World Cup
 

So the World Cup starts tomorrow, well technically today, but whatever. Id anybody excoited about this? I just hope the US can get out of the bracket and at least do somthing this time around. Hoepfully, Donivan plays like he should and put a few in the back of the net.

:eek:!! I had a nice little post lined up to post as well. :(

I'll post it anyway.

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In answer to your first question, I'm extremely excited. Rooney's been given the go-ahead to play in the knockout stages, and we've got the best team we've had since '66. We're also second favourites at the English Bookies with 7-1 odds that we win (Brazil are the favourites at 5-2).

The US didn't do all that badly in Japan. You got further than us... then again, we DID play Brazil with a weak team. Where'd you get up to? Semi's?

In fact, my bad - we both dropped out of the Quarters.

US 0 - 1 Germany
England 1 - 2 Brazil

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Quick reminder of the groups:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97...ldcupdraws.jpg

England are in the easiest group - B.
US are in group E. The only hard match might be against Italy.

And the list of matches:

England v Paraguay (Frankfurt) Tomorrow
England v Trinidad & Tobago (Nuremberg) 15th June
Sweden v England (Cologne) 20th June

USA v Czech Republic (Gelsenkirchen) 12th June
Italy v USA (Kaiserslautern) 17th June
Ghana v USA (Nuremberg) 22nd June

The second round is played from the 24th to 27th June.
Quarter Finals are on 30th June and 1st July.
Semi's on the 4th, and 5th July (third place playoff on the 8th).
And the Final is on Friday 9th July.

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Btw, at the bookies, America are at odds of 100-1 to win.

Actually, looking at the figures - Italy are 9-1, Czech Republic are 33-1. So they might be a bit difficult.

But there's no way of telling until the match is in progress.

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Good luck to both teams, then. Methinks I might watch the USA games, if I've got nothing else to do. Just watch England tomorrow - you might get to see us play like magic... but T&T aren't exactly hard, so it'll be a boring match.

i just want to watch all the games available to us. Ill sit back with some beer and watch and hopefully our teams get to go against each other later on in the tourny

I'm watching Germany vs. Costa Rica in a few minutes here. Then Ecuador vs. Poland at 1:55 PM CST. I want Argentina to win, but they are in what is said to be the toughest group. Both of these are on EPSN2.

They are televising all 64 games on ESPN networks and ABC.

ITs soccer, lololol. Sorry random soccer comment. However, I was watching the Germany vs Costa Rica game, first goal by Germany was just money, better be a Sports Center top 10.

Fucking Grass Fairies.

GO TEAM USA!

the germany game was a blow out but the poland game was awesome. Ecuador kicked ass.

Germany's defense was disappointing. Their keeper sucked too. I can't believe they tried to use an offside trap at an international level. Otherwise, they had good control, and that last goal by Frings was amazing. That, along with Lahm's goal, are real pretty goals.

Poland came out very sloppy, and never really gained momentum. Ecuador didn't really show too much dominance, but it got a pair of goals. I don't think either team can measure up to playing in the final.

Out of the 7 goals scored so far, I've only seen that one with the offside trap. :mad: Nice goal though.

The thing about Germany is that they always have a bad start. No matter whether they win, lose or draw, they have terrible starts. But once you get into the knockout stages, they really become good.

And Argentina are in a horrible group. The Netherlands can be absolutely amazing when they get into their stride. You've heard of Total Football, right? And there's the second rule of the World Cup (only broken twice, last year being the second time) - no team, no matter how good, or how talented, can put up with a journey acorss a major ocean. Which unfortunately means all the South American countries, and USA. :p

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I don't care how badly we play tomorrow - I just can't wait to see us play. If anyone IS watching, then look out for:

Gerrard
Crouch
and maybe Walcott.

- Gerrard should be playing up front with Lampard, with Carrick holding the fort behind the two.
- Crouch is... well, he's 6 foot 7. Looks like a gangly owd fool, plays pretty damn well. And if he scores, look out for his "robot dance".
- Walcott is our wildcard. 17 y/o. Never been tried at Premiership level, never mind International. Yet he's rumoured to have terrific pace and a knack for getting into tight spaces. But, he's no Rooney.

Then there's the obligatory Owen running, Beckham crossing, and Sven sat on the bench looking mildly interested... jumping up and clapping sedately if we do something right.


Don'tcha just love that? When people start talking about their football team in the "we" sense?

I'll be up at 8 AM sharp to watch them take on Paraguay. Paraguay were the runners-up at the 2004 Olympics, although there were 2 red cards issued to their team. I'm guessing that's because they were playing their South American rival Argentina. I hope that England at least makes it to the semi's.

You and 60 million other people. :p

I'd like to see this "Donivan" fella play. From what I've read, he's quick down the wing and has got a pretty good pace. Apparently your whole team is quick. But what's up with your keeper? Ain't he got some kind of back injury?

Even so, he's solid. You will be amazed at Donovan's play though.

If he's as good as I've been hearing, then he should be an interesting guy to play against... that is if we meet up in the Quarters, Semi's or even the Finals.

To quote directly from a little World Cup thingy I picked up from a Newspaper:

Now I don't really watch Premiership matches all that much, but let me tell you - they can be as slow and as boring as wathing paint dry. If that's the case, and if the American Leagues are slower, then I shudder to think what you have to put up with.

Once again, it'd be interesting to see how you handle the Czech's. 5.00pm on Monday, I'm gonna be watching. :p

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EDIT: Right, 10 minutes before the match.

Watch out for Beckham's crosses, Terry on set-pieces, and Owen and Crouch up front.

And I'm off again.

COME ON ENG-ER-LAND!!

Your quote is right, the MLS is slower than the Premiership and Serie A. But, the USA has proven that they can definitely keep up with international play.

Did you see Beck's amazing goal in the 3rd minute!!!???

Lol, sounds like you liked that.

Actually an OG by Gamarra, but we're letting Beckham have the glory. You'd better get used to that - he's an absolute demon with his free-kicks and crosses. So accurate.

Paraguay only really had one chance, didn't they? Right at the end of the First Half. In the Second Half they nearly got through, but we still held them... even though we played abysmally. That's our problem - we can keep up the tempo and whatever in the First Half, stunning everyone, then when we come out for the Second Half we lose our Killer Instict.

Methinks Sven was stupid bringing Owen off. Sure, he hasn't played much and needs to not be playing so much he tires himself out, but did you see how Crouch had no-one to head on to? Or when beckham broke through, knocked the ball across the goal mouth... and there was no-one to get it. Owen would've scored that, no questions asked.

Lampard had his chances too. He was unlucky not to score. We should've got a second, but we just didn't take the chances. We need to play more as the tournament goes on we will get better.

And the fact that we had a wanker for a referee didn't help one bit. Yellow card for Gerrard, because someone jumped over him... but no free kick given. Yellow Card for Crouch for a trivial little tackle. And all those free kicks and decisions going Paraguay's way. But what happens when Downing, amking a superb run down the wing, is taken out with the ball 10 feet in front of him? "Carry on!" Absolute wanker.

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Let's see if you fare any better. I really do hope for you that you don't have a stupid ref. They can really ruin matches. If you don't have that South American ref, or that Swiss bastard we had for our game against Portugal in Euro '04, then you should be OK.

I liked the England game, but I thought it was dangerous trying to hold on to a 1-0 lead. I would have gotten another goal just for security.

You really liked it? I 'spose it wasn't that bad... but I've seriously seen a lot better. And there were no Owen runs! :cry: Just wait till you see one... he ought to do one. He first came on against Argentina in '98, had a run, and BAM! Jeez louise was that good. Did the same against Brazil in 2002.

To be perfectly honest - the way England play football, naturally, is to get a second goal after a first. But Sven, being Sven, an itsy bitsy Swede, coaching the England squad, with the spirit of Italian football in him, prefers to hold onto each goal.

IF we'd've had Owen when Beckham knocked across the goal mouth, we'd have scored.
IF we'd've had Owen when Crouch was heading them up, we'd have scored.

And IF, it's a gigantic IF, IF we'd've had Rooney playing, we'd've got hundreds of goals (well, slight exageration, but he works absolute magic. Not even Gerrard or Owen can receive the ball with their back to the goal, surrounded on every side by defenders, and still score).

Don't you think we played absolutely awful during the second half though?

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Going back to:

1. Never tell that to an Englishman. You'll get your head kicked in. :p
2. The beat Cote d'Ivoire 2 - 1, and got 3 (out of 5) yellows in the process.

Argentina played terrible, they are lucky that Ivory Coast couldnt put the ball in the back of the net. THey played like pusses.

I'd never have thought you'd be one to like Football. :p

Don't forget, they're complying with the "second rule" of the World Cup - no team, no matter how talented, survives a trip across a major sea. It may sound like a load of rubbish, but look at past years - it is true... excepting maybe Brazil.

And Argentina have really gone down in standard these past few years. We've been beating them for a few years now - before France '98, we didn't stand a chance.

If they played that badly, then I'd be surprised if they make it out of their Group of Death and into the knockout stages.

... And where do you find the time to keep track of all this?

I'm revising for my last week of GCSEs, of course I have the time to keep track of it all. :p

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Today's results:

Serbia & Montenegro 0 - 1 Holland -- fun match. The Dutch had a lot of good chances.

Mexico 3 - 1 Iran -- haven't watched the highlights for this yet, maybe in a bit.

Angola 0 - 1 Portugal -- still going.

EDIT: Angola 0 - 1 Portugal -- a lacklustre, match apparently. The written commentary I've read is exceptionally boring.

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I'm happy!! Every single match for England from now until the end of the tournament is in late afternoon or the evening!! WE'RE SAVED!!

If you're wondering - we don't like the heat. We'd much rather play in torrential downpour than midday heat. So you should see us play a lot better in our remaining matches., And hopefully we'll se Owen with his runs, Rooney, and maybe even our novelty mascott prove he's too old to be wearing nappies.

England played terrible, they won by the other team's own goal..... I call that a lucky win for England. U.S is even worst, 0-3 says it all. So far, I like Holland the best.

I'm sorry, but Landon Who?! I watched the whole game, and he did sweet F.A.

First impressions of the American team:

- Defence. Defence. Defence. You'd be safer putting a fence up around the box than relying on the defence you've got. The Czech defence was good. They managed to stop you having any major chances... but the number of times they broke through yours. Rosicky's second goal was because of that. Granted, all three defenders nearly got there, but he should never have got into that position.
- Defence again - in the box when there were corners and free kicks, your men lost their targets easily. Then again, it is very hard to mark at a time like that.
- Third point of defence -- pet peeve. Onyewu. I don't like him one bit. :p

Good point about your defence -- first part of the second half it really was awful. But around the 65 minute mark, it started to improve a lot.

In fact, that seems to be the main thing I thought was bad about your side. The Defence.

It's hard to push against the Czech's - if you somehow manage to get through their midfield, then you've got their defence to deal with. And if you notice, when they closed a man down to tackle, a lot of te time it was two Czech's to the one guy.

Reyna's shot on target in the 27th minute was a scrocher. He was really unlucky for it to hit the post - he had Cech beaten completely. The same with Johnson's chance in the 70th minute. He had the power, he had Cech beaten, he just missed by a snail's whisker.

In the last 10 minutes you really picked up the pace. You probed the Czech defence much more, with one or two real chances - you even managed to break through! But I think McBride as a lone striker was a bit silly. He was relied on too much, the poor guy.

Sorry to be so negative... I started watching the match thinking you'd win, if only by 1 goal to nil. It really disappointed me, but I did see some great football in the Czech side.

You've got a hard group, with hard matches - especially in Italy and Czech Republic. Methinks if the defence problem was solved, and Donovan had chance to show off his blistering pace, you'd win.

And let me say, you have boring fans. :p Sure, they dress up, but where was the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chant? You'll never beat the Europeans fan-wise.

Altogether - could've been worse. Johnson, for me, was your man of the match. And the Czech's are hard opponents. At least the match kept me well and turly occupied for the full 90 minutes. Watching Australia v. Japan got kind of boring in the end, because they just kept on doing the same over and over and over again. That wasn't the case with this match.

I look forward to your match against Italy.

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EDIT: Just seen Gang'a reply.

We did play terrible. Especially in the second half. Hopefully on Thursday, when it's cooler, we'll play better. And there's news that Rooney might play, which is a great thing.

If it was the world cup of basketball or "football" then you might actually see some real fans. For soccer you are consider lucky if you find 1 out of 100 people in the US actually care about the World Cup. It's kinda sad.

Still, you've got to be one of the most self-important countries in the WC, let alone on the planet. I expected to hear some "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chants, if only at the start of the match. Singing the national anthem was pretty quiet too - another thing Europeans really go for. :p

oh man, Japan couldn't hold up for the last 7 minutes, I was actually chanting for them.

I was hoping Japan would win too. :p

They nearly had a couple of chances in the last few minutes.

But Australia! Man alive!! Talk about a comeback. That was absolutely amazing!!!

Wahey!!

We've won our second game. :D

And this time round, we had the awful first half, brilliant second.

First goal - Beckham crosses a lovely ball into the box, Crouch gets over T&T's 6' 7"cher, and scores a great header.

Second goal was an absolute scrocher from Gerrard, left footed from just outside the box.

Brilliant! :D

First time we've scroed in the second half for 8 years, and we got 2!

no offense Lenny but i thought England played like shit. They got lucky that the 2 subs came in and actually did something. I think Germany might be the team to beat, if not Brazil. We will see how the US does against Italy tomorrow and hopefully we pull out a win so we can have a chance to go onto the second round.

who cares its soccer its not as fun to watch as football

No offense taken - we did play shit. But we did do a LOT better in the second half than the first. Sure, Rooney didn't do anything much, but he did bring moral to the team.

And Lennon and Downing played superb.

And, if Ecuador can pull out a draw against Germany, and we the same against Sweden, Germany WILL be the first team we beat in the knockout stages. :p

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I hope you do do well tonight, as it would be a shame to see you out of the competition so early. Hopefully you can get your defence sorted out. We'll loan you Terry if you want him. :p

EDIT: Man alive, that was one hell of a match!!

Sure, I've seen 10 men against 11, once I've seen 10 - 10. But I ain't never seen a house fly! I mean, 9 - 10.

4 goals - 3 scored by the Italians, and the one from Beardsley.

I must congratulate America on that performance. It really has been on of the best of the World Cup so far. Really entertaining as well - it reminded me of late night Division 1 football in the middle of November. Blood and guts and everything else.

Absolutely superb!!

Lenny. You ever start a brawl?

The game was awesome, but the red cards were unnecessary. I understodd the italian red card, maybe because blood was spilled, but the other two were terrible. The US held its ground and grinded a tie, which is much better then a lost. I sure hope that Italy beats CRupblic and US beats the surprise G

Nah.

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The Italian red card WAS needed. I agree to an extent of Pope's red card, as he already had a yellow, but the other one was just mad. Must've been that time of the month for the ref.

You were unlucky to only get a draw. Donovan played better than in the first game too - he was up closer to McBride this time, which might be a reason.

At least you're still in the tournament. You group is the only group so far that looks so uncertain.

I'm serbian, and I guess it's in your blood from birth to like soccer if you're European. I decided to be a little patriotic and buy a Serbian flag to show that for once I do have some spirit. I put up the flag in my bedroom window before I watched the Serbia vs. Argentina game.

Now, to be honest, I knew we wouldn't have beat them, but I didn't think the score would be 6-0 Argentina for Christ's sake.

...I burned that flag. I burned it gooooood.

I was going to say that S&M still have a chance, but then I just saw the table. :(

Don't forget, you were drawn into the Group of Death... still a shame though.

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England again tonight. :p Can we beat Sweden for the first time in 38 years?

The Dallas Cowboys (U.S. football team) are gonna run into your precious world cup's final game and shank everyone. That's how hardcore we are.

And we'll run around you with the ball and make fools of you all trying to get it off us.

Don't forget, Brazil will be in the final - the team with the most talent in the world. Try and take on Ronaldihno and YOU will be run into the ground.

That's how Hardcore WE are.

oh well, U.S blew it. It's not like we are going anywhere at second round anyway, since we'll be facing brazil.

Yea, they failed huge in the game vs Ghana. Choke artists.