2010 FIFA World Cup

[Palazzo]

I'm disputing the straight red to Khune though. I think that was way too harsh. He hardly clipped him (yet he fell down like a sack of shit). Deserved a booking I guess, but definitely not a straight red.

If it deserved a yellow, it deserved a red. Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

[Xanatos]

Finally, few good games, I enjoyed watching Argentina and Uruguay, heck even the match between Nigeria and Greece is more exciting than I expected it to be. Once again Forlan showed why's he one of the best attackers out there, I was little bit surprised to see Aguero and Milito on the bench again, but Higuain did great unlike the last time, still, I think one of those two should be in the first eleven, preferably Milito since he's more like Higuain, only better.

Tonight I'm supporting Mexico, not that I like them that much, it's just I can't stomach those French.

[Palazzo]

Nah Higuain is definately the better player IMO, especially for Argentina. 4 goals in 21 appearances for Argentina for Milito, 5 in 7 for Higuain.

[che]

GO ARGENTINA! They did exactly what they needed to do. I think they are looking really good as a team. I love the way they play. Messi my man was working the play for all the goals (even the own goal)!

Also very exciting second half for Mexico. I'm glad they were able to beat the french team, France doesn't deserve to advance. Also, I heard some chanting in this game for once! Drown out those vuvuzelas!

[RagnaToad]

Yeah Mexico was good. I don't know why but France was not nearly as good as I had expected. The 0-2 was a fair result I think.

Some interesting matches tomorrow. Germany-Serbia might get exciting.

[Xanatos]

Is there anyone happier than me tonight, except for Irish of course. France got what they deserved, they played terrible, boring and their coach's one big plonker, never liked him to be honest. Can't wait to see what Blanc can do with this team, a promising coach that can't certainly do worse than this. One of the sings among Mexico fans cracked me up, "please don't play with your hand" was written on it, I think we all know to who was it aimed.

There are some interesting matches tomorrow, so far the quality of football has risen and I expect it will stay that way. I think Germany will take all tomorrow, but you never know with Serbia, they just might give it all and surprise us, highly doubtful though. It seems six is not their lucky number, few years ago they lost 6-0 to Argentina and 6-1 against Holland, if they lose against Germany tomorrow it will be their sixth loss in a row, one hell of a number.

Slovenia against USA will be a though one, they play similar football, though I give slight advantage to US, but my heart will be alongside Slovenia. I also expect convincing win from England, it's perfect opportunity to get a hold of themselves.

[che]

Is there anyone happier than me tonight, except for Irish of course. France got what they deserved, they played terrible, boring and their coach's one big plonker, never liked him to be honest. Can't wait to see what Blanc can do with this team, a promising coach that can't certainly do worse than this. One of the sings among Mexico fans cracked me up, "please don't play with your hand" was written on it, I think we all know to who was it aimed.

There are some interesting matches tomorrow, so far the quality of football has risen and I expect it will stay that way. I think Germany will take all tomorrow, but you never know with Serbia, they just might give it all and surprise us, highly doubtful though. It seems six is not their lucky number, few years ago they lost 6-0 to Argentina and 6-1 against Holland, if they lose against Germany tomorrow it will be their sixth loss in a row, one hell of a number.

Slovenia against USA will be a though one, they play similar football, though I give slight advantage to US, but my heart will be alongside Slovenia. I also expect convincing win from England, it's perfect opportunity to get a hold of themselves.

They showed a close-up of Henry after Mexico's first goal and he just looked sad, maybe a little pissed too. I think he wanted to play, he was up running around like he was getting warmed up, but I don't think France's dumbass coach was planning to put him in anyway. France deserved this loss, and I'm happy to see Mexico do it to them having never beat the former champs before.

I don't really think Serbia has a chance tomorrow, so I'm pretty much just looking to see how much of a win Germany can pull off.

I can't say a great deal of good things about the USA's offence. USA is going to need to put some balls in the back of the net. You can't just play defense and win. I want to see Donovan make something of his skills, because he is actually a good player.

The English shouldn't have a problem tomorrow. They looked great vs. USA despite a lack of goal differential, but now that everyone is over their first match nervousness, I think England will be able to shine.

[Palazzo]

People are underestimating the Serbians who are a decent team. Although, saying that, I still think Germany will beat them, but only by one or two goals.

[Xanatos]

Some exciting football today, shame though I only watched the first half of Slovenia against USA, I was surprised to see US made a comeback, they even scored third goal which was unfortunately dismissed even though it was a regular one. As I said two similar teams, I think both sides can be satisfied with draw in the end, Though I think Slovenia may regret letting such lead to disappear.

Serbia made quite surprise today, I think they proved that they have one of the best defense out there, maybe a little bit reckless in some situations but a good one nevertheless. Germany played better in my opinion, even without Klose they still continued to attack, well, obviously they had to but not many teams could keep that pressure with one player missing. Shame though Podolski missed all those chances, I'm even more surprised Serbia keeps repeating the mistakes that cost them the match last time, luckily Podolski wasn't precise as Gyan.

Edit: England hit the rock bottom, seriously, they can't even win against Algeria, it wouldn't be that bad if they played well, but no, only one serious shoot in the entire match, ****ing unbelievable, disappointing, really disappointing. England has let me down big time, I'll be cheering for Slovenia and USA to proceed to the next stage from now on. Also, I should quit betting while I still have some money in my pocket, the World Cup has been harsh so far.

[Alpha]

Man some big surprises ; Serbia-Germany... I mean, New Zealand beat Serbia.

Disappointed with England, not least because I drew them in the work sweepstakes. Didn't like the reactions of the fans. It's one thing to be disappointed, shocked, and angry, but another to not stick with your team when the going gets rough. Good times and bad, you know how it is. That won't exactly help them to perform in the must-win coming up.

[Palazzo]

Sometimes you have to boo the players. When a team puts as little effort in as England did last night, they don't deserve anything better than being booed.

The English fans have stuck with England for ages of underperforming and underachieving. I guess last night was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Dreadful and lazy performance.

[Xanatos]

Can't believe my own eyes, but France, England and Italy might just not make it to the second round, France definitely, though there's always a small chance. and not just that, they showed a terrible performance so far, especially against weaker opponents, if someone told me this would happen I would call him crazy. This means an outcast may actually win this Cup, just what I'm hopping for.

New Zealand showed once again that they shouldn't be underestimated, their players left their heart and soul on the field today, honestly if it weren't for that suspicious penalty I don't think Italy would score.

Speaking of penalties, there have been quite few so far, good call on that penalty for Ghana yesterday but that red card was simply hilarious, that was yellow at most, honestly there have been some strange decision coming from referees so far, some huge mistakes have been made, I hope it gets better from now on.

Tonight I'm cheering for Ivory Coast, again, Brazil doesn't look so good, so this might be their chance, also Drogba should play right from the start wich is good news for Ivory Coast.

[Palazzo]

Another good day of football. Paraguay having taken control of their group since Italy have dropped points again. Great perfomance by New Zealand to hold the world champions to a draw. Ryan Nelson was on the top of his game for them, as was their keeper.

Brazil vs Ivory Coast game was a cracker as was expected. Don't see how anyone can complain about Kaka's red card. Deliberately barged into him off the ball so deserved a second yellow. I'm not condoning the Ivory Coast player's OTT reaction but it was still a yellow.

[Alpha]

*explodes*

Man, if NZ drawing with Slovakia was our biggest football achievement, then NZ drawing with Italy has got to be a dream.

Allow me to put this in perspective.

• NZ is ranked 78th in the world
• Italy is ranked 5th in the world
• NZ has only been to one previous World Cup, in 1982, where we got thrashed by the USSR (3-0), Brazil (4-0), and Scotland (5-2)
• Italy are defending the World Cup
• NZ has 25 full-time professional football players, not all of them in that squad. A number of that team have day jobs; one works in a bank

If this World cup is going to be renowned for upsets, this is, undoubtedly, going to be in the top three, IMO.

In fact, Reuters UK rank it as the ninth-greatest World Cup upset of all time.

All NZ has to do to progress to knock-out is defeat Paraguay. They're at the top of Group F, with one draw and one win, but after NZ's last two performances, it's winnable.

I can't believe I'm writing this. If I had been shown this comment a few weeks ago, there'd have been no way I would've EVER believed it.

Don't tell anyone, but I secretly predicted a 4-0 score-line in Italy's favour.

On balance, again the draw was a little undeserved. We had three shots on goal, in the whole 90 minutes. Fortunately, we also had a 33% success rate. We're relying on our defenders just a little too much. It's edge-of-your-seat watching, and the goalkeeper (Mark Paston) is certainly going to get a massive signing somewhere somewhat prestigious when this is all done and dusted. He made spectacular saves. That penalty goal was unfortunate. While the shirt-grabbing wasn't top notch, it wasn't much. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has better resistance to gravity than that man.

Shane Smeltz's goal was also very fortunate; he was in an offside position, and is just lucky that he was there to poach it off the Italian's leg. But a striker should be prepared for when those opportunites arise, and it was a fair goal. And so early into the game! That's when I started to think we even had a chance of winning, and for large portions of the game I actually felt underwhelmed with the prospect of a draw. Fancy that: underwhelmed with a draw against the world champions!

They didn't take my mental advice from the last game, however. That is, the formation remained unchanged. Possession was terrible on NZ's behalf, and we presented the Italians with too many opportunities, while our strikers barely touched the ball. We needed to keep the balling moving; the Italians were like a noose on the field.

I hope you all support New Zealand against Paraguay! Let's go Cinderalla story! Let's go stereotypical Kiwi 'punching-above-our-weight'!

GO THE ALL WHITES!

EDIT: Another way to illustrate the magnitude of this is by reference to rugby; NZ's code. In the 1999 Rugby World Cup, NZ defeated Italy 101-3. That's the kind of result I would expect Italy to launch against us in what is most certainly not our national sport. Not a good day to be an Italian.

[Zargabaath]

I agree mostly with Alpha's assessment of the NZ vs Italy match. Also, the score was 1-1; that's not an upset; an upset would have been if Italy lost the match. Is it a dissapointment for Italy? Yes. Was it a good game by New Zealand? Maybe. All the "upsets" they listed on tv the team that should've won, lost; Italy tied today. They still got a point and are still have the possibility of advancing; if they don't advance then their group stage play will be viewed as horrendous but if they get out then it will be largely forgotten.

A big reason why I don't see this game as being a huge upset is from how New Zealand played the game, or the lack-there-of. They got 3 shots on goal and the second shot didn't come till the second half if my memory serves me correct. When they stop the Italian offensive they would give the ball away too quickly and coupled with the fact that they hardly got the ball out of their half before they turned it over it was easier for them to defend since their players were already on their side. New Zealand's play offered few counter-attacks or break-aways to Italy and in turn it made this supposably "upset" boring on New Zealand's side.

Italy did have a few chances and a close shot but they couldn't connect properly; I'll say that they played better in this game than their first match as they attacked a lot more and had an overwhelming possession percentage of the ball. There is still one more game and they haven't played like the other two Eurpoean power-houses who have been greatly dissapointed: England and France.

Oh, one more thing. The Italians may be the defending champs, however, this team they have now is not the champion team and the players who have returned are 4 years older. Defending champs of the World Cup has to be viewed differently than the defending champs of a championship that happens every year, like the World Series.

[Leonhart]

Brazil are looking strong beating Ivory Coast and are through to the last 16.
to me that still dont look like they have hit the high gear yet

[che]

*explodes*

Man, if NZ drawing with Slovakia was our biggest football achievement, then NZ drawing with Italy has got to be a dream.

Allow me to put this in perspective.

• NZ is ranked 78th in the world
• Italy is ranked 5th in the world
• NZ has only been to one previous World Cup, in 1982, where we got thrashed by the USSR (3-0), Brazil (4-0), and Scotland (5-2)
• Italy are defending the World Cup
• NZ has 25 full-time professional football players, not all of them in that squad. A number of that team have day jobs; one works in a bank

If this World cup is going to be renowned for upsets, this is, undoubtedly, going to be in the top three, IMO.

In fact, Reuters UK rank it as the ninth-greatest World Cup upset of all time.

All NZ has to do to progress to knock-out is defeat Paraguay. They're at the top of Group F, with one draw and one win, but after NZ's last two performances, it's winnable.

I can't believe I'm writing this. If I had been shown this comment a few weeks ago, there'd have been no way I would've EVER believed it.

Don't tell anyone, but I secretly predicted a 4-0 score-line in Italy's favour.

On balance, again the draw was a little undeserved. We had three shots on goal, in the whole 90 minutes. Fortunately, we also had a 33% success rate. We're relying on our defenders just a little too much. It's edge-of-your-seat watching, and the goalkeeper (Mark Paston) is certainly going to get a massive signing somewhere somewhat prestigious when this is all done and dusted. He made spectacular saves. That penalty goal was unfortunate. While the shirt-grabbing wasn't top notch, it wasn't much. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has better resistance to gravity than that man.

Shane Smeltz's goal was also very fortunate; he was in an offside position, and is just lucky that he was there to poach it off the Italian's leg. But a striker should be prepared for when those opportunites arise, and it was a fair goal. And so early into the game! That's when I started to think we even had a chance of winning, and for large portions of the game I actually felt underwhelmed with the prospect of a draw. Fancy that: underwhelmed with a draw against the world champions!

They didn't take my mental advice from the last game, however. That is, the formation remained unchanged. Possession was terrible on NZ's behalf, and we presented the Italians with too many opportunities, while our strikers barely touched the ball. We needed to keep the balling moving; the Italians were like a noose on the field.

I hope you all support New Zealand against Paraguay! Let's go Cinderalla story! Let's go stereotypical Kiwi 'punching-above-our-weight'!

GO THE ALL WHITES!

EDIT: Another way to illustrate the magnitude of this is by reference to rugby; NZ's code. In the 1999 Rugby World Cup, NZ defeated Italy 101-3. That's the kind of result I would expect Italy to launch against us in what is most certainly not our national sport. Not a good day to be an Italian.

I can't tell you how ****ing awesome it was to see NZ tie Italy from my perspective. All the love for the NZ team from me! If Italy can make shots on goal, but don't have the ability to get it in the back of the net, then they don't deserve the win, no matter what their ranking. Simple as that.

I didn't get to see the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast game, and I just got back from my girlfriend's house. What happened to Kaka? He's too sexy to get double yellowed. I'll have to watch the highlights.

[email protected] didn't see this game either, but I saw the goal highlights. **** Ronaldo and anyone who thinks he did that "back trap" shit on purpose. He didn't. Although, I'm sure he wasn't phased since he probably practices that while juggling. All the goals in this game looked so easy.

I watched Chile vs. Switzerland this morning. Chile is fast as hell, I like their style a lot, but they aren't scoring like they need to be I don't think. Also, despite what the announcers said on ESPN, I think that red card for the Swiss was deserved. The guy hit one guy in the face, hit the second guy (although some acting might have been involved), and then acted a bit as he tripped. Boo!

I'm waiting for Spain to break out of whatever funk they have with tournaments. They're a great team with great players, but never seem to do as well as they should. Let's go, Spain!

[Xanatos]

After Fabiano scored the second time I turned my TV of, I mean the ball touched his hand two times before he had chance to shoot,I understand the main referee was in no position to see that detail, but what about his colleague, that man could clearly see that scene. The main referee did see that particular detail on the main screen soon after that, in hope that Fabiano will confess he asked him did he played with his hand, I couldn't believe my own eyes when Fabiano reacted like nothing happened. Now he's calling it a "God's hand", saying that he didn't use his hand on purpose and because of it the goal is completely regular, I mean Pipo's never in offside on purpose does it mean those goals should be regular, I think Fabiano should go through rules once again.

Portugal played outstanding today, beyond my expectations, I think North Korea should be satisfied with this result as it could have been much, much worse. I'm really concerned for those guys, this match was first live broadcast in their country and I think it will be their last, the "leader" is certainly not happy about this. It was great to see non selfish behavior from Ronaldo today, not to mention the lack of theatrical falls, Tiago reminded of his old good days in Chelsea, I must say this match was surprising in more than one aspect.

And what's happening with France, Domenech can't control his own players who behave like bunch of brats by the way, punishment for the hand against Ireland arrived sooner than I though, as my friend would say "God saw that if FIFA missed it".

[Xithor]

Anyone just finish watching the US v Algeria game? What a goal by Donovan to finish it up, I mean they should have scored a long time before that in the first half when they called Dempsey offsides but they kept fighting. They were controlling the game the entire time and that goalie for Algeria was getting so lucky with some of his saves. The header from Buddle was right at him in the second half and the free kick outside of the box from Bradley was right at him too.

The refs were awful once again, I don't think they like the USA haha. Dempsey was not offsides when they called back his goal and then they called a hand ball against Beasley in like the 88'? But they don't happen to see Dempsey get punched in the mouth in the box. Glad that Donovan came through though and finished that play.

[midgetbob]

this seemed appropriate while looking at Group G's prospects for who advances to the 16.

steve says:
nope
god that's gotta be embarassing for N.Korea
7-0
lol
brett says:
hahaha yeah
they're out
steve says:
yeah... i hope they beat Ivory Coast
brett says:
lol doesn't matter
steve says:
no, but it'll allow them to live
brett says:
hahaha
maybe! LOL
mr. kim
tsk tsk tsk
steve says:
hahaha

[Xanatos]

Well now, another football giant's out in this early stage of competition, can't say I'll miss Italy as I never liked their football style, though I was convinced they would pass this group. As this competition goes on I'm more and more disappointed with the referees, more mistakes are being made with every passing game, some of them critical. Yet another completely regular goal by USA was ruled out, I'm glad they were able to score another one and pass to next stage.

Compared to previous games England showed somewhat better performance, Rooney's still terrible, Capelo shouldn't be afraid to leave him on the bench, after all Defoe proved to be much better solution. Can't wait to see how they'll stand to Germany, this will be their first true test, if they manage to pass I think they will be able to go to the very end. Still, I give major advantage to Germany who are clearly in better shape, and have better mentality, Deutschland über alles.

[Alpha]

I just wrote a very large post, then hit reply. Then it screwed up. Now it's gone.

I'm not writing it again.

Basically, NZ came to the World Cup to be thrashed. We left undefeated. But unfortunately without a win. But the fact that I'm disappointed that we didn't win is itself an indication of how high we were punching above our weight -- and doing so consistently.

The All Whites have captured the hearts and minds of an entire nation. And I wish Paraguay and Slovakia all the best as they go forward. As for those Italians, I'm glad NZ finished ahead of them . All they did was dive...

[Leonhart]

new Zealand should be proud, they were higher in the group than the previous champions

[smurphy]

Wow,group games are over and no team has shown they have what it takes to go the whole way. Brazil struggled today, Spain struggled against 10 men, Germany are extremely limited, England cant hit their top gear and Argentina are a cluster**** in defence. Holland looked good but an injury to Robin Van Persie could jeopardise them. New Zealand came away with the most credit, with them having the longest odds yet going undefeated.

As an England fan Im convinced they are a better team than Germany on their day but they could revert within their shells again. I am hoping that Argentina-Mexico will be a repeat of 2006s classic and the Iberian matchup looks interesting. COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!

[winterborn86]

I think it's pretty safe to say that England are out. There may be 10 mins left but at 4-1 To Germany, there aint noooo way England's going to win.

[Xanatos]

As I said in one of my earlier posts, with every passing game the referees make more and more mistakes, critical ones I must say. With that being said, England was greatly robed today, that ball passed the goal line at least half meter, how referee missed it is beyond me.

Though, even if referee did saw that particular detail it wouldn't change much I'm afraid, Germany was by far better opponent just as I predicted, German youth outplayed England's experience in almost every aspect. The one thing I don't understand is why Capelo kept Rooney for so long in the game, it was obvious by now that there's something wrong with the lad, his performance was beneath an average player, not just in this match but for several by now. I think Crouch should have been in play, he and Defoe already know each other pretty well, they were great duo in Portsmouth, and now in Tottenham. Leaving out Walcott and Hart had also impact on England, especially Hart since England doesn't have a decent goalkeeper to begin with.

In the end the team I was rooting for passed to the next round so I should be grateful and stop analyzing what went wrong with the opposing team. I just have one more thing to say, a finishing touch to this post: Deutschland über alles!

[Hyzenthlay]

Yeah, Englands second goal was a clear goal. It's like you say, though, it wouldn't have made a difference. As far as defence go out was nowhere to be seen. Germanys 3rd and 4th goal were scored in the same exact patten. Both times just one of the England defence had stayed back. That just isn't good enough. What was Capello thinking bringing Heskey on, too? The guy just wasn't needed. He should have brought Wright-Phillips on about 5 minutes into teh 2nd half. It was clear that Rooney and DeFoe just didn't gel together.

Another thing, why did Gerrard continue to play impossible strikes? It just made him look like an idiot. He cheapened himself today.

Shame all round. Absolutally shocking football from England. I'm gutted that we lost so badly due to such seemingly simple, yet devestating mistakes.

We needed a good, fas winger. That's all.

Hyz.

[Xanatos]

What the **** is wrong with these referees, are they all gone blind or what, if second referee didn't saw Tevez being clearly in offside (at least one meter) then he can shoot himself, this ruined the match for me. But this is just one critical mistake out of dozen on this Cup, honestly if Blatter doesn't do something about this, like introducing video technology like he's supposed to do a long time ago, then he clearly doesn't want justice in football, ****ing old geezer.

[smurphy]

Well you have to give England credit, I didnt think anyone could play worse than Australia in their defeat to Germany but England managed it. I think now would be a good time to drop the players who proved they cannot cut it at this level( aka Rooney, Lennon et al) and blood youngsters like Wilshere and Rodwell. Walcott was badly missed. Now that England are out all I can say is "Hup Holland!!!!!!!!!!!!".

And Xanatos, you make a valid point about now being the oppurtune time to introduce video replay technology, but anyone expecting Blatter and FIFA to do the right thing gives them too much credit. They laughed at the Irish FA for promoting video replay after the Henry handball. Football is 30 years behind every other field sport because of greedy, bureaucratic morons like Blatter.

[Leonhart]

well sepp blatter has apologiesed to the English FA and said will review goalline technology.
but yea the team needs a shake up