Chichipanguanorrea 3.0

There is a time in every blogger’s life when you simply don’t have much interesting material to post about, so you decide to create a post about the last few things that have been going on. Unfortunately this is not the first time I do this, so feel free to drop some hate comments and show me your love and appreciation.

Last week I was recognized in my company with the ‘Engineering Excellence’ award which is given to about 8-15 engineers every year. I was pretty happy with the award because it motivates me to keep working hard and doing a good job at work. (Note to self: update resumé)

Last weekend it was Claudia Lorente’s 30th birthday which she celebrated at her place with a fabulous cricket game. A lot of friends were there and I had a great time. The day after was Gabriel’s bday and we celebrated it in my house. I hadn’t had a party in my house in a while and I figured I could have one. The party was really fun, lots of friends, alcohol and dancing until 5am. The next morning I had to play soccer with the NI Eagles and we beated team Black Star 2-0. There are only two games left this season and it looks like we have a chance to finish 4th or 5th place if we win the last two games. Right now we are in 7th place.

I already did my taxes which I still need to send, including a big fat check that I wish I didn’t have to pay. I was surprised how quickly I did my taxes. Either after 6 years doing taxes you get better at it, or TurboTax has became much better, or I just don’t care much about them anymore that I don’t triple check everything. I think it is the combination of those three.

I’m jealous of two friends (Eva Noyola and Natalia Uribe) who are going to Portishead concerts in London and Munich. So far I haven’t seen anything about them coming to the US.

Life is good…

Designed by JD

Chichipanguanorrea 3.0 staff wishes you love and joy during these holidays and an amazing new year 2008. This time we are very sorry we could not hire neither Ugly Santa nor Ugly Elf, but we put together this beautiful christmas tree to keep the holiday spirit alive and we hope you enjoy it (specially if you are a ‘millionaire‘, a ‘devil‘ or a ‘powerful‘).

1954, 1973, 1976, 1981, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2005 y 2007!

Nueve estrellas, nueve glorias!

SOY DEL VERDE, SOY FELIZ!

Joseph S. Blatter strikes again. AP Photo/Diether Endlicher

“Está meando fuera del tiesto”, is an expression in Spanish that means that someone is doing something stupid (like peeing outside the toilet!), and that is exactly what the world’s most important soccer organization is doing by issuing a new regulation that states that no international soccer match can be played over 2500 meters above sea level. This is huge because three country capitals of the adean region in southamerica have an altitude over 2500: La Paz (Bolivia), Quito (Ecuador) and Bogota (Colombia) so the rule means that these three cities will never host an international soccer match. The whole thing started because a brasilean team (Flamengo) had to play against a Bolivian team at an altitude of almost 4000 meters. I agree that 4000 is too high, and FIFA could do something about that. Maybe the maximum altitude should be 3500 meters. But 2500 seems ridiculous.

In 2003 a soccer player from Cameroon died in the soccer field because of the high temperature. That game was hosted in France! Shouldn’t FIFA also ban international soccer matches at extreme temperatures?

The FIFA argues that they performed a medical analysis to support their decision. If that medical report is true, then I suppose that no other sport should ever be played at that altitude, which means that no one should be allowed to parachute ever, or climb the Everest, or practice skiing at the Alps, or…

FIFA is retarded!

I started posting a few comments from Spain during my trip, but then it became more difficult to find internet access. Now I’m back in Austin after a very loooong flight back home and I’m very pleased to say that my trip was fantastic. I think Spain is a beautiful country with very nice people, food, weather and things to do. I would love to come back again and see other places that I missed this time (San Sebastian, Bilbao, Sevilla, Córdoba, …).

Here is a summary of my trip:

November 16
Austin - Newark - Madrid - Barcelona

November 17 - Photos
Arrival to Barcelona
Caro’s Ajiaco for lunch!
Nap
Go to gallery / bar with Caro, Nati and Marco
Ultramarino Bar with Alejandra

November 18
Sagrada Familia
Paseo del Modernismo
Paseo de Gracia
Downtown Barcelona
Barrio Gótico
El Raval
Cathedral
Champañeria (1 bottle of champagne with cheese and ham for 7€!)
Latin Party

November 19 - Photos
Flight to Madrid
Mad Hostel
Meet with Idoia

November 20 - Photos
Bus to Toledo with Idoia
Back to Madrid
Chocolate with churros

November 21
Jardin Botánico
Museo del Prado (La Maja Desnuda - Goya & Las Meninas - Velásquez)
Su Majestad la Reina Doña Sofía
Puerta de Alcalá
Plaza de las Cibeles
Palacio Real
Catedral (Almudena)
Noche de Flamenco en Casa Patas con Idoia, Monica y Vanesa

November 22
Museo Reina Sofía
Parque el Retiro
Plaza de las Ventas
Lunch at Casa Alberto
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid) - Photos

November 23 - Photos
Flight to Granada
Meet with Caro
Cathedral of Granada (graves of both Queen Isabel and King Fernando)
Walk around Granada

November 24
Walk around Granada

November 25
The Alhambra - Photos
Barcelona F.C 4 - 0 Villarreal - Photos

Lineup
FC Barcelona: Valdés; Zambrotta, Puyol, Thuram, Gio; Edmilson (Oleguer, m. 77), Deco, Iniesta, Giuly (Xavi, m. 67); Ronaldinho y Gudjohnsen (Ezquerro, m. 72).

Villarreal CF: Barbosa; Javi Venta, Fuentes, Cygan, Arruabarrena; Marcos Senna (Somoza, m. 88), Josico (Tacchinardi, m.45), Cani, Marcos García; José Mari (Guille Franco, m. 45) y Forlán.

Goals
1-0, m. 34: Ronaldinho (PK)
2-0, m. 54: Gudjohnsen
3-0, m. 69: Iniesta
4-0, m. 87: Ronaldinho

November 26 - Photos
Sitges

November 27 - Photos
Parc Güell
Casa Batlló

November 28 - Photos
Figueras
Teatro Museo Dalí

November 29
Museo Picasso y Sabartés
Puerto
Montjuïc
Fundación Joan Miró

Another World Cup is over and that only means that we have four boring years ahead!

Today the Italians won their 4th World Cup 24 years after they won their last one back in 1982. I must say that the Italian team was very compact and well organized in defense. They played very good as a team and they had their top match against Germany. I think Germany, Argentina and Spain were better teams but Italy had other elements playing in their favor like the referees always favoring them and the luck of playing weak teams in the finals (Australia and Ukrania).

If the Brazilians are the masters of the ‘Jogo Bonito’, Italians are the masters of the ‘Jogo Feio’. It is sad that they use so many cheap tricks when they have enough talent to win games fair and square. Today in the final Materazzi used his big mouth to insult Zinedine Zidane and the french lost its cool and attacked the Italian with his head like a bull. None of the four referees saw the incident and the Italian goal keeper Buffon asked the 4th referee to check a video replay of the situation. Then the 4th referee explained the incident to the main referee Horacio Elizondo and he pulled a red card on Zidane. FIFA has never allowed the use of video replays during soccer matches to make decisions, so I think it is terrible that they allowed this rule to be changed on the fly on the most important game of the World Cup. Shame on FIFA! I think it was horrible what Zidane did, but since none of the referees saw the incident nothing should have happened.

Anyway, I have this feeling that neither Italy, nor France deserved to win this World Cup. I think Germany should have won it. But again, Italy beated Germany fair and square, so I guess they did deserve it at the end.

Update [07/10/06 - 11:52 a.m.]

FIFA is now claiming that video replay was never used to pull the red card on Zidane. I hope this is true.

See the story on BBC News.

Here are the final numbers comparing both confederations:

CONCACAF: P:13 W:1 D:3 L:9 Pts:6 (0.48 points per game)

CONMEBOL: P:16 W:10 D:1 L:5 Pts:31 (1.94 ppg)

The World Cup 2006 is almost over with only four games left.

It’s going to be an all-european teams semi final which proves again that European countries are very strong when they host the World Cup. Only Brazil has been able to win a WC in Europe when they did back in Sweden 1958.

The semi finals are:

Germany vs Italy
The only favorite left. Being the host country can play in your favor or against you. The referees are always going to be localists, but playing at home has the extra preassure that your crowd expects you to win. Germany has won all their games easily except the game with Argentina. In that game the Germans looked nervous and didn’t play the great soccer they have shown in the other matches.

Italy had to play in one of the most difficult groups in first round and they have not lost a single game so far. They have been helped a lot from the referees, specially in the games with Ghana, USA and Australia. The Italian defense and goalkeeper are very strong and has only allowed one goal (scored by one of their defenders) and their strickers have done their part scoring.

If Germany plays as nervous and conservative as with Argentina, this game could end up with a tie (0-0, 1-1) or with one team winning 1-0. If the game goes to penalty kicks, we are going to see two of the worlds best goalkeepers Buffon and Lehman.

France vs Portugal
France had one of the easiest groups of the WC but they played horrible, and made it to the second round in second place after Switzerland. But then it was like the French team turned on the ‘Jogo Bonito’ switch and they played perfect games against Spain and Brasil, two teams that we all thought were favorites to win the WC. Zidane showed his best soccer against the Brazilians and proved the world that he still has lots of soccer to give.

Portugal had to play against two very physical teams: Netherlands and England, and they won both games with lots of guts. You can tell the Portuguese have fun on the field and I think it is because of their coach Scolari. I think Portugal has a much younger team than France, although they do have a man with lots of experience like Figo.

Figo vs Zidane, Ronaldo vs Henry…

Group A

Germany had a very solid first round winning all three games. Ecuador, after having great performances against Poland and Costa Rica played a regular game against Germany.

Group B

England finished at the top of its group but they didn’t looked unbeatable after the game with Sweden. Sweden improved some from its first game and it’s going to be a tough rival for the Germans.

Group C

Argentina and Netherlands had very solid performances. They both have great chances of winning their respective 2nd round games. Ivory Coast was unlucky to be in this group. I think they could have made it in another group.

Group D

This group that seemed really easy for Mexico and Portugal, showed that neither Angola nor Iran were weak teams. Mexico was chosen by FIFA as the top seed of this group, but clearly Portugal was much superior. Both teams have it very difficult in 2nd round against Argentina and Netherlands.

Group E

This was the most exiting group on the first round. The Czech Republic started with a solid performance and stabilshed themselves as favorites to win the World Cup. But they couldn’t beat either Ghana nor Italy and now they are out of the competition. Ghana on the other hand surprised everyone passing to the next round. They are going to be the only African team left in the competition. Italy made it to the next round but I don’t like their style.

Group F

Brasil had a slow start beating Croatia 1-0 but they picked up the pace against Australia and Japan winning 2-0 and 4-1 respectively. They have a very difficult game against Ghana in second round. Australia had good games and made it to the second round for the first time in their history. The last game against Croatia was very even but Croatia is out because they couldn’t beat the weakest team in the group Japan.

Group G

France made it to the second round and had a good game against Togo, but the french squad most likely will loose against Spain. Switzerland was very solid and gave good performances. Now they will be facing Ukraine and this game can go either way.
Group H

Spain has a great team full of young talent. I mentioned them as strong candidates to win the World Cup and I think they still are. Ukraine which was big dissapointment after the first match with Spain, was able to recover but against the two other teams in the group (Saudia Arabia and Tunisia) which are not strong teams. They could make it to quarter finals if they beat Switzerland but I don’t think they will go any further.

CONMEBOL VS CONCACAF

In the 2002 World Cup teams from CONCACAF had a great performance while teams from CONMEBOL were a dissapointment.

Mexico finished at the top of its group and lost in second round against the USA. The USA made it to quarter finals but lost against Germany. Costa Rica didn’t made it to second round but they finished in third possition in the group with the same number of points (4) as Turkey lossing the second place because of goal difference.

As far as CONMEBOL goes Uruguay, Argentina and Ecuador failed to advance to the second round and Paraguay lost against Germany in second round. Brazil obviously was the great exception and won the World Cup. Here are the numbers of that WC. I even remove Brazil to show how bad CONMEBOL did if Brazil wasn’t part of it.
CONCACAF: P:12 W:3 D:4 L:6 Pts:34 (1.50 points per game)

CONMEBOL: P:20 W:10 D:4 L:6 Pts:18 (1.70 ppg)

CONMEBOL*: P:13 W:3 D:4 L:6 Pts:13 (1.00 ppg)

* Without Brazil

I was really dissapointed that Colombia didn’t make it to the 2006 World Cup and I thought that it was unfair that CONCACAF had 3.5 places for its associated nations in the WC and CONMEBOL only had 4.5. I think CONMEBOL should have at least 50% more places than CONCACAF for all its World Cup history (9 World Cup championships).
Not only that but the 4th best team from CONCACAF (Trinidad & Tobago) had to play for the half place against the 5th best country in Asia (Baharein), while the 5th best country from CONMEBOL (Uruguay) had to play against the best team in Oceania (Australia).

But everytime I brought the subject with my Mexican friends for the past 4 years, they would remind me of how bad CONMEBOL did in the 2002 World Cup and how well CONCACAF is doing. They would argue that the 2 WCs Uruguay won in 1930 and 1950 mean nothing today. They would say that Mexico and the USA have been in the FIFA top 10 ranking for the last few years.

But today is payback time. Let me introduce you the 2006 World Cup comparisson between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL after the first round is over:

CONCACAF: P:12 W:1 D:3 L:8 Pts:6 (0.50 points per game)

CONMEBOL: P:12 W:8 D:1 L:3 Pts:25 (2.08 ppg)

I hope the FIFA follows the same logic to decide the number of places for the 2010 World Cup and takes a place from CONCACAF (2.5) and gives it to CONMEBOL (5.5).

Dedicated with love to all my Mexican friends.

This is how I would classify the different teams

Candidates to win the WC: Brazil, Spain, Czech Republic and Germany.

Brazil obviously is everyone’s favorite, although they didn’t have a great game against Croatia. Spain smashed Ukraine and has a very strong team, with very young players on the attack. The Czechs are not a surprise: they’ve been playing really well in the past few years and they are ranked #2 by the FIFA. Germany is a candidate because they are playing home. I think that under different conditions, Germany wouldn’t be a favorite.

Teams that will make it to quarter finals: England, Argentina, Netherlands and Italy.

Everyone knows these are four very strong teams but none had a spectacular first game. But if they improve for the next matches, they are definitely candidates to win the WC.

Teams that will have a very good WC: Ecuador, México, Cote d’Ivoire and Australia

If there is going to be a surprising team this year, it has to come out of this list. These are four very solid and great teams, but not as good as to win the WC.

Big disappointments: Ukraine, Paraguay, USA, France, Sweden

I had a lot of expectations about Ukraine. They were the first European team to qualify to the WC and they didn’t lose a single match during qualifying. And they have Shevchenko one of the best soccer players in the world. However they looked terrible against Spain. They have an easy group with Saudi Arabia and Tunes, so they might recover and make it to the next round.

With Sweden I also had high expectations, especially because of their strong attack with Larson and Ibrahimovic, but they couldn’t win the game against Trinidad & Tobago. I do recognize that T&T played an amazing game but I though that Sweden will be beating them easily.

Finally USA, Paraguay and France played a terrible first game. I don’t think USA has a chance to advance to the next round since they are in one of the toughest groups. Paraguay doesn’t seem to have strong team. They played horrible against England. I think France on the other hand can put it together and make it to the next round, since their group is not too difficult.