my guess is tevez will do better in italy than in england for cultural reasons. for one thing argentina is the little italy of latin america and he'll be surrounded by familiar and comforting things-- even the language sounds similar (if you speak spanish with an italian accent you sound argentinian basically). kinda like balotelli who was maladapted to exist in england and i think is doing well in italy now? i mean, he ordered a life-sized statue of himself, and he's only on pair with a bunch of dead emperors--nothing to see here. anyway, while i am not sure tevez will "do just fine" i suspect he'll do better in italy.

When he's on the pitch he's everything a manager could hope for: committed; the proverbial goal machine. It's behind the scenes that he (or more likely his agent/owner) draws trouble. The only club in England where he's ever really been loved is West Ham, even when he's come back to play against us. We'd obviously never get him again but it's sad he's leaving English football altogether. Although he apparently hated living here. Mind you, he only said that after leaving London to move to Manchester (so it's perfectly understandable).

I've heard 15, 10 and now 8 million for Tevez. WHO DO I BELIEVE!?! When he wanted to he could be one of the best players in the league. Shame that, like pretty much of the rest of Man City, he seemingly didn't give a shit half the time.

And yeah I'll be looking at getting 'inverting the pyramid' soon. I've got a coupla books I want/need to read first then I'll read that.

My first confederations game tonight after missing pretty much the whole thing.

Haha. Not that I can really laugh; they're still selling Paolo DiCanio merch at Upton Park.

As an aside, I'm seriously thinking about getting a season ticket for next season, but £900!!! Even Chelsea, MU and MC are charging less than that.

--

Anyway. Uruguay-Brazil coming up. Absolutely no doubts about who I want to win this







Not exactly confident, though.

I've heard 7.6 but with money saved on wages and bonuses it'll be worth about twice that to MC. Still seems cheap though.

the shit cock & balls of ESPN keep showing footage of some fucking murderer cunt instead of doing a proper pregame show. fuck their dogs and their bitch mothers. crime news, eat my shit.

so, gringo friends, if any of you is trying to watch, go to UNIVISION for some pretty good tactical analysis, footage, etc. i mean even if you don't speak the language you can see the digital chalkboards. and the game starts in 5'.

they've remarked on felipao's tactic of making the forwards foul to defend, they've pointed out the deficiencies of the uruguayan defense, and shown examples. good stuff.

ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE ESPN EAT SHIT AND DIE

man, that is some cheating-ass cheating.

Well that was one penalty thrown away.

Ah. Starting to think Uruguay might do it but Forlan's miss and Fred's goal may have killed it. Very bitty half.

Anyway, odd question but ...


I was gonna start a thread about this but you might be able to help without needing to. I'm planning on my next holiday being to somewhere in sth America but can't decide where. Any advice?

Priorities would be: A decent but manageable sized city, enough to do culturally without being just a tourist centre; not having to be overly careful safety-wise (no worse than an average European/US city), good food. Buenos Aires keeps coming up but it seems a bit too 'european' for what I'm after and, for whatever reason, Rio or Sao Paolo just doesn't appeal. And Mexico City feels like it could be a bit too much of a mindfuck. Anywhere else that might fit?

Does Forlan remind you of anyone, looks-wise? It's driving me mad. Every time I look at him. He's the spitting image of someone but I can't work out who.

google "bruja cachavacha"

There's your answer.

Sounds like shit's kicking off outside the stadium.

Haha. That's obviously brilliant but obviously not who I'm thinking of. God. It's driving me fucking mad. I need that same relief I got when I made the Sergio Ramos-Val Kilmer connection.

Yes!! Game on.

Honestly I can't see anybody. Maybe a young, lucious haired Ted Danson but other than that no idea.

The picture was for where to go!

What Brazil's defence were doing then apart from not talking to each other I'll never know.

Ignore that the pictures I put up are of them topless.

I've got it, Bjorn Borg!!!

cavani > neymar

but god damn i wish he was playing up higher

did you know forlan was meant to be a professional tennis player? i'm serious.

and here's la bruja cachavacha



spain should kick either of this teams' asses.

2 changes in brazil and uruguay hasn't offered a response yet.

are they saving them for overtime ?

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!