Spain's bench should kick either of their arses.

Cavani's been terrible in the previous games but yeah, he's looking much better tonight, and the claims about Neymar freezing in big games seems to be gaining a bit more weight.

And yeah, haha, but it's still Bjorn Borg for me.

Bringing on Bernard seems to have transformed Brazil.

i'm pissed. uruguay threw away every advantage.

btw, i officially hate neymar. he's a BITCH. a clown. a crybaby.

I'll say this in defence of Brazil. They've got a young squad and can only grow. All of their star players are what? 20, 21, 25? They've still got time. Plus add that they've only just got Scolari as manger. This, as for the rest of the big teams in this cup, is just a dress rehearsal.

Bring on Sunday!

That pathetic dive at the end when he was grabbing his face was, well...pathetic.

Great second half but gutted for Uruguay. I don't think they would've survived extra time, though, even if Brazil still didn't look that great.


I really want that to be the right answer

Completely agree, but so much pressure is being put on them for this WC. They're nowhere near ready to win it. But in 5-6 years time they really could be something.

Yeah, I was defending him a bit, earlier in the thread, but he really is annoying for that. And yet I still love Suarez. I've no consistency whatsoever.

yes. my wife now calls him the actress. and she was for brazil actually.


i don't know how to explain this but suarez does it differently. he's a rascal, a dirty fighter but a fighter nevertheless, not a damsel in distress fainting whenever it's convenient.

Speaking of tennis, it should have been interesting to follow today's Sharapova-De Brito match on the radio.

question numero uno is: HOW LONG?

Probably about a week

it's kind of short. if you don't like european i'd say go see the andean countries (peru/bolivia mostly) but unless you wanna be a "tourist" (on a bus, taking in the sights), i'd plan 3 weeks!

food is cheap though.

Hmm, it definitely won't be longer than two weeks. Although I'm only really gonna be staying in one city/place.

But yeah, I think you've nailed it with the Suarez/Neymar thing.

well then just fly straight to cuzco and check it out.

if you have 2 weeks you can either swing by the manu national park to get a taste of rainforest or to lima to gorge yourself on the best fish and seafood on the planet

Thanks for the help. I'll have a look at Lima and Montevideo as they seem most in line with what I'm after. I'm not big on national parks or anything really 'outdoorsy'. I like visiting cities where I accept I'll be seen as a tourist but where I won't be forced into only doing touristy/sightseeing kinds of things. Good food is definitely key and if I could time my visit for the football season, see a game if possible. Right now I'm really liking what I'm reading about Montevideo.

in cuzco you can hangout an get drunk/ coked up all day if you want, but yeah it would be a waste not to go to machu picchu or the sacred valley, and teh altitude could be a problem if you're not in decent shape (altitude sickness gives you the worst hangovers-- you need a couple of days to acclimate). but the area around the plaza is pretty lively.

lima is great for food lovers, though as a city itself it's not much to write home about (sprawling, chaotic, ugly). but if you focus on the food it's fucking paradise. will cost you money though because the best restaurants are not cheap.

i'd stick to uruguay then. yes it's going to be more "european" and probably more of a pleasant city to hang out. so is lima for that matter-- i mean in lima there will be more brown people but latin america was european colonies and that's what you'll find-- western culture.

the cuzco region on the other hand remains the heart of quechua culture, so there will be plenty of other stuff to see if you feel like an anthropologist. cuzco has a decent little football team too. actually, more than one (this last one is new and at the top of the table, but the other one is over 100 years old)

but for what you want, i think montevideo is the way to go, different without being too unfamiliar, plus it's manageable in just a week. mexico city, on the other hand, is not a city, but a planet.

anyway, FOOTBALL:

i'm gonna have to miss today's match! bwagggggh!! (well, i'll record/watch on replay, but it's not the same).

the mighty south american travel thread

and so it begins...

YEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

don't fuck it up, pep!