Category: Following Sports

How to plan for the week of June 29 – July 5, 2015

If you are a sports fan or if you live with a sports fan then your weekly schedule becomes inextricably linked with what sporting events are on at what times during each week. The conflict between missing a sporting event for a poorly committed to social event and missing an appealing social event to watch a game is an important balancing act in any kind of romantic, familial, or business relationship between a sports fan and a non-sports fan. To help facilitate this complicated advanced mathematics, Dear Sports Fan has put together a table showing the most important sporting events of the upcoming week. Print it out, put it on your fridge, and go through it with your scheduling partner.

Download a full-size copy here.

Monday: Wimbledon, the year’s most prestigious, fast moving, and above all extraordinarily British tennis tournament begins today. Because of the time difference, this is mostly a morning affair on the East Coast and a way-too-early-for-sports affair on the West Coast. In the evening, clear your calendar of all South American or otherwise soccer obsessed people because they’ll be watching the first half of the Copa America semifinals between Chile and Peru.

Tuesday: More Wimbledon tennis and the other Copa America men’s soccer semifinal today, but that’s just window dressing to the main event: the U.S. women’s national soccer team playing against Germany in the semifinals of the World Cup. If you’ve already gotten on board the World Cup bandwagon, that’s great, you know how critical this game is going to be. If not, now is the time. Don’t wait to watch the finals! Due to how FIFA set up the bracket, this is likely to be the most important game left in the World Cup. Whoever wins this game, Germany or the United States, is going to be the overwhelming favorite to win the whole thing. Germany, ranked number one in the world by FIFA, is the 60/40 favorite in this game.

Wednesday: The highlight of the day is definitely the other women’s World Cup semifinal. The game between Japan and England is the undercard of the semis — a game between two lesser teams than either Germany or the United States, but it’s not without its appeal. Japan is the most technically beautiful team in the tournament, playing with tight, short passes. Its players seem to know instinctively where each of their teammates is without needing to look. England, on the other hand, has been advancing off its spirit. Of all the teams left, they’re the spunkiest, most lovable bunch.

Thursday: Rest day when it comes to sports this week. Watch some Wimbledon tennis with your coffee (or even better, tea) in the morning, and then spend the rest of the day sports free… unless there’s a baseball game in your area.

Friday: On the face of it, this looks like an ideal date night. It’s almost as devoid of sports as Thursday was. I mean, who really watches a third place game in a soccer tournament? Lots of people! The mildly sad truth about soccer tournaments is that third place games are often more attractive to watch than finals. Without the ultimate prize to play for, teams relax a little and play more wide open, offensive soccer.

Saturday: HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! You should be outside all day today, grilling and drinking some type of appropriate drink with your friends or family. Run some extension cords to your patio and pull a TV out there, because there’s too much you’ll miss otherwise. Enjoy the best our once colonial rulers have to offer in the morning with Wimbledon tennis. Cringe watch (as I always seem to find myself doing) Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest, live from Brooklyn’s Coney Island at 2 p.m. ET and then switch over to NBC at 3 p.m. ET to see what our Revolutionary War allies, the French, are getting up to. The answer? Cycling! It’s the first day of the Tour de France. At 4 p.m. ET, you’ve got a choice between two soccer games. Hopefully, the U.S. women will NOT be playing in the third place game of the World Cup, which will make it easier to choose. The finals of the Copa America should be a doozy, no matter which team are playing.

Sunday: The women’s World Cup comes to a close with its final match at 7 p.m. ET on Fox. If the United States makes it to this match, expect viewing records to be set. It will truly be a giant game. Other Sunday viewing options include the second stage of the Tour de France, some golf tournament, and a NASCAR race from the legendary Daytona Speedway.

Caveat — This forecast is optimized for the general sports fan, not a particular sports fan. As such, your mileage may vary. For instance, you or the sports fan in your life is a fan of a particular team, then a regular season MLB baseball game or MLS soccer game may be more important on a particular day than anything on the forecast above. Use the calendar as a way to facilitate conversation about scheduling, not as the last word on when there are sports to watch.

How to watch the World Cup quarterfinals: England vs. Canada

Every once in a while, something almost random offers up a result so perfect that it’s hard to believe it just happened that way. The quarterfinal match-ups in the 2015 women’s World Cup are that kind of event. The four games between eight teams will be played over two days. Within those four games exists every possible type of plot: regional, historical, and cultural rivalries. In this post, we’ll preview England vs. Canada, Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

What’s the plot?

The last of the four quarterfinal matchups, this one puts the cherry on the amazingly coincidental but seemingly purposeful way the remaining countries got paired up. Politically speaking, this is everything you could want out of a matchup. It’s a game between colony and colonizer, two English speaking countries with a half cordial, half competitive relationship. Canada is the host country, so they’re under the most pressure to win this game and guarantee that their country will get to see them play two more times — ideally for them, once in the semifinals and once in the finals, but even if they lose the semis, they would play in the third place game. England is left to play spoiler. The situation was perfectly flipped in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (Quick note: due to the vagaries of FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, England competes in the Olympics as part of the larger Great Britain team. In the World Cup, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the component parts of Great Britain, all compete separately.) In those Olympics, the pressure was on Great Britain when the two teams met, also in the quarterfinals, and Canada was playing the role of spoiler. Spoil they did. Canada beat Great Britain 2-0 and eliminated them from the tournament.

England will be looking to return the favor to Canada today. They’ll have a good shot at it. Although Canada is undefeated and England has lost a game, England has still looked like the better side. Their one loss was to France in the group stage, which does not look so bad considering France’s heroic performance in their loss to Germany yesterday. Canada, on the other hand, tied New Zealand and the Netherlands and barely edged Switzerland and China. Canada has not scored more than one goal per game during the entire tournament and they’ve got to be feeling nervous today. England is coming off a great come-from-behind victory over Norway and will be riding a wave of good feelings as they approach this game.

Who are the characters?

Christine Sinclair – A legend of women’s soccer, third only to Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm in career goals scored. Like Wambach, she’s hunting for her first World Cup title and (also like Wambach) although she’s not what she once was as a player, she’s still capable of unleashing hell on an opposing defense for short periods of time.

Ashley Lawrence – At just 20 years old, Lawrence seems to be the future of Canadian soccer and if her performance in this World Cup so far is any indication, the future is bright. Lawrence has started each game in a midfield position, where her speed and tenacity have paid off. She scored the goal in Canada’s third Group Stage game that sent them through to the Knockout Round.

John Herdman – Canada’s coach is a 39 year-old from English who will be facing his native country in today’s game. This is a position he’s probably quite comfortable with, having coached the New Zealand women’s national team for five years before accepting his current role with Canada.

Mark Sampson – England’s coach, Mark Sampson, is a man on the move. His rise from head coach of a non-affiliated women’s professional team in England to head coach of the national team can only be described as meteoric. He was not around for the 2012 game between these teams but you can bet he’s acutely aware of it and has been using it to motivate his team to victory today.

Karen Carney – Nicknamed “the Wizard” Carney is key to England’s attack. She also has a back injury. This is not a good combination but so far, so good for Carney and England. She was held out of their first Group stage game and used cautiously ever since. My guess is that the kid gloves come off in this game. If Carney needs to play 90 or even 120 minutes, she’ll find a way.

Fran Kirby – As a former defender, I rarely root for forwards, but Kirby is an exception. Aside from the tear-jerking story of her mother who died of an aneurism while with Kirby at a soccer event when Kirby was 14, Kirby’s simply a joy to watch play. She’s relentlessly fast, pursues the ball like a demon, and is very skilled without ever looking overly fancy.

— Bonus note — one thing I found interesting was that both featured England players have openly talked about their struggles with depression and feeling as though they haven’t wanted to play soccer at times in their careers. This is probably true for more athletes than we’d imagine and it’s refreshing to see it spoken about so matter-of-factly.

Who’s going to win?

England has never made it past this stage of the World Cup. Today will be the day they finally do it. Why? Even in as low-scoring a sport as soccer, you’ve got to score to win (thanks Yogi Berra) and Canada has struggled mightily to score. Three goals in four games just isn’t enough. With six goals against arguably tougher competition, England looks like the better bet to advance. Sorry Canada!

How to watch the World Cup quarterfinals: Japan vs. Australia

Every once in a while, something almost random offers up a result so perfect that it’s hard to believe it just happened that way. The quarterfinal match-ups in the 2015 women’s World Cup are that kind of event. The four games between eight teams will be played over two days. Within those four games exists every possible type of plot: regional, historical, and cultural rivalries. In this post, we’ll preview Japan vs. Australia, Saturday, June 27, 4 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

What’s the plot?

The battle of the Pacific! Two island nations, one big with vast stretches of unoccupied land, one small and packed with people. With these two teams meeting up in the quarterfinals, the Pacific nations are guaranteed one place in the tournament’s final four.

Japan is the distinct overdog in this game. They’re the defending World Champions, having beaten the United States in the World Cup finals four years ago. They were extremely impressive in their last game, knocking off a promising Dutch team with a dazzling show of technical ability. The goal that Mizuho Sakaguchi scored to go up 2-0 in that game was perhaps the best combination of coordinated team play and a deadly finish that this tournament has had so far.

Japan seems to be peaking at the right time, and in the weaker side of the bracket, with only England or Canada looming, if Japan can get through Australia, they’re a safe bet to reach their second straight World Cup finals.

Getting through Australia is no easy task. Australia scored the upset of the tournament (at least in the Knockout Round — Colombia over France in the Group Stage remains more shocking) when they eliminated Brazil with a 1-0 victory. Kyah Simon scored the goal by knocked in a rebound on a play she initiated in midfield with a canny tackle.

Simon, who also scored both goals in a 2011 World Cup game that propelled Australia into the quarterfinals of that tournament, and the whole Australian team seem to have a flair for the dramatic. In a tournament that’s quickly shedding teams, Australia, ranked 10th in the world by FIFA, is the closest thing we have left to an underdog.

Who are the characters?

Kyah Simon – In addition to her dramatic scoring exploits, Simon is a culturally groundbreaking athlete. She became the first woman with indigenous Australian blood to score for Australia’s national team.

Lisa De Vanna – De Vanna is a firecracker of a striker. She’s brash, fiery, and never happier than when she’s running herself and any defenders nearby into the ground. Earlier in her career, she specialized in coming into games as a substitute and making an immediate impact. These days, she’s the captain, starting every match and playing all 90 minutes in every game but one.

Aya Miyami – The current captain of the Japanese team, Aya Miyami, is a wizard in the midfield. She seems to have eyes in the back of her head and is able to pass to open players, seemingly by sonar or telepathy. She’ll take most of the team’s free kicks and other set pieces.

Homare Sawa – Homare Sawa used to be Aya Miyami, although her legend is still so big that it’s probably more accurate to say that Aya Miyami is the new Homare Sawa. Sawa is the same type of player as Miyami which partially explains coach Norio Sasaki’s seemingly strange choice to drop her from the team during the lead up to the World Cup — he wanted to make clear the transition from Sawa to Miyami in the midfield. Sawa was added back to the team right before the tournament and has been successful so far playing beside Miyama or coming in off the bench.

Norio Sasaki – Winning a World Cup as a coach, like Norio Sasaki did in 2011, gives you quite a bit of cachet. Doing it in the aftermath of the triple earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor disaster, makes you a celebrity for life. Sasaki is definitely that. Despite comparing himself to Steven Spielberg and his curious Sawa machinations, Sasaki still seems to have his finger on the pulse of his team.

Who’s going to win?

This game is an interesting battle of speed, strength, and spunk against technical skill and coordination. The longer Australia can keep this game scoreless, the better of a chance they’ll have. If they defend long enough and hard enough, maybe a single strike of brilliance from one of their strikers will be enough. More likely though will be Japan dancing around the Australian defense until they find a soft spot to surgically score through. Japan will probably win.

For women's sports to thrive, look beyond the World Cup

So far, the women’s 2015 World Cup has been a great success. Sure, it’s had its sore spots: the cringe-inducing spectacle of people playing soccer on artificial turf that literally melts their cleats and burns their feet; the lackluster performance of the United States team so far; the mostly empty stadiums for some Round of 16 games; but overall, it’s been a great time for soccer and women’s sports in general. The games have been fast, exciting, and as a whole, quite competitive. There have been viewing parties all over the country, from bars and living rooms to town squares and outside city halls. Even President Obama got into the act, showing support for the U.S. team.

One way that you can tell that women’s sports has hit the jackpot of popular support with this World Cup is by noting how quickly and vociferously opponents of equality in sport get shouted down in the media. Early this week, Sports Illustrated’s Andy Benoit provided an example when he tweeted his belief that women’s sports in general are not worth watching. As you might expect, Benoit was roundly condemned for his tweet. He was mocked by former Saturday Night Live actors Amy Poehler and Seth Myers (who themselves were good-naturedly mocked by Fox Sports 1’s Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole). His contention that women’s sports are not worth watching was debunked by innumerable columnists around the country, my favorite of which was Will Leitch in Sports on Earth who argued that anyone who thinks women’s sports are boring, are in fact, boring themselves:

People like Benoit toss out these justifications for not watching women’s sports out of some sort of faux sports purity, like he’s really just out to watch the pinnacle of athletic achievement every night, like anything less than the “best” and the “fastest” and the “strongest” is somehow a waste of one’s time. But this isn’t why we watch sports at all; we watch because every game we watch, we have a chance to see something we’ve never seen before. Dismissing that out of hand isn’t a way of demanding the highest quality performance every game (as if that’s something that could be done anyway); it’s a way of confirming your preexisting biases. It also devalues the actual athleticism on display, and the amount of work it required of everyone to get there.

Although the reaction against Benoit’s comment suggests that he was voicing a fringe, minority opinion, he was not. His attitude towards women’s sports is quite mainstream. Benoit simply made the mistake of speaking out against women’s sports during the World Cup, one of women’s sports two or three most popular events at a time when it’s never been more popular. If you think anything he said was new, you should watch this bitingly ironic video the Norwegian national team made before the World Cup began:

Negative attitudes like the ones the Norwegian team mocked in their video are all too common in the sports world and are relatively safe to voice during the 45 months out of every 48 when a World Cup or Olympics is not going on. This is bad for elite female athletes, it’s bad for people who love watching sports, it’s bad for girls who aspire to be athletes and their parents. I actually can’t think of anyone it is good for. It’s bad for everyone. Unfortunately, as popular as events like the World Cup and Olympics are, they can’t solve the problem because they only come around once every four years. To solve the gender inequalities in sports, a more consistent, permanent force is needed.

Tanya Wheeless, a former executive of the professional basketball teams, the Phoenix Mercury and Suns, wrote recently about the challenge of sustaining interest in women’s sports beyond the World Cup in Time magazine. She suggests that the critical variable in equalizing the opportunities and rewards provided by sports to women is investment:

What if the likes of Nike, Adidas, Coke, and Gatorade spent as much promoting female athletes as they did men? What if women’s leagues had the same marketing budget as men’s leagues? What if the National Women’s Soccer League got as much airtime in the U.S. as the English Premier League?

Naysayers will say all of that would happen if the interest were there. I say, increase promotion and the interest will follow. It’s the difference between having a market and creating one.

Wheeless could not be more right. The future of women’s sports must be bolstered by strong professional leagues. Professional leagues provide opportunities for athletes to get the training and experience they need to become world class. Without strong professional leagues, athletes are left making gut-wrenching decisions, like that of Noora Raty, perhaps the best women’s hockey goalie in the world, who retired at 24 for financial reasons, or Monica Quinteros, the 26 year-old Ecuadorian soccer player who left her job as a gym teacher to play in this year’s World Cup. You think they might have stuck with their sports if they could have made a living doing so? Yeah, so do I.

We don’t need to leave it to “Nike, Adidas, Coke, and Gatorade.” We can do something about this ourselves. We can contribute to equality and the success of women’s sports by becoming a fan of an existing women’s professional team. That’s exactly what I aim to do with the local professional women’s soccer team, the Boston Breakers. I’ve been to one game so far this year and it was a lot of fun. Held in a Harvard University complex convenient to most of the greater Boston area, Breakers games provide high-quality soccer in a thoroughly enjoyable atmosphere. I’m going again this Sunday when the Breakers take on the Western New York Flash at 5 p.m. Tickets are available and affordable. Join me!

There’s really no excuse to continue watching only male sports. There are successful women’s basketball and soccer leagues: the WNBA and NWSL, and later this year, a brand new professional women’s ice hockey league, the NWHL will begin. The WNBA is carried on television by the ESPN family of channels and you can buy streaming access to all the games for only $15. The NWSL goes a step further and puts all of its games on Youtube for free! If you’re reading this post now, you can watch those games. So join me, over the next year and more, in supporting women’s sports by putting our eyes and our wallets were our mouths are!

How to watch the World Cup quarterfinals: USA vs. China

Every once in a while, something almost random offers up a result so perfect that it’s hard to believe it just happened that way. The quarterfinal match-ups in the 2015 women’s World Cup are that kind of event. The four games between eight teams will be played over two days. Within those four games exists every possible type of plot: regional, historical, and cultural rivalries. In this post, we’ll preview China vs. the United States, Friday, June 26, 7:30 p.m. ET on Fox.

What’s the plot?

Geopolitically, this is big. Although the conflict between China and the United States has not reached Cold War levels, it’s not hard to see it being characterized in future history classes as a similar period, when trade and investment, research and development, and even sport were used as a replacements for war.

From a soccer perspective, the United States and China should not really be on the same level. The United States is ranked second by FIFA and China, 16th. That could be somewhat deceptive though. The Chinese team has been in a slump over the past decade or so and is only beginning to get good again now. Since rankings are invariably based on an accumulation of past results, it’s possible that the Chinese team today is better than its ranking would suggest. If they are, the U.S. team could be in a spot of trouble. They go into this game weakened by the loss of two of their key midfielders, Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday to suspension because of accumulated yellow cards. Those two players represent a lot of the creativity and playmaking ability on the roster. The U.S. must find a way to overcome this.

Regardless of ranking, this game has important and subtly foreboding historical echoes for the United States team. Every player on the team but one (Christie Rampone, who played on the team) remembers watching the U.S. women’s national team beat China in 1999 to win the World Cup. They’ve spent their entire careers dreaming of a similar moment and facing questions about why they haven’t been able to create it. Beating China in this World Cup would be a cleansing experience. Losing to them, an unmitigated disaster.

Who are the characters?

Christen Press and Morgan Brian – As the two players most likely to replace Rapinoe and Holiday in the starting lineup, the spotlight will be firmly on Press and Brian. Press has been in and out of the lineup during this tournament as a striker and a midfielder. Brian has been one of the first midfielders off the bench. It remains to be seen exactly where they’ll fit into the midfield when paired with Carli Lloyd and Tobin Heath. There isn’t a natural defensive midfielder among them, but my guess is that Press and Heath will play on the outside with Lloyd slightly ahead of Brian in the center. If this is the case, it actually makes this an enormous game for Lloyd. She’ll get to play a game in her natural position of attacking central midfielder. If she plays well enough, perhaps she can convince coach Jill Ellis to keep her there for the rest of the tournament.

Abby Wambach – It’s been a rough tournament so far for Wambach. She’s only scored one goal in four games. She missed a penalty kick last game. She’s been embroiled in all sorts of controversies in the media, from blaming the turf for some of her poor play to accusing the ref of having an anti-American agenda, to the ongoing question of whether she’s still good enough, at 35 to be starting for this team. At this point, she’s almost in a no-win situation. The only thing she can do to win will be winning the World Cup… and that’s not totally up to her.

Jill Ellis – If there’s one person who’s been more on the hot-seat than Wambach, it’s coach Jill Ellis. She’s been criticized for changing the U.S. tactics too much and for not changing them enough. She’s been criticized for not having enough power compared to that which the veteran players seem to wield, and then criticized for not doing enough to help the team win. She’s blamed for not bringing any true defensive midfielders and then for muting some of her offensive midfielders’ brilliance by asking them to play defensive roles.

China – The Chinese team is largely anonymous, at least to American audiences. They’re young, without a single player over 26 years old. Their coach, Hao Wei, is a former professional and international player. He’s the fifth head coach of the Chinese team since 2007 and hopes to bring stability to what has been a chaotic national team picture. I caught one of the team’s early games in this tournament and thought they played very strong, organized, defensive-minded soccer.

Who’s going to win?

The United States. Despite creeping doubts to the contrary running up and down my spine all morning, it would be a real shock if the U.S. lost this game. I could see it going into overtime tied, but I just can’t imagine China being able to successfully park the bus the entire game.

How to watch the World Cup quarterfinals: France vs. Germany

Every once in a while, something almost random offers up a result so perfect that it’s hard to believe it just happened that way. The quarterfinal match-ups in the 2015 women’s World Cup are that kind of event. The four games between eight teams will be played over two days. Within those four games exists every possible type of plot: regional, historical, and cultural rivalries. In this post we’ll preview Germany vs. France, Friday, June 26, 4 p.m. ET on Fox.

What’s the plot?

It’s barely necessary to write anything about this game. The history of antagonism between these countries runs so deep that “French-German enmity” has its own Wikipedia page. The literal bad blood between the French and German people was noted by none other than Julius Caesar a book he wrote over 2,000 years ago. We all know about World War I and World War Two but we may not know that earlier these two countries fought on opposite sides of the Thirty Years War and the Seven Years’ War. If there had been a Two Week War, I’m sure they would have been on opposite sides of that too. Thankfully, for everyone involved, the two countries have found a way to peacefully coexist over the past 70 years.

In soccer, as in politics, Germany has always had the upper hand. In men’s soccer, the two countries have met four times in the World Cup and Germany has won the three more meaningful games – the 1982 semis, 1986 semis, and last year’s quarterfinals. France only won in the 1958 third place game. The French women’s team has lost to the Germans every time they’ve met on a significant stage: in the 2005 and 2009 European Championships and the 2011 World Cup. Both teams have played excellently in the World Cup so far with one small hiccup. For the French, that blip was a 2-0 loss against Colombia. Other than that game, they’ve been perfect — winning every game and not allowing their opponents to score even a single goal. The Germans are undefeated but they tied an otherwise uninspired Norway 1-1 during the Group Stage, and allowed Sweden to score a goal in their Round of 16 match.

Who are the characters?

Louisa Necib – France’s main playmaker, Necib is capable of rare moments of tactical brilliance. She’s been unusually silent so far this tournament though, with no goals and no assists.

Eugenie Le Sommer – Sommer is a classic number nine or striker. She even wears number nine on her jersey! She’ll be tirelessly running at Germany’s defense, probing for weaknesses to sneak through. If she can’t find any, she’ll just look to smash through anyway. She’s had a good tournament so far, with three goals, two assists, and an impressive nine fouls.

Laura Georges – Standing tall in the center of the French defense is captain, Laura Georges. She’s going to have her capable hands full defending against the German attack. Even more than her attacking counterparts, French hopes rest on her 5’8″ shoulders.

Celia Sasic – A dual citizen of France and Germany, with Cameroonian heritage and married to a Czech soccer player, Sasic is every bit as international as the World Cup itself. She’s the leader of the German attack and has been on a scoring streak with five goals in four games including two in the Round of 16 game against Sweden.

Anja Mittag – Also with five goals, (although I have to say that these goal totals are juiced a little by Germany’s 10-0 rout of the Ivory Coast, during which Sasic and Mittag both scored three goals), Anja Mittag is the perfect complement for Sasic up front. More of a poacher than a playmaker, a finisher than a passer, Mittag will get a tiny bit less focus from the French defense, which may be more than enough for her to continue her scoring ways.

Silvia Neid – One of the three greatest women’s soccer players in German history, Neid has announced she will be retiring from coaching next year. By that time, she hopes to be a two-time World Cup winning coach, adding this year’s championship to the one she coached Germany to in 2007.

Who’s going to win?

There’s no telling how this game will work out. Will Germany continue its multi-millennial domination? Or will France finally break through? The only thing that’s guaranteed is that this will be one of, if not the best game of the tournament. Germany is the top ranked team in the world and France is close behind them in third place. If you’re a fan of the U.S. team, you should probably be pulling for France here. They would be a formidable opponent in the semifinals but Germany seems like an insurmountable one.

Sports Forecast for Thursday, June 25, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

Sports Forecast for Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

Sports Forecast for Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

How to Watch the World Cup Round of 16: USA vs. Colombia

Tonight, Monday, June 22, 2015, the United States women’s national soccer team will play in their World Cup Round of 16 game against Colombia. The game starts at 8 p.m. ET (regardless of what television stations that want you to watch their pre-game shows tell you) and it will be televised on Fox Sports 1. Whether you’re jumping on the band wagon now or have been there for the ride from the start, here’s some useful background information about the game.

What’s the plot?

The Round of 16 is where things start to get real in the World Cup. No more ties, no more advancing on points, this is single elimination. Win and move on. Lose and go home. The United States was expected to win their group, and they did, with wins over Australia and Nigeria, and a scoreless tie against Sweden. Although fans have to be happy with the result so far, by and large, they have not been impressed with how the U.S. team has played. Colombian fans, on the other hand, are delighted despite the team’s third place finish in Group F. Colombia scored the tournament’s biggest upset so far when they beat France, 2-0, in Moncton.

Colombia might have preferred to see a less highly regarded team than the United States in this round of the tournament, but if so, they are hiding it well behind a campaign of bluster and accusation. In the days leading up to the game, Colombian players have said they were happy to be playing the United States, accused the U.S. team of taking them lightly, made veiled accusations about the U.S. team being a dirty, trash-talking team, and guaranteed a victory. On the U.S. side, the players have remained calm and utterly bland in their press appearances. The two teams do have a heated history though. In the group stage of the 2012 Olympics, the United States beat the Colombian team 3-0 but not without controversy. During the game, a Colombian player, Lady Andrade, punched Abby Wambach in the face. Although the ref didn’t penalize her during the game, she was later given a two game suspension by FIFA. Wambach, black eye and all, scored later that game. Then she scored the next game… and the game after that… and the game after that. The U.S. won the gold medal. 3-0 was also the score of the last World Cup match these teams played, in 2011, also in favor of the United States.

As a small historic bonus, this is also the 21st anniversary of the United States men’s national team upsetting Colombia 2-1 in the 1994 World Cup. Famous at the time as a feel-good story about an under-powered host team playing over their talent level, it became infamous only a few weeks later when Colombian player, Andres Escobar, was murdered in a killing that was at least partially motivated by his own-goal blunder against the United States.

Who are the characters?

Lady Andrade – Set up to be a villain by her punch to Abby Wambach’s eye, Lady Andrade seems determined to be not just a henchwoman but the main boss-level bad gal. She’s Colombia’s striker and best player. She scored the goal that propelled Colombia to their victory over France and was their best field player throughout the game. At 5’8″, Andrade is a thoroughbred striker, high-strung, athletic, and extremely skilled on the ball.

Sandra Sepulveda – Colombia’s goalie started the World Cup on the bench but after teammate Stefany Castano struggled in the first game, Sepulveda was called on and didn’t disappoint. During the team’s upset against France, Sepulveda had six saves, and was extremely strong in net. Colombia will need her to have a repeat performance if they hope to beat the United States.

Carli Lloyd – The hardest working woman on the U.S. team, Lloyd has been conspicuously inconspicuous through the team’s first three games. It may be that like her male counterpart, Michael Bradley, in last year’s men’s World Cup, Lloyd is being asked to take on so many defensive responsibilities that she’s unable to show up offensively. It’s time for her to show up and I think she’ll come through. Watch for a few long-distance blasts from Lloyd this game.

The defense – while team’s attack has left something to be desired, it’s hard to complain about the back line. Made up of wing backs, Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Krieger and center backs, Becky Sauerbrunn and Julie Johnston, the defense has been rock solid. They have a big job in stymying the Colombian attack but I think they’re up to the task.

Alex Morgan – Injured coming into the tournament, Morgan has slowly reclaimed her position as the core non-Wambachian U.S. striker. What she hasn’t done yet is score. I expect she’ll start up front with Wambach and show us something. If she can’t, she might not be able to hold off Sydney Leroux, who has been playing inspired soccer, for the rest of the tournament.

If you’re interesting in meeting the rest of the United States team, here are our profiles of all 23 of them.

Who’s going to win?

The United States should win this game. It’s easy to be swayed by Colombia’s masterful play against France and the United States’ modest play in the Group stage and think this should be a very close call. It shouldn’t be. The folks at Five Thirty Eight have the U.S. a 95% favorite to advance. In the FIFA rankings, the U.S. is second, Colombia 28th. Colombia is clearly capable of having a big game against a good team but if even a hint of the team that tied Mexico and lost to England shows up, they won’t have a chance. It would be very easy to argue that having survived the “Group of Death,” this should be the easiest game yet for the United States.