World Cup Football

[Colonel Flagg]

Or Soccer as those of us unwashed heathens refer to it over here, across the pond. Since the teams are presently congregating in lovely South Africa, it's probably time for us to start handicapping the chances for our favorite country to advance to the round of 16.

I like the USA's chances to make it out of group play, but I can't see them advancing past the round of 8. They just don't have enough depth. A quarterfinal finish would be an excellent result, though still unsatisfying.

Personally, I'd almost be happy with any result except Brazil winning it all. My apologies to any Brazilians I've offended. :(

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I was gonna say Brazil is going to win. I haven't followed much Soccer lately but I can always count on the Brazils.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

This is the first World Cup that does not include any teams that are qualifying for the first time, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia_national_football_team) and Serbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_national_football_team)) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia_national_football_team), and Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia_national_football_team) and Serbia and Montenegro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_and_Montenegro_national_football_team). In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations' records.

That part is kind of interesting.

[Colonel Flagg]

I'm interested to see how the team from DPRK does - they're considered a wild card in their group for the simple reason that no one seems to know what to expect. My guess is that they don't have a whole lot of international competitive experience, which can be both a benefit and a detriment.

Maybe their uniforms will have great big pictures of "dear leader" on them. :\

[RaNkeri]

Rooting for Italy, like always.

Wouldn't mind Germany winning, although it is unlikely.

If i'd have to pick a clear favorite it's either Brazil(team Canada of football), or Spain, who had a magnificent run in 2008 UEFA Euro.

[RaNkeri]

:eek , :x & :lol @ Robert Green

[Colonel Flagg]

^^^ Wow. Just Wow.

He'd better hide. :\

[RaNkeri]

Germany VS. Australia starting now!


This should be great :eek

[RaNkeri]

Best football in the tournament so far, god damn

[RaNkeri]

Great game by Germany. Australia's defence sucked, but if Germany keeps up with this kind of play they should also do well against tougher opponents

[Colonel Flagg]

Best football in the tournament so far, god damn

Actually I thought that was embarassing. Australia should be ashamed. :(

[RaNkeri]

I was mostly referring to Germany, although Australia did play well momentarily during the 1st half.

[Colonel Flagg]

^^^ Don't blink, you'll miss it.

I'm looking forward to the DPRK-Brazil match on Tuesday. I wonder how Yonhap is going to spin the pasting they're likely to receive.

Maybe "Dear Leader" will have the entire team shot.

[RaNkeri]

Easy 2-0 victory for Holland over Denmark

[RaNkeri]

Italy vs. Paraguay starting soon! Shit could get interesting.

Forza Italia :rock

[RaNkeri]

Good game

[Colonel Flagg]

I think we may be the only two interested. :(

[Colonel Flagg]

Japan upsets Cameroon. Who saw that coming?

[Colonel Flagg]

New Zealand vs Slovakia this AM (EDT that is) - Where's that rascal Pub? :confused

[Colonel Flagg]

NZ ties it in the 3rd minute of extra time to earn a point against Slovakia.

You Go Kiwis! :rock

[Colonel Flagg]

2-1 DPRK goes down to defeat against Brazil. The coach was undoubtedly pleased that they scored in the final minute of regulation so they could make it look closer than it really was. Probably bought him his life. :\

This should be the schizophrenia thread - I'm talking to myself. :(

[RaNkeri]

Spain 0 - 1 Switzerland


God damn

[Fathom Zero]

I didn't expect that.

[Colonel Flagg]

Jeez. Spain is one of the best teams in the world. To get beaten by the Swiss is soccer's equivalent of the Miracle on Ice.

Well, not so much - the Swiss have a good team. Just not in Spain's league.

With group play, Spain can advance with a stinker of a match on their record. The only thing is they have no more margin for error. They'd better come out firing in their next match against Honduras.

[RaNkeri]

Well, Spain is notorious for being a long time World Cup underachiever

[Colonel Flagg]

Overreaction? (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5297052/ce/us/south-african-man-killed-wife-kids-changing-tv-germany-australia-game?cc=5901&ver=us)

[RaNkeri]

Serbia upsets Germany with a 1-0 victory :eek

Klose gets a red card and will miss the last 1st round game :eek

[Colonel Flagg]

US-Slovenia starts any minute now.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Overreaction? (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5297052/ce/us/south-african-man-killed-wife-kids-changing-tv-germany-australia-game?cc=5901&ver=us)

That's horrible.

Was going to try and get off work to go to a pub this morning and watch the u.s. game.....but that didn't pan out. Hopefully the U.S will make it to round 2.

[RaNkeri]

Beautiful goal by Donovan

[RaNkeri]

Good game, too bad you guys got robbed :/

[Colonel Flagg]

Yeah. F***in' THING SUCKS!!!

A win against Algeria should make everything else better, though. We'll see. :\

[Pentegarn]

If you want to win, you need to DO IT LIVE!!!

[Colonel Flagg]

Fire Truck!

[RaNkeri]

Anybody else wathing England - Algeria?

[Colonel Flagg]

Doing the best I can from work. :(

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Watching the stats on fifa.com.

I saw like 18 girls got arrested the other day for flash advertising at a game.

[RaNkeri]

I think there were 36, they were all from netherlands. Apparently they were wearing clothes that were part of some beer company's ad campaign.

Same thing happened in 2006:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeuwenhosen

[Colonel Flagg]

England ties Algeria. 0-0 :hohum

If the Americans can come up with a victory in their match with the Algerians then they advance.

England needs to beat Slovenia, else they could be going home. How horrible would that be for the Brits? :shocked

[RaNkeri]

It would be hilarious if USA would advance to 2nd round and England would not qualify :lol

[Colonel Flagg]

Could happen ....

[RaNkeri]

Italy - New Zealand starting soon!

Forza Italia! :rock

[RaNkeri]

God damn it italy, two blandish games in a row. :/

[Colonel Flagg]

Forza Italia! :rock

Is this Italian for "Italy is mediocre"?

In other news, Brazil advances to round 2 in the "Group of Death". :(

[RaNkeri]

Portugal rapes North Korea 7-0

Dear leader does not approve :/

[Colonel Flagg]

If I were the coach, I'd defect. :eek

[alvinbell21]

Well, Brazil only managed a meager 2-1 so 7-0 seems like a pretty good score to me and makes me look forward to squash Brazil on the next match.

[Pentegarn]

It's too bad you are a spambot, Alvinbell21. Sports forum could use new blood

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I think he is more like a Spam man. All his posts are actually relevent to the topic...besides the coupon.

Watching the world cup in Spanish is so much better than watching it in English by the way.

[Dimnos]

I normally think soccer is rather gay but for some reason Im drawn to the world cup this year. Someone mind explaining wtf is going on here?

[Colonel Flagg]

It's like full-contact chess.

[Dimnos]

I have a general knowledge about how the game is played and what not. I just need to know how the rankings, points and groups work.

[Colonel Flagg]

3 points for a win, 1 point to each team involved in a draw, zero points (and a bitch slap) for a loss. Each team plays the other three teams in their group, and the top two point-getters in each group advance to knockout, or tournament-style play. In the event of a tie, most goals scored in the three matches is the first tie-breaker.

Each group was "pseudo-randomly chosen" - I think the 8 highest ranked teams in the world were each placed in groups A through H, with the remaining 24 teams being randomly placed.

As far as the FIFA world rankings work, you're better off having Ranny explain.

[Dimnos]

You got most of what I wanted to know. Thanks Colonel.

[Colonel Flagg]

Congratulations to South Korea and as for the French (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=264036&cc=5901&ver=us)... I wonder what Patrice Evra will say?

After the game, Evra apologized to fans and promised a full explanation in the days to come. "I will say everything I went through as captain," an emotional Evra said. "The whole of France needs to have an explanation for this disaster."

[Zhukov]

Annoyed that I've missed talking about what have so far been some pretty interesting games. I think South Korea have played with a lot of excitement that is good to watch, and some of the upsets (Spain to Swiss, Germans to Serbs etc) and unforeseen results have made it a good world cup. Australia have played horribly, but I don't mind since I go for pretty much everyone else.

New Zealand have been going great! England has a lot of problems this year! And I guess now we know who DPRK will nuke first; bye Portugal!

[Dimnos]

How do you like that shit Algeria? :)

[RaNkeri]

Congrats guys! Too bad I missed the game because of work, I have to watch the match highlights later.

[RaNkeri]

Haha, USA actually won group C :lol

[Dimnos]

It totally looked like it was going to be a draw but the US pulled out a goal the last minute.

[Dimnos]

Haha, USA actually won group C :lol

Didnt England tie us for points? :confused:

[Dimnos]

Ahhh, but we got more goals in group C. Is that how that works?

[RaNkeri]

Yes, but you beat England in amount of goals made

[RaNkeri]

Oh good, Germany won 1-0, I wonder who they will face neOH MY FUCKING GOD ENGLAND VS. GERMANY, SHIT IS GONNA BE FUCKING AWESOME

[RaNkeri]

Also, USA will face Ghana in round of 16, your odds of making it to quarterfinals aren't that bad :eek

[Dimnos]

Wait? Ghana? How did they beat out Australia? It looks like they both got the same amount of points but that Australia got more goals. What am I missing?

[Dimnos]

Finnland?

[Colonel Flagg]

I was wrong - first tie break is goal differential (total goals scored minus goals let in) then the second tie break is most goals scored. THird tie break is a coin toss. :)

Ghana beats Australia 0 to -3

[Dimnos]

Ahhh. Thanks again Colonel.

[Zhukov]

My only complaint with the vuvuzuelas (??) is that they drown out any possibility of hearing any chants or songs usually associated with the game. I don't mind the droning buzz that much.

[RaNkeri]

Slovakia 1 - 0 Italy

God damn, what the fuck Italy?

[RaNkeri]

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffuck

[Zhukov]

Yes! What a great performance by Slovakia, I was seriously excited about that game. Fuck Italy for being a bunch of big girls blouses, and also showing no humility at all after losing.

They stole Eurovision from Slovakia so hopefully they can make up for it with the World Cup.


Also sadness for New Zealand, whom needed to beat Paraguay and drew. Great goal keeping from NZ though.

Actually I think Paraguay needed to win to get Slovakia through :/ damn.

[RaNkeri]

The end minutes of the game were actually pretty intense and entertaining, too bad Italy sucked shit the first 70 minutes or so :/

But kudos to Slovakia, great game by them and it's great to see them advance into round of 16 because of it.

EDIT: Indeed, the italians' reactions were unsportsman after the game, did Lippi even congratulate the slovakian coach?

[Zhukov]

No he did not. I saw no hand shaking by anyone, actually. But I can understand the annoying way Slovakia was drawing out the extra time near the end; that was dumb.

Some Slovakian guys had their shirts off to swap with the Italians, and the Italians obviously didn't want to part with their superior team shirt for a shitty Slovakian one :lol

[RaNkeri]

Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for them to get their feet back on the ground, gain humility and start working towards UEFA 2012.

Oh, and I saw Cannavaro shake hands, but that's to be expected of him.

[Zhukov]

Well I just don't believe you. This world cup is serving as a wake up call for a lot of teams/players as I see it. Too bad a lot of them wont get another chance.

Dutchland should win against Cameroon, but I think Denmark v Japan could go either way. I think Portugal might beat Brazil, but the next exciting game for me is Chile v Spain, whom I hope and think will end in Chile winning.

[RaNkeri]

Well I just don't believe you. This world cup is serving as a wake up call for a lot of teams/players as I see it. Too bad a lot of them wont get another chance.

I meant how this should be taken into account in the preparations for the upcoming events by the coaching staff etc.

I'd say Netherlands will win Cameroon
Denmark v. Japan is hard to say, but I'd pick Japan
Portugal v. Brazil should be great, I hope Brazil will win this one
Spain should win Chile

[Colonel Flagg]

It's a pity Africa's teams didn't fare any better.

[Babs]

Slovakia vs Italy was pretty entertaining actually. It's a shame that Italy didn't get further :\

[RaNkeri]

God damn it goalie of Chile, god damn it

[RaNkeri]

Haha, his name is Bravo, oh the irony


Spain scores again!.... And Torres performs propably the worst dive I've seen since Rivaldo, and gets a Chilean player sent out :x

EDIT
Z8PZT0vriLE

[RaNkeri]

Spain won 2-1, luckily Chile still made it to the round of 16.

Too bad they'll face Brazil next

[Colonel Flagg]

The road to the cup for the USA goes straight through Brazil. :(

EDIT - Assuming they can at least get by Ghana :\

[RaNkeri]

But not until the semi-finals, and getting there would be pretty fucking amazing for USA.

[Colonel Flagg]

They actually have a shot - they should be favored against Ghana, and while beating the Dutch would be a major upset, they can do it.

Believe. :)

[RaNkeri]

The Dutch are a good team capable of upsets, but I don't think they can get past Brazil in quarter finals. However, facing Netherlands in semis would improve US's odds slightly.

[Zhukov]

Spain scores again!.... And Torres performs propably the worst dive I've seen since Rivaldo, and gets a Chilean player sent out :x

EDIT
Z8PZT0vriLE

Wait, what? That is a god damn disgrace. They need electronic umpires in this game so, so badly. He should have been red carded for such poor sportsmanship,

[Babs]

Haha, his name is Bravo, oh the irony


Spain scores again!.... And Torres performs propably the worst dive I've seen since Rivaldo, and gets a Chilean player sent out :x

EDIT
Z8PZT0vriLE

fucking ridiculous

[RaNkeri]

Ghana 2 - 1 USA after extra time
entertaining game I say

[Babs]

Very good game. America had some amazing breaks, just poor execution once down at the goal.

[Colonel Flagg]

Yeah, they had too many chances not to score one more in OT.

Once again, they get burned early, then have to play catch up. No more miracles left in the bag. :(

[Colonel Flagg]

Let's go England! :)

[RaNkeri]

England vs. Germany is on :eek

hopefully shit will be epic

[RaNkeri]

Shit IS epic :eek

2-1 for Germany after first half, although a goal was robbed from England. They seriously need a fucking instant replay.

[Zhukov]

Damn you I wanted to say exactly what you just said.

Another great thing about this game is that the England fans chanting seem to be drowning out the damn horns. I think Rooney will get a late goal :eek

[Colonel Flagg]

Wow. England gets hosed and Mexico gets bounced.

So far this looks more like the South American Cup.

More to come. ;)

[Zhukov]

England got problems.

[Shrubfest]

That game was pathetic. We gave up watching because it got too embarassing. Now to time how long it takes for the flags to disappear.

[Zhukov]

I usually go for any team/country bar Australia/England, so I should have gone for Germany, but Ozil looks like a cockface so I went England.

[Colonel Flagg]

I'd love for Chile to lay the smackdown on the Brazilians.

Fat chance. :\

[Colonel Flagg]

And the Amérique de Sud Cup continues ....

[Colonel Flagg]

Spain/Portugal should be entertaining ....

[RaNkeri]

Portugal is eliminated! Hurrah!

[Colonel Flagg]

Spain deserved the victory.

It looks like the Spaniards took their initial loss to the Swiss as a wake-up call, and have now won three in a row.

[Zhukov]

I'm happy Portugal is gone, now if anyone but Brazil can win the cup I will be happy.

[RaNkeri]

I'll be rooting for Germany and Netherlands, but wouldn't mind if Uruguay/Paraguay/Spain/Ghana would win the cup.

As long as Argentina doesn't win.

[Zhukov]

Yeah, I think the Dutch would be my favourite team to win or Paraguay (although I don't think Paraguay have a chance), but I still think Argentina will do it.

Netherlands vs. Brazil

= Brazil probably, but the Netherlands have a really good chance and I hope they win. I'm sick of Brazil.

Uruguay vs. Ghana

= I'm surprised that both these teams got this far, since Uruguay haven't really jumped out at me, but they will win this game, although I hope Ghana can do it for a little African pride.

Argentina vs. Germany

= Argentina will beat Germany and I will be going for them.

Paraguay vs. Spain

= Spain haven't played to their ability, especially after watching the Portugal game replay, they were better than them but still have to improve to win the cup like people said they would. Paraguay I think has played great, but unfortunately I don't think they are on the same level as Spain is. Paraguay has been my team for the past few world cups, so I am going for them.

[Colonel Flagg]

No analysis, just predictions:

Netherlands vs. Brazil
- winner Brazil

Uruguay vs. Ghana
- winner Ghana (upset)

Argentina vs. Germany
- winner Argentina

Paraguay vs. Spain
- winner Spain

I think these are the same as Zhuk's. :\

Let's see how far Ghana can go, hey?

[RaNkeri]

GAME OVER ARGENTINA, GAME OVER
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/RaNkeri/paulpicksgermany.jpg

[elx]

i'm really hoping ghana wins the cup~! they have been the most fun team to watch thus far, they're super well organized and good spirited.

the germans however should be long gone by now:(

[Zhukov]

Two world wars and one world cup, doo da, doo da.

[Colonel Flagg]

:lol

[Colonel Flagg]

i'm really hoping ghana wins the cup~!

Welcome aboard the Ghanaian bandwagon, Elx.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I heard the French were jerks.

[RaNkeri]

Everryone's gay for Ghana :love

[Pentegarn]

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[Babs]

Pentegarn... not funny.

[Colonel Flagg]

I don't know, I thought it was kind of appropriate.

Worse than an airhorn, methinks.

[Pentegarn]

Pentegarn... not funny.

The next funny thing you post will be the first funny thing you post

[RaNkeri]

GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!

Netherlands 2 - 1 Brazil

[RaNkeri]

Oh Sneijder you magnificent bastard you

[Pentegarn]

If that score holds it will be a surprise I dare say

[RaNkeri]

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!?

[RaNkeri]

Col. is gonnna go apeshit :lol

[RaNkeri]

Netherlands will face either Ghana or Uruguay in semis :eek
Their chances of making it to the finals are pretty damn good

if ONE team deserves to win the world cup, it would be Netherlands.

[Zhukov]

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES.



Do ya?! Do ya?! Do ya!?



You sexy thang.



What a great game. Brazil lost control of the second half and just fell apart, probably more mentally than anything else. So many fouls. The Dutch really deserved the game, and probably another goal, too. It was great to see the teams attacking so much, too, which I only expected from Brazil. I think Kutja was amazing, and I was glad to hear the commentators agree with me after the game.

It's about this time that people at work start telling me that they have Dutch ancestry, and have been going for Holland the whole time.

[RaNkeri]

URU - GHA is on!

Hopefully Ghana can make it to semis

[RaNkeri]

Ghana scores! :rock

Will history be made?

[RaNkeri]

Ghana gets a penalty at the end of the very last minute of extra time :eek

[RaNkeri]

They missed! :eek

Finnish commentator lost control totally :lol

[RaNkeri]

Uruguay eliminated Ghana on penalties

Exiting game though! Both teams can be considered to be underdogs, but I'm quite sure many were rooting for Ghana to become the first African team to make it to semis. This is phenomenal for Uruguay too though, they haven't made it this far since 1960s if I'm not mistaken.

Uruguay will meet Netherlands at the semifinals, Netherlands will definitely be the favorite, but it'll be interesting to see how much further Uruguay can go with their current momentum

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I want Uruagay to win for stupid personal reasons!

[RaNkeri]

I'm tipsy enough to give a shit, so please, share your M.O with us 10k

[Colonel Flagg]

Wow. Just "Wow".

:party

Now, I really don't care who wins. :lol

[RaNkeri]

Now, if only Germany could eliminate Argentina, I could happily accept any team as the new champion

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Uruguay is our softball team name because the majority of people on the team are gay. So we have badass baseball jerseys that already say Uruguay on them.

So if they win the world cup I can be all like "YEAH BITCHES. I HAVE A JERSEY."

That's pretty much all of it though.

[ElPila666]

I not fear germany maybe they're taller a good thing for head game but we have faster and better at dribbling players. i'll predict a 3-0 for argentina, maradona will drive our boys to victory.

[Zhukov]

Yeah, I think Argentina will slay Germany.

Next post from me will be saying how surprised I am Germany won.

[RaNkeri]

Germany leads 1-0

[RaNkeri]

2-0!
2-0!
2-0!

2-0!

[RaNkeri]

3-0!

FUCK YEAH

[RaNkeri]

Germany eliminates Argentina 4-0 :party

[ElPila666]

This is a nightmare ;____;

[RaNkeri]

GAME OVER ARGENTINA, GAME OVER
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/RaNkeri/paulpicksgermany.jpg

That god damn psychic octopus :love

[Zhukov]

I am quite surprised that Germany won.

[elx]

THIS IS BANANAS >:

[RaNkeri]

Paraguay gets a penalty
Casillas is able to make a save
Spain rushes towards Paraguays' goal
Spain get's a penalty
Paraguay's goalie is abe to make a save

EPIC

[RaNkeri]

Spain wins 1-0 and is finally able to break the curse

[Colonel Flagg]

These are going to be some effed up semis. Two European teams in one bracket and the only South American team left is .... Uruguay?

I agree, Ranny. EPIC!

[OxBlood]

Spain wins 1-0 and is finally able to break the curse


I wouldn´t really like that so...nah, we´ll win again, I´m confident in our guys. :)

Besides, let us win something for a change, will ya :lol


Wait...aren´t our Female Teams Champions in quite some things...hmmm.

[Zhukov]

I don't know what to think anymore. Apart from that Germany is probably going to win the cup.

[RaNkeri]

I'm hoping for Germany to win, and I'm quite sure Germany will win. Netherlands is my second favorite, so here's to hoping for NED-GER final

[Zhukov]

In all honesty, Germany deserve it after steamrolling everyone (bar Serbia). Australia losing to them 4 nil doesn't seem so bad after Argentina did too. A NED-GER final would be the best, because if Uruguay somehow beat the Netherlands then I don't think they would stand a chance against Germany.

I hope Spain are looking at the mistakes of other teams Germany has destroyed, because it seems that nobody has a back up plan for when they are one or two goals down. Argentina displayed it best when they just fell apart after getting two goals down, when really, they still had a good chance to come back, especially since they seemed to have more possesion and also spent more time attacking than Germany.

Spain and Holland should really prepare for having to chase Germany goal wise.

[RaNkeri]

Great 1st half!

URU 1 - 1 NED

[elx]

that shot was pathetic :(

[RaNkeri]

It still counts ;)

[RaNkeri]

3-1 for the dutch

[OxBlood]

I don´t know if I should be happy or sad...but there´s no time for that anyway, it is time to break out the old bone-drums, paint my face with berries from the forest, throw on my good sunday-pelts, grab my gigantic stone-axe and get ready for...errr...Football...ah well.

[Zhukov]

Better to go the old Germanic-tribesman-fan route, rather than the Deutschland-über-ales fan route.

[OxBlood]

My thoughts exactly. I got no love for the little man with the funny mustache, but the calmer, peaceful germans of days long gone by when Rome was the center of the western world...why not, as far as we know we were rather nice people then :D

[Colonel Flagg]

Damn. That cephalopod is 6 for 6. And he gets to pick again for the third place game.

España deserved the win. They outplayed the Germans, but only had one goal to show. Good defense on both sides of the ball.

Spain/Holland for the whole shebang. Can't wait. :)

[OxBlood]

As always: When it counts, we fail...god what was their problem...afraid of some Spanish guys? Looked like it and we deserved to lose this one.

And now we play for place 3 which is worth shit.


Now to salvage this shame and look at the bright side...we destroyed England which is always good and we smashed Argentinia which was even more fun. Maradonnas sad face was clearly the best part of the whole thing :)

[Zhukov]

Well it seems that whatever I say turns out wrong, so I think Spain will win.

[Colonel Flagg]

Maradonnas sad face was clearly the best part of the whole thing :)
http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13920000/13923200.JPGhttp://www.topnews.in/files/Diego_Maradona%20_03.jpg

An online poll by a newspaper showed 63.1% people want Maradona to quit. Similar results were shown by other polls as well.

Go Diego, Go! :p

[OxBlood]

Well it seems that whatever I say turns out wrong, so I think Spain will win.

On behalf of the german Rheinland I thank you for your support anyway ;)

Expect to recieve a colorful fruit-basket and one of those awesome banana-hats soon :lol

[Zhukov]

Damn, the final is on at 3:30am here! I am going to have to stay up, because there is no way that I can go the day ignoring the news and hoping to see the replay.

[RaNkeri]

Germany wins bronze, just like Paul the psychic octopus said

[Colonel Flagg]

Seriously, I want him to pick Powerball for me.

[RaNkeri]

Spain wins 1-0, good game. Wasn't that exiting for me, but I guess that's because I didn't have a clear favorite out of the two finalists.
Good run from the Netherlands, and I really feel bad for them, but Spain was sensational.

[elx]

good run from the netherlands? are you kidding? :( they were god-awful and they looked like total douchebags out there. i've never seen such an awful game of soccer before. players were wailing along the ground every few minutes and wobbling right into one another, pushing, shoving, grabing, tripping, it was lame!

[RaNkeri]

I meant their run in the tournament :rolleyes

The match was definitely lacking though, mostly because the Dutch failed to meet the expectations

[OxBlood]

Gotta say I liked all the needless violence and the wonderfull chest-kick :)

Funny game all in all :D

[RaNkeri]

Oh yeah, the chest kick :lol
We had a headbutt in 2006 and a chest kick in 2010, here's hoping that they'll be kicking each other in the balls in 2014 :lol


EDIT: And I totally forgot, Paul the fucking Octopus was right once again :eek
He's like the new hypno toad or something

[Colonel Flagg]

Soccer dudes, a question - it has always puzzled me about the "two yellows - one red" rule, when a red card means a DQ and no substitution allowed - meaning 11 on 10, of course. Can't they just kick a player out forever without penalizing the entire team?

I realize I'm nitpicking a rule that has been around longer than I've been alive (probably) but I have a little bit of a bad taste knowing that neither team could score until it was 11 spaniards against 10 dutchmen. It's more like the referee won the game for España.

[elx]

the alternative option is to allow teams to exchange a carded player with a fresh player off of the bench. this could be used as an advantage, a free substitution is enough incentive to purposely receive red cards and exploit it.

[Zhukov]

Well I couldn't be arsed staying up to watch the game, and I hoped I could make it through the day without seeing who won and then watch the replay... I got half way through the working day before I saw in small pen handwriting that Spain won 1-0 on the corner of the world cup sweep tally board.

Can't be arsed watching it now.

[Colonel Flagg]

the alternative option is to allow teams to exchange a carded player with a fresh player off of the bench. this could be used as an advantage, a free substitution is enough incentive to purposely receive red cards and exploit it.

That's not the only other option. The teams are obviously allowed substitutions late in the match (if they have them available) - Why not mandate that when a player gets redcarded, the opposing team gets a freebie substitution and the opposing player gets sent to the showers (with a sub in his place)? Or a 5 minute penalty (temporary 11-on-10) à la hockey?

I'm no expert, but both of these seem more reasonable than 11-on-10 for the remainder of the match.

EDIT: I just thought of a third option - how about instead of a 5 minute penalty-box situation, you make him run 10 laps around the field. He can take as long as he wants, but the longer he takes, the longer the team is forced to defend with a man disadvantage. And, if he runs really fast to limit the disadvantage, he gets really winded upon joining up with the team after he completes his laps.

That would also give the crowd ample chance to heckle him as he makes his way around the grounds.

To my Philadelphia sensibilities, this sounds like a win-win.

[Zhukov]

To be completely blunt, those sound like silly American ideas that they would have in their games to make them more exciting. Sorry :( Soccer is supposed to be boring.

11-10 seems like a better idea to me. Just have to make sure that it's coupled with an electronic umpire so it's more acurate.

[OxBlood]

When would the game have been broadcast over at your place, Zhukov? Just curious.

I still think it was worth watching if only for this thing

http://img9.abload.de/img/1278875sdsdrshg.gif


Also, here´s one from...I dunno, somewhere from germany :lol For the record, these people were called "Prolls" back in my youth...nowadays you´d just call them stupid :D

http://images.4fuckr.com/89b07182041a/d/f/7/2/9/df729b3bf6.gif



Hope, no one minds the aniGifs...

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

gBxGkCPhqqA

I didn't know spain were playing for their freedoms.

:meanmachine

[Fathom Zero]

Good call, Bill.

And I could watch that over and over. :lol

[Zhukov]

When would the game have been broadcast over at your place, Zhukov? Just curious.

It started at 0400.


Also, here´s one from...I dunno, somewhere from germany :lol For the record, these people were called "Prolls" back in my youth...nowadays you´d just call them stupid :D



Proles? I'm guessing you are from the west. :lol