World Cup '10

[BelgradeBobcat]

Also, I was watching another soccer broadcast later in the day, and the color commentator called Robert Green (the English keeper) the Bill Buckner of soccer.

That's pretty good-it was certainly Buckner-esque. Hopefully his life isn't in danger like the Columbian who scored the own goal against the USA in 1994 and was later murdered.

Goal scoring is down quite a bit in this World Cup so far. At the beginning of the Germany Australia game they said there were 18 goals scored in 2006 at this point in the tournament, and only 9 so far in 2010. But there's some dynamic teams coming up, Brazil and Holland come to mind, that might get it going.

[chester Spartanpot]

Goal scoring is down quite a bit in this World Cup so far. At the beginning of the Germany Australia game they said there were 18 goals scored in 2006 at this point in the tournament, and only 9 so far in 2010. But there's some dynamic teams coming up, Brazil and Holland come to mind, that might get it going.

well the germans added almost 50% to that total yesterday . the scoring will increase as always in the teams 2nd and 3rd games because many of them will be trying to increase their Goal Difference (which can also lead to the opposition scoring on the counter attack) and as they chase victories. the 1st round is usually low scoring do to the very cautious play, etc...

brazil should have fun against north korea. the dutch are currently tied at 0 with the danes after the first half... Chester predicts this will end up at 0... these teams will be happy with a tie as they are Chesters pick to finish 1-2 in their group. (but 2nd place will most likely have to play italy in the R16). (EDIT: the dutch up 1-0 on an own goal).

Speaking of Italy, , they take to the pitch in the continuing defense of their World Championship from '06 this afternoon vs a good defensive side in paraguay. Chester is eager to see what lippi's plan is for the match.

also, WOTS is that the idea is being floated around to ban those awful vuvuleza horns (thank the baby jesus) after many of a players and spectators complaints... but FIFA is afraid that if they do , the perception might be that they are trying to "Europeanize the africa world cup"

[John K]

First 2 games in the books...0-0 and 1-1. Two games down and no winners yet.

That is all you need to know, to understand why I just can't get into soccer. You look at the standings for MLS, or whatever their pro league is called and the first place team has a record of something like 1-0-10 (that's only a slight exaggeration). A few ties here and there is one thing, but when close to half the games end in ties, that just seems stupid to me.

[SACCAT]

I was in Denver on Sunday and Monday. Sunday night the Crew from Iron Maden was sitting at the bar talking about the U.S. game (all the crew are english) By buddy and I walked up and said " you talking about the soccer game?" They went crazy...IT'S NOT SOCCER!!! IT'S FOOTBALL YOU STUPID YANK!!! Our response was " Whatever you call it..We kicked your Limey ASS. It went down hill in a hurry after that (you would be the german team if not for us...) They are vary touchy about there soccer.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Mexico dominates an uninterested looking France. El Tri is playing really well right now-they could cause some problems in this tournament.

I've never understood why futbol mad Mexico-with its huge population-isn't more dominant on the world scene. They're usually very good but they've never been a threat to win a World Cup. I would think they should be up there with the likes of Argentina.

[chester Spartanpot]

the Beauty Pagaent Contestants (u.s. americans) are basically dead in the water being down to Charlie Brown (slovenia) 2-0 after the 1st half.
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in "if the group stage ended today" scenario: england, germany, netherlands, spain AND brazil would all be on one side of the bracket. italy and argentina on the other!!

[coachouert]

the Beauty Pagaent Contestants (u.s. americans) are basically dead in the water being down to Charlie Brown (slovenia) 2-0 after the 1st half.
http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/30/1068490.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

in "if the group stage ended today" scenario: england, germany, netherlands, spain AND brazil would all be on one side of the bracket. italy and argentina on the other!!

****** Slovenia

[wbtfg]

Should have won 3-2...US got "jobbed" at the end of the game.

[Billings_Griz]

Should have won 3-2...US got "jobbed" at the end of the game.

Couldn't agree more. Also, I can't believe I just watched a whole soccer game.

[wbtfg]

If that call would have gone against Brazil, Columbia, Italy...etc, that official would not be alive right now.

[Billings_Griz]

But....their 2nd goal was kinda cheap. Shoulda/coulda won 2-1/3-1.

[chester Spartanpot]

the Beauty Pagaent Contestants (u.s. americans) are basically dead in the water being down to Charlie Brown (slovenia) 2-0 after the 1st half.

Chester hereby retracts this statement.

the officiating of this match and that of the German-Serbia match was NBA-esque. the germans played about an hour down a man after a non-deserving 2nd yellow to Klose. they still controlled possession and even had a PK, but the serbian keeper stood tall and made the save. the action in this matches is picking up due to it being the 2nd game and now teams have to chase goals and results.

their are many different scenarios that will see the u.s. americans onto the round of 16. it will be more clear what needs to happen after england / algeria this evening. its possible that england could be the odd man out which would be Awesome!

[BelgradeBobcat]

That US Slovenia game was heart in your throat stuff. As Landon Donovan said afterwards-they feel gutted-thinking they had it won. A ref can call a foul in the box on almost any free kick-kind of like holding in football-but there was nothing there that warranted a whistle in my opinion. It's something the US has to deal with-we aren't going to ever get any calls in a World Cup. We'll never have a penalty awarded, we're more likely to get someone sent off, and the 50-50 calls are always going to go against us. That's just the way it is.

England does us a nice favor by only drawing 0-0 to Algeria. I'm watching England's Sky Sports on the Fox Soccer Channel-the folks across the pond are inconsolable.

The England result insures that the US still controls their own destiny. A win over Algeria and we move on. We can even move on with a tie against Algeria if Slovenia beats England or if England and Slovenia draw and we still have more total goals than England.

Algeria looks pretty formidable though. They were hard to break down for Slovenia and England and if not for a bad goal keeping error-this whole group would be knotted up. The US needs to pull their heads out and play an entire game instead of just one half.

[Bleedinbluengold]

we still suck at soccer. we can cry all we want about getting robbed on the 3rd goal, but if a team gives up 2 goals in this tourney, then they don't deserve to win. we'd be better off putting 4 rugby or hockey players on the back line. At least they would make up for lack of talent with heart.

[AlphaGriz1]

...............crickets........................



If nobody is in a forest, does soccer still suck worse than any sport on the planet?


Seriously if a game can be tied at 0-0 when its over, why fu*king play the game? I still stand by my theory that the reason many countries are still 3rd world is because their national game is soccer, what a pathetic excuse for a sport.

[whitetrashgriz]

...............crickets........................



If nobody is in a forest, does soccer still suck worse than any sport on the planet?


Seriously if a game can be tied at 0-0 when its over, why fu*king play the game? I still stand by my theory that the reason many countries are still 3rd world is because their national game is soccer, what a pathetic excuse for a sport.

i agree. and i have tried to watch it and i just can't. don't get me wrong. i appreciate the athleticism and endurance it takes to compete at that level, but the game itself sucks to me because of that. these guys work their asses off for 2 hours and the game can still end in a tie...and sometimes a 0-0 tie. i hate that. and the rules seem to be in place to eliminate scoring. i understand this the "worlds game" but in my opinion it sucks.

[D-Wreck]

Seriously if a game can be tied at 0-0 when its over, why fu*king play the game?

Especially in what I understand is the most important tournament the play. And what's with this stoppage time ******? The game's over... no wait, they still get to play. Give it a defined overtime period, then a hockey style shootout.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Once they're out of the first round each match has to have winner. 30 minutes of overtime and if still tied-penalty kicks. In the first round it's all about accumulating points. You get 1 point for a tie and 3 for a win. The top two in a group of four move on to the knock out rounds. So ties-even 0-0 ties can mean a lot-witness England's draw with Algeria.

[AlphaGriz1]

The USA cannot like a sport that awards points for not scoring any points.

0-0 you both get a point?

Get real

Why not give them points for their uniforms?

Maybe go all out and give them 2 points for fast looking shoes!


Now were scoring some points biotches!!!!

[technoCat]

I will never understand a game that doesn't have the team name on the jerseys. Hell, you're lucky if you can ready/see what country they are from on the Jersey. But you can read that giant TROJAN CONDOMS painted across they're chests....