FIFA World Cup 2010

dew said:

never forget ireland.

Amen.

Everyone in the British Isles and anywhere else that supports fair play should be happy about tonight's game...while they're not out yet, the best they can get is a 2nd round match against Argentina (wouldn't it be so cool if they beat France with the Hand of God?).

Phobus said:

(Germany mostly).

Who were given the new ball to practice with several months ago...I think we know who's gonna win. (ie. don't fuck it up England, win the group or else)

Bearhugs for all!

Vid> http://soccer.fanhouse.com/2010/06/18/usa-v-slovenia-disallowed-goal-video-koman-coulibaly/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/18/koman-coulibaly-world-cup_n_617408.html
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/18/how-the-u-s-robbed-in-the-world-cup/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/sports/soccer/19usgame.html

So much for England.

david_a said:

So much for England.

The England team should be disqualified for being such a boring team! C'mon! This is the most important tournament in football, the crowds have waited four years for this, and this is how you pay us!? In all my years watching football matches, i've never fallen asleep watching a game, and today i did.

The new league fixtures were announced yesterday...we know they all put club before country...distracted by thinking ahead to next season perhaps?

Enjay said:

I don't know why people expect more than this from England.

Because they have some of the most gifted players in the world, in some of the most competitive leagues of the world. Apparently, however, they make a lousy team, and eleven individuals cannot defeat a team of eleven.

oldtaly struggling to tie with kiwis made me warm inside. there's a non-zero chance that france, italy, england, germany and perhaps even spain and portugal will be eliminated in the groupstage. i am thrilled. :)

Someone commented this video on this kotaku post. Heh.

Drunk Post 01/02: Germany doesn't win anymore. Now, I will go out with friends and talk about it. Cu later, guys!

dew said:

oldtaly struggling to tie with kiwis made me warm inside. there's a non-zero chance that france, italy, england, germany and perhaps even spain and portugal will be eliminated in the groupstage. i am thrilled. :)

Given Portugal's 7-0 score today, it's highly unlikely that they will be eliminated, both Brazil and Ivory Coast would have to win their matches by a repsectable score (4-0, 5-0 at least). Spain... if they don't beat us in the final match (hint: they won't, it will be a draw), they will be eliminated, assuming that Switzerland defeats Honduras.
VAMOS CHILE MIERDA!!!!!

Where is the love for USA? We advance with two minutes remaining midst bad calls and two stolen goals.

Hellbent said:

Where is the love for USA? We advance with two minutes remaining midst bad calls and two stolen goals.

i'm cheering for usa! they played the best football in their group.

dew said:

i'm cheering for usa! they played the best football in their group.

I agree. They may not be a football powerhouse of talent, but their matches are very fun to watch, unlike most of the european teams. I'm happy that they passed to the next phase.

I'm not cheering for the USA... not because I have anything against them, but rather because I'd like to see an African team get as close as they can to the finals, which seems to be Ghana's task, and they play the US next.

Interestingly, Germany and England are scheduled to face each other.

dew said:
oldtaly struggling to tie with kiwis made me warm inside. there's a non-zero chance that france, italy, england, germany and perhaps even spain and portugal will be eliminated in the groupstage. i am thrilled. :)

Most struggled through, with France falling to inner strife as if we were in the middle ages, but this cup seems to be calling for the Americas, if the European teams don't get their act together. That said, the Netherlands is looking good.

I had no faith in England getting through, and the lack of sportsmanship at the end kind of sullied what was otherwise a good game. A lot of surprise and upset yesterday, with two wide open groups being decided at the last minute (or last +1 in the case of the USA).

Phobus said:

I had no faith in England getting through

I still have no faith in England getting through...we shall pay the penalty (literally or no) on Sunday for that goalkeeping fumble/cba display/inability to score more than once.

myk said:

this cup seems to be calling for the Americas, if the European teams don't get their act together. That said, the Netherlands is looking good.

And Portugal. And Spain. And Germany. Basically, everyone except us and the French.

Edit: And the Italians too it would seem.

Yeah, I forgot Portugal. Haven't had the chance to see them play yet but they did deliver the harshest goaling yet. Germany is in good shape, although they seemed more threatening in their first game than throughout the whole group stage. Perhaps what you said about them being familiar with the ball has something to do with it, and now teams are progressively getting acquainted with it. Spain has great players, yet they showed they can falter or lose steam, such as in their frustration with Switzerland. Maybe modest Switzerland can make it through...

Interesting results today...Italy bottom of the group (awesome match apart from the excessive faking), Japan making it through and looking good for the quarters maybe. Group H looks interesting too for tomorrow, it's 2 from 3 there.

The Ultimate DooMer said:

Interesting results today...Italy bottom of the group (awesome match apart from the excessive faking)

Slovakia's thirsd goal blew my head off. I've never seen that before, some guy running from the middle field to the box and the throw-in served as a crossing, ending with a goal. Truly awesome!
I believe that Italy paid the price of being such tight-asses on previous matches, had they played like today every match, they would've qualified easily.
And Netherland's performance today was solid, and even better with Robben on the field, maybe this is finally their world cup?

The Ultimate DooMer said:

I still have no faith in England getting through...we shall pay the penalty (literally or no) on Sunday for that goalkeeping fumble/cba display/inability to score more than once.

I think it's sad that they can still get through to the next round after such a mediocre performace. Two miserable draws, both characterised by a lack-lustre performace and one 1-0 match where, despite winning, they were (apparently) almost outclassed by a supposedly inferior team.

I stand by my conviction that football is dull and submit England's performance (supposedly at the world's highest level), and the fact they still got through with it, as evidence.

I'd disagree with you that the England games were dull, as the *chances* of scoring were frequent and the play in the last game was fairly intense. I know in the pub I was watching the game in people were leaping out of their seats on a regular basis (only to be dissappointed). I however, stayed seated, as I'd rather only react when I know there's something to react to.

I'd also disagree that Slovenia were better than England (in that game) but not due to the score. The match itself showed a fair bit of skill, although not enough to look likely for going any further than a game against Germany on Sunday.

Also, John Terry's penguin dive was one of the funnier things I've seen in a while :P

It's amazing how many of the "top 9" teams are either crap at the moment or simply failed to go through to the next round though!

here are my predictions for what teams will make it to the semi-finals:

Argentina vs Portugal
Brazil vs USA

based on the below schematic and how the teams are playing.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/kostage.html

what are your predictions?

outcome predictions for today's game?

I say 3-2 USA in penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw in regular time. prediction made at 12:51pm EST.

a lot of the big teams are over rated. Germany has a MUCH better world cup record than all other nations except Brazil. wikipedia how many times they have been to the final or better--matched only by Brazil. Look at some of the big teams world cup record. Google '[nation] football team' and click on the wiki link. France, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, England all pale big time in comparison to Brazil and Germany. Those are the only two teams with really impressive WC records (okay Italy's record is really good, too, and Argentina's is solid as well) . But all the other teams are spotty, terrible or were only good 50+ years ago. I couldn't believe how bad Portugal's WC record is! How is it ranked 3rd by FIFA? This is all very fascinating to me. Only reason France was good was because of Zinadine Zidane.

It's true that Germany has a rich history in world cups, but that doesn't say anything about their current chances, i believe. Lately, i regard them having a "cold chest", like we say here in Chile, meaning that they dissapoint when it counts (semifinals, finals). For me, it wouldn't be unthinkable that Argentina beats them in quarter finals (given that both temas qualify, of course).
It's a pity that USA got sent home today, but at least Ghana it's another fun team to watch, so that's good.

maggot202 said:

It's true that Germany has a rich history in world cups, but that doesn't say anything about their current chances, i believe. Lately, i regard them having a "cold chest", like we say here in Chile, meaning that they dissapoint when it counts (semifinals, finals). For me, it wouldn't be unthinkable that Argentina beats them in quarter finals (given that both temas qualify, of course).
It's a pity that USA got sent home today, but at least Ghana it's another fun team to watch, so that's good.

Yeah, it's odd that Germany hasn't won more WCs given their consistency of performance at the world cups over the last 80 years. In contrast, Portugal has a really odd WC history--where it hardly ever qualifies, and then gets 3rd place, then a long dry spell again of not even qualifying. Last WC I was rooting for Ghana... I think even when they were facing US, because they were an underdog team being their first time at the WC. It would be cool to see them go deep into the tournament... the better they do, the more I'll prolly root for them, but this time I was really hoping USA would win.

I have a $10 bet with a friend that Germany will beat England tomorrow. I didn't know the odds going into the bet, but apparently they are nearly dead even... I thought Germany had better odds given their record, but various google searches are telling me the odds are nearly dead even (with a slight advantage maybe to England).

http://www.england-v-germany.co.uk/

I'm South African, and I own a vuvuzela.

DeathevokatioN said:

I live in South Africa

/me high fives

I'm hoping England beat Germany, just so I never have to hear about 1966 ever again after the match. Reality of the matter is that I'm convinced Germany will win.

rofl. the 1966 wembley 'goal' avenged. the referees are retards, but history proved to possess a nasty sense for irony!

maybe now they can finally eject blatter into the center of the sun and start using videos and stuff.