South Africa 2010

Okay, I'll stop complaning about the ball/poor performances... for now. I still find it strange how there hasn't been more than 2 goals in a games apart from Germany - Australia.

Looking forward to seeing Jong Tae Se of North Korea in a bit, he's a beast. Very strong physically and I say he's the best Asian striker around at the moment. Whether he gets the chances I doubt, but what I've seen from the J-league he'll chase every half-chance just like Rooney.
 
GROUP F
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
Italy . . . . . . . . . . .0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0
New Zealand . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0
Paraguay . . . . . . . .0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0
Slovakia . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0

GROUP G
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
Brazil . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . 0 . . 0 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .+1
Cote d'Ivoire . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0
Portugal . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0
North Korea . . . . . .0 . . 1 . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 1 . . . 2 . . .-1

Looking forward to tomorrow. We should get some goals from Spain, and the Chile-Honduras match-up has a 3-2 feel to it.
 
I think Honduras will come out in a more defensive formation and mindset for most of the game seeing that Chile came out second in the tough South American conference after only Brazil, so I'm not really expecting this to be a great goal-scoring affair. 1-0 or 2-1 Chile :hmmm:.
 
North Korea were pretty decent last night, they might give Portugal and Ivory Coast a game too on that form.

Hope South Africa do well tonight.
 
IchiroSuzuki said:
I'm hoping Brazil can wake the world up this evening, I'm starting to get bored. I never thought I'd say that the quality of play is more annoying than the vuvuzelas.
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I think the great myth about Brazil is that they're a free flowing attacking team when they aren't and haven't been for a long time.
And on the vuvuzelas, I don't like them. It's not a traditional thing, they're all made in China, and I think they subtract from the atmosphere rather than enhance it. The thing with soccer crowds is that they sing, they shout ole, there's groans whenever a shot goes narrowly wide, or is hideously missed (Gomez), and the crowd roars etc when a goal is scored. Instead there's a low persistent drone that drowns everything else. Above all, it's not South Africa's world cup, it just happens to be there. FIFA runs it, which is why all stadiums must meet FIFA standards ie all stadiums are seated. Getting rid of some annoying horn won't make it any less South African.

:rage: I had an exam so I couldn't see the game, however it'll probably be replayed constantly on TV.
 
Emma Pollock said:
I think the great myth about Brazil is that they're a free flowing attacking team when they aren't and haven't been for a long time.
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I don't completely agree with this, it's mainly what the critical Brazilian media and some of the media over here are saying but that is because they're compared to the great sides of the 70's. No nation ever will be as free-flowing as the Brazil of that era and will not be afforded the space because of the modern defensive formation of 10 men behind the ball.

To be honest, if Brazil score goals like this or this and aren't considered entertaining, then only Spain is worth watching and no one else.

If it's a simple question of 'good or bad to watch?' then surely Brazil are good to watch, no matter how awesome they used to be.

EDIT: just like to mention that I'm probably different in the way I consider some teams in Italy to be good to watch as I'm a bit of a defensive-play geek, so my opinions aren't too useful :/
 
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So far, Honduras v Chile has been one of the better games. Chile are looking really bright down the right flank with Isla and Sanchez linking up well. Honduras don't seem to quite have the class to properly threaten Chile at the back, so they're comfortable in getting forward without worrying about a counter attack.
 
IchiroSuzuki said:
EDIT: just like to mention that I'm probably different in the way I consider some teams in Italy to be good to watch as I'm a bit of a defensive-play geek, so my opinions aren't too useful :/
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I like Serie A myself, and I can respect managers like Jose Mourinho who have perfected a defensive style I wouldn't say I particularly enjoy watching them.
I'm not comparing them to vintage Brazilian teams, just current teams like Spain or the Netherlands or even Germany Or Chile. Whilst I don't think they're bad to watch, as they've got some very good players who would be worth watching anyway, I don't think that they are the kind of team whose style of play would significantly brighten up a dull world cup.

So far, Honduras v Chile has been one of the better games. Chile are looking really bright down the right flank with Isla and Sanchez linking up well.
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I've been :rage:ing at Chile. They're so often just one or two good touches away. Hopefully the goal will force Honduras to be more attacking, which will probably result in Chile scoring at least one more.
 
Spain losing, huge shock there. Will be interesting to see how they respond to this. And a rocket of a goal from Forlan in the game against South Africa a short while ago.
 
And we have goals! :gasp: Forlán and Suarez were very good today. Where was that against France?

GROUP H
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
Chile . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . 0 . . 0 . . . 3 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . .+1
Switzerland . . . . . . 1 . . 0 . . 0 . . . 3 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . .+1
Honduras . . . . . . . .0 . . 1 . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 1 . . .-1
Spain . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 1 . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 1 . . .-1

GROUP A
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
Uruguay . . . . . . . . 1 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 0 . . .+3
France . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0
Mexico . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0
South Africa . . . . . 0 . . 1 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 4 . . . -3
 
This was like Confederations Cup against USA again last year. Spain dominated the game, and yet they still lost because they couldn't finish. I believe they had like 28 shots but couldn't find a goal out of it.
 
It was like watching Arsenal in the Spain match today... The Swiss were good, Spain were trying too hard to score the perfect goal.

Uruguay looked good today, Cavani made a lot of difference. Bye bye South Africa then? Pienaar has been so disappointing.
 
Hehe I was suprised and wished I coul see Jay's face when Switzerland beat spain xD And Uruguay beat South Africa 3-0 that was pretty nerve recking lol. I mean SA are the hosts xD. Ugh sill looking forward to NZ and Italy on sunday
 
Argentina looking rather good today, Greece given a lifeline by a Nigerian player having a moment of madness (I think Argentina and South Korea will go through) and just now France were very poor against Mexico. They're on the precipice now, I can't believe they didn't get rid of Domenech after Euro 2008.
 
I'm sure the Irish must be even more pissed off (if it's even possible) after the effort France are putting in in this World Cup. I really don't know what makes the French FA think highly of Domenech. I hope South Africa beat them next, and I can actually see it coming.
 
GROUP A
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
Uruguay . . . . . . . . 1 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 0 . . .+3
Mexico . . . . . . . . . 1 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 1 . . .+2
France . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 1 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 2 . . .-2
South Africa . . . . . 0 . . 1 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 4 . . . -3

GROUP B
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
Argentina . . . . . . . 2 . . 0 . . 0 . . . 6 . . . 5 . . . 1 . . +4
South Korea . . . . . .1 . . 1 . . 0 . . . 3 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . -1
Greece . . . . . . . . . 1 . . 1 . . 0 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . -1
Nigeria . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 2 . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 1 . . . 3 . . -2
 
Judging from the way the subs were behaving in that match, none of the players want Domenech there either. I think they'd probably be best off sacking him for the South Africa game. They can only improve after tonight's performance; it was utterly shocking.

I was impressed by Argentina today. Di Maria had a very good game, and so did Higuain. Messi isn't at his best, but he's still showing he's another class entirely to most other players at the World Cup.
 
Damn I wanted greece not to go further on but Nigeria just had to lose by them. Mexico beating france was funny, crazy games. But my blood is pumping for italys next game!
 
Argentina destroyed South Korea, no big surprise. The important thing to remember is that the -only- way South Korea could score was through the error of Argentina in their own box. As they came back onto the pitch after halftime they not only increased the score, they crushed their spirit by doing so.

And France lost to Mexico, lawl.
 
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