The Official World Cup 2010 Thread

[aveslacker]

I will watch Suarez later ,not sure if Lodeiro will be asub . I suppose I do not want Suarez to have a good WC as we may be able to keep him another year.

Either way, we benefit. If some team comes in with a big offer for him, our financial situation gets better. If not, we keep Luis. Positives all around.

[aveslacker]

So far I see no reason for us to worry about Suarez leaving. He was pretty quiet against France. France has been pretty weak.

EDIT: and now Lodeiro gets a red.

[Cedric]

And a red card for Lodeiro.

[Orange14]

So far I see no reason for us to worry about Suarez leaving. He was pretty quiet against France. France has been pretty weak.

Lodeiro just sent off for a second yellow. Suarez subbed off at 72 minutes.

[Blind3]

Nasty tackle by Lodeiro, Forlan's screaming miss, and Henry's call for a handball on a Uruguayan defender (whose hand was clearly down and almost looked glued to his stomach) were about all I took out of France v. Uruguay. Otherwise, pretty much a snooze fest. Enjoyed South Africa v. Mexico much more than France v. Uruguay.

[Orange14]

France looked pretty solid defensively (or maybe Uruguay is offensively inept); otherwise it was quite boring. It will be interesting to watch Argentina and Nigeria tomorrow.

[Tom_]

Yeah it's on ESPN. How did that first Mexican goal get disallowed. That was a complete fake call.

Huh? He was about a yard offside wasn't he? The 'keeper had come out...

[Amol]

Huh? He was about a yard offside wasn't he? The 'keeper had come out...

Yes, the keeper came out and threw off my offside radar .After reading up on offside rules on FIFA.com, I stand corrected. The two mexican players were between the last defender(Pienaar) and the 2nd last defender - so it's an offside.

[Tom_]

Yes, the keeper came out and threw off my offside radar .After reading up on offside rules on FIFA.com, I stand corrected. The two mexican players were between the last defender(Pienaar) and the 2nd last defender - so it's an offside.

I heard on the grapevine the ESPN commentators didn't get it either... that wouldn't be good ol' Tommy Smyth would it?

[Philippe]

Nasty tackle by Lodeiro, Forlan's screaming miss, and Henry's call for a handball on a Uruguayan defender (whose hand was clearly down and almost looked glued to his stomach) were about all I took out of France v. Uruguay. Otherwise, pretty much a snooze fest. Enjoyed South Africa v. Mexico much more than France v. Uruguay.

Agree. The whole group seems very mediocre : South Africa and Mexico had ne defense, and France had no attack.

[souras84]

Wow we (Greece) were disgusting today! And Argentina didnt impress me at all. Lets see whats going on with England and the US

[Blind3]

Call it what you will , " Robbie Howler" or " The Hand of Clod " , the US was gifted a goal . Sill , you can't score if you don't shoot. Clint Dempsey ... YOU ARE THE MAN !! On balance, I believe the result was fair.

I wasn't planning on being awake at 7 AM tomorrow for Slovenia and Algeria, but the result in Rustenberg today has changed my plans.

[Blind3]

Ruud Gullit meet Yogi Berra. Heard tonight on ESPN : If you don't shoot, you always miss .

[Manneken Pis]

Call it what you will , " Robbie Howler" or " The Hand of Clod " , the US was gifted a goal .

Well that's one British spill the Yanks won't be complaining about!!!

[aveslacker]

Call it what you will , " Robbie Howler" or " The Hand of Clod " , the US was gifted a goal .

Well that's one British spill the Yanks won't be complaining about!!!

I like this so much I want to marry it.

Great game from an entertainment perspective (although I almost wanted to vomit for much of the day yesterday). I think 1-1 is a fair result. England had a lot of possession but were pretty well negated for much of the match. Green's howler was truly awful, but he made a great save on Altidore in the second half.

Very happy with this result.

[Monkey Tonk]

Ruud Gullit meet Yogi Berra. Heard tonight on ESPN : If you don't shoot, you always miss .

That was a loose translation of one of Cruyff's famous sayings.


It's a pity they're so hard to translate.

"If I had wanted you to understand, I would have explained better."

"The hard thing about an easy match is to make a weak opponent play bad."

"I'm against everything. Until I make a decision. Then I'm for it."

[Mr_Holte]

Thought we (England) controlled the match and other than the howler from Green, thought we looked OK. The problem we have is that Green is a very average keeper, and Heskey who cannot get in the Villa side up front. Quater finals again and no more for us I reckon. Drawing to the US isn't as much of a disaster as the UK media is making it out to be. They have 1 or 2 decent players.

[Monkey Tonk]

Thought we (England) controlled the match and other than the howler from Green, thought we looked OK. The problem we have is that Green is a very average keeper, and Heskey who cannot get in the Villa side up front. Quater finals again and no more for us I reckon. Drawing to the US isn't as much of a disaster as the UK media is making it out to be. They have 1 or 2 decent players.

The problem with England, historically, is that they don't know how to play like a team (in the national team), because there is no underlying team philosophy. Now they think Rooney is going to make it happen. Before that, it was Beckham. But these star players can't make the difference without a team concept that everybody buys into. First you need a team concept, a precise and well defined way of how to play the game; not just what the role of each player is, but also how that role links to the roles of the others. That's the foundation, the stuff that allows a team to gel. Then, on top of that, individual class can lift the team to the next level. Without a clear team concept, the individual class can't be used effectively. That's why the English are no better than an average European side.

[Blind3]

Fair play to Slovenia for a well organized, if often dull, 1:0 win v. Algeria. The Algerian keeper was shocking , both in his out Greening Green howler and in his fashion sense. Handanovic looked like an excellent keeper for Slovenia . He and his back four definitely present a challenge for the US in the next match . CB Cesar looked very good.

[Blind3]

Speaking of the US, I don't know if John Harkes (ESPN Presenter) had any inside knowledge or was just stating the obvious when he said Tim Howard could have broken rib(s). Marcus Hahnemann is talented, but Tim Howard he aint.

P.S. Marko Pantelic on from the start v. Ghana. So far... one hopeful forty yarder, one near side post attempt , one offside, and a nice thru ball skidding off the inside of his laces. Not the stuff of legend, but he hasn't been invisible by any means.

[Jojo]

Fair play to Slovenia for a well organized, if often dull, 1:0 win v. Algeria. The Algerian keeper was shocking , both in his out Greening Green howler and in his fashion sense. Handanovic looked like an excellent keeper for Slovenia . He and his back four definitely present a challenge for the US in the next match . CB Cesar looked very good.

Our team definitely deserved a win an got it thanks to Algerian keeper, although they played very nervously and their passing was poor. This was the worst game for Slovenia for 2 years yet we won and look forward to match against USA. Defence was solid but expect to see more from Koren, Novakovic and perhaps Matavz who had a good season at Groningen.
Handanovic is one of the best keepers (even Buffon agreed) in Italy and is, according to Gazzetta dell Sport, main candidate for transfer to Bayern Munich.

Hope we get through

[Philippe]

It's another miracle by Il Dottore Capello aka dickhead to play so poorly with so many gifted played. Surprisingly good play by the US though.

[rjf1]

.. Marko Pantelic on from the start v. Ghana. So far... one hopeful forty yarder, one near side post attempt , one offside, and a nice thru ball skidding off the inside of his laces. Not the stuff of legend, but he hasn't been invisible by any means.

I thought Marko had quite a good game. Nothing spectacular, but he made a number of really excellent passes to set up his teammates, and seemed to pretty much be in the thick of things, otherwise.

[AsgAarD_xxx]

This World Cup seems to be worse than last one. Most of games are boring, there are no offensive actions etc. But I know that it is the beginning and some good teams haven't played yet.
And the worst thing: vuvuzelas (?). Geez!!!!

As for the teams - I am sure that Argentina won't win the cup. They have great forwards, but:
1. Maradona is a crappy coach
2. They don't have any good goalkeeper
3. Gutierrez? Come on, does Maradona really think he is better than Zanetti? They need a rival with good left winger. Gutierrez won't stop any action. Or he will, but he will be sent off ;).

Germans won't win. They have only one good defender (Lahm). But it is typical tournament team and even with bad players they can reach semi-finals.
BTW: they have only 11 or 12 pure Germans (if I can say that) in 23-player squad.

[Van basten]

Not great play fromOranje today, but in this phase of tournament 3 points is most important. Go Oranje!!!