World Cup, Take Two!

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Portugal will be decimated. England should cruise past them now.

 

lol I am glad you have more faith than I do!

 

Agreed, yet I still don't think they will actually win it.

 

Still their best chance, given how much they claim they were 'robbed' last time they played Brazil.

Interesting looking at the changes in fortunes from the last World Cup to this one. The quarter finalists last time included Senegal, Turkey, and USA - two of which are not even at this World Cup at all.

[ June 26, 2006, 03:49: Message edited by: Harbourboy ]

 

This is the first time I've ever watched the world cup so I admit to not knowing who is good and who isn't, but I did watch a lot of this weekend's games (I have a new HD plasma TV and it was raining here all weekend).

Germany totally destroyed Sweden. I hope the announcers were correct and the German coach will take over the U.S. team.

Argentina and Mexico was a great game to watch. I totally enjoyed myself and was pulling for both teams.

England vs. Ecuador. Seeing Beckham puke in high definition is something special. England won, but they didn't look that good to me.

Portugal vs. Netherlands. I think at least a few of the Portugal players should be nominated for an Acadamy award. It was a pretty crappy move for the Netherland's not to give the ball back to Portugal (which then led to a near riot). The announcers were really ripping the Russian ref, but I actually thought he called a fair game. I can't imagine how rough the game would have gotten if he hadn't been throwing yellow cards everywhere.

I also have developed a huge respect for Soccer refs. They work really hard and seem to be in as good if not better shape than the players. I particularly liked this one ref from Brazil. He made it clear in the beginning that he wasn't going to take any guff and the teams behaved (they almost seemed afraid of him).

I may have to skip work to watch the Germany/Argentina match (or record it) as to me it seems like it will be a good match.

I don't see how a depleted Portugal team can beat England (even though I thought they looked crappy).

I still haven't quite been able to determine when a foul is worthy of a card.

I am also curious about all the players who left with one yellow card. Does that mean if they get a yellow in the next game they are thrown out and then have to miss the game after that?

 

I agree with just about everything you said, Snookster. And you are also right about the yellow cards. If they get another one, they are out for any potential semi-final. The guys who got reds are already out for the quarter final.

 

Heh, definitely gotta see the replay of that game


@Barmy

Is that really what English fans chant?

 

Sarevok•, where is your prediction!

 

The Ukraine v Switzerland game is a tough one for me to pick.

 

You want to keep Van Basten? The man whose "renewing" of the team meant getting rid of every single black player while keeping older white players? I find the fact that Basten even dared to do osmething like that quite amusing. Dont think it really had any racist reasons but man, it looks strange when you think about it.

 

Yeah, the team was quite white, but I can't say I really mind, I never really liked Seedorf and Kluivert. Perhaps he should have kept Davids, it can't hurt having an aggressive looking middle fielder.

They may add Castelen to the team for Euro 2008 to add a little color (And if I'm going to speculate about the future: Huntelaar!... Too bad most of you can't understand the song )

 

I've got a question for the Europeans. Over here if we want to see the games televized live on our TV we have to pay an additional cost of around $115. Otherwise we have to watch replays on a local sports channel, Solar Sports, and I'm not sure if they've been replaying every game. Do you guys get it for free on regular cable or do you pay an extra cost to see it live too?

 

It's free and as far as I know FIFA insists that the WC games must be broadcasted by free tv channels.

 

Portugal outsmarted us, there's really nothing more to say about it. Plus we didn't have the slightest bit of luck, but for some reason that keeps happening to us when we face Portugal, it's becoming a bit frustrating.

Ah well, as far as i'm concerned, this worldcup is over. I don't care who wins anymore, the rest is equally uninteresting to me.

 

Hehe! All the fuzz about getting the Ivorian Salomon Kalou in the team was a scheme!

 

Enagonios - pretty much mate. I cringe when the IRA chant comes out again, but you go out with a bunch of young English lads up for a laugh, get trolleyed off your face and try not to get into it .

Portugal won't be THAT decimated, they will only have 2 players out... We have 2 players out as well, Owen and Neville, that make the two teams even on that front.

[ June 26, 2006, 15:08: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

 

Still, you don't have 8 yellow cards or whatever it is.

 

Actually they'll have 3 players out if C. Ronaldo doesn't recover from his injury. Also, Deco and Ronaldo are more precious to Portugal than Owen and Neville are to England.

 

@Barmy

lol actually sounds like fun I heard another 500 (more or less) English fans were arrested partying again the other night? So much for trying to show the world that it's an unfair stereotype

Yeah, Portugal v England and Argentina v Germany are going to be awesome.

You guys are lucky. I only get to see the games live when I go over to a bar that has them or to my friend's house. (he paid the $115) But I can't catch the later games. Because of the time difference, the games here are at 9:00pm, 12:00am and 3:00am.

 

According to the Guardian, Ronaldo will likely be in, Figo almost certainly is cleared to play, and they have a good chance of appealing Deco's suspension...

Re: Holland selection, if *I* were coach, I'd build the team around the players with the most ridiculous names, starting with "Vennegoor of Hesselink"...