FIFA World Cup 2010

[Jason]

Well, it's one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and it's underway...

I caught the highlights of the opening ceremony which seemed to me exactly how I imagined an acid trip would be... particularly the bit with the giant dung beetle.
The games themselves haven't really captured the imagination yet, and I can tell I'm going to get really fed up of those damn Vuvuzela horn things over the next month, but I'm still loving it.

So, are you following it, and who are you supporting... and more importantly, who are you tipping to win it?

[Lance]

Um.... *sucks in air*

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE, OI OI OI!

:D

I don't care where we place this year.... as long as we knock out Italy's Olympic Diving Team..... I mean Soccer team....

[MyNameDidntFit]

Soccer has never interested me. Certainly, out of principle I'll vaguely support Australia, but other than that I don't give two hoots.

(for the record, Australia sucks ass at soccer, we're better off sticking to cricket)

[Jason]

I'm going to make it a hat-trick of pro-Aussie posts, as I drew them in the office sweepstake...

[Lance]

Ahahaha bet you were ****** about that one Jase :D

[Jason]

I felt really sorry for him actually. As a 'keeper myself, I know the amount of pressure on you - a striker can miss an open goal, get abuse from the crowd for about five minutes and then get on with his game. A keeper makes a mistake, and he'll be hearing about it for months. Both have made potentially game-changing mistakes, but for some reason the goalkeeper always gets it worse.

On the other hand, it was a pretty horrific cock-up. :D

[Archangel]

This thread is so full of Aussie win. It brings a tear to the eye.

[Anne]

USA!

*cough*

[Jason]

We are no longer friends. :p

Oh and there goes my chances in the sweepstake. The Germans are kicking some serious Socceroo backside right now.

[xander]

Anyone but France. They fucked Ireland over... no one fucks with Ireland. :P

[Jason]

Heh... if you saw the France-Uruguay game the other night, I don't think there's much chance of them making it any distance. ;)

[xander]

Seriously if we were back in the days of the IRA bombing the shit out of everything France would have been fucked. We marched to the French embassy in protest... Irish people dont march, we are far too lazy.

They get what they deserve!:p

[Jason]

If it was back in the days of the IRA, I imagine France would have pre-emptively surrendered... :lol:

[xander]

Haha I suppose they are "cheese eating surrender monkeys" :P

[Lance]

Ouch, 4-0

:( Not surprised though really. As long as we get through the group stage its all good.

[Jason]

Wow. Couple of big shocks since last time. Spain getting turned over by Switzerland, France getting played off the park by Mexico, and just now, Serbia have beaten Germany, giving Australia a great chance of going through if they manage to beat Ghana tomorrow.

[dimples]

I'm all France :D Finland of course never has made it there, so I can just forget about them every year before it's even started.
Stupid Mexico beat France :( If France won't make it, then I hope Nigeria will :D

[Lance]

Mexico.... beat France?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*takes breath*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Funny frog eaters... (that was said in all humor of course - I love the French :))

[Jason]

Yeah, looks like France are going to (ironically) get knocked out by something beyond their control: Uruguay and Mexico both only need a draw from their final group game to go through, therefore knocking France out.

Guess who's playing each other in their final group game? :lol:

[Jason]

I would just like the opportunity to state that no football was played tonight, particularly between England and Algeria. Any statements to the contrary will be met with lethal force. >_>

[xander]

I was watching the England match... couldnt score against Algeria? You let yourselves down. Laughable.

[Lance]

You know, I don't feel so bad we lost so heavily to Germany now - I mean, they're a top notch side and we're ok

But some of the results we're seeing...

[Anne]

Weird matches today. It was weird all around.

PS I'm still furious about US v Slovenia.

[Jason]

I was watching the England match... couldnt score against Algeria? You let yourselves down. Laughable.

Tell me about it. The worst bit was seeing Rooney having a go into the camera at the end about the fans booing. I believe his words were "nice to see your home fans booing you" - Sorry mate, but the reason they were booing was because your team of 'superstars' played diabolical football against an Algeria team who looked distinctly average, and YOU were the worst performer.

I've been watching England for 15-20 years now, and I can honestly say that was amongst the worst performances I've ever watched. Not just laughable, but disgraceful.

[dimples]

England was absolutely terrible against Algeria. It was painful to watch it.

Most of the good nations seem to suck this year. Don't know why.

[Lance]

Dis-*******-gusted.

What is it the umpires have against Australia? First, the Italian dive, then Cahill's red card, now Kewell's red card for a handball..... an UNINTENTIONAL HANDBALL.

Had it not been for that, we could potentially have won (we were 1 up, they scored on the free giving for the handball, but still drew despite being a man down.

It's nice to know the Aussies have to beat not only the other team, but the umps as well.

*$(% #*%$

Ok, rant over. We can still do it, maybe - we beat Serbia, Ghana beats Germany and we're in. We can only pray now.

[Jason]

You were definitely robbed with the Cahill red card, but I felt the ref was in an awkward situation with the Kewell red - the ball did hit his arm and prevented a certain goal, which the referee has to call as handball preventing a goal, and unfortunately, the letter of the law says it has to be a red card. I felt hugely sorry for Harry and Aus in general, because that was a game you could (and should - how did he miss that one at the end?!) have won.
However, I think there's enough quality in the side for you to turn over Serbia, and you just need to hope that either Ghana somehow turn over Germany or (more likely) the Germans thump Ghana.

[Anne]

Bummer Lance! That's SO frustrating. Did you get the same guy as we did against Slovenia? Disgusting.

On the other hand... YES for the US today!

The games are on so early here so I've been watching them on the computer at work. My coworkers are starting to get into it too. We were jumping around and yelling after the goal today.

[Jason]

Yeah, congrats on the win. Bearing in mind the decisions you got against Slovenia and even the one that was disallowed against Algeria, you deserved to go through.

Who knows, there's still the potential for the US to go a long way in the tournament - they're a bit of an underrated side, to be honest.

[CemeteryGates]

Anyone but France. They fucked Ireland over... no one fucks with Ireland. :P

Agreed. It should've been Ireland and Mexico on the next round, not Uruguay and Mexico with a crumbled-down France being humiliated and eliminated... making their cheating advance even worse.

Mexico is up against Argentina now... likely, we're fucked. :p
Not only is Argentina our rival and currently has a pretty scary team, but our coach, Javier Aguirre, is a complete moron. He keeps sending in the 30-somethings that are rather slow and haven't been in good form rather than using his young players which are all fast and on great shape. Javier "Chicharito" Hernández (who was recently bought by Manchester United, mind you) scored our goal against France (the fair one, anyway, the other one wasn't a penalty... stupid refs) and he has scored most times he gets the chance, but Aguirre insists on using him in the last 15 minutes when we're losing... not even Cristiano Ronaldo could come and save the day with only 15 mintes left, a team with shattered moral and all the pressure on him. Instead, Guillermo Franco has been miserably failed several goal opportunities that Chicharito would very likely score from.
Grrr, I hate Javier Aguirre! :mad:

I like Holland and Germany as my second and third teams, respectively.
I think Holland's doing great... first to classify for the World Cup, first to make it to the next round... however, I thought they'd be playing a bit stronger.
England is doing terrible. The friendly between Mexico and England... yes, Englad did win 3-1, but Mexico absolutely dominated that match. The only difference, and an important one of course, is that Mexico had a dozen goal chances and only scored once... while England had three opportunities and scored three times. Glen Johnson is doing particularly good.
Spain is also surprisingly not dominating. Spain was my pick to win the Cup, now I'm not sure... they've got little time to pick up their game.

Congrats to you Americans! Hopefully the impressive performance of your national team will inspire some of you to watch soccer from time to time now. :)
And I feel sorry for you aussies. I like Australia and I wanted them to go to the next round, but now who knows... I think Marco Rodriguez (or Chiquidracula as we call him here in Mexico :p) is a great but overly strict referee. Cahill didn't deserve a red card... perhaps a yellow, but certainly not red.

[Jason]

Got the Aus-Serbia game on right now. Pretty good game - Schwarzer's made some excellent saves. Serbia look more dangerous in short spells and seem to have more penetration to their attack, but Australia have had more possession and territory.

[Lance]

Well we won, 2-1 YAY :D

But goddamn Ghana couldn't do their job properly and beat Germany, so we got knocked out :(

[Archangel]

Yep, we got our victory, but it wasn't enough so we're not in anyway.

Bollocks, I say.

[CemeteryGates]

Bye-bye, Italy.
Japan advanced as I had hoped and expected.
Now I hope Spain makes it!

[Lance]

Yeah, Italy's National Diving Team got knocked out - good ridance

This World Cup is seeing a few powerhouses either failing to go through or struggling at best - maybe a case of over-confidence?

[MyNameDidntFit]

It's the gorram horns.

[Jason]

Yeah, some really big shocks so far. We've still managed to end up facing the Germans in the first knockout round though, so some things never change... What's the odds we go out on penalties again?

[Tiny Cy]

ooo i'm a tad excited about that game! I had a dream we won 3-1..hmm. if we make it through this round then we've got abit of a hefty run in! But we shall wait and see what happens to Spain today! Still favourites?

[Jason]

It's got to be either Spain, Brazil or Argentina, although all three are suspect at the back, particularly Argentina. I don't think we're done with the shocks at this World Cup just yet.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Yeah, some really big shocks so far. We've still managed to end up facing the Germans in the first knockout round though, so some things never change... What's the odds we go out on penalties again?

Don't worry. If you lose, just think about the war :p

[Steph]

Seriously if we were back in the days of the IRA bombing the shit out of everything France would have been fucked. We marched to the French embassy in protest... Irish people dont march, we are far too lazy.

They get what they deserve!:p

Hahahaa, bit extreme no?

AND I s'pose, since I've got to accept the fact it is part of the UK, I'd support England.

Football is on the TV every day in my house. I cannot escape it. It's like torture ... now it's even worse since it's the World Cup.
It's freakin' every where ...

I hate football.

[Archangel]

Don't worry. If you lose, just think about the war :p

Y'know, I'd opened this tab, got distracted, then opened it to look at that post...

Jase's quote is actually a pretty apt descriptor of WWII.

[Lance]

... well if they fight as well as they play soccer, England should thank god for the U.S and Australia :lol:

Though they were pretty hard-done-by with the Lampard goal - that was unfair.

[Jason]

...Gah, the worst part about that goal is that it provides some people with an excuse: "oh, if it would have been 2-2, it would have been a different game etc etc etc" - No, it wouldn't. We were crap for the majority of the tournament, and we were beaten by a better team. Not individually, mind. On paper, England are probably only behind Spain, Argentina and possibly Brazil in individual talent, but for some reason we cannot play as a damn team.

As much as it hurts to say, we didn't deserve to get anything from it, and the Germans were far better than us. At least it wasn't on penalties.

[CemeteryGates]

Well, you guys aren't alone in your pain and disappointment. Mexico was eliminated by Argentina, just as we were in 2006.
What pisses me off, is that Argentina wasn't the better the team. We played very similar, and I dare say at moments better than Argentina. But they scored with a very clear two-meter offside, and the referee changed his mind... but then Messi whines, and oh no, it's a goal again. Bullshit.
Not only that, but you know if a game has dozens of fouls, it's either a remarkably dirty game or the referee is a moron with no judgement. The latter case applies here; but he gave Argentina a handful fouls total (not that they made too much more, but some anyway) and gave Mexico more than twice as many (and the only really committed about as many as Argentina or a little less). What the fuck? And this is coming from, allegedly, one of the best referees in the World Cup. I think not.

After that, Osorio, one of our defensive players and a moron who had no place in the World Cup, especially in that match, sending the vastly superior Héctor Moreno to the bench, gives Higuaín the best goal pass he's been given in his career. That could've just as well been a goddamn own goal.

The last goal was the only real goal Argentina scored; the only moment in the game where they were able to truly better us and show it in the results.
Then Javier "Chicharito" Hernández scored a goal against Argentina... what should've been the equalizer, but wasn't.


But not only was the referee and a complete idiot who gave Argentina the victory, shattering Mexico's morale (and Mexico has a poor morale when losing by two goals, unlike many countries like Germany or the USA), but it was once again our disillusion of a coach: Javier Aguirre.
He sends in Adolfo "Bofo" Bautista, a player that according to the statistics in the FIFA website, ran less than our goalkeeper! He wasn't even making good passes as he was static... on the contrary, he was giving away balls... it was like having a rock in the field, rather than a mcuh-needed forward.
Upon realizing his mistake late in the game, Aguirre substitues him with Pablo Barrera, who should've been there from the start, and entering the game with no motivation, did very little from the moment he went in until the game ended.
Then, as an attacking midfielder, he sent in Andrés Guardado, who was an excellent choice and made a couple good goal attempts... until Aguirre decided for some very abstract reason that doesn't make sense, I'm sure, to change him for Guillermo Franco, the same idiot who had over 3 easy goal opportunities in the matches against Bafana Bafana and Les Bleus each. Him, rather than Carlos Vela, Alberto Medina, or hell, even Jorge Torres-Nilo, all of them much better options, if you even had to change Guardado.


But what really tops it all off, is the attitude Argentinians themselves. Players, coach, fans... everyone. Maradona jumping, dancing, blowing kisses and all that stupid show when their goal was a lack of judgement or worse from the referee. What an absolute asshole.
Gabriel Heinze, a guy who is so bad nowadays that he got kicked out from his former club, Real Madrid, went diving at every conceivable opportunity. Hell, he even did so when the nearest Mexican player was a meter away... and the referee marked a foul even then! Makes you consider the possibility of financial arrangements...
And then, after we're beaten, they go interviewing Argentinians and they all say stuff like "Yeah, we rolled over them, we humuliated them, we annihilated them"... Shut up, idiots. You were given a free goal, our virtually own goal, and we managed to equalize your only fair goal (admittedly a great one, but so was ours), and apart from 30 minutes or so that Mexico didn't play anything because of destroyed morale, you didn't dominate the match. This wasn't the game with Greece. Argentina had 11 shots; Mexico, 16. The possession was very similar, a 52-48, and Argentina only had more because in an attitude that goes against sportsmanship, they kept passing between the defensives and goalkeeper for minutes just to make time.


Grrr, and then Argentinians wonder why everyone in Latin America hates the vast majority of them... cheating in World Cups against Mexico, rubbing it in and ignoring political territorial claims to Antartica against Chile (and also the British), and more... :mad:



EDIT: Another mistake of Javier Aguirre was not changing our goalkeeper, Óscar "Conejo" Pérez... Green didn't work for England, so Capello sent in James. Aguirre should've sent in Guillermo Ochoa... but no, he insists on sending the guy who has given away easy goals and if it wasn't for the defense, the man who would've put us out of the World Cup earlier.
*Sigh* Idiotas. :rolleyes:

[dimples]

So many offside goals made that it's ridiculous. Spain won because of that, and it pisses me off badly. I was behind Portugal!

[Jason]

Yeah, there have been some awful calls in this world cup. FIFA need to have a long hard look at themselves over this.

[dimples]

They don't want to allow the refs to look it from the videos. Because it is always a big scandal and FIFA loves those. It really should be added that refs can replay the scenario from video to avoid unfair wins and filmings. It's so unfair to throw someone out when they didn't even touch the other player.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Soccer needs a third umpire like cricket. All sports do. It would solve so many problems and disputes. And, most importantly, would remove the whole business of me having to put up with people complaining about bad decisions >.>

[CemeteryGates]

Yeah, another assitant ref is better than video replays, because those slow the game up considerably, and I don't want soccer to lose its flow and turn into American football were the game is stopped every few seconds.

[Lance]

Wow - Holland knocked out Brazil 2-1 - that's a shocker.

I think Germany will knock out Argentina. Uruguay is a definite over Ghana, and Spain should take care of Paraguay.

All up - I'm still thinking Spain will take it out this year.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Yeah, another assitant ref is better than video replays, because those slow the game up considerably, and I don't want soccer to lose its flow and turn into American football were the game is stopped every few seconds.

The third umpire in cricket isn't just another umpire on the field. Basically, they have all of the video footage, slow-mo, noise meters, and all the other tech they use to make decisions in cricket with them and if the umpires can't make a decision they refer it to the third umpire. A streamlined version of the system would be needed for the faster-paced sports, but it would work better than what is currently in place.

[Jason]

I think Germany will knock out Argentina.

I sincerely hope you put some money on that one, sir.

[CemeteryGates]

I sincerely hope you put some money on that one, sir.


4-0
I knew it all along. :D

Argentina played a horrible football against Mexico, and despite mocking us endlessly and bragging that they stepped all over us, they only really dominated the match for very few minutes. Then Tévez starts going "Mexico is better than Germany". Right.
They took that attitude and playing style against Germany and got exactly what they deserved. :lol:

Diving and complaining to ref Ravshan Irmatov who wasn't buying it, they just wasted precious time they could've used to try and score goals.
Even in defeat, Argentina were annoying. Mertesacker approaches Higuaín to shake hands, and before just giving him his back, he faces another German player and makes a sign with his arm that in spanish means "go fuck your mother".

Doesn't matter that they had Messi, the so-called best player of the world (I still think Cristiano Ronaldo is better), Argentina weren't playing good football and finally they faced an opponent capable of showing it to the world.
Also, Maradona is a coach very much lacking in skill. While he is a great motivator, he's a poor strategist and an even worse tactician.
First goal scored, and he sends half the bench to warm up?



Anyway, Spain won, but much closer than I thought it'd be. It was a good match.
Two penalties with a 30-second difference or so! That's gotta be historic!


I think Holland's going to beat Uruguay, but Spain vs. Germany... that should be a very interesting match.

[Jason]

Whilst I'd like to see Spain win it (Best team never to have won it, in my opinion), I would LOVE to see a Germany-Netherlands final. Those two hate each other. They really really despise each other, and that would be one hell of a fight game.

[CemeteryGates]

Well, Spain won.
At least Holland fought fiercely into the extra-time.
I disliked Robben's diving... but Sneijder, once again, was the best Holland had.
As for Spain, everyone looks towards Iniesta, but I think the unsung hero of that match, and the World Cup for Spain, was goalkeeper Iker Casillas. He saved them, time and time again, from goal opportunities any other keeper would've eaten. I think he's easily among the best in the world, if the very best.

I'm disappointed because I wanted Holland to win, but I'm also very happy for Spain, my hispanic brothers. I do think it was great that two teams never to have won the Cup faced off, though.


Once again, though, the refereeing was terrible. That many yellow cards has gotta be historic, and only one red when it could've been more (like that kick to the chest), and also two penalties the English ref didn't mark, one of them very clear.


Alas, now I wait another 4 years for Mexico's next chance to greatness... it'll be interesting to see how the young players develop in that time, at least.

[MyNameDidntFit]

What I want to know is... did the octopus pick it?

[Jason]

It did indeed. It finished up 8 for 8 (somewhat ironically).

[MyNameDidntFit]

Curse that octopus.