I'd really like to see an African team win this.

 

My prediction is Germany and Spain, though, Germany winning the final game 2-1.

 

youre jumping the gun here. we havent even seen brazil / italy / portugal / holland yet

A little less than two hours. I can't wait. I have a funny feeling about those Danes, though. Nervous. :thumbdown:

Holland - Denmark game was alright. Took Holland a while to get into the swing of it i thought as they started playing much better towards the end. The own goal was unlucky then Holland seemed to come a bit more alive once Elia came on.

Yay ! Holland won.

 

Also, rant. Verbeek greatest coach [bleep]ing ever. One less midfielder, psht, we don't need midfielders, or strikers for that matter. And what the [bleep], trying to play the offside trap with a lethargic and [cabbage]tly organized back who were slow as [bleep] and played Germany onside every single [bleep]ing time. And, no forwards. Ditch this [cabbage]. I want Hiddink back.

 

 

Also, [bleep]ing vuvuzelas. FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU.

expected more than 1 goal from the dutch tbh

expected more than 1 goal from the dutch tbh

 

I was disappointed as well, but it's a win without Robben and they have plenty of time to build up momentum in the tournament.

Denmark was playing pretty defensively and it was hard for us to find a gap in their defence. We got lucky because of the freak mistake Poulsen (BBC site says Agger though, don't know who's right) made and he scored the own goal. Was a pretty nice own goal too. After we brought Elia in, it already looked a lot better, and with Affelay instead of Van Persie (who didn't really play that well, sadly) it looked even better. Oh well, a win is a win. But we are not going to win the WC with football like this.

It was Poulsen's header which hit Agger's back then went in. It hit Agger last technically but there was nothing he could've done either way.

Not a great game from either Cameroon or Japan, but I'm very, very pleased and surprised to see Japan come out on top. Can't say I liked the defensive strategy they used for basically the entire second half, but hey, it worked. Though it was extremely lucky when that Cameroon shot hit the post/crossbar (divine wind anyone? :-P ), but that was a great save by the Japanese goalie in the closing minutes.

Real Asians (so that doesn't include you, Australia) are still undefeated. :)

Real Asians (so that doesn't include you, Australia) are still undefeated. :)

 

What ?

Isn't Australia Oceania?

I'm pretty sure they qualified from the AFC this year, making them "Asia."

Isn't Australia Oceania?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. In no way, shape or form is it a part of "Asia".

 

I'm pretty sure they qualified from the AFC this year, making them "Asia."

Your logic is flawed. Well for FIFA they are, IDK why, when NZ is Oceania. It would appear that they're grouped under Asia by FIFA. Weird. :|

I'm pretty sure they qualified from the AFC this year, making them "Asia."

Your logic is flawed.

I'm not saying Australia is actually part of Asia, I'm just saying that in the eyes of FIFA it kind of is. I mean, the A in AFC stands for Asian, so you'd think that every country in it is from Asia. Though Israel is in the UEFA so I guess you have a point.

Yeah, could be taken several ways. I took like a whole 5 minutes to type up my post <.<

Australia is not a continent!

 

Ahem. When I come home from college I can catch at least the second half of Italy vs. Paraguay.

What's up with all these low scoring matches?? 9 out of 10 matches have had 2 goals or less. I'm wondering if the combination of the new light ball and high altitude have anything to with it.

South Korea had 2, Netherlands had 2, South Africa - Mexico had 2, Germany had 4. Hmm. Not really 9/10.

 

EDIT: My bad. But still, 2 goals a match isn't bad.

South Korea had 2, Netherlands had 2, South Africa - Mexico had 2, Germany had 4. Hmm. Not really 9/10.

 

Besides the Germany match all the scores have had two or less goals, and 10 games have played so far. So that's 9/10 about. :razz:

 

EDIT: I heard, at this point, it's the lowest scoring World Cup ever.

Yeah, I completely misread it. Thought it said "less than 2" :wall: Oh well.

The horns aren't that bad. I just pretend the stands are filled with bumble bees, ready to sting the losers to death :ohnoes:

aww camoranesi not starting

few goals: just look at champions league this year. fewest goals in a looooooong time. it's because defensive organization is improving, and the offensive "stars" simply can't breach through defense on their own. it means you have to double on the sides, or in the middle to create opportunities, in turn you need aggressive backs. In reality the first match in a championship is about not loosing. if you draw, you look set to go through to the next round, with a win in next 2 matches. Why risk moving your backs up then?

 

altitude give more European temperatures, which is probably fair as so many of the world cup players play in Europe every day.

 

the light ball should give more play / shots, not less. a light ball moves more easily through the grass, meaning you can pass faster, with the same accuracy as previously, and the same technique. that makes it harder for defenders, not attackers. Shots fired should also be harder, and less predicable for goalies if anything. which would create more goals, not less.

 

team play will also improve throughout the tournament month.

 

I think it'll improve a little as we progress in the tournament, but defense is simply better than offense now-a-days. it's a lot easier to block an opportunity, than to creatively create one.

 

 

 

It's gonna be interesting to see the remaining 80 minutes of Italy playing. if they don't beat Paraguay reasonably clearly, I think it's about time to assert that a lot of the condenders for the quarter finals need to have a completely different aggressive strategy to net some goals.

 

Edit: loving the rain, and crowd doing the wave, rather than all blowing vuvuzelas at least. they were reasonably quiet during the anthems at least.

I like the vuvuzelas.

aww camoranesi not starting

almost scored within the first 30 seconds of changing in :ohnoes: