Have to root for the home team. I’ll be in Eden cheering for the US team with the Vietnamese fellows. Go USA and make us proud!

The US scored a lucky goal and tied up with England. The US team definitely has quite some work to do, especially the defend line. Mad props to goalie Tim Howard who did a phenomenon job of keeping the ball away from the net.

Dana’s first anticipated match. She’s rooting for the ARG. Good luck NGA!

I am watching Duke more than the game so can’t really follow too closely. ARG is dominating for sure with the first goal within 5 minutes into the game.

Asian pride baby!

First Half: KOR was well organized and impressive in technical. KOR scored the first goal within six minutes into the game.

Second Half: Another goal for KOR. The Asian boys had definitely stepped up their game.

Shakira humped the speaker (cue in at 3:30) on “She Wolf,” shook her booty on “Hips Don’t Lie” and torn up the stage with “Waka Waka.” Damn, that chick is HOT.

I was talking to my man Hoang last night and I couldn’t help laughing at these wise words:

Married women want to change their men; married men want their women to stay the same.

Why is divorce so expensive? Because it’s worth it.

Good luck to the underdog!

First Half: URU was actually very impressive against the powerhouse FRA. Even though FRA had the ball more, URU hustled hard to keep the ball away from the goal.

Second Half: No score on both side. FRA clearly dominated the attack, but URU did a great defend job for a 10-men game.

One of the School of Business professors, Lisa Delpy Neirotti, takes a group of students to World Cup to learn about the economic impact of the games on South Africa and study the way sports events can be used for social change. Watch the clip on ABC News.

The first game is finally here: the host team against my amigos. The choice is hard, but I have root for my amigos. So go Mexico. It’s not bad to spend my last vacation day watching the World Cup even though I wish I could extend my vacation for the next month.

First Half: Not a very exciting first half even though Mexico had more possession and control. I am sure Mexico will put at least one in for the second half.

Second Half: The pace was much better. RSA charged more and scored the first goal. MEX was able to put in one goal and leveled the playing field. Not a bad first game.

I am not a social guy, partly because I tend to say the wrong things, especially when making the first impression. In order to keep the conversation going, sometimes I just say silly things without thinking. For example, I had a brief elevator conversation with one of Duke’s friends’ mom at the daycare when I picked him up yesterday. She was a very nice, friendly lady. She introduced herself and told me her name, yet the name escaped me. I asked her to repeat her name before we left the building and I still can’t remember. I am pretty bad with names.

In any rate, she asked me where I was from while we were waiting for the elevator. I replied Vietnam and I ask her the same thing. She said, “I am from here.” Of course she’s from here. She’s Caucasian. She told me that she loves Vietnam, one of her favorite vacation spots. Here comes the trapped question, “Where in Vietnam did you go?” She began to stutter, “Well, Saigon… Ho Chi Minh City… the beach…” I quickly helped her out, “Vung Tau.” She went on, “We did the whole tour.” I was not trying to quiz her. The question just came to mind.

One time I had dinner with someone I met for the first time. We exchanged some basic questions. She pretty knew everything she needed to know about me from reading this site so she was pretty much reconfirming if Duke is my kid and all sorts of things. We did the same thing and she told me that she was Catholic. About twenty minutes later we were talking about some random politics and came the dumb question from me, “What is your position on abortion?” Then I realized didn’t she just tell me she’s Catholic?

After a few email exchanges, I talked to my client over the phone for the first time. We did the basic conversation and all. She told me that her husband has a job oversea so that’s why she is not living in the States. I asked her what company her husband work for. After she told me the name and came the idiotic remark from me, “that company still exists?” Again, I was not trying to be offensive or anything. The words just came out. I hope she understood.

Years ago when I was interviewing for a job, I was so focusing on answering the questions, that by the time it was my turn to ask, I felt like I already knew what I wanted to know. During the interview, one of the questions was, “What do you see yourself in five years?” I had to BS my way through. So when it was my turn to ask, I did the same thing, “Where do you see the direction of the web for your company in five years from now?” The four interviewers looked at each other like what in the world is this guy talking about. At least one of them being honest, “We don’t know.” If I were to give the same answer, I might have had the job.

In “How a Soccer Star Is Made,” Michael Sokolove brings up some interesting points how American soccer is differ from the rest of the world. He argues:

Americans like to put together teams, even at the Pee Wee level, that are meant to win. The best soccer-playing nations build individual players, ones with superior technical skills who later come together on teams the U.S. struggles to beat…

The American approach is the more democratic view of sport. The aspirations of each member of the team are equally valid. Elsewhere, there is more comfort with singling out players for attention and individualized instruction, even at the expense of the group…

Americans place a higher value on competition than on practice, so the balance between games and practice in the U.S. is skewed when compared with the rest of the world…

The U.S. diverges all the way to the last stages of a player’s development. In other places around the world, the late teenage years are a kind of finishing school, a period when elite players grow into their bodies, sharpen their technical ability and gain a more sophisticated understanding of game tactics…

An elite American player of that age is still likely to be playing in college, which the rest of the soccer-playing world finds bizarre…

No other nation has as comprehensive a college-sports system as exists here, and none assume that an elite athlete will seek (or benefit from) higher education…