The Official 2010 World Cup Thread

[Guest Mirezzi]

Dear Lucas Neill,

 

The results of your physical have come in. Your ballsack appears to be empty.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mark Schweitzer

[Hautlle]

Like I've said elsewhere, I only tangentially follow sports but the concept of changing the crux of the very game (that new ellipitical ball) is fucking preposterous! "Hey, the grass is boring, let's let Nike sell us a polyurethane substitute", "let's add some foothills and pot holes"! I'm being facetious obviously and I don't know the history of the pigskin and the baseball but I don't think an incredible amount of upgrading has been done over time. Perhaps in material but not fucking shape!!!! It's a little like starting off the NFL season with a rounded ball and then wondering why all these fucking fumbles were happening.

 

WTF? man, shit is sooooo upside down, I really could use that potassium cyanide capsule I've been threatening. "Do it over football?!" someone might scream but they would not be able to see the iceberg of worldwide fail beneath the introduction of elliptical balls into a thousand year old game that has driven this man mad.

 

xxx, man, the ball is still spherical ;) It's just made of space age materials now.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup#Match_ball

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/140/world-cup-2010/2009/12/04/1666183/world-cup-2010-official-world-cup-ball-jabulani-unveiled-in

[GORDO]

best display of football so far this germany game.

[GORDO]

hahah fucking ref marco rodriguez couldn't help to be a protagonist in a world cup.

[Guest Gary C]

Germany finally get this tournament rolling.

[Guest Dirty Protest]

Did I hear somewhere that the Bundesliga's been using the new ball for a season now? hhmmm.

 

 

Edit: Yes they have been. dam them clever Germans.

[Guest Gary C]

Really? Holy shit.

 

Bet they've been practicing how to lift the trophy too.

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

great performance. great passing and finishing.

[Guest FortyTwo]

Looks like the aussies should stick to cricket.

[Ego]

Yeah that was a pathetic performance. I'm charmed by the Germans though, midfield knows where to run, where to find eachother, great technique, loads of speed... Looks like a well-oiled machine.

[dr lopez]

Yeah that was a pathetic performance. I'm charmed by the Germans though, midfield knows where to run, where to find eachother, great technique, loads of speed... Looks like a well-oiled machine.

per usual. the germans always impress in tournaments. organization, relative creativity, speed. aussies had no pace, and less creativity. shame. shame about timmy cahill too, first terrible call in the cup.

[Captain James Mission]

a perfect start for the german team, i would say...

[Guest tronicphace]

SOUTH AFRICA ALL THE WAY, BABY!!! I just filled out my predictions the other day, at the request of the CEO of my company.

[Guest Conor74]

It's strange, you can go outside and the German streets right now are basically deserted, there's noone around, all you hear is occasional "YEEES!" and "OOOHHH!" from somewhere far away.

 

They all into making porn?

[jhonny]

Germany looked alright, although not man-marking Ozil and not countering a slow centre-back partnership with pace up front were two crucial tactical decisions by Verbeek. I think if we (England) come up against them, then Lennon is crucial as Badstuber isn't quick (in fact, Lahm may even switch to left back to play against us). Also Joe and Ashley Cole will help pin back Philip Lahm. Scheweinsteiger was given too much space today, and isn't a natural defensive midfielder, so I'd expect Lampard/Gerrard/Rooney to find time and space in there. Mark Ozil out of the match with Barry and pin Lahm back and I reckon we'd isolate Klose and Podolski who are sharp finishers, but not too quick (thank god, cos the Terry-Carragher partnership scares the shit out of me).

[Guest Mirezzi]

Let's not overstate Germany's performance. It looks like they had a bit of fun with a bunch of fat women in studs with Aussie accents.

 

Two yellow cards for Germany for simulation. That was good to see and both were deserved. The red was very very harsh, but I agree with Lalas. You can't tackle like that in a World Cup match with a Mexican referee and hope to get the sort of response you would in the Premiership. For Everton, he might have earned a yellow for that challenge, maybe not even that.

 

Cahill can be a hothead and his tackle was on the annoying Podolsky, who was picking apart the Socceroos at will.

[GORDO]

 

[chenGOD]

The aussies never pressed the germans on the ball. They gave them all sorts of room on the ball, and the germans took full advantage. Then with the red card decision (which was terrible) the Aussies had nothing.

There have been a bunch of cards so far in this tournament, is this the most cards produced in a World Cup so far?

Aussie Germany - 5 yellows 1 red

Serbia Ghana - 5 yellows 1 red

Slovenia Algeria - 4 yellows 1 red

Uruguay France - 5 yellows 1 red

South Africa Mexic0 - 4 yellows

England US - 6 yellows

 

jesus that's a lot of cards...

 

I will say this for the Mexican ref: the two yellows he handed out for simulation were spot on.

[Guest Dagger]

Australia will still make the final four. Germany are by far the hardest team they will have to face until the semi-final, and they've got them out of the way early. Australia went into the game expecting to be beaten probably 3-0, so they left their best goal scoring options in Kewell, Bresciano and Kennedy on the bench so they would be fresh for their attack on Ghana. It was effectively another warm up match for Australia, they weren't fooled for a minute into thinking they could win. It's a shame about Cahill though, ideally he would be playing in the next game.

[chenGOD]

Australia will still make the final four. Germany are by far the hardest team they will have to face until the semi-final, and they've got them out of the way early. Australia went into the game expecting to be beaten probably 3-0, so they left their best goal scoring options in Kewell, Bresciano and Kennedy on the bench so they would be fresh for their attack on Ghana. It was effectively another warm up match for Australia, they weren't fooled for a minute into thinking they could win. It's a shame about Cahill though, ideally he would be playing in the next game.

 

LOL between you and a certain other Australian who used to post here, I'd have to guess that all Soccerooooooobie doobie doo fans are:

a) delusional

b) drunk

c) delirious

d) dingo ate my baby

e) all of the above

 

Let's say that Australia manages to get second in their group (unlikely but let's indulge). They face England in the round of 16. If they beat England, then they face most likely France. And let's face it, they're not going to beat either of those sides, even as shit as they are.

[Guest Dagger]

Look at the last world cup, we played a sub par side against Brazil, resting our important players, and beat the hell out of the teams we had to, eventually losing to Italy in the 94th minute due to a dubious penalty decision. I think Australia should have won the game themselves off their own boot rather than leaving it to fate, but Italy were eventually champions and were rock solid in defence.

 

edit: Australia will definitely get up against England, beating England is basically why any Australian wants to play or cares about rugby, cricket and soccer. France will present more of a challenge, they lost to China in a friendly, but they will be playing better in the business end of the world cup you would expect.

[GORDO]

france's got nothing. mexico will most likely beat their asses on thursday.

 

also: no way australia is getting in the final four. that's a big lol.

[chenGOD]

YOu never know what France is going to show up. You cannot deny that they have some straight up ballers. If they play like they're capable of, they'll rip Mexico's defense a goatse size asshole.

 

Dagger - the last world cup you cam from behind to beat japan and drew with croatia. Sorry but Ghana is much better than Japan and Serbia is at least as good at that Croatia side. You might might might get out of the group, but most likely 2 points off a draw with both of those teams will see Germany and Ghana through. Your strikers aren't good enough to beat Serbia, and your defense isn't good enough to hold off Ghana.

[Guest Alex C]

That French team is a joke, no way will they show up. Domenech is fucking clueless.

 

Really looking forward to seeing the Dutch today

[keltoi]

well done USA for converting that field goal against england.