Official World Cup Thread

[daacosta]

I really loved that game where the polish team was all confidence while Ecuador was doing its thing. It was indeed a pretty thing to see if you understand football and notice the way Ecuadoreans do pressing to the ball with three players at their field. The first goal was the product of training and a very old play normally seen on a corner kick... Poland did have two chances of scoring that made it to the post... I believe that the game Ecuador - Costa Rica is going to be much more difficult for Ecuador.

Trinidad and Tobag was a display of courage, testicular strength, and honor. Sweden was decidedly predictable and having not taken advantage of having an extra man was a huge error by their coach: He never changed the plan... What was more intriguing was that the Trinitarians were given space to attack!

Boy did I hate England-Paraguay! What a lousy game. England didn't show much in this game but I truly believe it was because they are saving strength for later... They are a good team but not to the point of being in the final... Paraguay was very limited anything over going to the next round should be plenty for such an old team.

Argentina gave the impression of being a well oiled machine. I can see them being in the finals... They controled the game against Ivory Coast and knew how to slow down the mighty Africans. Very good performance by Ivory Coast nonetheless: They played well and lost because of inexperience.

However, this world cup is nothing like all the ones I have seen before where a constelation of stars was present.

[d38dm8nw81k1ng]

i only saw the first half of the argentina match but the ivory coast showed lots of attacking potential, although argentina did well to keep the defence tight. kalou did well.

on the england game, the first half was good football and england should have capitalised to try and get more goals. the second half was poor tactical play from sven. he shouldn't have taken owen off. peter crouch is not a good player on his own up front, and owen is the type of goalscorer who is always a threat to score. joe cole did well on the left but when downing came on i don't think that they were willing to play the ball on the left as much. also, downing always seemed to be too far back and couldn't get into positions to get good balls in.

i also have to commend the goalkeeping over the two games. shaka played amazingly and the second paraguay keeper also played well to block two or three strikes from lampard.

[Apollo]

Hmm, i'm not much of a Soccer or Football if you like nut, but I enjoy watching the sport. I'm not exactly up on all the rules, but I know hte basics. I'v wewatched a few games... England and Paraguay, Ivory Coast v Can't remember and today I was watching the Netherlands play Serbia and some other weird euro name lol. All the team names are fascinating lol. Well. good luck to all teams. Soccer is a fun sport ot watch.

[daacosta]

... peter crouch is not a good player on his own up front,

Actually, I believe that was the hardest working English player in Paraguay-England. Not pretty but kept Paraguay's defense in check at all times... I believe that guy has an extra lung because he ran all game... Tactically he was most important for the good functioning of the English team.

I believe that Owen needed to be saved for later and that Paraguay wasn't getting anywhere so replacing him was sound (No need to overdo it...)

I didn't like the way England plays but I have to admit that they play well and know how to press and recover the ball whenever needed and attack quickly. Very active defense... England hasn't shown everything it can do but that's fine...

Portugal was a major disappointment. I hope to see them out soon...

Can't get enough of Holand. Why, Oh why haven't they won the cup? Fantastic team.

Hate Argentina but they will win the World cup...

Haven't seen Italy yet...

[apoorv_khurasia]

You missed a really good game between Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago.
Trinidad & Tobago played with just 10 men for almost the entire 2nd half, and ended up getting a 0-0 tie with the heavily favored Sweden.

I totally agree with you. . God, I really missed it....now I am not missing any of the matches.

[daacosta]

Italy today demonstrated that they are more than just defense and that they can actually play beautifully and win with class. Wonderfull game! Czech republic also demonstrated lots of football...

Speaking of this... There are ways of losing a match. Sometimes despite the loss you see your team try and give itself to do the best they can.

I didn't see that in the USA... I just hated seeing players staring at the floor resigned to their fate with no desire whatsoever to even try. Their coach was just a silent leader sitting through all the game not saying anything, not giving instructions, not motivating... Come on, USA has good players and they have a good system but they lacked attitude...

Beasley may be a great athlete, a hard working player, a very respectful guy, a pillar of the community, but he is no striker. Every time he received the ball he just passed backwards. USA can't afford to base its attack on such a limited and mediocre player!

Hats off to Czech republic. What a demonstration! How resourcefull! Even after winning 1-0 they continued playing and I as a fan of good football appreciate that.

And Italy? My! What a fantastic team! A girl friend of mine said that all those guys looked like models... Sheshhh...

[cousinlucky]

I just go an Email from a friend who watched the U.S.A. team lose 3 to 0 with only taking one shot at goal the entire game. Why did they bother showing up?

[Allblack]

I'd put my money on Germany or France. I hope Holland can pull it off.
England is overrated and they will not make it past quarter finals. I don't want Brasil too win as they have won it enough, although with some luck on a few occassions.

The tournament is staged in Europe and only once did a non-european team win the final in Europe (Brasil did in 1958, played in Sweden). I'd say the cup will go to a European team.

[AlexK]

Its been said before, and I'll repeat it here, the entire Italian team deserve to win oscars for their performances. Never before have I seen pain or agony portrayed the way they did it, case in point: The guy who scored the 2nd goal, few minutes before he did it was carried off the pitch on a stretcher, then comes back and scores...

Australia was extremely lucky to get away with a 3 - 1 win (3 goals in the last 10 mins). However, IMO both they and Japan sisn't play with the class I would expect to see from a World Cup squad e.g England (in the 1st half of their game), Argentina or even Trinidad and Tobago.

Haven't gotten around to watching Czech Republic play, but should be quite good.

The tournament is staged in Europe and only once did a non-european team win the final in Europe (Brasil did in 1958, played in Sweden). I'd say the cup will go to a European team.

According to this computer program, Brazil will win this world cup.

[apoorv_khurasia]

Ok few things to note here about yesterday's games:

USA vs. CZR: The USA played like amateurs in front of the pros. It was nothing like what one expected to be a game between no 2 and no 5. The ball possession was fine but you really need to convert it to the goals. Finishing was a problem partly attributable to CZR defense which was rock solid as ever. In the first half the USA was still better, but in the second half I was wondering whether they really qualified for the finals. It might have been due to the awesome Czech performance in the first half, but that’s not the way you play at a professional level. It was a delight to see Rodisky in action. And Koller’s goal was really beautiful.

Italy vs. Ghana: Another example of professional play. Let me first tell you this. Ghana was awesome according to their level. But that is not enough. Aggression can work in mid-field or defense….but you really need a good striker in the forward level. I was wondering that a good striker might have been able to convert some hits to goals. The crosses were very poor and shoots were very inaccurate. Plus your goalkeeper was really inexperienced at that level. The number of corners they conceded was too many and one of them got converted to a goal. Italy finished it the way that was expected. They were really unlucky at two instances where things could have been worse for Ghana. But the match was worth watching. It was yet another good fight between the two sides of the spectrum.