FIFA: Germany 2006

[gr3atfull]

Tomorrow is a big day!

FIFA 2006 will start tomorrow in Germany. The games will be located in 12 different cities (Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Hanover, Kaiserslautern, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart). It will be for one month (June 9th to July 9th)

32 countries will participate are:

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Costa Rica
Côte d’Ivoire
Croatia
Czech Republic
Ecuador
England
France
Germany
Ghana
Iran
Italy
Japan
Korea Republic
Mexico
Netherlands
Paraguay
Poland
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
Serbia and Montenegro
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Ukraine
And finally United States

Of course, I will be cheering for Iran. If they loose, I will be cheering for any other third world country since they are usually better at soccer than anyone (my opinion).

Any soccer fans, or any lucky person going to Germany to watch the games?

For more information about the schedule, teams, or anything else: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/

[Thi3f]

....................

[Xollence]

I doubt this year's Korean team will be able to get up to 4th place again.

[FrogKing]

I can't wait till tomorrow!!! I will be planted at a local pub watching Germany vs Costa Rica bright and early! In a couple of weeks I will be in Germany watching either a 2nd round match or a quarter final game (depending on the match ups). I am pulling for the US (but their chances of exiting the group play is gonna be a stretch) and Japan (another tough bracket with the Aussie's, Kewell is back!, and of course Brazil). In Germany, I'll be surrounded by Brazians (my sister-in-law's family) so I am sure the Samba fever will be infectious and i'll be on board with them. CAN'T WAIT!!!

[gr3atfull]

Well, FrogKing, lucky you. I really envy you! When you are going to watch the games, please take pictures and post them!

[PSJ]

Tomorrow is a big day!



Of course, I will be cheering for Iran. If they loose, I will be cheering for any other third world country since they are usually better at soccer than anyone (my opinion).




That doesn't make sense. The team that scores the most goals is the better team.

I want Sweden to win of course but we will probably only make it to the quarter finals. A friend of mine who is a huge soccer fan and also knows very much said that he thinks Argentina will take it home this year so i'm going with them for the gold.

[gr3atfull]

What do you mean it doesnt make sense?

[Splash!]

Finally a World Cup Thread!!
Damn you Frogking you Lucky Bastard! I hope you have a great time though and you probably will.
Personally i am rooting for Italy being a big Italian soccer fan. I think alot of nations have assembled good teams this year that have the potential to go all the way. A lot of people think its going to be all about Brazil but i would definitely disagree with them. Sweden has good chances of getting quite far, what, with Larsson and Imbrahimovic. Although it was sad that the Dutch didnt even qualify last year, i think they will do quite well this year as well. The German team isnt looking all that strong apart from well maybe Ballack but home support can make all the difference!

[Winged Dancer]

Some people here at saying that we, Mexico, actually have a chance of winning this year.

I, of course, laugh loudly at the idea. Please! If we get to quarters that's too much.

Anyway, I bed some kind of freaky time-and-matter alteration Japan will be champion, and then they'll make 4673 anime series about it.

Otherwise, my money's on Brazil, they're usually the best team and while normally France would give them a run for their money I heard that one of their best players broke a leg yesterday or something.

Germany itself is a pretty good team, same goes for England, Italy and Holland... I wouldn't mind any of those teams to win, maybe because of the extremely stupid and shallow reason of the players being pretty good-looking.

I won't be watching the games at any rate, so, eh, I'll just come to yell if Mexico happens to win any matches.

*leaves topic*

[PSJ]

What do you mean it doesnt make sense?

You wrote that third world countries are usually better(in your opinion). If you would have left "in your opinion" out of it it would have made sense. The strength of a team isn't a personal preference, that was what i meant by it not making any sense. Now i am not a big soccer enthusiast but from what i know there are just as many first world countries in the top as there are 3rd world countries.


@WD: Italians looking good? Blasphemy!! All soccer players are homos! Real men play more manly sports.

On a more serious note, i would be suprised if Germany got far, one of their key players injured himself a short while ago and they had at least 4 more players who were uncertain if they could play.

Holland kicked our asses in the last European championship so i hope they get kicked out early, we had a good game against Italy that same year so i think it's a bit more open this year. But Brazil and Argentina will probably duke it out for the Gold, and Argentina will come out on top after a late goal in the second half, that's my bet. Would love to see Sweden repeat 1994 and take a bronze.

[gr3atfull]

^
Now I understand what you mean.

[Edort4]

Its Hard to say who is going to win (anyone bet for greece 2 years ago?). Germany plays at home, that alone is a plus (ask korea if its not) so they are going to get far, like brasil.

Then we have another few teams that have the potential to win and playing in europe will help teams like france, italy, holland, england etc to play "at home". So im betting lots of europe teams at quarters plus brazil and maybe argentina (a team with LOTS of potential but sometimes they play like shit, like at the last world cup). Czech rep is another team to watch, not favourite but has great players, maybe we can see them at semifinals.

Here we are always talking about winning or going to the finals but we always fall at quarters, people think that having one of the worlds best leagues makes you automatically a favourite.

Lets see what happens in this first games. To win or lose the first match is half of the competition.

[ChaosK]

Yeah, I got this weird feeling that Argentina is gonna win it (3 years ago I was in Taiwan for the Fifa cup and I won an Argentina Fifa bear...it was at some sorta carnival...I digress)

[DB_Hunter]

Well I live in England and all the debate has been skewed by Wayne Rooney's metatarsel (a bone in the foot) injury and if he will play in the world cup or not. Apparantly he has recovered now but is not match fit, so no one really knows when he will get to play. Of course everyone in England expects the team to progress past the group stages... personally I think alot depends on the first game against Paraguay... if England beat Paraguay then I think it is safe to assume they will be in the next round, since I don't forsee Trinadad & Tobago giving any trouble. A draw against Sweden would be enough anyway.

[Munsu]

I've always liked Italy to win it, and they've always dissapointed me. Even with the chance to win it in penalty kicks, with your best player kicking, he fucking misses. Last time, they got robbed in Korea, we can all agree to that.

If the Italians don't make it, i'd like for Argentina or Spain to get it. I kinda like the England team too, and then comes the United States, even though I don't like them as a soccer team, being "American" I'll always have a small portion of myself rooting for them.

Sweden and Germany are always fun to watch. Don't care much for France, and I've always hated the Brazil team, I hope they lose in an embarrassing fashion.

[DB_Hunter]

What's wrong with the Brazil team? They are like the magicians of world football on most days. I think you don't have to worry as to how they lose... if they do lose they will do so in an embarassing manner.

[Splash!]

Even with the chance to win it in penalty kicks, with your best player kicking, he fucking misses.

Ahh Baggio, such a great player yet that one penalty kick scars him for life. Yeah Italy has been dissappointing over the years, in particular the national team has had lousy coaches that have focused too much on defense. However, this time around the Italian team is more centered around midfield and attack which hasnt happened in a long time. Although i am not that big a fan of brazil either, but players like ronaldinho and kaka just make me like the brazilian squad all that much more. The others this time around dont grab my attention all that much but those two are really something. And as already mentioned, Czech Republic shows a lot of promise

[RyougaZell]

I should be rooting (sp?) for Mexico... but until I see their first game I won't... they kinda sucked in the friendly matches.

Anyway... my money is on Spain, Portugal, Corea and Ecuador.
Why them? Cause those are the teams I got via draw. Im paying 250 pesos (about 22dlls), and if any of those 4 win the World Cup (come on Portugal...) I'll win 1600 pesos (about 145 dlls).

Now... aside from money... Croatia, England or Germany should win. I want a Latin team to win... but Im kinda sick of both Argentina and Brazil... out of those two... only Mexico and... well... bleh to my own team...

Oh yeah... I hope USA get eliminated on the first round :D

[kooshi]

Being a Korean myself, I'll obviously be rooting for Korea. At least this time, they won't luck out as they did last time. I saw so many things that weren't suppose to happen in favor of Korea, so at least this year will be different. I'd like to see how well they do without the home advantage ^^

[Psyke]

World Cup starts today! Going to be a long month for me with all those late night matches due to the time difference. I watch the English Premiere League, but I seriously have doubts that England is going to win it. I'm going to support Japan and England, but I have this feeling Brazil is going to be champions (again).

[Winged Dancer]

Now... aside from money... Croatia, England or Germany should win. I want a Latin team to win... but Im kinda sick of both Argentina and Brazil... out of those two... only Mexico and... well... bleh to my own team...

Oh yeah... I hope USA get eliminated on the first round :D

I can't stand Argentina - try being in a bus full of 'em for three hours and I swear to God you'll want to kill anyone who says "sho" instead of "yo". I didn't watch the last friendly matches we had but I know from my brother that we either sucked or we were experimenting with the team formations.

All that aside...

Your last line is wisdom. Complete, and absolute wisdom that has nothing to do with us being Mexican. So there.

[DB_Hunter]

Well half an hour till the first match kicks off and then we will be on our way. I hope its a good world cup, last time the the final was boring because everyone knew that Brazil was going to win that... Germany have been a great team over the years but last time round they sucked and it was amazing that they got to the final. Anyways lets see hwot hey do against Costa Rica now. I reckon a convincing win, anything less and you can forget the Germans for this world cup, even if they do end up in the final again.

[Edort4]

Well here we go. 3 goals in 18 minutes this is fun. Today we can see how the referee are going to do their jobs.

Its very important to see what kind of arbitration they are going to do, if they are going to punish hard game and destructive players or not. I dont like faulty teams (italy, germany) and I love creative game (brasil for example) but usually referee let defenders to use excesive force to cut the game.

[DB_Hunter]

The Germans arn't really being tested... they have too much space. Costa Rica are playing too narrow and Germany are taking advantage by attacking down the right flank and using their width. Despite the goals I am not convinced of Germany's chances so far.

[Psyke]

Been a while since we've had a high scoring 1st game. Anyway I'm already looking forward to England's match tomorrow. *need sleep*

[DB_Hunter]

Yep England's game should be good tomorrow. Steven Gerrard should be fit for the game so England should have some attacking teeth.

On another note if England meet Germany in the next round I think Germany will lose. England have a very good defense, and with the suspect German one it shouldn't be too difficult to get some goals. It remains to be seen what impact Michael Ballack will have for the Germans, but at the back they won't last long.

[Splash!]

Poland's loss to ecuador was harsh. Maybe 1-0 would have been alrite, but the second goal was just a little too much, i dont think Poland deserved to lose that bad. They did press on hard in the second half, but i guess luck wasnt with them, with two shots hitting the cross bar. Also i think Ecuador did a very good job defending. In the second half, it seems Poland forgot to pay attention to their defense and one counter attack was enough for Ecuador to score the second goal and bag the game. ALot of time hogging from the Ecuadorians in the second with a yellow card shown for wasting time.

@Edort4: What do you mean by a 'faulty' team?

Edit: [DOWN] I don't know CK, i think Italy has a really strong team this time around and they have been sizzling in the friendly's, not that those mean anything. But still keep in mind this Italian is nothing like the team from Euro 2004 or from the last world cup. They are all players that have been in really good form this year.

[ChaosK]

I guess the result of Germany vs Costa was expected...

Czech will elimate Italy :D

[RyougaZell]

I can't stand Argentina - try being in a bus full of 'em for three hours and I swear to God you'll want to kill anyone who says "sho" instead of "yo". I didn't watch the last friendly matches we had but I know from my brother that we either sucked or we were experimenting with the team formations.

All that aside...

Your last line is wisdom. Complete, and absolute wisdom that has nothing to do with us being Mexican. So there.

I have several argentinan friends at work. They are nice people. But true, most of them are very arrogant... at least I got nice ones.

And yeah... last line is pure wisdom :D

We have no internet at work :mad: , so we had to rely on those people that had a radio... but with all the systems they are barely audible...


PS: Donovan sux big time.

[Psyke]

Argh! Can't believe how badly England played against Paraguay..... This despite all the hype that they're the best England squad in recent years and that they can go all the way this time. They've played so badly I'm not even sure if they can make it to the last 16. :(

[Swallow Your Soul]

We (England) were good in the first half but terrible in the 2nd half today. Eriksson's fault imo, he takes off Owen and leaves us kicking balls up to Crouch but with no-one to pick up the flick ons...our manager is famous over here for making insane substitutions and he carried on today...realistically though the result is all that matters so its all good.

Obviously I want England to win and I do think we've got the best team since I've been following football though taking only three main strikers plus Theo Walcott could mess us up big time (as was shown today - we take off one striker and had no-one suitable to replace him with). We just have to hope Rooney is fully recovered by the end of the group stage (assuming we pass it).

Brazil will probably win it in the end, along with yet another devastating way for England to go out as per usual...I can't see Italy or Germany doing it, and I don't think the World Cup will be as unpredictable as the Euro Championships where teams like Greece and (in the past) Denmark have a chance of winning.

Hopefully the Swedish and Argie games will be good as the games haven't been very entertaining so far...


Argh! Can't believe how badly England played against Paraguay..... This despite all the hype that they're the best England squad in recent years and that they can go all the way this time. They've played so badly I'm not even sure if they can make it to the last 16. :(

Don't worry about that, its pretty rare for us to even WIN the first game let alone play well :p - we never do things the easy way...I reckon we should be ok but I'm a bit worried our players might bottle it when they're under pressure against a big team...

[PSJ]

Sweden's game was a huge disappiontment. We had all the chances but never scored. The coach's fault for not doing the substitutions in time.

[darkmetal505]

Iran vs Mexico tommorow. Thats one I'll definetly watch.

[DB_Hunter]

My days Sven Goran Eriksson is a complete prat for what he did in the second half. Clearly he does not have confidence in Theo Walcott, seeing as how he wasn't brought on and Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard were made to try and be support strikers. Crouch is completely useless, he can't do anything by himself up front except intercept the long ball, and even then he has trouble.

I think the first half was OK to good. Though the team were citing the 30C heat as an issue I think it was poor tactics by the manager. He was trying to replicate an Italian style of football... English football is typically more attacking than what he was trying to do in the second half, which is why the team were all over the place. I most certainly don't think that England will win the World Cup if this keeps up, never mind all the talk about how its a good omen that England have one their first game, which is rare. Omens mean jack all.

The only hope England have is that Rooney is match fit ASAP and he starts to introduce some creativity in the team. That and Eriksson stops mucking around with the formation so much in the middle of a match... it simply breaks the flow of the game.

[RyougaZell]

First half of Mexico vs Iran was equally matched.
Mexico scored first, but when Iran tied, they grew. Iran played good in the first half, but bad in the 2nd.
LaVolpe's changes, Kikin for Borguetti, Luis Perez for Guille, and Sinha for Torrado worked nicely.
At times I got worried, but at the end we won. Great victory, and Iran... wow... never expected that kind of team... but well... before today I never saw them play.

[Swallow Your Soul]

Sven seems to like playing that kind of football though, which doesn't play to our strengths at all. I'm gutted we're replacing him with McClaren though, Allardyce would have been better (even though Boro jammily made the UEFA finals I don't rate him or the job he has done there at all).

I'm not a big fan of Crouch but I think he's been alright so far, he didn't stand a chance in the 2nd half considering people were just lumping high balls to him and he had no-one to head them to...he's got good close control and when he's playing well he can score a few goals...still can't see why we didn't take Bent or Defoe as well though. As for the bad players, I hate to join the Hargreaves bandwagon but I really can't see what he adds to the squad.

I don't think its a good omen that we won, I was just relieved that we did despite playing badly because we never start well, and a mark of good teams is that they win even when they play badly sometimes (eg, Arsenal play gorgeous football and don't win much, whereas often the red filth and Chelsea often have bad games but almost always win).

I still think we will be decent enough when we get going - we're fine from the keeper to the midfield, the main problem will be scoring as we only seem to be able to score from set pieces - hopefully Becks doesn't get injured and now we're in a comfortable position in the group so its less likely that we'll need to rush potato head back.

[Winged Dancer]

Yay, we won!

We could've played better but we won, that's good enough...

3-1, too.

Hey Ryouga, didja see in today's newspapers the cadidates predictions for the game? Seems that the Peje was the closest. I wonder if that means he'll win come July....

[RyougaZell]

Yay, we won!

We could've played better but we won, that's good enough...

3-1, too.

Hey Ryouga, didja see in today's newspapers the cadidates predictions for the game? Seems that the Peje was the closest. I wonder if that means he'll win come July....

We don't buy the newspaper at home. And I kinda woke up 10 minutes before the game :D

I hope Peje doesn't win.

Portugal almost made the fastest goal on a World Cup, but they missed. If they had scored it would had been at 12 seconds...

[gr3atfull]

First half of Mexico vs Iran was equally matched.
Mexico scored first, but when Iran tied, they grew. Iran played good in the first half, but bad in the 2nd.
LaVolpe's changes, Kikin for Borguetti, Luis Perez for Guille, and Sinha for Torrado worked nicely.
At times I got worried, but at the end we won. Great victory, and Iran... wow... never expected that kind of team... but well... before today I never saw them play.

That game was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved it. Both teams were great. I cant believe the goalkeeper made a mistake in the end of the second half! I loved the fist goal Mexico did. I was really well done. Mexico deserved the win of today. Iran played well, but wasnt the best game they played. Oh well, they will play better on the 17th against Portugal.

[Splash!]

Speaking of Portugal, their game against Angola was extremely boring. The first ten minutes of the game were rather exciting but after that goal by Pauletta and a few good plays by Figo and Ronaldo, it seems that portugal didnt care about playing well anymore. Their heart really wasnt in the game. Although they won, i dont see the Portuguese getting far in the tournament if they play like they did today.

The Dutch Game was a really good one despite the lack of goals. It shows that Group C really is the Group of Death. Serbia and Montegro seem to be a really strong team and they have had an amazing qualifying run. Also, judging from yesterday's match, we can clearly see that even the Ivorians are a team to be reckoned with as well.

[Psyke]

Serbia and Montegro was a much better team than I expected and gave Holland quite a bit of problem, though Robben was easily the man of the match, with him being a constant threat down the flanks. Good game, but so far the team which has impressed me most is Germany. They're the team who seems to concentrate of attacking rather then defending (cough* England* cough). Maybe it's because they have an ex-striker as a manager.... :)

[kAi]

Half time in the aussie v jap game.
This match is rigged, get a ref with some eyes.


WE JUST TURNED THIS SHIT UPSIDE DOWN IN THE LAST 10 MINUTES

3 - 1


AUSSIE'S FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Psyke]

Yeah the last 10 minutes must have broken many Japanese hearts. Felt so sorry for them as they were seemingly on their way to victory..... But as they say the ball is round, and you'll never know what can happen. Man Utd Vs Bayern Munich is the perfect example, for those who still remember......

[FrogKing]

Dammit, Japan going down to the Aussies 1-3 and then the US getting handled 0-3...I didn't really think they had a chance against the Czech's but it looked like they didn't even give it a shot, weak passes, poor spacing. Gotta hand it to the Czech's though, they have an awesome midfield.
Both the US and Japan have tough games remaining and will be important to play well to advance. I guess I'd rather take on Italy then Brazil but in reality both are monsters...Hopefully, Ghana vs US and Japan vs Croatia will go better for both teams.

[Splash!]

Italy beat Ghana 2-0. Solid play by the Italians, both in terms of Attack in the first half and defense in the second. Got to hand it to Ghana though, i think they played really well. That mistake by Kaffour at the end was kind of heatbreaking. It was in the end, a really exciting match to watch. This Group is really going to interesting, especially who comes in first place because second place faces the top team in brazil's group and many of us already have a hunch as to what that team is going to be.

[rockmanj]

I am embarassed to be from the U.S. That was terrible...our passign sucked, our defense was spotty...sigh

[Munsu]

Italy beat Ghana 2-0. Solid play by the Italians, both in terms of Attack in the first half and defense in the second. Got to hand it to Ghana though, i think they played really well. That mistake by Kaffour at the end was kind of heatbreaking. It was in the end, a really exciting match to watch. This Group is really going to interesting, especially who comes in first place because second place faces the top team in brazil's group and many of us already have a hunch as to what that team is going to be.
Indeed, Ghana played well... They only needed an accurate striker, they were shooting all over the place. I thought that their passing was great, and they were very fast when they they were in the open field, putting the Italian's defense in trouble a couple of times. But, they were pretty bad when they were 1 to 1 with an Italian defender, either because they lack skill or the Italian defender was that much more skilled. I think this will be the hardest match Italy will face in this group, the US has no one that can be a real threat to them. Maybe the Czech's, but I have my doubts about their quickness, though they have some huge forwards that can cause trouble.

[RyougaZell]

Wohoo!! Czechs ruled!!

I wonder if Donovan is hiding under a rock... who was going to be humilliated again?

[Edort4]

Italy and Czech rep have a lot of similarities. Both have a very good defense and players on the forward that could turn the balance anytime. Maybe Italy is better at the overall team but I think that in their match everything will be decided by individual actions and both teams have great strikers. Even that said Im going with Italy for group leader.

On the other hand I have to say that Im very dissapointed with Serbia-Montenegro. Their match against Holland was bad. I have seen 2-3 matches (we where in their classification group) and they play a lot better. Dunno why but these kind of teams always seem to fail at the important matches, its like if they dont believe in their own potential and posibilities.

Lets see what Brasil can do against a good european defensive team and what kind of France do we have in this world cup (I hope it is like the france of 1998-2000 and we get to see very good footbal).

[Munsu]

Wohoo!! Czechs ruled!!

I wonder if Donovan is hiding under a rock... who was going to be humilliated again?
Donovan is very very overrated... Actually he's not, it's just the American media talking crap as always.

[Jadugar]

Australia pulled through at the end and they deserved it.

South Korea made a good impression.

France was a disappointment. The team look puzzled. Even Zidane was not upto his old tricks.

I am so looking forward to this match...

Brazil Vs Croatia

is just about to start......

[Munsu]

As I've said before I hate Brazil, though I actually like Ronaldo. Anyways, I hope they win, because I want Italy to go through them in their road for the WC champinship. If you're going to win it all, you have to go through them.

[Splash!]

Half Time. Great Goal by Kak'a. Brazil aggressive and convincing as usual but croatia seem to be holding in there quite well.

@ Bud: you might like Ronaldo but i personally i think he is extremely overrated nowadays. He had his moments around 98 and before that but since then, Ronaldo has never been that Great.Currently, Brazil's talent is centered around other much better players. Also Ronaldo has been quite dissappointing so far in this game

EDIT:
EndGame: I believe that the score line was a fair representation of this game. Brazil played well enough to deserve the win but Croatia really pressed on and there were several oppurtunities on which they could have equalized. Although no goals were scored in the second half, it was exciting none the less with several chances for both sides. You have to give Croatia full marks for having the right mix of offense and defense. However it just wasnt enough against Brazil

[Munsu]

Never said that I thought that Ronaldo is good, I simply like him.

[Jadugar]

As I've said before I hate Brazil, though I actually like Ronaldo.

Everybody loves Brazil and I mean everybody, so you are not even in the minority. :p

It’s the other way around for me, I love Brazil and I hate Ronaldo. No hate is a strong word to use. I don’t think he was on the pitch the first half. Ronaldo totally looked disinterested. He looked so stiff. He was not moving at all. He has put on a lot of weight. I wanted something special from him. On the other hand Ronaldenio moved all over the place along with Kaka.

Croatia did well and they were much disciplined and they held very well against Brazil until

Came the beauty.

The man from Milan…………….scored.

Yeah, Brazil produces a lot of them. Brazil produces sparks, creativity and that unique flare from their individual players. They are in their own class. Anybody who is going to win it will certainly have to go through Brazil. Also Italy is doing great.

The second half was not so great for Brazil. Croatia certainly took the charge but failed to capitalize on their opportunities and there were plenty of them. They certainly need to go one gear up if they want to go higher up in the competition but they were playing against one of the best teams. They do get a thumps up for holding back Brazil at times and giving them their own medicine but not producing enough chances to score.

Guess who came off the pitch in the middle of the second half. Yes, Ronaldo’s stroll in the park was ended by a substitution. Better luck next time.

I was a little bit disappointed in Brazil’s performance but that was their first match so I will give them the benefit of the doubts. There is a plenty of room for the improvement.

Somebody please wake Ronaldo up and tell him that he is playing in a WORLD CUP.

[Splash!]

Guess who came off the pitch in the middle of the second half. Yes, Ronaldo’s stroll in the park was ended by a substitution. Better luck next time.


Yes, Ronaldo did nothing in the first half and substituting him was the obvious decision. In fact. i was kind of surprised that Robinho wasnt on the starting lining up today. If Ronaldo keeps this up for another game, Robinho will definitely be starting.
Oh yes and Milan players are very reliable :D. First Pirlo and now Kak'a. Also someone else who didnt perform all that well despite the hype was Adriano. He saw alot of the ball but didnt do anything with it

[DB_Hunter]

Hmm Brazil did not perform as well as expected. I would expect in a team like Brazil Ronaldo will have one more game to prove himself if he lucky, otherwise he is out of it. It was a medicore performance by Brazil's standards. Croatia were unlucky to have not grabbed an equaliser since they did look dangerous in the second half.

Still, Brazil have shown they are not as formidable as their reputation and previous performaces may suggest. Their defence is nothing to write home about, and currently Kaka was the only striker on the pitch that played well for Brazil. Maybe Adriano was stifled due to a lack of support from Ronaldo. As expected the midfield is good, but also underperformed.

It seems as though this competition is actually up for grabs. I havn't seen them play myself but it seems Argentina are living up to their billing this time round. I saw Italy play and thought that they were OK but some people are impressed with them also. You can forget France, it would be funny if they don't score a goal in this World Cup either... seeing as their last goal scored in the World Cup was in the 1998 final. England need Rooney back to have a good chance, and Eriksson needs to stop acting as if he is in charge of the Italian team.

At any rate, things are looking up for the competition itself.

[Edort4]

This Brasil was dissapointing. Croatia played a lot better in terms of team play and tactical situation on the field, but they lack what Brasil is made of, outstanding players that make you win a match even if you only had 2 mid-decent chances to score. Croatia deserved a goal but that selection misses a striker.

If Brasil plays at this level I doubt if they will get to the finals. This kind of match against a selection as solid as Croatia in defense but with good strikers would have been a loss.

[Jadugar]

@ Edort4 : Yes, I certainly missed Suker in this match. He was a great striker.

[RedX1z]

BE A RED! TE HA MING GOOK!

i actually thought korea was going to lose. i mean they were up against a very good team, but i guess they didn't put their all in it this year, but today were some seriously good matches. had fun and got drunk at the same time, so early in the morning, though..

[Splash!]

Spain Clobbered Ukraine with a 4-0 win. This game was really fun to watch and you could tell from the beginning that it was a going to be a high scoring game. So much for the mighty Shevchenko, even he wasnt enough to stand in the way of Ukraine being bulldozed. Just goes to show that one really doesnt stand for anything if you dont have a good team to back it up.

Also Saudi Arabia tied 2-2 with Tunisia. A decent game with good play from both sides.

Finally, Germany beat Poland 1-0 with the goal scored in the 91st minute by Oliver Neuville, who came on in the second half. It was heartbreaking to watch Poland try to hang in there till the end with several wonderful saves made by the Polish goalkeeper and have their hopes of advancing shattered at the very end. But in the end Germany finally got one in.
I did not get the chance to watch Germany's first game and was consequently expecting them to show an amazing performance against poland after having heard so many people praise the Germans. However, i was not particularly overwhelmed by their performance. They played sloppy at best and were having real trouble getting past the Polish defence. The presence of Ballack did not make much of a difference either. Although the Germans have probably done enough by this point to have made it to the second round, i think they will have to perform much better than they did today to be able to live up to the hopes of the German fans.

[DB_Hunter]

The first game Germany played showed that Germany have a lot of work to do in defence... work that can't be done in the short timespan that they have in the world cup. Although I didn't see their match against Poland (except the injury time in the second when the goal came), the review of the match centered mainly on the many German attempts on the Polish goal, which shows Germany played well. It remains to be seen how they fare against better opposition.

The Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia match wasn't really a spectacular affair, as expected from the game. Jaziri's goal was very good though. He had to strike the ball in an awkward manner, and he did well to keep it down.

Tomorrow England play Trinadad and Tobago. T&T will no doubt play a very physical game, and it should give Eriksson some food for thought as to whether or not he should play Rooney in the second half or not. England should perform better, as the will now be playing in the late afternoon/early evening and the heat should have subsided by then.

[Xollence]

BE A RED! TE HA MING GOOK!

i actually thought korea was going to lose. i mean they were up against a very good team, but i guess they didn't put their all in it this year, but today were some seriously good matches. had fun and got drunk at the same time, so early in the morning, though..

Hehe we all watched it at work. My whole company went crazy when Korea won.

[Jadugar]

Spain vs Ukraine :

The match was one sided. Spain was really on top of their game.

Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia

This game was really exciting. Although they were both inexperienced teams but they both tried their best. The game was also fast paced but the attacks were not very planned. SA was going to win but the goal at the end ruined their victory. Oh well, a draw is not that bad.

Germany vs Poland :

One of the most exciting matches so far.

I don’t particularly like Germany but boy did they put a show on.

I watched Brazil play yesterday put they were lacking their usual magic but Germany excelled. They went for the goal till the end. I must commend them for their performance. Ballack really didn’t shine in this game. He was playing mostly in the midfield. The moral of the team didn’t go down the whole time. They were not going to settle down for a draw. The carried their fight till the end and finally broke through Poland’s defense. The last tries were really good and exciting to watch. I like an aggressive team who put their marks on the whole game and take it their way rather than waiting for something to happen.

Looking forward to England’s match tomorrow.

To be or not to be……..

Will he(Rooney) play?

[Psyke]

Rooney claims to be fit although I'm quite certain Eriksson's not gonna risk him, since England's pretty much comfortable with where they are at the moment. I'll be impressed if Trinidad & Tobago even gets a draw. That being said, England has proved that they're not as good as they look time and again.....

[DB_Hunter]

Well the match is about to start and Rooney has been declared fit by the medical experts today. I think Rooney will be brought on in the second half... he needs the match practice.

[FrogKing]

Good match between England and Trinidad...Lion fans got their wish, Rooney got some significant playing time in the second half. Although relatively uneffective, I think Rooney's presence helped boost England's moral. The first goal in the 80th minute was a beauty. Beckham's right cross to a towering Crouch...nice header to finish it off to the back of the net! Guess we'll be seeing England in the round of 16.

[Swallow Your Soul]

Personally I thought England were still pretty bad by the standards of the players we played. Rooney's introduction should be good to help him rebuild his match fitness. Good goals though. The pundits on ITV reckoned we should play with Carrick an anchor man behind Lampard and Gerrard against Sweden to try it out...which is a good idea imo, but Sven seems to hate Carrick.

I do think we will generally play much better against teams who don't just put everyone behind the ball, but the fact it took us so long to score against Trinidad was a bit worrying considering its a team full of lower level football players (if I remember right they had players from Gillingham, Wrexham and Port Vale playing for them), no matter how well organised they are.

As for Brazil, I think they'll improve as they go along, just because a team has a bad game/s doesn't really mean much at this stage.

[Psyke]

England played really really poorly in my opinion. As much as I wanted them to win, they barely justifield the tremendous amount of support they got from the fans. T&T looked better at times, even though they were largely defensive..... And again, if England remains playing this way, they can kiss their world cup dreams away pretty soon.

[DB_Hunter]

The thing is individually the players are good, with the likes of Gerrard, Terry, Lampard etc but they can't quite seem to gel as a team. I think Crouch played horribly throughout the match, and his goal does not make up for all the goof ups he did before. Every time I saw Crouch on the pitch I actually started to get physically agitiated... he is bloody useless, and again I don't know why Jermaine Defoe or Darren Brent are not there instead of Crouch and Walcott.

Beckham was not playing well... his set pieces and general long balls were not executed well, no where near his clinical best. I think though the introduction of Aaron Lennon gave England pace and width, something which they were lacking throughout the match. Rooney did not have a big impact, though that was expected since he is coming off the back of an injury.

Personally I think Rooney should have come on for Crouch, and Owen should have stayed on. Although Owen is obviously not on form this is going to dent his confidence, and he needs more games.

I think some fans have the wrong attitude when they say that all that matters at this stage are the points. They are denying reality and with it they are not addressing a problem that exists... England have not been playing to their usual high tempo. Why that is is up for discussion. I suppose as Rooney is now in the team he will provide the creativity and link play between the midfield and attack that has been missing, though this again seems to lend support to the argument that England lack depth in the squad, and are over reliant on certain players.

[Munsu]

Argentina is destroying Serbia and Monte Negro, they're looking awesome... Anyone knows how old is Batistuta and is he retired? I was hoping to see him this WC, but by the looks of it he's a dinosour in a country full of good young players.

Tomorrow Italy vs USA, Italy is going to destroy them.

[DB_Hunter]

Man... 6-0 to Argentina... I think we can see who is going far in this tournament...

I only saw the second half of the match and Argentina were devastating... they scored 3 goals in 10 minutes during a period of time when they were just passing to each other!

S&M looked demoralised at 4-0, and it was just embarrassing at 5-0... when the 6th one went in I think the FIFA officals probably decided 1 minute of extra time was long enough, any longer and S&M would probably walk off the pitch themselves.

Holland and Ivory Coast are playing a great game... I think its unfortunate that one of these three will get knocked out as they all deserve to go through. It's 2-1 now but I think more goals are likely.

[Ryllharu]

Caught the last 30 minutes or so of the Holland-Ivory Coast game. Kinda disappointing those first timers won't make it any farther in their first WC, but a great game. IC never gave up, and were pushing the Dutch just about every second I was watching. They got a tough group. That they managed to keep Argentina and Holland on their toes is quite a feat.

These two games today though...just made me a fan of soccer.

[Splash!]

Anyone knows how old is Batistuta and is he retired?

Batistuta is currently 37 years old and he retired a long time ago

Argentina definitely demolished Serbia Montenegro. Although honestly i dont quite understand it, Serbia Montenegro were not supposed to be a horrible team. I guess they just broke apart after a couple of goals were scored. Argentina were just beyond terrific today.

[DB_Hunter]

Born 1969, retired from International football in 2002 after the world cup, which would make Batistuta 33 years old at retirement.

[Munsu]

Ah man, I didn't think he would be that old, that's a shame then, I was really looking forward to seeing him play.

[gr3atfull]

anybody watch the Portugal VS Iran game? I wasnt able since I had to study for my exams. Portugal won, but how was the match in general?

[Munsu]

I thought it was a boring match in general. Iran is a really shitty team, they don't have any real skill and everytime it seemed like they'll put Portugal in danger, they would just stumble or something. Portugal is a really poor team player, lots of individual skilled players, but they don't know how to play well together, which is dissapointing. Someone should slap Ronaldo and tell him to stop doing all his fancy dances, he didn't accomplish anything with them.

I'm pissed in general with the yellow cards on this WC, there've been too many.

[Edort4]

Im with you on the Yellow card issue. There have been too many YC and lots of them are for stupid or trivial things. Like Moving the ball to prevent the other team to make a fast attack after a foul. Lossing time, answering to the referee and so.

And then when they do a terrible foul from behind (any foul from behind that doesnt hit the ball is yellow and sometimes red if the foul was aiming the player and not the ball) they dont get any card. The other day in the match between ivory coast and holland there where like 2 penalty and a few yellow or even red cards and the only cards he showed where because someone said something to him and to some random player because there where lots of fouls.

The referre arent bad in this WC (on the past WC they where a lot worse) but they punish trivial things and let players do harsh fouls.

[Splash!]

Ghana vs Czech Republic:
This game was really surprising. I did anticipate Ghana to play well, but i could never have forseen them playing at the extremely high level at which they did. They played good attacking football, and created plenty of oppurtunities for themselves. The Czech's simply did not perform to the best of their ability but Ghana was just something else and they clearly deserved their 2-0 win. Several more goals could have been scored by the Ghanians if they had paid attention to staying out of offside positions.

Italy vs United States:
This game was a complete mess. The first goal by Gilardinho off the fee kick of Pirlo was exquisite but after that the whole game just fell apart. That own goal by Zaccardo was pathetic. The U.S definitely performed better than their first game against the Czechs. But still, this game had little to do with goal scoring and everything to do with horrible challenges. A large number of fouls were committed with 3 players being sent off. The Italians tried hard to score a second one but they did not succeed and the game ended in a tie.1-1, the final score.

[Swallow Your Soul]

I think some fans have the wrong attitude when they say that all that matters at this stage are the points. They are denying reality and with it they are not addressing a problem that exists... England have not been playing to their usual high tempo.

The performances are worrying (especially since it proved the first game wasn't a one-off) as it makes you wonder how we'd do against a half decent team, but the fact that we've actually got the points is still pretty good whether we play crap or not. Midfield needs sorting out asap though, and as unpopular as Crouch is, in the last World Cup didn't we have Heskey and Vassell as two of our strikers? Trouble is if the midfield isn't right it makes it that much harder for the strikers...the strikers being the two main ones struggling for fitness after long injuries and a lanky git who everyone hates, plus a kid who's never played in the Prem and doesn't seem likely to get a game at any point in the competition.

I'm still probably being a bit too positive like a lot of the fans you mentioned, but I'm probably sick of complaining after a crap domestic season (Man City fan).

Brazil really need to sort out what they're gonna do with Ronaldo, they weren't exactly great again against Australia today. Australia could have actually won the game if Kewell had been able to score those chances (which he should have done).

[kooshi]

Did anyone watch the Korea vs France match? I know that it's a tie (yay for Korea, haha), but I want to know how it went (terribly, awesome, etc.).

[Carnage]

The performances are worrying (especially since it proved the first game wasn't a one-off) as it makes you wonder how we'd do against a half decent team, but the fact that we've actually got the points is still pretty good whether we play crap or not. Midfield needs sorting out asap though, and as unpopular as Crouch is, in the last World Cup didn't we have Heskey and Vassell as two of our strikers? Trouble is if the midfield isn't right it makes it that much harder for the strikers...the strikers being the two main ones struggling for fitness after long injuries and a lanky git who everyone hates, plus a kid who's never played in the Prem and doesn't seem likely to get a game at any point in the competition.

I'm still probably being a bit too positive like a lot of the fans you mentioned, but I'm probably sick of complaining after a crap domestic season (Man City fan).

Brazil really need to sort out what they're gonna do with Ronaldo, they weren't exactly great again against Australia today. Australia could have actually won the game if Kewell had been able to score those chances (which he should have done).

Australia fucked up on so many great chances to score a goal. On the other Hand, that last score from Brazil at the end was beautiful.

[Splash!]

On the other Hand, that last score from Brazil at the end was beautiful.

You're joking right?! The shot from Robinho was really good but i would hardly call the goal itself beautiful

[msmush]

its a pity about japan vs croatia 0 - 0 . tie. i think that was a dissapointing match on japans behalf...but croatia were pretty good... ah i dont know what im saying.
[btw does anyone know a good site to look up the japanese soccer players?]

Australias effort last night against brazil was pretty good, and its a major pity for those goals that were SO close...agonizing close. That last goal from Brazil was pretty damn good.

Yeah im interested in what happened with the match between korea and france. damn i missed it cuz the broadcasting here is like 4 . 30 am ! gark.
well for those who are watching the next soccerooos match and live in Aussie its 5 am saturday or friday or something.

[Swallow Your Soul]

France were basically winning, and in total control, had a perfectly good goal not given (linesman didn't see it cross the line) and then South Korea stole a late equaliser right near the end. France were devastated...it was great.

And surely Brazil's first goal was better than the second? First one was a nicely placed finish, second was a lucky rebound off the post. :D.

[msmush]

i see. cheers =]. hey are there any replays of matches? and if so during what time? ....in australia btw.

is it worth watching switzerland and togo is it? tonight?

[masamuneehs]

rooting for the USA during the USA/Italy match in the middle of an Italian sports bar is awesome (even if the game wasn't. Hey, least we didn't lose...) I love going into the 'enemy' camp and rooting for the other side.

Thank god though for the four American girls I was with because otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd have gotten into some sort of altercation

[Psyke]

[btw does anyone know a good site to look up the japanese soccer players?]


You can see their faces here. (http://www.jfa.or.jp/eng/daihyo/daihyo/06_squad/index.html)

[Swallow Your Soul]

Sky Sports is a pretty good site (website of the UK sports channels) - has a bit of background info and whatnot as well as stats.

Japan's player profiles page - http://home.skysports.com/worldcup/squadlist.aspx?clid=1266

[Apraxhren]

There is almost info available from ESPN, http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/squad?id=627&cc=3888. It may be the same info as Sky I don't know.

[kAi]

Brazil v Australia match was disappointing, we should've been able to capitalise on the oppurtunities that were there, but that couldn't finish it.

The second goal wasn't that good at all, lol. It came off the post and a clear goal, it was just tapped in, the first goal was better.

Why didn't Japan win! It would've secured our spot in the next round. Now we just need to draw with Croatia and we're going through, which will happen, can't wait for this.

[msmush]

whens the match with aussie and croatia?. i know dissapointing about japan not winning.
those sites were handy cheers =].

[Munsu]

espn has everything you need to know about schedules and stuff, so just browse over there to figure out when matches are played instead of asking here.

[Swallow Your Soul]

Decent result for England but I was bricking it every time the Swedes got a corner! That needs sorting out as we looked shaky every single time, and even though they only made one real chance from open play (the 2nd goal - which was the sort of defending you might expect from Saudi Arabia) their corners were excellent and they looked like scoring almost every time they got one. In the end it was only a good save onto the bar, a goal-line clearance and a bit of luck on that other shot that hit the bar that saved us.

It's a shame cos we were looking ok in the first half, I was hoping we could make a positive statement and show the quality of our players...unfortunately all we have done is show we couldn't defend against good corners and we lost our bottle when the opposition piled on the pressure. :mad: Hopefully that was just a one off as we're not normally so weak at set pieces.

Having slagged England off, Sweden played well in the 2nd half and their first goal was a top header. They put us under pressure and we ended up panicking and they got what they deserved.

From the look of what happened Owen will be lucky to play again in the tournament, although on the good side Rooney played really well until he got knackered (which is understandable given the lay off). Hargreaves had a great game, his control looked awful in the build up games but he played well today. Campbell didn't do bad considering he's not played much football as well, hopefully Rio isn't too badly injured though. Most importantly we've avoided Germany for now.

[msmush]

ecuador vs germany last night. 0 - 3
ok so it was obvious who was going to win but i still wanted ecuador to win, i guess i like the underdog.
good match though. although ecuador has possession of the ball more they just kicked a million chains whereas german just went full out and attempted actual goals. But i guess the german defence was good too. The second goal from germany. im pretty sure it was the second, oh well one of them was sweet. the set up was perfect oh well close enough anyway and the goal was ace =] !

only one more day until Australia vs Croatia!!!
also Japan vs Brazil. gee wonder who will win?

edit: OMGUSHHH wasnt tthaaat A FREAKING AWESOME GAME BETWEEEEEN AUSTRALIA AND CROATIA!!! :D:D:D!!!!!!
DAMN IT FOR ALL THE AUSSSIE GAMES WE HAD SUCH a BAD RUN OF CRAPPPY REFEREEES.

gosh. was he blind? I mean its a fast games yes and you cant expect the ref to catch EVERYTHING but when its like a handball iN THE GOAL square...you'd expect something! and wattthenut?!?! . 3 yelllow cards. to suminic !!! thats outfreakingrageous, also vuduka was like TACKLED to the ground. :| theres a conspiracy going on against us :P.

BUT that was such a sweet goal by HARRRY KEWELL:D:D:D Gotta love him you GOTTA love him . but damn next match against ITALY brett emertons not playing :|.

The match was pretty much aussies the entire time just many things didnt go our way. We deserved that draw against croatia if not the win. Next match they better put swatzer on. that was a terrible miss by kalac! a goalie of such high calibre missed such a standard goal. :| dissapointing. but nevertheless AUSTRALIA are THRU to ROUND 16 :D:D:D

Match: Japan vs Brazil.
Figures. :P

[Munsu]

Germany destroyed Sweden, I'm surprised that it only ended 2-0.

Argentina played a lazy game, lazy passing... but they made up for it with the second best goal of the WC by Rodriguez. Mexico played well, but not well enough.

[Carnage]

Fuck, I missed Argentina's last goal, and I heard it was beautiful....:(

[ChaosK]

Fuck, I missed Argentina's last goal, and I heard it was beautiful....:(


I saw it, and it was. It was an impossible to block shot, that goalie jumped as high as he could but couldn't reach it.

[Psyke]

You can still catch that awesome goal by Maxi Rodriguez here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d232tQjUFug).

[RyougaZell]

I officially hate Borguetti.
I do.

[Turkish-S]

k Holland just got pwned.. not rly but it was an amusing game to watch. Esspacialy when you see your friends freak out.

[darkmetal505]

Germany vs Sweden was nice. Germany took them out in the beginning. I think Sweden got demoralized. Brazil vs. Ghana will be nice. Could the underdogs do it?

[msmush]

ecuador vs england.
damn. nothing great happened on either team but eventually on the 60th minute beckam scored. it was a pity though because ecuador has so many chances. damn the even hit the top of the goal bar !! i think i was going for ecuador....:D but yeah it didnt really live up to the expectations but it wasnt that terrible of a match.
should be noted : valencia is a cutie :D

one day to go...Italy vs Australia :D!!!

[PSJ]

Germany vs Sweden was nice. Germany took them out in the beginning. I think Sweden got demoralized. Brazil vs. Ghana will be nice. Could the underdogs do it?

As a swede i have to disagree. That game sucked, we performed pitiful. We should have started the same way as we did against England but the coach didn't think that was a good idea for some reason.

At least England is in the quarters now. I want to see them go to the finals as they got a swedish coach.

[Turkish-S]

Did you see the face of the referee when he gave larsson a red card.. He was just enjoying it..

[PSJ]

Did you see the face of the referee when he gave larsson a red card.. He was just enjoying it..

He gave Lucic a red card but yea that referee was an asshole. He should be banned from judging World Cup games after behaving like that, i know the feeling of getting a red card of a smirking referee, you just want to give hem a big one to the head.

[Swallow Your Soul]

I was really hoping Sweden would play as well against Germany as they did against England...was gutted to see them play so badly as the Germans just get more and more confident, when their team is supposed to be pretty poor by German standards (so I hear...I don't know much about their players besides their obnoxious whining goalkeeper).

As for the red card - that referee should be punished, grinning moronically at the player you are (wrongly) sending off in one of the biggest games they will ever play is one thing, but it looked as if he only booked him cos two German players asked him to. Before that he just seemed to give the free kick, and it looked like it was the German players whining that got the guy sent off.

The amount of diving in the tournament is annoying me a bit. Borgetti was doing my head in during the Argentina match. Players telling the refs to book or send players off is also out of order, they should be booked or sent off themselves for doing that stupid 'waving card' gesture. Too many soft players in football...

England weren't that good again, but at least we restricted Ecuador to only one real chance (when they hit the bar - great block by Cole). Most of their other chances were pretty insignificant.

[Thi3f]

....................

[Swallow Your Soul]

Australia just got raped by the ref in their game. Last minute penalty was a bit of a joke, and very harsh on them. Maybe the Italians have bought off yet another ref. ;)

[Splash!]

Australia just got raped by the ref in their game. Last minute penalty was a bit of a joke, and very harsh on them. Maybe the Italians have bought off yet another ref. ;)

They penalty was fair. Noone can complain about whether it was technically a penalty or not because it was. However you dont usually see referees give penalties like those in such tight situations. On the other hand, the straight red card on Materazzi was harsh. He deserved a yellow but not a straight red. (there have been a lot of unnecessary bookings in this tournament that have severely affected the games)
Australians played well in the second half once Italy were down to ten men but Buffon and Cannavaro held in there to keep Italy in the game. I dont think its the really the ref's FAULT for what happened in the end although you do have to feel for Australia who strategized well and came so close. The Italians got lucky on this one.

[Swallow Your Soul]

I agree the sending off was very harsh, and I was joking about the 'buying the ref' thing because of stuff that happened in their domestic league. I do believe the ref made an honest decision, but that he made it wrong.

But it definitely shouldn't have been a penalty. I don't criticise the Italian player who went down, as I wouldn't exactly complain if an English player did that and we went through as a result...however, Neill was just on the floor and the Italian guy ran into him and fell over him deliberately looking for the penalty. The Italian deliberately made contact with the Australian (not the other way around) in order to con the ref and win a penalty. And it worked.

To the ref it will no doubt have looked genuine, but the right decision would have been not to give it.

[msmush]

warning: foul language

:mad: wat ever. that was fkn bullshit. we dominated the last half and that wasnt a f'n foul. That was shit. that red card wasn't a deserved one either but that last "penalty" outweighed the red card cuz it was so fkn harsh:mad: . unbelievable. wtf is with the effing referees? Centre of the drama again. for f*k's sake. their defence was good as was expected but when the second half sstarted aussie become so much more aggressive and overall were the dominators of the match. They even suprised me. the way they started the match keeping their cool, playing their game and not fazed by the fact that they were playing the world 13, 14 or 15 or what ever. "Don't play the importance of the match just play the game." australia have played such a fantastic and memorable and high quality world cup so far and to go home in that kind of fashion is so fkn stupid and unfknfair.
damn im so shitty right now. cant even talk man.
fkn referees:mad:

edit: oh boy i was grumpy. :D calmed down now!.

[Psyke]

Yeah the penalty call was a bit harsh. But well, it's not easy being a referee, and being human is part of the game too. And before you know it, 4 years would have passed again.....

I will be watching the Brazil Ghana match today. Let's hope the Brazilians remind us what being world champions mean.

[Splash!]

warning: foul language

:mad: wat ever. that was fkn bullshit. we dominated the last half and that wasnt a f'n foul. That was shit. that red card wasn't a deserved one either but that last "penalty" outweighed the red card cuz it was so fkn harsh:mad: . unbelievable. wtf is with the effing referees? Centre of the drama again. for f*k's sake. their defence was good as was expected but when the second half sstarted aussie become so much more aggressive and overall were the dominators of the match. They even suprised me. the way they started the match keeping their cool, playing their game and not fazed by the fact that they were playing the world 13, 14 or 15 or what ever. "Don't play the importance of the match just play the game." australia have played such a fantastic and memorable and high quality world cup so far and to go home in that kind of fashion is so fkn stupid and unfknfair.
damn im so shitty right now. cant even talk man.
fkn referees:mad:


I don't real think you can say that a particular decision outweighed the other. Had Italy not received the red card it would have been a completely diff game. Toni wouldn't have had to come off and between Totti and Toni, plenty of chances could have been created. Don't underestimate the pyschological effect a red card has on a team. Italy were the better team in the first half with better chances but they fell apart in the second half BECAUSE of the red card. The red card was horrible and so was the penalty. The referees have been retarded in this tournament. They make a horrible decision in one direction and then try to correct it be making an even worse one in the other direction. No one can argue about the fact that the officials have had serious problems in doing their job right in this tournament

[Swallow Your Soul]

The timing of the penalty probably makes Australia unluckier in my opinion. Even though the game did change on the red card more in Australias favour, if I had a choice between getting a guy harshly sent off half way through, or to get a bad penalty decision against you in the last minute when there is no time at all to get back into it (if I remember right it was the last kick of the game), I'd go with having a guy sent off. Of course in theory it should make it easier for the team with 11 men to score, but as in this case, going down to 10 doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose. It is never a good thing to get a guy sent off but at least you are still in with a chance of winning.

Last nights game was absolutely abysmal, thank christ the Swiss went out. Teams who play that negatively deserve to go out. Typical that I fell asleep and missed most of Portugal v Holland which was meant to be ace, and yet I saw the entire Swiss game. Good to see Ronaldo beat the record today, pretty good goal as well.

They need to sort the offside rule out - for Brazil's second goal today the guy started out offside at the start of the move but looked just onside (at least by previous standards...he was partly in line with the defender) when he put the ball in. 2 years ago that would normally have been disallowed, the new version of the rule is too confusing...

[Munsu]

The timing of the penalty probably makes Australia unluckier in my opinion.

The Australian defender was simply a moron, he had no reason to try a slide tackle at the moment, and it was a bad one at that. There's no reason to argue against the penalty kick, a foul is a foul, blame the Australian defender.

[Splash!]

They need to sort the offside rule out - for Brazil's second goal today the guy started out offside at the start of the move but looked just onside (at least by previous standards...he was partly in line with the defender) when he put the ball in. 2 years ago that would normally have been disallowed, the new version of the rule is too confusing...

There is no new version to the offside rule. That goal was an offside. The linesman just got it wrong (SURPRISE SURPRISE!). That was a mistake on the part of the officials. The Ghanians were completely justified in complaining about that goal. The initial pass wasnt offside as the player perfectly timed it, but the subsequent pass to adriano was clearly offside. Check out the highlights at the official website and you will see adriano in an obvious offside postion

Also going down to ten men isnt the bad thing. However it screws up your game plan completely. Italy had to replace a decent striker with a defender and they started worrying about not conceding instead of scoring. The card changed the atmosphere and tempo of the game.

[msmush]

The Australian defender was simply a moron, he had no reason to try a slide tackle at the moment, and it was a bad one at that. There's no reason to argue against the penalty kick, a foul is a foul, blame the Australian defender.
Lucas Neill has been outstanding this entire cup and has been a main contributer to Australias historical feat this World Cup. Theres plenty of reason to argue against that penalty kick. The penalty given was harsh, very harsh as was the straight red card. Regardless of that match though, the Soccerroos team should be acknowledged for getting this far in the tournment, congratulated on their mammoth effort, their improvement in the last year and their effort against many of the worlds greatest teams.

note: ive calmed down.

[Swallow Your Soul]

There is no new version to the offside rule. That goal was an offside. The linesman just got it wrong (SURPRISE SURPRISE!). That was a mistake on the part of the officials. The Ghanians were completely justified in complaining about that goal. The initial pass wasnt offside as the player perfectly timed it, but the subsequent pass to adriano was clearly offside. Check out the highlights at the official website and you will see adriano in an obvious offside postion

Watched the online highlights and played that bit in slow motion a couple of times and it's still hard to tell if he is offside at the second the ball is played, considering the benefit of the doubt is normally given to the striker, I can't really blame the linesman for that one as I'm still not even sure myself. The first through pass that led to the goal (the one before the pass I think you're talking about) wasn't shown on the online highlights but when they were shown on TV Adriano was offside, but the commentators were debating as to whether he was active since the pass didn't go to him...but the move ended with him and that is what I wasn't sure about, you can be offside as long as you don't interfere with play, but if you score at the end of the move doesn't that mean you've interefered by the end of the move? In the past I'm pretty sure it would have, maybe not in the new rule.

The offside rule WAS revised some time over the last year, as all that stuff about 'being active' came in, which is why you now see people standing in offside positions prior to free kicks being taken. That came in as a result of the revision to the rule, I remember the first time it happened over here when Van Nistelroy (sp) did it. It's been a big talking point over here. Quick google brought this from Wikipedia:

"Determining whether a player is in "active play" can be complex. FIFA issued new guidelines for interpreting the offside law in 2003 and these were incorporated in law 11 in July 2005." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offside_law_(football)

As for Neill going to ground, yeah that was a bad decision by him, even though I don't think it was a penalty, it gave the guy the excuse to run into him and go to ground. Italian guy did what all strikers would do in that situation and made the contact and went over to win the pen. If it had been Viduka at the other end, he'd have done the same given the chance.

msmush - if it was a foul, then it should have been a penalty as it would have meant he had prevented an opportunity to score. I think the Italian took advantage of the situation and initiated the contact himself and won a penalty which was a bit harsh on Australia.

In a way though, Australia got lucky with a penalty decision earlier on - if Japan had got the penalty they deserved AGAINST Australia then maybe Australia wouldn't have gone on to win and make it past the group stage in the first place.

[kAi]

It shouldn't have been a penalty. We got robbed due to a bad referee! Last kick of the game and too lose like that, the sliding tackle was to prevent the kick, and he was already on the ground, and the stupid ref calls a penalty.

In the Japan game, Japan's goal was a penalty verse the keeper, but it was allowed, so it calls out that one Swallow Your Soul.

We should've gotten 2 more inside the box against croatia.

[Splash!]

The first through pass that led to the goal (the one before the pass I think you're talking about) wasn't shown on the online highlights but when they were shown on TV Adriano was offside, but the commentators were debating as to whether he was active since the pass didn't go to him...but the move ended with him and that is what I wasn't sure about, you can be offside as long as you don't interfere with play, but if you score at the end of the move doesn't that mean you've interefered by the end of the move? In the past I'm pretty sure it would have, maybe not in the new rule.


Adriano was offside with the last pass, not the first one. Yes, i know that adriano wasnt the active man in the first pass but he WAS in the last one. The first pass wasnt an offside, and there is no question about that. As you said the move ended with him. The person who passed it to adriano to finish it off found him in an offside position as he was about two steps ahead of the last Ghanian player and was definitely involved in a play. You have to consider the offside rules for every single pass, you cant just consider it once for an entire play.
Say for example that two players bypass the defenders with out being offside. Of those two players, the one with the ball cannot pass it to the other player if that player is ahead of the one with the possession. In such a case, it would be considered offside even though, at the beginning of the play they were onside and BOTH of them sprinted their way through the defenders to get at goal. The person with the ball would have to wait for the other striker to get behind him and then the pass would be valid. Or the striker with the possession would have to go straight for goal on his own. That brazilian play at goal consisted of what i think where three passes in the penalty box(maybe two). Well for the first two adriano wasnt the active man involved in the passes even though he was quite offside. In the third pass he was the active man, and he was also offside.Yes i know it is a close call but he was offside, being ahead of every other Ghanian player as well as ahead of the Brazilian player that passed it to him.
Maybe you are doubting whether Adriano was ahead of that Ghanian player or not but i am pretty sure he was.

[Swallow Your Soul]

Kai - true, I can't argue that.

The 'first pass' I'm referring to happened much further back in the play than the penalty box. Luckily I just found it on youtube as I was starting to doubt my own memory :-P.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAyhvstibsw&search=brazil%20ghana

You can see from that first pass that Adriano is miles offside as it goes to his right, this is where the new rule confuses me (when I say that I'm disregarding the last pass for a second) as previously that would have been disallowed just for the first pass, he is in an offside position at the time of the first pass but is inactive, then he eventually interferes with play having been in an offside position and scores a goal. Before the change at least, the offside should have been given as soon as the ball went to him at any time during the move.

For the final pass, looking at his feet compared to the defender's feet they look extremely close, possibly just offside, but if they are in doubt, the guidelines say they should give the benefit of the doubt to the striker (or, again, at least they used to), I can understand the goal being given (not that that would make Ghana any happier with it). The rest of his body makes it look like he's further forward but it actually looks pretty close when you look at their feet.

The first camera view looks more off than on (thanks to the diagonal view), but the 2nd one (the first replay which is more in line with the pass) looks really close.

[XanBcoo]

So much arguing over that penalty. I should have expected it though. Personally I thought it was a pretty anticlimactic win, pretty good game otherwise. Brazil/Ghana was even better, especially that first goal (and excluding the controversial second goal).

[msmush]

ahh :D i've calmed down now!. still sad about australia not going thru...read many opinions on about the penalty given and now ive come to acept the fact that not everyone thinks like me !! :p!

much much much calmer now!.... although i still hope italy looses.
im backing brazil now !!! yatah

[Swallow Your Soul]

Germany looked impressive when they won...I'm amazed how a team who were spoken of so negatively can play so differently when they're actually in the tournament. I didn't want Argentina to win the whole thing, but I was hoping they'd beat the Germans and actually felt a bit sorry for them since they've played some good football. The missed penalties were badly taken though, and the Germans have always been scarily/annoyingly good at them. :-P

England need to actually turn up for once tomorrow, playing the way we have been doing so far probably won't be good enough against Portugal, they're a pretty aggressive team so that should suit us...although they beat us last time.

[Splash!]

Germany beat Argentina on penalties. The Argentinians were the first to strike and score. They seemed to be pretty much in control after that but that was until Klose struck with an amazing header to turn the tide. Although it seemed to be that Argentina played better in normal time and had better plays, it was the Germans who were triumphant. Very neat Penalty taking indeed. Despite all the criticism that the Germans had before the tournament there was no doubt in my mind that they were going to make it really far in the tournment. Its just this trend in recent world cups that home teams have to do really well. Now whether it is coincidence or there is something more to that, i am not sure.Nevertheless Germany are in a very strong position in the world cup. A great heart shown by Michael Ballack who had to stay on later in the game despite his injury. He was able to create a couple of good chances in extra time too and also scored nicely on his penalty kick. As a result, he was also the man of the match.

The Italians defeated the Ukrainians 3-0 in what was a comfortable match for the Azzuri. Zambrotta's great strike earlier on put italians in the lead in a really solid position. They kept most of the control in the first half and the Ukrainians had very few chances. The game was kind of the different in the second half in the sense that the Ukrainians started pressing much harder and came very close to scoring on a few oppurtunities early on in the half. But the Italian defense held in there with a few really good saves by Gianluigi Buffon. He isnt the world's most expensive goalkeeper for nothing! Ukraine's hopes were however squashed by 2 goals by Luca Toni in the space of ten minutes. In the end, the Italians got a deserved win. Their defense is yet to be properly penetrated by another team and scored on. They have only conceded one goal in this tournament and that too was an accidentaly own goal by Zaccardo.

So the Italians will face of against the Germans. What a match this is going to be! Although the current Italian team is on an 23 match unbeaten International streak and only recently beat this very German team before the World Cup, the Germans have clearly excelled to a new level during the course of the tournament. They have a very dangerous, strong attacking aura around them and have their sight on winning the entire tournament.

[Winged Dancer]

Yay Argentina lost!

(no, I'm not at all bitter they defeated my team)

I wish the best for Germany, but then again I don't want the finals to be exactly the same as the last Cup - Germany vs. Brazil.

C'mon England, you want to get to finals this time, c'mon!

[Edort4]

Home factor did a lot today for Germany. Argentina played worse than he used in the previous matches and even like that they where better than germany.

For Germany that is one of the most agressive teams in the world cup, doing a lot of pressure , to be the team with less yellow cards is quite strange. But they did better at p.k.s than Argentina.

Italy did almost nothing and scored a 3-0 against Ucrania, I like this team. They have 3 chances in all the match and almost always score them all and their defense is above average.

[FrogKing]

Wow, the Germany vs Argentina...I am in Frankfurt (awaiting the Brasil game) and watched the game downtown on the Main River with about 20000 other crazy German fans. The place went ape sh!t when Klose scored and then even crazier when Lehman blocked not 1 but 2 p.k.'s!!!
Have to say that Argentina looked better in the first half and Germany almost looked too tense (if German's can look even more tense than usual). However, after the first goal in the second half it seemed to focus the German's. IMO, Argentina's coach lost the game by making his subs too early (Riquelme went out?) and trying to hold the 1-0 score. Klinsman held his linup and it worked! In the end, the rookie goalie was wwwwaaaaayyyy out of his league in the penalty kick stage and begining with Neuville, Germany just blew out the Argentinans mentally in the end.
Italy vs Ukaraine...well, gotta hand it to the losers for making it as far as they did but common...their goup play was soft and they had a realively easy seed (Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia). Following their surprise second round entry, who do they get? A poor Swiss team that couldn't find the back of the net if stood in front of it and just fired off shots...oh, wait they did and STILL missed! To Ukaraine's credit, they almost made a great, equalizing goal but was blocked by some GREAT defense by Buffon. His second save was equally fanastic. Italy looked strong and I think gained some momentum for Germany.
Anyhow, hope I can give you my opinion of the Brasil vs France from the INSIDE of the stadium!!! Should be a most interesting game conisdering the 1998 match and the fact that Ronaldo is playing much better and probably has a major score to settle with the Frenchman. Finally, England vs Portugal...Well since I had to watch the poor Orangeman get defeated while in a bar in the Netherlands, I am rooting for Rooney and company big time.

[XanBcoo]

COME ON ENGLAND!

Portugal is sucking tonight. Even with Rooney sent off, we're still holding up. I sense another penalty shootout coming up.

Edit: Well, dammit. At least I was right about the penalties...

[darkmetal505]

True. It's very nerve racking though. Both teams have gotten great chances. Good thing one of the goals was on offsides.

[Swallow Your Soul]

Devastated. We defended so well after Rooney got sent off, and if it wasn't for some great tackles by the Portugese we could have scored, but our penalties were badly taken (as historically they always are). I had a feeling we wouldn't win it if we didn't get one before extra time ended. I think if we had played with two strikers from the start Rooney wouldn't have ended up losing it and put us down to 10 men, but we still came back fairly well.

Extra insult to be put out by Ronaldo. There aren't many players I like less (and thats saying something).

I'm glad Sven has now gone, I don't think McClaren will be any better at all but Sven's tactics have been wrong throughout all the tournament, he only took 3 strikers as well as a 17 year old he never intended to play, and played too negatively. Best thing he did for us was beat the Germans 5-1, but that was ages ago. It sucks that we were put out this way, but we didn't look like contenders for the trophy during the tournament...

Really disappointed for Lampard, he's very possibly the best English player (not as much individual skill as Rooney but I'd prefer to have a Lampard than a Rooney in my team) and he couldn't score all tournament, even in the penalty shootout.

[Psyke]

I think McClaren's style will be very similar to the present styte we're seeing. I believe that Sven Goran Eriksson is to be blamed for England's poor performance in the world cup so far. Playing a lone striker and having such a defensive mentality is not exactly a great strategy, considering they're got such a strong mid field.

Rooney's sending off was harsh, but he should have known better. Now I wonder how Christiano Ronaldo's gonna go back to Man Utd and face his English team mates after the world cup..... :p

[yallo]

What a game full of disappointments.
England had so many chances but they just couldn't convert, arghz.
And it was so disappointing for Lampard to miss that penalty!
*sadness*

Now I hope Brazil kicks Portugal's arses in the semi-finals. Rawrrrr!
(I doubt France will be able to win....)

[Swallow Your Soul]

On McClaren I agree, especially since he's been working under Sven, I'd hope that he might have learned what was wrong with Sven's negative tactics after seeing the effect it has had. I think if Peter Crouch had started just in front of Rooney, then Rooney wouldn't have ended up getting so frustrated that he lashed out. Everyone knows about his temperament, and being so isolated up front is just going to wind him up.

Sven will be remembered badly for this, the manner in which we played throughout the tournament with players like we have is unjustifiable. He left a lot of good attacking players like Defoe, Darren Bent, Shaun Wright-Phillips at home and took two strikers who were injured, one he didn't fancy, and one who clearly wouldn't play instead.

Ron was already in for an interesting time with Utd because he has been quoted as saying he'd be happy to join Real Madrid (one of their presidential electorates or whatever has promised he would buy him if he was elected). Utd have looked after him well and even took his side in the Ron vs Ruud (Van Nistelroy) argument that seems to be leading Ruud out of Utd at the moment. If he does end up staying, it does make you wonder about how him and Rooney will get on.

Its hard to tell if Rooney was sent off for the push on Ronaldo or for treading on Carvalho's bollocks, if it was for the push it was harsh, if it was for the other incident, then I couldn't argue. The replay seemed to imply it was for the push as the ref didn't react after the 'tread'.

[darkmetal505]

For those who don't have ESPN and can't watch all of the games, go to www.espn360.com to watch the games live.

[ChaosK]

I was flipping around between the Yankee/Met game and the England/Portugal game and I saw the penalty kicks. I don't think the England goalie guessed a single kick correctly.

EDIT: just finished watching France vs Brasil and I'm shocked to see France beat Brasil....even though that was a huge effort and the end with a bunch of missed chances.

[Splash!]

Brazil lost to France. For some reason i found this incredibly amusing and funny. For all the 'Greatness' in the Brazilian squad, they couldn't beat the french. So now its an all out European fiesta from here on in.

The Brazilians definitely were not able to show what they were worth against the French. They had a lot of trouble creating any chances at all. Ronaldinho was thoroughly dissappointing and so were Kak'a and Cafu. Ronaldo had a few oppurtunities here and there but even he wasnt able to make anything of it.
They French were the better side in the game ( i can't believe i am saying this because i personally hate the French) and Henry scored off an incredible strike. Zidane had a great game and left the Brazilians staring at him. I wasnt shocked to see the brazilians loose. They have great players but sometimes i dont see them working together as a team all that well. I had a hunch the French might pull of something like this.

[Swallow Your Soul]

I missed most of the game, but I wanted Brazil to win, so its not been a good day. Out of the four remaining, I'd hope for a France/Italy final.

It might be nice to see the Germans win the tournament at home for the fans and the country...but with the English/German rivalry it just seems wrong to support them so I'll go with Italy...for now (I'm fickle). :D

France better stuff Portugal now.

[Lefty]

I'd rather see a germany france game for the final. But we'll just have wait and see. All those yellow cards france got might come back to haunt them later on.

[darkmetal505]

Oh man, France vs Brazil was close. So many missed chances though. Well, if anyone could have beaten Brazil, it would've probably been France or Germany. I'm really looking forward to Germany vs Italy.

[RyougaZell]

Good bye Brazil
we hardly knew you :D

I hope Portugal kicks France in the semi-finals.
I could win 200dlls if Portugal is world champion....

[Deblas]

Man, did Brazil play horribly today. Not to mention incredibly agressive (but that's soccer for you). They had so many opportunities to score and they choked. I counted at least three chances that Ronaldinho arranged the ball nicely. Kak'a (I'm pretty sure it was him) even picked up the ball at one point!

Ohh well...Germany FTW!!

[Splash!]

I really think Italy has the potential to beat Germany. But that depends on two things NOT happening in the semi finals.
1. Italy getting a stupid red card
2. Lippi bringing on Iaquinta, when he clearly screws up everytime he is brought on. That one goal he got was a lucky fluke!
Also it would make sense for Italy to win the cup as Germany took the crown in Italia 90' hence Italy should take it here in Germany.

[Winged Dancer]

Wow, I really didn't expect Brazil to lose. They had been playing horribly and whatever, but it's Brazil...

Well, I didn't like 'em that much.

Now, for the next games... Germany vs. Italy will be a good game to watch. Both are really good teams and I don't know who to root for... that would've been a good final, shame it's just the semi.

[masamuneehs]

i never thought when i saw the beginning of the World Cup that either Italy or Germany would make it this far.

But for some reason at this point they are actually looking quite damn good to win the whole thing and I find that a rather amusing point in case. Guess it goes to show that you can start slow as long as you get the ball rolling heavily at some opportune point.

[Munsu]

I really think Italy has the potential to beat Germany. But that depends on two things NOT happening in the semi finals.
1. Italy getting a stupid red card
2. Lippi bringing on Iaquinta, when he clearly screws up everytime he is brought on. That one goal he got was a lucky fluke!
Also it would make sense for Italy to win the cup as Germany took the crown in Italia 90' hence Italy should take it here in Germany.
Yeah, I hate Iaquinta... and as much as I like him, they should also leave del Pierro on the bench also. If they need to make some sort of sub, I hope they bring Inzaghi... he always provides an offensive spark that Italy seems to always be missing.

[kAi]

Germany will win the cup, I've been saying it before the World Cup (they should've won last World Cup, they will beat Italy and then France/Portugal.

I was thinking from the start that it was going to be a Germany v Brazil Final, Brazil losing was interesting. Although, they haven't been playing upto their normal standards.

[msmush]

oh brazil....i'm crushed.
oh well ..GO germany. i hope italy are crushed...not holding a grudge against them for that match against aussie or anything....:rolleyes:..haha only kidding

[FrogKing]

Went to the Brasil vs France game last nite...very dissapointed in the outcome. I will say that the French fans came in full force and spirit. I talked to some friends and they said that on TV it looked like the Brasilians and French were equal in number and in loudness...WRONG! The French fans had lots of energy and were constantly cheering on their team. In our section, it seemed like there were only a few of us cheering on Brasil all the time! Don't get me wrong, their were alot of Brasilians fans and they were cheering loudly just not to the extent as the Frenchies. Bottom line, looked like the French played to their intesity and Brasil to their's. I will post pics eventually (when I get back).
As for Deutschland, their fans are going nuts. We've been here a week and every nite we go partyin' there are tons of their fans driving and singing in the streets. I am siding with my other half of my nationality now...Deutschland!!!

[Jadugar]

So Italy won.

Those goals were amazing especially Del Pierre’s goal. The match was a very good exhibition of football. I enjoyed it very much. The first goal shattered the hearts of the million Germans and the second goal was icing on the cake for Italians. So Italy goes through.

[Splash!]

Damn it! I wrote a huge post and i just got logged out of the forums automatically for some reason. Screw it, i am not typing it all over again.

So Hurray for Italy! What a great day this is for me, being an Italian soccer fan. I guess the Italians showed the world what they are really made up. Seems like most people were against the Italians on this one!

Cannavaro was simply amazing. He is without a doubt, currently, the World's best defender. It was a close game and the Germans played well but they just werent able to penetrate. Del Piero's goal was the icing on the cake but the goal by Grosso was just marvellous. He placed it perfectly, and there was no way even Lehman could get to it. Grosso, in fact, had a really good overall game as he created several good wing plays as well. I didnt particularly like Grosso all that much but this game has shown me other wise.
During the last 15 minutes of the game, it was clear that the Italians did not want the game to go to penalties because of the German prowess in that department of the game. And they succeeded in accomplishing just that!

[darkmetal505]

Crazy last minutes. I really didn't want to see another penalty shoot off. First goal was excellent, and the second, like Jad said, was pwnage.

[msmush]

LOL. so italy won huh? ahahha this cup is full of surprises. i think i want france to win now. but i think portugal. im not going to say anything about Italy cuz the last two times i have it hasnt gone my way. but go france...!

[lisaa]

GO FRANCE! damn italy, still angry at italy for faking the penalty against australia.

[msmush]

lisaaa thats so last week

[lisaa]

see what i have to put up with..?
so meaann!

[darkmetal505]

Wow, Portugal must of felt bad after Zidanne made that goal. France vs Italy. This should be good.

[msmush]

YESSS!!!! FRANCE WON!!!!! aweeesome...now all they to do is win again this sunday....!

[Jadugar]

So it’s France against Italy.

Although I think that Italy will win but anything can happen in the final. Italy played very well against Germany. Germany played to its full potential but that first goal came in very late and there was very little time to do something about it. If the match had more time in it then I am sure the German would have marched towards Italy’s goal like a bullet again and again. Back luck!

France won against Portugal. That wasn’t a surprise. Portugal never looked a big threat through out the whole tournament but they slipped through the net too reach semi-final. France was a surprise also just like when they won the World Cup, the last time in their country. Zidane is looking more and more alive as the contest progresses. He is just like the old French wine that gets mature by the time but sadly he has passed his peak. He is still a football magician and shows some relics of his football wizardry.

Let’s hope the final is a good one and not one sided.

I bet on Italy…….

[kAi]

Damn, my predictions were all wrong this world cup
1. Germany to win the cup
2. Australia to make the semi's
3. Germany v Brazil final

1. Damn eye-talians got lucky.
2. Damn eye-talians got extremely lucky
3. Damn Italy and France

France FTW!

[Swallow Your Soul]

The way France have played they're gonna have to do something special if the Italians play the way they did against the Germans. As little a threat as Portugal were, France were just hanging on for the whole thing, and with an error prone keeper like Barthez I was worried that Portugal might get back into it.

Italy would be the favourites I think because the games I've seen France play weren't impressive at all, whereas Italy were pretty much typically Italian and were solid for most of the tournament, then played a great game with Germany to make the final, plus you never know when Barthez can come up with one of his 'specials'.

As for tomorrows game, hopefully the Germans'll give Portugal a slapping to put them in fourth place. The Germans have had a really good tournament and deserve to finish third. Portugal were a disgrace against France, diving at every opportunity and pretending to be injured to break up play as well. They've been bad for that for the whole tournament, but it was just embarrassing seeing players like Ronaldo and Postiga to be flying around the penalty area claiming for fouls. It is clearly a significant part of their game plan (put in place by the manager), and for Ronaldo to have the nerve to say the ref was biased against Portugal after the game was pretty exasperating considering non of the Portuguese were booked for diving. I really hope he pisses off to La Liga now...the Spanish league is just built for divers and melodramatics like him.

[darkmetal505]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QSHB-AQZ1E&feature=Discussed&page=1&t=t&f=b

Did anyone else catch this?

I never really did like Ronaldo (from Portugal)...

[Psyke]

Christiano Ronaldo's gonna have a difficult time back in England when he goes back to Man Utd. Don't see him staying in the EPL for long after what he's done in the World Cup.

[msmush]

Damn, my predictions were all wrong this world cup
1. Germany to win the cup
2. Australia to make the semi's
3. Germany v Brazil final

1. Damn eye-talians got lucky.
2. Damn eye-talians got extremely lucky
3. Damn Italy and France

France FTW!


ahaha yeah damn eye-talians eh?

[Munsu]

Christiano Ronaldo's gonna have a difficult time back in England when he goes back to Man Utd. Don't see him staying in the EPL for long after what he's done in the World Cup.
I doubt he'll return to England, he'll probably have to go and play in some other country.

[FrogKing]

^C. Ronaldo has said that he will stay in Man U and that he couldn't see himself anywhere else. I pesonally can't wait to see the Man U fans boo the sh!t out of him!

Glad to see Kahn in goal today, he had some great saves. Overall, Germany looked good and too bad they went down to Italy (IMO). Nice to see a hat trick as well.
Tomorrow should be a defensive battle, we'll see if Italy can truimph Zizou's golden boot!

[Munsu]

It's not really that important if C. Ronaldo wants to return, the imporant part is if Manchester United wants him back. This is pretty much the same situation as that Korean dude that was kicked off the team in the Italian league after the World Cup in 2002.

[masamuneehs]

OT in the Finals

France has been faster and on the attack more towards the end of regulation. Italy needs to strike quick in OT if they want to win.

God, American sportscasters don't do soccer matches very well at all...

edit - Zidane headbutted that Italian as hard as he could directly in the chest when he thought the refs weren't looking. Buffon and Gattuso on Italy saw it and the ref was right to go over, confirm it, and pull that red card.

What a shitty note to finish your career on, specially for a player like Zidane.

[Swallow Your Soul]

What a moron, great way to end your career Zizou. :P

I would have liked him to end his career on a high, but it'd be pretty funny if his stupidity ruined it for him.

About Ronaldo, after the Germany game he said he wants to go to either Barca or Real since no-one in Manchester had stood up for him (although Alex Ferguson suggested he fully hoped and expected him to stay).

Well deserved Italy, good pens. France were unlucky with that one missed pen, don't think the sending off made a great difference, but its amazing that Zidane just completely lost it and that headbutt will totally stain his reputation. Whatever Materazzi said, you can't justify nutting someone (especially with that force).

[GhostKaGe]

Best header EVER.What a moron an exellent player and he ends his career in such a shitty maner what a way to be remembered

This has been the worst world cup i've ever seen the football has been shit.
The teams arn't made up of players there made up of brands its not about which players are best its about who can sell the most shirts and has has the better marketing

Edit: Congratulations Italy

[ChaosK]

Was I the only one cracking up after seeing that headbutt? Don't get me wrong, I was rooting for Italy, but for such a player to go to such lengths to injure an opponet was just hilarious to me. However, while I doubt the refs even saw the headbutt, rather than see it on screen as replay, though I agree with the call, he was completely out of line, and may have cost France a better chance at the PKs.

Kudos to Italy, didn't miss a single PK. For number 20 on France....sorry man, you got unlucky with that ball hitting the post.

[Splash!]

Trezeguet beat Italy with a golden goal in Euro 2000. However, it was because of him that Italy won on the penalty kicks this time. Sweet Irony

Zidane played a great game but seriously what a retard! He wasnt even allowed to come up and collect his medal. It must suck to be him.

The penalty early on was kinda of harsh but the Italians bounced back with a goal from materazzi, of all people. Another possible VALID penalty that could have been given to france wasn't because the referee was doubting his first decision. So things balanced themselves out. Henry played really well and i was quite surprised he was taken off. But seriously, i think Zidane just killed his teams chance to win, especially since they were giving it to the Italians at that stage.

So woohooo! The Italians are world champions and i am off to celebrate!!!

[Jadugar]

So Italy won the world cup.

The first penalty was harsh but Italy never lost their nerve. The first half went to Italy and they played very well and gave France a hard time but France bounced back in the second half.

What Zidane did was pure madness. Such a talented player and to do a thing like that especially on his way to retirement, that was a shame. I don’t know what took over him. Without him and Thierry, France didn’t have any chance.

Italy did what was expected from them in the penalties and took the cup.

Congratulations!!!!!!

[darkmetal505]

I saw up to 1-1. It went down to PKs huh? Congrats to Italy.

[Assassin]

i dont care what anyone says about zidane. it may have been a stupid thing to do, but man what a badass way to go. he knocked the guy to the ground WITH HIS HEAD. thats friggin insane.

[lisaa]

wow. italy one, it was a good game though. poor ZIDANE, his last game and he got a red card, what a way to end your last match, but he is awesome.
Congrats italy.! nice match played

[msmush]

LOL. italy won. this is the part where i congratulate them right? Ah hey its over, good game to you Italy. May the best team win....so i guess italy was the best team this yaer ...along with luck ect. lol ah well! i'm looking forward to 2010 !!!!

[gr3atfull]

This is the game that I didnt want to miss and I end up missing it since I had to go on a picnic. I had rewatch everything from Internet except the penalties which I really wanted to see. Why did Zidane do that? That italian player must have really said something to get a headshot from Zidane.

Oh well... But France really deserved to win... Good luck next time withou Zidane.

[Assassin]

france wouldve won if they hadn't taken out henry. i think the only guy who missed his penalty shot was the one that replaced henry....trezeguet or whoever. what a stupid thing to do.

[Splash!]

i dont care what anyone says about zidane. it may have been a stupid thing to do, but man what a badass way to go. he knocked the guy to the ground WITH HIS HEAD. thats friggin insane.

I would hardly call it badass. He a took a couple of glances here and there to make sure noone was watching and headbutted the guy in the chest, and not on the head like figo did. If he wanted to appear tough, he should have gone for a head to head hit, but apparently he didnt want to hurt himself in the process. I saw it as more of a cowardly challenge than a 'badass' one. He didnt want to make much contact but was rather going for really hurting materazzi. Honestly i dont feel sorry for zidane and i feel as if it was an appropriate way for him to end his career. He has always had this violent nature and lack of clean play about him but it was never widely publicised because he was the "GREAT" zizou. Even in france 98, he had received a red card and a 2 match suspension for quarelling and spitting on other players. As a matter of fact, given zidane the golden ball for this tournament is a something that eludes me. Apart from the game against brazil he hasnt done all that much. Scoring a couple of penalties does not make one the player of the tournament. Even his teammate henry outperformed him in the tournament itself. But ahh well, i guess they felt sorry for the guy after what happened. However i feel it was an appropriate way for him to depart in the sense that it brought to the forefront a part of his gameplay that was never highlighted. He has always had disciplinary problems.

[Assassin]

Well first, when you hit someone you generally try to minimize damage to yourself, so i dont know how thats cowardly. Second, i didn't meant badass like that (and even if he looked around to check that no ref was there, theres about 30,000 cameras and a shitload of fans so it doesn't really matter). I said he was badass cuz he managed to knock the guy flat on his ass. i've seen people get kicked and only stagger back a bit. to knock someone down with only a headbutt....well thats badass in my book.

[rockmanj]

hmm..i hate france, and am indifferent about italy...i didnt really care who won. But Zidane gets my respect for bring a dirty, dirty man.

[Mr Squiggles]

Grr, lost to italians *grumble, grumble*. I know, I totally saw it coming too.

Maybe I should start headbutting people when they piss me off too now :p

[gr3atfull]

I have finally found a video with Zidane giving a head-butt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQEJzb29ETQ&search=zidane%20france%20world%20cup%202006

It seems that the italian player called him a terrorist and his mom a prostitute. Serve that italian player right to get a head-butt for being racist.

[Deadfire]

A little thing like that goes a long way on the internet, a few examples

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/cccw/zidanerpg.gif
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/cccw/zidanepowerup.gif
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/cccw/zidanesuper.gif
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/cccw/zidanefatality.gif

What a world....

[Splash!]

It seems that the italian player called him a terrorist and his mom a prostitute. Serve that italian player right to get a head-butt for being racist.

Wow, for some reason i had a feeling that Materazzi would be accused of having said exactly something along those lines. Personaly i dont believe that at all. The Italian team openly denied it, but of couse, what else would they say. They stated that the officials should acquire some audio proof and they would realize that materazzi said nothing of the sort. But the thing is Zidane has openly stated many times that although he was born a muslim, he couldnt care less about his faith. Hence i dont see the terrorist comment angering him to the extent it did. Also, insulting a person's mother is a really common way for people to get at each other and i dont think it justifies a head butt because being an inhabitant of this world, he should have gotten used to it.
I have read many newsreports and journals and although many have mentioned the terrorist thing i havent read anything about the mom being a prostitute. I have however, read in several places that materazzi might have accused zidane of being involved in game related substance abuse. This, i find more believable than the other comments.

[ChaosK]

ROFL at Deadfire's post.

[gr3atfull]

@ Splash:

Being called a terrorist has nothing to do with your religion these days. People get insulted for the nationalities. These days, if some one calls you a terrorist and you are from a middle east, you do not take that because its a stereotype. As you have stated :



Also, insulting a person's mother is a really common way for people to get at each other and i dont think it justifies a head butt because being an inhabitant of this world, he should have gotten used to it.

This is common I would say in the "western part of the world" but not in the middle eastern part. In the middle east, if some insult your mom or your dad, its bad, real bad. It is insutling your mom/dad and yourself. It shows that you have no respect for the elders. You do not do that no matter what. There is no like fuck you, screw you insults. Its all like your dad is dog, your mom is a slut. That is the culture over there.

And now for the mom being called a prostitute.
This is the article where I have found the information.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1540/zizou12ob.jpg

But if you want only the paragraph. Its the 7th one.

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4730/zizou21ny.jpg

Has I have mentionned before:



It seems that the italian player called him a terrorist and his mom a prostitute. Serve that italian player right to get a head-butt for being racist.

So I can not say for 100% sure that the Italian player said that, there is some possibilities. I guess we have to wait until we get to know for sure what happen between those two players.

[FrogKing]

I don't care what Materazzi said. Hell, he could have said that Zidane's mom was a terrorist prostitute for all I care. If you have played any competitive sport be it football, baseball, basketball, etc. you are well versed in attempts to 'get into your head' (either verbally or physically) and take you out of the game mentally or physically.
Zidane is a professional athlete, competing at the highest level and the captain of a team in the World Cup finals. You don't get a booked in the last 10 minutes of overtime for head butting another player during the last game of your international career! He let down his team, his country and mostly himself for giving into another players taunt. It is not like whatever Materazzi said to Zidane was meant to be anything other than that, a taunt. Does Materazzi really think Zidnae's mother is a terrorist prostitute? I sincerely doubt it. I doubt he has even seen her and probably hasn't spoken to Zidane other than on the pitch. Despite what Zidane did, I don't think people should change their view of him or what he has done for the sport. He is one of the greatest midfielders to play the game and should be remembered for his achievements; not for his final head butt (or for his 1998 antics in which he spat on another player).

[gr3atfull]

I agree with you FrogKing that he has to control his emotion no matter what is the insult.

I am sure that we all agree that the finale was an important match meaning there is more stress on the players such as Zidane. But you see, unfortunaly Zizous mom when to hospital few hours before the finale match.

If some one insults your mom whos life is in danger, i am sure no one would take that insult. That person would start fighting. I am quite suprised that he didnt go totally berserk that he only gave him a head-butt. I agree that wasnt the best thing to do, but you have to put yourself in his place.

What would you do if some one insulted you, your mom who is in the hospital while you are playing the last match of your career?

[FrogKing]

I would focus even more on the game at hand and try to make my mother proud of her son. How do you think she feels now? I had read that report about his mother, but still do you think Materazzi really intended to insult his mother or just get into his head? It was probably the latter although I don't think there is any lost love between him and Zidane.
Anyhow, what is done is done and Italy is the winner. Guess we'll have to wait another 4 years to see if France can get it done without Zidane and if the Italians can defend their title better than the French did in 1998 (at least the Brasilians went to the quarter finals this time around).

[Splash!]

I agree with you FrogKing that he has to control his emotion no matter what is the insult.

I am sure that we all agree that the finale was an important match meaning there is more stress on the players such as Zidane. But you see, unfortunaly Zizous mom when to hospital few hours before the finale match.

If some one insults your mom whos life is in danger, i am sure no one would take that insult. That person would start fighting. I am quite suprised that he didnt go totally berserk that he only gave him a head-butt. I agree that wasnt the best thing to do, but you have to put yourself in his place.

What would you do if some one insulted you, your mom who is in the hospital while you are playing the last match of your career?

Well, in all of this, you are assuming that materazzi did indeed insult zidane's mother and that has yet to be proven. Also, in response to your earlier post about middle eastern culture, i am well aware about what things are like in the middle east but i am pretty sure zidane has had enough european exposure to be familiar with western insults. Hence, there is no possible excuse for his behaviour. If he was indeed in such an emotional state of mind that he couldnt take an insult, then he shouldnt have even been playing. Furthermore, even if materazzi did INDEED insult his mother as you are assuming, i dont think he was aware of the circumstances of zidane's mother.
Bottom line is, this is nothing new to zidane. He has had always head problems keeping his attitude and temper in check, even when he hasnt been provoked.
It is very sad that a player at such a professional level has no self control

[Deadfire]

ROFL at Deadfire's post.

one more then

http://exoload.net/706/1152516581.gif

[kAi]

Best fucking send off ever!

Absolutely awesome, the best way to leave the game, only if France had won, it would've been perfect!

Well done Zidane!


He a took a couple of glances here and there to make sure noone was watching and headbutted the guy in the chest,
He didn't look around at all, he just did it.

[ChaosK]

one more then

http://exoload.net/706/1152516581.gif

Lol, where do you find this?

[kAi]

Here's another one, got a better intro.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/DMagicHobo/0002.gif

[Psyke]

How about this one:

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2910/image0057rg.gif

:D

[XanBcoo]

For the past week just about every link on the front page of ytmnd.com has been about Zidane.

Heh, this one's my favorite: Zidane vs. Deathstar (http://zidanedeathstar.ytmnd.com/).

[Terracosmo]

I would focus even more on the game at hand and try to make my mother proud of her son. How do you think she feels now?

You are a professional player in your last game. The game is tied, and you are giving it your all to finish your career in a good way, to win the championship. The stress you are feeling is out of this world, and of the kind that most men will never experience in their lives. All your fans are watching. All your friends. Enemies. Everybody.

In this extreme moment of stress, where everything is literally about life and death, a person who doesn't even know you calls the ones you love the most degrading things. This person just shot you, on the battlefield which is a soccer final. What would you do, take the shot and retreat, or shoot back?

Don't be so sure that you'd behave as rational as you think.

You know what I don't like? People who just sit there, spouting their "bah, that was dumb!" bullshit. You don't even know a fraction of what he felt in that moment.

Oh and for the reference, Zidane's mother apparently wanted the italian player's "balls on a plate". So I don't think she was all that pissed off about Zidane retaliating...

[Splash!]

You are a professional player in your last game. The game is tied, and you are giving it your all to finish your career in a good way, to win the championship. The stress you are feeling is out of this world, and of the kind that most men will never experience in their lives. All your fans are watching. All your friends. Enemies. Everybody.

In this extreme moment of stress, where everything is literally about life and death, a person who doesn't even know you calls the ones you love the most degrading things. This person just shot you, on the battlefield which is a soccer final. What would you do, take the shot and retreat, or shoot back?


You seem to take the theory that materazzi insulted zidane's mother as an undisputed fact. I dont think that happened at all. Yes, zidane cracked under the burden of pressure and frustration when materazzi insulted him but i would stop right there. There is no proof that materazzi insulted zidane's mother and frankly i dont believe it because of the way zidane has acted throughout this whole situation. At first he was unwilling to make any sort of comment (Which is understandable in light of the frustration he suffered). But then the media started speculating without any considerable evidence that materazzi either called zidane a terrorist or insulted his mother or sister. All of a sudden, the very next day, zidane who didn't want to talk about the entire incident said the exact same thing. He dare not utter exactly what materazzi said but he kept on insisting that materazzi said some very harsh words about his mother or sister. Do i smell something here? Of course i do, what human being in their sane mind wouldn't?
Also, he can't seem to make up his mind about whether he was right or wrong in what he did. One day he says his actions were completely unforgivable because of the situation he put his team in and the next day he says he cannot say his actions were wrong because that would be admitting that materazzi was justified in saying what he did.

According to materazzi the incident occured as follows:
I was tugging on zidane's shirt and he gave me a look at which i let go. He then said to me in an arrogant way, " If you want my shirt so much, ill give it to you after the game ". (Up to this point i believe materazzi's version of events because it seems very believable when you put it together with the video footage)
After this, I did indeed insult him but i did not call him a terrorist. I am not cultured and do not even know what an Islamic terrorist is. I also did not insult his mother. To me, a mother is sacred. I lost my mother at the age of 15 and i still get emotional talking about her.

Now i just wanted to put materazzi's side of the story up because it seems that everyone has forgotten that materazzi is innocent until proven guilty. Let us not jump to conclusions about what materazzi said and wait for FIFA to finish the inquiry that they have launched into the matter. Let us also not feel sorry for zidane because he won the golden ball for the tournament despite all this, which i personally believe he did not deserve. Although he was a good player, he was not THE player of the tournament. However, that is a whole other argument

A similar incident like this occured in 1998 where zidane served a two match suspension for hitting a saudi arabian player. According to zidane, the saudi player made racial remarks against him (Yeah Right!). Also zidane has had several problems with over the years while playing for juventus and real madrid as well. This incident isnt the first of its kind. I actually find it quite surprising that people easily believe zidane despite his questionable reputation.

[Edort4]

I think that a lot of people misunderstands when its said that zidane was dumb. We are not saying that what materazzi did was ok, those kind of verbal agressions should be punished. Usually referees show red cards to players that insult them or even answer them in wrong ways. This should extended to every other player but right now this is not the case so you have to bear with it.

Zidane has been for like 10 years in the best world leagues, being insulted and hit in almost all of his matches, he knows what you can find and he wins about 6 million € to do his job, make goals, give his all and dont be kicked out in stupid ways.

Materazzi was a bastard and zidane stupìd enough to fell for it. But the worst thing is that he surpassed the verbal agression to physical making himself more guilty. Its hard to keep your head cool but its part of your job, your paid to stand the preassure.

In this situations is where you see what kind of players they are, some of them are geniuses with his feets but dont have any brains (if you leave school at the age of 12 to play football is normal to end being mentally weak in some cases).

[FrogKing]

I actually think it was quite funny that Zidane waited to tell the world his story. I love how he is so quick to point his finger to FIFA and call for a review of the events. Hell, if FIFA started to rule on all 'verbal' conflicts then there would be a sh!t load more red cards for word not actions. What Zidane did was wrong. You are not allowed to strike another player! You can say whatever you want, but in the end Zidane was given a red card for his actions and rightfully so. He is an athlete playing a game that has certain rules. He broke them, he paid.
I would have had more respect for Zidane if he would have just owned up to his mistake and not commented at all on what Materazzi said. He could have simply stated, "What Marco said was between me and Marco. Marco knows what he said, and he knows how I responded. I let it get to me and it cost my team. I apologize to the French fans for disappointing them. I am not sorry for hitting Marco." None of this BS about his mother and his sister crap and how FIFA should review what was said. Just own up like a man for Christ's sake. Quit acting like a Frenchman...oh, wait he is...
@Terra: If your argument was valid. Then would Materazzi had been justified to punch Zidane after Zidane made comments about wanting his shirt so much. Hell, Materazzi was under alot of pressure too. His country is under fire for match fixing, many of his teammates may be stripped of titles and demoted leagues. Even Inter Milian may see some repercussions. So was he justified to hit Zidane?! I don't think the referee would think so and he would be tossed just like Zidane was. I have been on both sides of the situation and have played many sports in the past in which I have lost my cool under certain situations. I understand the statement that you are making about blowing it when under immense pressure, but I am not a professional getting paid millions to NOT blow up and start hitting people. Just ask Ron Artest about losing your cool and blowing up..."Malice at the Palace"

[Swallow Your Soul]

Regardless of what Materazzi said, Zidane was dumb to react. I can totally understand that in a game of that size and stress, you can lose your composure very easily, especially if someone says something as offensive as Zidane claims Materazzi said. But people wind others up in football all the time, it is a tactic to make people lose it and possibly get them sent off. It's obviously not right, but if there is an opposition player who is short tempered or has been known to lash out in the past, people often target them and try to wind them up, by committing little niggling fouls, kicks and saying stuff to wind them up.

The reason Zidane was dumb, was that lashing out at Materazzi was probably what Materazzi wanted, so reacting like that is just a good thing from Italy's point of view.

Yeah, if what was said IS as bad as the press is saying (especially if it involves racism) then Materazzi was out of order and should be punished, assuming they have any evidence. Like splash said, everyone, including people on TV (at least in England) seem to be talking about the 'terrorist whore' thing like it's an absolute truth.

[FrogKing]

Funniest one i have seen yet considering the remarks that may have been said:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a380/Y0jimb0/4.gif

edit: I need to resize it somehow...any suggestions?

[DB_Hunter]

Well the punishment has been handed out now. So much for FIFA's fair play rules, with a combined fine of somehthing like £6000. Either one of them could make that in half a day.

I think Matterazi deserved what he got, wrtt headbutt. I think Zidane did the right thing by defending his honour and showing a principled stance. He had nothing left to prove anyway, he has done it all before so it isnt as if he has lost out. France on the other hand... well if they trully are aspiring to football greatness then its bad luck what happened but they should be able to challenge again for the title.