The inevitable World Cup thread!

Lestat · Post by **Lestat** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 3:36 pm

I'm still hoping Ghana can make it. They should be capable of beating the US. And then I hope that Italy beats the Czechs.

dj_venom · Post by **dj_venom** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:37 pm

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRY KEWELL!!!

Australia is through to the next round tieing with Croatia 2-2. Extremely stressful game, pathetic reffing, scary keeping and madness at the end.

But as I mentioned, the reffing. It seems Australia has been plagued by referees: a goal that should not have been awarded against Japan; some dicey calls against Brazil; and then this...

Viduka tackled in the box, the guy pulled him down to the ground and hugged him all the way down. A massive handball off a corner that wasn't awarded, yet again in the box. Then one of the Croatian players being awarded 3 YELLOW CARDS!

I'm interested to see the investigation, but overjoyed we're versing Italy in the next round.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:59 pm

Brazil won. It was a good game. Japan, however, deserved to be in a better position at the rank, IMO. Oh well, and Ronaldo played well too.

Dottie · Post by **Dottie** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:14 pm

Just watched France - Togo. Maybe Zizou's suspension was a good thing for France. To bad such a great player didn't end his career when he was still great.

Lestat · Post by **Lestat** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 5:41 pm

Well looking at [url="http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/bracket.html"]this[/url], I'm not going to predict who's gonna end up in the finals (though I think the best bet is still on a confrontation between the two South American giants Argentina & Brazil).

For DJ: if Oz keep their play up then they might get to the semi's! Italy will be a hard nut to crack, but I think they might be able to do it (though the odds migh still be against them) and after that it's the Swiss or Ukraine.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:49 am

Arrg - I'm having such a hard time selecting teams today.
England - Ecuador
Holland - Portugal.

My gut feeling tells me england will have it hard with the pressure (they have to win), the heat and an agreesive, top motivated Ecuador with nothing to loose.
And that Portugal will beat Holland, but I'm to scared to actually choose thoese teams

so I'm likely playing it safe with Holland and England ..... or ... arg

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:11 am

I think Portugal will beat Holland (especially if heat comes into it as they will be more used to hot weather and they are a pretty good team).

I think England will beat Ecuador, but only by one goal (and after making hard work of it lol like we usually do).

Was anyone else impressed yesterday by Mexico? Its a shame they had to meet Argentina so early (even though it was a great game to watch) as Mexico could have gone quite far I think.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:18 am

Wasn't particular impressed by Mexico as much as I was dissapointed by Argentinia.

Mexico played their game as they could do best, but Argentinia seemed timid to say the least. I've liked Mexico throughout this tournament although I did think they should have won over Portugal.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:58 am

Argentina played their worst game so far yesterday in my opinion, but they scraped through and I'm happy they made it. It would have been sad to see them go this early in the tournament.

I do agree with mr Sir that it's a pity Mexico is out, especially considering some of the teams we will have left among the last 8. Not to offend anyone, but neither Switzerland nor Ukraine are close to belonging to the best 8 national teams in the world.

England's performance today was lacklustre, but Ecador on the other hand never seemed really interested in going forward. Both the players and the fans looked quite happy after the game despite the loss.

I'm looking forward to a great quarter-final between Holland and England

That is to say, I hope and believe Holland will win against Portugal tonight

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 12:47 pm

[QUOTE=C Elegans]I'm looking forward to a great half-final between Brazil and England

[/QUOTE]

There, fixed it for you.

I fear Holland will walk against a loss tonight.

Lestat · Post by **Lestat** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:05 pm

[QUOTE=Sytze]There, fixed it for you.

I fear Holland will walk against a loss tonight.[/QUOTE]

Hup Portugal Hup. Laat the leeuw maar in z'n hempie staan.

(alas untranslatable but a parody on a old supporter song for Holland which I twisted into support for Portugal in a slightly humorous way (no swearwords or indecency was involved).

JonIrenicus · Post by **JonIrenicus** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:13 pm

Why do europeans get all crazy when soccer season comes around? I have never understood this. The whole other half of the world gets crazy. Is it because you guys can't kill each other in combat anymore so a ball in the net is the next best thing or what¿

:laugh:

Lestat · Post by **Lestat** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:26 pm

[QUOTE=JonIrenicus]Why do europeans get all crazy when soccer season comes around? I have never understood this. The whole other half of the world gets crazy. Is it because you guys can't kill each other in combat anymore so a ball in the net is the next best thing or what¿

:laugh:

[/QUOTE]
Uhm the World - the US is slightly more than half of the world.

JonIrenicus · Post by **JonIrenicus** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:44 pm

No one in my city doesn't even care :laugh: Just goes to show you the difference between US and rest of the world.

Fiona · Post by **Fiona** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:45 pm

*Looks at JI's location and understands*

Dottie · Post by **Dottie** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:22 pm

Sad thing the Portugal - Holland game should turn so ugly, I think there where some beautiful play in the first half which disappeared when the yellows started to rain.

Very good for England, I'm convinced they would have lost against Holland, but against a Portugal without Deco and Costhina I'm not that sure.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:26 pm

Can we keep this thread free from spam and stupid one-liners, please? There are plenty of other SYM-threads for that.

[quote="Sytze]
There"]

You were right, and I am surprised and disappointed by Hollands performance. It was a very strange game indeed, hardly suitable to label "football game".

The real winner of this game is England, who will now have the benefit of meeting a Portugal who are without Deco and Costinha and have 5 yellows on other players.

Lestat · Post by **Lestat** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:50 pm

[QUOTE=C Elegans]Can we keep this thread free from spam and stupid one-liners, please? There are plenty of other SYM-threads for that.[/QUOTE]And what post did earn that cranky, slightly elitist comment? Sorry, but football watching is, at least in my country, a preeminant pubsport, with all the silliness involved.

And I thought right from the start that this was a rather light hearted thread, or am I completely mistaken?

That being said, I do not believe England will get past Portugal that easily, in view of their performance against Ecuador.

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:58 pm

[QUOTE=Lestat]

Hup Portugal Hup. Laat the leeuw maar in z'n hempie staan.

(alas untranslatable but a parody on a old supporter song for Holland which I twisted into support for Portugal in a slightly humorous way (no swearwords or indecency was involved).[/QUOTE]
I have recently discovered when my support to the Dutch team faded. It started when van Basten didn't select any of the more valuable and experienced players (Seedorf, Davids) and decided to send in rookies, players with an IQ below ninety, or those who are hardly able to give their fullest because of injuries (Snijder, Cocu, v/d Vaart, Heitinga). I mean, come on! A bit of intelligence and experience on the field is not such a bad thing.

@CE: This match was quite simply ridiculous. They should ban such referees from any important matches for the rest of their lives, what a joke. And the Dutch players fell so easily for the Portuguese trap...

JonIrenicus · Post by **JonIrenicus** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:13 pm

[QUOTE=C Elegans]Can we keep this thread free from spam and stupid one-liners, please? There are plenty of other SYM-threads for that.[/QUOTE]

This is exactly why I asked that question. People go crazy about a sport and I asked why. So why? Maybe you could answer me.

@the hardcores

Things that can be said about soccer: teams got yellow cards, red cards, did this or that illegal, made a good kick, made a good slide tackle, bad and good refs, a good run down the field, nice teamwork, made a good block, scored a goal and a guy got a good kick in the you know where. I know there is a few others but this is pretty much it. People have riots and kill each other about this sport. Why? You are rooting for a color jeresy and nothing more (unless you know someone personally). Seriously why does a large portion of the world care so much about this game?