Sporting Madness

I'm bringing back the Earning the (re)cap series for the remainder of the World Cup. Here are quick breakdowns of the quarterfinal games. I'll do another breakdown of the semifinal matches Wednesday evening and then recap the final on Monday. Each match will also be previewed the day before. The Netherlands - Brazil Score: 2-1, NED My prediction: 2-1, BRA I figured this would be a close one, but I wasn't expecting the Dutch to be able to come away with a win. It's interesting how this match turned out, though; it featured two sides that have historically been known more for their attacking efforts than their solid defence, but both Brazil under Dunga and the Netherlands under Bert van Marwijk have focused on improving their sides' defensive performances. As Richard Williams of The Guardian pointed out , it was largely that defensive intensity that allowed the Netherlands to come away with the win against Brazil. The South Americans dominated the early g...

I'm going to be doing previews of every World Cup game from here on in. First up, the quarterfinals. We'll start with Brazil - the Netherlands, which will be televised at 7 a.m. Pacific (10 a.m. Eastern) on CBC. Brazil: Record:(W-L-D) 3-0-1 GF: 8 GA: 2 Top scorer: Luis Fabiano , three goals The Netherlands: Record: 4-0-0 GF: 7 GA: 2 Top scorer: Wesley Sneijder , two goals Try your luck at sports betting ! This should be a great match. Brazil have been one of the most impressive sides of this tournament. They've displayed their usual flair in attack but some solid defending as well, which might be thanks to Dunga 's influence as coach. There's plenty of substance there as well as style. The only slip they've made so far was the 0-0 draw against Portugal, but that was a game that didn't mean a lot for them. So far, the Brazilians are proving why they entered the tournament as co-favourites. Kaka , Luis Fabiano , Robinho and El...

The World Cup's on to the single-knockout section with the Round of 16 starting today. I love the group stage, and it's probably the best way to fairly determine who advances, but I also love the single-elimination format of the later rounds and the accompanying boost in intensity that follows. I'll be increasing my coverage of the tournament as well, and plenty of that's coming today. First, I'll have a short recap of the group stage action with thoughts on each group, then a predictions post for this round, then a review of John Doyle 's great soccer book The World Is A Ball and then finally a recap of today's action. I'm planning to deliver daily recaps from this point on, so keep it here for all your soccer coverage! Until then, enjoy one of the best goals of the tournament so far, Maicon 's ridiculous strike for Brazil against North Korea:

Well, here we go! Apologies for the delay in getting the first posts up: the Internet gremlins seem to have returned with a vengeance, so I had to write these offline and fire them up later again. First half: 0: The match is indeed being shown on TSN, if any Canadians out there are near a TV and want to watch it. Here's the starting lineups: Brazil: Renan in goal, Rafinha, Alex Silva, Marcelo and Breno at the back, Hernanes, Anderson, Lucas, Ronaldinho and Diego in midfield, Rafael Sorbis as the lone striker. Argentina: Sergio Romero in goal, Ezequiel Garay, Luciano Monzon, Pablo Zabaleta and Nicolas Pareja at the back, Fernando Gago, Juan Riquelme, Angel Di Maria and Javier Mascherano in midfield, Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero up front. 5: Not much action to speak of so far: both sides seem to be feeling each other out cautiously. 8: The Brazilians create a few early chances, with some solid runs forward by Rafinha. 10: A good break for Argentina, and they manage to earn a cor...

A quick note that I'll be live-blogging tomorrow morning's men's Olympic soccer semifinal between Brazil and Argentina. It should be a great clash of South American superstars, with Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi going head-to-head. Here's an excellent preview of both semifinals (the other, earlier one features Belgium and Nigeria) from ESPN Soccernet 's Jeff Carlisle. The Brazil-Argentina match starts at 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. Pacific). It may be on TSN: they say they're showing one of the semifinals, but don't mention which one. In any case, it will certainly be on CBC's digital streaming coverage (www.cbc.ca/olympics), and it will be here as well, gremlins permitting.

(Photo from Ness at MLS Seattle : you can read his game recap here ) The Canadian national soccer team turned in a great performance against Brazil Saturday night in Seattle. They eventually fell 3-2, but they certainly proved that they deserved to be on the same pitch as one of the world's best sides (Brazil is currently ranked second in the world), something that even the stoutest Canadian fans might have questioned during the lean times. Really, the difference in the final score was only due to an ill-timed back pass from midfielder Julian de Guzman, who certainly shouldn't be treated too harshly: he had a brilliant game all around and scored a lovely second goal for Canada, proving why he's a deserving member of the side. Now, if only his brother was available as well... Still, the overall impression from the game absolutely has to be positive. Canada also could have had another goal if Issey Nakajima-Farran hadn't missed an empty net on a breakaway: he chipped Bra...

On Wednesday, the Round of 16 will begin at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Here's my breakdowns and predictions for each one of tomorrow night's games. Picks for Thursday night's games will follow tomorrow. Wednesday: USA versus Uruguay (7:45 PM ET, BMO Field, Toronto) This will be an interesting one. The U.S. disappointed with a 1-1 draw in their opener against South Korea, which I saw in Montreal. However, they quickly recovered with a 6-1 demolishing of Poland and a massive 2-1 upset of Brazil. Freddy Adu has had a fantastic tournament thus far, and is perhaps showing the first real signs of living up to his tremendous potential. New York Red Bulls' striker Jozy Altidore has finished clinically thus far, while Sal Zizzo and Danny Szetela have produced well from midfield. Uruguay's team have not been as impressive to this point. They did well in the opener against a strong Spanish side, producing a draw, but barely squeaked out a 1-0 win over dismal Jordan and lo...