The "OMG, Football World Championship in Germany!!!!" - thread

[Sewer Bull]

Very nice game played by Ivory Coast yesterday. They did nicely without Drogba. I'm pretty sure they'd go further in any other group. The Serbians have really disappointed me.
Argentina - The Netherlands sucked, just as I expected. Both coaches' decisions were tactically wise yet it resulted in rather poor showdown. Too bad, as the encounters between these two teams are true WorldCup classics (1978 final for example).

So, we have Argentina-Mexico and The Netherlands-Portugal. Argentina are going to pwn Mexico, no doubt about that. The second match seems to be much more interesting. Both teams met in the Euro 2004 semi-final. Portugal won, but they were the hosting team. And now Oranjes have a chance for a sweet, sweet revenge for that semi-final... Should be a good showdown, imo.

Today is very exciting, because of Group E. Damn, they are so going to fight till the very last second. Group F is boring - Brazil and Australia/Croatia. Possibly Australia, but it doesn't help them a lot, as they are going to be eaten alive by the winner of Group E... whoever would that be.

[Silent FOx]

Funny Website Pertaining To The World Cup.
http://www.championship-bet.eu.tt/

[Barkworm]

I'm proud that this thread has 8 pages.

[Sewer Bull]

Yesterday was the best day so far. Good matches in Group E and great clashes in Group F. Brazil finally showed some of its pure magic, with Ronaldo scoring two goals and keeping up with legendary Gerd Mueller. Japan wasn't much of a rival for them. Australia-Croatia was thrilling to watch but also damn horrific thanks to Graham Poll Three yellow cards for one player, not enough penalties for the Aussies... Poll looked as if he was bribed by the Croatians.

I'm happy Ghana plays in the second round - I like the African teams in general. They defeated the US after a good game. Too bad the Czechs were very very weak in the last two matches - against Ghana and Italy. They have one of the best squads in their history - and yet they didn't manage to promote themselves further. Pity, the whole team is going to disperse after the tournament, as they key players are rather old.

So... Italy vs. Australia and Brazil vs. Ghana. They latter is going to be much more interesting in my opinion. Of course Italy and Brazil are going to eat their opponents, tho' they won't be easy preys for them.

Today is boring. It'd be good if France at least drew against Togo but that's not going to happen. As for Group H... blargh. Spain - Saudi Arabia - get real, the Spaniards are going to completely devastate the Arabs. Fernando Torres has a good chance to score the first hat-trick on this tournament... or even more goals, if he wants to win the Best Scorer award. The chances are big.

[Sewer Bull]

Yesterday wasn't impressive at all. Four weak matches in two weak groups. Blargh. I expected Spain to score a few more goals, but I presume their yesterday's performance was strictly tactical. Ukraine play much below my expectations, Switzerland may not be as easy as Saudi Arabia or Tunisia were.

Congratz to Switzerland. Thanks to their victory, France is the second in that miserable group and is going to encounter the mighty Spaniards who are going to crush them well... at least I hope so.

[Dinny]

I really am annoyed by Ukraine, not because I feel they're a bad team, but because they seem to have ALL the luck. It was clear from their first game that they can't face the bigger nations, yet luckily for them, they don't have to play a big nation in the second round. But well done Switzerland for winning that group.

[Sewer Bull]

Germany totally pwned Swedish ass. The Swedes were damn weak, just as I expected after their performance in the group stage - they were no real match for the Germans. The Polish attack has scored 7 out of 10 German goals so far. That makes my silly national pride grow.

I found this and thought some of you guys would like it.

Can anyone translate what it says?

[Sewer Bull]

Wow... Quite a sweet pic, Ryona.

And the text looks like an English text written in some weird Greek/Cyrylic font. It seems it actually says "Orange on the road to gold".

Watching Argentina-Mexico was interesting, yet very tiring to watch for me... two nervous hours. Argentina was much weaker than in the group stage. But the winning goal was awesome... pure magic.

The clash between Germany and Argentina is going to rock hardcore. Barkworm, I so envy you.

[Barkworm]

I can't believe I'm going to see Germany - Argentina, just as I hoped. This is too awesome!!! And judging from Argentina's performance yesterday we might actually stand a chance! There's no doubt about the fact that this match will be freaking HARD though.
Oh, and Sweden? Laughable. I think Larsson's penalty kick summed it up pretty well. We didn't even play that well (even though no one in Germany seems to care about that), the defense was pretty bad at some points. Argentina won't be as forgiving.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the greatness that is Miroslav Klose. What a player.

[Sewer Bull]

OK. England-Ecuador wasn't spectacular at all, safe for Beckham's awesome goal. It's clearly visible that the Lions definitely lack good attackers. Only Crouch scored a goal so far - and to make matters worse, it was a highly controversial one as he fouled T&T defender. The rest of the English goals was scored by the midfielders. That's not promising before the match against The Netherlands/Portugal.

[JameO]

Go Netherlands Go! Win me 200 bucks!

Edit: Ridiculous, they had possession alot of the game and the shots on net were garbage, but dang is the Portugal team dirty, they play sloppy and are out to injure. Ah well!

[Sewer Bull]

Damn. POR-NED was f***ing ugly. The worst match so far, maybe even the worst one in the whole WorldCup history. Almost no good actions, lots of play-acting and brutal fouls. Robben didn't show anything. Figo showed a good stage-acting. The Russian referee showed 12 yellow cards, 4 red ones - the ultimate record. Christ. That wasn't football, that was anti-football - even my boys showed better style. It's sad those two teams were in the Euro 2004 semi-finals. And I really hoped this encounter was going to be something good. and worth watching.

England - Portugal would look great in theory - two good European teams and the English seeking revenge for the Euro 2004 quarter-final. But after watching their performance so far - I really doubt this match is going to be any good. Portugal won't have Costinha and Deco. England has problems with its strikers. This match is going to be so much alike the showdown I've just watched. Boring and brutal. With lots of yellow and red cards, and only one goal scored. Or maybe even zero.

Something tells me there is going to be England vs. Germany in the final.

[Anarky]

Okay that game was just pathetic. It's not that I was really rooting for Switzerland, but the game was bad. Like really bad. Nobody seemed to make real effort to win the game. It was pathetic.

[Sewer Bull]

Two rather boring matches played today. The Aussies dominated the whole game, yet the penalty in the last second has drowned them. Tough luck, damn Italians.

Switzerland - Ukraine. Barely no actions, boring game, no goals. A very interesting ending, tho' - Switzerland didn't score any penalty at all and is out. The funny thing is, they didn't lose a single goal on this tournament so far. But it wasn't enough to reach the quarter-finals.

Italy - Ukraine. Judging after today's matches, they can cancel the match and organize the penalty shoot-outs instead. And Ukraine are going to win it, as they were terribly lucky so far. I was predicting they might even reach the semi-finals, before the World Cup started. It seems I might have been right, yet I expected that along with a draw against Spain, plus Tunisia and Switzerland totally crushed.

[verminator_x]

Spain - France 1-3.

Those dummies thought that Zidanes days were through, well he showed them. Spain always screws up when it gets hot around their feets.

But France has to thank Henry the diver for the 2-1 goal.
He got punched in the chest by Puyol and throwed down on the ground as a wounded animal, and held his hands over his face, tragic.

To bad neither Ghana or Australia got to the quarter finals, they did play much more attractive fotball than Italy and England, even Portugal.

Well, in 2010, Africa will have their revenge.

[Sewer Bull]

Oh. I sorta forgot to comment on the yesterday's matches.

Brazil showed they can play fabulous football for a short period of time. Spain lost to damn France, but to be honest - that could have been expected after their rather poor encounters against Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

Brazil - France. Mmm... It's going to be a great revenge for the 1998 final.

[verminator_x]

Brazil did play nice yesterday, but Ghana had alot of chances, but they were almost afriad to score. Brazil got good help from Ghanas Defenders, who had no control from the start to end.

Fun to see Zidane and Ronaldo in great shape, could be a thriller on saturday.
Hope to see fine fotball and alot of great goals.

[Dinny]

Germany beat Argentina in what was a very tense (if not very interesting) match, but I think we should wait for Barkworm's two cents on this one.

Italy - Ukraine: 3-0 for The Azzurri as I type. Ukraine were woeful in the first half. Picked up in the second half, but I am happy to see them out as they were lucky to get this far. Zambrotta has been fantastic today.

[Sewer Bull]

And no one wants my two cents? Sheesh.

Argentina lost because of the ridiculous substitutions Jose Pekerman made. Period. Introducing Julio Cruz in Crespo's place instead of Saviola? Not using Messi at all? Christ, it seems he started to defend that 1:0 result. And that did not pay off. Germany had lots of luck with Pekerman's unusual tactics.

And this match was very tense but not too nice to watch. German supporters throwing bottles at Abbondanzieri when he left the pitch, wincing in pain... The brawl provoked by Argentina after the penalty shoot-outs... I didn't like it all.

As for Italy-Ukraine... Good match and the Italians deserved to win. Zambrotta played nicely, he might be chosen for the Top 11.

Germany-Italy... a true classic. Germany are going to win after penalties again.