USA v. Australia open thread
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The USA will be without its best player, Christian Pulisic, who is being held out with a calf injury (I suspect he would play if this were a knockout round game). The winner of this game will almost certainly win the group, which would be a big advantage to the Americans in particular, in terms of the opponents and the locations in the first couple or three knockout rounds (the knockout round has been expanded to 32 teams, which is what the Official Handing Over of Bribes to FIFA ceremony celebrated last week).
Soccer is slowly but surely gaining ground in America as a major sport, and a deep run by the USA in this tournament would certainly move that process along. (True story: The World Cup wasn’t even televised in the USA until 1982, although the 1966 final was shown on tape delay, and you could watch the final on closed circuit TV in some big cities in the 1970s).
The first WC game I ever saw consequently was an all-time classic between Brazil and Italy in 1982, on PBS of all places. I remember Brazil’s midfielder Socrates, who later was both a physician and a prominent left wing politician, dominating his part of the game, but not enough to forestall (spoiler) an eventual loss to the eventual champions. Now Italy has missed the the final stage of the tournament three straight times . . . But enough of my yapping.
Enjoy?