FIFA World Cup

[Imogen]

Anyone seen Holland play? Talk about a good team no one is talking about.

'Oranje' is through to the next round despite their less than inspired/inspiring perfomance. I'm happy with the result though, the Dutch have lost too many championships playing stellar soccer

Now keeping my fingers crossed for Denmark, they played an interesting match today against Cameroun.

[Lord Mayerling]

They actually played pretty impressively today against Japan. The Dutch, that is.

[Remiel]

I'm probably the only person in the world who watches reality shows and sports, but Budweiser Beer's "Bud House" is kinda cool.  It's interesting watching all the fans from all the different countries interact with each other.  Plus, the German girl is H-O-T!!!

[Imogen]

Shown a hundred times over, but still funny and a good stunt by Bavaria: Dutch Dress

And Mayerling, I agree. They didn't play beautifully but they did win and Japan was a tough opponent. I've heard many say that it's hard for the favorites to live up to expectations as even the 'underdogs' are playing with good teams. I am hoping the matches from here on will be a tad more lively though as very few teams can afford to play the waiting game. So far, we mainly enjoyed the match of Italy vs Paraguay and last night's Denmark vs. Cameroun.

[Izu]

xDDDD




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The England team visited an orphanage in Cape Town today. "It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope" said Jamal aged 6.

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xDDD

[Ridcully]

@Izu: LOL! Great.

I'm a bit heartbroken with Cameroon out of the tournament :(

[Izu]

Yeah, me too. But then again last night's game was quite good compared to England's game :x

[Ridcully]

Well done, New Zealand!

Well done, France! Now showing the world: We officially hate each other. Woot. French team spirit rocks.

[Lirliel]

Laughed my ass off at Italy, oh my god.. losing to New Zealand. Great game by them though, I'd like to see one of the 'bigger' teams try that, since Italy normally does well against big teams.

[Nico]

Italy - New Zealand was a great game.

But, seriously, Italy could do way better.

[Lirliel]

Italy was this piss poor, I was wondering why Lippi wouldn't bring Gatusso in, if you want calm and relaxed Mid-field, bring him in, they needed to up the tempo and he's a good one for that.

[Nico]

The evening game will be great.

Cote d'Ivoire will bring Drogba.  Should be an interesting game.

[Lirliel]

Not so sure if want.

I think the game will be a let down to be honest.. Brazil is too much for themselves not enough for each-other and Cote d'Ivoire has just Drogba and Kalou.. and Tiote..

[Nico]

I so have to post this:

[Lirliel]

How bout that one.

[Phobetor]

I so have to post this:

HAHAHAHAHA!!! OMG...Hilarious.

Dude! WTF is going on with France? I was listening to ESPN and apparently, they're refusing to train, two of their trainer peoples have resigned and they keep getting into little arguments. w.t.f?

[Lirliel]

The French Striker Anelka apparently called his trainer: "Go to hell son of a whore"

So yeah.. guess why.

[Ridcully]

Anelka was thrown out for that comment. The team is protesting against him being thrown out by not training. They say one of the staff is giving information to the medias. Considering their late history in French medias, I guess it's true.

[Cherri Tart]

i am sad - i wanted to see France do well, and now... well, they are falling apart and becoming embarrassing... go USA! and NZ too!

[Nico]

I just heard that there was a brawl with some guys from the French team and their fitness trainer. Dear lord, what's wrong with those guys?

[Cherri Tart]

I just heard that there was a brawl with some guys from the French team and their fitness trainer. Dear lord, what's wrong with those guys?

the french are a passionate people? that's my only guess! *chuckles* i think they are not going to make it into the next round...

[consortium11]

I just heard that there was a brawl with some guys from the French team and their fitness trainer. Dear lord, what's wrong with those guys?

I'm not really sure if I'd class it as a rawl. The French Captain Evra and the Fitness Coach Duverne had a it of a row which ended with the coach walking off and hurls his accreditation away.

Desentendimento Seleção Francesa | Copa do Mundo 2010 | Clash Evra-Duverne

As for what's wrong with them it seems they lost their faith in the coach during qualifying (remember they're only in the World Cup because Henry cheated) and haven't got it back. Poor performances and then the Anelka situation meant tensions were high and they haven't been able to resolve them. An "Us and them" attitude between the staff and players works once in a blue moon... but normally ends up in the abject failure we're witnessing.

[Ridcully]

To the defense of the French team: The team suspects someone of the staff -  maybe that fitness coach? Evra and him didn't actually fight, they were about to when Domenech prevented it -  to give all sorts of information to the press. It's a huge problem for the players, especially after the prostitutes scandal back in April.

Otherwise, Domenech has no standing as a coach. It's an open secret that the team has two "gangs", with Ribery being one leader and Gourcuff the other. Gourcuffs gang/posse/group has a much weaker standing, this is why Ribery (supported by Evra, Gallas, Anelka) give the orders. A very big rumour: Before the match against Mexiko, Ribery, Gallas, Sagna, Evra met up with Zinedine Zidane to work on tactics and demand a different tactics from Domenech who wouldn't agree on it eventually, but still leaving Gourcuff on the bench.

There's also a big rumour that Ribery and Gourcuff had a quarrel in the plane on the flight to South Africa.

Beverly Cape Town (90) 2010

[Cherri Tart]

well, hopefully next time around they'll look back at this and see it as a lesson learned :)

[consortium11]

And the disgraceful reffing continues.

Kaka just got sent off for an Ivory Coast player running into him...

Disgraceful. If the Ivory Coast player isn't censured for that then there's something deeply wrong here.