beat Federer at any event since then.
Wednesday's defeat came on
the same grass court Federer has made his own for nearly a decade.
The International Tennis Federation said the seven
players forced out is believed to be the most in one day at any Grand Slam
event in the 45 years of the Open era.
"I would say (it's a) very black day,"
Cilic said of the spate of injury withdrawals. "The other days, other
weeks, there were no pullouts. Everything just happened today."
2013 Wimbledon :
Stunning Day 3 ends with biggest surprise of all
By Bill Connelly on Jun 26
2013, 3:41p SB Nation
Seven former No. 1s fell at
Of those six, only Sharapova was a true surprise. We could at least envision those losses taking place.
The last time Federer lost before the third round of a slam was at the 2003 French Open. He lost two tiebreakers and was swept by Luis Horna in the first round and responded with his first of 17 slam titles.
The carnage of this incredible Wednesday at
.
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