That Slovakia-Italy game was insane. The second half was incredible, some lovely goals and some borderline decisions. Easily the best game of the World Cup so far I reckon. After a hugely enjoyable Germany-Ghana game yesterday this World Cup is starting to come alive.
That Slovakia - Italy match was fucking NUTS. Vittek was outstanding - he kept on finding the gaps between Chiellini and Cannavaro and Italy paid the price. I think Quagliarella deserves to get punched in the face for trying to take the ball out of the goalie's hands after Italy got their second. What a cunt! If the goalie has his BODY AND HANDS around the ball, he has claimed the ball and you may NOT try to rip it off for a quick kick-off. Webb should have sent the fucker off. Yellow-carding Mucha was also unfair - it didn't seem like an intentional time-wasting, apart from trying to defend himself from the hands of Quagliarella. I, for one, was quite surprised to not see Weiss Jr. running on the pitch, since he played pretty well in the two previous matches. The Blue Samurai (Japan, obviously) are currently beating the Danes 2-0...
The All Whites have been knocked out. Not surprising, but to go undefeated in the world cup is pretty good. I think a move up the rankings is in order. Ah well, at least we finished above Italy.
Yep and here is some good fan reactions from around the country. I was at the Springfield, Mo one in this video and it was crazy.
S. African killed by wife, kids in TV spat (over world cup) <a class="postlink" href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5297052/ce/us/south-african-man-killed-wife-kids-changing-tv-germany-australia-game&cc=5901?ver=us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/ ... 901?ver=us</a>
Round of 16 Like several other people in the thread, I generally do not follow soccer, but I do enjoy the World Cup quite a bit. I'm also in a pick 'em pool that awards points for correct picks and correct scores. Are final scores generally higher at this stage since there's extra time/PKs to determine a winner? I'm doing OK in the pool so far (5th out of 15), but would be curious to hear everyone's thoughts on who will come out of the round of 16. My current leans are in bold. Anyone have any dark horse favorites or upsets they like? Uruguay v. Korea Republic USA v. Ghana Germany v. England Argentina v. Mexico Netherlands v. Slovakia Brazil v. Chile Paraguay v. Japan Spain v. Portugal
I'm Ghana watch the game tomorrow...even though it was really tough to get through the US / England game. And I know I'm late to the game, but when in the hell did England change their flag from the Union Jack (I know, there's a difference between England and Great Britain)? Their original flag sucks balls.
Large scale celebrations for our major sports are usually pretty rare in the states since there are so many different sports and fan base regions. Olympic competition would be the closest comparison since there is a large fan base for one team. I mean, Detroit loves their Red Wings, and Boston loves their Red Sox but outside of their major fan bases you'd never see major bar celebrations unless they just won a championship, in which case riots and overturned cars are the norm. In New England, there was a huge following for the USA hockey team in the Vancouver olympics, especially in the gold medal game.
For two of the best football nations in the world, Brazil and Portugal sure played a dreadfully boring game. What a disgrace! 0-0? Yawn... I don't care if both teams had qualified prior to the game, you play to win, for a better seed in the knock out stages if anything else. I was really looking forward to this game. But now, I must say that I want 90 minutes of my life back!
To be fair they did both play to win. They kicked the shit out of each other, racking up the yellow cards, which you don't do if you're holding for the draw. Problem is both teams are set up with very good defences, and when two teams like that collide you get a draw unfortunately. I can't wait now for Germany v. England, with the possible prize of playing Argentina if we win. I can just about see us beating Germany 1-0, then falling at the quarter finals......again.
Uruguay move past South Korea 2-1. 2 1/2 hours till kickoff and i am headed to the bar. Time for some revenge on Ghana from the 06' cup. To the bar i go. Lets go Yanks! USA USA USA.
I honestly think Ghana taking an injury nap lost more American fans for soccer than USA losing the game did.
Well, a strong first 110 or so minutes from the Black Starts before they started falling all over the field and checking their makeup. Still, Asamoah Gyan is a monster, I really like the way he plays (and the swag of the Ghana team. USA could stand to choreograph a dance or two or have Clint Dempsey freestyle into the camera, or something) and his aggressiveness eventually cost the US the finishing score. No more fun and games, now all that's left are the big names. No underdogs, just giants. Don't stop here, Ghana.
If there was ever ANOTHER reason for replay, England just got raped. Not sue how soccer can let that continue. Ridiculous.
Yah, there have been some horrendous calls this world cup. Not just the taken away goals, but the red cards too. There have been some terrible calls involving red cards that have hurt Germany, Brazil, Chile and Germany, to name a few.
Correct. I mean I cannot understand how FIFA can let this continue. I go watch rugby every week and the video ref slows down play for a minute at most. And that's sorting out a try with bodies in the way. In football it would take 30 seconds. Having said that though we deserved to lose. The defence was shocking, there was no width and Rooney might have well of been absent. David James was our best player by a mile. Awful.
That performance was so bad it's almost funny. England are, and have been for the past 20 years, a pretty awful football team. Now it's time to get rid of Capello, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and Heskey, get Roy Hodgson in as manager and start afresh. The only plus side is that Lampard's goal should force the issue of goal-line technology. As Mark Lawrenson said, it's an embarassment to the sport.