World Cup Results for June 12

The US didn't beat England - but we didn't lose either! Seriously, how dumb does Green feel? He's gonna need a security patrol when he gets back to England. The US yet again gave up a very early goal, but at least we could salvage the draw. In other games, Greece looked absolutely awful, and Nigeria put up a good fight against Argentina.

South Korea 2:0 Greece

Nigeria 0:1 Argentina

US 1:1 England

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World Cup Results for June 11

Each day, I'll post the results of the matches with a link to the game summary. Here are the results for the first day. Both games were ties, so the US has a chance to be the first winner of a match in the 2010 World Cup. Also, France didn't win. That's a victory for the rest of the world in my book.

South Africa 1:1 Mexico

Uruguay 0:0 France

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Don't Tread On Me

A major ingredient to showing support for your team is having the right apparel. In preparation for the United States' big game against England tomorrow, I needed some gear to show my support during the game. However, I didn't want to spend the money on overpriced gear from the team store that everyone else would have. So, I made my own. It started off a lot more ambitious, but as the failures mounted and game day drew closer, I needed a shirt, and quick. Since I'm just beginning in homemade screen printing, I still need to stick to relatively simple designs, so I stuck with the "Don't Tread On Me" design mentioned here. I'm very happy with the end result, and can't wait to wear it for the game Saturday. Here's the process of how I went about screen printing my own Shirt.

The Goal

Materials (That I used, this isn't standard)

T-shirt (really?)

Fabric Ink/Paint

Speedball Drawing Fluid

Speedball Screen Filler

Speedball 10"x14" Screen (but a quilting hoop and some screen will work fine)

A design/stencil

Squeegee type thing (a real one, a piece of cardboard, whatever works for you)

Cardboard

Matte Acrylic Sealer
Screen Cleaner

Step One

Place the screen over the design, and lightly paint over the design with the drawing fluid in the spots where you want ink to go through. I would say trace the design in pencil first, but I've found that the pencil doesn't exactly wash out, making it inconvenient when using the screen for a second design If you are using a stencil, place the stencil on the screen, and fill in where you want the ink to go though. Allow this to dry.
Step Two

After the drawing fluid has dried, apply a line of screen filler at the top of your screen. Take your squeegee and spread the screen filler over the screen, using as few strokes as possible so the drawing liquid will still wash out. Allow this to dry.

Step Three

After the screen filler has dried, you can wash the drawing liquid out by spraying cold water on it. This will keep the screen filler in tact, but remove the dried drawing liquid. Notice the difference in color from the picture in step two - now ink can go flow through the screen. Hold the screen up to the light and check for any pinholes in the screen filler and fill in any holes you may find. Allow this to dry.
Step Four

Place a piece of cardboard inside your t-shirt, so ink wont run through to the other side of your shirt. Put the design on the shirt where ever you would like to make the print. Place a line of fabric paint above your design, then take the squeegee and spread it over where the design is on the screen, much like you did with the screen filler. Make sure to get good coverage so your design comes through nicely. Remove the screen after you have put the amount of ink you want down by lifting up from the top of the screen. Allow this to dry.


Step Five

After the ink has dried, spray it in a well ventilated room with matte (or glossy, if you so desire) acrylic sealer to protect the ink in the wash. When you go to wash the shirt, wash it inside out just to be on the safe side. If you used a good fabric paint, you shouldn't have to worry about the ink wearing off, but it can't hurt to protect your hard work. Once you're done with that particular design, wash the screen with the screen cleaner and hot water to get it ready to make another design.

And there you have it - you're very own custom, home made shirt. Later on, I will post an alternative method using Mod Podge, eliminating the need for the drawing liquid and screen filler. Now wear your art with pride!

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

The Uninformed World Cup Preview Pt. 2

Yesterday, I posted part one of my ill-informed World Cup preview. Now, on to the elimination rounds. I've just listed the match ups, with the winners in bold.

Second Round

Mexico vs. Nigeria
Nigeria will essentially have home games throughout the tournament, but I think Mexico overcomes that and goes to the Quarters

Argentina vs. France
Good riddance France. I will never be convinced you belonged in the World Cup to begin with.

England vs. Australia
It's like the soccer version of The Longest Yard, but the guards will win this one.

Germany vs. United States
With Ballack, I think Germany wins. Without him? I think the US can pull this one out.

Netherlands vs. Paraguay
Those orange jerseys are just too much for Paraguay to look at, and the Dutch move on.

Italy vs. Cameroon
Italy is just too powerful for Cameroon.

Brazil vs. Honduras
Brazil could win this one by 3. No problem for them.

Spain vs. Portugal
A killer match up of 2 and 3 in the world in only the second round. Spain pulls it out and makes the quarters.

Quarterfinals


Mexico vs. England
England moves on to the semis, Beckham continues to be overrated in the US.

Argentina vs. United States
I really wish I could put the US through to the semis, but I just don't see another miracle run like the Confederations Cup.

Netherlands vs. Brazil
Oranje's run ends against the unfairly talented team from Brazil.

Italy vs. Spain
Even with that creep Buffon in goal, I think Spain moves on to the semis.

Semifinals

England vs. Brazil
After building their nation's hopes, England crushes the country's population again.

Argentina vs. Spain
Spain keeps their run going, setting up what should have also been the Confederation Cup final.

Finals


Brazil vs. Spain
Anything less than a championship would just be a disappointment for Brazil.

There you have it, along with 65,897,314 others, I have Brazil to win the World Cup. Not a shocking pick, but soccer seems pretty orderly to me. No major upsets once it comes time for elimination games. No Butleresque runs to the finals. Even so, I think it'll be a great tournament, and very exciting to watch. At the very least, it's an excuse to drink midday, and who isn't for that?

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

The Uninformed World Cup Preview Pt. 1

Group play of the 2010 World Cup starts Friday morning, and to whoever scheduled the World Cup, thank you for making the US vs. England match on a Saturday. I've gone through each group and chosen the two I think will move on, using nothing but the world ranking (unavoidable on the ESPNsoccernet bracket) and what I've heard on SportsCenter or any other show. Other than that, this is completely ill-informed and unresearched, which probably gives me a better shot at getting it right. Teams in bold are moving on, place in group in parentheses.

Group A
South Africa
Mexico (1)
Uruguay
France (2)


South Africa is only in as the host; Mexico is apparently ranked lower than Uruguay, but would probably be killed back home if they got knocked out in group play; C'mon, who's heard anything from Uruguay recently?; France sucks. Ireland should be in (see Henry hand ball). They'll probably move on.

Group B
Argentina (1)
Nigeria (2)
South Korea
Greece

The Messi's go to the second round; I think Nigeria will feed off of all the support they will have; South Korea will be a punching bag; will Greece be able to afford airfare to get the team to South Africa?

Group C
England (1)
United States (2)
Algeria
Slovenia

England is England, they're moving on; let's see if the US can handle being a favorite after that Confederations Cup run; sorry Algeria, it's not happening; isn't this Slovenia's first World Cup? They won't move on.

Group D
Germany (1)
Australia (2)
Serbia
Ghana

Germany had a solid shot to make it far before Ballack went down, they'll still move on; Australia impressed me in the warm up match. If that long-haired-guy-who's-name-I-won't-research-to-keep-true-to-the-post can convert chances to goals, they could scare some teams; I don't trust Serbia enough to pick them even if they are ranked 15th; Ghana I think could score an upset, but won't move on though.

Group E
Netherlands (1)
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon (2)


The Dutch are fun to watch, at least in the last Euro Cup, and I'm part Dutch so do it Oranje!; Denmark can only practice like 3 months out of the year outdoors, they won't move on; Japan I can see doing something crazy, but they'll be eliminated; good draw for Cameroon, I think they take the second spot.

Group F
Italy (1)
Paraguay (2)
New Zealand
Slovakia

Ridiculously easy draw for Italy; I didn't go with Uruguay, so I'll go with their twin Paraguay; I can't pick Australia and their retarded brother New Zealand; Slovakia's a hockey country, they won't know what to do without skates.

Group G
Brazil (1)
North Korea
Ivory Coast
Portugal (2)


Brazil is so good they didn't have a spot for Ronaldinho on the team. That means they move on; North Korea is ranked 105th, but should somebody just let them get win to pacify Kim Jong Il?; the Ivory Coast was a sleeper until Drogba went down. This would have been a very entertaining group with him in it; Portugal is always a threat to go far. That's what she said.

Group H
Spain (1)
Switzerland
Honduras (2)
Chile

Spain wants to prove themselves in competition after the US beat them; Switzerland I just don't see as a soccer country, or moving on for that matter; Honduras is my underdog. They were feisty in qualifying, I think they can steal a spot in the elimination rounds; Chile I have no clue about, but I like Honduras to qualify for the second round which leaves Chile out in the cold. Which is good, since it's snowboarding season down there.

Did I manage to get a snowboarding reference into my World Cup preview? You bet I did. Tomorrow I'll post what the elimination round matches would be, based on ESPNsoccernet's Bracket Predictor and my predictions, right on through to the final.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensinger.

Youtubesday

Finally, a Tuesday with internet! This week is all soccer videos. If you hate France, then just skip to the bottom two for a couple more reasons to hate the French.

Nike's "Write the Future" spot. Incredible:

From the BBC, the top 10 goals of the 2006 World Cup:

Ronaldo highlights:



The best of Pele:



Maradona's "Goal of the Century" and "Hand of God" goal (he punched it in the net but the goal stood), in the 1986 World Cup against England:

And on to the France hating. Here's the the Zidane headbutt from the 2006 final against Italy (forza azzurri!). Skip to 30 seconds to see it - there are better versions out there, but this is the best English one I could find:

The infamous "Hand of God Part II" handball by Thierry Henry that got France into the World Cup at Ireland's expense. Not only was France offsides, but Henry basically caught the ball before passing it off:



Tomorrow and Thursday, I'll be posting my completely uninformed, non-researched preview of the 2010 World Cup.

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World Cup Week

The 2010 World Cup starts this week, and I can't wait for the US/England match this week. All week, I'll be posting World Cup related stuff, so if you have no interest, then see ya next week. And here's a bird picture I took today, thanks for stopping by.

For my World Cup related post, I'm working on a t-shirt for the games. I'll print it in a few colors, and I plan to have it done by Saturday. I got sloppy on the first screen, so here's round two of the front, plus the design going on the back, up around the collar. Pics Friday of how it turns out, as well as soccer videos tomorrow, and my completely uninformed, research free World Cup preview - group play Wednesday and elimination play Thursday. Do it USA.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.