Official FIFA 2010 World Cup Discussion

[AKAK]

I've yet to see any "Joga bonito" this World Cup.

A bit disappointing, but I guess expected for the first set of games. Teams have to start moving and pressing in their second matches as they see where they stand and I hope that brings some better/more open play.

Maybe altitude, ball, pitch conditions, stadiums, nerves, vuvuzelas, strategies, matchups, etc. combined to have some effects, but whatever it is I want some more beautiful play.

Didn't watch Germany play? They could have scored 6 goals easily!

We'll see if Brazil and Spain struggle. If so - then we know it's the conditions.

Eh, its mostly just the first round.... plus the Germans have guys that have played with each other a while.... once the good teams et in a groove, it will get better.

Spain should be fine... and... Brazil, hell you never know if they are gelling or just have that much better players.

I wonder how good the Germans would have looked had it not been pretty obvious early that they could attack with impugnity. The Aussies actually did have a couple chances early, one of those goes in and the match could have gotten that ugly feel for a while too.

One thing I will say about "conditions" I have seen a lot of disorganization at the back of pretty much every (and granted that's 3.5) game I've watched, I do thing the Vuvazela's are impcating that and an adjustment will be made... Germany included.... off the top of my head they had at least one issue getting marked up on a corner kick and one or two issues between the GK and defenders getting balls taken/cleared.... so, that leads to extra corners, and that stuff can add up.

Actually made me feel a bit better about the Demerit/Onyewu/Howard communication... just everyone is struggling with it, it appears.

The attackers will sort it out quickly... they can look at each other generally... Keepers yelling at Defenders in front of them will be an issue throughout this, I think.

Thankfully, IMO... this might give some teams the impetus to open up the attack a bit.... I generally don't give high marks for the soccer itself in international play because it can be too defense oriented.... we shall see what happens.

 

[tmporter]

At the outset I predicted (on another blog) that none of the 5 African teams would advance to round 2...I am still somewhat comfortable with that prediction, though I think Ghana looks good to advance in their group right now. South Africa has a chance, but they are in a tough but wide open group with 2 games left and all to play for. I'd say Ghana and that's it, but I think only Cameroon and Algeria are out after 1 game.

You don't think Ivory Coast can make it out of their Group? Obviously, we will learn a lot about that tomorrow, but I think they can beat Portugal. I also like Ghana's chances. SA though... I hope so. But I doubt it,

I'm almost 100% on Ghana making it, and about 60/40 on Ivory Coast.

Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire make 6, along with those you mentioned.

For Cote d'Ivoire, it will probably come down to goal differential, as they tied Portugal today, and both of those teams could easily lose to Brazil and beat North Korea.

I can see at most 2 of the 6 making it through.

Nigeria is probably out. Argentina should make it out and I think the South Korean's are good too.

South Africa has a shot. France looks terrible and Mexico is too hard to predict. Add in Uruguay is tough too. They could be the 2nd team to go through.

Algeria is all but out. England and the US should move on.

Ghana has the best chance to go through. Serbia has a tall order to get back into it, and Germany looked dominant.

Cameroon is all but out already having lost to Japan and a game with the Dutch on the horizon.

The Ivory Coast could be the 2nd team to make it. It will depend on how many goals they can score on North Korea and how few they can hold Brazil to. Portugal is the wild card. One excellent game against the Korean's and a solid game against Brazil may be enough.

I am going to say only Ghana make it as the Ivory Coast looses on goal difference and South Africa just don't have the horses to keep running that far that fast.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

 

[WolverineMike]

LMFAO

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

OK......I realize all the teams have played with this ball for a while now, but they're still sending every long shot over the bar by a lot. What's the purpose of having a "new ball" besides marketing?

 

[PlanetFrnd]

geniosity...

 

[WolverineMike]

wow, that Brazil goal was unbelievable. Defied the laws of physics.

 

[jlb1705]

I think Brazil have left the door open to the Ivory Coast or Portugal winning the group. If one of those teams can manage a draw vs. Brazil, they just have to what they're supposed to do against PRK and blow them out of the water.

 

[Bucklion]

I think Brazil have left the door open to the Ivory Coast or Portugal winning the group. If one of those teams can manage a draw vs. Brazil, they just have to what they're supposed to do against PRK and blow them out of the water.

Maybe...but the thing is teams like Brazil don't really need to give much of a shit about group play, it's like the NBA regular season for them...all they have to do is accumulate enough points to make the playoff round, then they start caring. Now that might be a miscalculation, but I've noticed it over several Cups from several of the big teams, including Italy last time, who languished to a draw against us but ended up winning the Cup. So yeah, it's possible another team could with the group by bulldozing the Commies, but I don't know that it will make that much of a difference.

 

[fourteenandoh]

North Korea cracks me up. They paid Chinese people to go to the game and wear Korean gear. Heaven forbid you actually let your people out of the country to go watch a game.

 

[WolverineMike]

 

[BuckTwenty]

Bulletin board material. ESPN

The Slovenia midfielder is so confident about the tiny country's chances against the United States in their World Cup match on Friday that he guaranteed victory.
"We are going to win this match," Komac said after practice Tuesday.
He added there's "a good feeling" on the squad after Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0 to claim its first World Cup victory and the top spot in Group C. Komac came on as a substitute in the final minutes.

Noob.

 

[WolverineMike]

LOL, i'm sure coaches love it when some scrub starts guaranteeing victories.

 

[osuteke]

Espinoza (Ohio State) plays and starts for Honduras. You can tell they have injuries offensively however he has looked relatively good. They're down 1-0 to Chile. Sanchez for Chile is really good.

 

[redbenn]

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