World cup

[Memnoch]

LOL England

First they lose the rugby despite being given two penalty tries and then they snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. That's gotta be one of the worst howlers by an England keeper in a while and that's saying something given their history. Even that second half save off Altidore was made much harder than it had to be given the angle Altidore had to shoot from.

And James Milner doing a good impersonation of a turnstile when faced with Steve "The New Ronaldo" Cherundolo and getting the arse after 30 mins and then King being subbed off at halftime - it's all gone pear shaped for Fabio and the 3 Pussycats.

The Seppos aren't going to win this WC but I'm sure they'll take the draw. England in crisis mode already

[Memnoch]

As for the Argies-Nigeria match, Argie were in cruise control for most of the match but did enough to win yet show that they have plenty in reserve. Fantastic game from Messi, any other day he'd have scored a hatrick but good saves from Enyeama as well as some poor finishing from Messi meant he ended up on zero. Add to that the fact that the Nigerians didn't put any pressure on Argentina on defence either - they just waited for the Argies to run to them. When you do that to the likes of Tevez, Messi et al they will create lots of chances. I wouldn't be surprised to see Argie finish the group with three wins.

I thought Nigeria played much better when Odemwingie and Martins came on - fresher legs possibly, but they added an element of urgency to Nigeria's play, which prior to that consisted to too much dribbling and long passing to really worry the Argie defence. Odemwingie in particular looks a very busy player and I suspect they will do a lot more damage to Greece whose defence is as porous as Nigeria's. SoKor would fancy their chances though - their players move well without the ball and I'm sure they will find lots of ways to unlock that Nigerian back four.


Other than that, I don't really think Argentina played a great game - they played a good game but they will definitely have to step up their finishing and improve their defence if they're going to really challenge in this competition. The talent's there - the combinations aren't quite yet.

One thing about Messi -there's a fair bit of pressure, coming in as the tournament's best player and expected to be one of the top goalscorers. Some handle it very well (Zizou '98, Ronaldo '02) while others not so well (younger Ronaldo '98), while others take a while to get into it (Baggio '94). It's going to be interesting to see whether it starts to play on Messi as the tournament goes on.

[Memnoch]

Originally Posted by thecarrotdude We (USA) had a few good chances to win the game second half. Would have been so great if we won!! Also I just watched the video about the different soccerballs and just figured out what that droning noise at the soccer games is. Its some sort of trumpt like plastic instrument. Anyone want to tell me about it?

They use the vuvuzela in a lot of football matches in South Africa, and in quite a few rugby matches too.

[johnny]

I expected a tough match for Australia, but i didn't expect a waxing...ouch!!! Germany is impressive, young and hungry, they will go far once again.

[Sever]

The Aussies given a 4-0 schelocking by the Krauts. I can't really say i'm surprised, but it was two goals more than i tipped. My reception is on the fritz so i watched the game without sound (no commentary is not altogether a bad trade off for those bloody horns). It seemed to me that the Krauts really took advantage of frustration created from the early goal. The Aussies were mostly slow to regroup and more often than not shouting at the ref while the Germans were quick to turn turnovers into dangerous goal opportunities. Klose's header was the best that i saw, but i didn't see the last one. Cahill's red card seemed fair enough (frustration tactic paid off) but it did seem like there was a lot of delicate German ankles on the field...

Maybe someone with a better trained eye (or who had the benefit of commentary) can clue me in to what the Aussies were shouting at for half the game?

[johnny]

The African hornblowers ruined that for me as well, and i'm not very good at lipreading LOL It's really getting annoying, i'm used to hearing chants during footballmatches, and not the sound of an army of mooing cows, for that fact alone, i pray that all African nations will be eliminated in the group phase, so their fans will all bugger off and go back to their dailiy routines whatever those may be.

[Kakero]

Fat chance johnny, I hear vuvuzela in every world cup matches so far. I bet you that we can hear vuvuzela in every matches until the final.

Quote from wiki

On 13 June 2010 the BBC reported that the South African organising chief Danny Jordaan is considering a ban of the vuvuzela during matches.[26] Jordaan noted that "if there are grounds to do so, yes [they will be gotten rid of]" and that "if any land on the pitch in anger we will take action."[26] During the event many competitors have criticised and complained about the noise caused by the vuvuzela horns, including France's Patrice Evra who blamed the horns for the team's poor performance.[26] He also claimed that the sound of the vuvuzelas away from the stadiums hampered the ability of the players to get their rest.[27] Other critics include Lionel Messi who complained that the sound of the vuvuzelas hampered communication among players on the pitch,[28] and broadcasting companies, who complained that commentators' voices were being drowned out by the sound.[27] Cristiano Ronaldo went on record to state that the sound of the vuvuzelas disturbed the teams' concentration.[29] Others watching on television have complained that the ambient audio feed from the stadium only contains the sounds of the vuvuzelas and the natural sounds of people in the stands are drowned out.

I hope they ban vuvuzela NOW. it really ruin the atmosphere for me. I want to enjoy the match comentary, the players shouting and directing each other, the fans singing and chanting. Now all I hear is the constant horn blowing noise.

I see other people also dislike vuvuzela.
http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wor...urn=sow,172982

[Sever]

Originally Posted by johnny The African hornblowers ruined that for me as well, and i'm not very good at lipreading LOL It's really getting annoying, i'm used to hearing chants during footballmatches, and not the sound of an army of mooing cows, for that fact alone, i pray that all African nations will be eliminated in the group phase, so their fans will all bugger off and go back to their dailiy routines whatever those may be.

The droning sound reminds me of a horde of hungry blowflies (i grew up in regional Aus). I keep getting the impression i need to check all the windows and cover up any meat. As far as i;m concerned, they can ban the horn and bring back the proper sound any time they want.

[johnny]

Well....Holland didnt play well, but at least they brought home the 3 points, it's important to win even when u play lame.

[Kakero]

I've no idea why Eto was played on the right wing. He was completely missing in the first half and only manage to somewhat appear in the 2nd half. Did the cameroon coach ask advice from Alex Ferguson on where to position a star striker? Eto should be played on the centre forward where he can produce the most threat.

Oh, nice fluke win by the japanese by the way.