OT World Cup 2010 South Africa

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK
RSA 2 France 0 .. almost 1/2 time. France has really imploded [...]

What happened to France is Scatological P*** and should NOT be discussed on these forums [8|]

You know it's good cursing when some readers can't figure out what the stars stand for.[:)]

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Terje - I take it you meant as long it was not at the expense of England? If so - thanks for your support [:)]

My bad, that was ofc what I ment [:)]
Gonna be a thriller against Germany.
And support...Well I ALWAYS cheer for England, even against Norway [:D]

Terje

[JohnDillworth]

Well England gets the bad draw against Germany. Not that Ghana is a pass, but better them than the Germans who are capable of great things. Doesn't matter, the South American teams have all been great. Just a question of which one wins it all.

[Canoerebel]

I know nothing about soccer, but I *assume* that it is possible for any team to beat any other team on any given day, sort of like American baseball and football.  You know, like Stanford beating Southern Cal in football a couple of years ago?

Since I know nothing about soccer, I have no clue about the relative strengths of the 16 teams remaining in the tournament.  Anybody care to rank those 16 in order from one to sixteen?  Also, which of the teams have a legit shot at winning and which have essentially no shot?

[Vincenzo_Beretta]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Well, the Italians shouldn't have been in the World Cup AT ALL. It's not the Diving World Cup, after all...[8|]

If so, neither the N. Koreans should be in the World Cup AT ALL. It is not the Torpedoing World Cup, after all... [8|]

[Vincenzo_Beretta]

ORIGINAL: Terminus
England, Franche, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil... They're all overpaid, spoiled brats who spend more time appearing in commercials and tabloids than playing.

...And which, amazingly enough, ocasionally win a World Cup [:D]

Line 'em all up against the wall.

As a way of evening the field? But then we would ask the same if some big American Football World Cup gets organized. [8D]

[aprezto]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

England, Franche, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil... They're all overpaid, spoiled brats who spend more time appearing in commercials and tabloids than playing. Line 'em all up against the wall.

Interesting perspective on pay-parity with the Kiwi side, that I noted in our local news. The lead striker for Paraguay gets paid 35 times more than the kiwi side (I am not sure I agree with this stat - surely Ryan Nelson gets reasonable wedge with Blackburn???)! The kiwi coach is on US$25K per annum! Gads we're a tinpot country.

However, we are still in with a chance, and it will be another late night for me (game shown at 2am local time).

[Kwik E Mart]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

(well as long as it was not on behalf of England ).

Cheeky mare [;)]. I was kind of hopeing that england would lose so the damn hysteria over here would end. Would starting a thread about hating vuvuzelas be OT [:D].. What is it with these things and the people who blow them [:@], they don't get louder when a goals scored ? or the tempo picks up ? they make no sense to me whatsoever [&:].

aren't they meant to give the fans practice doing breathalizer tests after the match? [:'(] we need those over here at the Oakland Raider games...



PS - stay classy, Algeria...b*tch slapping a reporter DOES NOT endear you to anyone outside of certain cultural regions...
what did she say to deserve that? "Better luck next time."?

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Since I know nothing about soccer, I have no clue about the relative strengths of the 16 teams remaining in the tournament.  Anybody care to rank those 16 in order from one to sixteen?  Also, which of the teams have a legit shot at winning and which have essentially no shot?

Canoerebel, it's easy to remember. The big powers are Europeans & South Americans. In fact, it's all about 4 teams. 2 Europeans and 2 South Americans: Italy, Germany, Brazil and Argentina. These are the big ones.

Then you have the wannabes (they have world-class players): England, Holland, Spain.

And basically that's it. The other teams could hardly win the WC [:)]

EDITED: this is a "historical" approach. The facts may tell you that the Italian squad is rather weak this time. The Germans were having very bad times but they came back in force again (apparently). The Brazilians, on paper they do NOT have the best players this time but it's Brazil... and and and... England and Spain have some world-class players and Holland usually implodes... so it all depends [:D]

Oh, and the French, but as I have said scatological p*** should be avoided here...

[Torplexed]

ORIGINAL: Terminus


Either way, the only team I can claim to like in the World Cup is the United States. Not because they're particularly skilled, but because neither players nor fans have any egos. Once football takes better hold in America, they'll go the same way as all the others, but for now, they're enjoyable.

I'd have to concur with that. If America had been eliminated today, there would have been some disappointment among the few hard-core football fans here, but most Americans would have just shrugged, as they find the sport baffling. In the office where I work there was virtually no positive reaction and a few yawns when I informed them of the win. However, start talking up the upcoming NFL season two months away....then they get excited. Frankly, the English announcer at the match sounded more excited for our win then most fellow Americans I speak too. [8|]

[tocaff]

We are all overlooking the single most noble act of this World Cup.  The team from Denmark arrived in South Africa and donated funds for the building of a school.  It might've been more than one, but my mind is full of AE facts and has little room for anything else. 

How many of you are aware that South African workers were promised $195 per day for working from 8 AM until 1 AM the following day as their pay rate and in fact got $25?  When the workers protested peacefully outside of the stadium after everyone was gone the South African police arrived with tear gas and rubber bullets as a pay bonus.  FIFA promised to make things right and the workers thought they would get what they were promised in the first place, but instead were replaced by police and troops after being fired.

Sports are played for fun by children and this is big business on a grand scale.

Yes I watch the matches and root for the USA and Brazil and I do enjoy sports, but.....

[Mynok]

I wouldn't have shrugged! There's plenty of US soccer/football fans, they just probably aren't on this board. [:'(]

Have no delusions we'll get more than one or two games more. We really aren't that skilled except in goal perhaps. But we play tough and don't give up and that will get us some wins.

I appreciate the goodwill of my European friends here. We aren't an amazing side by any means but we play as team. Good to see others appreciate that.

[Mynok]

Amazing how Germany just doesn't have the flow without Klose.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Terminus


And Warspite1? Take a pill.

Warspite1

Sure, I'll do you a deal - you stop pontificating over things you know nothing about and I'll take a pill. Alternatively you could try and support your accusation that our qualification was a fluke - except you can't - because it wasn't.

Its really very simple, we played badly for most of the time, the big players went AWOL against Algeria, and a 1-0 vs Slovenia was the minimum result that still got us through. We've paid for all that by drawing the Germans once again - though frankly I think the Ghanaians looked very, very good too. But it does not make us lucky to be in the last 16. The comment about Italy was just crass [8|] and the lack of support for your own country??

Anyway, enough said, I've now taken my pill [:)] and hopefully you will live up to your end of the deal.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Mynok


I wouldn't have shrugged! There's plenty of US soccer/football fans, they just probably aren't on this board. [:'(]

Have no delusions we'll get more than one or two games more. We really aren't that skilled except in goal perhaps. But we play tough and don't give up and that will get us some wins.

I appreciate the goodwill of my European friends here. We aren't an amazing side by any means but we play as team. Good to see others appreciate that.

Warspite1

I think that whoever you/we got - Germany or Ghana - its going to be tough. You probably have the slightly better draw but its marginal; Ghana passed the ball well and showed good movement in every area (Kevin Prince Boateng would not have been sold by Spurs if he'd played for us like he did last night).

I think many of the USA players have more skill than they are being given credit for, but I absolutely agree that its the teamwork ethic and the never say die attitude that really impresses. They are not mentally weak; they did not let an early goal against England knock them off their stride, they came back from two down against Slovenia and should have won bar a terrible decision, and kept going until the dying seconds against Algeria and got their reward accordingly.

Good luck to England and USA for the weekend!

[Durbik]

Americans are developing rapidly. In 30 years they will win every World Cup they want - it's just the matter of publicity concerning soccer in US. Back in 1990 nobody there even tried to assemble a pro soccer team to compete for qualifying. In 2002 they qualified, but lost even to Poland (and that's HARD). Now? They're winning the group.

30 more years I say.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Durbik

Americans are developing rapidly. In 30 years they will win every World Cup they want - it's just the matter of publicity concerning soccer in US. Back in 1990 nobody there even tried to assemble a pro soccer team to compete for qualifying. In 2002 they qualified, but lost even to Poland (and that's HARD). Now? They're winning the group.

30 more years I say.

We're the third most-populous nation in the world, and #1 and #2 don't care much about soccer. If all it takes is money and organizational ability, we have that. We have been putting millions of kids into youth soccer since the 1970s, but they don't seem to stick in it as they do elsewhere. But if interest picked up, and money flowed in, I think you'd be right. We'd at least be a contender in every WC.

For all the reasons hashed out here and elsewhere, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, I don't think soccer is ever really going to take hold here. I'm watching at least one game (match?) a day, but when the WC is over I'll go back to ignoring the subject again.

I do have to say that the very BEST part of the experience for me is the lack of commercials during play. I use my Tivo to watch the NFL, mostly because of the commercials. A broadcast is 3 hours, and clock play is 1 hour. It's not unusual to have 11-15 ads in between series of downs. They show a set after a touchdown, then anohter set after the extra point, then another after the kick-off. Baseball has commercials after every inning, but the breaks are shorter. Even the Indy 500, where the action is moving at 230 MPH, breaks away during the race. Watching the WC is refreshing. It's possible to sink into the experience and develop a sense of the flow of the thing without being jerked into a hamburger or pickup truck ad every four minutes.

Which is the most prominent reason why it'll never catch on in the USA.

[Bearcat2]

I think the main problem on why soccer/football will never catch on in the US is that the most important attribute to being a player is to take acting classes. I enjoy players being brushed by an opposing player and acting like they have been mortally wounded in a near death experience, only to continue playing a minute later with no ill effects. It is also humourous to watch amatuer refs in the most important series in the game with no replay to rectify obvious mistakes; then trying to justify this aproach as being part of the game. To this American; that is rather stupid, why play the game if it all depends on what a particular ref does, who then does not have to explain his decision; this goes against the average American's idea of fair play and makes the whole competition a joke. I am not trying to demean the game itself only the organization that runs it.
The other reason it won't take hold is the fact that in high school American football and soccer are played at the same time of the year; the top 20 athletes in a school are playing American football and those who get cut from the team are playing soccer; the game is considered 2nd rate.

BTW: Another reason why soccer won't catch on is watching an American player[Donovan] crying on TV after the match with Algeria; the average American finds that emotional response to be a sign of weakness, an often quoted remark about a WOMENS baseball team where the coach reduces a player to tears reflects the attitude "crying, CRYING; there's no crying in baseball"

[Nikademus]

I do find the flopping and over-dramatics to be annoying and detrimental to my enjoyment of the matches. They can be amusing too though, particularily when doing a slo-mo instant replay where you clearly see that the players either barely touching each other or missing entirely....followed by as much as a 2 second pause after which the player starts going down.....then throws his arms up in the air, arches his neck up and puts on his "anguish" face as if he'd just been hit from behind by a Denver Broncos linebacker in full gear.

[TulliusDetritus]

The Phoenix Bird, er, Italy, playing as... Italy [X(] Losing 1 - 0 = KO

Those of us who have seen enough football know the Italians have been many times on the brink of ruin. Somehow they survived and managed to win a tournament or play at least the final...

So beware [:D]