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FIFA World Cup

Started by MagicalPen, June 15, 2006, 10:54:40 AM

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MagicalPen

Any fans other then me? I'm split between allegiance to my favorite teams' players (Arsenal) and my home counrty (England) though England does have a few Arsenal players. But my favorite player from Arsenal, Thierry Henry, plays for France along with some other big names, but they seem to not play well together. England hasnt played decisively yet...fluke goal saw them beat Paraguay.

I do like Ecuadors chances though...soundly beating Poland and Costa Rica. I think they'll beat Germany later this week. Brazil, of course, always a favorite. Any thoughts?

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Lirliel

*Brings out the large dutch flag, "Holland!"* Where gonna pwn every team on the World Cup so hard :P

No but seriously, England has played badly in there first match. Fluke goal indeed...
Germany has got some greatness in my eyes, last night's match a real goody one.
Brazil I'm... nah... about Ronaldo with his fat arse running about the field *sighs*... how the mighty have fallen sometimes.
France is just 11 Big shots in one team and a lot of ego against eachother, which makes for a timebomb (remeber last WC?)

Holland might have a shot, if they beat Côte d'Ivoire tomorrow they would have an easy going against Argentina at least if they beat Serbia and Montenegro. Something I'm fairly sure there gonna do, lets cross fingers :(

Ps, It is a sight for sore eyes to see all the dutch coaches' teams winning :P Beenhakker, Advocaat, Hiddink and van Basten all getting to the World cup and winning the first matches :D
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Hokage

England all the way!!!!!!!

They won against Trinidad & Tobago

I was rooting for Poland but they lost sadly however that was a great game against Germany.

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MagicalPen

#3
Holland was unlucky to not win that draw against Australia in one of those last friendlies...clear handball in box on the ball sent to van Persie (yet another Arsenal player).

England werent very convincing today against TNT either...2 goals in last 10 mins to win it, but TNT was getting tired and unfortuneate not to score before the end of first half.

Germany...i honeslty think Ecuador will beat them. Their defense is pretty circumspect despite having Lehmann (another Arsenal player) in goal.

Theres a song in England about Ronaldo i think...something along the lines of:   "He's fat, his round, he's worth a million pounds" ...pounds being the money over there.

Italy will advance in their group along with the Czechs (who made the US look like a bunch of boys playing against men).

UPDATE: And look who just scored for Sweden...Freddie Ljunberg...an Arsenal player!

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Hokage

England wasn't palying that well but then whats that say about Trinidad, they couldn't even score a goal. But I have to say the put up a good fight, and the goal that they made but wasn't counted was very nice, very nice indeed.


I really hate all popular tv sports, I like to play them, but watching them bores me and it annoys me how much money they make. I think people who have hard jobs such as a garbage man etc should get paid more, but that just me ranting..... but I found myself loving watching the games. Yay!
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MagicalPen

Trinidad did play well and were very unlucky not to score. France and England both need to wake up and play the fast style of play that their players are used to. Oh well....England and Sweden will progress.

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Hokage

That Rooney guy on England seemed to be the only one that had that fast pacedness.

In the games I watched all the substitutes did amazingly for thier teams.
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MagicalPen

That is true...Rooney got the fans back into it and set up some good plays. Subs today did very well...score 25% of the goals so far too i think.

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RogueJedi

I'm a fan.  Honestly the two teams I went into this cup supporting are the US and Australia.  Australia really cleaned up on Japan (who shouldn't have even had a goal).  Which brings me to referees... they need to send some of those idiots home in disgrace (like they did to Esse Baharmast in '98 when he was proven correct).  And I am a referee, so if I am badmouthing them, they are truly bad!

MagicalPen

Argentina dont have a problem scoring goals today  :o  5 - 0 last time i checked. Looks like they have a good chance at the World Cup this year. Given, they havent played a quality team yet (netherlands remains i think) but still pretty threatening looking. Speaking of the Dutch, they'll have a very interesting game against the Ivory Coast and Drogba (star striker) today. Should be the best game of the day, as the Mexico vs Angola game could be interesting, but nothing like the game before it.

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RogueJedi

Ghana scores less than 70 seconds into the match and holds on to defeat Czech Republic 2-0.  The Czechs looked pretty out of sorts today without their big man, Koller, up top.

The US was unlucky to only draw Italy, as they dominated the match (even when they were down to nine men versus Italy's ten).  And I wish that FIFA would review the referees more.  The Ivory Coast-Holland referee was pretty poor, giving cards where they were unwarranted.  But the referee of the Italy-USA game was the worst I have seen in a long time.  Frankly, as a referee, I feel some of these referees are giving all others a bad reputation.

MagicalPen

Well, the USA were very lucky to 'score' that goal...that Italian will be shooting himself in the foot. And i'm sure the Italians were paying that ref like the one in their last game  ;D  The first USA Red Card wasnt warranted though....yellow card tackle, not red. Didnt watch the second half (had to run out to do an errand) so didnt know they were down another.

The Czechs did have some scoring chances in the 2nd half- some brilliant saves by the Ghana goalie and Cech had some ones that kept them in the game too. Definately makes this group interesting, as no one is into the next round yet and everyone has a chance. The last game will surely be interesting.

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RogueJedi

Yes, but they called back a US goal late in the second half.  And he sent off Pope right at the start of the second half.  The referee had just returned from serving a four year suspension from FIFA for 'irregularities'.  So, honestly, I think he should be suspended again.

Well, I guess I just hope that the US beats Ghana and Italy can beat the Czechs.  That will put the US through to the next round.

Also, interestingly enough, I wonder if maybe Angola (who has looked very good) might progress on and Mexico goes home.  It is very possible.  Portugal looked good against Iran and Mexico found out how tough Angola was.

MagicalPen

Not sure if i agree with you on Portugal. The goal was a little lucky looking if you ask me..Deco wasnt expecting it to go in and it seemed to curl towards the end into the net. Iran had a few good chances too, but i would have expected Portugal to win rather easily to be honest. I wouldnt mind seeing Mexico going home, though i think it'll be a tough task.

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RogueJedi

Well, I do think that Portugal can beat Mexico.  And I think that Angola can defeat Iran, so we will see.  I am waiting how the Brazil group goes as well.  I honestly think it will be Australia and Brazil going on.  But Brazil didn't really impress me against Croatia.

Swedish Steel

The Sweden- England game is gonna start pretty soon. I'm rather nervous. Even though England haven't beaten us in 38 years (impressive, that) I think this might be the day they break that curse. Ugh, couldn't we just get a draw? :)
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MagicalPen

Hate to break it to you, but the game doesnt even matter to the Brits. I wouldnt be suprised if they started their bench players. The fact that Rooney is starting suggests that they are getting their starters some rest and their backups some time. They're already through, so it depends on who they want to play - unless they dont care. Might be smarter to play safe, no injuries or cards. So if Sweden wins, i wouldnt be too suprised. But i think Rooney is still too good for that sort of thing to happen.

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Swedish Steel

Pah, you Brits talk of Rooney like he's got celestial light coming out his arse. :)
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Ellyssa

5-0 England. I'm calling it. :D

*hides from SS*

Swedish Steel

You don't need to hide, I'm tempted to agree with you...  :'(
0-1 to England and the Swedish team looks like they are asleep out there.
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Swedish Steel

That Was The Best Game Ever. Seriously.
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MagicalPen

Cant deny Rooney was good in that game. A few close calls right off the bat. Owen is done for the rest of the Tourney (i dont like him very much anyways). Not that it matters, but Ljunberg shouldnt have been yellow carded for that foul towards the end...and i'm glad to see Sol come back in and play a bit. Arsenal fan here :) pretty much every game has an Arsenal player or two in it. Ashley Cole couldnt have done anything on either Swedes goal - great game though!

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Swedish Steel

I guess today wasn't the day to end that 38 year dryspell, huh? But I've just found out we haven't won a game against Germany since 1958, so ouch.  :o
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kylie

I like to watch some, but I'm not very faithful or interested in statistics.  I just root for whatever team I think is most interesting at the moment, or else the underdog (ideally one and the same).

They're also airing this stuff at like 3 in the morning where I am.  Good gawd.

I really enjoyed watching Ghana against the Czechs.  Sure, an early goal helps... but they played with so much energy, it just looked like they were having fun.  (In other cases: Sometimes I want to scream, it's a game people.  Get your arms back to the rest of your body and try to find the goal or something.) 

Perhaps I simply don't watch enough...  But often when I do watch the European teams they seem so mechanical. They pack up the defensive center and have these finely tuned slugfests there, but on a screen it all looks clogged.  Most times when the ball gets to the middle, the defense has so many more people around that nothing happens.  I'd also rather see the offense use the sidelines better and take a few *good* long shots (so many of those have gone to the moon so far).   If nothing else, make the four to six defenders spread out so it gets a little interesting, you know?

Sweden v. England was rather interesting.  I didn't catch it all, but seemed like the Swedes got the ball inside from the front corners a bit more than some so far.  Not to imagine the sweet-looking (if rather lucky?) goals. 

The US v Italy game...  well at least the US team seemed able to run at the end (does anyone play offensively in this game, though?).  Other than that, it was simply an hilarious match (except for the referee).  Skim the USA Today report if you haven't, just to relive a few of the laughs.  My thanks to the UK Guardian (who else) for pointing out that there is actually this much humor anywhere in the American mainstream media regarding anything to do with something American.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/soccersweep/2006/week24/index.html     
http://blogs.usatoday.com/soccersweep/2006/06/2nd_half_usa_1_.html 








 
     

MagicalPen

Well, the European teams have a different style of play (for the most part). Most of their players play for well known club teams (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, and dare i say Juventus?) and the type of play tends to be very strong defensively. Look at Arsenal in the Champions league...broke the record for longest run of giving up no goals. And that was with a bunch of 18 - 20 year olds playing defence. Those same players also play in the World Cup. Now, i am an Arsenal fan if you hadnt picked up, so sorry for a biased opinion on some players.

Europeans play a mechanical, methodical game. They (like England for Example) rely on set pieces, or a string of passes to pick apart a defense. In the Premiership League, where many of this World Cup players play, the top three teams are known for their passing capabilites (Arsenal more so then the rest) which can result in fluid play that looks like artwork. It can cause defenders to get pulled out of position, or beaten with a quick one-two, or frees up room to make a through pass.

The Americas (lets just ignore the US, since they really do suck) have an entirely different style of play. Brazil, for instance, rely on pace and fancy moves and skills. You'll notice that those sort of countries (argentina too, mexico somewhat) are more offensively minded and have very little in the way of a big-name defenders.

The Africans are much the same way, going for finesse and speed. Unfortuneately for them, it usually doesnt work against a strong European team.

Think of it this way: Europeans go for a static, strong defense, with probing runs and passes and a method to picking apart a defense. A solid team makes this hard to do, which is where the skill of the individual comes in. The Americas rely on fast pace and skill to beat a defense, but what they have on offensive they usually lack in defense. Possesion is their best way to shut down an opponenet. The Africans are quick and rely on pure speed to beat defenders. This works often, though they dont always get a result. They tire out faster, which usually results in their game falling apart.

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