World Cup: Round 2

After some major surprises (such as France and Italy going home), here we are, second round of the 2010 World Cup.



I do not think South Korea has a good enough team to beat Uruguay, which has shown great soccer so far. Uruguay will make it to the quarter final game.



This game is interesting. Everybody makes it seem like the US are always the underdog which is not true. Looking at the past couple of years the US team has shown a lot of improvement. I think they will win against Ghana only if they start being decisive in the box, although i would like to see an African team make it far.



Unless Slovakian players play the game of their lives this result should be pretty obvious, and Netherlands will make it to the quarter final.



If Brazil plays how they can, they will have no problems making the quarter final game, and I think they will.



I am pretty confident when I say that this will be Mexico's last game in this World Cup. Maradona's team is way more superior. Hopefully Messi will score his first goal in this competition.



Probably the most interesting second round match. England has been struggling a lot with their offense, and Germany hasn't been to convincing in the last two games either. I think for what seen so far the game could go to penalty kicks very easily. I think Germany will have a hard time scoring, and if England will be able to put his offense together they may be the ones getting the spot for the quarter final. It's a tough one, but I think England will make it through.



This one may be a tough one too. If we looked at the FIFA ranking we would probably say that Paraguay will win. But Japan has shown good soccer so far in this competition, beating Cameroon and Denmark. I think Japan will surprise everybody by winning this match.



Another interesting match between two European soccer superpowers. Portugal has shown off only against North Korea, making the other two matches really boring, so it is kind of hard to see where they are at. Spain could have been more convincing I think. After losing to Switzerland they easily beat Honduras and Chile (who scored a goal by playing 10 vs 11). This one is very hard, but I am going to guess that Spain will win.

Goodbye Italia

What really happened to Italy this year?
Italy was the defending champion and had a lot of pressure because of that, which does not justify the way the players played. In my opinion Lippi made some wrong choices; players like Camoranesi, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Gilardino, Iaquinta, Gattuso should have never come to South Africa. On top of that Lippi could not prepare the team well both mentally and physically. Against Slovakia it was rare to see some good passing, let alone shooting anywhere close to the net.
We can blame it on Lippi as much as we want, but let's not forget that four years ago, he did everything right and Italy was on top of the World.
Now the World Cup is over, and Lippi is gone...Let's pick up the broken pieces and let's start a new chapter.
Welcome Cesare Prandelli, good luck!

World Cup: thoughts after 2 games

So here are my personal thoughts on this World Cup after the second game.

Group A:
France is being ridiculed around the world for what is happening to the team: players getting in fights with trainers, players not training, people resigning. Pretty embarrassing France! I do not think they deserve to go through this stage for what they have shown so far.
Uruguay and Mexico have shown some good soccer (especially Uruguay) and I think they will deserve a chance to show the World what they can do when things get serious.
For South Africa this World Cup will be just a great memory.

Group B:
Argentina is slowly starting to show what they are capable of and in their last game will have to face Greece, who is fighting to get that spot for the second round.
Nigeria and South Korea will face each other and the loser is out. It is hard to predict who will pass with Argentina, since 3 teams could have 3 points, but given the goal situation and what they have shown thus far, my prediction is South Korea.

Group C:
Interesting situation here. England needs to beat Slovenia and still is not for sure they will get first place. Capello needs to show that he deserves to be the head coach and he needs to prove himself just like he has throughout his career as a club coach. The US, after being robbed against Slovenia are probably ready to prove themselves against Algeria, whose hopes are not too high if you ask me.
My prediction is that the US will pull it out and beat Algeria and at the same time England will finally win their first game at this World Cup.

Group D:
Here happened probably one of the biggest surprises, when Serbia beat Germany. It is a very interesting situation because Ghana holds the first place but will have to face Germany who will need to win if they wanna make it through. Australia's hopes are very very little. I do think that Serbia will win and kick Ghana out of the competition.

Group E:
Even though the Dutch have to improve, they are playing Cameroon which is already out. Denmark and Japan will face each other in a game that will decide who makes it to the next round. I personally think Denmark will win!

Group F:
Big surprise when New Zealand forced Italy to a draw, forcing the Italians to win the last match against Slovakia. Paraguay will probably pull it out against New Zealand, sending them home. My opinion, Italy and Paraguay to the next round.

Group G:
Portugal showed off with an impressive win over North Korea, who says goodbye to this competition. The only way Ivory Coast can still hope, is to beat the Asians and hope for Brasil to pull out a victory against Portugal. Brasil has shown improvement against Ivory Coast but suffered an injustice when Kaka was sent off.
Brasil is through, and according to my humble opinion will be followed by Portugal.

Group H:
After a minor speed bump Spain beats Honduras, ending their tournament here. Spain will most likely beat Chile and qualify as first in the group and for second place it will be a battle, especially if the Swiss will pull it out against Honduras.
Spain and Switzerland for me.

Just shut up! :)

This morning I was running late for school and I had to shave...I know what you are thinking: "Davide, shave what?". Don't make fun of me because I can count my facial hair :). Anyway, so in order to do it faster I put some techno music on my ipod and shaved. I don't know about you, but when I listen to techno it just makes me feel like I am Superman! Very bad thing for me to do is to listen to techno while driving! :-S
And then I'm driving to school ready to ace my math test (which one hour later I find out being a total fail) listening to Anberlin's song "A Whisper and a Clamor". Great song that has been stuck in my mind for the past couple of days.
While doing that I was wondering how we are always surrounded by noise in our lives.
If we are among people we are surrounded by noise, if we are by ourselves we create our own noise! Do we hate silence??

While thinking about that a verse came to my mind, which is Psalm 46:10 ("Be still and know that I am God").
I think that often we forget that God speaks in the silence, also because if we are surrounded by noise it is harder to hear someone talk to us.
Silence for me is a distraction, because it allows my mind to wander far, very far...I really want to learn to be quiet myself in front of the Lord and hear Him talk, trying to keep my mind focused.

I also think this verse says something else. So many times we cry out to God, asking Him to do things for us, to give us what we need, to heal a family member or friend, and when we do not see an answer right away, we just keep whining and asking God to speed up. In this verse God is pretty much saying this (according to the N.D.T. = New Davide's Translation): "Dood, I am God...so how about you be quiet and see what I can do??". So many times we miss it because we are not patient enough and because we are too busy complaining.
So next time, how about we shut our mouth and let God work? I bet we will be amazed by the things he will do!

Magic trick!

i was pretty bored today so I decided to teach you guys a magic trick!
I LOVE magic tricks! I love seeing people's expressions when their chosen card disappears or magically reappears and all that kinda stuff!
so if you wanna learn a quick trick just watch the video :)

Peace

give your everything

last tuesday at ember we were talking of how God has an amazing plan in store for us that (usually) is way better than the ones we make for ourselves....the "cool" part is that a few minutes before i had received an email telling me something not too nice...the rest of the night i was bummed!
i really started losing hope in the fact that God's plan was better than mine...but reality is I do not have it all figured out...in the next 2 days i was constantly reminded of verses that applied to my situation and they were all about having peace, hope and trusting God!
it is not easy for me though, cause I am not in control anymore...I just learned something about me and that is: there are a few things i like to be in control of. and the main one I am so NOT in control anymore....that scares the CRAP out of me...but maybe God is trying to teach me something...maybe, like my good friend Meagan said, He wants my everything...and with everything I mean EVERYTHING...what is gonna be my response? what would be your response if God asked you your everything! how long would we fight it? or avoid it? would we be able to respond like the disciples did? would we leave everything and follow Him no matter where?

my journey from London to Milan

So, I thought I would have a blog like cool people do!
I decided to call it "what happens next?" because I feel like that is how my life has been for the past couple of years, and trust me I love it!

I have to explain what happened since sunday night...sunday night I left Phoenix Arizona (where my heart is) with destination Milan Italy (where my mom, dad, sister and friends are). I took off at 920pm on sunday night, perfectly in time, with one 50 pound luggage, my guitar and my backpack. Everything is fine until I land in London...I land at 230pm on monday afternoon and I am supposed to take off again at 550. I am in line to get through security in London, and it is a long line, but nothing like what is expecting me soon! I get through security, not without a bag check (of course!) and I am relazing just waiting for my gate to open. At 530 we are notified that our flight has been delayed, only 10 minutes...no big deal I think. At 7 I am still waiting to know what is going on. I realize that the majority of the flights to Europe are cancelled because of snow...some people are skeptical, and I remember someone telling me in Arizona about a possible British Airways strike...what is really going on then? of course nobody know...chaos at the airport nobody is leaving tonight, with the exception of asians and Johannesburg...We are told to collect our bags at gate A17, which leads us to the baggage claim. CHAOS! so many people looking for their bags and my flight is not even on the board...so I do not know from which of the 12 "things" (I am referring to those black tapes that carry out your luggage) my luggage and my guitar are coming out from. I am randomy waiting at number 6 and there it is, my luggage!! Now I just have to wait a couple of minutes for my guitar...a couple of minutes become one hour...so now I am in line to report a lost bag...after many phone calls it comes out my guitar is in Terminal 5 (the right one) but not located anywhere...so technically it could be anywhere in that huge building...yay, BA lost my guitar! Now it is time to go back upstairs to the Departures Zone and get in line (again) for a Hotel Voucher, which I receive around 1030pm...We all get on the subway, because we are all going to the same hotel and it takes more than one hour on the subway...we get tho the hotel around midnight...they tell us that breakfast is included and we can use the phones to call BA to rebook our flights...I go to bed at 1am after numerous tries and as many fails to talk to someone from BA...I decide that the next morning I leave early and go to the airport trying to get on the earliest flight. oh I forgot to mention that people are crazy...while I was in line for my hotel voucher this american dude started shouting out loud that this is not how business works, it is business 101 and that BA does not understand it...the police show up...this eastern european guy kicks a chair because he is pissed, and he gets arrested...this old guy claps his hands at the BA manager and gets yelled at...people are crazy...
next morning I get up super early, eat the breakfats I though was free (I ended up paying 16 english pounds for it) and after 45 minutes on the piccadilly drive I get to the airport...I have toget in line in order to get rebooked...it is so chaotic...I STAYED IN LINE 4 HOURS (capitalized because I am yelling)...4 HOURS!!!! I got shin splints because of staying in line that long, no joking! they put me on the flight leaving at 730am on wednesday morning...that is ok, no worries, now I just have to get in line to get the hotel voucher. oh, did I mention that BA lost my guitar?
meanwhile I texted some friends in London asking them if they wanted to get together since I was staying there one more night...after 2 and a half hours in line for the hotel voucher someone says that Milan's airport is now open so me and some other people rush in order to get a seat on a flight...I do get my flight at 550 that same night!!! wohooo!!
I am about to check-in and I am told that the flight is on hold...great...but finally we get checked-in and through security....the flight is now delayed...we board at 630 but we leave at 8!!! but we take off and I could not care less. we are almost in Milan (to be precise we are in between Turin and Milan) and the plane starts doing these 360s....what the heck? the captain says the airport in Milan just closed.....are you freaking kidding me?? I am so tired that I can't laugh or cry or do anything else...my head is leaning against the front seat....we finally land at 1120pm....but since nobody thought that someone would land that night, no airport employees were wating for us...so we are stuck in the plane! we finally get out and we wait for our luggage...5 other flights landed shortly and ALL of our bags were mixed up, so we did not know which carrier had our luggage...people are going nuts and if you know italians they are loud...i get my luggage (only one cause BA had lost my guitar) and get home at 1am on wednesday morning...I should have gotten here 28 hours ago...
All I had on tuesday was a tiny breakfast, an espresso shot and a champagne glass offered me by this italian guy.
I met so many people in those 36 hours: 2 hilarious families from NC, this swiss lady who lives in vancouver, this italian guy who works in chicago, this italian girl who studied in Japan for 6 months, this american professor from NYC, whose gf lives in italy but he works in India...(how does that work for them?), these italians who work in Belfast but are from Naples, italians that study in London and many more...
I forgot to tell about the old dude on my second flight that said that for the past 4 hours we had had such a hard time breathing...I thought for sure he was gonna have a heart attack!
oh...and did I mention BA lost my guitar?