The official football World Cup 2010 in SA thread

[jeza 5416]

Damn, what's wrong with Denmark? Own goal!

And a big smile on his face when it went it!? Me think he had a little bet before the game :P

[raedor 8]

And a big smile on his face when it went it!? Me think he had a little bet before the game :P

Yeah, that was fun :D

[CW001 10]

Epic stuff going on here! Expected better of Cameroon, they looked rather brilliant at points, but it just wasn't enough.

Italy vs Paraguay soon, bringing back recent memories of my friend thinking the "-guay" part was pronounced "gay". In the middle of geography class. Laughter ensued, especially when he started on Uruguay XD

Anyhoo, tomorrow is the clash of the titans: Brazil vs North Korea!!! Can't wait to see who wins that one...

Edited June 14, 2010 by CW001
Spelling

[Thunderbird 0]

Yup, can't wait for NK vs Brazil... That's gonna be a "special" game..

North Koreans aren't that skilled when it comes to the technical aspect, but these guys will fight like crazy...

Regards,

TB

[roberthammer 582]

yea yea Brazil that gonna very good game - i hope :p

btw tomorrow also play Slovakia cant wait to see them play :D

[CW001 10]

Yeah, Slovakia v New Zealand looks to be a good'un.

Useless fact: The New Zealand football team is known as the all whites, as opposed to the rugby team, the All Blacks.

Also, useless thing of the day, a lovely calendar thing which is awesome:

http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html

[sudayev 27]

Go Paraguay!

[jeza 5416]

Dam Italy looked lack-luster, hope they get better, be good to see them do a half decent defense of their title, But no sure fav's yet, and tbh brazils first game doesnt count!! :D

[Prydain 1]

Italy drawing isn't surprising since Paraguay aren't pushovers and Italy is contending with its own problems like Pirlo being injured but I did expect more.

It has been a few days and I still cringe when I think about the England game, when our long-standing curse even surprised the opposition. Things are up and down for us since King is injured but Barry's injury isn't effecting him any more. With Barry in the team we can get away from relying on the tragic Heskey to hold and go into 4-5-1 finally -- things aren't looking so bad after all.

my squad:

J.Hart

G.Johnson / J.Terry / M.Dawson / A.Cole

A.Lennon / F.Lampard / G.Barry / J.Cole

W.Rooney / S.Gerrard

Bah. James should be England's primary goalie but I would have played Green against the USA too, his instinctive saves are very good which should have worked well against the USA who lack technical players and thus can't play around the box for very long and rely on going deep with long passes/crosses. This time Green got wildly unlucky and now he is probably locked in place for the next game which could be a bad idea against a Algeria who rely on long-shots.

James

Johnson / Terry / Upson / A.Cole

Lennon / Lampard / Gerrard / Barry / J.Cole

Rooney (free role)

Edited June 15, 2010 by Prydain

[ray243 11]

I bet NK are going to arm their nukes and zero in on Brazil if they lost!

[Placebo 29]

It has been a few days and I still cringe when I think about the England game, when our long-standing curse even surprised the opposition. Things are up and down for us since King is injured but Barry's injury isn't effecting him any more. With Barry in the team we can get away from relying on the tragic Heskey to hold and go into 4-5-1 finally -- things aren't looking so bad after all.

Bah. James should be England's primary goalie but I would have played Green against the USA too, his instinctive saves are very good which should have worked well against the USA who lack technical players and thus can't play around the box for very long and rely on going deep with long passes/crosses. This time Green got wildly unlucky and now he is probably locked in place for the next game which could be a bad idea against a Algeria who rely on long-shots.

James

Johnson / Terry / Upson / A.Cole

Lennon / Lampard / Gerrard / Barry / J.Cole

Rooney (free role)

Heskey was one of our better players against the USA IMO, it was just shockingly poor managerial decisions that cost us if anything, SWP is a decent player but he cannot play on the left wing, clearly should have been Cole brought on instead, Green should not even be on the continent of Africa let alone in the first team, James and Hart are both much better instinctive savers, and Green didn't get unlucky, his foot positioning and concentration was terrible it was poor ability that made him mess up, nothing to do with luck, although he was IMO lucky that Altidore's shot didn't go in as he should have done far, far better there, he's stood 12 inches off his near post and all he can do is push it onto the post instead of around it or catching it? Terrible keeping, wasn't even that good a shot by Altidore.

Algeria have a lot of pace so all they need to do is play that through the middle exposing our two CB's which unfortunately will be Carragher and Terry who're both extremely slow, personally I'd go with Dawson as Carragher is well past his best and Upson is utter garbage.

[Specialist 10]

I have a £100 bet on the next England match V Algeria!! :eek: :pet5:

[Placebo 29]

I hope you bet that Algeria draw or win.

[Specialist 10]

Me and a friend actually put in £50 each on a 2-1 victory to...

Algeria :eek::eek::eek: Lets hope they win? lol :mad:

[roberthammer 582]

Noooooooooooo! O_o that NZ goal gave me a heart attack :( what a shame:shocked: :confused_o:

[whisper 0]

Slovakia just stopped playing for the last 5 minutes. they were watching NZ play, they litterally gave it away to NZ.

[Lhowon 10]

Wooooo! Awesome last goal by NZ, so happy.

If that was given to us you have to be fair - the Slovakian goal looked to be offside. I'm not particularly annoyed the linesman didn't call it as it was clearly our fault and there wasn't much in it, but still, technically that shouldn't have been a goal.

That was our first point in World Cup history :D

[Daddl 10]

While feeling happy for the Kiwis (first point in a World Cup, congrats!), it cost me another 2 points in our office bet... Bugger!!! :(

[sudayev 27]

I put cash for score 2-0 for Slovakia. Fail. Anyways thay say that DPR are underdogs able to suprise but I dont believe it. At least 3-0 for Brazil in this game. Samba will dominate over the communist concrete ;)

[CW001 10]

Not long to go 'till kickoff. This is probably the most excited I've been for a group game since...ever. Well done to NZ, Christiano Ronaldo's diving was terrible to watch, just the usual stuff really.

[bensdale 0]

@ england interested parties ;)

I think Lampard and Gerrard can never works together in the midfield.

therefore i think the best part for Gerrard is on the side or little behind of Rooney.

Ok Heskey play well vs USA, but the problem is that Rooney is coplete out of the game with this long balls. Thtats the Problem with a Rooney/Heskey or Crouch striker system..

Rooney is since this PL saison more a penalty box striker. but in my opinion he play better in the "game maker role" (a little behind the striker). He is the only player who change the side with long and precise balls.

Upson is too slow.. i hope for Dawson an J.Cole on the left. Joe is a creative player exactly what england need.

edit:

too bad that adam Johnson is not in the team... I would have given him a chance.

Sry for my bad english ;)

bensdale

Edited June 15, 2010 by bensdale

[Thunderbird 0]

Impressed by the courage of the north koreans. They are playing against one of the best teams in the world and they seem to not fear it at all.

Moreover, there is absolutely no north korean supporters around.

Hope they will keep holding until the end.

Regards,

TB

[kavoven 4]

There are indeed 1000 fans each NK game. They bought them in China (no joke :D)

[Thunderbird 0]

They have even been able to score 1 goal against Brazil...

Even they lost, I'm sure they can do something against Portugal and Ivory coast.

Regards,

TB

[kavoven 4]

I really liked the joy in their faces after the goal... they seemed really happy :)