Printable View
The WC in Germany is coming up (starting June 9th) and I'm sure I'm not the only one excited about it in Threshold (I bet even some of you Americans are going to watch some of the games).
So... I hope this thread will follow us through the WC and feel free to post your thoughts and expectations.
Polska do boju! :D
Meaning - 'Go Poland!'. We should probably be second in our group (behind Germany, with which we'll lose) and will be beaten in the 1/8 by either Sweden or England. It will be a short trip, but let's hope that it will be an exciting one! :)
The first round doesn't look very exciting (quite a few weak teams from Africa and North America, though I'm really excited about Italy's group with Italy, USA and Czech Republic battling for the place in the second round. It is my hope that Italy is eliminated and I'm really looking forward for these games.
I wonder if any Americans even know about this tournament :D :D :D
Well, I never heard of it until I immigrated to the UK from the US;)Quote:
Originally posted by Brannick
I wonder if any Americans even know about this tournament :D :D :D
However, I imagine American sports fanatics probably know about the World Cup.
Personally i'm a huge soccer fan, but I think i'm in the minority here in the US. I think to most 'sports fanatics' here in the US, it's something that takes time away from baseball, basketball and hockey on SportsCenter.Quote:
Originally posted by Graeblyn
However, I imagine American sports fanatics probably know about the World Cup.
Cairn the Socceroos!
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!
While I am American...I have to agree with Brannick on the - Polska do boju!
Though I'm not as pessimistic as he on our odds.
'Our' odds? If you're american, then you must have some Polih roots, then? Hmmmm?
I am not pessimistic, just realistic. Unfortunately lately Sweden and England beat our asses like they wnat to and whenever they want to. But I'm pretty sure we're gonna leave the group, though...
3rd gen Pole, proud of my heritage.
We'll leave the group and make it through at least a few rounds of single elim.
If Latvia had qualified, I'd pay a lot more attention, but unfortunately that is not the case. Maybe in 2010! I'll pay attention to the scoreboards, but that's about it. Just because one of my boys is a Pollack and will be rooting for them, I'm bandwagoning and am siding with them. Go Poles.
Damnation. Now you can all kick my ass for rambling on about football (soccer) on the sports channel. I can use that for getting my hopes up too high... :violin :bawl
So I was surfing around and found this article about the World Cup, talking about a 6 year old kid headbutting the author of the column in celebration of a goal. Awesome stuff. I love sports fans.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...rldcup&cc=5901
Woo. Awesome article.
So Germany defeated Costa Rica 4-2 (what a great match that was) and Ecuador defeated Poland 2-0 (unfortunately I was too drunk to actually watch it).
Let's hope the goal glut is going to continue!
England 1-0 over Paraguay on a self goal. Guess the "goal glut" is over.Quote:
Originally posted by Jidoe
Let's hope the goal glut is going to continue!
Yes. And Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago finished 0-0. Bleh. What a horrible group. Let's hope Argentina vs. Ivory Coast is going to be as good as I expect it to be.
Maybe it's because I'm biased since I used to play keeper, but the goalie for Trinidad & Tobago looked AWESOME against Sweden.
Currently watching Argentina/Ivory Coast and it's brutal having American coverage. I'm desperately scrounging for Fox Sports World and am hoping for a feed from any other country's coverage.
Something funny I learned on Cold Pizza:Quote:
Originally posted by Falix
Maybe it's because I'm biased since I used to play keeper, but the goalie for Trinidad & Tobago looked AWESOME against Sweden.
The coach of T&T's team actually said "We cannot win the World Cup."
As a result, Woody picked them to win. :)
It's kinda funny, they were talking earlier about T&T's chances in the WC, and basically the T&T coaches and supporters have been refering to it in terms of like, "How many goals they will end up giving up" and about how pulling off a 0-0 tie with Sweden in their first EVERY world cup game was a huge upset. That game was a gimmie win for the Swedes, and doubly so when the dude from T&T got the boot for getting two yellow cards. So they played like 40 minutes a man down and STILL somehow pulled off the tie. Their backup goalie did an amazing job today having to come in the way he did, it was a great game and incredibly exciting for a 0-0 draw. I was rivetted.
It was also funny to see ABC news this morning in a pub in NYC where the Brits in New York were already shitfaced and cheering/singing/wearing face-paint at 8am this morning for their match. Two of the Brits were "correspondances" for ABC at the bar, and their speech was so slurred it was hysterical. An amusing thing to wake up to at work.
Yeah, that was like the Arsenal v Barcelona match for the champions league. Lehman (Arsenal goalie) red carded 18 minutes into the first quarter, Pirez subbed for our backup goalie, we held 1 nil for 3/4 of the game until the barca striker nailed our poor knackered defense line in the final minutes.Quote:
So they played like 40 minutes a man down and STILL somehow pulled off the tie.
Robbed, but good game nonetheless.
Anyway, back to the WC.
Yeah, that's what I had forgotten to add....The whole man down thing. Very good to see T&T do well in that situation. I'm going to start rooting for them as well as Poland.
Kinda funny :
How the US can win
Oh Gods... I had tears in my eyes from laughter when I read that. Also the part about Holland... We should pay the guy to make the same kind of essay about how Poland could win the Cup or at least leave the group :DQuote:
goalkeeper Kasey Keller has the game of his life, stopping 35 shots and blanking Brazil's increasingly frustrated forwards
I think I must be one of the only eople in the UK that prefers American Football to soccer. THe kids who come in to work got really angry when I said I really couldn't care less who wins and that I've Volunteered to work durring each England game as I hate soccer that much and the rest of the staff all seem rather keen on watching them.
I tried to point out to said children that it's a game where twenty two grown men chase a bit of inflated leather arouund a field for ninety minutes and that if it was a war not a sporting event I might be a little more patriotic. I just don't understand being so fanatical about it...
That Japan-Aus game was great this morning! Woot!
Even better:Quote:
Soccer wives and girlfriends
I mean... sexist filth!
I was a sucker for the media. The last few days there has been a ton of positive coverage on the US team and they really made it seem like the team had a fighting chance at things. Now, I don't know much about the Czech team, but the US team looked like JV against them. I was pretty optimistic going in, and they just looked like crap.
US lead in time of possession and the Czechs got whistled for offsides 10 times while the US zero. Shots on goal were even.
Anyone more educated on this able to tell me how good the Czechs rank in the world soccer scene?
I'd say it's a team that's had its fair share of ups and downs. But it has managed to always have an impact among european teams weither we're talking the European or World Cup.
I think something's incredibly weird about FIFA's ranking so I won't go with it (they've ranked them 2nd). First, they're easily in the top 10, I'd say they're almost as equally powerful as Sweden, England, France and the Netherlands (order doesn't matter), which all closely rank in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th.
Basically, they're ranked from 3rd in best cases and 8th or 9th in worst cases. So that makes them kind of a kick ass team.
Maybe some would disagree with me.
Speaking of those FIFA rankings... Isn't the USA ranked #5 in the world in those FIFA rankings?
Yea, USA is ranked like 4th or 5th, which doesn't make any sense what-so-ever. That's why I chose not to go with it.
The thing is, the US played really well in the preliminaries (really well against some poorly skilled teams, with the possible exception of Mexico who the US beat once and lost once to), and so they easily made it in the top 10. Ranking them 4th or 5th still doesn't make any sense, but that's why they made it in there.
The rankings were made after the preliminaries, and they didn't change ever since (and there's no real reason to change them). They will be changed after the World Cup is over.
The rankings are add-up. I believe they either just add any and all international matches played or any and all played in the past 5 years. Something like that... Anyhow, USA also did very well in the 2002 WC, where they were only eliminated by Germany in the QuarterFinals. So that has some good points too.
I didn't get to see the game itself (was in work and then had an exam), but I heard the game was pretty cool, and substitute Jones played brilliantly (just like Kastroman in the Netherlands-Serbia clash).
I was really sad that Italy won with Ghana yesterday, they totally didn't deserve that. It should've been a draw at least.
Bah, gotta see tommorow's game Poland - Germany. I wonder if our team will snap out of that flegmic sleep and will the Germans show that they are really thinking about winning the Cup...
After seeing most of the nations playing, it's safe to say Czech Republic is one of the strongest teams in the competition.
I think it's a real shame that Italy, Czech and USA are in the same group, because in every other group, the three of them could easily make it to the quarter finals.
I really don't think the USA has said the last word, and I believe it has a decent chance against Italy.
To add a bit more humor to the thread....The Noob - World Cup (episode 191, for those who view this later)
Very happy with the show of Spain in front of Ukraine. We will see if we can keep this level. For now "Go, go to Berlin".
Salimar
Haha, I kinda get a feeling I've seen things like that ine the past days :DQuote:
Originally posted by Vidare
To add a bit more humor to the thread....The Noob - World Cup (episode 191, for those who view this later)
Poland put up a good fight, but unfortunately we got a red card, were a bit worse than Germany and lost a goal in the 92th minute. :sigh: Now that is something to cry over :bawl Thouh a couple guys do get words of praise for what they did (Jeleń [right and sometimes left winger], Żewłakow [left defender], Smolarek [the lone attacker], Bosacki [one of the central defenders] and Boruc [the goalkeeper]).
Sorry for the names and all, just needed to get it out of the system...
The ending of that Saudi Arabia/Tunisia game was badass! Some of the best few minutes I've seen of soccer in a while. I hope we see more interesting action like this (though not ties. Ties suck ass).
Goes to show you are American :pQuote:
Originally posted by Falix
I hope we see more interesting action like this (though not ties. Ties suck ass).
And here I thought it was just the English who believed a tie was as good as a win.Quote:
Originally posted by Jidoe
Goes to show you are American :p
In the end - it really doesn't matter. I mean, would you prefer watching a horrible game that ends 1-0 to some team or a fantastic 3-3 game? I think I'd go for the latter.Quote:
Originally posted by Graeblyn
And here I thought it was just the English who believed a tie was as good as a win.
A great man once said "Playing to a tie is like kissing your sister".
I'm all for a 3-3 action packed game over a 1-0 game, but I still feel slightly cheated when there's no outcome. The only time I liked a tie game was when Latvia tied the US in hockey during the Olympics. That was a great tie =)
It's not a tie, it's a draw.
(I hope Barandis reads that. I'll get major points.)
She gets points by being fascinated by the word "Beckenbauer" as well.
Its not so much the word as the way the kid says it. Love that kid.
The "Jose plus ten" commercial is way better than any of the super bowl commercials from this year. I love Jose!
And I gotta admit that the USA vs. Italy game was one of the games I enjoyed watching best during the Cup. They did a hell of a good job, attacking and having opportunities even when outnumbered 9 to 10. Great job.
It's a shame that that ref did such a shitty fucking job that he should be worried about a CIA team mysteriously appearing in his hotel room at some point this week. What a fucking joke. Anyways, yeah we did a good job, yeah we got lucky with the own goal, but if we had been playing the game 11v10 the whole time (like it should have been before the pitty ejection) I think the outcome of the game would have been a lot different.Quote:
Originally posted by Brannick
And I gotta admit that the USA vs. Italy game was one of the games I enjoyed watching best during the Cup. They did a hell of a good job, attacking and having opportunities even when outnumbered 9 to 10. Great job.
That's my feeling about the game also. That outrageous cheap shot elbow to the face should have given the US 60+ minutes of 11 on 10. I think we could have seriously racked up a ton of points with a man advantage considering how well we did with 9.Quote:
Originally posted by Bael
It's a shame that that ref did such a shitty fucking job that he should be worried about a CIA team mysteriously appearing in his hotel room at some point this week. What a fucking joke. Anyways, yeah we did a good job, yeah we got lucky with the own goal, but if we had been playing the game 11v10 the whole time (like it should have been before the pitty ejection) I think the outcome of the game would have been a lot different.
There are some things Arena did that really boggled me.
1) Why did he leave Pope in? Not only was Pope not playing well (it was his idiotic attempt to get cute that cost us the goal Italy scored), and he was grabbing and pushing almost EVERY SINGLE TIME Italy brought the ball forward. He was a ticking time bomb. After that first yellow card Arena should have subbed him (or at the very least, at half time). That was an idiotic move.
2) Why didn't he put in someone like EJ near the end? McBride was... well... shitty almost the entire game. Yeah, he's tough. That's nice. He's also slow, took horrible shots, and was basically worthless as a striker. He got beat constantly and couldn't create at all.
Totally agree on both points. I was baffled at the US not using their last substitution at the end of the game. The way they were playing they could have scored with nine on the field if they had another set of fresh legs out there.Quote:
Originally posted by Aristotle
1) Why did he leave Pope in? Not only was Pope not playing well (it was his idiotic attempt to get cute that cost us the goal Italy scored), and he was grabbing and pushing almost EVERY SINGLE TIME Italy brought the ball forward. He was a ticking time bomb. After that first yellow card Arena should have subbed him (or at the very least, at half time). That was an idiotic move.
2) Why didn't he put in someone like EJ near the end? McBride was... well... shitty almost the entire game. Yeah, he's tough. That's nice. He's also slow, took horrible shots, and was basically worthless as a striker. He got beat constantly and couldn't create at all.
Now we have to hope for a little help to make it out of group!
And in other news, DIE BRAZIL! The Aussies should have beat them.
Germany is leading 3-0 now against Equador. Omg... This is the first German side I have ever seen attack so much... Such fast flowing football.
America should do alright with Ghana. If Italy beat the Czech and USA win Ghana... USA will go to the last 16. I think Donovan and McBride are going to get better as the tournament progress, if they go through that is.
France is gone... Zidane really lost it...
So did Ronaldo... and Luis Figo. Gosh...
But the new ball seem to be a factor. Its way more unpredictable and swerves a lot in volleys. Therefore more goals. Haha.
Germany has scored 8 goals and conceded 2. In three matches.
Errrr... I just saw that USA lost with Ghana and are out fo the World Cup... Ummm. DoubleYouTeeEf, mate?!?! How did that happen... You were so close, guys! :(
The US could win the world cup and still, no one would watch soccer.