World Cup thread (had to happen!)

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:41 pm

Anybody else as happy as I was to see Serbia defeat Germany?

The Serbs redeemed themselves after their weak opening performance while Germany looked a shadow of the team that played Australia.

US game kicks off in 20 min. But I have to go to my 2 hour meeting.

At least I still have a job, I guess.

Post by **MODLAB** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:46 pm

redcloud wrote:Anybody else as happy as I was to see Serbia defeat Germany?

The Serbs redeemed themselves after their weak opening performance while Germany looked a shadow of the team that played Australia.

US game kicks off in 20 min. But I have to go to my 2 hour meeting.

At least I still have a job, I guess.

I'm surounded by Germans and the lonely Serb. I'm happy very happy.

B,

M

johnnyboy · Post by **johnnyboy** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:11 pm

More than happy with that result. I wonder what big gob Beckenbauer will say to that

Their group is very tight now what with three teams being on three points each.

It's building up to be a good week so far what with Spain, France and now Germany all losing in fine style. All we need now is for England to come good (said from an English point of view only of course) and to not follow the losing trend.

solarflarez · Post by **solarflarez** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:38 pm

mkb wrote:
solarflarez wrote:
Guessed wrote:

Even if he did mean it (which I don't think he did), I still think Brazil's 2nd goal was better. That pass to split the defence was sublime.

the pass, was beautiful, perfect, and meant! lovely goal

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:32 pm

solarflarez wrote:]
Guessed wrote:

the pass, was beautiful, perfect, and meant! lovely goal

the usa's second goal was much better, now that he meant

england's just kicking off, be prepared to be bored, o for messi or kaka...

Alex English · Post by **Alex English** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:06 pm

USA tie Slovenia 3-2!

Post by **MODLAB** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:21 pm

I'm really disappointed in England. They played without heart.

Pissed,

M

Post by **runcible** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:24 pm

The worst game of the world cup so far in England against Algeria. Big credit to the Algerians who defended well and stayed solid. As an England fan? Pah... the biggest relief I have here is that I had an outside hope we might win the world cup so now that tension has gone as we look like second-stringers on a poor day. An utter shambles from start to finish. No credit to be gained. Lampard is a mystery selection he's so poor, Heskey didn't know which direction to go in, the 4-4-2 approach was wrong, the Gerrard on the left tactic unworkable... I can't believe I am reminded of the worst possible days of Eriksson and McClaren - not since have I seen a performance as poor as that. I have no idea what happened to the team who beat Croatia so well, or any of the victories in the qualifiers. I will be at work for the last game which is a little comfort so I won't have to witness any more of the shite we've produced - a change in our standard would be miraculous.

Rubbish.

niamhm · Post by **niamhm** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:44 pm

runcible wrote:The worst game of the world cup so far in England against Algeria. Big credit to the Algerians who defended well and stayed solid. As an England fan? Pah... the biggest relief I have here is that I had an outside hope we might win the world cup so now that tension has gone as we look like second-stringers on a poor day. An utter shambles from start to finish. No credit to be gained. Lampard is a mystery selection he's so poor, Heskey didn't know which direction to go in, the 4-4-2 approach was wrong, the Gerrard on the left tactic unworkable... I can't believe I am reminded of the worst possible days of Eriksson and McClaren - not since have I seen a performance as poor as that. I have no idea what happened to the team who beat Croatia so well, or any of the victories in the qualifiers. I will be at work for the last game which is a little comfort so I won't have to witness any more of the shite we've produced - a change in our standard would be miraculous.

Rubbish.

All I can say Runcible is calm down theirs a game to go ,plenty teams struggled through the group stage and went onto success,but I get the impression that the way England sailed through the qualifiers created a false impression ,a potential winner with a genius manager,but a slightly closer inspection reveal`s a team that conceded 6 goals against a shower of shite,not world champion type stuff, teams that win the cup don`t concede goals like that,in fact now they can`t seem to score a goal,all the big reputations and inflated wages look a tad ridiculous,Â£80.000 grand a week for a man that can`t take a corner thats beats the first man,man that piss`s me off ...

while England and the Euoropean teams genarally struggle ,the South American teams show the best stuff Argentina ,Mexico,Uruaguy,Brazil and Chile which is quite strange in this ,the first Winter World Cup in living memmory which was supposed to work against them ,can`t wait to see what happens next

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 2:35 am

Alex English wrote:USA tie Slovenia 3-2!

Yea, that's fucking bullshit. I watched that play over and over and saw nothing wrong with that winning goal.
Nobody offside, a lot of pushing and shoving and if anything, a foul committed against Bradley, which could have been a penalty for us.

That was our game...that call cost us three points, which should have put us at the top of the table.

Great game though other than that blatant error.

England, what the hell? No goals in over 100 minutes of play. Not looking good guys.

Post by **runcible** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:01 am

niamhm wrote:
but a slightly closer inspection reveal`s a team that conceded 6 goals against a shower of shite

That's a point actually - England kept a clean sheet which is a rare thing. Mind you that's the first time Algeria have ever done that in a World Cup match - conclusions are easy.

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:20 pm

robbie savage is on the radio saying how bored he and the players are in SA having to be at the w/c with nothing to do between playing football. they have to train, watch films, socilaise, sleep...my heart bleeds

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:47 pm

bunnyben wrote:robbie savage is on the radio saying how bored he and the players are in SA having to be at the w/c with nothing to do between playing football. they have to train, watch films, socilaise, sleep...my heart bleeds

If this is true, then the arrogant, entitled attitude that some of these millionaire players have makes it all the more fun when they fail to score against a team such as Algeria or are upset by the Swiss.

solarflarez · Post by **solarflarez** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:25 am

bunnyben wrote:robbie savage is on the radio saying how bored he and the players are in SA having to be at the w/c with nothing to do between playing football. they have to train, watch films, socilaise, sleep...my heart bleeds

yeah, he's missing driving around in his pink porsche and getting his nails done, the twat

BVCP206 · Post by **BVCP206** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:03 pm

Word to the wise Mr Rooney, remember to engage brain (however small

) before putting mouth in gear

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:25 pm

FUCKING DIVING CHEATING SCUM. TRYING TO GET A PLAYER SENT OFF DUE TO INFERIORITY COMPLEX. I HOPE THE IVORY COAST HAVE A NICE TRIP HOME....

brazil were wonderful but the night is ruined

TheWarmth · Post by **TheWarmth** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:54 am

I missed the game. Went to the beach instead. What happened?

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:14 am

TheWarmth wrote:I missed the game. Went to the beach instead. What happened?

Kaka stupidly pulled a little bit of a Beckham when an IC player ran into him he threw his arm out at the African player. The IC player then went down like a sniper had taken him out and was holding his face and writhing in pain. Kaka was then red carded. Stupid move by Kaka, seriously lame acting by the African and another questionable call by a WC referee.

Some good news though, IC became the first African nation to score against Brazil in a World Cup.

mkb · Post by **mkb** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 9:19 am

redcloud wrote:
TheWarmth wrote:I missed the game. Went to the beach instead. What happened?
Kaka stupidly pulled a little bit of a Beckham when an IC player ran into him he threw his arm out at the African player. The IC player then went down like a sniper had taken him out and was holding his face and writhing in pain. Kaka was then red carded. Stupid move by Kaka, seriously lame acting by the African and another questionable call by a WC referee.

Some good news though, IC became the first African nation to score against Brazil in a World Cup.

Kaka didn't even throw his arm up in a malicious way - the Ivory Coast player was running straight into him, it's a natural reaction to put an arm up to block him.

Laz69 · Post by **Laz69** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:27 am

Have to agree about the kaka incident... he would have done no more if he was trying to hold the player off in normal play, but for that CHEATING bastard to start rolling about holding his face is disgraceful... 6mins to go... already getting pumped 3-1... little chance of making much of the extra man advantage... done out of nothing more than badness.

They were discussing that incident last night after the game and they kinda agreed that there is little FIFA can do re: the second yellow card for Kaka, but there may possibly be action taken on the Ivory Coast player for his behaviour... would be interesting to see if they had the balls to take a stance on it. Seen a few similar incidents like this and it boils my blood. Same with the Americans chasing the ref trying to get players on the otehr team carded... disgraceful behaviour.

Enjoyed Brazil last night, but thought they were extremely lucky with the second (?) goal... how TWO hand balls were not picked up is just bizarre... run of the green iu suppose.

Guessed · Post by **Guessed** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:26 am

bunnyben wrote:FUCKING DIVING CHEATING SCUM. TRYING TO GET A PLAYER SENT OFF DUE TO INFERIORITY COMPLEX. I HOPE THE IVORY COAST HAVE A NICE TRIP HOME....

brazil were wonderful but the night is ruined

C'mon Ben et al; whilst i agree that Kaka should not have been dismissed and FIFA should take action against Keita (Ivory Coast player)...where do they stop? Bastos, Fabiano, Luciano, Robinho & Maicon were all trying to influence referee decisions up too the point when they got done at there own game.
Now, the greater issue I have is the Elano incident. This is far more serious than the Kaka-Keita incident and should be given a good look. I'm sure however FIFA won't want to retrospectively punish half of each team.

It was pleasing to see a time play last night with fluidity...allbeit after being 3 goals up.
Truthfully though, this World Cup has been nowt short of mince so far.

johnnyboy · Post by **johnnyboy** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:20 pm

Kaka didn't deserve to get sent off. The Ivory Coast player took full advantage of a slight nudge and going down holding his face was embarrassing for him as a man.........just like Rivaldo did against Turkey in the 2002 World Cup. Anyone remember the Turkish player kicking the ball towards him at the corner flag and it hitting his leg? What happened after that? Yep, he fell to the floor clutching his face like a big girl. Why did he do it? Probably because he's a cheat and wanted to deceive the ref into giving the Turkish player a red card. Oh, and because he's a big Brazilian girl as well. I hope the Brazilian team are shown that moment on repeated play when they have a whinge about the Kaka sending off. What comes around goes around.

Not that I'm condoning the reaction of the Ivory Coast player. He's a big girl as well. In fact a lot of footballers are big girls the way they writhe around after the slightest of knocks. It's part of the game. It's the way they hope to gain an advantage as 9 times out of 10 it produces a free kick/penalty and a red or yellow card for the fall guy.

England. What to say. It was absolutely woeful. Shockingly so. Summed up prefectly by Heskeys attempt at dribbling past a defender when out on his own. He tried a cross-over, his feet stumbled over the ball, he lost the ball, he looked a complete plum. That whole game was England at their worst. My prediction for their group games was a loss to the USA, an abysmal draw to Algeria and a desperate win against Slovenia meaning we'd just scrape through to the next round (yep, I'm a pessamist when it comes to England, and rightly so!) It's about time the nation and media and the players themselves woke up to the fact that as a national team we are very very average. The England shirt just seems to drain them of their natural talent.......or is that talent greatly helped by the international players playing with them at club level? After each game they say they must play better and we'll see the real England and Rooney will bang in the goals and the passion will be there and......and then what? We get more of the same. Hahaha. Slovenia must be due a stuffing now eh. I bet they're shaking in their boots at the thought of Heskey and Rooney bearing down on them. At least we're not the French

USA were robbed. The 3rd goal should've been allowed and they should now be sitting top of the group. Great comeback from 2-0 down!

Let's see what Spain can do today after the weird displays from Italy, France, England.

Post by **MODLAB** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:04 pm

And the best diving country Oscar goes to?

Italy!!!

M

Guessed · Post by **Guessed** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:15 pm

MODLAB wrote:And the best diving country Oscar goes to?

Italy!!!

M

Agreed.

Chielini is a supposed "hard man" of Italian football but he was desperate to get the NZ No. 14 sent off.
Then another "hard man" was it De Rossi who had his shirt pulled for the penalty.

There hasn't been more cheating and diving since Jurgen!

Thankfully Portugal have came out and actually routed a team. I'll look forward to viewing the repeat after work.

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:54 pm

mkb wrote:
Kaka didn't even throw his arm up in a malicious way - the Ivory Coast player was running straight into him, it's a natural reaction to put an arm up to block him.

Agreed.

The refs also gave a red card to a Swiss player for a similiar thing (against Chile). If anything, that incident looked even less of an issue than Kaka's.

Laz69 · Post by **Laz69** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:23 pm

Another kerfuffle in the Chile/Swiss game a few minutes ago... Chile player raises a hand to push a Swiss defender and the defender goes down holding his face like he'd been shot from the stand... disgraceful... players know what this ref is like, so it was madness to start anything heated, but the defenders reactions are just ridiculous...

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:03 pm

Guessed wrote:
bunnyben wrote:FUCKING DIVING CHEATING SCUM. TRYING TO GET A PLAYER SENT OFF DUE TO INFERIORITY COMPLEX. I HOPE THE IVORY COAST HAVE A NICE TRIP HOME....

brazil were wonderful but the night is ruined
C'mon Ben et al; whilst i agree that Kaka should not have been dismissed and FIFA should take action against Keita (Ivory Coast player)...where do they stop? Bastos, Fabiano, Luciano, Robinho & Maicon were all trying to influence referee decisions up too the point when they got done at there own game.
Now, the greater issue I have is the Elano incident. This is far more serious than the Kaka-Keita incident and should be given a good look. I'm sure however FIFA won't want to retrospectively punish half of each team.

It was pleasing to see a time play last night with fluidity...allbeit after being 3 goals up.
Truthfully though, this World Cup has been nowt short of mince so far.

i completely agree with you and with johhny's comments about rivaldo. the point is in the w/c the only players that i was excited about seeing are messi, messi and xavi. the rest of the players are pants. england, pah i gthink heskey was our best player vs us. if i was england captain i'd have sent terry home. who does he think he is?? not only interfering with england he also made comments about france! wtf has that got to do with him? as stupid as it sounds players are ruining football. drogba puts Tom Daley to shame. italy, have to cheat to draw with NZ and now it is rumoured that gerrard has a pregnant 16 yr old lover but the media have been told not to spill till after we are out (in a week or so). the same media that spend their lives trying to ruin england's chances of winning anything or hosting the w/c.

i think cappello made one great mistake with the england squad. he was used to being at madrid or milan or juve or... so he expected to be around world class players who can pass the ball striaght and uses last minute team anouncements to rely on the team being able to prepare and to be able to pass the ball, the fool. i was hoping we'd loose to to algeria instead of stealing 2 points from them then we can wave goodbye to this golden generation and start again with people who want to play for england. if a team is holding its breath for barry to be fit...

thank goodness for spain, holland, argentina, brazil, uruguay etc who play football.

spacemanrich · Post by **spacemanrich** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:16 am

Good game of Espana vs.Honduras, I knew that Spain would come around soon. David Villa missed getting a hat trick w/ that missed penalty kick. Spain's upcoming game against Chile should be good and they'll advance to the next round. Same feeling w/ Germany even though they will play without Klose, but they'll be too much for Ghana. Argentina will roll over Greece and also move into the next round w/ the Dutch.

johnnyboy · Post by **johnnyboy** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 5:06 pm

Au revoir les bleus!!

Post by **runcible** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 6:53 pm

bunnyben wrote:if i was england captain i'd have sent terry home. who does he think he is?? not only interfering with england he also made comments about france! wtf has that got to do with him? as stupid as it sounds players are ruining football.

That's an interesting point. Terry has shown himself to be a world-class shit over the last 8 months or so - one of the nastiest wankers in the game. I have a few mates who hear quite interesting tit-bits from their contacts in sport and the press and those people were all over his affair story when it happened. The stuff I heard about how Terry made key decisions at Chelsea is very worrying. Players signed, Mourinho sacked etc. - much of that came from Terry (certainly the Mourinho exit) who ended up thinking he was some sort of Kray type gangster who was untouchable. Many unpleasant stories of the guy behaving like a total tosser and chucking his weight around. The stuff from Heathrow after 9/11 was bad (step forward 2 more angels in the forms of Lampard and Jody Morris), Terry driving away having knocked down some steward towards the end of the season....

It's not like he's played very well in this tournament either. If people are right in thinking that it's Terry who is causing the England camp to become unsettled I hope the truth comes out and Terry gets the shit that has been building up behind him for some time. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Post by **MODLAB** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:51 pm

Well, nice to see England up 1:0 @ half.

Time for a Gin & Tonic.

B,

M

TheWarmth · Post by **TheWarmth** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:23 pm

I heard the U.S. had another disallowed goal. Did anyone see what happened?

Post by **spzretent** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:01 pm

Just when I was becoming a conspiracy theorist FINALLY!
Thrilling stuff. Should have won 4-0. But i'll take the 91st minute goal.
Glad England is through as well.
See ya in the next round!

Post by **MODLAB** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:04 pm

spzretent wrote:Just when I was becoming a conspiracy theorist FINALLY!
Thrilling stuff. Should have won 4-0. But i'll take the 91st minute goal.
Glad England is through as well.
See ya in the next round!

Definitely the 2 strongest teams will go... Was scary but they did it.

M

Post by **spzretent** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:12 pm

Scary, deflating, frustrating to glory. What a range of emotions in the last 10 minutes.

Post by **runcible** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:47 pm

The USA almost got ripped off with another decent goal disallowed too.

That England game was a right ordeal. We should have been out of sight but had to make things difficult and how Slovenia didn't equalise I shall never know. Some sterling defending from many - arse Terry included but a particularly amazing tackle by Upson too. Nice to see Leeds lad Milner play so well - probably our best player today.

The route to the final is likely to be impeded by Germany and Argentina and I can't see us beating either of those two on current form. Still, humiliation averted - for now anyway.

Post by **MODLAB** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 6:22 pm

runcible wrote:
The route to the final is likely to be impeded by Germany and Argentina and I can't see us beating either of those two on current form. Still, humiliation averted - for now anyway.

They can beat Germany. Serbia proved so...

M

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:29 pm

the USA game was frustrating, nail biting and tense but in the end it was JOYOUS!

We definitely deserved to win that game. We had so many chances and yes, another disallowed goal that was perfectly good. So, justice ultimately prevailed.

Well done to England too. How do you feel about playing Germany?

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:31 pm

John Inverdale just made a good point about the French football team. They should look at what Nicolas Mahut did at Wimbledon today and then consider what they did themselves over the last 10 days.

niamhm · Post by **niamhm** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:20 pm

Well done to USA and England in qualifiying ,England may eventually consider this a chance missed ,under performing and not winning the group ,for its put them in a much harder side of the draw , but for now its well done for a much better performance ,doing what was required and standing up to the self inflicted pressure ,
Both have hard games coming up ,I don`t think its impossible for England to beat Germany but they may have to step up a bit yet but on a good day that could happen, as for USA ,unburdened by Englands expectations and history with their opponent anythings possible so good luck to both.

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:34 pm

so we win 1-0 and the pundits say 'we can win the cup now!'. did you see capello in the post match interview??? that was beckham in a capello mask! germany next and already people are mentioning 66 and the wars. i hope it will be a good game!

well done too to ghana! very happy they made it through and serbia finishing 4th?? who'd have thought it!

niamhm · Post by **niamhm** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:10 pm

Just watched the highlights off the USA v Algeria , fuck me I wish I was American ,that was the rollercoaster that makes football the worlds fav. sport ,what a high!!
flip side is that football can deliver some f*ckin` lows as some off us may find out in the next week or so ,don`t know if that will help footballs development in the US or not but its the type of thing that stays with you for many years ,
coming from Scotland who have never made it out of the group stages ,if Donovan was from Scotland he`d be a national hero for the next 50 yrs.

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 2:01 am

I am American and I can tell you this, even the soccer haters couldn't stop talking about this game today. The range of emotions was incredible. The game itself was so open, so much offense. A draw did neither team any good. It was as exciting a soccer match to watch as I have ever witnessed. And with so much at stake.
But what the hell is wrong with the refs? Blown calls, missed fouls, cards given to the wrong player. Thankfully Americans wont be sitting around complaining about what could have been.

johnnyboy · Post by **johnnyboy** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:21 am

I loved the shot of Bill Clinton and Sepp Blatter after the USA goal was (wrongfully) disallowed. You could tell Bill had no idea what was going on and Sepp was obviously trying to explain it to him. Explaining the offside rule to someone who doesn't know the game is hard enough at the best of times let alone when there's 10,000 horns blasting away and that other person is Big Bill!! It did make me laugh. Well done USA, fully deserved to top the group imo as they showed a lot more passion over their games than our little island did. Glad we've qualified and it was a better game but we're still lacking a killer touch and Lampard still refuses to rise to the occasion in an England shirt. Thank the Lord for Defoes shin!

When will The Sun newspaper photoshop 'our boys' into WW2 helmets and uniforms ahead of Sundays game? It's bound to happen isn't it. Expect to read all about 1966, World Wars, Penalties, 1990..........and maybe lot's of comedy German phrases and pictures of busty bavarian babes holding big jugs (fnar fnar) of foaming beer. Dontcha just love it.

Very happy to see my sweepstake team ploughing through. C'mon the Black Stars!! (ie: Ghana)

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:18 pm

one word: italy

my solvakian freinds said they would never win but i said you nearly beat NZ and were unlucky whilst italy had to cheat to go through. hopfully italy and the ivory coast will be on their way to the diving oscars. i just hope they don't fly on an italian plane or ivorian. if a bird lands on the wing before take off it will go down and writhe in the floor in agony until the bird is disaplined or it sees ground control aren't impressed then it will jump up and fly off like nothing has happened...

spacemanrich · Post by **spacemanrich** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:51 pm

England stil looked flat after their win with no semblance of chemistry on the pitch, likewise the same for Germany (had a bit of trouble in the backfield) and so the match between them are pretty even, however I give the nod to Germany. They will be in full force with Klose back in the lineup (after 2 yellows), he'll be the difference maker here. Klose and Poldaske have always played well together.

Argentina over Mexico and Ghana over UsA.

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:27 pm

So glad Italy are gone, too. They are pathetic actors and I feel for the Kiwi's. NZ would have advanced had that lame penalty dive not been awarded to the Italians. Did you see the horrific acting today when the Italian ran to get the ball out of the net? Slovakian dude barely pushed him and the Italian threw himself down clutching his face as if Tyson had just nailed him with a left hook square in the jaw.

It's this side of the game that does not go over too well here. That said, there are plenty of pathetic actors in the NBA who try to milk the foul.

South Korea over Uruguay, Argentina over Mexico, USA over Ghana (should be a great game with some past demons needing to be put to rest!). I agree with spacemanrich on England v Germany. Unless Rooney can get involved and England begin scoring some goals I think Germany will knock England out. I'd like to see England move on but they have yet to convince.

niamhm · Post by **niamhm** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:31 pm

redcloud wrote:So glad Italy are gone, too. They are pathetic actors and I feel for the Kiwi's. NZ would have advanced had that lame penalty dive not been awarded to the Italians. Did you see the horrific acting today when the Italian ran to get the ball out of the net? Slovakian dude barely pushed him and the Italian threw himself down clutching his face as if Tyson had just nailed him with a left hook square in the jaw. It's this side of the game that does not go over too well here. That said, there are plenty of pathetic actors in the NBA who try to milk the foul.

South Korea over Uruguay, Argentina over Mexico, USA over Ghana (should be a great game with some past demons needing to be put to rest!). I agree with spacemanrich on England v Germany. Unless Rooney can get involved and England begin scoring some goals I think Germany will knock England out. I'd like to see England move on but they have yet to convince.

While I`m glad to see the back of Italy,and its tempting to offer sympathy for the Kiwi`s ,their last game ,where qualification was still in their own hands was a pretty pathetic effort , theirs an argument that they shouldn`t be their at all ,fifa engineer an Oceana group where NZ have to better Fiji ,New Caledonia and Vanuata then beat Bahrain in a play off ,compare that to say Republic Of Ireland who get a group containing Italy, then a play off against France ( the cheating bastards ) and it hardly seems fair .

also want to say that the 2nd half of the Italy game was quality great entertainment.

niamhm · Post by **niamhm** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:11 pm

Last weekend my 6 yr. old son was involved in a football festival with our local community team ,and at that age the boys understand very little about the mechanics off football but the one thing the coaches told the kids and had them adhere to was come the final whistle was that they must shake hands with the opposition and officials,so it pretty disappointing to see the managers of France and now Italy piss of without shaking hands with opposing manager ,pressure or not ,where `s your f8cking dignity you pair off childish,self important arseholes!!!

spacemanrich · Post by **spacemanrich** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:53 pm

I totally agree, lack of respect for their opponent and the game itself. At least Domenech should leave with a bit of dignity, but he'll face the guillotine in France. Sarko is already having a meeting with Thierry Henry about the whole situation, a bit much (in my opinion). Just run the damm country and let the sporting authority handle the fiasco.

The Italians are a bunch of flopping fishes and I'm glad their done, Berlusconi will have his say ...

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:56 pm

niamhm wrote:
its tempting to offer sympathy for the Kiwi`s ,their last game ,where qualification was still in their own hands was a pretty pathetic effort , theirs an argument that they shouldn`t be their at all ,

I'm sorry, but I don't buy that argument at all. It's called the World Cup for a reason. Everybody that qualifies has just as much right to be there as the next team/nation.

If they had such an easy ride to qualification then it's fair to say they didn't perform too shabby. Nobody in their group beat them and they finished above the current world champions, Italy. Seems pretty clear to me that NZ had every right to be there and they have every right to be damn proud of their achievements.

I totally agree though that Ireland should have been there instead of the French.

Post by **spzretent** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:58 am

Proof positive that at least some Americans(and a bar full of Americans in France) care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPm ... e=youtu.be

Post by **MODLAB** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:01 pm

A little cheer!

I was commissioned by the BNP

EDIT: Made the bg a little more grey...

Guessed · Post by **Guessed** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:04 pm

Ha Ha,

your colour choice for the image tells a different story.

B,
S.

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:18 pm

So, if England beat Germany it looks as if they would then have to face Argentina (no disrespect to Mexico, but they have a monumental task ahead of them in order to defeat the Argies).

If there are two teams the English hate to play it would be Germany and Argentina, right? Bad blood and so many heartbreaking penalty shoot outs at the expense of the English.

USA v Ghana in a couple hours!

niamhm · Post by **niamhm** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:24 pm

Extra time and edge of the seat stuff now for our American buddies!!

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:49 pm

^^^^^^

Post by **runcible** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:58 pm

...and so ends the most disappointing world cup appearance I have ever seen England produce.

Well done Germany - an accomplished performance but it was hardly difficult for them. I have never known an England team lose the ball so consistently as today and then find it impossible to get it back. Mark Lawrenson summed it up by saying 'for the goalkeeper to be our best player in our heaviest ever defeat is saying something'. The players should be embarassed by the performance today - Glen Johnson was unbelievably poor and by some distance our worst player. The rest of the defence was almost as bad - what Terry and Upson were doing for the majority of today is a mystery. The disallowed goal is worth mentioning - absolutely disgraceful - but we should have been 4-0 down by then. Quite what that tosser Blatter will say to defend the lack of goal-line technology is beyond me.

As far as the tournament goes there is nothing positive I can take. Rooney didn't show up for the whole thing, The team lacked ideas, ambition, hunger. If we'd somehow scrambled a result today it would have been an insult to Germany and any team who've played well as we must rate as one of the worst teams to have qualified for the round of 16.

My support goes to the Dutch. I'm off to Amsterdam soon and will cheer them on in some bar there.

Right. Cup of tea might make me feel better. Kettle ON!

Post by **spzretent** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:04 pm

Lame, lame, lame. No defense at all. They made Germany look like a perfect football team.
Go Argentina!

Post by **MODLAB** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:09 pm

I looked at it differently. I think England played quite well at times, they played well after the disallowed goal and came out in the 2nd half quite strong then of course the defence collapsed and then they themselves did.

Even the Germans here were frightened going into the 2nd half tied at 2 all.

Still quite disappointing and I would have to say GO ORANJE!

M

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:16 pm

England were very disappointing and lacked creativity in this cup. Rooney was ineffective and Castello short of ideas.

Man, their defense was shocking today!

Post by **runcible** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:39 pm

redcloud wrote: Rooney was ineffective and Castello short of ideas.

Castello? You mean as in Abbott and Castello? I know England played like a bunch of comedians but I think tarring 2 of the legends of comedy with the England brush is most disrespectful (to the comedians that is).

Post by **MODLAB** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:52 pm

Costello.

Nice to see Lahm to say clearly say that if that goal had counted that it would have been a completely different match.
They have not talked about it very much...

M

redcloud · Post by **redcloud** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:57 pm

runcible wrote:
redcloud wrote: Rooney was ineffective and Castello short of ideas.
Castello? You mean as in Abbott and Castello? I know England played like a bunch of comedians but I think tarring 2 of the legends of comedy with the England brush is most disrespectful (to the comedians that is).

My bad. Capello.

I think it's fair to say that at times in the German game the English defense looked a bit like an Abbott and Costello skit tho!

It's also fair to say that after this World Cup Capello's name wont be remembered by too many anyhow. The dude's a goner.

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:19 pm

spzretent wrote: They made Germany look like a perfect football team.

No they didn't. They helped to their own downfall and made themselves look to be very ordinary and very overrated.

redcloud wrote: It's also fair to say that after this World Cup Capello's name wont be remembered by too many anyhow. The dude's a goner.

Also incorrect. He may be history or not, but you might be underestimating the level of support that football generates over here. He'll still be discussed in generations to come. Fact.

bunnyben · Post by **bunnyben** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:43 pm

so there was only one game today!

and i'm watching it now, go argentina!

argentina vs brazil final would be perfect. mexico are doing well but i just want to watch messi everyday!