World Cup - Germany 2006 - we're off !

[shamrock_uk]

Yeah, I feel sorry for the Ivorian's, think they've been very enjoyable to watch.

[Ivelliis]

Was a good game. Argies looked very strong, but the Ivory Coast shown they aren't prepared to just bow out in the group stages.

[Madman-Rogovich]

Originally posted by Davros: quote: Originally posted by Link: quote: Originally posted by Madman-Rogovich: Wait a second?!? Lucky I have Crouch? I'm supporting Paraguay mate

I'm sorry about Chilavert (sp?) then [/QUOTE]Look where he comes from Link - UK but definitely not Englandshire [img]smile.gif[/img] .

I would be right wouldn't I Madman if I assumed you support Scotland, and anyone playing against your ill bred cousins south of the wall . [/QUOTE][img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] Indeed you're almost spot-on You see there is a very small minority of Scots that will support england, the other contingent of us is split down the middle, those of us that want to see england skelped by every team they play and those of us that want to see england make the semi's and get skelped in a much more glorious fashion .

I guess I fall into the latter but with good reason (for all you english IW'ers) The fact is if England were to win the World Cup it would be another 40 years of having to hear about it and noone deserves that

[wellard]

Well they could talk about Scotlands world cup games they have won instead, all 4 of them


Plays the BBC theme for the world cup "See the Conquering Hero Comes" by Handel and wonders if M.Rogovich thinks it a jolly tune? [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

[Madman-Rogovich]

Hey hey.. lets not forget Scotland were world champs in 1967

believe it!

And no Wellard that tune is about as jolly as Barbers Adagio for strings

[ 06-10-2006, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: Madman-Rogovich ]

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by johnny: Argentina is looking solid as ever, very effective as well, but despite being down 2-0, the Africans are pretty impressive, especially their midfield appears to be powerful. But it's exactly what i expected, good players, but as a team they still have a lot to learn, sometimes it's complete chaos.

I must the only one who thought their midfield was pretty average, bar the first and last 10 mins. They just didn't use their midfield, Cote d'Ivoire - mostly long balls played up to Drogba who was very heavily marked. He still showed his class though. The Africans basically let Riquelme have his way in midfied and he cut their defence to shreds. But the Argies weren't totally convincing either - they decided to sit back after their lead and it almost cost them.

As for England, Sven-Goran obviously decided to use his catenaccio tactics from Lazio during their match against Paraguay. Lucky for him Paraguay seemed content to lose 1-0 and didn't push up like Corea did to Italy in 2002, otherwise it could've gotten ugly. Why Sven-Goran used Gerrard as a holding midfielder I'll never know, he was a total waste in that position.

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by johnny: Sweden got what was coming to them, with chickenshit tactics like that you don't deserve to win. How on earth can you sacrifice 4 defenders on 2 strikers, and very poor strikers too if i may say so. Even with 11 against 10, Sweden's coach didn't have the nerves to switch to a more offensive type of play, what a friggin coward. Great day so far, two extremely boring matches.

I think you're being a bit harsh on Sweden's coach mate. IMO they had the right approach, they must've created about 20 chances and had about 12 shots on goal. Unfortunately for them Hislop picked today to have his best game since 95, and the Swedes butchered quite a few more chances. It's been a while since I've seen a game as one-sided as this - Sweden basically dictated terms but couldn't buy a goal. Their finishing was poor, though credit to Hislop. They fell away in the last third as they got more desperate. They may well miss the second round as England will be tough and Paraguay are no pushovers. I thought it was a great match as a neutral myself.

[Kakero]

Bah! For 2 days I couldn't watch a single world cup match LIVE. Either I'm too tired to wait for the match or I just slept through them. Why on earth are they held in early morning. shesh!

[johnny]

Originally posted by Kakero: Bah! For 2 days I couldn't watch a single world cup match LIVE. Either I'm too tired to wait for the match or I just slept through them. Why on earth are they held in early morning. shesh!

Because they're not playing in Japan and Korea this time, which was dreadful for us Europeans. What's early in the morning for you, is 3 PM for us, which is a perfect time to start.

[johnny]

Originally posted by Memnoch: quote: Originally posted by johnny: Sweden got what was coming to them, with chickenshit tactics like that you don't deserve to win. How on earth can you sacrifice 4 defenders on 2 strikers, and very poor strikers too if i may say so. Even with 11 against 10, Sweden's coach didn't have the nerves to switch to a more offensive type of play, what a friggin coward. Great day so far, two extremely boring matches.

I think you're being a bit harsh on Sweden's coach mate. IMO they had the right approach, they must've created about 20 chances and had about 12 shots on goal. Unfortunately for them Hislop picked today to have his best game since 95, and the Swedes butchered quite a few more chances. It's been a while since I've seen a game as one-sided as this - Sweden basically dictated terms but couldn't buy a goal. Their finishing was poor, though credit to Hislop. They fell away in the last third as they got more desperate. They may well miss the second round as England will be tough and Paraguay are no pushovers. I thought it was a great match as a neutral myself. [/QUOTE]A bit harsh ? You got to be kidding me. If this was a coach of any team from the Dutch league, he'd be crucified after the match. I was wrong about him sacrificing 4 defenders on two attackers, instead he constantly kept no less than 5 defenders on line to guard the fortress, that makes it even worse.

Of course they managed to take a lot of shots on goal, their opponent was Trinidad and Tobago for crying out loud, they're no more than a bunch of semi professionals. That they dominated the game is therefore no surprise, but the coach refused to sent one or two extra guys to the frontline, and that's why they didn't win. They simply didn't give it every effort, because they are too afraid to leave their trenches, even against a very poor opponent like T&T. And that says a lot, if not everything, about the coach's approach of how football is to be played.