The Official World Cup 2010 Thread

[Orange14]

Got the three points which was what was needed. It was always going to be a difficult match and Affelay should have converted one of the two chances he had to lock it down.

[Blind3]

ESPN commentator Derek Rae had it right when he said "gritty not pretty" .Now it's a case of finish first to get the second place finisher , hopefully not Italy, in the next round.

[SPL]

Gritty but not pretty sums it up . Great strike by Wesley and Affelay should have scored 2. The second one set up by KJH I was thinking shame it wasn't Affelay setting up my man as KJH would have buried it with both eyes struck.

Still fancy the Oranje to go far and for the record if they play England I would cheer on the Oranje.

[Cedric]

A good assist of Rommedahl for Denmark : 1-1 against Cameroon.

[Cedric]

And a goal for Rommedahl. 2-1.
Give him a new contract now, Ajax! Before he becomes the man of the tournament...

[Orange14]

And a goal for Rommedahl. 2-1.
Give him a new contract now, Ajax! Before he becomes the man of the tournament...

Yes, and well taken too! Has he ever scored a left footed goal for Ajax? No matter, Denmark now have a chance to go through with a win over Japan.

[SPL]

Well done Denis. Enjoyable game too .Enoh did not do much and his WC will be over after the next game.

[ofey]

2nd game for the Oranje and another unconvincing performance really.
I'm abit bothered that Bert keeps putting Van Persie as the center forward. I don't care what position he plays for Arsenal but in the Dutch system, Van Persie cannot lead a Dutch line. Someone has to tell Frank to get Bert to change the tactics.

Klas may not have played well for Milan but he is a center forward. He can lead a line. Even if Bert is anti-Klas *pun intended*, even Kuyt would be a better option.

In attacking midfield, I think Sneijder is getting bummed off a bit too much by the opposition's defensive midfield which is why there's little contribution from him besides the goal and set pieces.

One problem at a time though.

[Cedric]

France may not win the World Cup, but they deserve an Oscar for best Comedy film.

[martinkohout]

France may not win the World Cup, but they deserve an Oscar for best Comedy film.

Yeah, what the hell? They're definitely putting the funk back in dysfunctional.

'Course, I wonder what the fallout from a draw with the Kiwis will be in Italy, too....

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

ESPN commentator Derek Rae had it right when he said "gritty not pretty" .Now it's a case of finish first to get the second place finisher , hopefully not Italy, in the next round.

So much for that option, looks like its Italy in the second round. To be quite honest i would be more afraid of Paraguay, the dutch tend to underestimate teams like Paraguay, if the oranje come out focused they should beat a very overrated Italy.

[Orange14]

ESPN commentator Derek Rae had it right when he said "gritty not pretty" .Now it's a case of finish first to get the second place finisher , hopefully not Italy, in the next round.

So much for that option, looks like its Italy in the second round. To be quite honest i would be more afraid of Paraguay, the dutch tend to underestimate teams like Paraguay, if the oranje come out focused they should beat a very overrated Italy.

We played them last November in Heerenveen during one of the international friendlies. 0-0 draw. I don't think BvM is going to let this team underestimate anybody.

[rjf1]

We are going to have to play at a lot faster tempo than we have been if we expect to make it out of the second round.

[Orange14]

Our captain got the match winner for Uruguay today as they finish atop their group and move on to the round of 16.

[aveslacker]

I don't think I've ever been through an emotional ringer like the one I just went through with the USA-Algeria match.

Holy shit.

[Orange14]

I don't think I've ever been through an emotional ringer like the one I just went through with the USA-Algeria match.

Holy shit.

We had the match up on the big screen in the Board Room here at work. Totally gutted by the end of the match. Anyone who thinks a 1-0 game is boring ought to see this one as the major proof against that. It will be interesting to see who they draw in the next round. Right now it could be any of the Group D teams. Amazing how all the groups pretty much are coming down to the last match day.

[Dubbel]

Congrats to all my fellow AYSO coaches out there!

News Alert
American Youth Soccer Organization
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 – 12:00 p.m. PT
""""""""""""""""""""

AYSO Alum, U.S. Star Landon Donovan Scores Winning Goal in World Cup 2010

U.S. Qualifies to Round of 16 Off Donovan’s Goal

AYSO alumni and U.S. National team star Landon Donovan propelled the U.S. into the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 with the late game-winning goal in the waning minutes (90’ +1) of the game against Algeria in Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa.

Donovan was on the field with five other former AYSO players—captain Carlos Bocanegra, defender Steve Cherundolo, defender Jonathan Bornstein, midfielder Maurice Edu and midfielder Benny Feilhaber. The only former AYSO player who has yet to see playing time is backup goalkeeper, Brad Guzan.

[Blind3]

Rematch of 2006 : USA v. the Black Stars of Ghana . Not a revenge match, but the US should definitely want to get the bad taste of '06 elimination out of their mouths.

England v. Germany ...can't wait !!

Feel bad for Marko Pantelic, but Serbia have nobody to blame for their problems save for themselves. Great heart shown by the Aussies.

[Jojo]

Donovan's late goal was such a devastating moment for us as we were hoping to go through. Congrats to all of USA fans, our team is a little to inexperienced for this kind of tournament. Considering that population of Slovenia is around 2 million they did well and made us all proud. Now the only team left for me to cheer for is Holland, so hope they go all the way.
Goodbye from Slovenia

[SPL]

First of all well done to USA great performances and deserved to finish top of the group . I do not support England and I want the Oranje to win .Big surprise Italy being knocked out . Spain could still go out so that will be worth watching .

[Purple Cow's Ghost]

The French give up, the Americans decide to turn up at the last minute and England are left to face the Germans...hmmmmm.

Does that ring any bells...?

[Blind3]

If the English people see a sudden influx of formerly mothballed American ships arriving at their port cities , be very afraid.

[Blind3]

Netherlands didn't play a blinder of a match, but can't do any better than 9 points from 9 on offer. Netherlands v. Slovakia has a chance to be alot more open than a fixture vs. Italy or Paraguay might've been. Happy for KJH and , it pains me to admit it, for Robin Van Persie . In the case of the latter, his scoring may well be necessary for Holland to progress . Slovakia does have the likes of Vittek and Stoch , so the Dutch defense will need to put in a full day at the office to ensure they progress to the 1/4 Final.

[Manneken Pis]

I decided to make the journey up to Breda with some mates to get the "Oranje sfeer" for the game last night, and had a blast. The whole city centre was decked out in orange, lots people dressed up in orange ... a real carnival atmosphere. Lots of fun ....

[Frans]

Just thought I'd tip my hat to the All Whites. For a country with about 25 full time professional players to go through the world cup unbeaten is pretty damn amazing. I know a lot of people will criticize them for being overly defensive but who cares? Against Italy they brought on a player who has a day job at a bank and still they manage to hold those diving w*nkers to a draw.

I was at the game in Wellington when they beat Bahrain to qualify and 35000 people went absolutely nuts - I thought it couldn't get any better. Then NZ held Slovakia in their first game and people really started to take notice. The last two games had hundreds of thousands of people getting up at 2am to watch the games. Football has been leading the news every night.

Anyway, it's been fun seeing the country take an interest... Hopefully the sport keeps growing here. All that's left is for Holland to win the cup