World cup general chat

Thought we could put any general chat about the world cup in here

If you havent sen any games yet you probably shouldnt read on.


I thought the South Africa V Mexico game was really entertaining and the atmosphere looked incredible, I think there were flashes of how good South Africa can be. One thing I do think is that the Mexico keeper is going to be a liability to his team, he was helpless at the goal but just the way he played would have me worried if I was the boss.

As for the France game total borefest mainly down to the French I wouldnt be surprised if they dont qualify because that was just horrible to watch really.

David James doesn't start for England against America, Rob Green gets the nod. The lack of the experienced, commanding presence of James at the back may be the telling factor here.

White Tiger wrote:

David James doesn't start for England against America, Rob Green gets the nod. The lack of the experienced, commanding presence of James at the back may be the telling factor here.

That post hit the nail on the head.

You have to wonder now about Greens England career. Does Capello stick a knife in him or stick with him? I would definately do the former. Even if James isnt 100% . Id go with Hart.

Honestly, I dont think it was a very good performance from either team. The US looked downright scared for the first few minutes , until they got scored on. After that , they seemed to loosen up and play. That needs to stop. Hopefully it was just pre-tournament jitters

I agree. It wasn't a good performance from either side - no matter how much ITV treid to talk up England. It took the US at least 30 minutes to settle into match while England just didn't perform to a standard that one of the tournament favorites should.

The best player on the pitch, in my opinion, was Landon Donavan. Every time he got the ball he looked dangerous and caused England trouble.

In contrast England barely tested Howard for the whole game and with a midfield of the calibre they had they should have dominated the game but the combination of Lampard and Gerrard once again failed to make any real impact on the game beyond the first few minutes.

That said however the US defence was a bit suspect. Though DeMerit and Onyewu are good defenders individually they need to get more used to working with each other if the US is to get anywhere in this tournament. Cherundolo and Bocanegra will always give you good solid performances but if the center two are unstable that's not going to help you all that much.

Green was unfortunate to let in that howler but did make a good save against Altidore later in the game and if James isn't 100% I can understand not wanting to risk him. Both Green and Hart are fantastic keepers so I would expect them both to do jobs against lesser teams but James has experience on his side and he should be Englands No.1 in the knockout stages if nothing else. Of course I'd go for him straight away, and not just because he's a Portsmouth player, but there's no helping it if he's nursing an injury.

If anything I have become convinced that if the US can strengthen defence by getting their center backs working together better and find a real cutting edge they could do quite well in this tournament while my expectations of England, after that performance, remain at the low level it always has and I'm still convinced they will get no where near where they want to.

Germany's 2 up on Australia. I'm going to bed.

Well, the Germans have been very good tonight, the first team to actually look good in this tournament so far, still, gotta feel sorry for the Aussies...

Yeah this "weak" German team looked pretty dam good actually Feel bad for Australia but they need to work hard on the defnsive side of the game and I have to say the red card was a joke but to be honest it's the first bad descion I have seen so far.

I feel bad for Australia. That sort of effort against any of the teams we have seen so far wouldve been more than competitive, except for Germany that is.

It was a pretty severe beating. I have an english mate who would be taking the shit out of me constantly if it wasn't for that goal the US scored on his team. He's keeping mum for the time being.

The Aussie team's confidence is squashed. All isn't lost for us, but I imagine this will affect the team's later performance. From what I saw, they had the offense going on, but lacked any real defense.

A very good performance by the North Korean's to hold Brazil to only a 2-1 scoreline. North Korean forward Jong Tae-Se may be one of the stars of this tournmant if he can perform like that every game.

After Spains shocking loss to Switzerland, the only team that looks worthy of being called world champion is Germany.

Back in 98 , the best team after 1 match was the Czech Republic, so I guess it doesnt mean much

I don't care much about most sports, but my Dad and brother are hooked on the World Cup. It's playing every day on both of our TV sets, because using just one TV isn't enough

While I'm happy North Korea got beat, I was seriously hoping for a severe ass kicking. Particularly against Brazil. Very disappointed.

I caught the Honduras and Chile game yesterday. 'Twas alright.

North Koreans in training

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYm_b5ZQMCI

Lovely. Kim Jung Il was good enough to invent an invisible cell phone for the coach to use during the world cup.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/world-cup-2010-north-korean-coach-talks-kim/story?id=10931655&page=1

How fucking insane are these people!??!?

Just watched Germany V Serbia and I think I have seen the most inept performance from a referee so far in this tournament he used the yellow card more times than was needed, sent off a player which was an absolute joke of a descion which in turn ruined the game, a Serbia player jumps the ad boards the moat and celebrates with the fans and doesnt even get warned, misses a stonewall penalty at the last minute and when a player tries an overheard kick he gave a free kick for high feet. This guys performance has to be looked at and he needs to be sent home to Spain becuase you cant have morons like that in charge of major games.

The Malawian ref needs to go home too.

The USA made a remarkable comeback in the 2nd half and deserved the win, but was denied by a bad call. Maurice Edu was clearly on side (there was a player offsides but was passive), so the ref presumably blew for some foul in the box. Several replays showed no fouls by the US, but 1 or 2 that couldve been given as penaltys . Landon Donovan (the team captain ) asked what the infringement was , but the ref wouldnt say.

Earlier in the match Robbie Findley was booked in the box for a handball that replays showed clearly didnt happen, not only denying the ensuing goal-scoring chance, but making Findley ineligible for the crucial next match against Algeria.( no biggie, Id rather see Edson Buddle anyways)

England once again were their usual dissapointing self with a draw with Algeria. They have never once failed to dissapoint my expections of them at a major final and to think, some people think their title contenders!

One thing that wasnt mentioned on the TV was that really Algeria were probably the better team they looked more like a team and all thier players were comfortable on the ball and they got the ball in the box a good few times. England looke pretty disjointed and I can only think of ne shot that worried the keeper.

I want to see someone do an experiment with this ball. I want to see David Beckham take at least 10 freekicks with this world cup call and see if he can hit the target the majority of the time because he's a freekick specialist and if he can't hit the target then this ball must be useless. Its either the ball or everbody in this tournament have been useless at set pieces so having a experiment with Beckham would sort out whats what.

I heard a rumor that North Korea paid a bunch of people from China to pretend to be North Korean fans in the stands. Does anyone know if that's true?

I heard that the Jubalani ball is basically the same Adidas ball that has been in use in Spain, Germany, and the USA all year. If that is the case, it would explain why most of the complaints are comming from England-based players.

I also heard that Umbro wouldnt even let England practice with the Adidas ball until just weeks before the tournament. Way to shoot your team in the foot

To be honest it's not just English players there have been complaints from the French, Germans, Italians, Ivory coast and one of the South American teams. I thikn the problem players have is that this ball was meant to make things hard for the keepers and as such bring more goals to the game but whats really happend is the opposite because the ball is going all over the place, I know Addidas say that if you hit it perfectly it will hit the back of the net but how often in a game do you manage to manage to hit it absolutley perfectly?
I think the ball is a nightmare and the fact that FIFA and UEFA will not endorse it for future competitions at club or international level is telling

The Italians had reverted to type and cheated to gain themselves a penatly after going a goal down against New Zeeland - which they've just socred. In truth there was shirt pulling involved but it was not to the level that was deserving of Danielle Se Rossi's dive that gained the penalty. After cheating New Zeeland's close neighbour Australia in the last tournament they now added to thier Oceanic spree or underperforming against that regions countries and cheating to gain themselved benefits when things go wrong.