International notes.

I'm ignoring Liverpool after that defeat to Charlton. Losing to Man U and Chelsea, I can understand. Losing to Charlton comes under the category of moral failing, and as such, I am mad at the entire team. Especially our alleged strikers.

I should really stop laughing every time these ads for the World Cup say "the US national team is a strong contender." Yeah, a strong contender to go three-and-out, maybe.

I've been watching History of Soccer over the past couple of months (what can I say? I'm a slow Netflixer.) Tonight, I watched disc 3, which was about the South American game. Now, Brazil is my longest-running soccer hatred, so I refuse to warm up to them in the slighest. They're practically guaranteed to win in Germany, which would really go against my preferential option for underachievers (Spain, England, Liverpool). And, ok. I fully admit Kaka is insanely talented and pretty, and Ronaldinho's just ridiculous. But as a whole? I hate Brazil, and will cheer for anyone who's playing against them.

Oddly, though, the documentary made me like Argentina, which is a weird feeling for an England fan. I think maybe I've been conflating Argentina with Maradona too much -- I loathe Maradona. Always have. I don't care what sort of gloss you try to put on it: he cheated, and he lied about it for nearly 20 years. Also, there's the whole thing where he failed a drug test and was ejected from the 1994 World Cup. Hate him, always will, can't argue me out of it. Argentina, though, sort of grew on me over the course of the DVD. I mean, they've got a good history, and they're not Brazil, which is a point in their favor. So, World Cup resolution: try to warm up to Argentina. I can't like only European teams. All bets are off if they meet England in the knockout stages, though.

(And now I have US/Japan on in the background, and damn. Japan defends corners even worse than Liverpool -- maybe try marking players? OK, now they scored. Go Japan!)