FIFA World Cup 2010 Thread - 2010

[Dave]

Group G is going to be my favourite group, I think.

The match that is currently on right now, Portugal vs Ivory Coast, is going to decide this group, I am sure. It is wide open and anyone could join Brazil in the next round from this group. There is no doubt that Brazil will beat North Korea tonight and will then have the Ivory Coast next, whom they will likely beat. The Ivory Coast and Portugal will beat North Korea and cancel each other out.

Personally, I can't see Portugal beating Brazil either but I think they have a better chance than the Ivory Coast do, especially if they get into the habit of leaving out Drogba. I know he is slightly unfit but if he is well enough to make the bench, he is well enough to make the pitch. I have a feeling that Brazil will leave Group G with 9 points out of 9 available and if this is true, then the Ivory Coast/Portugal game means everything to the shape of this group.

Both of these teams are pretty damn good and I suspect that the Ivory Coast are probably going to be the best performing African team in this World Cup. If they can beat Portugal today, then their is no limits on what they might be able to do. You never know.

 

[Ferbian]

While I only watched the second half of Ivory Coast vs Portugal, I must admit I was damn saddened by the fact that it ended in a 0-0 draw, because I was expecting this to be quite a game of goals.

I was surprised to see that Drogba didn't get changed in until the second half, he is definitely the greatest one on the whole team, at least the one that could bring them up front, he had some decent chances, but ultimately blew them.

The game was pretty good actually, even with the 0-0 draw, I'm looking forward to Brazil vs North Korea tonight, I shall be staying in the LD tonight.

 

[Барбоса]

Today was the day that the two minnows of the tournament played for the first time. New Zealand defended well as a unit against a strangely lacklustre Slovakia who have a lot of very promising young talent in their side. It may have taken a 93rd minute equaliser but the Kiwis did not deserve to lose.

Portugal and Ivory Coast served up a real dur affair. Aside from a long range effort from Ronaldo and a couple of chances for the Ivorians at the end, this was a nothing game with the only thing memorable about it was Ronaldo reminding me why I hate him with his attempts to get the two Ivorian centre halfs booked by diving. A total cunt.

The Brazilians made their bow as well. Not the most flambouyant or dynamic Brazil team ever but far more structured and solid at the back with Kaka and Robinho providing the flair. Of those two only the latter really turned up tonight and I am not sure if Kaka is anywhere near 100% fit. Despite the Brazilian victory, the real story of the day was the performance of the North Koreans. They were expected to be annihilated but defended extremely well and through Jong Tae Se they posed a constant threat up front. It took a mishit cross to break the deadlock and a piece of magic from Robinho to finish them off. Even then they got their moment with a well-worked and well-taken goal from Ji. If they continue to play like that, they will give Drogba and Ronaldo's team a lot of problems. Their performance has added another level of intrigue to what was already considered the "Group of Death"

 

[TheAnimal]

I think long seasons are starting to take their toll now, it appears to be that players are conserving energy for the latter stages so they can turn it on then. At the moment some sides seem to have started slowly.

Its good to see the organisation of the sides though, some of them in previous years would have been rolled over with games like Saudis v Germany in 02, Argentina v Serbia in 06, but you look at this year and USA v England, Brazil v North Korea didnt have the scorelines they had on paper.

 

[Ferbian]

I was surprised to see that Spain actually lost today, they came off as the definite superior team, and had an very unlucky moment that allowed Switzerland to score, a bullshit goal if you ask me because it seemed clear that Spain botched that one.

Spain had some great chances that they could, or should have scored on at least once or twice of the times.

It was a decent match, but I still think it was awful to watch the one game that I found to be obvious, end the opposite way.

Hopefully Spain will return in some manner, and win the group, either way you twist or turn it, Spain might be in trouble with the 2nd round, either being second and facing what could be Brazil most likely, or facing Portugal or The Ivory Coast if they win.

I don't believe North Korea will pass through, they did well last night, but not enough to convince me they'll make it in this group.

 

[Барбоса]

Chile looked like a decent attacking force. As one of the few sides in the first round of games to constantly be looking to attack, they demonstrated their world ranking superiority over a distinctly average Honduras. As comprehensive a 1-0 victory as you are likely to see. Perhaps they need to add some goal-scoring to their attack as they will come up against some better sides.

Speaking of 'better' sides, the Spanish got what they deserved for being totally one-dimensional. Sure, they had 66% possession but they did almost nothing with it, trying to run through the brick wall of the Swiss defence instead of going round it. The young winger Navas came on and looked like he could the match saver for Spain but his crossing was awful. Torres needs to start the next game as he has the pace to worry defences over the top. The Swiss played to their strengths very well. Their coach Hitzfeld had obviously watched Inter Milan's triumph over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final and drilled his men accordingly as the game today played out very similarly. They had two real attacks; they scored from one and hit the post with the other.

The South Africa story basically came to an end tonight as the second round of matches saw a more open game which meant enthusiasm and national pride can only get you so far. Showing a lack of ingenuity up front, the hosts where made to look very ordinary by a pretty good Uruguay team and in particular Diego Forlan. The first goal was deflected and Suarez might have been offside for the penalty but the Uruguayans were always in control

 

[gd]

Most interesting day of the tourney thus far, likely. Chile seems to be one of the only teams that tried to really do anything offensively and they were pretty impressive. Easily could've had a few more goals. Doubt they'll get out of the group though as the best two teams played after them in Switzerland and Spain. Good to see an actual upset that wasn't a draw. Draws can't be considered upsets. Spain still controlled most of the game and I expect they'll be able to advance with an almost sure win over Hounduras and a likely win over Chile.

Impressive from Uruguay against SA. The hosts are likely done at this point. Looks as if Uruguay will advance from this group along with the winner of Mexico/France. Likely Mexico, in my opinion.

 

[Ferbian]

Good day for soccer, Argentina vs South Korea was a pretty obvious ending, Argentina absolutely murdered Korea with the two final goals, well deserved victory that put Heinze as the top scorer of the tournament with 3 goals in this one.

Greece vs Nigeria was perhaps my favorite match of the day, I had hoped for Greece to win, really not because it mattered in any way, I was kinda indifferent about it, but once again turning to the side where I had a player I liked, defensive player Sotirios Kyrgiakos, it was a good match, sorry for Nigeria who had a botched goal that brought them to 1-1, but on the other side, Nigeria had a lucky goal when the Greece goalkeeper kinda botched theirs. Either way it was definitely a good game.

France vs Mexico, decent match, had me heartbroken because I had hoped for French victory, not supporting them through the tournament, but I still would rather watch them over Mexico, I guess it was a pretty decent game that had Mexico dominating, which surprised me, but I guess it was well deserved because of how they played.

 

[Барбоса]

Three decent games today. Argentina vs South Korea was much closer than the 4-1 scoreline. The Argentines dominated the first 45 mins with crisp, clean and probing passing, although they got their goals from set pieces showing they are not as one-dimensional as the Spanish. However, their defensive frailties were revealed in first half injury time when Di Michele gifted South Korea a goal and the first twenty minutes of the second half was a different story. The Argentines totally lost their way and South Korea dominated and should have equalised before the pace of Messi and Aguero finally finished them off.

Nigeria vs Greece changed on a moment of madness from Kaita. Nigeria were dominating the game, leading 1-0 and the Greeks were as bad as they have been in major tournaments since they won Euro 2004. Then Kaita decides to kick out over nothing. Sure, the Greek went down like he had hit with an axe but still it was just stupid and it ended up eliminating his country as the Greeks finally decided to attack and got a bit of luck with a deflection and a goalkeeping error to keep them in the tournament.

The final game of the evening did not live up to its potential and it was not because of the Mexicans, who continued to show some very nice passing and rapid that is mainly due to another awful display from the French. How Domenech has lasted as long as he has as France manager is beyond me. He might have reached a World Cup final but on the evidence of a poor Euro 2008 and struggling through qualifying and the constant rumblings of player unrest, I believe that France got to the 2006 final in spite of Domenech, not because of him. They need a small miracle to qualify but on the evidence of the last two games they do not deserve it and the tournament would be better without them as both Uruguay and Mexico are far more entertaining and general better sides

 

[Brilliant Human Being]

So over the last two days, it seems like the World Cup is finally getting into its groove. Perhaps the teams have got used to the ball. I believe its more due to the fact that it is now the second round of games and teams now realise they have to attack to win. Firstly, Argentina vs. South Korea. It was a good match, and in my opinion, not as one-sided as the majority of people (and the scoreline) seem to suggest, in fact until Argentina scored it was a very open game.

Furthermore, the most boring team in the tournament offered up some form of entertainment. Granted they did need a man advantage to do that, but it was still entertainment nonetheless. And finally, everyone around the world watching got to see the last remains the Domenech era go up in flames. The sheer amount of passiveness he was showing was truly astounding, and to be honest, it looked like he was ready for retirement.

Tomorrow, we have Germany vs. Serbia, USA vs. Slovenia, and England vs. Algeria. I expect wins for England, USA and a tight win over Serbia for the Germans.

 

[Барбоса]

Today we could have seen some teams qualify for the next stage and some book their flights home. However, we saw neither.

The Germans were very strong favourites to secure a second round spot against the Serbians but in truth they never really turned up. Even before the harsh red card for Klose, they were never really at the races and even missed their first penalty at the World Cup since 1982... Serbia were solid if unspectacular but it still proved enough to win.

The Slovenians looked like reaching the last 16 as for 45 mins they made the Americans look incredibly average with some slick passing and two good goals. However, as good as they were in the first half, they were equally bad in the second. Without really doing anything different, the USA suddenly found themselves back in the game at 2-2 and had a perfectly good winner ruled out for no reason.

As for England, what can I say that already has not been? Maybe the world will finally cotton on to the fact that England are a distinctly average side. They were truly woeful tonight. None of their best players look fit to pull on the England shirt never mind be thought of as "world class." Both Rooney and Lampard might as well have not been on the pitch, they were so anonymous. Gerrard, after a decent first 10 mins, was not that much better. Heskey did his job but Rooney was so far away from him that any time Heskey won the ball, he had no one to give it to. Algeria were disciplined and closed England down but if Capello's side are as good as people seem to think they are, it is teams like this that England should be beating them comfortably and they just cannot. If Capello was a man of his word and only play players on form, there are a lot of players to be dropped for the next game, but he won't

 

[Ferbian]

I find it to be a disheartening day to be a soccer fan of my liking, seeing as all the LD guys know, I'm a firm supporter of the big soccer nations, and well, they all failed today.

I had hoped to watch Germany gloriously conqueror their ways through Serbia, but unluckily we did not see that, as Serbia got a firm goal in on Germany, and they failed to retaliate in any way.

USA vs Slovenia was probably the better game today, it was pretty equal and I liked this game because of it, they ended in another draw, but nonetheless a well deserved draw for both teams, they capitalized, took chances and succeeded with some of them, I loved the 2-1 goal for USA where you clearly see the goalkeeper diving his head away.

I couldn't help but wonder whether not moving his head would've knocked him down and the goal would've been scored anyway, or whether he would've saved it using his head, and gotten quite a headache, or broken nose, perhaps both.

England vs Algeria was awful, mostly due to the fact that I again would have liked to watch England secure a victory, but fate wouldn't have that, which I find to be horrific that England couldn't win a game like this.

I damn well hope we'll be seeing some improvements in the teams the coming days, or we might as well send all the big nations home, cause they won't proceed any way, unless your Netherland and Argentina.

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

Australia v Ghana

Fuck! What can I say, that was the worst reffing so far in this world cup! A red for a hand ball that was clearly not deliberate (Kewell's eyes were freaking closed!) and only a yellow for a Ghana foul that was far worse than any other red card given in this WC and way worse than the Cahill red card!. Absolutely horrific reffing.

On the plus side Aus actually played a great game which was a huge step up from the Germany performance. Australia showed how we really play football, with a lot of heart and passion for the game. We defended well and made some good opportunities up forward. The Ghana team was very undeserving of getting a draw and heading to the top of the group. They played terribly and only managed the draw because of a bull shit red card and a penalty. Yeah the penalty was fair but the fact our best player who has worked his ass off to get fit to play was sent off so early in the match for a ridiculous reason really effected our game. We came out in the 2nd half to really hold our own though and I was really impressed with Bresciano and Chipperfield. We had one GREAT chance that was unfortunately in the hands of Wilkshire who isn't the best in those situations and he hit it straight at the keeper which led to a shot off an awkward bounce from Kennedy which was easy for the Ghana keeper to save.

The only way we (Aus) can advance to the Top 16 is if Germany lose to Ghana and we beat Serbia... Good luck to Ghana because I'm pretty sure Germany is going to come out hard after their effort against Serbia.

I'm happy we scored a goal and played like a team though. If we are going out of the WC after the Serbia game then I'll be happy if we at least play like we did tonight. Courageous effort from Australia tonight, unlucky but courageous.

 

[Барбоса]

A red for a hand ball that was clearly not deliberate

Any handball on the goal line is automatically a penalty and a red card even if there is no intent to handle. It does not matter if his eyes were closed, his back was turned or his arms were down by his side, the ref gave the correct decision.

Fuck! What can I say, that was the worst reffing so far in this world cup!

Not even close to the worst refereeing performance so far. He might have been a bit picky with physical challenges but he was consistent with both sides. One somewhat debateable yellow card instead of a red does not make for a poor performance.

 

[Барбоса]

Today's football got better as the day went on.

Holland/Japan was not pleasing on the eye at all. The Dutch flattered to deceive again against the organised Japanese but still managed to pull out the victory to qualify for the next round. Perhaps this is a start of something special for the Dutch who has rarely been able to win the big games when they do not play well. Japan are still in with a shout of qualifying too if they get a result against Denmark.

Ghana/Australia further muddied the waters of their group with a 1-1 draw. The Aussies were far better than they had been against the Germans and still looked a threat even when they went down to 10 men when Kewell was sent off for handball on the goal line. Ghana were not the solid outfit that beat Serbia and looked particularly ropey at the back. Both sides had chances to take all 3 points but failed to do so.

The last game of the day, Cameroon/Denmark was one of the best games of the tournament so far. A mixture of chaotic defending and decent passing and incisive play made for an entertaining spectacle. Unfortunately, by not taking the chances that came their way, the Cameroonians are going home while the Danes go forward to a make or break game against the Japanese

 

[Ferbian]

Well I'm pleasantly surprised by tonights football, once again we saw Holland win a match, at least some big European soccer nation knows how to play this game, as won the match against Japan with a beautiful goal by Sneijder, luckily this means that Denmark has a chance now to proceed, if they can beat Japan.

Ghana vs Australia was a pretty decent game, ending in a draw, it was pretty deserved to say the least because they both played on an equal level if you ask me, the referee got some heat, but I don't think there's any need for it, he was making the right decisions at least.

Denmark vs Cameroon was the pleasant surprise of the night, I was certain Cameroon would crush Denmark when I realized Samuel Eto'o being on the Cameroon national team, something I didn't know at first, but even with that, it wasn't enough to kill Denmark, who had a beautiful goal by Bendtner to equal it to 1-1, and then one of the people I simply cannot stand on the Danish team, actually scored, Dennis Rommedahl, pleasant surprise.

I couldn't help but laugh a little when one of the Danish commentators went screaming and shouting "DENMARK IS ACTUALLY IN THE LEAD, IT HASN'T HAPPENED IN A WORLD CUP MATCH IN A LONG LONG TIME"

 

[Барбоса]

I couldn't help but laugh a little when one of the Danish commentators went screaming and shouting "DENMARK IS ACTUALLY IN THE LEAD, IT HASN'T HAPPENED IN A WORLD CUP MATCH IN A LONG LONG TIME"

Clearly they have very poor memories as the Danes have a very good record of not only qualifying for the World Cup but getting through the group stages to the knock out round. I fancy them to do it again

 

[Ferbian]

Clearly they have very poor memories as the Danes have a very good record of not only qualifying for the World Cup but getting through the group stages to the knock out round. I fancy them to do it again

We didn't qualify for the 2006 World Cup and we didn't qualify for the European cup in 2008.

In 2004 we got our ass kicked 3-0 in the knockout stages by the Czech Republic, same thing happened in 2002 but that was the Englishmen (that's the day I started hating Thomas Sørensen) and before that, all the way down to 1992 we didn't proceed from the group rounds in the European cup.

And we have only qualified for 3 world cups, this one, 2002, 1998, and 1986, where we made it to the quarter finals all the time with the exception of 2002 where we got our ass kicked as I noted.

98 and 86 we had a proper team, we had the Laudrup Brothers.

And let's look at how those two Quarter finals went, 86 1-5 loss to Spain, 98 we lost 3-2 to Brazil, sure that's impressive, but it caused the retirement of the Laudrup Brothers from the national team.

I remain unimpressed by Denmark unless they make the Quarter finals this year, and we won't, I'll be surprised if we make it through the knock-out rounds this year.

 

[Барбоса]

Personally, I think you are harsh on your homeland, Ferbs. In the last 20 years, Denmark have as good a record in major tournaments as England do. To expect a country of only 5.5million to be in the top 8 teams in the world is a bit silly.

 

[Ferbian]

Sure I'm not expecting them to be in the top of the world, but since 2002-2004 we haven't been anywhere near anything noteworthy.

I'm not the only one who's harsh against my home country, there's quite a lot of people who don't expect Denmark to accomplish anything, I have some soccer friends in my class we all agree that Jon Dahl and Rommedahl absolutely suck, Denmark in general sucks.

Denmark in the last 20 years would count the time where we were good in the 90's when we had Peter Schmeichel and the Laudrup Brothers, which was a period where we could actually prove to be worthy opponents to a team because we had some of the best in the world, something we haven't had for years.

The only close thing we had to "best in the world" was Jon Dahl, and that was the fact that he had the best inner side, he was a great penalty player, and he's the second highest scorer in Danish history with 51 international goals, it's nothing to woo about, look at some of the other people's scores.

 

[Phoenix]

I think there's only one team that should be talked about in regards to today's events, that being New Zealand. These are one of the underdog teams that I was utterly impressed by in this year's tournament, they have nothing to lose and performed with the hearts of champions, they definitely deserved a point out of today against Italy. They took it to the current champions and showed that any team could win this, I think the biggest let down for them was that the only goal they conceded was a penalty, had it been that wonder strike minutes earlier, I would have been fine with it.

Biggest mentions have to go to Nelson the captain and their goalkeeper Paston, both men raised their stock and I guarantee they will be sought after with performances like they did today. They kept the team together and kept a solid performance against Italy, if there was one team I would like to see progress, it's them. Their performance reminds you that it's all about the fact they're there to compete and put on a damn good show.

Italy were just abismal, while they kept piling on the pressure, they were getting desperate as the game went on and as said were very fortunate to get a penalty against a strong defence. Biggest WTF of the game goes to the ref for booking Nelson for timewasting WHEN HE WAS INJURED!!!

But seriously, regardless of other events, today is New Zealand's day, be proud!

 

[Барбоса]

Another day passes and again we see the South Americans prosper while the Africans struggle and the Europeans fail to live up to any and all expectations.

What was supposed to be a decent Slovakian side again failed as a dynamic and attacking Paraguay put them to the sword with another good display of attacking football.

Italy again failed to look like defending champions although they were far better than they were against the Paraguayans. A lot of credit should go to the organisation and passion shown by the New Zealanders. Their keeper Paston made a couple of very good saves and their two centre halves, Nelson and Smith, were outstanding as they withstood virtually everything the Italians threw at them. From their two performances, I think they thoroughly deserve to have a chance of reaching the last 16 in their next game against Paraguay.

Brazil finally made an impression on the World Cup and while it was not the flambouyant Samba football people expect Dunga's defensive set up allows players like Kaka and Robinho to express themselves without leaving the team over-extended. If they continue to strike that balance between attack and defence, they could be on their way to a sixth title. The only blemish was the ridiculous sending off of Kaka for a second yellow. If there is any justice and consistency in Fifa, Keita will get a two match suspension and Kaka's be lifted - cannot see it happening though

 

[Ferbian]

Today was a pretty good day for soccer once again.

Slovakia vs Paraguay was a pretty good match, very back and forth, and I thought it would be more of a draw really, but I ultimately wasn't that surprised that Paraguay came out victorious, well deserved, and I'm almost certain we'll be seeing them proceed to the knockout stages.

Italy vs New Zealand was just an overall disappointment, Italy was awful and should really have won that match, but they didn't, and New Zealand capitalized on that to get a draw out of it.

Brazil vs Ivory Coast was the greater one of them, the winner was kinda obvious in Brazil, but I didn't expect this match to be filled with goals like this, some beautiful goals all around and I was overall entertained through this match.

 

[Ferbian]

Today was definitely the day to be watching soccer if you like to watch a lot of goals, and great ones at that too.

Portugal absolutely murdered North Korea today as they went 7-0 with as far as I remember 5 or 6 of the goals during the 2nd half, my favorite goal from that one was Ronaldo's goal where he managed to bounce it on top of his head to knock it in, which I think was absolutely epic.

It was a good game, with Portugal ultimately dominating the whole thing, leaving Korea absolutely paralyzed so to say.

Chile vs Switzerland was also a pretty decent game, I had my odds on Switzerland but apparently Chile shined once again, surprising really, but nonetheless deserved, they played pretty well and the goal was pretty decent.

Spain vs Honduras had one of the more obvious results (finally a damn 2-0, I told you we'd see some of that) and it was a pretty decent game that had Spain dominating it, with two beautiful goals from David Villa, and a bad miss from him as well, shame really cause he could've gone on to be the top scoring Spanish guy and among the top scorers in the tournament (in a draw position with Argentina's Higuain)

Great games today, finally some of the bigger teams coming out the winners (I simply had to add that)

 

[Барбоса]

Two of the big European teams finally lived up to their potential today.

For some reason, the North Korean coach decided to play a more open and attacking style rather than the compact formation that contained the Brazilians for so long. Again their fitness and passion meant that it took a good goal from Raul Meireles to break the deadlock in a keenly contested first half. However, in the second half it was one-way traffic. There was the occasional piece of good Portuguese play but in reality it was Korea's defending totally capitulated that contributed most to the 7-0 scoreline.

Chile and Switzerland was entertaining too. It was somewhat spoilt by some nit-picking from the referee and a stupid red card for Behrami. Not entirely sure what he thought was going to happen when he continually threw his arm into opponents' faces. I'm not sure if the game would have been that different with 11 vs 11 as the Swiss would probably have played in a similar manner to their game against Spain. In the end though the extra told as the Chileans finallly got their goal (if only after the Swiss broke the record for the longest consective period of time without conceding a goal at the World Cup) although the Swiss should have stolen a point near the end.

Spain also joined the party with a convincing 2-0 victory over a poor Honduras. It was pretty much a training session for the Spanish who should have had far more goals than the two that they scored. Here's hoping this upturn in European performance can continue.

By the way, Ferbs, there is no way Ronaldo meant to "juggle" the ball on his head before his goal. He was smiling because it was lucky, although I think he probably deserved a goal for his second half performance.