World Cup thread



What a great World Cup so far, and looks to get even more exciting. I've felt that Germany was strong all along, with Italy being my pick, but who knows.
Our USA side has exceeded all expectations while not playing that well. Senegal has been great fun to watch and Spain looks great. The quarter finals are going to be truly exceptional.

However, the lack of sleep is killing me. I awoke at 1:30 AM to watch USA vs. Mexico this morning.
 
However, the lack of sleep is killing me. I awoke at 1:30 AM to watch USA vs. Mexico this morning.

Oh well, now you know how we felt in the past world cups over here! I was quite impressed with England the other day too. England v Brazil should be very interesting...
 
The US lads have surprised me, altho I think their bid for the trophy will end soon. All in all, they can go home feeling good about their show.

Brazil vs. England - it's probably gonna end in a penalty shootout. I'm hoping for England, but Brazil are playing an excellent game @ the moment.
 
It has been a good show by the USA and Germany may prove too much, however we've thought that about each game. I do agree that the Brazil England game may be the match of the Cup. Brazil just seems to play as hard as they need too and their best may be yet to come.
 
Now that all the quarter finalists are in we had a £/person lottery at work. I drew Turkey! Sheesh!

And I had such big plans for that £8 - touring europe and retiring to a small indonesian island....

I was well impressed with S Korea - Italy join my list of ankle clutching stage divers!
 
Agree on the diving. Maybe they (FIFA) should look into incorporating the 3rd referee system. It'll take 15 seconds to rat out if it was a real foul or a dive. Matches have been won/lost coz of dives.
 
The Diving is disgusting. I can only imagine the youth players will be falling all over the pitch when my daughters fall season starts.

However, Italy was robbed when Totti was sent off. The replay shows that there was clear contact. The referee must have been reacting to earlier dives and over reacted to Totti's fall.
 
I was well impressed with S Korea - Italy join my list of ankle clutching stage divers!

I too was impressed with S Korea - mind you, I live outside of Italy, so that seems to get me an exemption from all the conspiracy theories that are doing the rounds. And to think that Perugia have now sacked Ahn Jung-Hwan too! Talk about sour grapes.

As far as diving goes, I thought FIFA lost the real chance to do something about it when they gave Rivaldo a slap on the wrist fine after his Oscar-Winning effort against Turkey. A two-game suspension there might have made people re-think diving just a little bit.
 
I agree on the 3rd ref idea - maybe not for all fouls (too much stop/start but definitely fouls involving red card offences and fouls inside the box. They use the 3rd ump in cricket, rugby etc so why not footy?

How can a ref be expected to judge fouls where players try to 'win' fouls for the chance at a free kick or penalty when it happens 30 or 40m from him and sometimes his vision is obscured by players?

I also like the terminology 'win' a foul....it shows how play acting and faking has become a part of football. I remember when Rio Ferdinand shoved a Danish player and the commentator said 'if the Danish player had gone down then Rio would have been sent off'....so it's not about the foul? It's about the reaction of the fouled player? Ridiculous....
 
I don't think that anyone likes the diving. It's ridiculous and makes these outstanding athletes look like wimps when they want something for nothing. I would much rather see a player power through an attempted tackle for a scoring opportunity.

All that said,l it appears that is just a part of the game. But, the fabulous play has been a real treat to watch. In the USA we don't get the opportunity to see the level of play that the European teams exhibit day in day out. The MLS is just not up to that caliber yet. I'm just enjoying this a lot and hate that it will soon come to a close.

I'm very concerned about the German team tomorrow and don't expect much from our side. In a friendly about 6 months ago the Germans just toyed with our boys. Hope it doesn't happen again. But, obviously upsets happen and that's why they play the game.

Go USA!
 
I agree on the 3rd ref idea - maybe not for all fouls (too much stop/start but definitely fouls involving red card offences and fouls inside the box. They use the 3rd ump in cricket, rugby etc so why not footy?

I disagree. I have seen it used in rugby league in this country and it takes too bloody long to justify it (the video ref gets it wrong as often as he gets it right). They also scrapped it in American Football because they got it wrong too often and caused too many stoppages (in gridiron!).

The other problem is when do you actually use it? What if the video ref rules that the "foul" inside the box was just a good tackle and it should be play on? Do you wait for the ball to go out of play? I've seen games where that could have taken five or six minutes! What if it ends up going out of play into the opponent's net?

Personally I think all the teams who whinge about it should just get over it. I don't think Italy payed South Korea anywhere near as much respect as they deserved. Let's face it, if the gulf between the sides was as large as some Italian supporters seem to think it is, the result would never have come down to a referee's decision anyway.
 
The Brazil v England match starts at 4.30pm our time, and I'll still be at work. I'll miss it because I forgot to set up the @#$%ing video!

:mad: :( :-[ :'(

@#*$!!!
 
I was hoping for England, now Deutschland have to face the freakin' Brazilians in the final! :mad:
 
U missed nothing - they played like their backsides. :mad:

Yeah, so my English friend told me. England are gone, so are Spain. I tend to think South Korea's run might just come to an end against the Germans. I think Germany might just grind out a result, possibly on penalties in that one. In the other semi I think Brazil will be too strong for Turkey. Even if Hakan Sukur manages to hit a barn door from two yards.
 
Even if Hakan Sukur manages to hit a barn door from two yards.

hehe ;D
Wasn't he just terrible against Senegal? I'm rooting for Turkey against Brazil. If Brazil win, Germany will find it very difficult.
 

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