Official World Cup 2010 thread

[Zeno]

I figured we needed our own thread, otherwise the US MNT thread would get buried in other countries results.

Germany beat Bosnia today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo.../7802052/Germany-3-Bosnia-1-match-report.html

I watched the game from about minute 20 on. Germany didn't look very good in the first half but turned it up in the second half. I am a fan of Philipp Lahm and have been since the last WC, his equalizing goal was a thing of beauty.

Italy lost to Mexico.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/06/mexicoitaly-el-tri-in-a-shocker-21.html

I didn't watch but every match report I read had the Mexicans dominating.

Spain beat South Korea
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jS6KRJXYTeVCjVzAdXLBnPLgJ7Rg

Getting close...first match is a week from tomorrow.

 

[Zeno]

TV Schedule for first round...

Fri 6/11
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com South Africa vs. Mexico
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Uruguay vs. France

Sat 6/12
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Korea Republic vs. Greece
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Argentina vs. Nigeria
2 p.m. ABC England vs. USA

Sun 6/13
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Algeria vs. Slovenia
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Serbia vs. Ghana
2 p.m. ABC Germany vs. Australia

Mon 6/14
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Netherlands vs. Denmark
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Japan vs. Cameroon
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Italy vs. Paraguay

Tue 6/15
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com New Zealand vs. Slovakia
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Ivory Coast vs. Portugal
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Brazil vs. Korea DPR

Wed 6/16
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Honduras vs. Chile
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Spain vs. Switzerland
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com South Africa vs. Uruguay

Thu 6/17
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Argentina vs. Korea Rep.
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Greece vs. Nigeria
2 p.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com France vs. Mexico

Fri 6/18
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Germany vs. Serbia
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Slovenia vs. USA
2 p.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com England vs. Algeria

Sat 6/19
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Netherlands vs. Japan
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Ghana vs. Australia
2 p.m. ABC Cameroon vs. Denmark

Sun 6/20
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Slovakia vs. Paraguay
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Italy vs. New Zealand
2 p.m. ABC Brazil vs. Ivory Coast

Mon 6/21
7 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Portugal vs. Korea DPR
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Chile vs. Switzerland
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Spain vs. Honduras

Tue 6/22
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Mexico vs. Uruguay
9:30 a.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com France vs. South Africa
2 p.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Nigeria vs. Korea Republic
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Greece vs. Argentina

Wed 6/23
9:30 a.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Slovenia vs. England
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com USA vs. Algeria
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Ghana vs. Germany
2 p.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Australia vs. Serbia

Thu 6/24
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Slovakia vs. Italy
9:30 a.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Paraguay vs. New Zealand
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Denmark vs. Japan
2 p.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Cameroon vs. Netherlands

Fri 6/25
9:30 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Portugal vs. Brazil
9:30 a.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Ivory Coast vs. Korea DPR
2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com Chile vs. Spain
2 p.m. ESPN2/ESPN360.com Switzerland vs. Honduras

 

[Shzm13]

Giovani Dos Santos with the great pass



Old man Blanco with another loop over the Italian D

 

[Zeno]

They simulated the WC on EA's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Spain beat Brazil in the final, the US finished second in their group (with 2 wins and a loss--2-1 to England)--the US then loses on PKs to Germany in the round of 16.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/2010-world-cup-and-the-winner-is/

I'd actually be pretty pleased with a US showing like that.

 

[Milgod]

I'm actually having times where I feel sick as I'm so nervous with excitement. If we beat England I will have the greatest day EVER at work on the Monday.

Are we going to have a predictions thread as well? One thread wheer we can out all of our predictions - standings, scores etc?

 

[Zeno]

I'm actually having times where I feel sick as I'm so nervous with excitement. If we beat England I will have the greatest day EVER at work on the Monday.

Are we going to have a predictions thread as well? One thread wheer we can out all of our predictions - standings, scores etc?

We can have a seperate thread or just do that here.

 

[English on tour]

I'm actually having times where I feel sick as I'm so nervous with excitement. If we beat England I will have the greatest day EVER at work on the Monday.

Are we going to have a predictions thread as well? One thread wheer we can out all of our predictions - standings, scores etc?

oh, I hope you have miserable day

 

[CardEd]

Mexico star's father quits coaching job to watch him at World Cup - Dirty Tackle - World Soccer  - Yahoo! Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/blog/sow_experts/post/Mexico-star-s-father-quits-coaching-job-to-watch?urn=sow,245514

 

[CardEd]

I'm heading to South Africa 13JUN-01JUL. My flight to the east coast Leaves at 1445 12JUN, right after The ENG match. Planning on it being a party flight!

I have Tickets to....

USA V Slovenia 18JUN
USA V Algeria 23JUN
Round of 16 - 26JUN or 27JUN

We're also looking to go to:

Brazil V Japan 15JUN
Honduras V Chile 16JUN
France V Mexico 17JUN
Netherlands V Japan 19JUN

Also spending the weeekend at the beach in Durban and trip through Kruger National Park. The only thing time didn't permit was a trip to Cape town. Glad the USA draw fell this way(not having any games in CPT), if we had to travel to Cape Town we would not have been able to get as much in.

I will try to post Pics from SA.

We will have our Uncle Sam uniforms on for the USA games

You must be registered for see images attach

We are still looking for a place to watch the USA V ENG that will be pro USA in Phoenix. Right now all we can come up with is George N Dragon's on Central. If anybody knows of a veiwing party let me know. it must be w/in 15-20 mins of Sky Harbor Airport.

 

[Dr. Jones]

1. Carded... You suck. I am sooooo Jealous. I am hoarding money for 2014 with my pops. Hopefully I can get the experience in Rio.

2. Drogba broke his arm.... WOW this is a blow.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-...ce/us/didier-drogba-broken-arm&cc=5901?ver=us

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Rio Ferdinand injured his left knee, unknown how badly yet.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/06/04/ferdinand.knee/index.html

 

[Zeno]

I'm heading to South Africa 13JUN-01JUL. My flight to the east coast Leaves at 1445 12JUN, right after The ENG match. Planning on it being a party flight!

I am jealous.

When I checked airfare I couldn't find anything under around $3K so I just couldn't go, even though I had tickets to all 3 US group matches. I had even lined up lodging with some other US fans, I just couldn't justify that airfare (and my wife would have KILLED me).

I will be at the next 3 WCs though--Brazil, England and the US (Ok the last 2 aren't confirmed but I'll bet that is what it will be).

 

[Zeno]

Rio Ferdinand injured his left knee, unknown how badly yet.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/06/04/ferdinand.knee/index.html

I read he is out at the minimum of 3 weeks and likely the entire tournament.

Drogba is out as well for the Ivory Coast.

 

[Chaplin]

That Drogba injury is the worst possible thing that could happen for The Ivory Coast. Hell, that may be the biggest injury of the entire tournament so far. Cristiano Ronaldo must be happy though--for anyone on the fence about that group, Portugal just became the favorite to advance with Brazil.

 

[Mulli]

I am in!!! I am not going to be so anti-US team. I am drinking the koolaid.

Seeing this thread this morning made me think the game between US and England was tomorrow.

Oops.



(I will, of course, also be wanting Italy to advance)

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I'm stoked. I need to DVR the game tomorrow. I'm going online to do it now.

 

[Shzm13]

Ferdinand out for England might be a good thing. Not the same player he used to be.

 

[English on tour]

Ferdinand out for England might be a good thing. Not the same player he used to be.

Not sure he was 100% anyway but still a big blow. Stupid bloody Heskey running into him, how the he'll he got in ahead of bent is just crazy.

USA chances just improved today

 

[dreamcastrocks]

2. Drogba broke his arm.... WOW this is a blow.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-...ce/us/didier-drogba-broken-arm&cc=5901?ver=us

That Drogba injury is the worst possible thing that could happen for The Ivory Coast. Hell, that may be the biggest injury of the entire tournament so far. Cristiano Ronaldo must be happy though--for anyone on the fence about that group, Portugal just became the favorite to advance with Brazil.

It definitely didn't look intentional.

 

[Chaplin]

Yeah definitely not intentional. If Drogba's arm hadn't been out, it's likely they wouldn't have even touched each other. But it's hard to avoid that--if someone's knee slams into your elbow, something's going to give.

 

[abomb]

Bad times for IC. People were looking them as a serious potential sleeper to take it all.

/still learning about the sport

 

[Lorenzo]

It's funny how the WC can be so predictable. you have the same teams in the running. Netherlands, Argentina, England all have such great talent and promise, yet you just expect them to choke up eventually. Spain is the Wild Card for once because they finally grew some thick skin(or BAL$) by winning the EURO....but they will probably choke again. Germany is a team to put money on. They are always solid to contend down the stretch in the knockout stages. But when all things seem cloudy...you have to expect that the Yankees, Lakers/celtics, Red Wings, Steelers or Cowboys come through. that means brazil is taking this one.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I really like the Dutch in this one.....

Netherlands & Spain. Those are my choices.

 

[Dr. Jones]

In today's friendly with the Aussies, Buddle and Findley get the start up front....

USA Starting XI: 1-Howard; 3-Cherundolo, 15-DeMerit, 21-Goodson, 3-Bocanegra; 8-Dempsey, 4-Bradley, 13-Clark, 10-Donovan; 20-Findley, 14-Buddle

 

[rode kardinaal]

It looks like i'm the only dutchman here, so time for me to get the orange vibe going a bit.

Qualification was relatively simple for a change, friendlies so far have been pretty good. A 2-1 victory over worldcupper Mexico, where the first half was ok, the second half not so. And a 4-1 victory over worldcupper Ghana, with a pretty good showing all around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVCkYi_Nx4 (Mexico)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvXepcWU4NI (Ghana)

(Sorry for the dutch commentary. For the true beauty of football (ok, maybe i'm exaggerating a bit), look at the combination that starts at about 1.04 in the Ghana game)

Our offense is pretty world class, with Van Persie and Robben up front, and Sneijder and possibly Van der Vaart (if the coach has the guts to play with 4 such attacking players) directly behind them. The controlling part of the midfield is pretty sweet as well, with Van Bommel and De Jong. Defense is our major problem though. It's already difficult to field 4 decent players, but the reserves are god awful.

Group stage should be doable, after that anything can happen. We've shown two years ago in the eurochampionships that we can beat the best (France 4-1, Italy 3-0), but that we can also be beaten pretty easily (Russia). My hope is that we've grown in the past two years, but it's difficult to predict of course.

Here's to seeing 'total football' again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m5jbq3RCs8