FIFA World Cup 2010 Thread - 2010

[gd]

What's this, an American in a soccer thread? Crazy stuff. I'd like to think I know enough to talk somewhat intelligently about the World Cup, by reading some magazines and whatnot.

Obviously the big one in the first round is US/England, at least for us. From what I understand, the US is willing to play defense the whole game and get lucky on a counterattack. Not the best strategy. England seems to have the superior talent, bt Donavon/Dempsey/Altidore isn't a bad combo up front. The US is obviously a quality team, beating Spain last summer, and with a great goalie you can surprise some people. I wouldn't doubt a win or tie against England. However, the next 2 games are much more important, as going out in the 1st round again would be a major disappointment.

It seems like most of the top teams have their flaws, whether it be injuries, recent underacheivment, age, questionable coahcing, etc. Spain looks to be the safest bet of everyone, except for the fact that they constantly underacheive in the Cup. I'd say Argentina has a pretty good shot with best player in the world in Messi, but obviously will be rooting for the US all the way.

 

[LUFC HBK]

I wouldn't doubt a win or tie against England.

Only 3 days now absolutely can't wait. As a major England fan I am getting very nevous. We have a quality starting 11 but then who? Emile Heskey :|?
Disarray I am thinking that you guys might get a draw out of us. We will need to play hard and use our pace out wide with the likes of Lennon, Johnson and Cole. Our squad is diminishing by the day thanks to injuries. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you guys drew with or even beat us. I really hope not but hey, it's football, anything can happen. Lets not also forget what happened in 1950 the last time America played us in the World Cup.

If everything goes belly up for England I always have the mighty All Whites to supports

 

[Lee]

England aren't going to win plain and simple, their dire performances against Mexico and Japan showed that. I also feel that Spain will buckle, Argentina have a terrible manager, Brazil are lacking severely as are Germany and Italy have been just too quiet!

So I'll be backing the good old USA, they have a pretty good squad in all positions, they're a dark horse in this as people don't really know what to expect. I think they'll beat England and in turn will have a second round v Australia with a quarter v Nigeria or Someone from group A. Once they're in the semi's it's that American fortitude that will take them to win.

 

[harrythem]

Well it's started. Great first game but, my God, is France Vs Uruguay completely shite or what. Rather disappointed as was expecting a lot with the talent both these sides have!

Still, roll on 7.30 tomorrow, can drink my 3 crates for £20 of Carlsberg from Tesco with the lads and cheer on England and then get seriously over-rating of our chances to win the whole thing.....for a week or so!

 

[Cookie]

This is probably one of the few times I'll ever post in the Sports Stadium, unless the Leafs qualify for the playoffs sometime in the next decade.

I am beyond excited that the WC is finally here after anticipating it for what seems like forever. As most people know, I'm backing the Greek squad and I'm thrilled to see them appear in their second World Cup ever. I'm even more thrilled to see them in Group B, where they've actually got a fighting chance. Honestly, I know they lack World Cup experience and aren't considered much of a threat but I'm just so happy to see them in this and I can't wait to throw on my blue and white and support my homeland (bright and early at 7:15am tomorrow morning!). If anything I just want to see them score their first World Cup goal... I'd even be happy with that. ELLAS ELLAS ELLAS.

Other than my obvious choice, I'm a huge fan of the Dutch squad and I'm really looking forward to their journey in this as well.

Ultimately, I'm really looking just forward to seeing the top players in action including Kaka (my favourite) who was looking great in qualifying and I'm sure he'll be a joy to watch as he usually is. I love the beautiful game.

 

[Барбоса]

South Korea - Greece was a bit of a non-event. The Greeks were somehow worse than the French and more toothless than they were four years ago. Not surprising that they still have not scored a World Cup goal. The Koreans looked lively on the counter and defended reasonably well. They should give the Nigerians a run for second place in the group.

Speaking of the Nigerians, the Argies look like they are going to give them a hiding.

Looking forward to the England game. It should go a long way to proving whether or not England are worthy of their decent odds to win the tournament

 

[harrythem]

The excitement is building. Can't believe Argentina only won 1-0, they've got no chance as, when they come up against a team that can actually shoot on target, their suspect defence is gonna get a good old fashioned slap (let's see Diego Sniff-a-coka moan then). Only way it could be any sweeter is if England tonk the yank and somehow end up playing Argentina, then defeating them by the insult of all insults, Emile Heskey scoring the Hand of Log (seeing as he's as useful as a log on the football pitch)

 

[TheAnimal]

The World Cup has seen a few less goals than at the same stage in 2006.

England had the toughest game in their group out of the way so hopefully 2 more wins and we top our group with 7 points.
I stand by my prediction of France going out at the group stage, with portugal too.

 

[harrythem]

I wanna punch Rob Green in the face right now. Holding his hand up after that screw up, shame he didn't bother using that glove when it mattered most.

Still, at least we have consistency in our keepers, Green and James both suck ass!!!

 

[Dave]

I wanna punch Rob Green in the face right now. Holding his hand up after that screw up, shame he didn't bother using that glove when it mattered most.

Still, at least we have consistency in our keepers, Green and James both suck ass!!!

Why Joe Hart is not playing is beyond me!?

Seriously, this is fucking ridiculous. I used to play for Motherwell youth team as a goalkeeper and believe me, the first thing they teach you how to do, is catch the fucking ball! Obviously, it's not as simple as that and Green has just made a mistake. The problem is that he has made a mistake when he could least afford to. His positioning was all right but his techniques was fucking terrible. Why his right hand was not behind the ball, along with his body, is ridiculous. To an extent, I feel sorry for him. It is easy to make mistakes and now it leaves England in a very difficult situation, on and off the field.

You see, Cappello now has a very big problem when it comes to that position. I think and (and have from the start) that Joe Hart should be the number one for England. That being said, he gave it to Robert Green and it looks as though Green has shot his confidence. The problem exists when he picks the goalkeeper for the next game. Leaving Green out would indicate that Cappello has no faith in him and will only serve to take confidence from Robert Green. Then again, if his confidence is that low, should he really be playing in the first place?

 

[Барбоса]

England-USA was a pretty awful game to watch. Not that many chances for either side and very little in the way of good football. Possibly Gerrard aside, none of England's best players turned up. Rooney and Lampard were completely anonymous for long stretches of the game.

I cannot help but feel that Capello must shoulder a lot of the blame for the poor England performance. He seems to rely far too much on Gareth Barry being fit for the formation of his team. Throughout qualifying they played 4-5-1 and with 9 wins out of 10 it was very successful. Now they get to the tournament and all of a sudden it is 4-4-2: a system in which Rooney gets lost and Gerrard and Lampard are too busy deciding between them which one should go forward and which should attack.

If Barry is fit for Algeria then I think we will see a return to 4-5-1 with two out and out wingers, Gerrard and Lampard advancing to support Rooney as the lone striker. Even if Barry is not fit, the same system could easily be played. That is why you are allowed to bring a decent sized squad (although I always though Scott Parker would be a perfect replacement for Barry, instead they took Carrick who doesn't know where to play). Gerrard is more than capable of filling in in Barry's defensive midfielder role and someone like Joe Cole or James Milner (if fit) could play alongside Lampard in a more advanced role. Heskey and Crouch are a perfect Plan B as there will be few international sides that have come up against players so powerful or tall.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

South Africa vs. Mexico was a fun,, lively experience and a good way to kick off the tournament.

France vs. Uruguay was awful and really only Diego Forlan looked word class for either team.

S. Korea vs. Greece was enjoyable only for the fact that the Koreans were fun to watch. Greece were atrocious. Otto is past it.

Argentina vs. Nigeria was okay but you were kind of hoping that the game was going to produce a larger score-line but the Nigerian keeper was too good.

England vs. USA was a rather humorous affair, once you got passed the bloody awful coverage that was ITV you could enjoy the match. USA looked solid for portions of the game and England looked pretty poor for a team apparently challenging to win the tournament.

 

[Dave]

So, England are in second place after the first round of games in their division and I think they will disappointed to be in that position. Judging by the reaction of some of the England fans on the boards, I think it is safe to say that they are upset with the performance of their team in the first match against the USA. I still think that they will win the group though.

Anyway, Sunday is a new day and I must admit that the only match I am even remotely interested in seeing today is the match between Germany and Australia, which should be very competitive. Germany are not the team they were 10 years ago or beyond. Most of their word class players seem to have disappeared since the last World Cup and I have a feeling that they are going to miss Michael Ballack tremendously. He was the nucleus of the German National team and made everything happen in the middle of the park. Now, they will be looking to some of the most experience players like Lahm to get them through these games.

Australia are always a fun team to watch, I have found. They are not the biggest team in the world bu they do have some really good players. Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Mark Bresciano are damn good players and it will definitely be an interesting game, to say the least. Australia could definitely shock you today.

 

[INDYjon22]

My god did the German team look good today. They are a young team and some people, myself included wondered how they would fair against teams with seasoned veterans and while we may not have entirely learned that answer yet we did learn that they are an incredibly talented and dangerous team. They literally destroyed the Australians today and I for one was very surprised and a little amazed at how easy they made it look.

Also, the USA/England game was a tale of two halves type of situation. England dominated the first half and made the USA look almost stupid, if only Green hadn't let that ball slip past him. The US defense was terrible, thank god for Howard or we would have been crushed. In the second half the Americans seemed a lot more fresh and quick to the ball which helped us maintain control and not allow many shots from the English. Terrific game and I enjoyed every minute of it, my hat is off to the English team for a great game.

 

[Ferbian]

I agree Indy, Germany looked great tonight, they ripped Australia apart.

They had some HUGE chances that should have been capitalized on better, but nonetheless they came out looking strong with a decisive win, they could go far this year, the squad looks strong, like some kind of dissecting machine, always thought of the Germans as some kind of dissecting machine that could both fail, or win.

The English - USA game was odd last night, England should have capitalized and cashed a lot of goals instead of fooling around with those massive chances that Rooney for the most of it fucked up with, or Lampards awful free kick.

Looking at it now, Germany is the only team that has impressed me, but the tournament is still young, we haven't seen Spain, Holland (we will tomorrow) Italy or Brazil do anything yet, so a lot is still to happen.

 

[TheAnimal]

The danger with these tournaments is peaking too soon. It sounds stupid because its only a month long, but hopefully for us the Germans will peak in the group stage. We saw a similar thing happen to Argentina in 06 when they played fantastic football and swept aside teams, scored great goals but then went out to the Germans on penalties.

It was a stupid mistake from Green, there is no denying that, but hopefully his howler for the tournament is out the way and he will be generally solid for the rest of it. I didnt think he looked convincing stopping those kind of shots earlier in the game, he never got his body fully behind the ball. It was an ok performance, hopefully we kick on against Algeria and Slovenia, 3 pts against Algeria and a USA v Slovenia draw would be perfect on Friday.

On a side note I'm looking forward to Holland v Denmark tomorrow, Italy v Paraguay tomorrow not as much, i think that Italy will get exposed as an aging side lacking pace/cutting edge. More physical, quicker sides will have the beating of them, i think the same can be applied to France.

 

[Dave]

HO. LEE. SHIT!

Didn't I say, not a couple of hours ago, that Germany/Australia would be a fucking awesome match? That was an awesome match, all joking aside. Germany deserved their win and they look as though they are going to be a very big force in the World Cup, as they usually are. As I have said, my Gran was part-German and Germany has always been a team of mine.

As soon as the first goal went in, I knew that Germany were going to do well in that match and I couldn't have been more right. With 5 strikers being on the pitch over the course of the game and 4 of them getting a goal, Germany look very good up front. They didn't get the match all to themselves but Australia had nothing up front... especially when their talisman striker was sent off.

On that subject, I think he definitely deserved to go. It may not have been very malicious but he could have realistically snapped the players leg and he had to go for that. It was a shame because it took everything out of Australia but it was a just red card.

 

[Ferbian]

On a side note I'm looking forward to Holland v Denmark tomorrow,

I am as well, I'm Danish, but even I know who's gonna win that match, Holland just stands as the better team, Denmark hasn't been good for years, and haven't accomplished anything in international football for years neither.

Denmark vs Holland will be in the advantage of the Dutch people, because Denmark I believe is missing Nicklas Bendtner due to an injury or something, I'm not sure, I heard rumors of it.

But if Nicklas is out of the tournament, or that match, we're screwed to no end, because he's the only one with the talent to score anything for Denmark, our other attackers haven't accomplished a lot in years, Jon Dahl Tomasson was good in 2002-2004, but he hasn't scored for the Danish national team in 2 years time.

 

[TheAnimal]

That is true Ferbian, but Holland have there patented self-destruct that may already be happening with arguments occurring between Kuyt and Van-Persie over RVPs comments that he would prefer Kuyt not to play because he thinks Holland are better without him.
On paper you would probably have to say Holland, but it wouldn't surprise me to see a slip by Holland.

 

[Барбоса]

A decent day's football.

Algeria/Slovenia was no where near as bad as many people thought. Maybe neither side had much attacking flair but both sides defended well. However, the curse of the African goalkeeper reared its ugly head for the winner. Truly awful.

Ghana/Serbia started well but petered out a bit. The Ghanians were a bit more adventurous while the Serbians were more solid at the back. Two moments of madness from Serbia decided the game, first a stupid red card and then a ridiculous penalty.

Germany/Australia looked like it was going to be a great contest in the first 10 minutes but while the Germans took their early chance, the Australians missed theirs and it quickly turned into a rout.

 

[harrythem]

Rather enjoyed todays matches: Holland looked good but really was expecting more from them. Japan V Cameroon was a top game for me, and just loved that last game.
So far def seems the altitude is playing with the players. Roll on the 2nd set of games as I think they'll all be more settled then and the standard of football should go through the roof!!

 

[Ferbian]

Holland vs Denmark was a surprise for me, because I saw Denmark manage to have a 0-0 score by half time, although it certainly changed, Denmark still proved they could hang with Holland today, they had some pretty decent chances, something I don't believe we see much of from Denmark against bigger teams usually.

Well deserved that Holland won it, I would've been in shock if they hadn't.

Paraguay vs Italy had me by surprise, I didn't watch the first half, but turning on for second half and watching Paraguay being in the lead had me by shock, but I still think the bit I did see, was a pretty decent game, very equal, Italy just doesn't seem like the force of a team they were in 2006 although, I don't see them winning this year.

 

[Super Hans]

Japan vs Cameroon.A good game? If you like you're footy with no shots on target for the 1st 80 minutes with the exception of the goal then i suppose so.I never seen the Dutch game but i heard it wasnt very good either.I just hope that after the 1st set of games that all the nations have acclimatised because so far it has been the most shitty start to a tournament that i have ever witnessed.(USA 94 onwards)

 

[harrythem]

honestly, I did enjoy the Japs V Cameroon. Might be because I had low expectations for the game but, honestly, it's the fricking world cup and even a 0-0 draw without a shot on target (France V Uruguay) I've enjoyed because I own the tv for a month and get to watch it with my new baby boy!

 

[Барбоса]

The Dutch didn't look anything special, aside from the young left winger Eljero Elia of Hamburg who came on in the second half and looked threatening. The Danes finished the first half well and should have gone to the break leading, if Bendtnerhad hit the target with his free header but the own goal so early in the second half knocked the stuffing out of them and the Dutch strolled to victory.

The Japanese were well-organised and defended well throughout while the Cameroon were pretty woeful. They showed no real passion or energy while I think Le Guen made a massive mistake by sticking E'too out on the wing for the whole game. They thoroughly deserved to get beaten.

Italy/Paraguay started slowly with both sides sizing up their opposition. The Paraguayan goal liven things up a bit as Italy could not afford to lose as I think Slovakia are quite capable of stealing a draw from them too. After reverting to 4-4-2, the Italians looked more threatening without swamping Paraguay who continued to defend well. The equaliser came from one of those likely sources: a South American goalkeeper being unable to gauge the flight of a cross