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Friday Round-Up: World Cup Edition

By June 13, 2014June 17th, 201463 Comments

Any soccer fans out there?

Any (American) people who secretly wish they could call it football instead of soccer without sounding like a weenie?

Any weeneies out there who have more than one pair of Sambas in their closet, even though they haven’t played a game of soccer in 25 years?

Any parents who spend more time than they care to admit showing their daughter youtube clips of the “25 Trickiest Goals in History” (which, unfortunately, also means spending more time than they care to admit listening to the terrible Euro dance music that always seems to accompany these highlights) when you are supposed to be helping her study for a vocab test?

Any (other) grown person out there who has watched this video more than 50 times, and still can’t believe it’s real?

Any dads who have a crush on Neymar?

Any moms who don’t have a crush on Ronaldo?

Any mom, dad, son, or daughter who intends to spend an ungodly portion of the few weeks sitting on the couch and watching the World Cup?

If you answered yes to any of the above, we have a book giveaway that might interest you – or, even better, your kids. We have three signed copies of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s memoir, I Am Zlatan, to get you in the mood. We’re not usually athlete-bio types here at DALS, but this one is worthy (“The most compelling autobiography ever to appear under a footballer’s name,” said a reviewer at The Guardian, and reviewers at The Guardian ought to know, right?). We also happen to be big fans in this house (that’s Phoebe — and #1 Zlatan fan — above, in his jersey). The bad news is, Zlatan’s national team, Sweden, didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year. The good news is, this afforded Zlatan to impart yet another of his crucial lessons in humility: “The World Cup without Zlatan is nothing,” he said. But don’t despair. With this book, you can have both! Just comment below and we’ll pick three winners at random.*

And now, a little World Cup-themed round-up, to get you in the mood…

I can’t believe we wrote this healthy snack post for the last World Cup, four years ago. But the idea holds: If you’re gonna watch, eat wisely and well.

I can’t believe how seriously our 10-year-old is taking her FIFA sticker album.

If you’re going to park yourself on the coach for the next month, you’ll want a few dishes on the rotation: chicken wings, nachos, and Stromboli! (It’s literally impossible for me to write “stromboli!” without an exclamation point.)

A Call to Arms for Title IX moms: Get out there and coach!

For a very different take on the best player in the world, check out Jeff Himmelman’s “The Burden of Being Lionel Messi.”

And while we’re on the subject of Argentina, this piece by the ever-excellent Wright Thompson in ESPN, about the 1978 World Cup.

Argentina, Part 3: We will never stop linking to this clip.

Kids’ sports should be kid-sized. In more ways than one. This one made us think.

A classic fry-up for the morning after that England-Italy match.

I dare you to watch these videos showing reactions to Neymar’s goal yesterday and not a) get the chills b) proclaim your undying love of all sports everywhere.

Looking for a good coach? Three simple things great teachers do.

Handicapping every World Cup match by the most important metric: uniform aesthetics.

The World Cup of Sausage.

What better excuse than the largest sporting event in the world to make our favorite cake of all time?

May you get bed sores and back aches this weekend from watching so much soccer. Go USA (and Portugal, and England, and Argentina, and Brazil, and every other team our kids are randomly deciding to root for once the game starts)! See you next week.

— Andy & Jenny

(Sausage photo by Danny Kim for Bon Appetit.)

*Update: The winners have all been notified — congrats to Mollie, Greg, and Renee. Thanks to everyone who participated and GO USA!

63 Comments

  • Avatar Jen says:

    Futball!! Sounds like a fun book for my budding soccer stars.

  • Avatar Leah Harding says:

    ‘I believe that we will win!’ Our kids (ages 5,3) are totally into the Panini book. We’d love to add to the World Cup excitement in our house by winning this signed book!

  • Avatar Brittany C says:

    Thanks for the roundup! My husband and I have been glued to the TV and definitely guilty of calling it “football” instead of soccer 🙂 We would love to win!

  • Avatar Renee says:

    We are currently camped out on the couch in front of the Spain-Netherlands match, with a lot riding on it, since one child loves van Persie and the other cheers for Spain. BTW, my 12 year old just rode his bike to the soccer shop to swap out cards for the Panini FIFA sticker book. Panini= #marketinggeniu$

  • Avatar Laura says:

    We love Zlatan!!!

    My kids are nuts about the Panini soccer album too- classic!

    Lots of fun coming up in the next few weeks. Enjoy it and may the best team win!

  • Bianca says:

    Italia!!

  • Avatar Michelle says:

    Zlatan! Phoebe knows the real deal 🙂

  • Avatar Am says:

    I guess you can brag like that when you’re as good as he is? Haha.

    And I claim the right to call it football since I lived in England for a bit (or at least that’s my excuse!).

  • Avatar Karen says:

    We are World Cup crazy! Would love a copy of the book!

  • Avatar Rita says:

    My son would love this book! My husband’s grandmother was a first generation American of Swedish parents. We still have extended family in Sweden, so Sweden has a special place in our heart! Thanks so much!

  • Avatar M payne says:

    I love that you and your family are so into the World Cup!! Thanks for all the links, I love the one with all the videos of Brazil getting their first goal of the tournament! We’re England supporters at our house 🙂

  • Avatar Jen says:

    He’s hilarious– would love a copy!

  • Avatar jenny h says:

    my honey is nuts for the world cup and would love this book!

  • Avatar Ross says:

    Love the blog, love it even more that you love Zlatan. I’m sure he loves you too.

  • Avatar Kim says:

    LOL “any weeneies out there who have more than one pair of Sambas in their closet, even though they haven’t played a game of soccer in 25 years?” this whole post is AWESOME.

  • Avatar Sami K. says:

    we’re big team USA fans in my house! also big MLS fans -Go NY Red Bulls! YAY soccer! #daretozlatan

  • Avatar ellen says:

    I love girls who play hard. We watch hockey shooting videos in lieu of studying for spelling. Thank goodness she’s a good speller. Zlatan’s name could be a challenge!

  • Avatar SAC says:

    Love my sambas!

  • Greg Samuelson says:

    I love Ibra and would love his book. Check out how crazy my family and I are about football by following the link to the website above. It is a World Cup game that I created back in ’98 and has 35 people playing this year. Also, Ibra changed his mind and is going to the World Cup because of a Brazilian twitter campaign #VEMIBRA – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH5INa7pun0

  • Avatar Colleen says:

    Love this post. Thanks for all the great links. My 3 are also randomly & enthusiastically rooting for teams once the game, er, match, begins. So fun to watch! I’m off to get that sticker book for 8 year old samba wearing soccer player! And then make a lazy Saturday morning fry up. Yum.

  • Avatar Rachel A says:

    We are watching and this is an awesome post! Of course USMNT is our team, but we each pick another nation to root for. We also support our BPL team’s players, too. I’m a Chelsea fan and there are lots of our Boys in Blue playing in this World Cup. Our dream is to travel as a family to a World Cup and take it all in.

  • Avatar Jennifer R says:

    This would be so fun to win. I love watching my girls play soccer and try to up the enthusiasm for this event in my home whenever I can!

  • Avatar Anne A says:

    Back in the day, before we got cable, we watched La Copa Mundial in spanish as we could get the station via antenna. We got the boys up at the crack of dawn to watch early morning dramas…those were the days! Enjoy with your girls, they grow up and away too soon.

  • Avatar Mollie E says:

    Love the article about women/moms coaching. I have two boys and between me and my husband, I was the one most into sports growing up. Even though it can be uncomfortable and there is some pretty blatant sexism out there, I’ve made an effort to coach my son’s baseball team (he’s still in the tball/coachpitch age range). I want them to see that I am/women are capable of knowing sports, organizing a team, and cheering hard!!

  • Avatar Zee says:

    I am so obsessed with world cup. I’ve been watching it at work and watching all weekend! I’m so nervous for the US games. 3rd time is a charm and we will beat Ghana!

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