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FIFA World Cup

Started by Nico, June 07, 2010, 01:24:41 PM

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Phobetor

Thank you for clarifying that! I was REALLY curious as to why they wouldn't have him there. I figured it had something to do with his 'meshing' with the Coach.

I cannot wait to see SPAIN tomorrow! Wo0t!!
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Kitsunetsuki

Well...I watched today's Brazil vs. N.Korea game & was a bit disappointed in my Brazilian team, I have to say...They played the first half like they were sleeping. Long lazy passes (that the Koreans took advantage of) were everywhere...and what the EFF was up with Kaka constantly giving the ball away??? I was glad to see them step up their game in the second half. But, in all honesty, I think Maicon was lucky. Elano was brilliant...The N.Koreans were really playing well today, and deserved that goal. They fought hard for it, and you have to give it to them, really. I think the Brazilian team was expecting a win for just showing up, and no matter who they are playing, they cannot afford to do that. Not here. Not now. Ah well...I still have high hopes for them, but they need to step it up. (and that's all I've got to say about THAT! LOL)
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Nico

I was a bit disappointed with Brazil myself - I expected a bit more from them, to be honest. ~laughs~ Maicon was lucky, indeed. I doubt that he expected the ball to go in the goal. It looked like a lucky shot to me. ;D
And, yes, Korea wasn't bad at all. But, personally, I think that Brazil didn't show their whole potential...yet.  XD

Kitsunetsuki

Quote from: Nicholas on June 15, 2010, 11:30:11 PMMaicon was lucky, indeed. I doubt that he expected the ball to go in the goal. It looked like a lucky shot to me. ;D
Yeah, did you see his face after he saw the ball go in? Hahaha...he was surprised, for sure ;)

Quote from: Nicholas on June 15, 2010, 11:30:11 PMBut, personally, I think that Brazil didn't show their whole potential...yet.
Couldn't agree with you more, Nic ;D
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Nico

Quote from: Kit on June 15, 2010, 11:42:06 PM
Yeah, did you see his face after he saw the ball go in? Hahaha...he was surprised, for sure ;)
Couldn't agree with you more, Nic ;D
Or maybe it was the magic of Jabulani. ~laughs~ No, seriously, this was luck.

I can't wait for Brazil - Portugal next week. This will be one of the highlights, no doubt. And Spain today. I love their team.

Remiel

Unfortunately, as I was at work during the game, I could not see it, and when I found out that Brazil barely held off North Korea 2-1, I began to wonder if my vote was misplaced.   However, after getting home and watching the recording, it immediately became obvious why the score was so close:  North Korea's strategy was clearly defensive.  They stacked their side of the field with defenders at all times, and whenever their goalie got the ball he punted it toward the Brazilian end.

That's not to say that they weren't impressive, however, intercepting the Brazilians' passes and even scoring that breakaway goal at the end.

However, I'm still going to have to stay with Brazil as the team to beat.  It's always such a joy to watch Brazil play, and the reason is that they know how to play as a team.  They kept the ball 66% of the time, passing it back and forth like the Harlem Globetrotters of football.  I disagree with Nicholas--I thought Maicon's shot was an amazing one, and they could have scored many more times were it not for the presence of the Korean goalkeeper.

Okay, Robinho is a bit of an actor, but he's nowhere near as bad as Cristiano "leap over a guy and then fall to the ground clutching his leg" Ronaldo.  Ronaldo is such a big baby, and it was awesome to hear Alexi Lalas call him a big baby on national TV.   "Referees should protect the more skillful players when they are getting fouled by the opposition.”  Really, Cristiano?  They shouldn't have to worry about that in your case, then. Zing!

consortium11

Yesterday was all about heroic defences and underdogs coming good. North Korea held out Brazil in a way few countries are able to and even got a goal of their own at the end but, almost more impressively for me, New Zealand (a team where some of the players are still part time and a decent number don't even have clubs at the moment) managed to sneak a draw against a Slovakian team some thought would win the group.

Spain/Switzerland could be interesting. Expect the Swiss to follow the example of many of the world cup teams and sit back and try for a draw. It'll e an interesting example of how Spain fare when breaking down opposition who have no real interest in winning the game.

Dashenka

I'm still gutted that Slovenia and not Russia made it to this tournament. Really amazing how we failed to beat some puny ex Yugoslavian country, but that aside.

I hope England will win but looking at their team, I don't give them much chance. Secondly I hope somebody injures Ronaldo, just to get that arrogance out of him. Portugal played well against the Ivory Coast but after watching Ronaldo parade around the pitch I hated that team with a passion. The Netherlands won't win simply because they always fail when it comes to something serious (elections etc.) and Italy and Spain have won enough.

Argentina well, with an idiot like Maradona as your coach you couldn't win anything and Brazil... well... they won enough and the way the played against North Korea was far from impressive. Then there are some puny European and South American and African countries and oh... wait... the USA who don't even call it Football but Soccer for some mysterious reason. Just for that idiocy they will never win the Football World Cup.

So that leaves Germany for me. I think they have a very good team and the way they played with the Ozzies was just amazing. So after Eurovision, now the World Cup...

Er macht nicht für nichts Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit.

Deutschland über alles in der Welt.
Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals and I get my back into my living.

I don't need to fight to prove I'm right and I don't need to be forgiven.

Ridcully

North Korea did a good job, but seriously - Brazil only played with 50% effort. This might sound arrogant, but watch how "much" the players were moving in the first half. It was arrogance of them. This doesn't mean to degrade North Korea, but Brazil didn't show the whole effort. They can and will do a lot more harm.

This world cup is btw a big disappointment. In no other World Cup there had been less goals in the first 14 matches:

1930 - 46
1934 - 54 
1938 - 60
1950 - 42
1954 - 71
1958 - 31
1962 - 30
1966 - 35
1970 - 35
1974 - 32
1978 - 37
1982 - 40
1986 - 28
1990 - 30
1994 - 29
1998 - 28
2002 - 33
2006 - 27
2010 - 23

Not to mention the level of a lot of the matches. The pressure seems so high, hardly any team is risking something. Most matches are totally ruined in midfield. It might get better now when the teams have their second match, but it's still a very strange World Cup to me so far.

Switzerland will play defensive today, but not as defensive as other teams. This would be against Ottmar Hitzfelds philosophy (the coach of Switzerland). They have a lot of injuries issues, but seriously, they don't have a bad team at all and they have one of the 5 best coaches you can have in this world. Hitzfeld won the Champions League 2 times with German teams, which is in itself a surprise. Don't underestimate him.

However, of course, I see no weaknesses in Spain's team. From goalkeeper to forwards, it's a team of players of world class level. The players making them "the" top team though are in my opinion not Fernando Torres or David Villa (a few teams have great forwards), but Xavi and Iniesta. After Messi, Xavi is in my opinion the best soccer player on this earth. His passing and shooting is unbelievable. Iniesta is able to create so much pressure on a defense that it's even hard to struggle back. The maybe only weak link in Spains team are the wing defenders, but we're talking about "weakness" on a very high level. In the group matches, no team will be able to stop Spain. In the following matches, when it's just one match and nervosity high, anything can happen, but I have my doubts that it will be easy to stop them.

Ridcully

Quote from: Dashenka on June 16, 2010, 04:59:38 AM

Er macht nicht für nichts Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit.

Deutschland über alles in der Welt.

Our national anthem starts with "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit für das deutsche Vaterland", in case you wanted to quote that.

The last sentence is the first phrase of the first paragraph of the national anthem, which is not sung anymore in Germany. The meaning of the phrase was used by the Nazis in a wrong manner. It can mean "Germany is better than everybody else in the world" - which is the way the Nazis used it. The composer of the anthem, Hoffman von Fallersleben, meant though that for him, he wouldn't put anything else above his love for Germany.

Dashenka

I know that.. it's two seperate sentences.. which is why I marked the last one in italics.

I didn't mean to quote the anthem as I know how it goes... just wanted to boast my German skills... but that obviously failed :D
Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals and I get my back into my living.

I don't need to fight to prove I'm right and I don't need to be forgiven.

Ridcully

Just sing:

"Es gibt nur einen Jogi Loeeeeew" (There's just one Jogi Loew).

Much more fun than the anthem.

Btw: It's a shame that Russia didn't make it to the World Cup, seriously. A World Cup without Arshavin...sad.

Dashenka

nah that's not the only problem... Russia would have been instead of Slovenia....


I'd pay a lot of money to see Russia play the USA :D
Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals and I get my back into my living.

I don't need to fight to prove I'm right and I don't need to be forgiven.

consortium11

Germany always seem to over-perform during the World Cup and this year looks like no exception. Klose and Podoski were both out of form during the league and Klose is getting up there in age. In short, prior to kickoff they're a team you'd see do well in the group, probably get through the 2nd round and then lose in the quarters.

Now?

Now I'm regretting not picking Klose as my golden boot winner.

It's easy to read too much into a single game (especially as there were no other real performances on that level through the opening round) and the harsh red for Cahill turned what was still a competitive match with a chance of the Socceroos getting back into it into a route, but Germany looked great and at this early stage have to e seen along with Spain and Brazil as the early tournament favourites. We'll learn more as the matches go on.

I've got the Netherlands in the office sweepstakes so I'm pulling for them... and I chose Van Persie for the golden boot (mainly because someone else had grabbed Villa before I got there)... but I fear their unique ability to choke may well come back to haunt me. Argentina looked better than they usually do under their new regime but still don't have much, Portugal aren't the force they once were, England look shambolic and a lot of the other ig hitters look faded... Italy, France etc etc. There's space for one of the lesser teams to make a good run... as has happened at previous tournaments. 

consortium11

#189
With 3 or 4 minutes of extra time to go... it looks like the Swiss are about to pull the biggest upset of the competition so far...

And whoop, there it is...

Swiss sat back and pulled a North Korea but Spain just couldn't break them down... and the Swiss, who only had two chances, managed to convert one of them. Very sloppy Spanish defending... while Chile and Honduras don't have the defensive discipline the Swiss do, their both far more dangerous on the break. That said, Spain should stilll win those games

This leads to a really interesting situation... if Spain don't win their group then there's a half chance that Spain and Brazil meet in the last 16... which means one of the pre-tournament favourites goes out early.

Stan'

Yes!

Well done Switzerland.  Well done.

Oh, Spain ain't happy!

Nico

Nope, they don't look happy at all.

Phobetor

Wow! I'm speechless. Spain got their ass handed to them. You know...i'm starting to think the top ranked teams came to the World Cup a little too confident and all the Underdogs actually came prepared lol
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Remiel

I haven't seen the Spain match, yet, but after seeing the results (although it's definitely worth noting that Spain had the ball 63% of the time, had 17 shots off target to Switzerland's 3, and had 8 shots on target to the Swiss' 3) I'm going to have to go with Brazil vs. Germany in the final.  Ridcully is right, Brazil just didn't bring any effort to their game vs. N. Korea until the second half.   Yun-Nam Ji's goal came as a result of Brazil's midfield pushing forward too much, trying to get in that third goal, perhaps to make up for their first half embarrassment.  They have the potential to do so much more damage.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Spain will disappoint--again--just like Portugal did in 2002.    So I'm calling it Brazil over Germany, in a game that will most likely come down to penalty kicks.  Third place will be Holland over Argentina, 3-2.

consortium11

I refuse to bet against the German's on penalties...

It's like thinking England will ever win a shootout...

I don't think Argentina make it into the semi's. They looked better here then they did in qualifying and Messi was allowed to do more, but they still are less than a sum of their parts under Maradona. I think they struggle with most of the other "good" teams and are prime for an upset loss in the later rounds.   

Kitsunetsuki

Man, I really wanted to see the game between Spain & the Swiss, but couldn't drag my butt out of bed that early...So happy for the Swiss, though!

The Brazil vs Portugal match should be stellar...and yes, it'd be great if the final two teams came down to Brazil vs. Germany. Style vs. Technique! It would be an awesome match ;)

Looking forward to watching South Africa vs. Uruguay later...I'm rooting for Uruguay, but it could go either way...
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Avi

Wow... kudos to Switzerland for taking down big bad Spain.  This could get interesting.
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Ridcully


"Mhhh...Spain, you say?"

When Ottmar Hitzfeld, national coach of Switzerland, heard about Spain as an opponent at the World Cup, he got pensive.

Others would have expected this:



But not Ottmar Hitzfeld. Not Ottmar the Great. He got away from many perils before:


Mad Germans trying to make him an alcoholic.


Italians gangsters selling phones.
"Isse good, isse better than old ring phone, signore. Fell of truck. Buy, buy, cheap, yes?"


He got over many twists of fates:

"Ottmar. Your rabbit died. We buried it in the middle of the field."


"Not Bugs, not Bugs."
"I know, Ottmar. Just let it out."

He had many ideas:

"If this Jogi guy wears scarfs, I wear winter caps all the time. Muahahahahah."


"Ma'am, I collect money for supporting the Suisse team. Just a few coins to fill up this small cup..."


"Yeah, in your face, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Look at my shorts and cry."

But overall, he's one thing:



A maestro when it comes to soccer - a composer of beautiful tactics like Beethoven for Music.

All hail Ottmar Hitzfeld!

consortium11

The first round's been pretty frustrating viewing really... off the top of my head only this match (for the upset), the Brazil/North Korea (for the salient attempt) and the Germany/Australia match (for the demolition) really stand out. France, England and Italy all played badly and the games weren't really memorable (other than Green being a fool) and other hyped matches (notably Ivory Coast/Portugal) failed to sparkle.

A fairly poor world cup so far... and I'm starting to think the ball is actually an issue rather than just sponsorship woes...

Ridcully

Agreed. Really a strange World Cup so far. And very, very few goals :(

Anyways, tonight and tomorrow will show if the teams change their attitude now. A lot of them must.