World Cup 2010 Thread!!!

[Quickie]

yup, italy and france got off to a slow but steady start as well last time. argentina peaked too early on the other hand. but to do well you need a good defence. no defence, no cup...and since the english goalkeeper isnt really doing well, england has a looon way to go

What about blaming the high altitude rarefied air and its effect on the "rubber" ball. Add to that, the ball was bouncing and spinning and this may have caused the goalkeeper to misjudge the ball.

 

[SampanViking]

Sampan, that's nonsense. These days more Americans play football than American football - it's a popular sport there. Just because America isn't a footballing superpower doesn't mean they're a pushover. They play well in many competitions and deserve to be in the qualifiers.

But they didn't play that well and they were lucky to walk away with a draw. Not just because they were gifted a goal but because they were hammered so often by the England attack. There was not just some but repeated excellent play by the England team. Forget your gran, no one here could have played as well as they did.

The American defence was repeatedly moved out of position and/or otherwise given the run around. They got better but they were again lucky to get away with their Italian style of "defence", otherwise known as fouling Wayne Rooney whenever he went on an attack with the ball.

The scoreline did not reflect the game in any respect. If this was boxing it would have been a clear England win on points. For the very first game it's not ideal but hardly a disaster.

C'mon, no way was the England performance last night anywhere close to World Champion levels.

Yes England made some good plays in the second half, but; due to indiscipline, they all came to nothing. You know as well as I do, that had those plays come from Germany, Italy, Netherlands or Brazil, the ball would have hit the back of the net more often than not.

The standard of writing is not up to your usual standard. Have you been drowning your sorrows?

It was pretty dreadful, so sorry. Actually I have been very ill for almost a month with a pretty vicious virus and sometimes I run out of energy and writing clarity.

 

[Mr T]

C'mon, no way was the England performance last night anywhere close to World Champion levels.

Last night you were painting this as some sort of dire performance. Now you're saying it's not world champion level. Of course it wasn't - never suggested it was - but that doesn't mean the team might as well go home and all our grannies could do better.

This was the opening qualifier game, not the time you want the team to peak. How they play against the first decent team after qualification is where it will be decided. They also have another two qualifiers to show a tighter game.

Then again I never succumb to World Cup fever, so I don't expect England to win.

 

[T-U-P]

england had great difficulty with ball control and possession. they had a hard time passing the ball more than three times without being intercepted, either due to good american defence or bad pass or can't stop the ball properly.

 

[SampanViking]

Last night you were painting this as some sort of dire performance. Now you're saying it's not world champion level. Of course it wasn't - never suggested it was - but that doesn't mean the team might as well go home and all our grannies could do better.

This was the opening qualifier game, not the time you want the team to peak. How they play against the first decent team after qualification is where it will be decided. They also have another two qualifiers to show a tighter game.

Then again I never succumb to World Cup fever, so I don't expect England to win.

It was a dire performance if you measure it against the standard that England have set themselves.

You live in the UK and so will fully be aware that England are being presented as:

A Top Footballing Nation

A Serious Championship Contender

Not gone to simply take part but to win.

That is the standard that they have set themselves and therefore the only standard against which it is worth measuring them.

Against that standard, they fell woefully short last night and I am not going to heap the blame on Green either. Yes he made a mistake, but had the side really been as good as they claim, it would not have mattered as they would have easily pulled the lead back.

 

[ravenshield936]

congratulations to germany
4:0
didn't expect anything less
a very clean performance

 

[KYli]

Australia is a big disappointment, but the best game played so far.

 

[getready]

congratulations to germany
4:0
didn't expect anything less
a very clean performance

the germans totally smashed the socceroos.
great way to start the morning
i told my friend i was going to run naked on george street if australia won lol

 

[bladerunner]

congratulations to germany
4:0
didn't expect anything less
a very clean performance

OMG Thats a spanking in anybodys language, but the Australia got beaten 2/0 by USA in the Warmups.

A few months earlier, I heard a interview in which the interviewee was critical on the large amount of teams participating in the world cup. He was suggesting that the skill level between the higher teams and the lower ranked teams was such,that a interesting well fought game was highly unlikely.

@getready
i told my friend i was going to run naked on george street if australia won lol

I guess you must have been referring to George st Sydney? as I dont think there would have been the same impact as George St Melbourne.

 

[ravenshield936]

the germans totally smashed the socceroos.
great way to start the morning
i told my friend i was going to run naked on george street if australia won lol

maradona said the same, but for argentina
if he does, millions shall be blinded