World Cup 2010 - discussions & random thoughts

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Well, they did score one goal.... and ummm.... they did earn a draw in one match.... and ummmm... did I mention the goal?

 

I presumed you would have watched european matches. Drogba is easily the sneakiest player I've seen, despite being an absolute brute of a man who spends the rest of the match throwing his weight around.

Eboue would be another sneaky African. They're generally better than Southern European or Americans but there's still plenty of them about.

 

Domenech is a loser... and the French FA are losers, it makes a bad mix! The team is OK, and could have done so much better... just when the mix is bad, the atmosphere is bad, the players don't want to play... I just hope England do better!

 

Big game for England tonight! Huge! I've got a 1-1 draw in my office picking competition (which I am winning so far!)

 

Big game for Germany tonight. They have to win, and I'll be watching, so they better get their act together or else ...

 

"We're still not as bad as France", by Dave Henson

I'm aware that this is a massive dose of Schadenfreude, for which I apologise to Cara in advance, but I just had to post this.

Here's hoping England don't go on to make as much of a laughing stock of themselves this afternoon...

 

An other Ivorian?! Man! Of all the African teams, I cheered hardest for IC. Oh well... We still got Ghana. I'll still cheer for IC, but I guess I'll keep an eye on Drogba, Keita and Eboué.

 

I love the swearing icon!!! I think your boys will be fine though Ragusa - the US has a game in about an hour, and it's a must win game for them. If they win, they are guaranteed to advanced out of Group C, although the game between England and Slovenia will impact whether or not they win the group or finish second.

While the tie with Slovenia was disappointing, I think if you told Americans at the start of the WC, that they would have a chance of winning the Group, or at worst finishing second, and all they had to do was beat Algeria in the final game, that they would take that.

EDIT: Nearly 70 minutes in and still no goals in US-Algeria. Given that England is winning, the US must win in order to advance.

 

Ggggooooaaaallllll!!!!!!

And now I can try to get some work done today.

 

In stoppage time no less. I think this also means, since both the US and England will advance with identical 1-0-2 records, that the US will be considered the Group winner due to more total goals scored.

That's a big advantage in the first round of the elimination games. I beleive Germany will beat Ghana and be the Group D winner. Which would likely leave the US with either Serbia or Australia (if Ghana loses they likely won't make it to the next round). Have fun with your round of 16 opponent England - wouldn't want to be in your shoes! Then again, if Ghana manages a tie, they could be the Group D winner, in which case it's anyone's guess who the second team would be out of that Group.

EDIT: I'm also trying to decide who has had the worst world cup experience. It's either France, for well documented reasons, Algeria who failed to score a goal, or Honduras, which up to this point has failed to score a goal or earn a point (although they have one game left).

 

I was pulling for Slovenia also.

 

It's definitely France.

 

I was not. I was actually rooting for a scoreless tie to be honest, as that result would give the best possible result to the US. If Slovenia won, they would win the group. If England won, it forces the US to win to advance. If they tied, the US would still advance so long as they at least tied (more goals than England).

Yeah, I know. I was trying to throw Cara a bone there. No one really expected much out of Honduras and Algeria, so their performance didn't really come as much of a surprise. The French team embarassed themselves in the largest international sporting event in the world. It's hard to top that...

 

Well, that's a relief. Could've been more than 1-0, but I think that the US deserved to top the group for their performance in the second half of the Slovenia game. It's a shame that Slovenia couldn't go through as well, but England delivered today. Hopefully the prospect of Germany in round 2 will cool the more hysterical end of our media from reverting to blind optimism, but somehow I doubt it.

 

Big congratulations to the USA, you guys have really done well so far

Bad luck to Slovenia.

Gogo England!

 

Go New Zealand!

 

We've one African team through to the next round. And I'm sure both they and the US are delighted to be playing each other. England Germany should be great. And the winners will probably meet Argentina after that! Two (potentially) massive grudge matches for England. They've really made things tough for themselves by finishing second. The US has a much easier path.

 

Aargh. I'm back now after watching Germany vs. Ghana (1:0). What a torment.
The first 60 minutes were pure agony for me, only interrupted by incredulous horror and compulsive cursing

It's been a while since I've last seen a team so scared. Like children. The team is young and hungry (unlike the old pros of France and Italy) and they have great potential - but they are awed by the pressure. They lack 'sergeants', experienced players organising and stiffening the team, and giving it confidence and concept. Ballack and Klose were sorely missing. At least the latter will be with the team the next time.

Particularly galling and frightening was for me the terribly ineffective defender Jerome Boateng - normally playing as a right defender he was sent to defend left this time - obviously not his place - he left the left German flank open like a barn door. To my relief, his late and overdue replacement fixed that immediately. Or the sight of defenders giving the Ghanaan players so much space - yikes. It was maddening to see the German players ... standing around, safely away from their opponents. I learned in school sports that you must not allow the opposing team to operate freely and have to put pressure on opposing players to obstruct their game. The Ghanaan defence did that - they very effectively neutralised Podolski that way. But I'd rather forget all that.

Like the German team I was happy, no, relieved, when the ordeal was over: So Germany is in the finals now, yay. We we'll face England next - with a team of rookies. Good luck with that. But we'll see.

Cheers!

Besides, I understand that Australia played well but at the time I was distracted. Congrats.