I've blogged before about how Light-O-Rama is an awesome company. It's good to see that they remain in this coveted status for yet another year. Yes-only I may distribute awesomeness! Yesterday I got an email about their annual summer sale which begins today. They advertise it very well. Everything they sell is heavily discounted. You can also enter the promo code "TryForFree". What is the promo code used for? As the name implies you have a chance at getting your order entirely free! Not to mention that you get an additional 2% off of your order if you don't win. The promo isn't limited to one TryForFree winner it is limited by a dollar amount - over $22,000 worth of free orders. They pick orders at random until the total of those orders equals or goes over $22,000 and those people get their orders free. Everyone who enters the promotion also has a chance to win one of four brand new Dell computers. The only drawback to the promo is that your shipment is delayed up to ten weeks. This isn't really a drawback because you will get to your order in plenty of time before you have to start putting up lights. Let the summer sale begin! LOR rocks!

The US soccer team blew it yet again! The only group stage top finisher to go home in the round of 16. My predictions were pretty good. I got 7/8 right. The Germany vs England game was very strange. England scored a goal but it didn't count (it cross the goal line but no ref had a good angle to see that it went in). So instead of being 2-2 at half time it was 2-1. That could have affected the 2nd half of the game where Germany scored another 2 goals. I'm not saying Germany wouldn't have won but I don't think it is fair. FIFA needs to adopt instant reply or at least some kind of goal line tracking system so that these things don't happen any more.

As for how the rest of the games played out I don't think there was any surprises. The teams that should have got blown out did. Once again I have to emphasize that Ronaldo is a piece of shit. Even the commentators were backing up what I said earlier. He gets the ball and gets "fouled" and then complains about it forever while his teammates are still working to get the ball back. So here is the recap: Ronaldo is a ball hog, cry baby, not a team player, has a bad attitude, and overall he sucks. I don't know what all the fuss is about. 

Here is how I think the rest of the tournament will play out:

Germany came out looking great but fizzled out. Argentina is still playing strong so I think they will take it all the way.

Before the World Cup started I predicted on how the group stage would turn out. Let's see how I did!

Group A

Prediction 1. France 2. Mexico 3. South Africa 4. Uruguay

Actual 1. Uruguay 2. Mexico 3. South Africa 4. France

I completely under estimated Uruguay. France should have been first but their team collapsed - wow!

Group B

Prediction 1. Argentina 2. South Korea 3. Nigeria 4. Greece

Actual 1. Argentina 2. South Korea 3. Greece 4. Nigeria

Did pretty good on this group. All the really matters are the top 2 because those are the teams that move on to the next round.

Group C

Prediction 1. USA 2. England 3. Slovenia 4. Algeria

Actual 1. USA 2. England 3. Slovenia 4. Algeria

I was spot-on with this group. USA pulled it out in the end to win the group. Awesome goal in stoppage time!

Group D

Prediction 1. Germany 2. Serbia 3. Australia 4. Ghana

Actual 1. Germany 2. Ghana 3. Australia 4. Serbia

I really thought Serbia would make it but they suck. Ghana was a shocker but it doesn't matter because they play USA next and will get knocked out.

Group E

Prediction 1. Netherlands 2. Denmark 3. Japan 4. Cameroon

Actual 1. Netherlands 2. Japan 3. Denmark 4. Cameroon

Japan was a big surprise for me in this group. I always thought the Japanese team was soft. They'll probably get knocked out after the round of 16 though. The Dutch team looked good - no doubts there!

Group F

Prediction 1. Italy 2. Paraguay 3. New Zealand 4. Slovakia

Actual 1. Paraguay 2. Slovakia 3. New Zealand 4. Italy

Italy was such a disappointment and they fucked up my prediction. I hate you Italy! I will love you next year when I come to visit and teach you how to play soccer USA style.

Group G

Prediction 1. Brazil 2. Portugal 3. Ivory Coast 4. North Korea

Actual 1. Brazil 2. Portugal 3. Ivory Coast 4. North Korea

The second group I got completely right. This was an easy one though.

Group H

Prediction 1. Spain 2. Switzerland 3. Chile 4. Honduras

Actual 1. Spain 2. Chile 3. Switzerland 4. Honduras

So I mixed up #2 and #3. Whatever... I still think Chile is crap and Switzerland should be going to the next round. The Swiss should go soley based on their momumental defense against Spain in the first game.

My next post will be a modification to the knockout round stages and how I think that will unfold. Good luck to team USA tomorrow. They are going to destroy Ghana!

Every team has had a chance to play now. Most people are complaining about the lack of goals being scored but I don't have a problem with it. Some teams lack offensive power but have a strong defense and that's just the way it goes. A strong defense is actually more important even though it makes for a boring game. The teams I am most impressed with are Germany and Argentina. They both have a good defense and a very strong offense. South Korea looked good but I am reluctant to think they will go far. Switzerland had the most impressive defense. Spain also looked good even though they didn't get the W. NO African team looked good at all.

And my last thought of the first wave of games is... I need to buy a vuvuzela!

Snooze-fest. South Africa is boring to watch. Uruguay was of course going to win this match but it only should have been 1-0 instead of 3-0. The first Uruguay goal was pure luck and the South African goalie got caught watching the ball. The second goal was a penalty kick that should have never have been called. The goalie got a red card for the tackle but he didn't even touch the other player... total BS. The third goal was well deserved and so that is why I say it should only have been 1-0.

What an amazing game! Huge upset! Spain's passing is like none other. They had 75% possession of the ball but could not score a goal. They hammered the Swiss time and time again but the Swiss kept on hanging on/getting lucky. The Swiss goalie is a monster! He had some great saves. On the other end of the field the Swiss forwards took what few counter-attacks they had and made the most of them. They took one for a goal and almost had a second one go in but the ball went off the post. I know Spain should have won but I have to give it up for the Swiss. Holding off all of that pressure really says something for a teams defense.

It looked like Chile was playing ping-pong around the Honduras players. They had a very effective attack which I was relieved to see after watching so many defensive minded teams. Chile was so convincing that I may have to reevaluate where I placed them in the group rankings.

Basically Brazil looked like they didn't really feel like they should be playing an opponent who sucks as bad as North Korea. I think they should adjust their attitude because they didn't exactly put on a clinic on how to dominate, or even win for that matter. Their first goal was complete BS and the N. Korean keeper should have got it. Their second goal was actually nice but that was cancelled out by letting the worst team in the tournament score on them. This isn't the group of death, this is the group of utter suckage.

Finally a team that takes advantage of their size and speed! The Ivory Coast did a great job of fending off Portugal who is the more skilled team. As for Portugal, they could have won it if they weren't playing with 10 men. I say 10 MEN because Cristiano Ronaldo is a baby. Any time someone would get close to him he could fall down and then complain to the ref about it instead of trying to win the ball back. To me he is way overrated and actually hurt his team. He was defended well too. Portugal didn't look as if they had enough attacking power as I am seeing with many of these supposedly "great" teams.