VeeshanVault

figured since the other two were all about predictions and whatnot I'd make a thread to contain the match discussions.


Germany - Costa Rica.

End of first half and all I can say is that Germany is working Costa Rica on both ends of the field. Both their offense and defense seems very methodical, whereas Costa Rica just seems to be reaching constantly. In fact, had germany's keeper not been on his heels, this should easily be a 2-0 game at half.

Anyone else watchings?

I am recording so I can watch it this afternoon

I don't mind the spoilers though since I have been watching a match tracker online

The stats on this tracker make things look good in regards to shots taken...3 for Costa Rica and 23 for Germany at 91 minutes. Can't wait to get home and watch it!

It was pretty one sided imo. Wanchope was clearly offsides for CR's second goal, but that's ok. He played damn well for them, and they wouldn't have had any goals (and nearly no shots) if not for him.

Happy Birthday to Klose, eh?


A little break and then Poland v Ecuador!

Germany dominating midfield and their attackers are lethal. Their defense, however, is shaky. They need to tighten up there if they plan to go deep in the Cup.

Excellent first game though! Damn nice goals!

Poland 0-2 Ecuador

FUCK!!

Skogen wrote:Poland 0-2 Ecuador

FUCK!!

Yeah, both those goals were scored by Poland. They were going the wrong way.

Go Ecuador!

Truant wrote:It was pretty one sided imo. Wanchope was clearly offsides for CR's second goal, but that's ok. He played damn well for them, and they wouldn't have had any goals (and nearly no shots) if not for him.

Happy Birthday to Klose, eh?

I disagree with that call. I think its possible that he was marginally offside (although he looked onside to me), but in any situation of doubt, the ref is supposed to *not* call the offside.

I think Germany looked shaky at best. It's very clear that the absence of Ballack puts a great big fucking hurt on their style of play and that the defense is sub-par. A better team (read: a team better at combination and tempo play) than Costa Rica would've ripped them apart. Germanys backline was consistently off on their offside trap, the line was way too inconsistent in placement...

I doubt Germany will go far unless they really shape up.

As far as Poland-Ecuador - fun game! Was good to see how Ecuador, who've been laughed at for only winning games at 9000 feet picked Poland apart. Unimpressed attitude, good combinations and some strong offensive play. Poland...well, a shining example of how shitty tactical dispositions can screw a decent team.

The real things starting today !!

England vs Paraguay

Argentina vs Ivory Coast

Im hoping for two great games !

Sweden-Trinidad & Tobago should be a one way game, some swedish players like Larsson are in top form, and zlatan is pretty good too , but maybe we will have surprise !!

Argentina just looked beautiful on the field. I thought Ivory Coast played well, and hard...it was just a rough matchup.

Xorian wrote:Sweden-Trinidad & Tobago should be a one way game, some swedish players like Larsson are in top form, and zlatan is pretty good too , but maybe we will have surprise !!

Was that a good surprise for you?

Yep it was, i liked it very much

Too bad for sweden but i like seeing little team taking on big ones. Sweden is cursed for its first game in every world cup i heard


On a side note, the match between argentina and ivory coast was a very very good one, could have been 2-2, and that would have been fair !

Ivory Coast will still have somethign to say in that group i think.

They could easily have drawn w/ Argentina, so they will play Holland tight as well. Holland only winning by 1 goal over Serbia could be a blow for them. A loss to Arg or Ivory Coast and a draw in the other match means whoever beats Serbia by a wider margin is likely to advance.

I agree with Drolgin about Germany's defense, but they scored some nice goals. They looked like the 3rd best team that has played so far (not saying a lot) behind Argentina and Ivory Coast.

The England v. Paraguay match was the most boring match so far. When a 0-0 draw that features Trinidad is more exciting than your 1-0 win, that says something...

I thought there was an earthquake when Mexico scored against Iran. All of my neighbors are apparently watching the game too!

They should just deport anyone that cheers when Mexico scores for being illegal aliens.

Wow, the beaners are looking good.

I've watched a few games now and they've been entertaining. Soccer would be a lot better without all the fake flops though.

England were shit.
Well, they were ok in the 1st half and shit in the second. I'll take the 3 points but everyone who's arguing "we got the points so the tactics aren't important" better shut the fuck up when we crash out in the quarter finals, cos that's all we'll manage unless we play a LOT better. If we hadn't got a lucky own goal, the response to a 0-0 would have been hysterical.
I've taken bets on Crouch not scoring at all in this tournament. And wtf are you taking Owen off for when you don't have an adequate replacement?
Twatknuckles.

Good ole Sven reverted to type. It's not like he played pretty football when in Lazio. Nope, get a goal in, try gently to nudge a second one in but don't take chances, then with 30 minutes left hunker down and defend with 10 men.

Sad. I think a team needs to be able to create and dominate the games, dictating the pace and the way they're played, to advance past the quarters. And if it's possible for a team to defend their way to the finals...bleh, boring!

So here's hoping for some more action in Englands next games - hey, I've got them lined up to meet the argies in the elimination rounds

WOW! What a finish to the Australia / Japan game. 3 goals in the last 8 mins gives Australia the 3-1 victory. Amazing!!!

Whoa, I left for work around the 60th minute so I missed the goals. I just happened to pull them up elsewhere a few minutes ago.

USA game starting soon. I'm excited. Maybe I'm just falling for the hype, but I feel they have a chance in this thing. Today should tell a lot.

Oh boy. 5 min into it and Czech gets a header goal already.

This fucking blows. Watching the US today has been no different than watching them 4 years ago. No offense at all.

You fell for the hype

Kelshara wrote:You fell for the hype

Fucking media!

As pro U.S. as I am, I had no delusions about the U.S. and soccer.

Now we can get on with enjoying the World Cup!*



*real football starts in a few months!

I snuck over to the local bar to watch the USA match and while I will admit that I know shit about Soccer, I thought the USA looked like shit. They looked like they were asleep. CHE was running circles around them. I left after CHE went up 3-0.

The Sweden-Trin game was really good. They said that Trin only had 10 players. Can someone tell me what this means?

I watched more soccer last weekend than I have ever watched in my life and I thoroughly enjoyed most every game. I am rooting for the underdogs in most cases. I still don't understand what all the rules are but it is fun to watch.

I figured something was wrong when the USA Today does a story about how the US is still better even if they do not make it out of the first round this year. The team looked lost, confused and uninspired. Defense was spotty and offense had little buildup.

Drol, after watching highlights and replays, I have to agree with you about Germany being sloppy as shit with their offsides traps. I'm gonna write it off to being so excited about getting to watch a match heh. It's so rare to get to watch game here.

US looked awful today
Seemed to be a total lack of direction, and almost nobody was even running the second half.

Regardless, I'm just excited to get to watch all these matches. It's like being in a candy store.

All this soccer got me playing Winning Eleven 9 again.. god i forgot how much i love this sport.

Deward wrote:I snuck over to the local bar to watch the USA match and while I will admit that I know shit about Soccer, I thought the USA looked like shit. They looked like they were asleep. CHE was running circles around them. I left after CHE went up 3-0.

The Sweden-Trin game was really good. They said that Trin only had 10 players. Can someone tell me what this means?

I watched more soccer last weekend than I have ever watched in my life and I thoroughly enjoyed most every game. I am rooting for the underdogs in most cases. I still don't understand what all the rules are but it is fun to watch.

A TAT player got sent off after collecting* two yellow cards. Standard procedure, first one's a warning, second one boots you off for the rest of the game.


*) collecting: not that he's been running around searching the field for them...

Two interesting games so far today, Australia shocked the fuck out of Japan (and me!) with that power rush towards the end. Some sloppy damn defending there, though - Zico is going to have to talk in capital letters to his team.

The US was much as I expected. Most of them just aren't playing at a high enough level every day to compete with a team such as the Czech: some amazing players who play 40-50 games a year in the best clubs in Germany, Italy and England. Arena did the right thing with his substitutions but it seemed like a flawed tactic to me. Lots of decent sideline rushes taking advantage of the fast wingers, but rarely any players in the box to receive the cross. Also...Beasley *groan*. His ballcontrol is abysmal - how many times did he fuck up in that one game, 40?

The formation Arena chose didn't help the cause any.

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:*) collecting: not that he's been running around searching the field for them...

That made me laugh out loud!

Have to admit though, that one goal for the Checz (second?) was a beauty.

Watching a real team like Italy is so enjoyable.

Italy needs to score 10 goals vs the U.S. for me to win Drolgin's contest!

Edit: is Toni Luca even playing for Italy? He's my pick for high scorer. I don't see his name in the stats!

Edit 2: ah nm! looks like he was subbed for at 81:13.

Italy must have taken out their strikers for more defense with a two goal lead.

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:My tournament was made when the Scorpions performed on opening day. I will now die happy regardless of who wins.

Italy played well the first half, not really well the second one.

I was hoping more from USA team bit disapointed but we will see how it goes against ghana or Italy.

Tomorrow........THE match ! I hope we gonna kick frenchies' ass !! (on paper, they look better, but the swiss team has been improving quiete well ! HOP SUISSE !!!!

BTW, if you get a chance to watch any of these in HD, please do it. It's absolutely fucking amazing. Assumign you aren't watching the US team that is.

Winnow wrote:Italy needs to score 10 goals vs the U.S. for me to win Drolgin's contest!

Edit: is Toni Luca even playing for Italy? He's my pick for high scorer. I don't see his name in the stats!

Edit 2: ah nm! looks like he was subbed for at 81:13.

Italy must have taken out their strikers for more defense with a two goal lead.

nitpicking: his name is Luca Toni, not Toni Luca

and yes, he played and actually did well, focused too much on running back to clean up though. Fucking eye-talians.

HERE: I DON'T CARE IF YOU CUT YOU HAIR, MESSRS. TOTTI AND DEL PIERO, YOU'RE STILL A BUNCH OF GREASE-HAIRED MAMAS BOYS AND I HATE YOU.

HERE: I DON'T CARE IF YOU CUT YOU HAIR, MESSRS. TOTTI AND DEL PIERO, YOU'RE STILL A BUNCH OF GREASE-HAIRED MAMAS BOYS AND I HATE YOU.

Meh I get to this thread too late as usual

I expected more from the US but the Czechs are a handful.
Poor JPNs must be gutted.
I didn't watch Italy.

I'm hoping the goals start flying in a bit more as we get into the second games - there will be fewer nervis, teams will be looking to dig themselves out of a hole or cement their advantage. . .mmm I fucking love the world cup.

A bastard friend of mine just won two tickets to the Group B winner vs Group A runner-up quarter final. Bastard.

I'm hoping the goals start flying in a bit more as we get into the second games

I think we can t complain about the numbers of goals ! Lots of them scored since the world cup started...yesterday 9 goals in 3 games...not bad

After the first game I was hoping for a 3+ goal average, but doesn't look it... Depends on how far Italy go, I guess!

England looked average... they better step it up if they hope to get beyond the quarters. Especially since they'll end up playing either Argentina or Holland. Assuming they beat Poland to get to the quarters.

Germany looked slightly worse than England but will probably play Sweden (see below) to get to the quarters, then Holland or Argentina.

Sweden looked dreadful.

Argentina -- I can't stand them. But they're always hard to beat.

Holland looked strong against a very tough defense. Robben is the player of the tournament so far. He had an awesome game.

Australia? WTF? 3 goals in 8 minutes... it won't happen again.

Italy -- can't stand them either, but they'll go far.

USA -- expected loss. Czech Rep. looked tough, but then again maybe it was just how bad the US were.

Portugal is a team to contend with, but they will have a tough match against the second place team from the group of death in the next round.

France plays in one hour.

Then the team that will win the tournament -- Brazil. Very much looking forward to that game.

So if you get two yellow cards you get kicked out of the game and your team can't sub someone in for you? Plus you are suspened for your next game as well. Does your team only get 10 players then as well?

Deward wrote:So if you get two yellow cards you get kicked out of the game and your team can't sub someone in for you? Plus you are suspened for your next game as well. Does your team only get 10 players then as well?

No you always start the game with 11 but the suspended player is not available for selection.

Midnyte_Ragebringer wrote:This fucking blows. Watching the US today has been no different than watching them 4 years ago. No offense at all.

US kicked some ass 4 years ago, id ont know what you mean by that comment...this year looks grim as hell for US though, it will be an absolute miracle if they make it past round 1

I'm by no means an expert, but I do understand the basic game.

Switzerland is looking pretty good to my untrained eye. France has had one good chance on goal and they blew that. Switzerland's really picking up the pace in the late second half, and their set work has been really beautiful. They haven't broken down in defense much at all, and have stayed unorganized and seem to be working as a team much better than France(and nearly every other team I've watched so far.)

Entertaining game, even without a goal at the 81st minute.

US kicked some ass 4 years ago

An upset win vs Mexico was the only ass the US kicked in 2002.