FIFA Football World Cup 2010
The World Cup is beginning on 11th June in South Africa. England will aim to stop 30+ years of hurt and win it once again. I'm looking forward to having matches played at a reasonable time of day instead of at 5am
Then again, Brazil and Spain are the favourites and either are good odds to win it.
So who else will be watching and following along?
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Right here. I'm still a bit sore about how Ireland got scammed out of the Cup this year (France :Shake: ) but I'm still going to watch as much of it as I can, as it's not ever on at a conveniant time in the US, unless you want to watch replays.
Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.
It's quite amusing watching the England squad being announced. It's being cut down from 30 to a squad of 23 and all the news is coming out through rumour and gossip with no-one really knowing what is going on.
What happened to just a press conference to announce the team?
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Over here there is injury after injury. They are lucky if they can actually find 23 healthy ones.
Oh for pity's sake....first training session and Rio Ferdinand is already crocked for the World Cup.
What a start
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
The Onion's take on the American reaction.
Well, less than a week to go.Originally posted by Rube E. Tewesday
Looking forward to a victorious English campaign starting with a sound thrashing of the Yanks at Rustenburg on the 12th.
I can dream.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
I have a feeling the England-USA match won't be that hard to win. My prediction is 3-2 England, maybe 4-2. Though I expect neither team will have trouble getting out of that group (it'd be nice to see Slovenia win a game, though).
Brazil probably wins this one. I wonder if one of the African countries will make an unexpectedly deep run, given the optimism of holding it on their continent.
Going by current form, I would expect a Spain vs Brazil final, although it would be nice to see a new winner for the cup regardless.
England will probably go out in the semis.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Spain-Brazil seems to be the popular choice. I think this might be the Netherlands year to make a run to the finals, but not necessarily to win it. That's my 'underdog' choice.
Go South Africa against Mexico! And all credit to Uruguay's defensive work, but France just looked flat today.
Looking very forward to the US v UK match this afternoon. USA!*
*but I will root for whoever wins as they go on. actually, I'd love for England to win it (the Cup), but want US to win this ONE game...
It's about to start. I'm watching the pre-game.
1-1 at halftime. Hard to be proud of that when the best player the US has is apparently the English keeper.
Tim Howard was born in New Jersey. He PLAYS soccer in UK because America has its head up its ass when it comes to one of the best games in the world.
Thanks for that info, eleanor. Makes me feel better considering the final score.
I was hoping we'd kick England's ass and possibly spark a little more interest in the game in this country. The draw wasn't too bad, though, and the game had some good moments.
Also: Snoop Dogg with a lightsabre pwned.
USA won some major international soccer chops today. We are no longer a joke in the World Cup world. If we applied ourselves, we could be very competitive. We need more than a very talented and persistent goalie and sheer dumb luck, though.
I thought we played very well, considering. But I don't know enough about soccer (or these players) to be able to say we could do better or where our weaknesses are...
IMO, the draw is the best possible outcome for USA. Now we have pressure on us for the next game, but it's not "The Phenomal Upstarts" kind of pressure.
Last edited by eleanorigby; 12 Jun 2010 at 04:11 PM.
I think that parvizal meant that the best offensive move for the U.S. in the first half was made by the English keeper. Ouch, that was a bad goal.
But US did fight hard and kept the English press mostly unsuccessful.
Well it looks as though England's World Cup campaign is beginning to fall apart. We are now down two defenders (Ferdinand and King) and Carragher is really short of pace and just not up to it.
As for the match, England were poor and played much better during the qualifying. The USA did play well, but were definitely lucky with the goal. Then again, England normally have one major goalkeeping blunder per championship, so I am hoping that is our one for the tournament.
Looking at the other teams, Germany and Argentina are looking good.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
I knew that despite being favorites, the US would have a hard time winning today. Still one of the best comebacks ever, even with the terrible officiating. I won't say they necessarily deserved to win, but they were robbed of a goal.
While theoretically they can get through without it, the US really needs to get a win to feel like they accomplished something to make it through. I don't think an England-Algeria draw is likely, but then Germany lost to Serbia today, so anything can happen. Some pretty interesting matches the last few days.
I'm not following the World Cup to closely, but it was on the TV where I was picking up my lunch burrito yesterday, and I got to watch Mexico score on France.
So I was treated to the Univision announcer's: "Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!"
Which kind of made my day.
Australia vs Ghana soon. Socceroos had better play better than they did against Germany, or just go home and face our wrath.
Did the ref ever give a reason for not counting our goal. Or should we have the CIA waterboard him?
Welcome to Mellophant.
We started with nothing and we still have most of it left.
Usually even with wrong decisions you can see what the referee was thinking. Are there any new insights into what that was supposed to be?
Well, I am thoroughly looking forward to see England going home on Thursday to be met at the airport by several hooligans who would like a word about what it means to play for your country.
Actually, no, I don't. I want to see England win, I want to see the team which strolled through qualifying and looked good doing it.
I want to see pride and passion and a desire to win. They have the skills and expertise. Well, they better had given how much the get paid per week.
Because at this moment in time, we are crap, terrible, worse than useless, and I can't see it being any different without something major changing. A tweak here or there is just not going to work.
So, here's looking forward to the USA and Slovenia going through.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Well FIFA Football took another blow in America on Friday. Those I know that were taking an interest, especially my nephew and nephew-in-law think 'Soccer' is a complete joke with the foul that was never defined that cost the US the win Friday. We're use to crap calls in the US but we at least expect explanations. I find it a little funny. Every 4-8 years my entire life I hear wear soccer is going to elevate itself into the big sports. Personally I think Lacrosse will do so long before soccer.
Good Luck UK and US. Is it possible for them to meet in the finals?
I don't think anyone knows why the goal was disallowed. That probably includes the ref as well.
As for meeting in the final, technically speaking yes if they both go through the next time they can meet is in the final. Reality check says you must be kidding.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
A commentator I was listening to seemed to be saying professional soccer refs never explain their decisions. Any truth to this?
According to this aticle:
Referees must submit a written report to FIFA after each match, but it is not specified in the rule that he must fully explain a ruling such as this.
FIFA refereeing rules state: "The referee shall hand over to the FIFA general coordinator a match report at the stadium immediately after the match. On the report form the referee shall note all occurrences such as misconduct of players leading to caution or expulsion, unsporting behavior by supporters and/or by officials or any other person acting on behalf of an association at the match and any other incident happening before, during and after the match in as much detail as possible."
I was just talking to a big time soccer fan and HS level coach and he says this is the first time he recalls a Ref on this level not explaining it the coaches at least.
I don't know the game well enough to know what to look for. I was hoping that some one who knows the game could give a better explanation than "He fucked up!". But "He fucked up!" seems to actually be the reason.
I still think we should waterboard him. Where's Bush when you need him?
Welcome to Mellophant.
We started with nothing and we still have most of it left.
I read an article that speculated the foul might have been "danger of goal" because, according to them, it's what would most likely get called in that situation.
Except I don't know the game well enough to know what the heck that means. I know what it sounds like - "You were about to score a goal, so I was forced to call a foul."
If ref's can do that this game will never take off in America.
Welcome to Mellophant.
We started with nothing and we still have most of it left.
Ok, took another look at the reports. Apparently, there was an alleged pull on a Slovenian player in the build up to the disallowed goal which the ref gave a foul for. Given some of the antics that go on, this is probably a bit harsh.
Regardless, the ref's word is final.
A good night for the Iberians then. Spain finally got a win but are still not in top gear. Portugal looked excellent knocking seven past North Korea who were totally outclassed. Sets up the Brazil vs Portugal game nicely. Ivory Coast will only go through if they thrash North Korea as well and Portugal lose badly. Spain will aim to beat Chile otherwise they will be hoping that the do better than Switzerland who have the easy last game.
As for England, John Terry decided to try and organise a player's revolt and take charge. Unfortunately, the player's weren't behind him and Coach Capello saw it coming. He tried the same thing at Chelsea and probably thought he could get away with it again.
Could be worse though, the French are in open revolt with their coach and his treatment of other players. Training has been suspended and morale has collapsed. If they go through to the next round it will be a miracle.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Bit of discussion on this blog about "danger of goal" calls.
Rube, that was actually what I read an excerpt of, I'm pretty sure.
Well, here comes the last group matches.
Nice to see that France got one positive result (I mean allowing themselves to implode and make South Africa feel a little better with a win).
Tomorrow:
I think it's likely England will finally pull together and get the confidence to win convincingly (even though I hope it doesn't happen for the US's sake).
The USA really needs to stop Algeria from scoring quickly, but Algeria looks like just the type of team that's likely to score quickly. Hopefully the team can put together a win when they really need it, even if they do get behind again.
Group D is very tight, but I think the net result is going to be no shift in the ranking. I'm hoping for Ghana & Germany. If the US gets through, it's a great choice: Either get revenge on Ghana for 2006, or go up against Germany in a tough matchup. I think if the US plays Germany there's a real shot at holding on for 90 minutes at least, and even a loss after that would still be a very good showing.
It's unfortunate the Brazil-Portugal matchup will probably look more like a friendly game than the serious battle it could have been. And I think that despite all their hard work, New Zealand may be going home in the end. I think Denmark/Japan and Group H will be the most entertaining of what's left.
Squeaky bum time for England, realistically, it's win or bust. I guess we will know soon enough.
If the USA come out positively, they should beat Algeria.
Nothing else matters.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Well good luck to US & UK today. I hope both win and move on. It starts in about an hour I believe and should be done by the time I go to lunch.
And the US and UK do advance. The US winning in the 91st minute somehow.
OK, I know FIFA allows the game to run longer at some odd official discretion or some such rule but maybe someone can explain it better.
Finally! England through to the next round. A much better performance.
Wooohooo! US makes it on top of the group with a win!
This is the standard way the game is played. There's no game clock at the stadium (visible to the players) that gets stopped and started when the ball goes out of bounds etc. The referee keeps track of the time on a stopwatch; when normal time is over, they signal a number of extra minutes to play. I believe that time is required to be a minimum, which means if 4 minutes were signaled, the game will end some time after 4 minutes.And the US and UK do advance. The US winning in the 91st minute somehow.
OK, I know FIFA allows the game to run longer at some odd official discretion or some such rule but maybe someone can explain it better.
So if the time is kept accurately, they still play only 90 minutes. The referee's judgement is that 4 minutes (or so) were spent with the ball out of play (there's also usually extra time added on top due to stoppages during extra time). The TV crew doesn't know the official time, so all they can do is show a clock that keeps running.
Officially, I don't know if they record the goal as occurring at minute 91, or in the first minute of stoppage time. (Otherwise you could have two events occurring past 45:00 due to the first half stoppage time).
Last edited by parzival; 23 Jun 2010 at 12:05 PM.
So in order to progress in the World Cup it looks as though England are going to have to beat Germany, probably followed by Argentina.
This is either going to be humiliating or a road to redemption for past World Cups.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
So in order to progress in the World Cup it looks as though England are going to have to beat Germany, probably followed by Argentina.
This is either going to be humiliating or a road to redemption for past World Cups.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
And so the US goes out. At least it was a hard-fought game. Ghana & the US switched - Ghana scored their first goal in open play, and the US failed to do so for the first time.
I still don't get why Bradley felt that the World Cup Finals would be a good time to start mucking around with the team.
I always did think Ghana had the best chance of the African teams; hope they can beat Uruguay.
Good luck to England against Germany. I think you may need it this time.
No luck for the English today, despite that disallowed goal. England fell apart.
England =
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Does any major sport have such consistently bad officiating as soccer?
That unscored English goal on Sunday was just
There is always professional boxing.
I used to be against introducing technology into the game. But I have changed my mind to a certain extent. I would be in favor of using technology to decide goals, but not other situations. This could clear up many controversial situations but it doesn't really interrupt the flow of the game and tactical implications are kept to a minimum.
Good one.
Although usually the problems in boxing arise with the scorecared judges.
If boxing had soccer style refereeing, the ref would be holding up the arm of a guy who was lying unconscious on the floor.
Saturday morning, a downtown Toronto diner.
Pitchers of beer being served at eleven a.m.
Groups of two, both sitting on the same side of the table so both can see the game.
Cute girls in Argentinian shirts drinking draft pilsener through straws.
Pretty much equally divided between German and Argentinian fans, my kid and myself being the only neutrals.
And everybody being stunned by that fearsome, fearsome, unrelating pounding the Germans administered.
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