Soccer World Cup

[drteetho]

It's been a high quality WC so far. Few games have been poor, most have ranged from interesting to excellent.

 

[DeYaKen]

It's been a high quality WC so far. Few games have been poor, most have ranged from interesting to excellent.

I thought that too. Nobody throwing themselves on the floor screaming because someone gave them a hard stare. Then Argentina and Germany played and I see nothing has changed.

Best match I've seen so far was Ghana v USA. However the highlights of the Holland v Australia looked good.

 

[R. Richard]

España, the defending champs are out!

Australia 2
Netherlands 3

España 0
Chile 2

Cameroon 0
Croatia 4

 

[Handley_Page]

España, the defending champs are out!

Australia 2
Netherlands 3

España 0
Chile 2

Cameroon 0
Croatia 4

The first Australian goal, less than a minute after Holland's was a real cracker.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Daily Telegraph write up as to why there is a goalfest at this year's World Cup:

1 - More teams have good recent World Cup experience.
2 - The standard of the field is high, and talent more evenly spread across countries.
2 - There has been a greater diversity of tactics.
4 - This is the golden age of attacking football, conversely there are not great defenders around.
5 - When it's warmer, more goals get scored. (Largely because people don't run around so much in the heat so don't cover the gaps in defence as well.)

(I found it on the train! I did not buy The Daily Torygraph. I was pretty surprised that the Sports section was still in it.
OK, sometimes I do buy the DT when the rugby is on, cuz it is the only paper with decent sports writing.)

 

[VanV]

Zlátan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) was in the stadium, watching Spain vs Chile.

Pity he ain't in Brazil to kick some balls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4_rKJSSBs

EDIT: sorry, I'm not an author. My mistake.

 

[drteetho]

Zlátan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) was in the stadium, watching Spain vs Chile.

Pity he ain't in Brazil to kick some balls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4_rKJSSBs

EDIT: sorry, I'm not an author. My mistake.

They just showed Ibra in the stands at the England-Uruguay match.

 

[DeYaKen]

So England are probably out of the tournament. No surprises there then.

 

[ILienBagby]

Sad for England

So England are probably out of the tournament. No surprises there then.

But at least Rooney finally scored a goal in the world cup.
Watch the Republic of Korea on saturday...

 

[oggbashan]

So England are probably out of the tournament. No surprises there then.

It is just mathematically possible for them to stay in, but I wouldn't bet an old halfpenny on that happening.

 

[R. Richard]

Alas, England is basically eliminated.

Colombia 2
Côte d'Ivoire 1

Uruguay 2
England 1

Japan 0
Greece 0

 

[NaokoSmith]

I agreed to watch the England match to keep the Fella company. Just my luck it was the most boring football of the tournament. Zzzzz - wake me up when the Six Nations starts again.

 

[DeYaKen]

But at least Rooney finally scored a goal in the world cup.
Watch the Republic of Korea on saturday...

And the nation is supposed to take solace from the fact that the most expensive player in the tournament,has scored his first world cup finals goal in twelve years of trying.

 

[seth6138]

Have fun golfing Brits!

 

[Porkwarrior]

And the nation is supposed to take solace from the fact that the most expensive player in the tournament,has scored his first world cup finals goal in twelve years of trying.

The Susan Lucci of English football won her Emmy.
Yes it's crap, but if you're going to get worked up about it it's still something.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Have fun golfing Brits!

Surely you can do better than that! The Fella's Italian friend put a little kiss on his text message:

Never mind, there's always next World Cup. :bacio:

 

[ishtat]

I agreed to watch the England match to keep the Fella company. Just my luck it was the most boring football of the tournament. Zzzzz - wake me up when the Six Nations starts again.

Surely you're not going to miss the English being whitewashed by the All Blacks this weekend?

 

[R. Richard]

The azzurri loss to Costa Rica was a major surprise.

Italy 0
Costa Rica 1

Switzerland 2
France 5

Honduras 1
Ecuador 2

 

[Weird Harold]

The azzurri loss to Costa Rica was a major surprise.

Italy 0
Costa Rica 1

Even more surprising is that Costa Rica, the only non-champion in the "Champions Group" is the first to clinch a spot in the knockout rounds.

The next question is whether they will let up against England because they have nothing more to play for. It would be historic if they could advance with a a perfect Nine Points.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Surely you're not going to miss the English being whitewashed by the All Blacks this weekend?

C'mon Ishtat, you know I will be there with my tartan hat and ginger wig cheering on the All Blacks! (The white shirts will be blackwashed - surely? Anyway, their noses will be rubbed in the dirt )

In rugby we say of the French that they are like your girfriend - you never know what mood they'll show up in. (That was certainly true of my ex-girlfriend!) The WAG of French football sure showed up last night! although she seems to have gone off to the toilets to check her make-up in the last ten minutes, then returned to make a sparkling final flourish - a second too late.

 

[DeYaKen]

C'mon Ishtat, you know I will be there with my tartan hat and ginger wig cheering on the All Blacks! (The white shirts will be blackwashed - surely? Anyway, their noses will be rubbed in the dirt )

In rugby we say of the French that they are like your girfriend - you never know what mood they'll show up in. (That was certainly true of my ex-girlfriend!) The WAG of French football sure showed up last night! although she seems to have gone off to the toilets to check her make-up in the last ten minutes, then returned to make a sparkling final flourish - a second too late.

We English support the Scots when they play any one else. Well lets face it they need it more than we do. Poor souls didn't even qualify for the finals.

All will be well post independence their footy teams will dominate the world their rugger boys will win the six nations and Chris Hoy will be powering the economy on his bicycle.

Of course they might vote NO but not to worry good old Alex will force a vote every five years until they get the right answer.

 

[ishtat]

C'mon Ishtat, you know I will be there with my tartan hat and ginger wig cheering on the All Blacks! (The white shirts will be blackwashed - surely? Anyway, their noses will be rubbed in the dirt )

In rugby we say of the French that they are like your girfriend - you never know what mood they'll show up in. (That was certainly true of my ex-girlfriend!) The WAG of French football sure showed up last night! although she seems to have gone off to the toilets to check her make-up in the last ten minutes, then returned to make a sparkling final flourish - a second too late.

You've got a point about the French They turned up against Australia for the rugby today for a regulation thrashing, but we were mean to them too. We gave a debut to Will Skelton - remember the name. He's 5 inches taller and at 310 is 45 pounds heavier than Jonah Lomu. Took him 8 minutes to score and we took him off just after half time - the Froggies were a bit demoralized by then!

And the Scots beat the Argies in Cordoba - just, but near enough.

 

[Handley_Page]

So England are probably out of the tournament. No surprises there then.

But at least Rooney finally scored a goal in the world cup.

Oh, Wow. They should be paid by results. . .

Surely you're not going to miss the English being whitewashed by the All Blacks this weekend?

I never expect England to win against the All-Blacks.

 

[NaokoSmith]

We English support the Scots when they play any one else. Well lets face it they need it more than we do. Poor souls didn't even qualify for the finals.

All will be well post independence their footy teams will dominate the world their rugger boys will win the six nations and Chris Hoy will be powering the economy on his bicycle.

Of course they might vote NO but not to worry good old Alex will force a vote every five years until they get the right answer.

I will be amazed if the canny Scots vote for an impoverished independence, being booted out of Europe and getting on the wrong side of the Americans! Besides, there a load of Sassenachs living up there who will skew the vote while I have to watch it all from Wales.

You've got a point about the French They turned up against Australia for the rugby today for a regulation thrashing, but we were mean to them too. We gave a debut to Will Skelton - remember the name. He's 5 inches taller and at 310 is 45 pounds heavier than Jonah Lomu. Took him 8 minutes to score and we took him off just after half time - the Froggies were a bit demoralized by then!

And the Scots beat the Argies in Cordoba - just, but near enough.

- that's no mean feat. The Pumas are a good team.

Scotland were actually mentioned in that Sports section of The Telegraph I picked up on the train the other day:
Things we miss about the World Cup
7 - A genuine no-hoper
"We may never see as weak a team [as Zaire] again, or at least not until they change the rules to let Scotland have another go."


Meanwhile, I managed to catch the Argentina vs. Iran football match. It was really exciting! especially given there was only that one goal in extra time. Poor Iran! You couldn't help feeling for them as Messi made the ball do an inevitable beautiful heart-breaking curl into the net.

 

[DeYaKen]

Ghana are doing well 2:2 against Germany is no mean feat. hope they can hold on.