Starting Eleven Football Blog Roundup

Honestly, I thought the Starting Eleven Football Blog Roundup was getting a little tired and I put it on the shelf for a while. Bringing it back today World Cup-style though.

I'm going to hit on a lot of things today and probably follow it up with a mailbag later today, not sure.

Interestingly, Americans' best metric for success and popularity of an event rests on TV ratings. Somehow, if more eyeballs are on something, it must mean it's a good thing. Odd. I doubt that happens anywhere else, and I'm sure that would be for a lot of reasons. But in the U.S., we're such a bandwagon country, especially when it comes to sports, that the World Cup's success/failure will be measured in Neilsen points.

Awful. I'm not against anyone or everyone watching the World Cup, but let's not confuse your girlfriend watching a game in order to be able to participate in watercooler discussions the next day at work with legitimate interested viewers. Those, I fear, are few and far between.

And that's OK I say. I don't need soccer to be huge here in the United States, because frankly, judging on past experiences, Americans will ruin soccer if they get their hands on it. You allow widespread American interest and influence in soccer, and you'll have a shot clock, shootouts, a and a two-point line quicker than you can say North American Soccer League.

Ugh.

Let's get on with our latest trip around the football blogosphere:

• Goal.com thinks Italy needs to follow Germany's example of hard work and determination in order to best defend its World Cup championship. Methinks Goal.com is under-valuing the talent Germany has. Just sayin...
• Oh boy, the Wall Street Journal has a What You Need to Know post on the World Cup. Thank God, finally I can go on now.
• A Vuvuzela iPhone app? Really? Well, the economics makes sense: 99 cents for an app, $3 for the horn.
• Back to Goal.com, they're saying Landon Donovan's legacy will be penned at the World Cup.
• TimesUnion.com reports the U.S.-England did a 6.1 rating on Sunday. U.S.-Brazil, 1994 did a 9.3. Baby steps.
  
• Sports Media Watch has different, higher numbers. OK, I'll stop now.
• God bless Katy Perry, above. Her allegiences are clearly divided.
• USA World Cup Blog has some post-game U.S.-England thoughts and right off the bat fell into the trap of "the tie feels like a win". Does it?
• Stunningly insightful analysis from BusinessInsider on the U.S. "win". Ugh. What a putrid lack of analysis from the U.S. media on this game. That's it, I'm going to start requiring registration to get on my blog and start charging for quality premium content. You watch.
• SoccerByIves has a plethora of great stuff, as usual. Catch up on Netherlands-Denmark, a recap on Germany-Australia and even some transfer news.
• EPL Talk likes Roberto Martinez on ESPN.
• Check that on my previous comment about a lack of U.S.-England analysis: EPL Talk has it covered, check it out.
• The New York Times' Goal blog lets Algeria keeper Chaochi off the hook for his soft goal against Slovenia. Green's goal was sloppy. Chaochi's was downright fishy. I'd love comments on this one.
• And finally, if you're at work, Oh You Beauty has already posted his Holland 2, Denmark 0 analysis. Good stuff, check it out.

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